No link, link would give access to my account..........

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It's that time of the year again when the budding marijuana legalization conversation lights up on the federal level. It's actually been going on for quite some time, and witnessed some momentum in 2022 with the introduction of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act in the Senate and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act in the House. Things continued in 2023 as the HHS concluded its independent review, with any change in scheduling now in the hands of the DOJ.

Backdrop: When state and federal laws conflict, the latter preempts the former as per Article IV of the Constitution. However, the 10th Amendment - as interpreted by the Supreme Court - outlines that the federal government cannot "commandeer the state," meaning it cannot force states to arrest cannabis sellers or users that comply with their own state laws. In turn, states also cannot block the federal government from enforcing their laws. As a result, federal agents could be dispatched to make arrests within states if there was a will to do so and the resources were available, but in recent decades, sentiment has turned with regard to weed's place in society.

"The process is still going, the review is still going," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her latest briefing. "On decriminalization, the President has been very, very clear. He doesn't believe that anyone should be in jail or be prosecuted just for using or - or possessing marijuana."

Oregon led the effort towards decriminalization in 1973, California kicked off medical marijuana in 1996, and recreational weed even became legal in Colorado and Washington in 2012. As of today, pot is now legal recreationally in nearly half of all U.S. states, though it still remains a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The illegal classification makes it complicated for companies to operate within their own state borders, as many business activities and banks are regulated by federal law, as well as taxes, trademarks, and legal processes like bankruptcy. Reclassifying cannabis as a proposed Schedule III substance also doesn't mean weed would be legalized, but would be a step towards doing so on the federal level.

Outlook: Cannabis market research firm BDSA expects legal U.S. cannabis sales to grow nearly 10% to $32.4B by the end of 2024. For investors trying to gain exposure to the sector, check out the news on multistate operators like Cresco Labs (OTCQX:CRLBF), Curaleaf (OTCPK:CURLF), Green Thumb Industries (OTCQX:GTBIF) and Trulieve Cannabis (OTCQX:TCNNF). Cannabis-related ETFs include the AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO) and funds like the Amplify Alternative Harvest (MJ).

Making comparisons between two recreational drugs is totally valid. Holy shit, damn near every town in the US has a place open where you can go get shitfaced and drive home. Some folks go and have one or two with friends and go home. Others go and don't leave until they are highly impaired, and are lucky to make it home without hitting anything. Thousands don't make it home safely every year, killing and maiming thousands of people. Drunk driving was treated as a sport in WI for decades. Speaking about the harm of one recreational drug, and actively avoiding another is smooth brained thought.

The prices are less than when they opened by over 2/3rds.

Not really.  Was the Revolutionary War fought with guns or pot?  WWII?

Weed doesn’t make you free. Weed doesn’t bestow power. You can’t defend yourself with weed.

You can, however, be subjugated by it if you so choose.

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Yes, booze causes great damage to society, but legal weed won’t reduce any previous occurring damage, it will simply add / increase the amount of damage via adding a new product to abuse.

I don’t personally give a shit about personal weed usage, if you can use it and not become a useless po head and function in society, great, have fun. I’m just sick of everyone claiming it’s some kind of a miracle drug that cures every illness, and has no side effects as it’s as safe as tap water, market it as a miracle cure for terribly sick people, when it’s users are mainly simply seeking to get stoned, not treat medical conditions. It’s definately going to impact society in negative ways, and most any place that’s legalized it has been impacted negatively, as reported by the people living there.

You must be new to government and its punitive sin taxes, and their newfound inability to create budgets.

There shouldn't be any arguments. It should be legal.

You must be new to supply and demand.

I’ll say it should have never been made illegal to begin with, same as a very long list of other items and activities. Home brewing whisky / hard liquor for personal consumption a perfect example.

22 years ago on this board I said it would be legal in 8-20 years and posters called me an Idiot that was stupid and had no common sense.

I was not completely correct, but I was in the ballpark.

Have never used it probably never will but I believe it's illegality is stupid.

Your ability to comprehend information is apparently degraded, and your demand that only ICU admissions be examined is asinine. After physician referral, the Emergency Department is the first evaluation step to hospital admission. And the article provided direct reference to advanced patient care and physicians forced to become more vigilant about recognizing and treating some new cannabis-related life-threatening conditions.

Furthermore, according to the NIH and published in the National Library of Medicine on Cannabinoid Toxicity, cannabis is the most commonly abused illicit substance with a high incidence of usage in adolescents. Trends in the United States to decriminalize marijuana have led to increased exposures reported to poison centers and presenting to emergency departments. Exposure characteristics are generally related to excessive use in adults and inadvertent ingestions in small children. This has been well documented throughout the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, and now other states.

