Schwarzenegger Open to Debate on Legalizing, Taxing Pot

http://webcastr.com/videos/news/schwarzenegger-open-to-debate-on-legalizing-taxing-pot.html

 

Ugh! This is a moral outrage!

This will turn our teens into drug-abusing hipster thugs! Why have a healthy beer when one can smoke a marijuana bong? This is a mistake, Mr. Terminator.

 

+1 for Arnold =)

 

Haha, funny.

Well, Holland isnt filled with drug-abusing hipster thugs for once. Only the freaked out bunch you can find everywhere. Being close to the boarder Weed is just as avaible in my Region so I am all too familiar. I dont see it doing any harm, putting aside much stronger real drugs. I've seen plenty of destroyed lifes through alcohol, not one through the ol' weed.

Now that being debatble, It's also interesting to think about the situation as it is, you can never completly get rid of drugs. And as it is now, you either can score it or you cant, with a risk of getting busted. That's fine for me, if you fuck up it's your own fault.

But legalizing it, in a country as America, that would only allow the government to cash in on huge amounts of money for Weed, stupid kids get on it too early and turn thanks to the awesomeness of pop-culture into gangsta'z.

It's a double edged sword, really. I'd be never for legalizing it for various points, neither i'd want it completly forbidden. Weed is no trouble, it's herb.

But heroin and whatnot, that just cracks you up instantly. Wherein weed is a mind, psychological thing. There's no physical addiction.

Ah well, my two cents lawl. Hey barcode, lets role a spliff.

 

Hang on, he opened the debate, a classic politicians device which in effect still doesn't mean anything. You can talk about it until the cows come home.

In the week that he has had to declare that California is in a state of emergency, I think it's ironic and surely somewhere in America they are gearing up to print the headline 'Up in Smoke' with Arnie photoshopped to look like Cheech & Chong!

 

I think it will benefit people who enjoy cannabis in getting rid of the social stigma attached to it, as well as pointless busts. It's no shame to smoke a cigarette or drink alcohol in front of your family or the public, and the same should hold true for cannabis in my view. It's just a small pass-time like most legal substances.

 

I'm in two minds about legalisation - weed can have devastating effects on the minds of under 18 year olds, developing brains are much more susceptible to the damage it can cause as opposed to 'adult' brains. Legalisation would (probably) make availability easier for minors.

However legalisation and regulation could mean a decrease in the cultivation of skunk. For those that don't know skunk is engineered to gear the plant's production towards just THC (the stuff that gets you stoned). Not a problem in itself, but more recent studies (under legalised and regulated labs in the UK that grow various strains of cannabis) have found a chemical grown in the 'traditional' strains of cannabis (ie not skunk strains) called CBD, which apparently is an anti psychosis, like a ying to the yang of THC. Therefore skunk is much more dangerous in producing psychosis as the plant doesn't have enough resources to produce the amount of THC its engineered to, AND cbd.

Used responisbly, safely, it can be no problem - just like alcohol. However I'm not sure the general public can be trusted to be responsible. Especially in socially deprived areas as weed can be pretty er....counter productive, in regards to work ethics and the economy at least. Obviously arty types will see their production go up 300% :lol:

Obviously there are tons more issues, but those two are some of the more recently researched and interesting.

Search for 'Horizon - Cannabis: the evil weed' on torrents - it was a really good, unbiased, scientific program, much better than I expected it to be (though Horizon is usually always good).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hhmd1

 

Once pot is legalized... expect its quality to drop.

 

That's very true! I once saw a "shocking" video, about a few kids smoking like veterans, and drinking at the same time. Some I bet, had not even reached the age of 10 yet. Sadly in some country's this is more common then in others, but undoubtfully these individuals wont develop properly and on top of that If both, weed and alcohol would be available then the odd's for such Kids just rise up.

And as far as trusting the puplic, its just as you say. That's why I think, its best to keep it "illegal", it makes it inaccessible for those who shouldnt have it in the first place. Sure, there's always a kid who could find a marijuana joint, snap! But same goes for a bottle of beer. So yeah, meh.

About production going up im not so sure, holland has some strict laws about how much a shop can carry and whatnot, they do get around these things but if you are caught violating the laws, you loose your license. Kinda like getting caught drunk driving, pass on your license to a cop haha.

The state's would get a good rise out of production, of cheap weed that costs too much and has huge taxes. Less for more, eh?

