Posted on 11/27/2017 12:47:57 PM PST by fwdude
This week marks the fifth anniversary of Colorado's legalization of the commercial marijuana trade, and the reviews aren't good.
An editorial in the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, "Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a homelessness growth rate that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot."
The paper says, "Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a doubling in the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based on research by the pro-legalization Denver Post. Five years of commercial pot have been five years of more marijuana in schools than teachers and administrators ever feared."
(Excerpt) Read more at 1.cbn.com ...
“Open legalization is a disaster.”
We don’t know that, because we’ve never seen “open legalization.”
What Colorado has is strict regulation. As I predicted in the 1960s, government interference has nurtured the black market by keeping the price of government-regulated pot artificially high. That keeps organized crime in the picture.
One thing that reveals the fundamental dishonesty of the OP is their comment that the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana has doubled. That is the same kind of lying with statistics that MADD and other groups used to demonize drinking.
Among the questions to ask about that statistic are:
1. How many of those drivers were in some way responsible for their accidents? If somebody has half a beer and then gets rear-ended waiting at a stop light, they call that an alcohol-related accident.
2. Pot is detectable for a month after use. How many of those drivers were impaired at the time of the accident, and how many had not smoked for days or weeks before the accident?
3. Of drivers who were impaired, assuming that is a non-zero number, how many were at fault for the accident? How many got T-boned by drunks running stop signs?
In short, that little factoid tells us less than nothing about the effects of legalization on traffic safety. Less than nothing because it is deceptive, and pretends to convey information that it does not convey.
It used to be that bums moved on out of Colorado when it got cold. You had to have something together to spend a winter here. If the cops scooped a bum up in the winter, theyd run him at least out of town, if not completely out of the state.
Now, SJW do-gooders stick broomsticks in the spokes of Darwins bicycle. They provide support that allows bums to survive the winter here. This, IMO, is a bad thing, no matter how virtuous the SJWs feel.
Where I live, pot is no longer cool among teenagers. The hipster hero element is gone. There has been no increase in the number of bums. There has been a rise in crime, which is directly attributable to the Invasion of the Border Crashers. If this town got rid of the Hispanics, we could get by with one cop.
It aint pot. Its the noxious fruit of leftard policies that has caused these things.
Most people are “happy” when they’re high.
Sounds good to me.
Another thing that will make Team Pothead follow tobacco's path to oblivion is their self destructiveness and violent devotion to the drug. They already promote the destruction of self control and this will bring about the same thing to their movement, both at the individual and the Team Pothead level. Their inherent violence for the drug (especially when the pot abuser is sober) will make them do stupid self destructive things that will add to the backlash that is starting to rise against them.
I have read several articles regarding what seems to be a pot induced "psychotic break" that occurs in some people with long term pot use. It appears to trigger violent episodes such as you suggest. A lot of people don't seem to know about this phenomena.
It is the wrong thing to do. There is no benefit to society from adding brain altering drugs to it. There is much detriment.
A friend gave me pot gummy rings.
They look like candy but have that icky pot smell.
The dose was one ring, but after a while with no effects, I ate another, then another.
I ended up just eating the entire bag of 8. It was lame. I took a nap.
I think pot products in yummy form, like gummies, are dangerous because they attract children.
Pot should taste nasty, like God intended.
Ultimately, FRiend, THC is boring.
There are so many other components in pot that have promising medical and therapeutic uses that THC pales in comparison.
The class of chemicals called terpenes is simply amazing. Pot has a lot of them. They are not psychoactive; they don’t get a person “high”, but they can do things like reduce inflammation/swelling and alleviate pain.
Growers, via selective breeding, manipulate the amounts of these terpenes to get the desired result. Growers also are creating pot with little or no THC, which I think is very cool.
Do you approve of CBD oil?
My prescription to treat my skin cancer is about $1000. It’s called Aldera, I think.
