Should Cannabis be legalized?

[masterrig 1]

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...and the 'recreational drugs' that so many folks want legalized do not have similar qualities?

Actually, alcohol is on the bad side of the spectrum. Magic mushrooms, ecstasy, weed... those are all a better idea than alcohol.

I guess, you'd know that better than I would.


Chuck

[masterrig 1]

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... As for us poisoning their crops, I don't really think so. Those crops are so well protected by 'artillary', it would be difficult to get our aircraft in there. The cartels have the 'lawyers,guns and money'! ...

Paraquat was used back in the 70s. It was a far different world back then.

There have been aerial eradication programs in Columbia that have resulted in the aircraft being shot down.

True story. Just like the U.S. Agents who raided the homes of cartel leaders and got one or two. That's not gonna' happen again!


Chuck

[SkydiveJonathan 0]

3.5 million adults in the UK are addicted, and up to 700,000 children live with a parent with a drink problem. 6,000 children a year are born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

[popsjumper 2]

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An interesting article was posted on the interwebs

http://truththeory.com/2012/08/26/why-cannabis-is-still-illegal/

Apart from medicinal uses there is also beneficial "by products" that can be used in construction, biofuels and the like.

It would be interesting to see dz.commers opinion on this.

None of which justifies recreational use. Lotta potheads in here.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Marinus 0]

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I guess, you'd know that better than I would.

This may shock you, but scientists actually researched different drugs, and the results are there for everyone to look at. And the results have little to do with the fear-mongering nonsense that often passes in your country for information about drugs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39938704/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-more-dangerous-heroin-cocaine-study-finds/#.UEzcsI3N8mE

And if you're suggesting I'm a druggie myself, apart from caffeine the only mind-altering substance I use is alcohol. I F-ing love alcohol, but I'm aware of what it is.

[masterrig 1]

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I guess, you'd know that better than I would.

This may shock you, but scientists actually researched different drugs, and the results are there for everyone to look at. And the results have little to do with the fear-mongering nonsense that often passes in your country for information about drugs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39938704/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-more-dangerous-heroin-cocaine-study-finds/#.UEzcsI3N8mE

And if you're suggesting I'm a druggie myself, apart from caffeine the only mind-altering substance I use is alcohol. I F-ing love alcohol, but I'm aware of what it is.

No, I'm not shocked at all. I've read similar findings. As for your use of alchohol, isn't that considered a drug too? I just get a little curious of someone who defends illicit drugs and is not a user.


Chuck

[Coreece 190]

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I F-ing love alcohol

Serious question, brah...why?

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[Marinus 0]

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Serious question, brah...why?

Beer doesn't yell at me, or judge me or call me names.

[Marinus 0]

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I just get a little curious of someone who defends illicit drugs and is not a user.

I don't defend illicit drugs, I just recognize the fact that the so called war on drugs is a futile and very costly undertaking. And while drugs are not without risk, they're usually far less dangerous than government officials want you to believe. Besides the drug policies of the average government (my own included) are so utterly retarded, that it's probably better to leave the decision whether or not to use drugs to the individual.

[Southern_Man 0]

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No, I'm not shocked at all. I've read similar findings. As for your use of alchohol, isn't that considered a drug too? I just get a little curious of someone who defends illicit drugs and is not a user.


Chuck

I think you might be shocked if you actually polled people beyond your close friends. I am not a user of any illicit substance (I have a serious caffeine habit and enjoy a beer or glass of wine now and then) but am among the pro-legalization crowd. Our current policy simply is not working, it is time to try something else. If you have other suggestions beyond the status quo I would be interested to hear them.

A survey of my colleagues at work shows that there are a lot of people like me--pro legalization of at least pot but not users themselves. My mother (not a pothead) is pro-legalization. It is simply recognition that what we are doing is not working.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[Coreece 190]

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I F-ing love alcohol

Serious question, brah...why?

Beer doesn't yell at me, or judge me or call me names.

Well, you could always get a dog...healthier for you too.

Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are...

[Marinus 0]

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Well, you could always get a dog...healthier for you too.

I already have a dog. Alas, as unluck would have it Old Jeller is is verbally abusive, judgmental dire poodle.

