A poll regarding cannabis use.

[Breathe]

Then should we make tobacco and alcohol illegal as well?

To be honest I have no qualms with that, I take neither. Let those who take such substances defend them, because I don't see why I should.

Or, you know, we can attack the actual causes of crime rather than scapegoating a drug. Address economic inequality, and you don't have to worry about any amount of drug use significantly affecting crime rates.

If you say so... :sarcastic

But hey, as they say: guns don't kill people, people do!
It doesn't mean the gun is a harmless object, though.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

There is a cannabis farmhouse about 5 minutes from me, and with legalising it and the ability to grow it, I'd expect there to be more like ten.

One of the ways the US drug enforcement agency looks at how affective they are is the price of the drug. If a lot of drugs are being imported or produced in a country the price goes down. If they are affective in keeping drugs out of the country the price goes up. If you had more people growing pot the price would go down. The law of supply and demand.

Pot is one of the easiest plants to grow thats why they call it weed. Pot heads love to grow it. Talk about growing it buy books on growing it. I know people who grew it in their apartments. There are many good arguments why drugs should be illegal. Price is not one of them.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

If pot is illegal it makes it almost impossible to legalize the growing of hemp.
Hemp is a renewable crop that grows in places that other crops don't. It is one of the best sources of paper. And you don't need to cut down forests to get it. Believe it or not you can use it to make gas for cars. Its one of the few good choices for a bio fuel because you can grow it were other crops won't. So it does not cause the price of food to go up for the poor.

Our war on drugs is an complete failure. It not only waists the life's of our youth by putting them in prison. It is also destroying whole countries because of the drug trade. I will not even go to Tijuana Mexico any more. 10s of 1000s are being killed along the US Mexico border. We need a new drug policy. My best friend is a teacher in San Deago. He says his middle school kids are now being used as drug mules. If the refuse to bring pot and coke over the boarder they will be killed.What we need is a well tought out drug policy not based on peoples personal experiences. We must look at the global view.

 

[Alceste]

And what happens when they have smoked all of it? They will begin buying their own. Not to mention the fact most people here don't have gardens either.

That's not how it is. One plant can produce a huge "stash" and doesn't take up much room. I know lots of people who grow their own, whether on a window sill, in their back yard, in the basement or closet. It doesn't take much space - just needs a lot of light. It's really easy to grow. If it weren't for fear of legal consequences, I can almost guarantee you that a huge number of people who smoke it occasionally would either be growing their own or have a friend they can get it from.

A poor, working class area with a high rate of cannabis use, high unemployment, high crime rates (including for violent crime), and even an addiction onto even harder drugs, the legalising of cannabis would help, how?

Cuz they need to chill and not take themselves so seriously, just like everybody else.

 

[KatNotKathy]

That's not how it is. One plant can produce a huge "stash" and doesn't take up much room.

No kidding, I could grow a single plant (legally, under WA's MMJ laws) in a space as small as my closet and be set for a hell of a long time.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

Since a lot of people even pay for their vegetables and don't grow those, I expect it would be the same way, only far more expensive.

I grow my own vegetables, every day you eat many different types. It takes much time,space and energy to produce food for 3 people for the whole year. So I just grow part of our diet. In California many people grow there own medical cannabis in there house with no problem. They never run out and it is very easy. Kind of like I can't grow all the vegetables I eat. But I can grow all the tomatoes, basil, leeks,zucchini,watermelons and peach pies that we could ever eat. In fact I can even make all the pesto for all my friends could ever use.

I am not telling others that pot is a good thing. Like I said if you had to make a hard and fast rule I would say no drugs for anyone. This is the real world and people do what they do.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

America seems paranoid about Cannabis, the rest of the western world is far more tolerant. Here in Oz you get an equivalent of a parking fine for personal quantities. I believe the only reason it is still illegal in the west is to appease and gain favor with the US right wing legislators, who in turn appear to have their fingers somewhere in the dirty pie of corruption and drug money. Big business only while it is illegal, and worthless if legal. If we look at the medical problems regarding Cannabis they like every other risk taking behavior exist, but if we have a scale from 1-10 (risk/cost to family and society)and include Alcohol and Tobacco (both at 9-10), cannabis would rate less than 1.

