Canada: 100% Increase In Pot Use

Thats cool TrueLies I really wish there were more people like you in this crazy world we live in today, even though I disagree with some of your opinions sometimes I truely belive your heart is in the right place. Its been fun, Peace

sardion2000 - you mentioned something earlier like "Why don't we make it legal and tax it?"

We don't have to make anything legal to tax it - Kansas and several other states already have an illegal drug tax program. The drug dealer is required to buy "stamps" for their drugs from an office that they must walk into (identities are supposidly concealed by the providers while doing this), whereby the price and quantity of the stamps is determined by the weight of the drugs - they then must place a stamp on each bag they sale - if they get caught without the stamp, or if someone who buys gets caught w/o the stamp they are fined and must spend additional time in jail.

So our government is already making illegal drug profits - check it out - google it - it's there already

I didn't see any comments on what I said in my earlier post....I wasn't try to make it "look cool" if that's why no one commented...I think I had a good arguement tho and would be interested in any feedback....as TrueLies has assumed tho, we potheads can't hold an intellectual debate, so maybe I'll just have to plead the fifth and claim my ignorance

Hey Everyone,

A sad misconception about pot is that it HAS to be smoked in order to get effects. While this is true for immediate and intense trips you can also achieve a high from eating and consuming the pot in tea. I know many people who injest it because they are afraid of the degradation to the lungs. Embrace new ways and the biggest danger factor is phased out of the equation.

We don't have to make anything legal to tax it - Kansas and several other states already have an illegal drug tax program. The drug dealer is required to buy "stamps" for their drugs from an office that they must walk into (identities are supposidly concealed by the providers while doing this), whereby the price and quantity of the stamps is determined by the weight of the drugs - they then must place a stamp on each bag they sale - if they get caught without the stamp, or if someone who buys gets caught w/o the stamp they are fined and must spend additional time in jail.

I have never heard of such a system, seems like a pretty good idea though. The Cops run their on side business up here that is sorta like that just minus the stamps and on the QT

And Enron, TrueLies didn't say ALL potheads get defensive and can't debate properly, she was talking about people she knows personally not anyone one these boards(I don't think...).

Yes, legalize it, ciggarettes and alchohol are legal and both kill you, so why not pot? Also, a drunk driver swerves, goes faster, so forth, while a pot driver goes slower, is more careful for they are paranoid that someone might be in their blind spot, and the fact that right now it is illegal to do pot so always more careful because they don't want to get caught.

Then lets legalize coc aine again, this way Coca-Cola can put the coc aine back in the Coca part of Coka-Cola. All the reports and science that coc aine is bad is just propoganda, just like all the research and science and facts about pot use is propoganda.

Then lets legalize opium again, 1.3 billion chinese can't be wrong, can they?

Then lets legalize uranium pills, same effect as drugs and don't take 1-10 years to kill you.

While we are at it, lets just take all the chemicals out of ciggarettes and leave what the companies need to get you to smoke, niccotine. Probably cost a lot less without all the cyanide, cadium, ammonia, tobbacco, so forth.

Then lets legalize liquid dog #, all the flavor, non of the bad chemicals from alchohol. Buy a 12 pack of Miller Dog # for that baseball game.

Then lets legalize liquid humans. Boil a person for a few hours, put it in a bottle, new drink. Don't worry, all the science and facts that say it is bad for you is just propoganda, don't pay attention to it.

Sorry, weed is bad for you. I had a freind who was smart as hell, straight A's, honor roll, a freaking genious. Then he started doing weed. He is what people would call a "5 year senoir". Yep, went from top of the class to becoming a 5 year senoir. Well, actually according to amount of credits he has and the amount one needs, he is going to be a 7 year senoir. Or another friend who was on the wrestling team, honor roll, not genious but worked hard. I now write to him about once a month to the rehab clinic in Shelby, Ohio. Don't buy the pot head bull#. It is like trying to argue the bad points of suicide with someone who is suicidal. All the bad points of suicide they see as good for they want to die. All the bad points of pot they want. They want the happy euphoric feeling, the happy giddy feeling, # the fact they will become dumbasses. Would you take advice about not killing for fun from someone who thinks killing people for fun is good? NO! For they would be telling you that there is nothing wrong with killing for fun, anyone who says different is just buying into the "don't kill for fun" propaganda.

