Legalize for sure. I just simply can’t take alcohol like I used to. The body load from alcohol is what I can’t stand. Pot doesn’t do that for me and there’s no hangover IMO. I can count on one hand how many drinks I’ve had in the last year. As for pot…I stopped counting a decade ago. I am somewhat fearful that it’ll become more expensive than it currently is. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry in this country now. If it’s standardized and otherwise controlled I hope it goes the way of tobacco. In that sense I mean that it’s cheaper to buy tobacco than to grow it. Maybe cheaper is not the best word…it’s far simpler to just buy it. I’ve never grown my own weed though I’ve often thought about it. Just not the right time with kids and neighbors and all. It’s certainly less harmful to society than alcohol as stated above numerous times. I think that the drugs that are controlled in this country probably should remain as such for the most part. I agree in theory that everything should be legalized as eventually the “problems” would go away. I think the problem is w/ pot and everything else for that matter, that what’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. There are some people that just plain can’t handle pot or hash or what have you. So we make a blanket law that is good for some but terrible for others. Me? I could drive cross country stoned to high heaven. Give me three Budweisers and I’m uncomfortable. Even at parties I’d prefer to smoke or eat pot than to drink. I normally abstain due to the social stigma but in MA now it’s a misdemeanor to have up to 1oz. Yeah! I don’t drive with it anymore though but I do have the occasional case of road-rage now…go figure. I’d surmise that the people that can be successful pot heads are far smaller than the number of people that would be considered burnouts. That’s probably why the stigma has stuck. Medical MJ is all good and well but I would have to be “malicious” if I went to my doctor about it. And from what I’ve read the prices that I’m getting now are about the same as the CA dispensaries are charging for the same strains…and my insurance is not paying a physician to boot. I think the “black market” for pot will always be there just like it is for smokes, etc. Question will be about quality and convenience. At $400 a zipper quality is important. And of course price. It wouldn’t do any good to make it too expensive. They’ll probably set it high so that “kids” can’t afford it…it’s all about the children, right? Heh. Like I said, the black market is so rooted in our society now…
@nicola037 I’m not going to drag this thread off topic anymore to argue about this, but my last word is that the undertreatment of chronic pain is STILL one of the major medical disasters in this country, and throughout the world. As an activist in the chronic pain community, that’s my perspective anyway. I would be very careful about judging people’s motives if I were you. Surgeons and oncologists who brag about never having “written” for a Schedule II narcotic are the malicious ones, if you ask me. Not to mention the law enforcement officials who interpose themselves between doctors and patients and use drug war thinking as the main criteria for determining which patients get which medications. Part of our current problems as tobacco users stem from the perception that WE are a malicious bunch, spreading disease and death wherever we go, and imposing costs on other people that they haven’t consented to bear. Which is mainly a load of crap. I certainly agree that if most drugs and plants were freely available for purchase that the world would be a much better place.
Reminds me of this article I have (Sorry, do not recall the source): “The anti tobacco movement is reaching new heights of audacity in their desire to curb personal freedom and turn law abiding citizens into criminals. As this newspaper article from the future shows, I will not go quietly. September 13, 2040 Residents of a quiet Boston neighborhood were stunned to learn of the arrest and imprisonment of Stephen Smith, an elderly neighbor, on charges of tobacco possession. Neighbors expressed shock and dismay at the news that this seemingly respectable senior citizen had, in fact, been a secret tobacco user for many years. “He seemed like such a nice old man”, said one neighbor who did not wish to be identified. “We never suspected he was a tobacco user. We thought he just smoked marijuana like the rest of us. I’m totally outraged when I think that he was putting the entire neighborhood at risk from his second hand tobacco smoke. How could he be so irresponsible? Everyone knows second hand tobacco smoke kills on contact.” Neighbors became suspicious when they noticed an odd smell emanating from his pipe one day. Apparently Smith had devised a clever scheme to hide his tobacco use, mixing judicious amounts of the illegal leaf with the high quality marijuana he was often seen smoking in his beloved briar pipes. According to sources, he had been stockpiling tobacco for several years prior to its outlawing in 2013, the same year marijuana was legalized by then president Nancy Pelosi as her first act in office. “It was the Latakia that tipped us off”, said an unnamed police source. “Nothing smells that bad. He kept putting more and more of it in his marijuana.” Police raided Smith’s home in the early morning, dragging the elderly man from his bed as he was still clutching his briar. As he was being stuffed into the back of the police cruiser, neighbors could hear him shouting, “You can have my tobacco when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers!” If convicted, Smith, given his advanced age, would probably be able to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by voluntarily enrolling in a tobacco re-education program and remaining tobacco free thereafter. He would also have to register with the police as a Level 3 tobacco user, and avoid all contact with children. He would still, of course, be permitted to smoke as much pure marijuana as he likes.”
@Bart Reefer Madness is a cool movie 
@ NJE03 i could well believe that happening and probably before 2040 a few weeks ago a pub landlord spent 10 days in prison for letting his customers smoke inside people raised around $15000 to free him … some of the brits on here probably heard that story
Seriously we all have, had, or still use weed. It’s not that unheard of. As far as I am concerned it’s safer than alcohol and a lot more fun
Let 'em smoke it, I’m going to pass though. Tried it, not ma thing…I’ll stick to tobacco. Nicotine is my drug of choice.