This is a debate and thought-wave that could go on forever, the problem is in humanity in itself. Just cant be trusted

 

Being brought up around a lot of heavy drinkers and weed smokers i have had an insight into both most of my life. The alcohol abusers in my family (who i have as little contact with as possible) are unpredictable, violent arseholes when drunk and the weed smokers are usually relaxed, tired and very funny.

I don't condone the use of cannabis by minors but as an adult i think everyone should have the right to enjoy cannabis if they please. As for the age old theory that it leads to harder drugs, i call bullshit. Drug dealers lead to harder drugs, most cannabis dealers i have ever met have tried to sell me other drugs at somepoint or another. If cannabis were available in a controled and licenced manner then i'm pretty sure there would be less kids getting hold of drugs from these places and i doubt many of these businesses would want to risk losing thier licence by offering harder drugs.

I do enjoy the odd joint (or 8) myself and i have never stolen, assaulted, raped or been arrested while stoned. i also like the odd drink but i never get drunk and i usually only drink maybe once every 2 months or so because i know the dangers of alcohol and the grief it can cause for family members and the general public (if your ever in Scotland check out Edingburgh or glasgow's city centre on a saturday night, not pretty)

 

As a resident of California I fully support this, and I hope this leads to some positive legislation.

For the Weed-will-be-easier-to-obtain-for-youth argument: Weed is already easy to obtain for youth. Nothing short of a fascist police state and a 100 foot wall along the border would stop this (if even that.) For the last 15 years I've never ever ever had a problem finding a hookup at all. In fact, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't smoke weed, at least occasionally, or who had not occasionally in the past. This is including professionals in the 40-55 age range.

Trusting the public: Well, that's what "democracy" is all about. We're not talking about Radioactive isotopes here, we're talking about a recreational drug that does as much damage to your braincells as alcohol. Mine is a country where you're allowed to own any number of firearms and explosives that the irresponsible can kill others with, but not a certain type of plant that the irresponsible can, at worst, smoke too much of and be late to work with. The whole argument kinda breaks down when you take into account all of the other dangerous things we allow people to do.

At what point exactly does it become someone's own responsibility, and not the responsibility of the state for allowing access to a certain thing? Babies shock themselves to death by sticking forks in lightsockets, so why don't we outlaw forks? 50,000 people die every year in car accidents, but we don't outlaw cars. God know how many people shoot themselves in this county but we don't outlaw guns. Yet I'm not allowed to go to the store and get me a pack of Dope smokes becasue some kid might get his hands on them too? It's bullshit.

It leads to harder drugs: Not if all those harder drugs remain illegal while Pot isn't. I suspect that all the people who choose to smoke would just stick to weed. The biggest drug in this country right now (besides weed) is actually Crystal Meth, becasue you can make it out of absolutely everything. Things like Crack, cocaine, heroin, etc have all either gone down or remained at a consistent rate, while crystal meth has exploded all over the place. Yet we don't see people going to prision for decades at a time for being Meth dealers, we don't see anything close to the same kind of media attention or "just say no" b.s. or whatever. In the meantime there's 4 million people in prision for nonviolent drug offenses (i.e. possession for personal use.) It just doesn't make sense, it has to end.

 

That is a strong point. But where would lead us all this?

We cant really outlaw everything, we cant really legalize everything and we cant control everything/everyone. The individual always has his own views, and the state is controlled by such individuals. Lets take germany into consideration, we are banning videogames, blocking internet websites and sending people that infridge copyrights longer into jail then any rapist.

Mindboggling.

 

Indeed. IMO, Alcohol is way worse for a society than weed. I can smoke 2 or 3 bongs/joints/blunts/whatevers and still make logical, rational decisions. Good luck trying to say the same about someone that has had a few drinks. My dad does both, and whenever hes toned or sober we get along just fine. I cannot even begin to count how many times hes been drunk and weve gotten into long arguments or sometimes almost fistfights ( I refuse to fight someone so insanely tanked out of their mind, i try to avoid fighting, hell violence in general unless ABSOULTELY necessary).

 

I have my own personal reasons for my hate of many legal/illegal substances including marijuana, smoking, and drinking, but I really don't want to get into that.

So I'm really hoping this falls through.