Yes.  We do it all the time.

Can’t drink and drive. Can’t drive 85 in a school zone.  Can’t steal. Insider trading is illegal (congress excepted). Can’t fly drones in approach paths.

Not really, I’m just saying cigarettes had massive demand too, and were taxed more heavily per oz than any product in history, weed will actually replace tobacco and end up taxed much more heavily imho, as government / society has lost its ability to accept personal responsibility or create budgets, and the fix for both is huge new taxes, it will just take a few years, they have to legalize it first, and that can only happen if it’s a miracle product everyone wants, part of the miracle argument will include exciting new billions in additional tax money for schools, programs, small town budgets, etc. then, Once it’s federally legal and a cash cow, most states will jump in and legalize it… to get some of that sweet tax money, as it’s massive financial gross per year the obvious fix tax wise for a long list of government shortfalls.

then it gets blamed for societies problems , demonized, blamed on previously unknown medical issues, scammers turn it into a disability rating, and whoever the big weed bros are then, the Phillip morris of weed manufacturers/ sales must pony up billions to pay for those sins.

WTF does that have to do with the legality of the plant.

It is illegal to drive under the influence. Is making the plant super duper illegal supposed to stop that illegal behavior.

You should be ashamed to use such bull shit "logic" while surely saying gun laws dont reduce crime or murder.

Ridiculous

Yes, just what the world needs, more altered people who stink.

We stopped people from smoking in bars because of second hand smoke, but this, which is much more musky, gets a pass.

There is a mountain of evidence of the damage prohibition does.

Read some history.

You really don’t want marijuana to get into a dick measuring contest with alcohol when it comes to people harmed by those under the influence.

Pot threads display more ignorance and lies than any other single subject in GD and that is quite a statement.

Canada legalized the devils cabbage a few years ago.
Life went on.

The same fucking things happen with alcohol. Every one. It is an "illicit substance" to minors. You still haven't shown where someone who is "addicted to weed" has to spend time in an ICU to dry out. Someone "freaking out" temporarily is far different than someone who has a great chance of dying because of their alcohol addiction to the point of needing the ICU.
Abuse of any recreational drug is bad.

I don't see many people claiming it's a miracle drug, especially in GD, that's not to say that it can't have some positive qualities.  I know there's pretty solid research on some medical benefits, I've got a friend who uses low dose gummies to help him sleep which got him off Ambien.

The problem with the "it's not a positive for society" argument is....it's a purity test that can't be passed by virtually anything.  Do video games damage society....people will argue both sides, TV / internet / guns / religion / alcohol....etc...etc....etc.  Hell the amish will tell you virtually every modern invention is not a positive for society.....while they have the right to believe and live how they want, we don't restrict automobiles because they believe it's not good for society.  

I'm not a weed guy....even if I wanted to be, too many random drug tests.  I am a fan of individual freedom and limited government though....the war on drugs has done nothing but limit individual freedoms and expanded government....on that alone the war should be ended.

It just occurred to me that this may be a great example of why Arfcom has such a skewed perception of cannabis - you all seem to think that the people you see (and smell) smoking it are the primary users.

The people lighting up in public or out and about reeking of it are the shitheads. They’re this generation’s drunk layabouts. They suck.

… but for every one of them you come across, you’ve probably met a dozen people who consume it via edibles or vapor products on a semi-regular basis. They don’t reek, so it’s like they don’t even exist to you.

Guys - this is a losing argument. You think you’re arguing against a bunch of loser stoners, but you’re really arguing against probably a quarter of the white collar workers in the US and the majority of academia.

Is there a bar where you're not allowed to smoke tobacco but are allowed to smoke pot?

Or are you just spewing nonsense like most drug warriors?

Apples & oranges

Those are laws that either directly negatively effect other people, or has an increased risk of directly negatively effecting other people.

Make nicotine a schedule 1 narcotic and watch what happens to vape juice overnight.

That’s fair. I think pot is close to that last threshold, though. YMMV.

So you are good with it as long as it contains punitive penalties for actually participating? Like the NFA tax?

And?

All of your examples are crimes that have victims. Outlawing the possession or use of cannabis is no different than outlawing possession or use of alcohol, or a suppressor, or a gun with a fun switch. And you'd have to dig into the fringe left to find people arguing that stoned driving should be legal.

They actually lowered the tax on growers here locally because as they were raising it they found revenue decreasing.

I believe users were going back to the illegal growers strictly based on price.
Roy

Considering all the problems this country has right now, how easy or hard it is for weed heads to get high, seems kind of unimportant in comparison.

Are you thinking of pot, or potheads?