Hi to all, I would like you to see RUN FROM THE CURE video from WWW.PHOENIXTEARS.CA I Wish you all a nice evening, Holonmax
LHB I can see why the chronic pain community feels “undertreated”. Believe me, without disclosing private info I am quite an expert in this field; that and substance abuse as well. Opioids, especially CII’s but really any one of them over time will actually poison your body’s ability to sense pain and as doses are escalated with tolerance, the patient will become more and more dysphoric, more and more depressed, and they will suffer more and more pain! So actually treating with chronic C-II’s will more often than not INCREASE and not decrease people’s pain. Docs who refuse to use C-II’s are 99% of the time doing their patients a favor because the alternative is worse. Unfortunately, very few docs know about the other, non-opioid alternatives to pain control. So like a bunch of idiots they think “opiates=pain control”, and increase a dose to that effect, but it TOTALLY doesn’t work that way. You know a paitient is on chronic opiates because apart from having tiny pupils and never being able to take a crap, they are just miserable, depressed beyond depression and complaining of pain in corners of their body that you didn’t think possible. With regards to chronic pain, there are a small handful of people who will do well on opiates, but that is the exception, not the rule. It’s the fact that no one really knows how to use other means that leads to pain being undertreated, but the best thing that can be done is for a doctor to consider themselves allergic to prescribing narcotics unless 1) it is acute pain only for a few days or 2) patient is dying and you don’t care about overdose/tolerance. Again, most people respont VERY poorly to opioids. They hate them because they make them puke. The small handful that actually respond well and LIKE the effects you can tell from day 1 that they will be addicts. And then there is the endless parade of human debris that just lies about their pain so they can get enough Oxy-contin to kill a small village but choose to sell it to their addict buddies instead. The amount of resources devoted to enforcing this is totally out of proportion with the potential ill it causes society. Cannabis is actually quite harmful to the lung and the body. As is alcohol (not to lung, but everything else). And tobacco is equally horrible. But about the safest drug you could do long term is opiates. history abounds with opioid addicts who had a multi-decades long habit that brough about no bodily harm as long as their opiate source was clean and reliable, people like Hermann Goering, JFK, Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Rush Limbaugh, Betty Ford, Patrick Kennedy and many others etc, etc, etc. What a life. Should be over the counter and the money saved to lower my taxes and fund treatment. Studies show that every dollar spent in treatment for substance abuse actually saves 80% MORE than its cost in terms of cost to society. So if the government were to spend 100 billion dollars on substance abuse, they would SAVE 180 billion. Personally I think cannabis is MUCH more harmful than opiates, and only marginally more benign than alcohol, but not by much. But it should all be legal and taxed. The evidence is overwhelming. There are just too many interested parties. Illegality is far too lucrative for too many of the wrong people. OTC. OTC. OTC. Let’s turn it into a stadium chant. OTC! OTC! OTC!
Furthermore, cannabis dependence can potentially lead to Grateful Dead fandom, or, in the case of my cousin, longwinded and incoherent monologues about UFOs and his five favorite Pere Ubu albums.
@ kjoerup: LMAO ;~) I’m an old hippie…
@ kjoerup, NOmad I have undergone both inpatient and outpatient treatment for Grateful Dead fandom, and I regret to say that I had yet another slip this evening. Have you ever noticed that The Dead go very well with American Scotches, by the way? It would just be morally and aesthetically wrong to listen to “Workingman’s Dead” with a snootfull of Bordeaux or Rose of Sharrow.
@bigblue1 God knows I try, bigblue1, but I sit down intending just to listen to Jacktraw off “Europe 72” and then before I even know what hit me, it’s the whole “China Cat Sunflower/I Know You Rider” medley. One tune is too much, and the whole 3 records is not enough. I hope a Higher Powered Amplifier will restore me to sanity, but I’m not getting my hopes up. I tried tapering off with Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir solo projects, and even the fail-safe, New Riders of the Purple Sage special rapid taper, but thus far to no avail. I fear I’m destined to join the endless parade of Dead Heads who have proceeded me, riding on our “Ship of Fools” down to the “Dark Hollow.” IN the meantime, I might as well sign off with a hit of “Smokestack Lightenin’” now that I’ve gone this far and try again tomorrow.
There is only one cure for Gratefull dead addiction!!! Lots and lots and lots of Throbbing Gristle (the industrial band) and at least one of the off shot bands (coil is my band of choice). A good side of Meat Beat Manifesto and the Swans (any period). Once that starts to clean your bloodstream of the greatfull dead particals add in some Legndary Pink Dots, Yen Pox, and Sleep Chamber. After you start noticing some improvement. Add the bands Sand and Current 93 to your play list as well as Sterolab. One final thing to add. You know how in A.A. they have a mantra for helping them not drink something like take it one day at time help me know what I can change and what I can’t change. Well your new Mantra is Love is the greatest hippie band of all times and Aurthor Lee is cooler then Gerry Jarcia. I hope you can beat this serious problem.
@ bob I still occasionaly relapse into my Meat Beat Manifesto addiction, but I can assure you, my neighbors would much prefer my imbibing American Beauty than Storm the Studio or Actual Sounds and Voices. Arthur Lee is to Jerry Garcia what Toby Keith is to Gram Parsons.
Not at all. Arthur Lee is awesome. In fact I think I’ll put some Love on right now. Your neighbors obviously don’t know how awesome Meat Beat is. (I’am assuming Toby Keith isn’t that cool, I could be wrong don’t really know who he is.)
who is neighbors with Toby Keith???
I can quit anytime I want! *Clutches copy of 06-10-73 RFK show*
Think of the Children. The Gratefull dead may seem harmless but… It’s been a proven gateway band leading to things like Phish and even Primus. Listen to Chrome instead.
@LHB “New Riders of the Purple Sage” my god man does that bring back memories they say old habits die hard, at least in my case anyway. nod nod, wink wink ;~)