3 Months Since Legalizing Marijuana, Here's What Colorado Looks Like

originally posted by: 3u40r15m
a reply to: TiedDestructor

To each their own.... Just seems like National peer pressure. Whatever happen to Weed being bad? Parents teaching kids not to smoke it and the whole DARE program....Now we teach kids weed is good alcohol is bad? Does not sound right to me. I'd much rather see my kids have a drink for their 21st instead of doing drugs.

Wow, alcohol ruins all kinds of things.

I would MUCH rather see my kid bypass the booze and have the sense to wade through all the propaganda and enjoy some of this beautiful plant (Not Drug) I can't call it that, it's not, at that age.

Maybe that's because I had to (still have to) overcome alcoholism.

originally posted by: GoShredAK

originally posted by: 3u40r15m
a reply to: TiedDestructor

To each their own.... Just seems like National peer pressure. Whatever happen to Weed being bad? Parents teaching kids not to smoke it and the whole DARE program....Now we teach kids weed is good alcohol is bad? Does not sound right to me. I'd much rather see my kids have a drink for their 21st instead of doing drugs.

Wow, alcohol ruins all kinds of things.

I would MUCH rather see my kid bypass the booze and have the sense to wade through all the propaganda and enjoy some of this beautiful plant (Not Drug) I can't call it that, it's not, at that age.

Maybe that's because I had to (still have to) overcome alcoholism.

My fathers death certificate read: Cause of death "acute alcohol poisoning".

My 19 year old child will never have to read that.

Now I've made myself tear up. sorry

ETA: I was 19, son is 4

I don't approve of marijuana, much the same as I don't approve of alcohol or many prescription medications.

However, there doesn't seem to be any logical reasons at all to have it banned. Unless you take into consideration who's profiting off of the number of people being imprisoned over it.

It's ironic though that the people who are so up in arms against it, helped create a culture based around the substance through sheer prohibition.

originally posted by: TiedDestructor

originally posted by: GoShredAK

originally posted by: 3u40r15m
a reply to: TiedDestructor

To each their own.... Just seems like National peer pressure. Whatever happen to Weed being bad? Parents teaching kids not to smoke it and the whole DARE program....Now we teach kids weed is good alcohol is bad? Does not sound right to me. I'd much rather see my kids have a drink for their 21st instead of doing drugs.

Wow, alcohol ruins all kinds of things.

I would MUCH rather see my kid bypass the booze and have the sense to wade through all the propaganda and enjoy some of this beautiful plant (Not Drug) I can't call it that, it's not, at that age.

Maybe that's because I had to (still have to) overcome alcoholism.

My fathers death certificate read: Cause of death "acute alcohol poisoning".

My 19 year old child will never have to read that.

Now I've made myself tear up.

sorry

ETA: I was 19, son is 4

My great grandfather died when he got drunk and fell throat first into his bed post. No one found him until it was to late. A family friend died of kidney failure as well. It shrunk to the size of a pea, he stopped drinking and it started growing back, but his relapse killed him.

Since drinking is legal and weed is taboo, people don't accept that weed is the softer of the two.

When I drink I talk weird, walk weird, get beer goggles, my body turns into a limp noodle, I get louder and lose all inhibition. I might sleep with random stranger and not remember. When I wake up in the morning I feel like crap. I could OD with to much. I could choke on vomit in my sleep. If i become an alcoholic quitting will give me withdrawals.

When I smoke, I turn into bob ross, I might be a bit delayed, but I can talk, walk, and see straight. I don't lose inhibition on weed, I actually worry about looking stupid. I can't OD on it, and I have no hang over when I wake up. I could smoke 24/7 and then quit and have no withdrawals. If i do sleep with anyone I'll remember.

Obviously smoking hurts the lungs, but alcohol damages our bodies in multiple ways as well.

originally posted by: GoShredAK
Is this like Modern Reefer Madness or what? Man, the propaganda, and ignorance as a result is thick on this thread.

My theory is that it's a type of power trip. Demonizing marijuana and users looks to be a way to subjugate others, thus inferring that the accuser is more powerful.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

The government should look at it this way...alcohol makes people angry and they commit crimes...and for some it gives them balls to fight. Pot chills everyone out...there is no fight. If they want to take over our country...let us get high and they get what they want...and we get screwed..yes, and without lube...but being high makes it a little more pleasant for us. Nah, just kidding..im just waiting for a high that i legal that doesn't make my insides hurt. I will fight these banker sons of bitches till my death. Not for myself...i drink so much, clearly im not an asset ..but for my children and everyone else. My life means nothing to me, but id rather die knowing that everyone else was free. Either way.....Ill be there if anyone tries to enslave us!

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." George Patton...