Edited Part
All the examples I have seen are. "Person was great, then did pot, now dumbasses." Not one is "He was bad in school, lazy, hated everyone. Then he started doing pot and is now going to Yale." Doesn't that tell you something about pot?

[edit on 22-7-2004 by James the Lesser]

James, your post made me laugh so hard it made me spit up my water on my monitor. Comparing Pot with Coke is just foolish and no one in their right mind would think that legalizing Coke is a good idea. It's people like you who are so gullible and willing to believe everything the Gov't says about a supposed narcotic that gives the politians no political will to legalize it.

Then lets legalize uranium pills, same effect as drugs and don't take 1-10 years to kill you.

Now this is just stupid of you to mention this...
basically your whole post was pointless and a waste of bandwidth. I'm going over you're previous posts to see if you warrent being put on Ignore because you do not Deny Ignorace. You promote it by painting everyone who smokes weed as Lazy, Bad Students, Bad Tempered etc etc etc. I know people who think Weed is the Devil literally, yet they are complete alchoholics and even though most of them aren't even in their 30s yet they look like they are middle aged already, have Bad Temperments, Lack Basic Hygene etc etc etc It goes both ways with Soft Drugs like THC Alchohol and Tobacco.

Lemme guess, you were one of the people who though reefer maddness was a well done documentary that exposed the evils of Weed.

If you want check out these links...
www.theatlantic.com...
www.wired.com...
dir.salon.com...
www.sumeria.net...
The last link is the most interesting IMO...

Wow, even after that huge jump in usage by Canadians and a drop in usage among Americans, Canadian usage is still about half of the US figures.
12.2% in Canada vs. 24.5% in the US.

Globe and mail:
In terms of marijuana, 6.5 per cent of Canadians reported using the drug in 1989 and 7.4 per cent in 1994. By 2002, that proportion had reached 12.2 per cent.

US National Institute on Drug Abuse:
Use of marijuana, the most commonly used illicit drug among youth, declined significantly. Current use declined 11 percent, from 16.6 percent to 14.8 percent; past year use also declined 11 percent, from 27.5 percent to 24.5 percent; and lifetime use declined 8.2 percent, from 35.3 to 32.4 percent.

Another study showing how high drug usage is in the US despite it being illegal:

oas.samhsa.gov:
* The percentage of youths aged 12 to 17 who had ever used marijuana declined slightly from 2001 to 2002 (21.9 to 20.6 percent). Among young adults aged 18 to 25, the rate increased slightly from 53.0 percent in 2001 to 53.8 percent in 2002 (Figure 5.1)....

* The percentage of young adults aged 18 to 25 who had ever used marijuana was 5.1 percent in 1965, but increased steadily to 54.4 percent in 1982. Although the rate for young adults declined somewhat from 1982 to 1993, it did not drop below 43 percent and actually increased to 53.8 percent by 2002.

Perhaps being permissive with it takes away the forbidden fruit appeal and it's no longer as cool.
Being strict doesn't seem to help too much.

[edit on 22-7-2004 by AceOfBase]

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
OHHHHHHHHH Canada, OHHHHHHHHHHH Canada, can someone help me out with the rest, I am going to need to learn the rest if I am going to move there.

Try this one:

By Graham Hicks -- Edmonton Sun
July 1, 2003

In honour of Canada's new marijuana laws, to celebrate this Canada Day please sing the following verse to the tune of O Canada!

Oh Cannabis,

Our home-grown native plant.

Rolled up and smoked,

Gives life a pleasant slant.

With glowing tip, we see thee rise,

The "happy smoke" strong and free.

From far and wide, oh Cannabis,

We stand on guard for thee.

God keep our plant,

Growing strong and free.

Oh Cannabis, we all get stoned from thee.

Oh Cannabis, we all get stoned from thee.

www.canoe.ca...

I was doing well in college, on track to get a tough 4-year degree in 4 years, Im still in college and though I picked up a 2 year residule credits I am way off track. My first semester was in the fall of 2001, now I am still undecided in what I want to do. I have smoked it for years and it does affect my life.

I can't get a high paying job using my skills(if pot didnt take them) because I can't pass the drug test, not that I want a 9-5er anyway, but practically every company and EVERY government job gives you the test.