I have to think pretty hard to come up with anything about cannabis that qualifies as “direct negative effect or increased risk of the same”. The closest I can come is that extreme consumption via smoke inhalation can cause potentially severe chronic respiratory issues and (probably) lung cancer.

While I’m sure it’s possible to smoke enough pot to end up on a respirator, actually doing so would require a lifetime of avoiding doing anything productive and an impressive passive income source. Even if you grow it yourself, being high that long would run up a munchies bill in the millions.

Come to think of it, obesity from the constant munchies would almost certainly kill you long before any of the direct negative effects of inhalation.

Easy. Aside from victimizing another person, and individual should be free to do whatever he or she pleases inside their own home.

Without resorting to whining can you make any kind of coherent argument without mentioning hypothetical scenarios that are already illegal?

Every other post here sounds like "if the shop owner had just put up a Gun Free Zone sign, this never would have happened!"

I’m not going to argue that, but it might be an interesting thought experiment.

Have you ever seen anyone drive stoned? I have a couple of times, in high school. One was arrested after being pulled over for going like 20 MPH under the limit and hugging the white line. The other was on backroads, and ended up putting his truck in the ditch and getting stuck. I helped pull him out the next day with a winch. He bent his front bumper a couple of inches, but it’s hard to total a truck when you nose into a ditch at a walking pace.

I think it could be argued that if you waved you magic wand and required half of the driving population to get high as balls and go drive around at the same time, the biggest issue would be that it would take you forever to get anywhere.

Come to think of it, I bet you could significantly reduce traffic mortalities if you took away the license of every person over 75 years old and assigned them each a stoner in their 20s to drive them around.

It's no different than liberals' only exposure to guns being mass shootings on the 'news' or mayhem on TV.

MO has seen very little change since legalizing. But most libs see this is a backwoods flyover state.

Yes, I've done it many, many times. I'm a recovering addict and alcoholic. I'd agree that driving stoned is nowhere near as bad as driving drunk but impaired driving is impaired driving, whether booze, drugs, or lack of sleep, you shouldn't be operating a vehicle.

Obviously not in before the potheads.

Same here.

People bitch about seeing pot shops everywhere, but no real impact to most people.

For users, it becomes their entire identity.    Just watch all the “Pot needle” comments.   There will be a proliferation of WeedSimps in this thread.  

I can understand enjoying it.   But Why do they automatically become crazed weed evangelists?    

Because those are the types that they know smoke pot. They don't realize that the engineer down the road likes to spark up every once and awhile to unwind in the evenings.

It's about fucking freedom, mr bill of rights. Weed laws and the "war on drugs" is waged against people folks in power didn't like so they attacked their recreational drug of choice. Kind of like gun grabbers do. Putting someone in jail for growing or possessing a plant is stupid, as well as the money wasted doing it.

Guy I do some work with is super hyped marijuana is become legal "for him". I got bad news there's a reason he takes several drug test a year. It's not because of the law. It's because in the numerous chemical plants and refineries he visits yearly post accident drug test average about 40% positive for the person involved in the incident.

Like the guy that was only there to deliver something and had passed a test numerous times before. Then one day he though he could get away with whatever. He was walking along in the plant turning random valves on and off for shits and giggles and finally someone that worked there took him out with about a 4 foot long valve turner and that was the end of that.

His own son fell off walking down a pipe rack and was found hanging from his harness high as a kite. He broke two rules. Getting high and walking down a rack without a spotter or someone else there. No telling how long he had been there before someone found him. Oh yeah he got fired.

The funny part is another guy we work with he used to be a pipe welder and worked on the nuclear plant when they built it. He had lots of downtime because he would weld and have it xrayed and inspected and if the contractor and the NRC didn't come to the same conclusion he would wait till they decided what to do. Of course this as the 1980s and he said the most popular thing to do was sit around smoking weed while they waited.

"inside their own home" FFS that is a lousy term, as drug use is always spilling out into the public space. No, you are need to be making a coherent argument about WHY recreational drugs esp. cannabis should be so tolerated by society w/o some whining reference to alcohol consumption as an excuse.

Sooo you can't make an argument?

Seen it in action.  Aerospace baby.

Pretty much. He has nothing.

You're wasting your time trying to show a true believer that their ideology is inconsistent. They will resist reality as long as it goes against their programming. You may as well be arguing the second amendment with Diane Fienstein.

Being under the influence of any substance at work is stupid. It's amazingly stupid in that kind of environment.

It sounds to me like in this case, the person involved was a poor excuse for a human being to begin with. Whatever substances he ingested didn't change that.

He asked for an argument without mentioning alcohol, so I made an argument without mentioning alcohol. Then he asked for an argument without mentioning what I had mentioned in my argument lol.