The Smoke Rises

Pot culture can be the most annoying shit on earth. "420 BLAZE IT FAGGOT" crap, white guys with dreads, and the absolute unwillingness to accept the drug of choice might have some negative effects (beyond forcing Taco Bell to employ people at 3 AM)

That said, there's way more than that (for example: the entire IT industry) and I certainly love my pot. I don't claim it to be a panacea in my life, and last year it was effecting me negatively in that it exacerbated my weight issues due to poor impulse control. It is simply something I do that I enjoy, I enjoy with others, helps make the mundane more interesting, makes bad media funny, and makes me less prone to having a dysthemic episode.
I have difficulty in saying "this social lubricant should be illegal" over "we could be making tax money off of this and I could be less paranoid around law enforcement".

I have the advantage of both living in a country where drug testing is almost a non-issue if heavy machinery is not involved, and in an industry where marijuana use is pretty common - I still don't have the balls to approach my co-workers about it though as I'm the youngest in my office by 12 years.

Also bongs for show, but vapes for a pro. I'm very partial to the Herbalaire - and I've tried a lot of vapes. I use a Magic Flight Launch Box now for 'stealth on the street' Though as Crown and Hooker will tell you I'm perfectly fine using a one hitter next to the Eaton centre if the mood strikes me.

 

Or unless, you know, if your employer may not allow it as a condition of employment.

Personally, I prefer for my surgeons, airline pilots, oil tanker captains and the like, to be drunk at work, not stoned. But, whatevs.

 

I have no doubt that what you're saying is 100% true. My fear is that with the legalization/decriminalization of pot all the annoying potheads will take it as evidence that their annoying, stoner tendencies are welcome in public society.

That and the fact that smoking pot is still smoking and smoking in and of itself is disgusting. If there was a different, less gross way of getting it into your system I would probably be a little less negative toward it.

 

I agree, but the difference is that drug tests nail you for having the residual chemicals in your system while breathilizers and blood tests just determine if you're drunk at the moment. As long as you're sober when you're at the job and performing what you do in your personal time shouldn't be used against you.

 

Love it, but don't smoke it anymore and I am totally in favor of legalizing it. It's focus in the war on drugs is the reason the war is preently a lost cause. Potheads like Crown and formerly Pimptress present no threat to society, yet our prisons are overcrowded with people just like them. Legalize it and tax it (it's the #1 cash crop in the US) and use the tax money to fund combating the serious fronts in the war on drugs, like prescription drug abuse. The illicit prescription drug market has a dollar value that nearly exceeds cocaine (including crack) and heroin combined.

As for the lethality, there has never been one single reported case of death by pot overdose.

 

Which is something that you, the employer are free to set standards about for your business. You want to drive a cab? You need a valid driver's license. You want to work for Larry's, Inc? Don't smoke pot. Larry should be able to set that standard, if he wants to, imho. I don't know enough about drug testing - can you differentiate between when someone is currently under the influence of pot, versus if it's a residual from last night? If you can, then I imagine most company policies on marijuana will eventually transition to the way they are for alcohol.

 

I still think a lot of companies drug test for reasons other than job performance (and the liabilities associated with it). I know of no drug test that yields immediate results, which is when the results are actually relevent to the premise that intoxicated (whether on alcohol or other drugs) individuals cannot be allowed to perform their normal duties. For certain professions I can see the value of drug testing as a deterrant because immediate result testing is unavailable, but too many companies (I believe) drug test that really have no business doing so. I work in an office setting, and I'd be pissed as hell if we started doing drug tests as a condition of employment.

 

To me what a person puts in their own body is their fucking business. Some of the food people eat on a daily basis has worse health effects than pot. The war on drugs is expensive, labor intensive, and a big part of the reason for our ridiculous prison population. Legalizing weed (and other drugs) obviously gets rid of the initial crime of drug use. But think of all of the other crimes that go away; trafficking, turf war murders, and large revenue streams for organized crime all just disappear by ending the drug war. And this is just the shit I can think up off the top of my head. Plus we now have a new taxable product. Wins all around.

To be clear I really do mean all drugs should be legal. And before anyone says they know some body who's life was ruined by meth or some shit, keep in mind the same can be said of alcohol and cigarettes. Instead of focusing on punishing people who do drugs why not focus on rehabilitation for people who can't use whatever their drug of choice is responsibly. Cigarette users are on the decline simply because people know how bad it is for you now. And cigarettes are socially reviled. People know how bad the hard core drugs are for you, so it's not like legalizing any drug is going to result in some huge bump in the drug using population. When I think about doing drugs jail time is not my biggest deterrence. I'm far more worried about winding up in some alley way dead with a needle in my arm.

 

Okay, that right there. If you people wonder why I have such burning hatred of law enforcement, it's the hypocrisy of it. There's a guy in one of my automotive classes right now who is a huge, annoying pothead. Guess what his dad does: He's head of the K9 division for the local branch of US customs. His job is to bust people with drugs, but it's okay for his kid to smoke.

Anyway, to stay on focus, put me with the "Don't smoke, but think it should be legal" crowd.
Now, the day that they make opiates legal I'll be rejoicing in the streets.

