The Pot Poll

[ZmOz]

This is obviously related to some of the other threads around here lately. No arguing about it here...just vote. <br /><br />"Legalize" could mean any number of variations, whether it's legal for everyone, only legal for adults, legal to grow or not, legal to possess only certain amounts, etc. Don't worry about the details.

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: The Pot Poll

I can't vote on the first one because I don't have enough information. As it stands right now I am rather ambiguous on the topic. I think it will never be legalized, it's too great a money machine for the courts, too great a feel good conquest for the police and the "potheads" have a negative social image.<br /><br />I have never smoked pot, or partook of any illegal substance. Never done illicit drugs, ever. And that answers question #4.<br /><br />I would however like to learn [b[facts[/b] about the whole scenario that made pot illegal. My cousin once told me it had to do with the paper industry, and he explained why but I don't remember.<br /><br />In my ignorance I see little difference between pot and alcohol in it's "affects" but one reason I think it will never be legalized is because of the lack of a "breathalyzer" for it's concentration in the body.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: The Pot Poll

I answered No, Yes, No, No. I know the argument for legalizing pot, but I don't agree with it. I too have never even tried an illegal drug, and I have absolutely no desire to. I have much better things to do than to sit around getting stoned all the time. If you make it legal, how do you regulate it? How do you make sure your heart surgeon isn't hitting the bong before he cracks your chest open? Or how about the school bus driver? Would certain professions be exempt from the legalization? And I know those who want it legalized say useage won't go up, but I say that's hogwash. Access makes it easier to experiment with it and THC is a very psychologically addicting drug. More kids will get hooked on it at an ealier age. No thanks, MAN! I'm too busy being high on life. I don't need that crap and I don't want to have to watch people making idiots of themselves smoking it either. Keep it underground where it belongs. Yeah, I get pretty fired up over this subject, but you asked.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: The Pot Poll

Originally posted by David L. Moore:<br />I would however like to learn [b[facts[/b] about the whole scenario that made pot illegal. My cousin once told me it had to do with the paper industry, and he explained why but I don't remember.

Search google for "marijuana tax act" and "marijuana prohibition" and you'll find most of the facts about why it became illegal. I can assure you it wasn't because of any actual negative effects on people or society in general.<br /><br /><br />

Originally posted by Drowned Rat:<br />How do you make sure your heart surgeon isn't hitting the bong before he cracks your chest open?

How do you know they haven't now? Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's hard to find. How do you know they're not drunk? How do you know they haven't had 40 cups of coffee and can't make precise cuts? There would still be drug testing in professions like that which would still prohibit marijuana use exactly the same as it is today.<br /><br />

Originally posted by Drowned Rat:<br />THC is a very psychologically addicting drug.

As you say, "hogwash". How would you know if you've never tried it? THC is no more addicting than any pleasureable item or activity, such as cheeseburgers, or sex. People can become highly addicted to those things, but it is also highly unusual and no reason to ban such activities. This is a proven fact and cannot be debated.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: The Pot Poll

Is this the opposite of Pol Pot <br /><br /> http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/PolPot <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />Ken

 

[ZmOz]

Re: The Pot Poll

Originally posted by KenImpZoom:<br /> Is this the opposite of Pol Pot <br /><br /> http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/PolPot <br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />Ken

 

[mattttt25]

Re: The Pot Poll

just my thoughts...<br /><br />i smoke pot early in life, probably when i was 14 or so. first time with a couple of older guys. the next day, my friend and i smoked at work, and almost fell off a barn roof we were working on. fun, silly feeling being high at work. about 3 days later, i found myself trying to get out of wrestling practice so i could smoke with my friend again. fortunately, i saw how it affected me early and made a quick decision... i'd rather focus on the important things in life- school, sports, etc. and not how i could find and use a drug. never touched the stuff since then.<br /><br />my brother started smoking around 16. 10 years later and he is a drug addict with 4 DUIs, no license, 2 trips to the ER for overdosing, and 5 failed attempts at rehab. his most recent attempt landed him in intensive impatient care. he's out and clean for 115 days, but still very much on the edge. he went from pot to every drug imaginable. is pot a gateway drug? in my opinion, it has to be- someone finds a substance that provides a high and then decides there may be better out there. but i also know millions are spent debating the issue. when it hits so close, i refuse to look the other way.<br /><br />i have a difficult time buying into the benefits of legalizing this crap. so the govt buys everything it can cheaply and then taxes the crap out of it. now ony the upper class can afford it. do you think the lower and middle class users won't find it elsewhere? don't think there will be a black market? and when it's available legally in stores- how will it not find itself in the hands of children? we fight this now with tobacco and alcohol. seems like one more problem for us to deal with.

 

[one more cast]

Re: The Pot Poll

I knew this poll would come up sooner or later.<br /><br /> I think we also need a cigarette and alcohol poll of the same type. I'm amazed at the people around my area that drink like fish and smoke cigarettes constantly without a thought of how it effects the people around them and think that it is just fine to drink and drive and buy booze for minors. Then mention pot and they go through the roof. As far as pot leading to harder drugs. Thats like saying bicycles lead to 155 mph motorcycle crashes or beer leads to whiskey or canoes lead to speedboats. Some people should never smoke pot or drink or drive or boat or whatever. In my experience pot made me work like a fool (not at my job just at home). I dug a 12' well , water lines,septic tank and leach field all with a shovel.<br /><br />Mattttt, Your experience is why 14 year olds should not smoke or drink.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: The Pot Poll

As you say, "hogwash". How would you know if you've never tried it? THC is no more addicting than any pleasureable item or activity, such as cheeseburgers, or sex. People can become highly addicted to those things, but it is also highly unusual and no reason to ban such activities. This is a proven fact and cannot be debated.<br />

I "know so much about it" because I've been around it my whole career. It is very psychologically addicting and that is the proven fact.

