Making Marijuana Legal

[KittenAB]

You mean "Don't believe the nut behind a keyboard (no quotes necessary) because all fact points to the opposite conclusion? Gosh. Well that's easy. Not believing people who make stuff up is usually a good practice.

Regulation is not "guidance." There can be penalties levied when it is not followed. This is more evidence that you're pretty much pulling this entire conversation out of your nether regions.

But, you know what, let's indulge your insanity for one moment. If it's guidance, why is the government "GUIDING" people to do the EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU SAY THEY MANDATE!

I look forward to more idiotic commentary from you. I'll bring the popcorn.

Popularity.

[Leilin]

No, what I'm saying is that there's a lot more to this than "let's all blame the companies!" .... I'm so sick of people not taking responsibility for the laws they enacted, then when it bites them in the arse they go crying that we need new laws to punish someone else! Come on, people wanted babysitters like the FDA but here's the thing, EVERYONE is following the FDA's regulations, they don't get into trouble for breaking the regulations, they get in trouble when the regulations are wrong. Why doesn't the FDA get in trouble for it? You put them in charge or let them remain so, everything that kills you in this country is more their fault than anyone else, the companies just do what they are told by them. If the tobacco companies REALLY wanted to kill it's customers with all these additives, then why are they so worried about profit?

Actually, what you're saying is that you're going to ignore the 4-5 completely unfactual claims that you've made in this very thread and apparently move the goalposts (again), but it's not as if this isn't par for the course for you. We've come to expect a complete lack of fact in just about everything you say.

Popularity

I'll assume that you've decided that this is the non-sequitur word-association portion of the conversation, or perhaps you have some variant of Tourettes that affects typing and causes you to spontaneously use words that don't apply to a situation.

Assuming the former, I shall reply in kind:

Orange!

Thanks for not disappointing on the silly/idiotic commentary front.

[redneck diaper boy]

I will say this again. I am about the most conservative right wing person out there.

Ask yourselves this question: How does marijuana compare to booze with respect to traffic fatalities?

Why not legalize pot and tax it! We could have much better control over the product and make it safer under controled conditions. When people buy pot off the street, it could be laced with something toxic!

Pot is pretty mild when compared to the effects of booze or harder drugs.

[KittenAB]

I will say this again. I am about the most conservative right wing person out there.

Ask yourselves this question: How does marijuana compare to booze with respect to traffic fatalities?

Why not legalize pot and tax it! We could have much better control over the product and make it safer under controled conditions. When people buy pot off the street, it could be laced with something toxic!

Pot is pretty mild when compared to the effects of booze or harder drugs.

There is a flaw in this, comparing a substance that has been legal for a long time to one that has not, therefore the one that is more commonly used will show a higher rate of such incidents.

As for "it could be laced with something toxic" ... I refer you to tobacco again. People act like tobacco companies are really stupid enough to willingly increase the chances of death with their products, but that would be stupid business. Though you could use the "you could grow it yourself" argument in which there is no counter to it, since tobacco plants are pickier about location most people can't grow it themselves, but pot you could.

As for "it's pretty mild" ... I've smoked it before and you could get just as messed up as alcohol pretty easily, depending on where and how it's grown, it can be pretty strong, just like alcohol. To which I refer you to the fact that most people who drink that much alcohol are not that responsible as it is, how could you expect more pot smokers to be than alcohol drinkers?

[FretaBWet]

I don't agree with you too often but I do completely in this case. I would guess that a good percentage of the people in this post that are taking such a negative stance probably have zero experience with pot. It's probably not a coincidence that people who are frightened enough to not ever try it will be the most vocal against it because of that fear.

California has had medical marijuana for a while now and what I see conspicuously absent from this thread is all the news stories and statistics on the huge increase in highway deaths by drivers on weed. Oops, I guess it didn't really make any difference. I haven't seen anything to back up the paranoia that people will end up zombies unable to function in society either. I must have missed all the news stories about pot turning it's users into hard drug users because now they have access to pot they'll be on heroin soon.

