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Haven't been lurking on Alla lately. I went on a trip to Europe for about 16 days, but even before then I hadn't been hanging around much. It'd been even longer since I posted, I think the last one was just some dribble about music in the OOT.

But now Asylum, I present you with a post! Just posting a link to a news site is enough to incite a flourish of frenzied posts here, or at least it used to be, so I wont force a TL;DR on you all.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20073545-503544.html is the link in question. To my knowledge, the first bill to actually reach Congress concerning going in the opposite direction with marijuana.

Now while I enjoy marijuana, I educated myself about it, and still do. Magazines, research sites, effects, I very much wanted to be informed about the drug I was considering trying.

I just wanted to hear opinions from many sides of the topic, and Alla is a great place to do that. I've always liked discussing things here because the range of people here is so broad - the only uniting element is games, which gives us a diverse population concerning this, since the two topics aren't related. Well, maybe slightly. Most stoners play games. But that's not the point.

With almost 100% certainty I believe we can say that this wont go through on try #1, but it's a step towards the whole legalization thing. Although I'm not sure if that's a good ultimate goal, really. What will happen then? Cigarette companies will sell joints with nicotine in them? In my eyes, that would be horrible, terrible. Awful. How dank will it be? Will you still have to go to a street dealer to get anything strong? Will the commercial stuff be weak?

With seemingly only 1 Republican backing this, it seems like it'd be easy to say that it's just all Democrat shenanigans and hooey.

And for the life of me, I can't figure this out - there is a press conference or something happening tomorrow on the bill. But will it be on TV? Live stream? I might as well watch it, nothing better to do.

Tailmon first post?

This is going to be a long thread...

But more to the point, carcinogens are actually the one thing I haven't studied up much one in regards to marijuana, I ought to.

More on topic to the thread, same thing as cigs, people choose what they do to themselves, etc.

This particular bit. Just recently I was in London and Paris. London has a lot of cigarette smokers, on the sidewalks, walking, eating outside, etc. But I didn't see the maddening things that I did in Paris, in London. In Paris I saw probably even more people smoking, they just love it! But I saw people smoking while holding their toddlers' hand or pushing a baby stroller. I think that's just wrong. Wrong for their lungs and for their heads.

Vaporizer/baked goods.

I really hope that wasn't your only objection

I've smoked pot and synthetic pot. I've eaten pot brownies and cookies. I own a vaporizer, which is by far the best way to consume marijuana (none of that "OH GOD, I NEVER SMOKE, I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA PUKE UP A LUNG!" feeling). For me, marijuana has always been "meh," coming in at a distant second to alcohol if I want to alter my state of mind. I've never had a high as "good" as being drunk (not blotto drunk, but like 3-4 drinks in drunk). Either I get too much, too little, or just don't feel anything more than having severe ADD.

That said, yeah, legalize it. I think this bill sounds good at a glance. Slap on a warning on packs that "smoking can cause cancer and it's illegal to smoke and drive," whip up some legislation to add marijuana to DUI laws (if it's not there already), and put a nice tax on it. Bam, done.

Edit: I also read an interesting article on psylocybin (the psychedelic drug in magic mushrooms) the other day that seems interesting. Seems that getting the right amount of it can really help trauma, depression, and PTSD. Would be nice if that were opened up as an option.

Edited, Jun 23rd 2011 8:05am by LockeColeMA

This law is minor and necessary. It just makes sense.



Since, as stated in the article, 16 states now allow medicinal use of marijuana, federal law shouldn't conflict with a person's ability to receive their scheduled, prescribed medication. I know marijuana is still slow to release its stigma as a "bad" drug, but the fact is that it is useful in many instances to help people who are chronically sick.

In related commentary, on Monday I had to take an alcohol training certification class as required by my job. I find it funny that I'm required to spend 4 hours learning how to deal with a drunk person appropriately. Mind you, we all know alcohol does some crazy things to a person's brain processes, but I couldn't help but think about how little marijuana actually distorts your reality in comparison.

It may just have been I'm not as used to being high, but I feel like I get MUCH more messed up on pot than while drunk. My biggest danger while drunk is that I still have full motion and lessened social inhibitions - I usually say stupid things, and don't think "Oh yeah, texting your ex might not be a good idea."

First time I ever tried pot was in a brownie (made by my budding hippy of a sister and her friends back in college). After an hour with no effect, the world went CRAZY. I could visualize trees being painted on the ceiling as I laid in bed, and had the worst case of vertigo/nausea ever. I couldn't tell if the door was 10 feet or 100 feet away (although in my mind I knew it was 10 feet away), my heart was pounding in my chest, and I had a generally rotten time all around. It was terrible.

Now, I've never had anywhere near that while smoking or vaporizing. The worst that's happened while smoking was I had to sit on a couch for half an hour and close my eyes because the light hurt too much to keep them open. I also ended up eating an entire bag of Valentine's Day heart gummies, which I later threw up. ***** you, munchies.

Yeah, thinking about it now, I really don't like using pot I never really have a good time. Still, it should be legal, or at least up to the states to decide.

TL;DR.

I guess you didn't bother reading my second post. Must be the drugs and lack of brain cells left.
Spending the months watching someone die is not enough for you? When and if it happens to you
maybe you will have a different view. You haven't bothered with secondary smoke and what it does
to your kind and friends. I love living in a home that doesn't smell like cigarettes or wearing clothing
that doesn't smell anymore.

Less people die from marijuana than alcohol and tobacco. Funny which ones are legal.

Ah, now that you mention it, it hadn't occurred to me that they can't test on the spot for it. I guess they'd just have to rely on physical symptoms? But that's probably a weak solution if the rates of impaired driving go up.

Perhaps SCIENCE! will step up to the plate and create a pot breathalyzer-equivalent.

Edited, Jun 23rd 2011 11:23am by Eske

It's possible, but honestly, do you really think there are any people out there who want to smoke marijuana but don't, just because it's illegal? Prohibition didn't work with alcohol and it's certainly not working with weed.

I smoked pot in college but stopped afterward just because I couldn't be bothered to find any once leaving the campus. If it was available from the local gas station or liquor store, I might have acted differently. The whole "find a dealer" thing was a nonstarter for me -- I just didn't care that much about smoking weed.

Yes.

I would probably smoke pot recreationally if my job didn't drug test annually.