I know that people will survive but.... (a whine)

[FarmerDenise]

I hope it does become legal. It is way less harmfull than alcohol. And we don't need to be putting people in jail for taking a few puffs on a joint.
People need to be just as responsible with cannabis as with alcohol. You shouldn't drive under the influence and you shouldn't toke up before work any more than you would have a drink before work. You will find irresponsible people everywhere.

Marijuana is no more a drug than peppermint or nutmeg or morning glory. It is an herb. A drug is manufactured in a phamaceutical plant, made of chemical compounds.
Marijuana is a form of self help, the same as other medicinal herbs. Pharmaceutical companies cannot come up with anything as efficiently effective nor as inexpensive. Instead of paying $200.00 for a single nausea pill that was prescribed for a friend's cancer treatment, she used cannabis tincture, that cost maybe $1.00 to make. The tincture worked and without nasty side affects, something the $200.00 pill could not claim!!!!

I personally don't care for the stuff, makes me paranoid, but I know plenty of folks who rather have a hit after a hard days work, compared to my glass of wine. Maybe if those who care to smoke pot could legally grow their own in their back yards, then there would be less demand for plots grown on federal lands illegally, ruining the land for all of us.
The way things are right now is definitely not good. Years ago we lost a friend, who went hiking in the wrong place. They found his body months later. Apparently he came across some illegal pot growers...

Then about ten years ago, a body was found in the driveway to the winery I worked at at the time. A few days later a marijuana garden was found on the property adjacent to the winery. You got to it via the winery driveway. We figured the young mexican man who was killed, was probably placed in the driveway as a sign for someone.
Both these incidents occured while marijuana was illegal, before the medical marijuana laws came into effect even.
I think, if marijuana were legalized, it would stop a lot of the illegal grows, because there would be no need for them. And that would also stop the violence and the polution that comes with growing the stuff illegaly.

 

[dragonlaurel]

To the original poster-
You have lousy neighbors. They are messing things up for other people and nature with their behavior.

Driving under the influence of booze or pot is stupid and should stay illegal. But it's the jerk using it- not the substance itself that created the trouble. Saving it for home or having a designated driver is important.

I think that medical marijuana could be very valuable. Hemp will not get anyone stoned but is a wonderful product for cloth, rope and paper production. Hemp seeds are also very nutritious and taste good. Inhaling any type of smoke in large amounts, is hard on the lungs because of the tar.

I've worked in a bar before and had many friends that were stoners. Since I don't drink much and and don't smoke anything, I've been able to watch what they do, objectively.

I've seen lots of destructive, aggressive, hotheaded, stubborn, potentially dangerous , behavior from drunk people.

Using pot can make people get silly, lose focus, lose motivation, and eat all the snack food. They get mellow, vegetate, and can act dumb. They don't get much done on it, so it would be stupid to do before work or a busy day.

edited for typo.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I didn't read all the replies, and I wasn't going to join the conversation, but I thought I'd just share, as the daughter of an alcoholic, who everytime he got drunk beat my step mom infront of us kids until she needed stitches, and also he would smoke pot, we kids preferred the days he smoked pot.

He was too "in his zone" to get in the car and go buy his booze. When dad was "High" he played like he was one of us kids. He would get out the remote control cars and we'd eat french fries with mustard, set up our toys soldiers and farm animals, eat french fries with mustard, we'd sit and watch movies like Critters or Freddy Kreugar (sp?), eat french fries with mustard and watch My Little Pony and Transformers and play with the race track dad had bought us.

Did I mention we'd eat french fries and mustard?

It's very hard to admit, but my best memories of my dad are when he was high. When he was drunk, we all were scared. When he was high, we stayed home and had fun. When he was drunk we went swimming or to 4th of July cookouts and watched brawls breakout. When he was high, we laughed and had fun.

My dad did horrible things when he was drunk.
When he was high, he was just dad.

 

[enjoy the ride]

First I need to apologize for whining on line- I hate that and have rarely done it.

Then, what cause such despair that day was that it appears to me that less and less people are productive and responsible. How can they be when there are so few jobs that pay well with good benefits? I can imagine quite readily that the coming generation will see that no effort will gain them much and therefore conclude that is not worth it to make an effort. Don't go to school, don't parent well, don't anything that takes effort. Don't seek satisfaction through doing something with your life.

That lead the thought as to what people do in the absence of productive work- they numb the ennui and self-loathing with drugs of any kind- first pot or alchohol then very possible other things far worse.

Pot is virtually legal here- a medical pot card is so available that I just saw on Craig's List this morning someone offering to do gardening work (including use of his 215 card) for $20 per hour.
And what has happened- this last week a man who had is own 215 card broke into the house of two older 215 people, assaulted them and stole their pot. Not an uncommon thing- lead to the death of one man a couple months ago. And another is under investigation now. A lot of people have a pretty tenuous hold on anything approaching good judgement- put an intoxicant into them and see what happens.

Probably half the house fires in the last year have been due to 215 people over loading the house wiring with indooor grows. Many car accidents with pot involved, including one that ended in the death of a 9 year girl who was just riding home from school with her family and got whacked by an idiot racing at 100 mph. It could go on and on.

