Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in CA - Up for Vote

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Considering that I live in the most marijuana-friendly county in California, all this will do is add a few more bong shops to the downtown strip. XD Pretty much everyone I know is all for legalization, and considering that the long-term side effects are just about as bad as alcohol (brain damage and memory loss, mostly) I don't see why we can't have one but not the other. I don't use the stuff myself, but that doesn't mean no one else can.

If anything, I'd say ban the stuff that causes lung cancer. ;)
 
i always thought if they did legalize it, it should be put under the same laws as tobacco. People are gonna get high, dumbasses for doing so but you can't control that, and pot is basically another cigarette so making it legal will allow law enforcement to put more time into crimes that matter. I see no reason to arrest people for using a drug that turns them in to happy giggling fools.
 
Surely is they legalize it and I'm guessing you'll see some kinda of mainstream way of buying it also? Then you'll get more people driving and smoking it right? I mean that's putting others at risk.
 
Dancingweapon said:
Surely is they legalize it and I'm guessing you'll see some kinda of mainstream way of buying it also? Then you'll get more people driving and smoking it right? I mean that's putting others at risk.
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<True Strike>

I don't wanna be driving, get hit, and have the guy be like "*giggle* Yo dawg, *giggle*, your car was, like, *giggle* WAAAAAAAAAAAY out there, man, *giggle*"
 
Let's be realistic about this folks. Marijuana does not impare your driving skills like alcohol does, if at all. The U.S. Department of Transportation did a study on this by the way, and the results are there for you to view. Heck, it's less dangerous than talking on the phone and driving. I'm 34, and I've been smoking pot since high school, but I am not a giggling fool who can't recognize that there is a car in front of me when I drive. It is long overdue for this drug to become legal and its time for us to get rid of this silly negative social stigma that comes along with it.


I'm one of those people who is a functioning stoner. I work in IT for the U.S. Courts, so I am trustworthy enough to maintain systems full of peoples personal information. Heck, I get to roam around a Federal Building full of Federal Agents, and have access to restricted areas like Judges chambers, etc. I'm active with NORML and work to promote Marijuana Legalization and Regulation. Just like anything, people can abuse this and turn into lazy skeevy stoners, but it can also be enjoyed in moderation. I'm getting tired of being worried about being arrested for purchasing something I use to take the edge off, and losing everything I've worked for. I don't drink, and I don't smoke cigarettes.
 
Well I just know that some people are certainly affected differently. I have smoked Marijuana a few times and every time I have I turn into a sleepy giggling twat. I rather it just stay as it is thanks. We have enough problems with people drink driving.
 
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Dancingweapon said:
Well I just know that some people are certainly are affected differently. I have smoked Marijuana a few times and every time I have I turn into a sleepy giggling twat. I rather it just stay as it is thanks. We have enough problems with people drink driving.
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If you don't like the way it affects you, then don't do it. It's a piss poor argument, but it's true. If you don't like how alcohol affects you, don't do it. If you don't like how marijuana affects you , don't do it. It's essentially one and the same. Legalizing pot won't suddenly mean everyone driving out there is stoned out of their mind and completely impaired. Yes, there will be people who abuse the drug, just as there are people that abuse alcohol, but most folks in either case are smarter than that, even when they are stoned or drunk. There is no significant difference between the ramifications of smoking pot and drinking alcohol, and in many cases marijuana is even less dangerous. It is only those people who abuse either one who will do stupid things. Yet one is legal and the other is not. One has repeatedly caused significant problems, and the other has not. I don't drink alcohol and I don't smoke marijuana, and frankly I can't stand either one in the least, but I will always defend a person's freedom to ingest either one as long as they're responsible for it.

Speaking as someone who lives in a county where just about everyone gets stoned at some point, do you know what causes more DUI crashes than anything?

Alcohol.

Know what doesn't?

Marijuana.

I don't think there has been a single DUI case in recent history in the entire county that has involved the driver being high on marijuana. That's not to say that it doesn't happen, as I'm sure it has and will, but it happens significantly less than alcohol related DUIs in an area where pot is a common commodity.

Anyway, that's my two cents.
 
So you think that legalizing marijuana will somehow create problems with people driving high? Do you think nobody drives high right now? That is the point with marijuana legalization. When alcohol was outlawed here in the states way back when, people still had access to it. It just brought more crime. You really have to look at the big picture with hemp and marijuana. If it's legalized, the following COULD happen:

Farmers who are losing income can farm hemp\marijuana.
We could ease the pain of federal logging regulations by harvesting hemp for products like paper.
Eco friendly fuel could be created using hemp oil and other hemp byproducts.
Rope and clothes could be made from hemp at low costs and could please animal activists at the same time.
Local and Federal agencies could see benefits from taxation, and could fill holes in funding for public safety.


