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spidey · Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2004 12:56 pm Post subject: Did you know....?

Alaska was voting on an amendmant during this past election. It was to decide whether or not to LEGALIZE (not just decriminalize) MARIJUANA!

Your thoughts...?

BTW...the vote came back...NO.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

I think everbody should adopt the Dutch system It just makes sense. Alcohol and cigarettes kill more people every year. It would also take it out of the black market and Governments could earn tax from it. Just think how much money could be saved from trying to bust people for having a joint and sending them to the nick.

dyak · Joined: 25 Jun 2003 Posts: 630

People need to be educated about drugs. Endlessly telling people that drugs are bad is not helping. This does not stop people taking drugs. Why? Because drugs are, in essence, not 'bad'. Drugs without UNBIASED education are bad; the way drugs are manufactured and sold is bad; except of course, socially acceptable drugs like alcohol.

The (mainstream) media will only ever tell us that drugs are bad. We'll never see a front page story about how someone took drugs and was inspired to leave the manipulated materialistic world (what the media is really about) and work with orphans or war victims.

If you take drugs to escape this reality, then of course, they can only be bad for you. Marijuana is a powerful suppressant and if you do not know that then you'll wonder why you need to smoke every night after a 'hard day's work'.

You will also hear the following myths -

No one has ever died from taking marijauna! (Of course not)
It's not addictive! (See above)
It makes you want world peace and togetherness! (If you don't smoke, hang out with people who do smoke... there really isn't a lonelier experience... except maybe studying English in London...)

Cheers.

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

Teacher in Rome · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Posts: 1286

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

The law (now) is vague, but as I understand it...

It is impossible to prosecute someone for the possession and/or consumption of a small amount of marijuana in their home. If someone's doing it on the street then it may be possible to arrest them, but not on charges of "possession of drugs", rather those of "being a public nuisance" (or words to that effect). The implied message from the authorities is "Do it if you like, but try to be a bit subtle...". That suits me fine.

In London, certainly, it seems that the police and public alike have a very chilled attitude to it. This isn't to say that we'll ever be able to buy it in coffee shops (or see it smoked in pubs) - but I'd guess this is not so much down to lack-of-tolerance rather lack-of-being-bothered.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Must say, when we lived in Nederlands, there were two coffee shops (legal marijuana joints - coffee is sold elsewhere) and one irish pub on our little street. The coffee shops were by far the better neighbors - their patrons were way less belligerent and noisy.........
But, the fact is, no one was driving a car to get home. The worst case was biking under the influence - it's not totally safe, but at least it's not two tons of out of control metal. For this reason, I'm not convinced the Dutch system would work well in N. America. Ok, to light up at home is one thing, but to smoke at a public place and then drive home is another issue entirely.

spidey · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 3:12 am Post subject:

Good point spiral78...

We would have to develope a so called "pissalizer test" to check for people driving under the influence.

Any more thoughts...?

S

Captain Yossarian · Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 385 Location: Dongbei

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

In Spain possession of any drug has been legal since thelate 70's. The Socialists claimed credit but in fact it was the Supreme Court, who stated that a crime required a victim, and the victim and the perpetrator could not be the same person.

Trafficking is still a crime, so in effect the social ills of prohibtion are still there.

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

Wow, I didn't realize how logical Spain was.

Both Japan and the US view drug use as a crime against the state. It is felt that drug use increases health care costs, lowers worker productivity, and is a direct link to crimes which have victims. Both countries are governed by perception and correlation. Logic is not an embraced concept.