Hello again hazel. I don't wish to send the thread off on a tangent but I do want to mention a larger issue than merely the difference between treating substance as criminal versus a health issue, and that is the whole issue of Legislating Private Morality. When any government steps into private areas and especially when it can be easily tested whether or not the law is measured and rational, in the cases where laws are not consistent with the role of government and/or private reality, this causes a general erosion in the value of all laws. This is truly an insidious disease that infects and affects all of society.

If my neighbor has a stash of plutonium the likelihood that can adversely affect others is quite high so that possession needs to be very tightly regulated by law. If my neighbor has a stash of cannabis, the mere possession can have no adverse affect on anyone so that should not be within the purvey of Law. If he is selling it to my children without my consent, since they are my responsibility until they are adults, I should have some legal recourse against him as well as exert my parental control over my children. The latter is simple business regulation requiring simple civil action, not criminal action. When laws are consistently fair and proper, so are the citizens, at least as much as is humanly possible. The odds are just way better and civilization functions best when the Social Contract is Just. When it is not, we tend to "go off the rails".

For this reason drug decriminalization is an actual necessity. The harm of The War on Drugs far outweighs any conceivable benefit.

I agree with enorbet on this ^.

We should have less laws not more, and those few laws should be followed and enforced with accuracy, precision and "trueness". The more laws we have the more laws that are not followed and the more fraud, deceit and corruption we create. If someone is not harming anyone other then themselves then why should "it" be illegal? The behavior can be legal and still regulated outside of the home, ie: similar to alcohol consumption (at work, driving etc...), smoking in public places etc...

This statement is being made even with the awareness of the opium wars in China and how drugs can also be used to dismantle and destabilize a society, however, that can be prevented/reduced via proper education, family values, etc...

Good points, ChuangTzu, and further, as soon as substances become criminally illegal, all real conversation, valid informtaion and understanding ends. Additionally, as with Prohibition Era "bathtub gin" because production goes underground it is harder to know what you are really getting. Illegality causes people to polarizes into 2 camps, one, the Users, tend to overstate values to justify their use in the face of the law, while, two, non-users tend to demonize the substance and ostracize Users. Both of these camps are wrong but the demonization camp affects their children adversely because it is obvious on the face of it that it is impossible for a substance to be all bad or no people wouldn't use it, so often children just ignore the entire stance, just write it off as dumb and totally inaccurate.

All substances commonly imbibed by humans have some good effect. They work for you, until or unless they start to take over and work against you. With lack of education on the facts it is hard to understand how this can occur and what to do to prevent or fix it and once again the view of all Law, and subsequently society, suffers. There are also some where the bad is so bad it is never outweighed by the good, but that's far more obvious, especially when information freely flows.

Since this thread is specifically about Cannabis, an unrefined plant, it is even more ludicrous to be the subject of criminal law and the effects of such criminalization are extremely bad on many levels and in many ways and very hard to repair. I sincerely hope the data being collected (not to mention the taxes) by states that have legalized it sways others sooner rather than later.

After my younger Sis explained how to get the medical permit for Arizona.

The grin would not leave my face on how transparent the medical exemption was .
It should state " revenue generator " exemption permit.

You collect user data and also make a tidy yearly sum every year renewing permits.
Easy and turning on a water fountain at a park to get a drink of water as it is to get
a medical permit to buy primo weed, in pre-packed gram type dosage amounts with a limit
on how much can be purchased a month.

I'm not sure if this was mentioned but the new US Farm bill did legalize hemp production:
https://www.businessinsider.com/farm...dustry-2018-12

Hemp is a fantastic industrial material. I once had a sun hat that was 100% hemp and it lasted over 20 years. Scorched by the sun, bleached by chlorinated pool water, salt water from the ocean, washed many times, and that hat just kept going. Also have some Chinese clothes that are hemp/cotton blends and they last much longer then just cotton.

I believe I once read that in the 16th century, people had to grow hemp if they had a garden in order to provide ropes for the navy. It was a criminal offence not to grow it!