And all these people, like my neighbors, are perfectly convinced they are doing just fine. They believe their actions are reasonable and normal. Even after killing someone- there is a total disconnect between what they did and any consequences.

I had hear lots of people say they would prefer someone driving under the influence of pot than alcohol- my response is that they will get their wish- they will have both and, not infrequently, both at the same time. Intoxicated people on anything do not make appropriate decisions.
It is not a choice between the lesser of two evils as with deciding between cancer and heart failure. Neither is wanted.

 

[2dream]

ETR - agree totally. Driving under the influence of any thing is totally irresponsible. Actually trying to do anything worth while under the influence is pretty much a waste of time. Something will happen. Sawed off thumb, half done job, messed up material are just minor things that can happen around the house or at work. So driving under those influences, including prescription drugs and over the counter cough syrup are not at all recommended.

You are so right on with less and less people being responsible and productive.

And last but not least, you should never apologize for whining on this site. Thats what we are all here for. To listen, discuss, and let our thoughts be known. We all come from different areas of the country and parts of the world. Crime in my area is never pot related. Its always money motivated or major drugs such as meth or crack. Money crimes are committed by the unemployed trying to maintain and are seldom violent. Drugs, well, that goes without saying and are always violent. I live right outside of one of the nations major crime/murder hot spots. I think we are in the top 10 for murders in the nation. Until I read some of the responses here I had never heard of a pot related crime. It gives me great insight into what others see and what is happening in other areas. I will add that just because I have not heard of it here locally does not mean it does not happen. It simply means that because of the situation with so much violent crime in my area it may take a backseat and never make the news. Or as long as it is non violent or a small amount of pot the law may just look the other way with so many major things going on.

 

[Mackay]

Funny. My husband smokes pot.
He will be sitting around doing nothing until he has a hit or two and the next think I know we have a new roof or a pond built, or plans in progress for the next level of construction.

I haven't smoked pot in a really long time, maybe 20 years now, mostly because of my job, not because I think it is bad. I will be quitting this job pretty soon and when I do I think I will be getting closer to nature in a number of ways!

Good pot always made me feel like being out in nature and really interacting with my world... it always made me feel like singing, dancing, and laughing with people. I remember doing a marathon mega canning session with women friends back in the early 80's. We had a blast canning 60 quarts of tomatoes and spaghetti sauce while smoking some fine Hawaiian! It always took the serious edge off of life and helped me to get past some inhibitions to have more fun. The world seems more fun when it is shinny and things seem more alive.

And if you don't think that nursing is a bummer, always dealing with peoples bummers, or working in a cubical like so many people do, day after day after day. I think pot should be mandatory to maintain mental health!

I think quite a few folks out there are probably smoking some kind of trash.

Like anything in this world things can be overdone and It always seemed to me that a good toke just made you more of who you are.

So if smoking makes you lazy perhaps you really need to re-evaluate what you are doing with your life.

 

[Big Daddy]

I used to smoke pot from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning, until I went to bed. I'm like Mackay's husband. I would have a project that needed to be done. I would go smoke a few hits then stand around and figure out how I wanted to do my project. It's great for making mundane things more exciting. I had a job assembling control panels for nuclear reactor control rooms. This was back in 1979 before 3 Mile Island, It was a mundane job. I started off in the cable room cutting and stripping cables and after 6 years I was a quality control lead person. I smoked the whole time and I was actually much more productive when high. They tracked productivity and accuracy and I was always at the very top of the list. I think you will find that with people that smoke pot 24/7 they are either non functioning slugs or they are very productive, very creative. I think pot enhances a persons natural characteristics. If you are a slug, then pot makes you more of one. Or it can be the other way around. Authoritarians have a problem with pot because they have a hard time telling when somebody is stoned. Of course it's easy if a cop pulls over a carload of kids that just got don smoking a doob and the smoke is rolling out the window and the kids can't stop giggling. If I smoke a few bong hits then take a shower, brush my teeth and use some Visine there ain't a cop that will be able to tell I am high. A urinalysis tells them if I have ingested THC in the last 30 days. So I think that's an issue for law enforcement. I think most law enforcement professionals that aren't just jerks feel that pot is pretty low on the to do list for making society a safer place to live. I don't really think it will ever get legalized. It would require too many cycles of Democratic leadership. Right now the states that have legalized it for medicinal use are over run with people turning a quick buck before the wind changes direction. Here in Colorado you can find some really ultra high quality stuff on Craigslist for medicinal use. Lot of people making good legal money for the time being.

Alas I have asthma and I can't do what used to be one of my favorite things. Yes it was probably the pot that gave me the asthma. I smoked from 19 till 44. I have a job that pays quite well and I live in a nice house and have 8 kids and a 24 year marriage. I know numerous other people that are in the same or better condition. I also know some that are slugs that only do what they need too. They have always been that way and will probably always be that way. On the other hand I do know numerous people that have ruined their lives with booze. My best friend used to get beat up by his girlfriend. She's half his size. She would get a couple six packs in her and she would turn in to the B**ch from Hell. She would start hitting him and then she would start in with the teeth. They went to jail a couple times. Her with no marks at all,him with blood pouring from bite marks and scratches all over him. He would eventually get released. He finally got rid of her. Of course if you're over 20 we all have one of those stories. Or if you went to college you know somebody that died in the dorms from drinking shots.