There's simply no way anyone is going to convince me that smoking some pot is going to ruin your life with one exception. If you get caught the government will do it's best to do just that. That is why the prisons are filled with people who are a drain on society. Not because the pot itself was so bad for them but because the government made it that way. That's why it needs to be changed, because it makes sense.

Hugs,

Freta

[KittenAB]

I don't agree with you too often but I do completely in this case. I would guess that a good percentage of the people in this post that are taking such a negative stance probably have zero experience with pot. It's probably not a coincidence that people who are frightened enough to not ever try it will be the most vocal against it because of that fear.

California has had medical marijuana for a while now and what I see conspicuously absent from this thread is all the news stories and statistics on the huge increase in highway deaths by drivers on weed. Oops, I guess it didn't really make any difference. I haven't seen anything to back up the paranoia that people will end up zombies unable to function in society either. I must have missed all the news stories about pot turning it's users into hard drug users because now they have access to pot they'll be on heroin soon.

There's simply no way anyone is going to convince me that smoking some pot is going to ruin your life with one exception. If you get caught the government will do it's best to do just that. That is why the prisons are filled with people who are a drain on society. Not because the pot itself was so bad for them but because the government made it that way. That's why it needs to be changed, because it makes sense.

Hugs,

Freta

Statistics are a big problem, and possibly the explanation of why certain topics go completely off the deep end. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics For a decent reference, in spite of it being Wikipedia, whoever wrote that did a good job actually. But that's not the whole issue as you pointed out. It's simply that no one is thinking from a dual perspective. As I said, I use to smoke pot ... a LOT of pot ...I was a pot-head in Tucson because it was everywhere. None of us were responsible on the stuff, but we didn't care while smoking it like we did because we were too high to care. The only reason my friend (only one of fifteen of us drove oddly) never wrecked while smoking it was because he was ironically the most paranoid of us and drove half the speed limit when he was stoned, but was a race demon when sober, go figure. In a small number of users, like with all drugs, the effect will make them more level, thus why medicinal is great, alcohol should be for medicinal to though, so should tobacco. Tobacco is my choice because it mellows me out, keeps me from going into fits of rage when stress builds. Light up a smoke and play some video games, keeps me from beating the crap out of random people. Pot for me wouldn't do that, it inhibits the decision making process, which I need to control a rage state. we had basically created a new gang in Tucson, me and two friends (the driver and his girlfriend) were the leaders, so to speak. We'd sit at home most time smoking until we passed out from it, listening to loud music and talking shit about everyone else we knew, but once in a while something would happen and we would posse on up and go after another gang, getting stoned along the way. The dealers in the area would choose sides often by granting discounts or "the best" pot to what gang they wanted at their back, we had three ourselves, don't know what the others had and didn't care. I was one of the three "leaders" because of two reasons, I knew the cops well and somehow could talk them into leaving us alone or looking the other way, and because the three of us rolled into town one night looking for a party ... dressed "Durango" ... redneckish with dusters, hats, and boots. The classic look just appealed to the group that hooked us up enough I guess. Now, we never really hurt people, not against the law anyway, but we were near impossible to run from when we wanted to scare you. As I said, thinking pot is all that different from alcohol in how it can be abused is wishful at best. One of the drawbacks with natural herbs and leaves is that they are highly unpredictable. Every leaf/bud on every plant in every crop will be different, and the effect it has on every individual will be different. Now I'm not for the medical community taking over completely, but regulating it based on how the person reacts to it is something that would be hell to do for everyone right now, there are just too many humans alive.

So here, the actual recommendation I have for all this, the one I was not going to interject just because someone wanted a debate on whether it should be legal or not and all I have is this, really all anyone could rightfully add is a solution because all this conjecture on the subject is just based on statistical garbage. I say make all mind or behavior altering substances medical only, though some allow the patient to self medicate (like tobacco, alcohol, and pot). Let the doctors prove that it benefits each person in some way and will not make them a danger to anyone else. If you want the FDA to do it's damned job, that is what it would be like.