Of course the hemp that is grown for ropes is a different variety; it has a single long straight stem with a single flowering head. You wouldn't get much THC out of that. Marijuana has a shorter stem with multiple branches to get as many flowers as possible.

My cousin as a teen tried smoking the m j produced for rope, grew in a field near him. Said they tried smoking a tun and never once got a buzz...

we've* evolved it in so many ways but some of anarchy like hacking has gotten a bad rap so to each their own unless you're the worst kind of pig‽ Peace!

If I don't feel bad anxiety like I did, should I maybe buy weed to feel the good feeling it gives. Because if the negative feelings that it brought on are maybe not there anymore, then maybe it is worth it, to feel the good ones.

Nah, I don't need weed to be happy. Just exercising, eating well and having a healthy life in general does wonders for me, lol. See ya!

If you have (or have had) any kind of mental health problem such as anxiety attacks or depression, then I would counsel against using marijuana or any other mind-altering drug, except on medical advice.

Fixes my arthritis without destroying my liver.
Make me concentrate while ignoring distractions.
Actually gives me more endurance on 100 + F day.

I don't do it to get high. It is kinda nice at 65 to have the energy of a 30 year old again without limping.

Was a Jock. Was USMC. Grew up healthy on a farm with home made cottage cheese. Eating rhubarb pie for desert.

But when I hit used to be status. I decided to cheat a little. Too bad it illegal still to try and improve ones own aged lifestyle.

Saw a 80 year old dude locked up in the Sierra Blanca jail because of roach in his ashtray at the I10 checkpoint. They <border patrol> have no tolerance rule here. Being feds. They even locked up Willie Nelson once.

Everything under my control is how I roll. I've touched em all < drugs >. I tell em when I am gonna pick them up. They do not tell me. I do not smoke a blunt right before, and drive. My vision is blurry enough when on a motorcycle trip. Plus you have just set yourself up another way to get busted and go to jail.

Later at the campsite. That is another story entirely in front of a fire with friends and plundering ice chests. Ever sleep on the ground at 65 without some help? You can be dead,dog, tired and your brain will stay wide awake.

Legal Help means usually destroying your liver in liquid or pill form.
Thanks, but no thanks.

This is one reason drug laws need to be repealed. Not only will a sympathetic doctor NOT advise in any kind of positive way about an illegal substance, but unsympathetic ones don't even understand what is real and what is not. Just last year I was seeing a specialist to rule out cancer and I joked that needing to reduce pressure behind the eyes and upset stomach could make me a candidate for medical marijuana and he told me that "No, because it does neither of those things"... despite it's widely being effective and prescribed by doctors to deal with nausea from chemotherapy and for glaucoma.

Legislating private morality always clouds truth and creates false realities.

Man, that's rough. Even in this nanny-state they'd more likely than not just give you a fine if you only had a roach and that's it. I think the feds seem to think that their above everyone else (and know legally speaking, they are - get that "bad man", we'll make an example of that punk ).

It's not addictive, it's the government and "anti-drug campaigners" that put out the falsehood that if you smoke pot (but you can destroy your liver and drink yourself stupid though), you're somehow either going to get "addicted" or "move onto harder drugs". And usually it's people that have never even smoked pot themselves that don't understand what their talking about to begin with.

That's capitalism for you, "have a pill instead", make the pharmaceutical company more $$$. That's all it's about to them.

Let me guess; he doesn't smoke pot/never has, one of those kids that grew up in a "privileged household", who went to the best schools, then uni, then got their medical degree, and now they think they know it all? I hope you mentioned the last part of what you said to him. Love to know what he said then.

Absolutely. It's a privilege reading your posts enorbet, keep up the good work. Even when I disagree with you from time to time (not often), it's still a privilege.

Thanks for the tip Hungry ghost. I would add that staying away from butthurt people and assholes in general also does wonders for me.

Halfway there - I just read that this month North Dakota became the 25th state to decriminalize herb. Now if we could just make it illegal for government to make possession of mere plants a criminal offense we might be getting somewhere.