A friend advises CBD oil on my face to treat the skin cancer. It costs waaaaay less than $1000.
the solution is simple. since there is no constitutional right to do pot. Those who do pot do not get a driver’s license. (which is also not a constitutional right)
“Most people are happy when theyre high.”
Nice fallacy!
I don’t speak for “most people”. I speak for me. I was stone cold sober when I wrote post #180 & I was happy as a honey bee in a rose garden when I did so.
You just said that you’re on “medical” marijuana. Now you’re not?
“It is the wrong thing to do.”
That’s your opinion. I disagree. It happens.
“There is no benefit to society from adding brain altering drugs to it.”
Folks like myself are living proof to the contrary. I was a very unproductive citizen from 1992 till 2015 because I was chronically depressed & suffered crippling anxiety. The quality of my work was poor & I literally paid the price for it. I basically stayed in bed for most of 2011 to 2015 because I was so ill. Now I work 5-6 days a week with a grin on my face & I have more paying clients as a result.
If you have any doubts about this, feel free to ask my beloved wife, visualops how cannabis has helped me live a better quality of life.
“Detriment”? I thank My Heavenly Father daily for this wonderful medicine.
“You just said that youre on medical marijuana. Now youre not?”
Too funny.
Being a medical marijuana patient does not = being high all day everyday for me.
I take my medicine 3 times a day: 4:20pm, 7pm & 10pm. This way I get all the medicinal benefit I need & can still work a full day in the studio sober.
“Well, when you consider both the WeedWeakling’s violent devotion to the drug and its contempt for self control, it makes perfect sense for them to flip out when confronted with an opinion that craps on their smelly-assed god the pot leaf. “
Well, when you consider the prohibitionist’s love of fallacies & their devotion to the nanny-state it’s no wonder voters across the country are rejecting them at the voting booth. It’s funny how a prohibitionists flip out when someone dares confront them with facts that disprove their fallacies regarding cannabis.
That was fun VT. Hope you’ve been well & had a wonderful Thanksgiving. :)
I dont know if more people are smoking or if it’s just potheads moving to Colorado and pushing the numbers up. Same thing happened when they legalized heroin in Holland. Junkies from all over Europe moved there.
“Rocky Mountain PBS reports”
What, suddenly they’re a credible source?
Fake study, fake stats, fake news.
“since there is no constitutional right to do pot”
Our system is not an “everything not specifically allowed is prohibited” system.
If you are arguing that medicine is good, I agree, but what is being discussed is recreational use of drugs. For most people, claiming "medicinal use" is just a lie. For some, it is likely a valid claim.
Almost as if homelessness is a goal for the left? well it is. They also did a survey on pot and children in school. Kids that smoke pot have lower grades in school.
Another reason the left want the masses stoned gotta keep them dumb and numb while taking away freedoms and capitalism to make sure the masses all end up dirt poor while the globalist elite live behind gated communities.
“If you are arguing that medicine is good, I agree, but what is being discussed is recreational use of drugs.”
Actually, the discussion is about the editorial linked by the OP. That aside, I’ve never advocated the full legalization of all drugs. I do think all drugs should be regulated to some degree, including cannabis.
“For most people, claiming “medicinal use” is just a lie.”
Pure fallacy. Neither you nor I have the ability to know whether “most people claiming ‘medicinal use’ is just a lie”. Unless you did proper interviews of all medical marijuana patients in America. Did you?
“For some, it is likely a valid claim.”
It’s my personal experience in observing people I see at my favorite dispensary that 90%+ of those folks are legitimate patients. YMMV of course :)
Read an article written by a journalist that got his "medicinal" marijuana license in California. (I think it was from Rolling Stone.)
It was all theater. They had an on site doctor/PA that could write the prescription immediately, and on the basis of him saying he had "anxiety" (over getting caught) he got a medical marijuana license in California.
Now do you think I need a complete study of all people who received such licenses to determine that they are issued for any d@mn reason at all?
I think the one example is sufficient enough to surmise the truth without any further data.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.