Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

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War Machine
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Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by War Machine »

Personally, I don't smoke marijuana (or cigarettes for that matter), but I've always believed the law is way too strict on pot in spite of how benign it is, especially when compared to other drugs. In this article, the author makes a case that alcohol is way more detrimental to our society than pot:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norm-stam ... 88627.html
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Starnum »

Yeah, I totally agree with this. I think Alcohol is worse than pot, and I have plenty of experience with both. ;)
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by The Herald »

My dad's a doctor and when he was in residency he had to do ER shifts, and he tells me that none of the big issues associated with drugs were caused by marijuana. And yes, alcohol is worse, I agree hands down. But I don't smoke marijuana, even though I do live in Vancouver, because I don't want to voluntarily put smoke in my lungs. It's basically legal here, you can smoke it in front of cops and they don't give a shit. On 4:20 the art gallery downtown was full of people smoking. Kind of cool how that many people can get together like that for something that's basically benign.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Starnum »

Yeah, totally. I keep hoping they'll legalize it here, heh. If you smoke it enough you build up such a tolerance that it basically just mellows you out. I don't even really get "wasted" on it anymore, like I used to. I have a history of nervous disorders in my family, and it helps to calm me down and make me not worry about stuff so much. I know it's technically a depressant, but I think it actually helps me with my depression and compulsion issues. So yeah, in a way I consider it self medicating, but I won't lie that I enjoy it as well. I'm not really trying to justify it, but I do think it's much more benign than alcohol. Some people may look down on me or think less of me when they find out I'm a stoner, but it wouldn't be the first time. I've gotten used to it. It is what it is, and it's just a part of who I am. I'm the same person I was before they found out, so I just think it's shallow of people to treat me differently because of it, but some people do. *shrugs* I know it can be unhealthy for the lungs, of course, but I probably won't ever quit unless it becomes a serious medical issue for me. I used to smoke cigarettes too, but I've basically quit, can't even remember the last time I had one. I've never really been addicted to cigarettes, but I will admit that I will feen for pot if I go without for too long, which makes no sense cuz cigarettes are supposed to be way more addictive, heh. Pot is kind of addictive in my opinion, but it's not terribly hard to kick the habit and go cold turkey. You won't really go into withdraws or anything like with meth. It really is true that none of the normal serious issues with drugs go along with marijuana. I've know people that have smoked weed most their life and never had any serious negative effects from it. Some people say it makes you dumber. It may have a small effect on your intelligence, and I'm not talking about when you're stoned, but even when you're high. If it's made me any dumber, I haven't really noticed. It's one thing when you're high and another when you're sober. I can't help but agree with Adam Corolla though. If you're already stupid, you probably shouldn't smoke it, but if you're a somewhat intelligent guy, as I consider myself to be, you're probably gonna be fine. I think I can afford to waste some extra braincells, lol. At least I hope so. :P

Also, I never let it become a gateway drug for me. I've never been into all that heavier stuff. I try to be responsible in my recreational uses of pot, you know. I don't smoke it around my daughter of course, and stuff like that. Honestly it's way easier to drive high than drunk too, at least for me. I can't drive at all if I'm drunk. I tried once, cuz I was drunk and not acting like myself, but then after almost wrecking, I said never again. I've drove while being high plenty of times, but if I feel like I'm too far gone, then I won't. The worst thing I've seen that you have to worry about when driving high is that you might end up driving way too slow, or end up sitting at a stop sign for like ten minutes, lol. I've never done that, but I've been riding with people who have, heh. Alcohol seems to effect the motor functions a lot more than pot. Weed slows your reaction time a bit, depending on how high you are it can be a lot, so you do have to watch out for that while driving. Like I said, I won't drive if I'm wasted. You might see someone acting sluggish if they're high, but they won't be stumbling around like when you're drunk. Also, alcohol tends to make people act differently more than pot. Weed might make you feel lazy, but at least it doesn't make you get into fights and do crazy shit. I don't care what some people say, I've never met or heard of anyone doing something crazy like killing someone because they were high on marijuana. That's why I don't get why it's still illegal but alcohol is acceptable. I've seen people do some crazy fucked up shit while they were drunk. Okay, so people freaked out back in the day and blew pot out of proportion with "Reefer Madness" and what-not, but this is the 21 century, we should know a lot better than that by now. If alcohol is legal there's no reason marijuana shouldn't be as well. They'd probably make a killing in taxing it too, so what's the problem? Heh, it's just a matter of the old timers still being set in their ways, IMO. I think the US will eventually come around and legalize it. It's not even as big a deal as it used to be. They won't really throw the book at you anymore like they used to, unless you're dealing. Back in the day you could get something like 10 - 15 for a joint. I've literally heard of people getting more time for possession than rape, more time than freaking raping someone! That's just ridiculous.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by papasith »

i just want to add my 2 cents, i agree that alchol is much worst then pot. in fact legalizeing it would only help the government because it could be taxed then!

