Legalization of Cannabis WA/ CO
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codethree
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Im from Washington and yes it is still illegal under federal law. Personaly I think it was a bad idea to leagalize it because it will only cause more car wreaks and other issues due to driving under the influence. Although on the other hand that is job security for us right!? And it will bring money into the state, Washington is talking about taxing it up to 50%.
chillybreeze
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I tend to disagree on the car wreck issue. People will be more paranoid about their driving while smoking pot than the reckless driving some people have driving while under the influence of alcohol
NomadicMedic
I know a guy who knows a guy.
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Got a citation for this, or is it just based on anecdotal experiences?
ThirdCareerMedic
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:lol: I would like to see a research proposal for a study on this!
chillybreeze
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:rofl: ummm.....ahhhh...lets just say anecdotal experience! My teen years were a long time ago! I think I remember them!!
chillybreeze
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They have studies on everything else Im surprised they havent done one!!!:blink:
firetender
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Here's a start:
http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Myths-Facts-Scientific-Evidence/dp/0964156849
It's important that each of us comes to a better understanding of ALL of the intoxicants that human beings will use, especially the ones where there is what's true and what we are told. The illegality of marijuana is an important industry for the U.S. because it fills so many privately operated jails.
http://www.amazon.com/Marijuana-Myths-Facts-Scientific-Evidence/dp/0964156849
It's important that each of us comes to a better understanding of ALL of the intoxicants that human beings will use, especially the ones where there is what's true and what we are told. The illegality of marijuana is an important industry for the U.S. because it fills so many privately operated jails.
Having used Cannabis a handful (4-6) of times as a wee lad (read: 16-17 y/o), I can safely say that there are no hallucinogenic effects that result from use of marijuana (unless it has been laced). While THC is a psychoactive chemical, it is considered a mild psychedelic.
I get the feeling that a majority of the harsh treatment of the drug is a result of misinformation and inexperience. While most of my knowledge might be considered skewered because of my "bias" due to past use, I assure you it's as objective as possible. I only tried it a limited number of times because I couldn't stand the high, nor the people and atmospheres generally associated with it. The high is similar to being drunk, but much more sluggish and peaceful. While drunk, one might feel invincible or all-knowing, cannabis tends to make even the more roided-out frat boy turn into a harmless smirking Cheshire Cat, and makes you more curious and pseudo-philosophical than anything.
The reason I describe this, is because the original reasoning for the banning of Marijuana in the US was mainly a political issue. Industrial hemp was cheaper and more effective than most materials such as wood pulp or jute and would put paper-makers and the like out of business if they didn't overhaul their manufacturing structure. The more publicized reason (see "Reefer Maaaaadness!") was that it made Cannabis users violent and murderous (sometimes with a racially-tinged nod towards African-American "reefer-heads").
To also note the question of increasing DUIs and wrecks, the penalties for driving high would be equal to or greater than those for drunk driving, compounded by the fact that THC lingers longer in the blood stream than ETOH. However, it is my experience that drivering that are mildly to moderately intoxicated would rather drive extremely cautiously and slower than they think they are going due to the sluggish and paranoid feelings brought on by THC. Additionally, THC does not impair judgement as ETOH does. It may slow thought processes down, but driving while high seems like just as bad of an idea when you're sober as when you're high. When a driver is drunk, the idea is more similar to "Nahh, I've got this, I can pull it together and focus!"
Drunk people will dance half-naked with lampshades on their heads, then puke and pass out, risking aspirating vomit should they puke again after passing out, not to mention the threat of alcohol poisoning. With THC products, I have yet to see somebody do something stupid while high (that they wouldn't normally do--people who are stupid sober will be stupid high) and there's not been a single marijuana "overdose," because it's simply not physically possible to ingest that much THC in a short enough period of time. Being drunk is controlled ethanol poisoning, being high is from having the cannabinoid receptors stimulated.
In my honest opinion, THC is illegal because the ban on it is so long standing that the idea of legalizing a drug that has been so illegal for so long is just a foreign concept to the generations of DARE program and Nancy Reagan kids.
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Here's an even better question - What about EMS agencies in these states. Will a positive drug screen for THC still be a failure?
Aidey
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I think the safe assumption is yes. Just because it is legal doesn't mean employers are going to remove it from their policies. See policies for tobacco and alcohol use for reference.
ThirtyAndTwo
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Marijuana: An Overview
Let me start off by saying that I am not a doctor, nor do I have any advanced degrees in pharmacology, however I am currently studying psychiatry and focusing on drugs and addiction. As a result, I have a great wealth of knowledge when it comes to marijuana so I hope to provide an overview of some hot topics concerning marijuana.
First off in response to the original question: Marijuana is illegal under federal law for any use, be it medical or recreational. This means that federal officials can arrest anyone in possession of marijuana, and it also means some other things for example you cannot ship marijuana through the mail because the mail system is federally controlled, even within a state where marijuana has been legalized. The way around this is in states where it has been legalized, state and local police cannot arrest you for possession because according to the laws under which they operate, marijuana is legal. Technically an FBI agent could drive to Colorado and arrest anyone with marijuana, but this is very unlikely to happen because federal agents would not concern themselves with such a minor offense.