[masterrig 1]

I've based a good deal of my thoughts about drugs on what my wife, who spent 25-yrs. in law enforcement, has told me from her experiences dealing with people screwed-up on crack, crank, coke and various others.
I know what I've witnessed too!

edit to dd: We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?


Chuck

[Butters 0]

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I've based a good deal of my thoughts about drugs on what my wife, who spent 25-yrs. in law enforcement, has told me from her experiences dealing with people screwed-up on crack, crank, coke and various others.
I know what I've witnessed too!

edit to dd: We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?

Chuck

The good old I've lived the clean life without drugs making me healthier, stronger, smarter, etc... and so should everyone else argument. I could site examples of how marijuana (and other controlled substances) could help make some people healthier, stronger, smarter, etc... but you're mind is already made up so you can go back to watching Reefer Madness and believing all the propaganda.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[masterrig 1]

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I've based a good deal of my thoughts about drugs on what my wife, who spent 25-yrs. in law enforcement, has told me from her experiences dealing with people screwed-up on crack, crank, coke and various others.
I know what I've witnessed too!

edit to dd: We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?

Chuck

The good old I've lived the clean life without drugs making me healthier, stronger, smarter, etc... and so should everyone else argument. I could site examples of how marijuana (and other controlled substances) could help make some people healthier, stronger, smarter, etc... but you're mind is already made up so you can go back to watching Reefer Madness and believing all the propaganda.

I never said I've lived a clean, healthier life. I was asking for examples of the benefits of dope and you can't give me one. I've never seen 'Reefer Madness'. If, you want to use that shit... get after it. You don't know me one bit and that's fine. Assume all you want.


Chuck

[kelpdiver 2]

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I've based a good deal of my thoughts about drugs on what my wife, who spent 25-yrs. in law enforcement, has told me from her experiences dealing with people screwed-up on crack, crank, coke and various others.
I know what I've witnessed too!

No offence to your better half, but cops are usually shitty social scientists, their frame of view warped by the fact that they only deal with the dregs of society. Of course they think it's bad. And for many LEOs in the DEA and prison realms, their livelihood depends on the "drug problem."

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I just get a little curious of someone who defends illicit drugs and is not a user.

I defend white supremacists' right to free speech but I'm not a racist or a nazi. It's called the Bill of Rights...I'm sure you're familiar with it. As a rule, people should be able to do whatever the fuck they want to up to the point where it prevents others from the same freedom to act. By that philosophy, alcohol is far far worse, kills far far more innocent bystanders every year.

As noted about Washington, pot has long been the #1 cash crop in California. And instead of contributing money to the government and the economy in general, it primary steals from it in the form of crime and under the table income flows. It cannot avoid that - anyone that tried to pay tax on declared income from growing/selling it would be jailed. For this reason there are a significant number of conservatives who would never go near the stuff yet advocate for legalization.

It's also worth reviewing the racist background of the original move to criminalize it.

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edit to dd: We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?

What are the good points of the Twinkee? Pork rinds? Malt liquor? The Claimjumper restaurant? It doesn't have to have good points. Just not sufficiently bad points.

Compared to nicotine, alcohol, or cocaine, pot is much less addictive - some will try to argue it is not addictive at all. It doesn't seem to cause violent behavior, unlike the others. It doesn't appear to hurt the San Francisco economy very much - I seem to walk through second hand smoke all over (usually smelling foul to me, if less offensive than the now virtually banned second hand cigarette smoke - don't try to explain the hypocrisy there) yet this remains the tech center of the world. I've come across a significant number of techies earning 6 figures that are frequently lighting up.

[kelpdiver 2]

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I was asking for examples of the benefits of dope and you can't give me one.

if the question is really that broad, it's easy. The anti nausea benefits have been well demonstrated by ill people who would otherwise be unable to eat food and thus waste away. The legal pill form (Marinol?) doesn't work remotely as well for these people.