Also note that several small counties in the U.S. rely on aide from the Feds to help funding for social programs and public safety due to federal regulations on things like logging. State run harvesting and sales sites could fill holes in funding by taxing this, and could help the Federal deficit since the Feds won't need to send them money. Trust me, Federal payments to rural counties is coming to an end, and many of these counties are struggling to find ways to get funding on their own. Something like legalization, in my state of Oregon, could help the local economy.


Legalization of this goes far beyond "smoking and driving" or how you react to it when you smoke it. www.NORML.org
 
While I understand there are people who can use it in recreation and function just fine, you can't deny there are those people who would simply abuse the fact that it could then be purchased openly and used openly and then turn into, as DW said, giggling twats. Also, secondhand smoke from cigarettes is bad enough, do we really wanna add secondhand marijuana smoke?

If it were legalized, there would have to be some form of law and regulation about where you couldn't use it, like in public places where other people could be affected by it.
 
what i find odd, is they are trying to legalize weed, while banning cigarettes from pretty much everywhere but inside your own home.

as is you will get a ticket for smoking a cigarette walking down the street, yet soon it may be perfectly fine to walk down the street smoking a joint?

personally, I'm FOR its legalization, i just find the hypocrisy amusing.
 
Miruyasha said:
While I understand there are people who can use it in recreation and function just fine, you can't deny there are those people who would simply abuse the fact that it could then be purchased openly and used openly and then turn into, as DW said, giggling twats. Also, secondhand smoke from cigarettes is bad enough, do we really wanna add secondhand marijuana smoke?

If it were legalized, there would have to be some form of law and regulation about where you couldn't use it, like in public places where other people could be affected by it.
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All these different terms and conditions on when/how to smoke it would all have to be regulated also. It would just cause more problems than it's worth, while some would use it respectively there will be those that don't. I know for a fact I don't want to be taking in drugs when I'm walking down the street with others who are smoking it. Also, who wants to smell like weed anyway?
 
Dancingweapon said:
All these different terms and conditions on when/how to smoke it would all have to be regulated also. It would just cause more problems than it's worth, while some would use it respectively there will be those that don't. I know for a fact I don't want to be taking in drugs when I'm walking down the street with others who are smoking it. Also, who wants to smell like weed anyway?
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Exactly, if they regulate and enforce cigarette laws they'd have to enforce and regulate marijuana laws, as well. You wanna buy it and use it in your own home on your own time, fine. As long as it doesn't affect the people around you.
 
Dancingweapon said:
I love the smell of Armani Code doesn't mean I spray it on people as I walk past.
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You would if you were in a mall in the perfume section...


Still though, not everyone wants to smell like/smell weed. You want your rights to legalization? We want our right to not have to smell like it or smell it.
 
If it is regulated, taxed and distributed legitimately, there will be far less "grow op" busts where loaded guns, thousands of dollars, harder drugs and other syndicates of crime are usually found.

Big house grow ops will be forced to compete with corporate marijuana cultivators. Imagine trying to grow tobacco and competing with a major cigarette brand.

There will be money saved from ending the prohibition and revenue for the government to make. Money that could be used for health care instead of the DEA. Perhaps this money could even help to reliably prevent "high" driving.

Arguing that you don't like the smell is hilarious. People already smoke very openly, at least they do in Vancouver.
 
yeah not saying anyone should be forced to inhale it, and im still not without mixed feelings over its legalization.

Weed has diff effects for everyone, but as someone who smokes it, I know its common effects are not always good things, it makes you lazy, makes you procrastinate, makes you not give a shit about anything ahead of you and just sit around happy with everything the way it is, weed has many effects that can have a very negative impact on life, and anyone that smokes/ has smoked that trys to say it doesn't is just lying to themselves. and anyone that trys to say its legalization wont increase the use of it is full of shit as well.

But, I've always been of the opinion that an individuals self control, or lack thereof, is the responsibility of that individual, not the government, or businesses.
 
I'm not really using the smell as an argument. I hate the smell from cigarettes also and having two things being blown around will just get more annoying. Besides, a lot of people in schools smoke during their breaks and stuff. You've got to think about if these kids then started smoking weed at school instead, all these little things need more regulating and are disrupting other peoples lives in the meantime.

I know I wouldn't want some giggling idiots in my class when I'm trying to learn. I doubt it will ever be legalized anyway, thankfully.
 
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