I've always been amazed at the role money plays in our lives. I wish there was some way to separate politicians from wealthy lobbyist. Then some real change could happen.

 

[me&thegals]

I don't have too much of an opinion on this except to say that it would be incredible how much money states would save if pot were legalized. Imagine what it would do to state budgets to not only earn the tax $ but clear out a LOT of folks in prison, making more room for those we are truly afraid to have out on the streets.

I have no experience with pot, personally, friends or family. I DO have the perspective of spending time with my dad's entirely alcoholic family and have seen the absolute devastation that and other drugs (pot? not sure.) have with them. My 40-yo aunt died of cancer in jail while awaiting her drug-dealing related trial and was buried by her family with a pack of beer and a carton of cigs. Nobody seemed to notice the irony.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Ah- the view of life through the pot haze-
1) it isn't a choice between pot and alcohol- alcoholics will drink, potheads will smoke- and a lot will do both. Saying smoing pot is better than drinking because it causes less violence is the same logic that allows someone who steals all the money from an old man to think of themselves as decent because they didn't also beat him to a pulp. Neither is good. And it makes assumptions that doing one will eliminate the other.
2) Anyone who can't find the joy of nature or of friends or of life in general without pot is certainly crippled emotionally. Those things need no motivation or suspension of judgement- they are the reward in life.
3) If smoking pot gives a person asthma, what is it doing to the people who live with you too. not to mention dead brain cells.
4) All these industrious pot smokers hiding out there- wow- the only ones that I know have marginal work ethic, hardly do other than sit around and who have made their money mostly by growing to sell. The longer they smoke, the less they do. Some people may cope but what wasted life just to sit there and be satisfied with the illusion.

If there was a manufactured product that damaged lives in the same way a pot does, the courts would be crowded with law suits over it and the Congress would be posturing right and left over it.
If only 1 person out of 10 is damaged, that is too many.
Even if there are people who do well while engaging everyday pot use, they have no right to gain their pleasure and considering the collateral damage of an ethic that ignores the damage caused those less able.

Think about statements from a person takes something to change their emotional reaction to something- they deliberately impair some part of their thought process. Then expect anyone who hasn't the same agenda to accept their judgement? Their impaired judgement?

 

[Big Daddy]

Ah- the view of life through the pot haze-
1) it isn't a choice between pot and alcohol- alcoholics will drink, potheads will smoke- and a lot will do both. Saying smoing pot is better than drinking because it causes less violence is the same logic that allows someone who steals all the money from an old man to think of themselves as decent because they didn't also beat him to a pulp. Neither is good. And it makes assumptions that doing one will eliminate the other.
2) Anyone who can't find the joy of nature or of friends or of life in general without pot is certainly crippled emotionally. Those things need no motivation or suspension of judgement- they are the reward in life.
3) If smoking pot gives a person asthma, what is it doing to the people who live with you too. not to mention dead brain cells.
4) All these industrious pot smokers hiding out there- wow- the only ones that I know have marginal work ethic, hardly do other than sit around and who have made their money mostly by growing to sell. The longer they smoke, the less they do. Some people may cope but what wasted life just to sit there and be satisfied with the illusion.

If there was a manufactured product that damaged lives in the same way a pot does, the courts would be crowded with law suits over it and the Congress would be posturing right and left over it.
If only 1 person out of 10 is damaged, that is too many.
Even if there are people who do well while engaging everyday pot use, they have no right to gain their pleasure and considering the collateral damage of an ethic that ignores the damage caused those less able.

Think about statements from a person takes something to change their emotional reaction to something- they deliberately impair some part of their thought process. Then expect anyone who hasn't the same agenda to accept their judgement? Their impaired judgement?

You obviously don't smoke or know too many smokers. That's cool but it doesn't put you on a higher horse. There is something out there right now that damages lives much worse than pot ever could. It's been around for almost as long as fire. It's called alcohol. I don't see Congress stumbling over themselves for alcohol. As a matter of fact I would bet that most of them drink plenty of alcohol.

As far as asthma goes. Asthma is inherited but does have triggers. I think pot is one of the triggers. It doesn't do anything to any of the people living with me. Reason is because I never smoked in their presence. It doesn't have the same carcinogenic properties as cigarettes but still can't be good for the other people around me. So unless they were smoking with me then they weren't with me.

Using a drug for a crutch doesn't make a person emotionally crippled. Most people use a crutch of one kind or another. There's everybody's favorite Religion. Then there's alcohol. Some people do a lot of exercise for the endorphins. Most people do something.

By the way. My post wasn't through a pot induced haze. I haven't done pot for years. Also haven't known too many people that would smoke pot then drink alcohol. Although they will drink alcohol then smoke pot. Alcohol is much better at impairing judgment than pot is.