 

[Nos4r2]

Re: The Pot Poll

Originally posted by Drowned Rat:<br />

As you say, "hogwash". How would you know if you've never tried it? THC is no more addicting than any pleasureable item or activity, such as cheeseburgers, or sex. People can become highly addicted to those things, but it is also highly unusual and no reason to ban such activities. This is a proven fact and cannot be debated.<br />

I "know so much about it" because I've been around it my whole career. It is very psychologically addicting and that is the proven fact.

Proven by whom?<br />Unless you've tried something you're really not qualified to comment on it's effects on the user.<br /><br />Too right OneMoreCast. Too many people jump to conclusions without any real evidence-and I'd put money on it that the majority of the 'anti's assumptions are based on negative experiences when young-but lets face it, if we based all our decisions on experiences as kids then we wouldn't drive, fly, smoke, drink or do very much at all.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: The Pot Poll

Actually due to the laws that have been placed upon the substance, research cannot be done by private or government agencies. Therefore we do not know what its full capabilities are.<br /><br />Who really knows? We don't because it can't be researched. This is just another one of those things that people hear propaganda about and believe what they want to believe.<br /><br />Accept it or not, there are millions of closet criminals out there. <br /><br />The best enforcement for the War on Drugs has been the use of drug screens to have a drug free work space. With this being done and less pot being smoked by adults, it is now being pushed a lot more on our youth.<br /><br />Mattt, you mentioned a black market on it? Duh, Isn't the black market suppling it now?

 

[imported_Curmudgeon]

Re: The Pot Poll

Unless you've tried something you're really not qualified to comment on it's effects on the user.<br /><br />What a dumb statement! I've not shot myself in the head, but it doesn't take much qualification to comment on the effect. And I've dealt with enough drug addicts/pot abusers to know the effect on the user, too; it ain't rocket science or something cosmic.<br /><br />Bottom line is that the stuff is illegal, and it'll stay that way until society in general wishes to change it. Right now we don't, so get over it.

 

[mattttt25]

Re: The Pot Poll

duh? my point exactly, there is now and will be one if they legalized/taxed it. users won't pay the high cost, so that argument fails.

 

[mrbscott19]

Re: The Pot Poll

gotta say you're wrong there mattttt, well at least partially. If the government gets its paws into it, then supply will skyrocket. Surely you know the rules of supply and demand? But you are correct when you say the underground will continue. However, if the government can put out a quality product at a decent price, even if it is higher than the street price, they will drive most dealers out of business since most just sell crap weed. Very few dealers sell a quality product, but the ones that do make 10x as much money selling 1/3 as much product.

 

[pjc]

Re: The Pot Poll

"Bottom line is that the stuff is illegal, and it'll stay that way until society in general wishes to change it. Right now we don't, so get over it."<br /><br />wrong member OC. society has little input. Booze and beer lobby does. As well as Legal Money Machine.

 

[pjc]

Re: The Pot Poll

Further, should all currently legal intoxicants be legislated as illegal, banned, and those who violate this law be severely punished?

 

[Nos4r2]

Re: The Pot Poll

Originally posted by Old Curmudgeon:<br /> Unless you've tried something you're really not qualified to comment on it's effects on the user.<br /><br />What a dumb statement! I've not shot myself in the head, but it doesn't take much qualification to comment on the effect. And I've dealt with enough drug addicts/pot abusers to know the effect on the user, too; it ain't rocket science or something cosmic.<br />

I did originally put in the words "Obvious exceptions apply"-but I removed it, thinking no-one would be quite as moronic or pedantic as to quote shooting themselves in the head or suicide bombing as an argument against my statement. Oh well, for your sake I'll change the statement to:- Unless you've tried a non-physically addictive drug or conducted exhaustive non-biased scientific tests on it then you're not qualified to comment on its effects on the user. By the way, this does NOT include dropping a 3 tonne block of it on someone's head and calling it an overdose.<br /><br />I very strongly object to being lumped into the same category as heroin and crack addicts for smoking the odd bit of weed occasionally. If you really want to call me an addict, you can call me a nicotine addict for smoking cigarettes, along with every other smoker out there.

 

[QC]

Re: The Pot Poll

Originally posted by Nos4r2:<br /> By the way, this does NOT include dropping a 3 tonne block of it on someone's head and calling it an overdose.

LMAO

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: The Pot Poll

Proven by whom?<br />Unless you've tried something you're really not qualified to comment on it's effects on the user.<br />

Numerous studies on both humans and animals have been performed to show the psychological addictive nature of THC. Too much literature to even bother posting, you can research it for yourself if you're that interested. And I can comment on the effects on a user because I see it all the time. <br /><br />From Websters Dictionary:<br />Main Entry: ad·dic·tion <br />Pronunciation: &-'dik-sh&n, a-<br />Function: noun<br />1 : the quality or state of being addicted <addiction to reading><br />2 : compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful <br /><br />Sound like anyone you know?<br /><br /> Characterized by tolerance <br />Heavy users can need as much as 8 times the amount of this drug as they needed to get the same high when they first started. This is called tolerance.<br /><br /> Well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal <br />Restlesness, irritibility, physical tension, <br />decreases in appetite and mood, aggresion, depression, etc...<br /><br /> Persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful <br />Are you going to tell me it's not harmful? That's a whole other thread.<br /><br />I'm not making this stuff up. If you think maijuana isn't addictive, you've been misled. Check your own sources. Do your own research. The final word on this shouldn't come from "High Times" magazine.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: The Pot Poll

Double Post