Legalize Marijuana...

[Chopper777]

Being a new member here, I’m a bit reluctant to make this post…but here goes...
I’m a fairly conservative person, and yet I occasionally smoke marijuana. I never smoke outside my own house. I do not sell marijuana or give it away…and I use only 3 or 4 times per week…in moderation.
I think it should be legalized nationally for recreational use. We should all learn from the mistakes of the 1920’s alcohol prohibition. It didn’t work. A lot of good cops died before the government admitted that prohibition was a mistake and legalized (but regulated) the sale of alcohol.
How many good cops have died trying to prevent marijuana use in America? Far too many…and they died for NOTHING…for a lost cause…I know of at least 5 sources right now where I could buy marijuana.
Some perfectly reasonable people will disagree with me, I know…but as reasonable as they may be, they are wrong…marijuana use is widespread, increasing, and provides a wonderful experience…
If you don’t want to indulge and enjoy, then don’t…I respect your decision.

[iris lilies]

My friend, I am sitting here with a little red wine myself, having abandoned MJ about 35 years ago. It was fun for the time, but red wine is now my drug of choice. Anyway.

Last night I attended a political fundraiser where those in the room wrote a check to meet and greet Rand Paul. After Rand's speech (he is very cool, by the way!) I had a short conversation with a local Tea Party guy who is lobbying for relaxation of Cannibis of laws. He just happens to be a City policeman, and also just happens to live in my neighborhood.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...7bb9e89d1.html

Gary told me that he is really working toward getting the Feds out of Cannibis regulation. He's not convinced that it needs to be totally legal, but he want the Federal government to step out; he wants it regulated, if it IS regulated, by the states. He also said that the confiscation of property is giving great wealth to law enforcement, and that's a big driver of keeping it illegal.

So that's the political perspective from St. Louis as of 5/2/2013.

[JaneV2.0]

Now that it's legal here, I predict I'll sample tincture or maybe vapor at some point in the future. It was never my favorite of the mind-altering drugs, but I like the idea of revisiting it.

[Zoe Girl]

move to Denver, it is everywhere here. I can say that I don't mind however there are places I drive by and can really smell it. Every other block has a medical marijuana place as well. I wouldn't be bothered, just wish it wasn;t as stinky is all.

[Rogar]

Colorado and Washington should be good test grounds to see if legalizing pot is actually workable. I think responsible adults should be able to choose if they want to use pot or alcohol. The concerns I hear is that by legalizing MJ, it will be more available to young people and others who are not capable of making good choices. I spent some of my college years in the early 70's with a pretty fast living crowd and have sadly seen several of my old friends suffer ruined health, careers, and families due to alcohol abuse. I can't think of any who have had similar catastrophic issues with pot. Most quit or cut back significantly years ago after spending too much time eating chips, napping, and watching TV.

[RosieTR]

After reading the Botany of Desire which differentiates the "stupid" pot from the "mind altering" type, I have wanted to revisit the stuff. I will likely wait til a lot of the legal stuff gets sorted out though-I think by the beginning of 2014 or so. For now, there's no real legal way to obtain marijuana in Colorado, though I suppose I could start growing (which CO law allows with limits). I did hear something interesting awhile back on NPR too: beyond all the issues of pot used as a drug, the US is the biggest consumer of hemp in the world. Hemp is illegal for farmers to grow in the US, yet it's a multi-use crop plant with greater drought resistance than corn. Yeah, shoot yourself in the foot much?

[puglogic]

Colorado is an interesting place to be right now, to be sure. I'm thinking of starting a list of the best medical marijuana dispensary names....I laugh every time I drive by a good one. Zoe, you'll be glad to hear one is called "Mr. Stinky's"

I too am waiting until it all sorts itself out. MJ does nothing but put me to sleep, but in these jagged days of perimenopausal insomnia, maybe that's not such a bad thing! Of course, I grow lots of medicinal plants already, so this is pretty normal stuff to me.

[redfox]

I'm a cannabis user for osteoarthritis. Now that it's legal in WA, I am hoping to get my nearly 86 year old retired attorney father to try it for his chronic pain & degenerative joint disease. I use it in edible form & in tincture. Smoking it hurts my lungs, and is too intense for me.

Tomorrow I have an intake appt. at a Bastyr Naturopathic College, in their oncology clinic, and I will be most interested to see how my cannabis use is viewed in light of my cancer treatment. (I'm not expected to have chemo at this point, but will be having radiation.) My stepson uses cannabis to ease the inflammation of ankylosing spondylitis. It helps him a lot.

[JaneV2.0]

Does cannabis lower inflammation markers? If so, maybe we should all be vaping away...

(The main Bastyr campus is lovely, btw, set in its very own forest.)

[Gregg]

I dropped out of the cannabis crowd when my kids were born for legal and motivational reasons. If all things were equal and it were to be legalized here I can easily see sitting on my deck in the evening with a bong on the table instead of a cocktail.

Legalization makes sense to me for lots of reasons. Classifying it as a schedule 1 drug is absurd; it just isn't. There are thousands and thousands of people, mostly young men of color, in jail for dealing small quantities of produce. That is also absurd. Not that our country needs new addictions (figuratively speaking), but the argument that it's no worse than alcohol is valid in my experience. It's the #1 cash crop for the Mexican drug cartels who cause all kinds of problems. Legalize it and you cut their legs off. Legalize it with a tax and regulation structure similar to tobacco and the money that used to go to those cartels now goes to legal cartels in the US (government, big pharma and probably big tobacco). At least we might see a trickle down from that.

Hemp, as Rosie mentioned, is a whole different reason. It was grown in significant quantities during WWII around where I grew up. The seeds have spread and flourished and now "ditch weed" grows everywhere. If you want to see something funny take your college roommate from California home to the ranch and show him a 100 acre patch of wild marijuana. Trust me, there is no THC in that weed, but that won't stop him from collecting several Hefty bags of samples just to be sure. Anyway, it is still one of the most versatile crops that can be grown and could easily generate a whole new domestic industry if properly promoted.