California Want to Legalize, Regulate and Tax Marijuana
 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,7534269.story

If passed, I'll do my part in helping to cut the budget deficit.

It's so ironic to me that there is a push to legalize marijuana while at the same time, it's almost illegal to smoke cigarettes in so many places. With the tobacco companies losing law suits like the one in the other current thread, I can't see a company taking on the liability of selling marijuana legally. It's not that I'm opposed to the legalization of marijuana, because I'm not, but the seemingly opposite pushes happening at the same time strike me as odd.

Californians are always the 1st ones/state to shoot themselves in the foot.:rolleyes:

ETA: looks like more of this kind of thing.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Qixm8uuUE

welll...errmmmm.....hmmm

Weed hasn't killed anybody yet...heh

Hey, grocery stroes and eateries will get a lot more business.

In this case, how so?

Trickle High Economy (yeah I know, that made no sense)

Did you watch the whole youtube video?

What youtube video? Beside, youtube is blocked at work.

It was an ETA. You quoted me before I posted it. To bad it's blocked at your job, because the video explains what kind of problems that state will have if they make pot legal. I really don't see the point in smoking it. Why even make it legal? I guess if you're a pot smoker then you would be all for it.

It depends on how the entities selling it would be organized. If we're talking about mom 'n pop operations rather than giant companies, I really don't see much risk in selling the stuff because it'd be difficult to assign blame.

If it's a giant entity, they can self-insure or buy insurance to cover that possibility.

I'd like to see how this pans out in a state. And considering the fact that California is a long ways away from me, it sounds like the perfect place :)

exactly!

LOL...

I think it would be interesting if the state grew it and sold it. A consumer would know exactly what they are getting, since it is regulated, the state would control production and distribution. Maybe even have designated places to toke, so those who don't want to inhale can be dope free.

Kind of like home brew, one can make a certain amount for personal use, but not for commercial purposes.

And if you come out that way for some reason, you feel like you are in the perfect place, too, 2nd hand...

The video you linked to is a music video. I'm not sure how that sums up an argument against legalized drugs?

1) It costs a crapton of money to enforce the law.

2) It costs another crapton of money to warehouse nonviolent (drugs only) offenders.

3) Keeping marijuana illegal allows organized crime to have a major source of revenue which leads to violence and in Mexico's case, government instability which leads to a lot of deaths and bad stuff which wouldn't happen if the drug was being sold legitimately.

4) It's a low cost way for many people with serious ailments to deal with those ailments without the use of expensive drugs which may have undesirable side-effects (as far as I know, and I've never used the stuff, so I don't have much frame of reference, marijuana doesn't have any undesirable side effects, bad interactions or anything which might give rise to concern).

5) Constant marijuana use isn't nearly as bad for you as continuous alcohol use.

ETA: 6) In the Netherlands, where the stuff is quasi-legal, there is just about no problem with meth and other drug use is drastically lower.

7) An extension of #6: Many terrorist groups and other international bad guys make a lot of money producing or transporting other drugs for use in the United States. Legalization of marijuana would be a huge financial blow.

Again, I've never used the stuff and I never plan to. I do, however, find the arguments for legalization to be pretty compelling. Here in Oklahoma, each year, the Tulsa World orders the statistics from the department of agriculture about the size of the state's marijuana crop. Apparently, just like every other plant, marijuana reflects certain light back into the atmosphere which the government can track and get an idea as to how much there is in any given place. The last time I heard about this story, if marijuana was to be legalized in Oklahoma, after realizing cost-savings in law enforcement and just ordinary sales taxes on in-state sales of the stuff, we could fund common education.

Does that mean legalization could be a good thing? Not necessarily. Are there some excellent arguments urging legalization? I think so.

If I remember correctly, that may be another part of the legalization debate. Thiat is, would it be sold commercially OTC or would pharmaceutical companies sell it for the medicinal purposes? Then I think one would have to consider how to tax it if one of those angles were to be selected. That is partially why the gov't won't do weed the same way they did cigarettes and alchohol because of the medicinal properties attributed to it. They realize that there is money to be made in it, but how?

More car accidents.

Fewer homicides.