This is also true for those trying to kill us here at home (all of us know who they are). There is no difference between an enemy abroad....and an enemy art home. Homeland Security will be the first to agree with me. Just a flip of the coin, will tell you that there are two opposing sides in the same house...a magnet will reveal the same. Its only when one of the sides come together that someone is outnumbered.....Homeland Security and the government has known this for a long time. We need to get together as one...NOT WITH FREAKING CELL PONES OR SOCIAL MEDIA! Its monitored day and night...only, as it was back in 1776.

Just watch the older propaganda films about it and anyone can see how far people are willing to go to make it seem like MJ is the worst thing in the world... damn close to being a murderer...

OR in this case... it can be the direct cause of murder....

Watch out for those pot heads... they're dangerous

IMO- the only reason Pot is a gateway drug is because you sometimes have to go to "unscrupulous drug dealers" to get weed. Buyers often find themselves experimenting in that situation, especially young people. Recreational legalization and legal vendors eliminates this gateway. Or so we'll see.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
I've never seen two mods debate each other with such vigor. This thread is awesome.

Some of the best debates I've had the pleasure of reading in my years here have been from mods, many who were not mods at the time. I'm enjoying this one in particular because I have a lot of respect for both involved.


As to the topic of their debate, I feel all these studies linked on both sides are forgetting one thing..Not everyone is affected by MJ the same way. I know many people, myself included that not only benefit greatly from it, but would be considered high-functioning users. Similar to High-functioning alcoholics. As an example, I worked with a guy that just sucked at work in the mornings. He would have a few beers on lunch,come back and do more work in those remaining hours than the rest of us did all day! He just had to get a bit buzzed.


I'm interested in what the rest of the states are going to do now that it's been seen how much tax revenue is created by legalizing it.

People around the world have been using MJ for medical ,spiritual and recreational purposes since the dawn of creation.It is like alcohol,sugar,fat,pain killer,etc....One can overdose and abuse any of those substances and mess up his/her own life pretty much to the point of distinction...It is all about who,how,when and how much one uses it.

It's interesting to see how the nay sayers remain clearly dogmatised (I know some yes sayers are too…) and it's hurting the debate.
Honestly I don't think that you should be allowed to have an opinion on this subject if you don't have more than one experience, either by yourself or someone else. Or if you haven't read extensibly about what cannabis does to the brain.

In short… those kids… they got hurt becuase THEY are who they are, not because of the drug. BAD parenting, a lack of information for them to relate to the drug and most likely if they hadn't ate those edibles they most likely would have gotten themselves hurt with something else. Stupid is as stupid does haha…

SCIENCE FACT:

- In the late 90s Portugal decriminalized drugs. Over the course of ten years the meassured the effects and found a 50% decrease in drug related crime. 50% !!

- Holland and in particular Amsterdam has for a long time been a haven for free cannabis. When we in Denmark started examining wether or not to do the same thing (we have Christiania free town in Copenhagen which is the go to place. Sold openly but illegally.), the dutch people were shaking their heads at our politicians when the Danish report failed to include a very extensive report done by the dutch people who obviously have a lot more experience than us. In short… the Danish report was heavily biased towards NOT allowing free cannabis.

- In England, the chief advisor on drug policy for the government got sacked because his government funded research only lead him to find that both alcohol and tobacco individually both cause more harm to the individual and society than cannabis did….. cause as he has repeatedly said: how can a sane substance policy disallow safer substances but allow extremely unhealthy substances. (how often do you see people driving cars under the influence of cannabis as opposed to alcohol???)

- AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN evidence shows that cannabis not only consumed as a substance but also as a manufacturing product is better on society. Did you know you can produce far more usable products with the hemp plant than you can with trees? The turnaround in hemp is nothing short of amazing compared to trees….
Also cannabis have proven itself an effective medical product as it helps relieve people who are suffering from serious or terminal illness. It simply either makes them better or makes the remainder of their time easier.


All these myths surrounding cannabis and psychedelics stim from BAD science and dogmatised SCARED politicians who back in the 60s ( which is when the latest true attempts to experience classic psychedelics under so-called scientific conditions), reacted WAY TO FAST on incomplete research.


Fortunately since then, healthy sane people who wont suffer under the politicians scare of not being reelected, have been conducting controlled research and every time the present something it only seems to get better and better and the potential larger and larger.
I fully acknowledge that there are awful cases where people or kids get hurt, but SERIOUSLY, then spend money in researching a way to find out wether or not an individual is pre-dispositioned to becoming psychotic than spending on fighting something that wont go away anyways, regardless of it being illegal.

Information is worth infinitely more than prohibition!

Ask yourself the question, who is it that fears the free mind of the people? Who has to lose the most for free psychedelics and who has the most to win by a prohibition………. the answer is bloody obvious.

95% of the people I know for a fact have experience anything in this area throughout their late teens and early 20s have ALL turned out fine. The guys who didn't, well, they would have suffered under anything random anyways, simply because they themselves had too many issues inside.
So why didn't the 95%, including myself turn into rotten apples? Because it's about the individual not the substance.
As another example, I behave A LOT worse when drunk than I do under the influence of cannabis.


END THE WAR ON DRUGS AND START THE INFORMATION ON THEM INSTEAD!

KEYWORDS FOR YOUR OWN RESEARCH:

www.maps.org - David Nutt (Psychopharmachologist, England) - David Erritzøe (Doctor PH.D, Denmark) - Pål Ørjan Johansen & Teri Krebs (NTNU, Norway)- drugscience.org.uk... - Graham Hancock (England) - To some degree… Joe Rogan (US)

It's a good thing. A very good thing.

originally posted by: 3u40r15m
a reply to: TiedDestructor

1.To each their own.... Just seems like National peer pressure. Whatever happen to Weed being bad?

2. Parents teaching kids not to smoke it and the whole DARE program....Now we teach kids weed is good alcohol is bad?

3. Does not sound right to me. I'd much rather see my kids have a drink for their 21st instead of doing drugs.

I separated your post into three parts.

1. How is it National Peer pressure? What happened with weed being bad is... take a look at the OP, it explains an area where it is legal and it didn't capitulate, just like when Alcohol was made legal, the world didn't end.

2. The DARE program was full of propaganda not based in reality, we don't teach kids weed is good and alcohol is bad, both are fun in moderation, the more you take the more damage you likely do yourself, except one you will certainly not OD on and the other well we have stats for alcohol abuse, it's not pretty.

3. Drugs yes, MJ is a plant and a good one at that, denying that denies science.
As for your kid, that would still be your choice or his.
Alcohol is proven up and down the board as a terrible drug as well, people have argued they shouldn't be compared but seeing as though you did, it has to be said.
There certainly appears to be a hereditary link in alcoholism in some cases, I've seen this first hand.

originally posted by: 3u40r15m

originally posted by: Erongaricuaro

originally posted by: Swills

But they say weed is the gateway drug.. Talk about propaganda!

Alcohol is the "gateway" for accepting recreational drug use as an acceptable, desireable, and even and 'expected' way of life. The way alcohol is promoted in western society it is more than a mere gateway but a neon-lit flashing entryway with more lights than a Las Vegas casino and free balloons for the kiddies.

Pot is a quite low-key and fairly benign alternative by comparison, and with much milder effects. The biggest crime associated with cannabis, and its worst side effect, is that it was made into a crime - it was given legal sanction to ruin lives through abuse of the system. That sort of abuse literally destroyed justice.

It is good to see that people are finally coming to their senses about cannabis/hemp, but with over seven decades of reefer madness insanity that made it a long time in coming.

Weed is a gateway drug. Most weed smokers also smoke hash, hash oils, and whatever else can get them high as a Giraffe,,, I have nothing against potheads. But I have alot against you new age activist that act like you just discovered this cool new drug. Almost as bad as the gay marriage thing.

I believe the thrust of my post you are responding to was to point out that ALCOHOL has been our society's gateway drug whose industry and customs promotes the acceptance of recreational drug use as an acceptable, even desireable and often 'expected' way of life in most of the western world. I voiced my opinion, which is shared by many others as well, that cannabis has a much milder effect and is fairly benign by comparison. This leaves me somewhat perplexed that your response was largely ad hominem and appeared even somewhat bigoted. That could betray some weakness in your own personal point of view on the subject.

May I state in my own defense and to give weight to my stated opinions that I am in my 60's and several years into my retirement and that I am not an activist in this movement but do share the sentiments of the many others who have been victim of the liberties and privacies lost to the reckless War on Drugs campaign perpetrated against the people largely by profiteering interests. My discovery of cannabis is not new but rather I have been experienced with the subject for well over four and-a-half decades along with many other of my peers with similar degree of experience in the matter.

I am not at all sure why you feel 'gay marriage' is appropriate to this discussion but if it matters at all I do consider it an individual's personal choice that I would rather condone than condemn. However I am married to a woman, a person of my opposite gender.

My own step-father from since my very young age was a successful person in his career, a high-functioning 'alcohol achiever' who was involved in Manned Space Flight since 1959 starting with Project Mercury until his death at age 46 due to heavy alcohol consumption in 1980 before the first Space Shuttle flights. The span of his entire life would amount to less time than my personal knowledge of cannabis. I would have more to speak of regarding the ups and down-sides of this topic in general if Terms of Service would permit it, I just wish we at ATS could take part in the discussion that could lead to important decision-making early on. But regarding Colorado, I do believe they are taking the right steps in restoring liberty to their residents and expect they have made the right choice for their people and the general law and order in their state.

originally posted by: semperfortis
Problems?