 

I think the most frustrating thing about it being illegal, is that the people who frown upon it and/or think it leads to hard drugs are either going to be dead in ten years or are so sheltered they have no idea why the Facts Of Life was taken off the air. And because of those people, it is considered immoral. These people of course think that their drugs are more morally righteous than our drugs just because they buy theirs in a store which is sort of silly if you . Steve Jobs took acid and he said the wheat fields began playing Bach, Anna Nicole Smith took perscription pills and couldn't dial 9-1-1. Now, not to say LSD could inspire a man to start a tech revolution, but he did say it was "One of the best decisions of my entire life".

It's pretty much unanimous on here that it should be legal. It's just common sense, and I think at least the advantages of doing so would far outweigh the disadvantages.

 

The Western Australian Police have a saliva swab test for amphetamines and marijuana that is meant to pick up if you are under the influence (i think if you have used in the past 6 hours... not sure on that though) but i dont know about the accuracy. Ive been able to find nothing about how a heavy smoker such as myself might fair with such a test, i may not have smoked since the night before but does my high level of intake influence it at all? These tests do not measure a level of intoxication either, its a simple yes/no this person has taken amphetamines/weed recently.

Normal drug tests will pick up residual pot use for i think up to 3 months depending on level of use and other factors like weight

 

I've tried a handful of different prescriptions for my anxiety, nothing comes close to cannabis. Between my racing mind and lack of appetite, weed fixes these problems. Granted I could go to my doctor and get on, yet another script, meddling with my chemical balances trying to find something as legitimate as weed. But it's not worth it to me.


I never even tried pot until college, but once you wipe away DAREs indoctrination, you realize this might be the stupidest, most corrupt legislation of all time. It trivializes our laws.


If GA ever joins the revolution, not very optimistic as we just legalized Sunday booze sales, I'd love to setup shop. As a son of two bioengineers for Monsanto, I like to get tips on their hydro settings for their legal plants. I can neither confirm nor deny any personal setup, but I am absorbing industry info like a sponge and have plenty of practice for expanding into a legitimate operation.

 

So why not just get a script for Marinol? Serious question.

 

THC is one of 66 cannabinoids found to be beneficial in cannabis. Marinol only has THC.


I also think the pharmaceutical industry is less reliable than Mother Nature in administering clean, safe dosages. Vaporizing removes the carcinogenic factors.

 

Being the gal in law enforcement, if it's legalized in the south (I'd probably see the homos legally marry before pot is legal) I'd be all for it. Fuck, my caseload is up to 275. The people with felony possession charges wiped out? That's probably half my caseload right there. It's not legal here, probably never will be, and while it's illegal, sorry dude. Misdemeanor possession of less than one ounce? I gotta put you in cuffs because it's a violation of probation, just like an arrest for open container in vehicle is as well. I don't agree with the law, but I'll enforce it because it's my job.

But it also presents issues as well - my probies use it and the majority do stupid shit while high. DUI and serious injury by vehicle because someone got high and lost control with a passenger in the car? Got quite a few with those charges.

If you listen to my boyfriend the narc (yes, a full on narcotics prosecutor), weed will come in and rape your children and slice your wife's throat in front of you. If you listen to me, it's more of "Legalizing that shit saves money, saves me a hassle with a huge caseload and mellows out some of the more aggressive felons. Just do it already and go after the Aryan Nation cooking meth with the Mexicans*."

Haven't touched the stuff in 12 years. Won't touch the stuff because I'll be fired on the spot if I test positive (dept does random screenings). I'm sure it would help with the anxiety and depressive spells I get, but, c'est la vie. Antidepressants and cognitive behavior therapy have to be a close second.

*yes, this is actually truth. Aryan Nation loathes the Hispanic population, but hey, if there's money involved, we can all get along!

 

I have a question: if it is truly recreationally legal in Colorado and The Grey Sky State, does that mean police officers can smoke it too (off duty that is). Lord, wouldn't that be interesting. Getting to finally legally try out the stuff you ruined people's lives over.

Entrepeneurs must be brainstorming all over these two states right now on how to capitalize financially off this. And grow-oppers are no doubt PISSED. When you legalize something like this, you shut down a lot of criminal livelihood. I wonder how they'll peddle it if it completely passes: coffee shops like in Amsterdam, or just those more ordinary pick-up places like California?

If I were there, I would renovate an old ice cream truck (I could borrow the one Black Jesus owns). Somebody probably already has that idea in the mail. I would love to own a coffe shop, though. I would hire the meanest friend I have, and if any caucasians with dreadlocks tried to walk in he would slip an aluminum trashcan over their bodies and kick it in with Doc Martens.

 

.....and that was exactly my point Bandit. You live on the border. In the city border patrol trucks rival citizen vehicles in number. Travel five miles outside of any border town and where the fuck are they? It's a show. Nothing more.

Most people on this board have no idea that there are cities in this country that look like that. It's like a different country, but not. I grew up in Texas and until I actually went down there I didn't either.


Legalize drugs? What would their purpose be then?

Stopping illegal immigration? Yea, this administration wants that bad.

Really, they have no idea how close we are to having anywhere from 10 to 20 million of them being able to legally vote themselves onto welfare.

Here's some music: Next campaign theme songs in 2016.

 

You're right, you're a little late with that one...

 

Wait, you seriously think most cops have never smoked pot? You do realize that they were teenagers/in their early twenties at one point, right?