as another thought they tried makeing alchol illegal for a while, and people just made moonshine, and drank anyway. but when they legalized it people dont really make there own often (some people like to try there hand at makeing beer, or wines and what not but i have rarely heard of people produceing mass quanities of it) so if they did legalize, and tax it. less people would proboly be selling it themselves, which would elimate about the only problem with pot to my knowledge (people your buying from putting thing into it you are unaware of)
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Dominion »

i disagree on the taxation... MJ can be easily grown and cultivated by ANYONE so why would we, the citizens, want to be taxed (even more) on something that does not need to be regulated?

think about it: even if they legalize it like you ^ say (taxation) there would be no reason for the 'black market' to disappear. the whole point of a 'black market' is to circumvent governmental interference.

while there is concern in the UK of the potency of the Skunk strain, any person who has been so into MJ that it's become an integral part of their lives will tell you that, in general, the strain does not matter just as long as it 'works', however, in the end, it is FRESHNESS that dictates the potency of any purchase.

therefore, the complete and utter decriminalization and legalization of the substance to the point that there is absolutely NO regulation being done by the government would benefit EVERYONE more so than just government regulation.

besides, they'll make much more off of the by-products.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Starnum »

Well I only mention taxation as an incentive for them to actually legalize it, but what you're saying would be better. I imagine if it was legalized it would end up costing more than it does now. I would consider that a fair trade-off to be able to buy actual blunts at the store or what have you, heh. So yeah, it works either way, but what you described would be the ideal but not the likely outcome. :smoken:
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by The Herald »

Check this out, I love it, you Americans might actually beat us Canadians to the punch on this one:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/In ... ?gt1=33002
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Aetherfukz »

"Arnold: Time to talk about legalizing pot" - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/0 ... 97244.html

What I found funny was the paragraph:
"Schwarzenegger referenced his native country of Austria, which has recently loosened penalties on marijuana. "I've heard that they are unhappy with that and they want to roll back some of the decisions that were made in European countries. I've had dialogue with experts over there where I was born. So I think that one ought to look at all that. And it could very well be that everyone is happy with that decision and then we can look at that. And if not, we shouldn't do it," he said."

In the last years there wasn't even much talk about THC in austria (where I come from and live). Germany is the country that did go a bit back on criminalizing people for having a few grams with them.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by papasith »

on the topic of the ease of growing it.

i will note before hand i do not know what growing it entails so i will admit my ignorance in this, but when alchol was made illegal for the time it was. there was a large problem of people brewing ti at home because it was easy, nasty but easy. i mean you got an extra bath tub, throw in some grapes crush them and let it sit and your about done. its a leading reason, to my knowledge as to why it was made legal again because it was to hard to enforce. well now that it is as easy as running down to the store to get some you dont hear of to many people makeing it at home. i think it would be similar with weed. sure you can grow it, but if your lazy why not run to the gas station and pick up a pack?
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Dominion »

to add

the only good thing that would come from governmental control would be quality control. i'm sure some of you have had to endure bud's severely lacking in the quality they were touted to have.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by fujinsan »

Dominion wrote:to add

the only good thing that would come from governmental control would be quality control. i'm sure some of you have had to endure bud's severely lacking in the quality they were touted to have.
Yeah I remember this one time I had got some bud, the dude said it was "cali weed" Smoked it, and nothing, it was absolutely the worse shit I've ever smoked. Smelled like weed, burned like a wet towel and it was stringy, not even sure if it was actually weed but something that smelled similar.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Grahf »

*thoughts from Law enforcement*

Marijuana will not be legalized solely on the fact that the dealers still will be able to sell it cheaper than the government. Also here in NY smoking cigarettes are becoming increasingly more difficult for smokers. With each passing year people can smoke traditional cigarettes in less and less places. Now if its state to state legislation that surely is one thing. Though I can tell you one thing is for damn sure Legalized 'weed' won't be coming to Gotham anytime soon.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by papasith »

Grahf wrote:*thoughts from Law enforcement*

Marijuana will not be legalized solely on the fact that the dealers still will be able to sell it cheaper than the government. Also here in NY smoking cigarettes are becoming increasingly more difficult for smokers. With each passing year people can smoke traditional cigarettes in less and less places. Now if its state to state legislation that surely is one thing. Though I can tell you one thing is for damn sure Legalized 'weed' won't be coming to Gotham anytime soon.
my thoughts, in what way is this different from prohibition and alcohol?
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by casio »

Let's put it this way, pot is a plant, while alcohol is men manipulated, in other words poison. Plain and simple.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by Mail »

You define anything men manipulate as poison?

Tobacco is also a plant. Pretty sure that causes cancer.

I don't understand which side of the argument you're on or the point you're trying to make. Be more clear please.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by dialdfordesi »

Would you smoke poison oak or poison sumac? How about eating deathcap mushrooms? If anything men have manipulated is a poison, that means that modern medicines and vaccines are poisons as well.
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by War Machine »

By the way, I never talked about it, but the vote to legalize marijuana in California last year failed. It seems the youth doesn't vote for anything, even if it is for something they've been wanting for years (around 3 million people less voted on the 2010 state elections when compared to the 2008 presidential elections, and we only needed less than 700,000 more votes in favor of the ballot measure to pass it).
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Re: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief

Post by raziel »

Hah, whaddaya expect from potheads... to actually take the time to go out and vote? that's a major expedition you're asking... this is coming from a pothead
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