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Martian · 03-08-2011, 04:59 PM

There are a lot of interesting ideas about weed in this thread.

Look at me, being all diplomatic.

Let's be frank, here -- marijuana is never going to be a force for good in society. The best you can hope for is that it's a neutral factor. I do know a large number of productive, often 'high value' folks who smoke a bit of mary jane now and then. Hell, I'm not going to out anyone, but I know quite a few right here in our own little cybercommunity. These folks are, on the whole, happy, productive people. They do pay their taxes, they don't get rowdy and break shit, they contribute to political and philosophical discussions in meaningful ways.

What I have never encountered is someone who is mentally and physically well who can make a sincere claim that weed has significantly bettered their lives.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for legalizing, but let's not fuck around with all this 'teenagers will stop acting like teenagers' bullshit. Legalizing marijuana makes sense for two reasons:

1) Legalizing and bringing trade above board will drastically reduce the criminal element of it (duh), which has the tangential effect of reducing the criminal element as a whole. Drugs fund organized crime. Organized crime also does things like murder and human trafficking. Legalizing drugs takes away funds from organized crime, and makes it that much harder for them to do the things they do.

2) The government has no right to tell me how I can go about destroying my body, and it is particularly hypocritical for the government to ban substance x but allow substance y. I smoke a tobacco pipe. I enjoy my tobacco. My tobacco will probably give me throat cancer if I keep it up. But my tobacco is legal. It's very hard for me to smoke one plant and at the same time tell other people that they can't smoke another.

This all is veering away from the main topic, except that it's not really: the only reason folks seek out things like K2 is because marijuana is illegal. You get these dudes who don't want to stray across that line, but still want to get high, so they go for the next-best-thing. That's certainly not true of everyone who does it, I'm well aware. You have the curious, and the compulsive drug users for whom the legality doesn't enter into it. But a big part of the market, and a big part of the reason that K2 was popular is because it was legal.

I can't help but look at the title of this thread and think that the folks in charge of that decision got it drastically, disastrously wrong.

03-08-2011, 04:59 PM	#14 (permalink)
Martian Young Crumudgeon Location: Canada	There are a lot of interesting ideas about weed in this thread. Look at me, being all diplomatic. Let's be frank, here -- marijuana is never going to be a force for good in society. The best you can hope for is that it's a neutral factor. I do know a large number of productive, often 'high value' folks who smoke a bit of mary jane now and then. Hell, I'm not going to out anyone, but I know quite a few right here in our own little cybercommunity. These folks are, on the whole, happy, productive people. They do pay their taxes, they don't get rowdy and break shit, they contribute to political and philosophical discussions in meaningful ways. What I have never encountered is someone who is mentally and physically well who can make a sincere claim that weed has significantly bettered their lives. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for legalizing, but let's not fuck around with all this 'teenagers will stop acting like teenagers' bullshit. Legalizing marijuana makes sense for two reasons: 1) Legalizing and bringing trade above board will drastically reduce the criminal element of it (duh), which has the tangential effect of reducing the criminal element as a whole. Drugs fund organized crime. Organized crime also does things like murder and human trafficking. Legalizing drugs takes away funds from organized crime, and makes it that much harder for them to do the things they do. 2) The government has no right to tell me how I can go about destroying my body, and it is particularly hypocritical for the government to ban substance x but allow substance y. I smoke a tobacco pipe. I enjoy my tobacco. My tobacco will probably give me throat cancer if I keep it up. But my tobacco is legal. It's very hard for me to smoke one plant and at the same time tell other people that they can't smoke another. This all is veering away from the main topic, except that it's not really: the only reason folks seek out things like K2 is because marijuana is illegal. You get these dudes who don't want to stray across that line, but still want to get high, so they go for the next-best-thing. That's certainly not true of everyone who does it, I'm well aware. You have the curious, and the compulsive drug users for whom the legality doesn't enter into it. But a big part of the market, and a big part of the reason that K2 was popular is because it was legal. I can't help but look at the title of this thread and think that the folks in charge of that decision got it drastically, disastrously wrong. __________________ I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said - Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame