Colorado prosecutor: Marijuana-related murders are skyrocketing

American Thinker ^ | June 1, 2016 | Sierra Rayne

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

According to the latest reports coming out of Colorado, marijuana is a major cause of homicides in the state, and the problem is only getting worse.

"There is increased crime, sometimes violent crime, associated with legalization of marijuana," Brauchler said. "That's not what you'd expect. You'd expect the harder-core drugs." ... "If cash is the only way to acquire marijuana, crime follows cash," Brauchler said ... Brauchler believes the legalization of marijuana is partly to blame for the rise in crime. "It is easier for there to be black market in a legalized system than there was before," he said.

This all wasn't supposed to happen. The pot legalization advocates told us that legalized marijuana would reduce crime and effectively eliminate the black market. Now we have experienced and respected prosecutors saying they are seeing, firsthand, the exact opposite.

[fr_freak]

Kind of like saying someone is a "chronic" alcohol drinker or a "chronic" nicotine user. They are addicted.

"Chronic" only implies regularly reoccurring. People who like to have a glass of scotch or a couple of beers are chronic alcohol users. Are they addicted? Maybe, since alcohol is physically addictive, but they probably aren't. Marijuana is not physically addictive, however, so even heavy repeated usage doesn't result in physical addiction. It certainly is more fun than real life, though, so those who have a weak character may simply choose to forgo their responsibilities in favor of doing the more fun thing, but that STILL doesn't make it physically addictive.

[fr_freak]

Don’t know who Josh Gordon is. Don’t care.

[fr_freak]

Marijuana is often compared to alcohol. One major effect that occurs with both is to decrease your inhibitions.

Marijuana does not decrease your inhibitions. If anything, many of your inhibitions may be heightened. Alcohol and marijuana are two entirely different drugs with entirely different effects. Yes, I've tried both.

[Vision Thing]

It’s odd how these drug libertarians cannot see that drug addiction is the ultimate form of human slavery.

Yes.

Their most cherished human freedom boils down to dependening on a non-essential chemical. And for what? For a mere feeling.

It's orwellian.

They want the freedom to destroy their own freedom and those of others.

[Sawdring]

I heard on a program that THC that is eaten has a different effect on the body because it is processed by the liver instead of he lungs into the blood supply and then to the brain.

[TigersEye]

MA Nat'l Guard, State Police Raid 81 yr old woman's home to seize pot plat

Yay, drug warriors!

[fr_freak]

We need truck drivers and fork lift operators. We drug test employees nationally in accordance with Corporate Policy.

We cannot find enough employees in CO who can pass the drug test.

If your company tested for alcohol use, they would have an even smaller pool of employees to choose from. Does your company check for LSD usage? Probably not, since it is harder to test for. Your company has chosen, for whatever reason, to institute a particular, rather arbitrary, standard for employment, and now you guys are complaining that you can't find employees?

I used to work for a public agency that had a fair-sized group of guys in maintenance positions, the kind of jobs that require you to do dirty things like snake toilets and what-not, and they weren't particularly well-paid. In a management meeting, the idea of instituting regular drug-testing (aka marijuana testing, because it is really the only drug that can be tested cheaply where the traces aren't out of your system within days) was discussed. I told them, sure, go ahead, but the main pool of people who would take a job like this is going to contain mostly the kind of people who smoke a joint now and then. You're going to have real problems keeping people in those positions (keep in mind that a one-time, initial drug screening was already in place). They decided not to institute the test.

I have known a number of people who have been life-long smokers of pot and still function at a high level in rather high positions of expertise and authority. You'd never know that because they aren't low IQ losers who stumble around stoned in public or otherwise disgrace themselves. People need to remember that the loser "potheads" that you think represent the average marijuana user are actually just losers, period.

[bert]

ok, now...... do all pot stores display the green cross?

In Durango i recently saw say only 2 or 3 green cross dispensaries.
Considering the wierd people there I wonder if they all go to a green cross store

[Right Wing Assault]

I have never used marijuana, or taken any drug, to get high. I never drank enough to get drunk. I saw too many relatives of mine get into deep social and health troubles with alcohol. I never smoked for similar reasons. As a kid I taught myself that I didn't need any of those to feel good or to have fun or to be sociable. Someone once said about me at a party, "He's the life of the party and he's not even drinking." In my old age, pushing 70, I occasionally take a single drink of something that tastes good just before bed.