The only possible reason for this distortion of the medical facts is that the US Government is directly involved in the corruption of the drug trade at some level to maintain a high dollar value, and avoid the unemployment that would result from the closure of the massive anti-drug bureaucracy. Despite current rhetoric from the US, the same as the CIA's "Air America" operating out of Saigon transported tonnes of heroin to Premier Ky's side kick to keep the Laotian and Cambodian hill tribes pro US and anti communist during the Vietnam era. I suspect exactly the same is happening today in Afghanistan. Mexico has bloody gang wars because cannabis is illegal and its big business. When will the US wake up and treat the problem as a medical one, instead of a money making scheme. Deaths would drop astronomically and the jails would empty over night. Many other wise good kids could return to their parents and not become hookers or worse. But the US obvious prefers disaster to common sense. Make heroin available on prescription to addicts and you would destroy the Taliban's major income stream. Yanks seem so stupid at times.



Cheers

You know we Americans do........!


In some of our states the age of consent is 12

Kids can drive a car at 16 (with little training)

You can join the armed forces at 18, carry all sorts of weapons and explosive with the intent to kill. In fact the killing, at the age of 18, in that situation is justifiable.

But what is ironic is you can't "legally" buy alcohol until you're 21.

As dangerous as cigarettes are they are perfectly legal. You do have to be a certain age to buy them but legal none the less...while "WEED" is illegal.

I think that there is a county in Northern California, I can't remember off hand, where the majority of their revenue comes from the selling of cannabis.

Come to think of it. I saw this special a few months ago. I think it was on A&E channel.
EDIT: Here you go... [youtube]kh1NUJuY3SE[/youtube]
YouTube - Marijuana in Mendocino

 

[Aquitaine]

If pot is illegal it makes it almost impossible to legalize the growing of hemp.

Hemp is a renewable crop that grows in places that other crops don't. It is one of the best sources of paper. And you don't need to cut down forests to get it. Believe it or not you can use it to make gas for cars. Its one of the few good choices for a bio fuel because you can grow it were other crops won't. So it does not cause the price of food to go up for the poor.

Our war on drugs is an complete failure. It not only waists the life's of our youth by putting them in prison. It is also destroying whole countries because of the drug trade. I will not even go to Tijuana Mexico any more. 10s of 1000s are being killed along the US Mexico border. We need a new drug policy. My best friend is a teacher in San Deago. He says his middle school kids are now being used as drug mules. If the refuse to bring pot and coke over the boarder they will be killed.What we need is a well tought out drug policy not based on peoples personal experiences. We must look at the global view.

I've heard about this Hemp thin briefly before, is it really that usefull? Geez, then why is it illegal?

 

[KatNotKathy]

I've heard about this Hemp thin briefly before, is it really that usefull? Geez, then why is it illegal?

Lobbying, basically. When you have a product that grows easily, is durable, and kick's wood pulp's butt at paper production, you're going to make some enemies in high places (Specifically, William Randolph Hearst). The fact that it was stereotyped as a dirty Mexican drug (by guess who?) sure helped with public perception.

So yeah, lobbying and racism mostly. It can still be grown in 9 states with the proper licensing, but that's not easy to get.

Edit: Don't let anybody try to sell you on hemp clothing though. I know it's durable as hell and can be passed down easily, but it's just not as comfortable as cotton.

 

[Aquitaine]

Lobbying, basically. When you have a product that grows easily, is durable, and kick's wood pulp's butt at paper production, you're going to make some enemies in high places (Specifically, William Randolph Hearst). The fact that it was stereotyped as a dirty Mexican drug (by guess who?) sure helped with public perception.

So yeah, lobbying and racism mostly. It can still be grown in 9 states with the proper licensing, but that's not easy to get.

Edit: Don't let anybody try to sell you on hemp clothing though. I know it's durable as hell and can be passed down easily, but it's just not as comfortable as cotton.