It is difficult to get medical studies demonstrating benefits in the US because most derive some or all funding from the federal sources and the Feds will not fund anything that might result in a positive finding for pot. You'd have to go offshore. But the number of states that have passed medical marijuana policies so liberal it effectively is quasi legalization has given a large amount of evidence as well. Like states that survived after shifting to liberalized "shall issue" CCW laws, so have these states.

[Marinus 0]

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We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?

For starters, drugs are entertaining, that's why most people use them, to have a good time. But they have been used for other things: rituals, medicine etc. etc.

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I've based a good deal of my thoughts about drugs on what my wife, who spent 25-yrs. in law enforcement, has told me from her experiences dealing with people screwed-up on crack, crank, coke and various others.

No offense, but cops usually aren't called to deal with the 99% who just have a good time with drugs, so their view on drugs is usually warped. Yes, someone with a drug induced psychosis makes more of an impression than people who giggle in an annoying fashion for a couple of hours, but the latter is the usual manifestation of drugs.

[SkydiveJonathan 0]

Penalties for growing and selling cannabis must be toughened because a surge in the trade is driving up shootings and gang-related violence, a senior police officer has warned.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Ward of Merseyside police, who chairs the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, says the punishments for those caught cultivating and dealing in cannabis are not a deterrent and the drug is now causing greater problems for police than class As.

According to Ward, an "explosion" in cannabis production has resulted in bitter struggles between rival gangs keen to exploit the ease by which cannabis can be manufactured and what they regard as easy money. Shootings in Merseyside have soared by a third since April and officers believe their experience is mirrored across the regions.

Ward, who also heads the force's elite Matrix unit that works to combat drug and gun crime, said: "A lot of these shootings are linked to activity around cannabis.

"We are seeing big increases in cannabis production on Merseyside. Individual groups are fighting turf wars … We have huge issues around cannabis."

[popsjumper 2]

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A survey of my colleagues at work shows that there are a lot of people like me--pro legalization of at least pot but not users themselves.

Yeah...I can see it now...at work standing up and saying "I'M A POTHEAD! I SMOKE POT!"

Skewed survey, maybe?








My mother (not a pothead) is pro-legalization. It is simply recognition that what we are doing is not working.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[popsjumper 2]

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Well, you could always get a dog...healthier for you too.

I already have a dog. Alas, as unluck would have it Old Jeller is is verbally abusive, judgmental dire poodle.

You have a poodle ?
Well, that explains everything!

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[popsjumper 2]

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I've based a good deal of my thoughts about drugs on what my wife, who spent 25-yrs. in law enforcement, has told me from her experiences dealing with people screwed-up on crack, crank, coke and various others.
I know what I've witnessed too!

edit to dd: We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?

Chuck

The good old I've lived the clean life without drugs making me healthier, stronger, smarter, etc... and so should everyone else argument. I could site examples of how marijuana (and other controlled substances) could help make some people healthier, stronger, smarter, etc... but you're mind is already made up so you can go back to watching Reefer Madness and believing all the propaganda.

Nice dodge. Well, no, not really. Really it was kinda lame.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[popsjumper 2]

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We've all heard the down-side of dope, tell me the good points? Does it make a person healthier, stronger, smarter, more polite, wise...?

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For starters, drugs are entertaining, that's why most people use them, to have a good time. But they have been used for other things: rituals, medicine etc. etc.

NOW we're getting to the meat of it.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Southern_Man 0]

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A survey of my colleagues at work shows that there are a lot of people like me--pro legalization of at least pot but not users themselves.

Yeah...I can see it now...at work standing up and saying "I'M A POTHEAD! I SMOKE POT!"

Skewed survey, maybe?

That's certainly possible but I don't think it is a significant factor. Some of those people (including me) will admit to having smoked pot at some point in their lives. Others say they never have. Perhaps some of those people are pro-legalization because they would like to smoke legally and without repercussions. Others, like me, have no interest at all in smoking.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[Marinus 0]

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NOW we're getting to the meat of it.

Are we? the fact that drugs are mainly used because they're fun is so obvious people usually overlook it. Before I became a boring generic citizen, I did experiment a bit with drugs, btw, so I'm not a "virgin", but the last time used something illegal is years ago.

Btw, I've two Jack Russel Terriers the poodle was just artistic liberty.