Knowing my bias, let me continue.

The question 'is it addicting' has been around for ages, of course. Just for fun, I did a StartPage search on "is marijuana addicting" and looked at a lot of results. Various topics were covered, such as what does addicting mean and is it addicting.

What I took away was that the current idea is that certainly it is psychologically addicting, which has been known. Physically addicting, mostly for long term users or those more genetically prone. Can the person stop long term and function seems to be the question. For most people, the answer seems to be Yes

Also, the physical addiction is easier to break than alcohol and drugs. (I was a medic in an Army hospital during Vietnam and I saw two guys undergo near cold turkey from alcohol. Scared the crap out of me.) A few weeks they say and most of the MJ anxiety and craving are gone. But long term users are likely to have long term psychological problems that are difficult to overcome. Maybe they would have had them or already had them, but it sounds as if researchers believe the MJ causes at least some if not most or all of it.

You mentioned "weak character" being a reason people people forego responsibilities, but some of the articles called that a result of heavy MJ psychological addiction. They used to say the "weak character" thing about drunks, too.

Long ago, I taught in an inner-city high school for five years. I saw so many stoned kids who just sat and smiled, if they managed to get to school at all. Some of them were very bright. The brightest of them pointed a gun at the driver of the car next to him just for fun. I'm sure his eyes were bloodshot and he was smiling. The driver was an off-duty cop who shot him in the head. The worry I have about legalization is that the "laid back" parents will be careless about their kids getting into their stash, or, maybe they don't even care.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a long back and forth argument on the topic. I'd be glad to hear back from you, but I won't respond. I blow too much time in online discussions.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

I will treat your future prohibitionist falsehoods as if they are written by a progressive marxist.

Okay. And I'll put yours down as the ramblings of a pothead.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

Marijuana does not decrease your inhibitions.

It decreases your intelligence.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

I have known a number of people who have been life-long smokers of pot and still function at a high level in rather high positions of expertise and authority.

Obama? There's a good mascot for drug advocates.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

People need to remember that the loser "potheads" that you think represent the average marijuana user are actually just losers, period..

How do the supposed non-loser potheads pass drug tests? Or do they bother with employment?

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

They want the freedom to destroy their own freedom and those of others.

They come up with bullsh*t philosophical-political rationalizations for drugs. That's just a smokescreen, hiding the real intent, which is to make money off addicts.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

we called them stoners for a good reason.

Man Fined for Smoking Bong Containing Cat

[fr_freak]

Go away, troll

[little jeremiah]

Many dopers mix mj and other drugs, as well as alcohol. Very common.

[little jeremiah]

I smoked mj for about 3 years, stopped when I was 20, and this was late 60s/early 70s when it was much weaker than it is now.

I know from research and my own experience, and seeing others over the years who smoke it regularly, that it is a character destroyer, intelligence detsroyer - make rational thinking impossible, destroys initiative and clear thinking. MJ intoxication divorces the consciousness from reality, and most people who smoke are psychologcially addicted. It has many lasting or permanent effects.

It is very destructive.

[Jack Hammer]

Sorry - I’m a dunce when it comes to drugs.

It just seems like an unregulated market (in any product) should have the easiest access at the best prices.

Of course, when the government Marxists in office and their bureaucrat lackies start screwing around, everything goes out the window.

[TheStickman]

“And I’ll put yours down as the ramblings of a pothead.”

The difference is, you write like a progressive marxist. I write like a conservative who uses cannabis as medicine. You’re kind of writing has killed millions of people. My writing is about freedom & hope.

Oh, here’s another family who’d child no longer suffers from seizures because of cannabis oil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSfMDUKfylo

I guess this small child is a “pothead” in your mind, right? Are the parents who give their children this healing medicine “drug dealers” to you?

Matther 19:13-14—Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Have a blessed day now!

Vote Trump 2016