Marijuana Legalization/Decriminalization Efforts

[BaneTheBrawler]

I hate bad research. Having suffered intensely during double-blind studies in which i was undoubtedly placed on placebo, I have no respect for people who can't establish proper control groups and whatnot.

[Kuya]

Why is jefe so obsessed with marijuana?

[Ragnus]

Probably one of these three situations.

1: Closet smoker
2: Probably in a situation my friend was in. Used to smoke every day, got a job with randoms, started hating all over people who smoke.
3: Reefer Madness / has a family member who is a total burnout and is taking it out on everyone who smokes.

[Cantih]

So, for everyone who happens to be in Seattle.
http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2012/1...se-in-seattle/

SPD seized a bunch of my marijuana before I-502 passed. Can I have it back?

No.

...

This is actual police communication to citizens. I am impressed, and laughing my ass off.
(Yeah, I found it on reddit, ijdgafa)

[Jefe]

(...)

If you are determined to believe it's a devastating substance while relying upon biased resources that you claim should be irrefutable, and insist that you're "refuting" claims I haven't made, I'm not quite sure what to say.

I'm citing articles/peer reviewed medical journals, and chats from addiction medicine specialists. You trying to strike down a made up ad vericundiam and pumping your chest about your supposed "research" is just silly and it won't prove anything. The backbone of your argument is "the man" and a laughable wiki citation about it. I mentioned before that it doesn't matter what is presented to you, you will never believe anything because you've already made up your mind. Last, no, I've never claimed it was a 'devastating substance.' Why don't you quote me on that, or you made it up? Heck, I posted articles about the 'benefits' for God's sake.

[Byrthnoth]

Pot isn't worse for you than cigarettes or alcohol. -----> There's no reason for it to be illegal while the other substances are legal.

It crosses the blood brain barrier and has a variety of effects on your brain that we don't really understand. This is also true for alcohol, tobacco, and every psychiatric drug that actually works. Given the lack of serious side-effects (relative to the other legal drugs), it shouldn't be federally prohibited.

[Salodin]

Pot isn't worse for you than cigarettes or alcohol. -----> There's no reason for it to be illegal while the other substances are legal.

It crosses the blood brain barrier and has a variety of effects on your brain that we don't really understand. This is also true for alcohol, tobacco, and every psychiatric drug that actually works. Given the lack of serious side-effects (relative to the other legal drugs), it shouldn't be federally prohibited.

This should be the crux of every pro-decrimilization argument.

[Tweek]

This should be the crux of every pro-decrimilization argument.

a lot of people that would vote to keep marijuana illegal would also vote to ban tobacco and alcohol, the only difference is alcohol has little to no chance of every becoming illegal because of religion/money.

the whole "ooh ooh what about alcohol" doesn't work most of the time

[Plow]

mostly it just doesn't work cuz people have been taught their whole lives that pot is evil and alcohol is fine (it's just those super-rare alcoholics that are bad, and they're definitely not alcoholics just because they get drunk every night)

status quo etc.

[Salodin]

mostly it just doesn't work cuz people have been taught their whole lives that pot is evil and alcohol is fine (it's just those super-rare alcoholics that are bad, and they're definitely not alcoholics just because they get drunk every night)

status quo etc.

So in other words every one is a hypocrite. An uneducated hypocrite.

[BaneTheBrawler]

pretty much

[Kohan]

So in other words every one is a hypocrite. An uneducated hypocrite.

Unfortunately, yes. Until it's easier to conduct impartial studies in the United States, it's difficult to refute the unnecessary drama stirred up by the Controlled Substances Act, which wasn't justified in the first place. Conveniently, the Act prevents such. It's a Catch 22, to be sure.

Fortunately, the United States' majority opinion appears to be headed in the right direction. It's impressive, too, considering that the Controlled Substances Act isn't very old; too often, it takes a significantly longer period of time for irrelevant laws to be removed from the books. While that hasn't happened yet, I'm hopeful that it will, and soon.

[Ksandra]

a lot of people that would vote to keep marijuana illegal would also vote to ban tobacco and alcohol, the only difference is alcohol has little to no chance of every becoming illegal because of religion/money.

the whole "ooh ooh what about alcohol" doesn't work most of the time

I was talking to a friend once about this. And he made this point as to why the gov't is against legalizing it, which makes sense (not why it's not legal, why they have acted the way they have). If the gov't could, they would ban cigarettes and alcohol in a heartbeat. But we all know what happened when they tried banning alcohol. So while they let those stay legal because they know it won't work making it illegal, they are really going to try and delay making things legal that they've been able to keep illegal.

I honestly wouldn't mind cigarettes being made illegal. Shit makes me feel sick just smelling it. But, obviously, that's just greediness on my part. As long as they keep pushing it away from public places I can't complain.

And before anyone flips, I want marijuana legalized. Because: taxes. :3

[Hitoshura]

The biggest trouble has always been getting it in the news/spotlight. I was quite amazed it got so much attention at all much less being passed. A huge step in the right direction.

Seeing news reports with people using it for "recreational" use, instead of huge marijuana drug bust where x amount of pounds were taken, blah blah. It was truly beautiful.

[Salodin]

Thing is, tabacco is a huge cash crop for a few states, hence why it'll never be illegal. Marijuana can be the same though, if they gave it a shot.

[Aurara]

Thing is, tabacco is a huge cash crop for a few states, hence why it'll never be illegal. Marijuana can be the same though, if they gave it a shot.

Cannabis would easily make more money than Tobacco, like you said all they have to do is give it a chance to bring in revenue.

[BaneTheBrawler]

That's the one of the reasons it was made illegal in the first place. Hemp was becoming a huge cash crop, since you can use it for all kinds of materials, in addition to the drug aspect. I don't remember which industry exactly had problems competing, but I suspect it was cotton/textiles. Something like that, anyway. The established industry saw hemp becoming a serious competitor and pushed hard to have it made illegal. Saw it on History Channel. Or maybe Discovery. Back when those channels actually ran shows relevant to their names.

[Aurara]

Tobacco/Alcohol companies are also against legalization because it would pull money away from them as well.

[quannum]

I don't remember which industry exactly had problems competing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Randolph_Hearst, paper

[Cantih]

More specifically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_h..._United_States

Newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst's empire of newspapers began publishing what is known as "yellow journalism", demonizing the cannabis plant and putting emphasis on connections between cannabis and violent crime.[39] Several scholars argue that the goal was to destroy the hemp industry,[40][41][42] largely as an effort of Hearst, Andrew Mellon and the Du Pont family.[40][42] They argue that with the invention of the decorticator hemp became a very cheap substitute for the paper pulp that was used in the newspaper industry.[40][43] They also believe that Hearst felt that this was a threat to his extensive timber holdings.