Yeah they got em

On Tuesday, Dr. Michael Distefano testified that Colorado Children’s Hospital has treated seven juveniles for acute illnesses stemming from ingesting edible forms of marijuana since the law went into effect.

And, on Monday night, before Distefano appeared before the House Committee on Health, Insurance, and Environment on two bills to rein in recreational marijuana, a mother of three from Denver on the phone with a 911 operator about the hallucinations being experienced by her husband was killed when he shot her in the head.

State Rep. Frank McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) says that achieving equivalences between marijuana from plants with the concentrates used in edibles will probably cost the state at least $100,000 to implement, but that every passing day is giving lawmakers reasons why some tightening is necessary.

The reports of edible marijuana making children sick and possibly playing a role in Kristine Kirk’s murder coincides with a new study showing that casual marijuana use can cause changes in the brain. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, a 10-page report on the study says that brain alterations occur in young adults using marijuana before any dependence develops.

The report’s author, Dr. Hans Breiter of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital, said that longer-term studies are needed to see if brain changes cause any symptoms over time.

Food Safety News

Replace all references to marijuana in that article to "Alcohol" and you get the exact same report, only it happens every single day. Kids drink themselves stupid on alcohol and get taken to hospital and husbands drink themselves out of control and kill their wives.

Should weed be made illegal? No. And neither should alcohol

a reply to: JiggyPotamus

The only worry someone like myself has, who neither drinks nor smokes intoxicating substances, is the DUI factor. My concern was that a police officer could find someone driving impaired, and not know he/she was impaired because you cannot tell when someone has been smoking intoxicating substances unless they smoke a LOT. (I cannot anyway!)

That was my only real concern since people who smoke those intoxicating substances are quite happy and laid back people therefore no fear of them rushing out and killing anyone because they got stoned. Just worried about the DUI angle honestly.

I figure I'll watch Colorado and see how that goes over the next couple years. So far it seems pretty good there.

a reply to: semperfortis

Edibles are nothing to play with.

Can definitely, easily, go on a bad trip since they last a long time, unlike smoking.

This is coming from a past, avid smoker.

I remember in Amsterdam wanting not to be high anymore after eating some brownies but it would not end for a long time.

People forget what it was like the first time they got high on MJ. It's pretty intense. The way it affects someone who has been smoking for decades is not the way it affects new users. For new users, it can be as intense as the more potent entheogens.

I'm pro marijuana, but I don't think marijuana is for everyone, and definitely not the general public. It's ok for certain types of people with certain states of mind.

Maybe they should have some sort of mandatory education on MJ before you are allowed to buy it.

Also smoking too often (too many days consecutively) is not good as it can lead to depressed states of mind, especially if you smoke from early on in the day.

I think it is only good occasionally.

Also, I believe certain strains can have detrimental emotional effects as compared to other strains. MJ is a complex bio-substance with great variability in it's effects based on genetic strains. I am not a big fan of the recent popular genetics. I am also not a fan of the recent trend of not curing the weed. Uncured weed is harsher on the throat, and the emotions. Cured weed is mellower both for the throat and mind. Bring back the weed form the 70's and 80's.. 'chocolate' thai, Thai stick, Purple Haze (my favorites) and cure it properly.

a reply to: semperfortis

A good thing to keep in mind is that the 'potent' edibles they are eating, really contained highly purified alchemical hashish. Yes, Hash is essentially made through plant alchemy, increasing potency of base twelvefold. Much much different than smoking. Also if a person eats too many edibles containing this hashish in a short period of time; it is undoubtedly dangerous.

a reply to: VeritasAequitas

You bring up something here that might be important.

One of the young girls in the neighborhood that comes to me for advice (and sometimes just to vent) from time to time had been smoking that legal weed. K-something or other I cannot remember.

Anyway, she had been smoking it darn near daily for a while and had a seizure where she went to the hospital. Over the next few weeks she had two more seizures and the doctors attributed her seizures to this legal stuff she was smoking.

I'd much rather the natural stuff be legalized if the legal stuff can be that harmful to be honest. But that brings us to an entirely different topic - safety.

Your indicating it might not be so safe to eat and I am seeing people in the thread talk about eating it. If its not very safe or needs to be in seriously controlled amounts then should that stay on the illegal side since it is much more harmful?

originally posted by: VeritasAequitas
a reply to: semperfortis

A good thing to keep in mind is that the 'potent' edibles they are eating, really contained highly purified alchemical hashish. Yes, Hash is essentially made through plant alchemy, increasing potency of base twelvefold. Much much different than smoking. Also if a person eats too many edibles containing this hashish in a short period of time; it is undoubtedly dangerous.

Also the effect takes longer to take place , your stomach has to process the THC and get it into your bloodstream , that's why i consider it risky , because there is no direct indication or control over the "dosage"

In these situations people whould think it wouldnt work , take more and then get ill because of taking too much in.