Kevin, this is all good information, but making it legal means that someone who smokes it would be able to smoke it around other people. I've never used it either and I never will, but I know the second hand smoke can have some of the same effects it has on the actual user. I'm just a casual drinker (beer only at ball games, dinner, etc.) so I don't know the long term effects of alcohol abuse either. We already have a problem with DUI laws, so why even add to it. I like what you posted though, I guess it's kind of like how prohibition was during the 1920s, but just not on that level. I just think that if they legalize it, that it's going to cause major problems for people who don't use it. I mean I can't even stand the smell of alcohol coming through someone's pores when they've had to much to drink. I don't know how I would accept pot smoke around me, or having contact with someone who's been using it. I think it's a bad idea.

Pass better laws.

It wouldn't be difficult to have a regime wherein it'd be illegal to smoke around children, in public places or in a car. I'm sure there will still be problems with idiots who abuse it, but I really don't foresee those problems being more serious than what we have with alcohol, nor do I see the repercussions to our justice system outweighing the benefits of legalization.

The only folks I think who would really have a legitimate beef are the private prison systems, criminal defense attorneys and to some degree the state's attorneys, but there's always work for a prosecutor.

What indication do you have that use will go up with legalization, or that enforcement will go down?

Yeah, I'm sure there will be some designated areas, but what about just walking around outside smoking it like a cigarette. I jog every morning so what if I pass someone smoking it and I smell it. That's unfair to me.

If more people will have access to it, more people will try it and continue to use it.

Not necessarily. Currently in California, you can't smoke tobacco in most public places, including, I believe, the streets/sidewalks. Smoking marijuana would be included in those smoking bans, leaving people to smoke in dedicated smoking areas (I know they still have cigar clubs and the like, maybe those for marijuana) and at their house. Legalizing or decriminalizing in no way forces people who don't want to use to be around it.

But you currently can't stop those people around you from doing something just because it makes you ill. If I want to drink until I'm stewing in it, that is my prerogative. Your rights end where mine begin.

Well, as long as they smoke it in their homes and not on the streets or sidewalks like you've mentioned.

Yes, you're right, that is your perogative, but don't effect someone elses health by doing it. While you're making it your perogative, let it effect your health and only yours, not mine.

:rolleyes:

^^^whatever.

It's just baffling to me how you think your rights are more important than others'.

I never said my rights are more important than others. It's just that I think it's wrong that my health should suffer because others want to get high. Smoke it in your own homes.

Potentially endangering children and pets far more than you running by and catching a whiff while someone is smoking outside?

Your health is not going to suffer much by running past someone who's smoking.

Obviously I'm not talking strictly pot here, but just because you find the odor of cigarettes/alcohol obnoxious does not mean that people should not be able to use their own discretion in choosing to use them where it is legal. Especially considering the fact that it does not pose an imminent health risk to you as a passerby.

FREE THE LEAF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much? It shouldn't suffer at all. Why should I have to smell that?

lol lol

I could see this in someone's siggy or used as a bumper sticker if it isn't already.

True story: more people have tried marijuana in the U.S. (per capita, of course) than have in the Netherlands.

Trying and continued use are two different things.

You can't get a contact high from simply smelling pot as you run by.

You can't get lung cancer from simply smelling pot OR cigarettes as you run by.

If someone is completely wasted and reeks of booze, you can't get drunk from smelling it, and as long as that person doesn't touch you or harm you in any way, they are fully within their rights. "Harm" does not include "that person is smelly."

You don't *have* to do anything. But are you proposing an outlaw on passing gas because the smell is obnoxious? What about Indian Food, you wanna outlaw that too?

Coffee isn't "good" for you and some people can't stand the smell. I say we should ban drinking coffee in public places. After all, it seems like I'm using the same logic as you.

Any health risk to you as a non smoker and someone who doesn't smoke pot as you run by someone who is doing either of those things is negligible.

Come up with better reasons for the continued outlaw of marijuana. "Oh well I guess if they just do it in their homes that would be OK" is not a good reason. There are better reasons than that.

Sure they are.

Other studies show that teen use (as in past month use) of marijuana is about half what it is in the U.S.

In no way do statistics of any kind show that decriminalization leads to some form of widespread use.

Some of the comments you've made are pretty disgusting and unnecessary so I won't comment on those.

I never said you could get lung cancer or get high from passing by it. I'm just saying that as a runner I shouldn't have to run into that. I don't like the smell, and yes, cigarette smoke gives me a headache.

I'm sure they'll pass it, so let's just see what happens when it's passed. If it is made legal, they're really going to upset a lot of people. Alcohol abuse and drug abuse also make some people do and say things to other people they shouldn't.