I have to smoke because buying the amounts needed for cooking is too much. I am ready to quit for the sake of my lungs, even though using a water pipe is a slightly better alternative than just smoking. Maybe I'm sick or just flat out bored but quitting hasnt happened, its always availible and I always need something to do. When the surf picks back up that will give me an alternative, sun damage is better the smoke damage.

If it were legal, it would be so much easier for those on it to get what they need. Are we not paying for the War on Drugs with taxes? It would make more sense to legalize and collect the tax. Illegal drugs only leads to more crime and fund gangs. Drugs are capital so why not make them all legal!

Now with Canada reporting that statistic it just shows the masses are embracing weed as an alternative to beer and cigarettes to get their buzz on. If it were legal those who can smoke all the weed they want and stay lazy will have to get off their ass and find a job or go broke, and it would criple gangs and cartel's income. I pity the US government officials who speaks out against them for this. All kinds of drugs are always going to be consumed and they are an issue that splits the country.

Originally posted by sardion2000
James, your post made me laugh so hard it made me spit up my water on my monitor. Comparing Pot with Coke is just foolish and no one in their right mind would think that legalizing Coke is a good idea. It's people like you who are so gullible and willing to believe everything the Gov't says about a supposed narcotic that gives the politians no political will to legalize it.

Then lets legalize uranium pills, same effect as drugs and don't take 1-10 years to kill you.

Now this is just stupid of you to mention this...
basically your whole post was pointless and a waste of bandwidth. I'm going over you're previous posts to see if you warrent being put on Ignore because you do not Deny Ignorace.

You promote it by painting everyone who smokes weed as Lazy, Bad Students, Bad Tempered etc etc etc. I know people who think Weed is the Devil literally, yet they are complete alchoholics and even though most of them aren't even in their 30s yet they look like they are middle aged already, have Bad Temperments, Lack Basic Hygene etc etc etc It goes both ways with Soft Drugs like THC Alchohol and Tobacco.

Lemme guess, you were one of the people who though reefer maddness was a well done documentary that exposed the evils of Weed.

If you want check out these links...
www.theatlantic.com...
www.wired.com...
dir.salon.com...
www.sumeria.net...
The last link is the most interesting IMO...

And why isn't legalizing coke a good idea? The same people who research the effects of pot and say it is bad do/say the same about coke. Are you saying that you believe the scientists about coc aine but not pot? Isn't that a little hypocritical? "All reports from the govenrmnet saying pot is bad is propaganda. All reports from the government saying coc aine is bad is right." Sounds alot like bull# to me. I don't support the legalization of coc aine, for like pot, it is dangerous.

Also, isn't flaming not allowed on ATS? And what is so stupid about the uranium pills? They do the same as pot or coc aine or heroin, just alot quicker. And what is reefer madness? Never heard of it.
"You promote it by painting everyone who smokes weed as Lazy, Bad Students, Bad Tempered" yes I do. Why? I haven't heard any examples of people who did drugs and went to Harvard and Yale and Oxford passing with straight A's or anything good. They are always "He was so good in school, then did pot, now a dumbass." As I said, if you had read, never heard of a scenario like this. "He did bad in school, was going to drop out of high school. But then he started doing pot and his grades went up, he finished top of his class and is going to harvard next fall for his law degree." Nope, this has never happened. But the opposite has happened many many times, two of them were my freinds. And going to those sites would be like me wanting to know the truth about Bush so I go to www.republicansareselectedbygod.org. It seems just a little slanted.

Originally posted by James the Lesser
And why isn't legalizing coke a good idea? The same people who research the effects of pot and say it is bad do/say the same about coke. Are you saying that you believe the scientists about coc aine but not pot? Isn't that a little hypocritical? "All reports from the govenrmnet saying pot is bad is propaganda. All reports from the government saying coc aine is bad is right." Sounds alot like bull# to me.

And that is how it can become a "gateway" drug. If people trying it out for the first time see that all the hype and stories they heard are not true then they may just logically conclude that the same goes for hard, refined drugs.

The effects of hard drugs can be seen in our large cities so I only need to believe my own eyes and not rely on the "research" at all.

When it come to a medicinal plant for which we have actually evolved brain receptors, some people only believe what they read or what the are told rather than what they see or experience.

Well I'm gonna have to go on with another story about I guy that I knew, straight A's, amazing hockey player, starts with weed and he's never been the same since. Weed is not good no matter how you look at it. It should be fully illegalized

I heard about another guy who was going to a good school and then he smoked some weed and became President of the United States (but he didn't inhale)

Newt Gingrich is also said to have smoked Marijuana.