Is it a good thing that marijuana is becoming more and more legal? Yes and no. First of all, there is no denying that marijuana is bad for you. This is a scientific fact and simply cannot be refuted. That said, there are tons of legal things that are bad for you as well, such as tobacco, alcohol, fast food, a sedentary lifestyle…the list goes on and on. From this, I can conclude that it is at least inconsistent with current laws to make marijuana illegal BASED SOLEY on the fact that it is harmful to your health.
How bad is it for you? That's tough to answer but I can give some examples. The main factor is how and how often one uses marijuana. Marijuana smoke is carcinogenic, just like cigarette smoke, meaning it causes cancer, but smoking marijuana once will not increase you chances of getting cancer by any measurable amount, it depends on how much you smoke. For example, cigarettes cause more cancer than marijuana because 1) more people smoke cigarettes and 2) people who smoke tobacco smoke much more (gram for gram) than people who smoke marijuana, which leads us to our next point: addiction.
It is a myth that marijuana is not addictive. People get addicted to marijuana, there is irrefutable scientific and anecdotal evidence to confirm this. Its really very obvious, anything that causes enjoyment or pleasure has the potential to be addictive the important factors are going to be HOW addictive it is and the consequences of that addiction. Compared to other recreational drugs (including alcohol and tobacco), marijuana is significantly less addictive. This is because marijuana dependence is rare, it takes a lot of marijuana to create a physical dependence to it where one would experience withdrawal symptoms if they were to stop abruptly. Because of this, marijuana's addiction potential is mostly psychological. Bear in mind however that psychological addiction is more often than not the most difficult aspect of addiction to treat. Physical dependence can be treated by simply weening off a drug in detox period, however psychological addiction requires a good amount of quality psychotherapy and self will, and in some cases drugs as well. All of this said, its relatively rare to find someone with only an addiction to marijuana. Most marijuana addictions are part of a poly drug addiction. The consequences of a genuine marijuana addiction more or less parallel a tobacco addiction, however marijuana cause more psychological problems so its safe to say marijuana addiction is more harmful than tobacco addiction.
A common thing said in support of marijuana is "Why doesn't the government just legalize it so they can tax it?" While this seems like a good idea, there are a number of problems with it. For one, its takes a lot to completely reverse a federal law. For marijuana, this would require scientific studies on both the health and social effects of legalizing marijuana and years of debate, right now out government simply has more important things to focus on like debt, poverty, health care, and the war. Also, it would be no easy task to set up a system for distributing and taxing marijuana, we are talking about a huge multimillion dollar infrastructure plus the manpower to run it. Also, we can't forget that there are still many people that strongly oppose marijuana, so even if the government were able to set all this up it would still need to pass a vote. The voices advocating its legalization are louder than those opposing it, but this is probably because the people opposing it already have what they want, so its hard to tell what the majority of people really want. In conclusion, while its valid to say that the government would eventually profit off marijuana's legalization, we cannot ignore the tremendous resources such a feat would require.
As a side note, we have to remember that if the government were to legalize and tax marijuana, it would still be smuggled into the country. In order for the government to make any significant amount of money off taxing marijuana, it would probably be more expensive than it is now, so people would still have incentive to buy from illegal sources.
So to wrap everything up:
1) Marijuana like all other recreational drugs, can be addictive and harmful.
2) Legalizing it federally is a big feat, its not something that can be brought about by a simple vote.
3) Legalizing marijuana does not necessarily eliminate the problems caused by its illegality.
My opinion: I think that if it were possible to go back in time before marijuana was made illegal, it would be a good idea to keep it legal. Unfortunately this is not possible. I actually think ALL drugs should be legal. I believe, and there is evidence to back me on this, that more problems are caused by making drugs illegal than by making them legal. The basic reason for this is the following: People will always try to do what they want. If someone wants to use drugs, they will find a way to do so whether its legal or not. BY making drugs illegal, its harder for people to get drugs but not hard enough to be justified as a significant deterrent. Because of this, a large portion of crime in this country is built around the drug trade, and a large portion of prisons are populated by non-violent drug offenders. The increase in drug health related problems that would be caused by making drugs legal would be far less harmful than the problems we are currently facing due to the illegality of drugs.
And finally, all this is speculation. We have no real life model of a country that had drugs illegal and then decided to legalize them, so its hard to be sure of what would actually happen. Everything I said is just one side of the story, there is evidence on both sides of the coin I simply believe this side to be better.
Let me start off by saying that I am not a doctor, nor do I have any advanced degrees in pharmacology, however I am currently studying psychiatry and focusing on drugs and addiction. As a result, I have a great wealth of knowledge when it comes to marijuana so I hope to provide an overview of some hot topics concerning marijuana.