And this stuff can be used as gas for cars!? What the Hell, people should start growing it themselves then. I wonder if it's illegal in the UK, ima gonna find out sometime.

 

[Aquitaine]

(Specifically, William Randolph Hearst).

Lemme guess, Hearst Corporation- lol

 

[KatNotKathy]

^^^WRH had huge investments in paper companies that would have gone under if hemp had remained legal. It was simple the superior paper, and the first American paper mill worked with it exclusively because it was so much easier to produce (compare the time it takes hemp to be ready for harvest and the same for trees).

And this stuff can be used as gas for cars!? What the Hell, people should start growing it themselves then. I wonder if it's illegal in the UK, ima gonna find out sometime.

You can make biodiesel or alcohol fuel out of hemp. In the 30s Henry Ford developed a car made of hemp plastic that ran on hemp fuel. It's really not an ideal fuel (for one, it's still a combustion engine), but there is something to be said about renewable, locally-available fuel sources to bridge the gap between what we have now and proper clean energy. You can't just pump hemp biodiesel into any car and expect it to work, but a couple years back I helped a friend install a diesel engine in his van so he could run on corn oil.

And yeah, it's legal to grow in the UK. I don't know what sort of licensing requirements there are, but it's less strict than the US.

 

[Aquitaine]

OMG it actually IS the Hearst Corporation that was made by him!

That the US Media conglomerate that owns ESPN and Cosmopolitan IIRC!



http://www.hearst.com/about-hearst/history.php

 

[KatNotKathy]

OMG it actually IS the Hearst Corporation that was made by him!

That the US Media conglomerate that owns ESPN and Cosmopolitan IIRC!



Hearst Corporation

Really though, Hearst being instrumental in the American criminalization of hemp really pales in comparison to the amount of work he did to throw us into war with Spain, going as far as publishing made-up stories in order to increase public support of the war.

He was p evil.

 

[Aquitaine]

Really though, Hearst being instrumental in the American criminalization of hemp really pales in comparison to the amount of work he did to throw us into war with Spain, going as far as publishing made-up stories in order to increase public support of the war.

He was p evil.

Yeah but we get that nowadays too unfortunately, y' know, being lied to in order to justify unjustifiable wars.

Like with Vietnam and Iraq etc.

 

[Just_me_Mike]

It is legal in California, though federally it is not. I think the RF should amend this rule just a hair for marijuana.

The reason being is it helps thousands of people, even though many abuse it for other reasons. I don't see how it can be a topic that warrants a closed thread for telling the truth.

So until the RF changes its rules on marijuana discussion, I'll keep my opinions and history to myself.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

It is legal in California, though federally it is not. I think the RF should amend this rule just a hair for marijuana.

The reason being is it helps thousands of people, even though many abuse it for other reasons. I don't see how it can be a topic that warrants a closed thread for telling the truth.

So until the RF changes its rules on marijuana discussion, I'll keep my opinions and history to myself.

Let's all move to Amsterdam. :run:

 

[Magic Man]

I've watched it ruin lives of some of my best friends. They went from cigarettes to weed and went from top 10% of school students to kids who skipped school to smoke up.

A lot of people would say "you can't blame weed" but its pretty damn clear to see.

I'm not really curious to try it, i've been around it a lot and i don't see the point as i really don't need it.

I guess alcohol is to blame for people being alcoholics, and guns are to blame for wars, too, huh?

Weed is not addictive and it's no worse for your brain than alcohol is.

 

[Madhuri]

I guess alcohol is to blame for people being alcoholics, and guns are to blame for wars, too, huh?

Weed is not addictive and it's no worse for your brain than alcohol is.

There is a psychological addiction for marijuana, if not biological. And people become dependent on it because of how it makes them feel.

 

[Magic Man]

There is a psychological addiction for marijuana, if not biological. And people become dependent on it because of how it makes them feel.

Yes, and that is true of anything and everything. That goes not only for alcohol and nicotine, but also for chocolate, sugar and pretty much anything you can think of. Hell, people are addicted to this site. None of those things should be banned, should they?