 

@skavenger216

I know exactly what you are saying. I even have my christmas snes attached to a nasty alcohol releated memory haha. (No, not me drinking as a kid, lol!) The 90s had let me see both sides all the time, the friendly older stoners that play mega drive and the strange adults, in this case my dad, drinking Jägermeister and yelling at you at dinner for not finishing your plate h: etc.

Always the men too, hell, one of them fuckers cut my mothers throat. She's alive though, thanks to a few missed milimeters. And what caused this fucker to do this was his insanity that caught up with him and his drinking, that he did all his life since he was a fucking teenager. (Thanks to our awesome Law he's running free even though of many other offensive, and this wasnt the only intendet murder. Retarded.)

I've never heard or seen of a stoner cutting up someones guts. And I got never even in any wild arguments with the same. Alcohol just blows. (Not saying that this wouldnt be possible, it comes down to the state of mind.)

Being a human im a hypocrit, I of course also drank a few times but never a stupid orgy. I like a good whiskey once in a while, but thats about it. I do could live without it too, it's meh.

Funny, what is this thread comming to? LETS BAN ALCOHOL! hahah...

 

I am not sure about the rest of the World, or even in the rest of Europe, but the smoking ban started in Ireland, spread to Scotland, then England. The social stigma attached to smoking even an ordinary cigarette is massive. The Government in the UK will not allow the legalisation because it will be seen as a contradictory backwards step.

At the moment it is assumed in many instances that smoking of the weed is marginally tolerated behind closed doors. Get cocky, start growing the stuff blatantly, try doing it in full view of the Police or whatever and expect more legal attention.

Trying to actually stamp it out completely is a damned waste of time, Police resources and effort. Personally I'd rather that the Police dealt with more important issues, however I have heard the forces argument that a significant percentage of those dealing in weed are involved in other more serious criminal activities, so they'll continue to target these people whether you like it or not.

I still don't think it'll become legal. If it could be controlled and taxed then you might have a different story, but the second you say it's legal you'd see a surge in people converting sections of their lofts, buying fans, lamps and sh*t to grow their own like the 70's equivalent of brewing your own beer!

 

it's all about social acceptance and open mind. cigs and alc is accepted by many nations since almost ever and plays a part of traditions, even it kills/killed more peeps than any other so called "real" drugs.

anyway, I didn't smoke some shit for almost 15 years now, so I don't really care. but I can say with good conscience, that it never harms peeps more than alc, if consumed with good common sense.

 

We've had this debate many times here over the years. Of course, those for legalizing pot crowd wins by a landslide, and those opposed just got all pissed off b/c they are or were friends with part of the .01% of pot smokers who fuck their lives up.

I don't smoke anymore either, but the fact is that proliferation of alcohol instead of pot has a noticeable (and IMHO negative) impact on the world I live in. Japan isn't so bad, but white people turn into assholes when they drink too much.

EDIT: Although I admit it's easier to get laid w/ alcohol everywhere.

 

That's the damn truth, anyone who is under the mindset that pot being illegal makes it harder to get needs to wake up and take a look around. It's about the equivalent to saying teenagers under 21 have a hard time getting alcohol...

That being said, I say get it over with already. I don't smoke, never have, probably never will. The fact remains, however, that tobacco and alcohol are much more damaging than weed, but are quite legal. Make weed legal, put age restrictions on it like tobacco and alcohol (not that it will do anything, but you know... as a formality), tax the shit out of it, and stop wasting tax payer money on trying to combat it out of existence, because we all know the day we win the war on drugs is the day hell freezes over. That's just my opinion anyway.

 

I really hope this goes through, and other states follow suit.

I absolutely hate the taste of alcohol, even though I mildly enjoy being drunk. The morning after always involves a mad dash to the fridge to wolf down 5 glasses of water though. I almost never look back at the night before and say "im glad I drank that much".

Weed would have to be my vice of choice. I smoked all throughout college. I did homework while high. I did projects while high. Yet, I still graduated with an engineering degree and high (pun intended and not intended) honors. As a young adult, I feel that I posses the mental faculties to responsibly use this substance.

The only problem with legalizing it is that it needs a way to be controlled. A cop can give you a breathalizer to determine if you are driving while drunk. There needs to be another equally quick and accurate method for determining if you are "too high" while driving. Whether you can argue that its safe to drive while high or not, I would prefer that drivers were not rockin' the ganj while behind the wheel.