First off in response to the original question: Marijuana is illegal under federal law for any use, be it medical or recreational. This means that federal officials can arrest anyone in possession of marijuana, and it also means some other things for example you cannot ship marijuana through the mail because the mail system is federally controlled, even within a state where marijuana has been legalized. The way around this is in states where it has been legalized, state and local police cannot arrest you for possession because according to the laws under which they operate, marijuana is legal. Technically an FBI agent could drive to Colorado and arrest anyone with marijuana, but this is very unlikely to happen because federal agents would not concern themselves with such a minor offense.
Is it a good thing that marijuana is becoming more and more legal? Yes and no. First of all, there is no denying that marijuana is bad for you. This is a scientific fact and simply cannot be refuted. That said, there are tons of legal things that are bad for you as well, such as tobacco, alcohol, fast food, a sedentary lifestyle…the list goes on and on. From this, I can conclude that it is at least inconsistent with current laws to make marijuana illegal BASED SOLEY on the fact that it is harmful to your health.
How bad is it for you? That's tough to answer but I can give some examples. The main factor is how and how often one uses marijuana. Marijuana smoke is carcinogenic, just like cigarette smoke, meaning it causes cancer, but smoking marijuana once will not increase you chances of getting cancer by any measurable amount, it depends on how much you smoke. For example, cigarettes cause more cancer than marijuana because 1) more people smoke cigarettes and 2) people who smoke tobacco smoke much more (gram for gram) than people who smoke marijuana, which leads us to our next point: addiction.
It is a myth that marijuana is not addictive. People get addicted to marijuana, there is irrefutable scientific and anecdotal evidence to confirm this. Its really very obvious, anything that causes enjoyment or pleasure has the potential to be addictive the important factors are going to be HOW addictive it is and the consequences of that addiction. Compared to other recreational drugs (including alcohol and tobacco), marijuana is significantly less addictive. This is because marijuana dependence is rare, it takes a lot of marijuana to create a physical dependence to it where one would experience withdrawal symptoms if they were to stop abruptly. Because of this, marijuana's addiction potential is mostly psychological. Bear in mind however that psychological addiction is more often than not the most difficult aspect of addiction to treat. Physical dependence can be treated by simply weening off a drug in detox period, however psychological addiction requires a good amount of quality psychotherapy and self will, and in some cases drugs as well. All of this said, its relatively rare to find someone with only an addiction to marijuana. Most marijuana addictions are part of a poly drug addiction. The consequences of a genuine marijuana addiction more or less parallel a tobacco addiction, however marijuana cause more psychological problems so its safe to say marijuana addiction is more harmful than tobacco addiction.
A common thing said in support of marijuana is "Why doesn't the government just legalize it so they can tax it?" While this seems like a good idea, there are a number of problems with it. For one, its takes a lot to completely reverse a federal law. For marijuana, this would require scientific studies on both the health and social effects of legalizing marijuana and years of debate, right now out government simply has more important things to focus on like debt, poverty, health care, and the war. Also, it would be no easy task to set up a system for distributing and taxing marijuana, we are talking about a huge multimillion dollar infrastructure plus the manpower to run it. Also, we can't forget that there are still many people that strongly oppose marijuana, so even if the government were able to set all this up it would still need to pass a vote. The voices advocating its legalization are louder than those opposing it, but this is probably because the people opposing it already have what they want, so its hard to tell what the majority of people really want. In conclusion, while its valid to say that the government would eventually profit off marijuana's legalization, we cannot ignore the tremendous resources such a feat would require.
As a side note, we have to remember that if the government were to legalize and tax marijuana, it would still be smuggled into the country. In order for the government to make any significant amount of money off taxing marijuana, it would probably be more expensive than it is now, so people would still have incentive to buy from illegal sources.
So to wrap everything up:
1) Marijuana like all other recreational drugs, can be addictive and harmful.
2) Legalizing it federally is a big feat, its not something that can be brought about by a simple vote.
3) Legalizing marijuana does not necessarily eliminate the problems caused by its illegality.
My opinion: I think that if it were possible to go back in time before marijuana was made illegal, it would be a good idea to keep it legal. Unfortunately this is not possible. I actually think ALL drugs should be legal. I believe, and there is evidence to back me on this, that more problems are caused by making drugs illegal than by making them legal. The basic reason for this is the following: People will always try to do what they want. If someone wants to use drugs, they will find a way to do so whether its legal or not. BY making drugs illegal, its harder for people to get drugs but not hard enough to be justified as a significant deterrent. Because of this, a large portion of crime in this country is built around the drug trade, and a large portion of prisons are populated by non-violent drug offenders. The increase in drug health related problems that would be caused by making drugs legal would be far less harmful than the problems we are currently facing due to the illegality of drugs.
And finally, all this is speculation. We have no real life model of a country that had drugs illegal and then decided to legalize them, so its hard to be sure of what would actually happen. Everything I said is just one side of the story, there is evidence on both sides of the coin I simply believe this side to be better.
fortsmithman
Forum Deputy Chief
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I've run into one or two alcohol poisonings I have never had a Marijuana OD. And stoners are not as violent if at all as Alcoholics.