True Ace, then there is the president who went on a ten year bender of beer and coc aine and was elected into office 5-4. But there are exceptions to every rule, is there not?

Cigarettes and alcohol are worse for you than marijuana.

I say, legalize everything, let people make their own mistakes...people are going to try drugs anyway, but at least if they are legal, there's no black market, less crime, no money spent on the war on drugs, etc...if someone messes themselves up, that's their decision.

Oh, and illegal drugs are partly responsible for %90 of the greatest rock songs ever written. Let responsible people have their fun, let idiots ruin their lives if they so choose. Many people already do this with alcohol and tobacco, why not other drugs?

Originally posted by James the Lesser
True Ace, then there is the president who went on a ten year bender of beer and coc aine and was elected into office 5-4. But there are exceptions to every rule, is there not?

Yes and I'll admit it's more of the exception than the rule.

As I said earlier in the thread, I'm not a user myself and I don't endorse its use.
I do however endorse legalization of Marijuana.
I don't think usage will go up as a result of legalization.

So you believe the opposite of what happens when you ban guns? In Australia and England, they banned guns, crime rate goes up. But you suggest that legalizing the drug will make crime rate drop? Hmm, could work, someone said it wouldn't be as forbidden, so not as cool. But it still bad. And so far people have given us cases of people they knew that were smart, good people that turned to dumbasses after doing pot, none of the opposite, except for Clinton.

Originally posted by James the Lesser
So you believe the opposite of what happens when you ban guns? In Australia and England, they banned guns, crime rate goes up. But you suggest that legalizing the drug will make crime rate drop? Hmm, could work, someone said it wouldn't be as forbidden, so not as cool. But it still bad. And so far people have given us cases of people they knew that were smart, good people that turned to dumbasses after doing pot, none of the opposite, except for Clinton.

More than 1 out of every 3 people in this country has tried pot...and it didn't instantly turn all of them to mindless couch potatoes, murderers, rapists, etc..."reefer madness" must have gotten to you in school.

Originally posted by James the Lesser
But you suggest that legalizing the drug will make crime rate drop?

If marijuana was legalized, it would take it off the black market...being that millions of people in our country smoke it, they would no longer have to deal with shady criminals to get the stuff. There would be no dealers fighting each other for business, less gang violence, less cops and civilians being hurt just for drugs..

Go Canada! I don't agree with a lot of Canadian views, but this one is right on target.

I smoked tons of the stuff for years. If it were legal, I'd still smoke it. I too quit because I was tired of losing a good job every 6 months. IMO, employment drug testing is heavily biased against cannabis consumers. I've seen so many people on pills, coc aine, etc at work, but they're in the clear because it's out of their system like, 3 days later. But if somebody goes and smokes a joint on their own time, away from the workplace, they're screwed if they get called up to test any time in the next 3 months. Of course, now I hear now that getting caught 'cheating' on a drug test is going to be made a felony! Why is that more emphasis is placed on the chemicals found in a person's bodily fluids than on their capabilities or work ethics?

Anybody who equates coc aine with marijuana has obviously never tried either. I've had both in abundance, and I can give you an expert's advice that the two are nothing alike. Unequivocally different. Write that down...

Personally, I view marijuana as an enhancer (as most do). I've known lots of rec. drug users all my life, and pot only seems to emphasize already present tendencies. The smart think more, the philosophical become more deep, the artistic become engrossed in their works. Unfortunately, it does work 2 ways: the lazy become lazier, and the stupid become...'stupider'.

I've noticed the 'good person smoked pot and is now worthless' theme in a lot of posts in this thread. First off, do these alleged individuals really exist? If so, were they really all that great in the first place, or is pot being blamed as the cause for their own weaknesses? Are there other drugs involved? When I see that pot is blamed, but is followed by a statement like "yeah, they snort coc aine, drink heavily, smoke crack constantly, eat acid by the sheet, mushrooms by the pound, love oxycontin and huff paint too...but I'm sure it's really the pot!"...doesn't that set off any warning bells for ya? In a lot of instances like that, you're just dealing with a piece of **** waste of humanity who'd still be useless if all drugs were eradicated from the face of the earth. As I asserted in the previous paragraph, the worthless become even less valuable.