Legalizing Drugs

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Ignore all other drugs and focus on pot.

About 10ish% of americans smoke pot and 40ish% have tried it. Let's say pot is legalized today. 5 years down the road, what will those numbers be?

[Schlich]

Ignore all other drugs and focus on pot.

About 10ish% of americans smoke pot and 40ish% have tried it. Let's say pot is legalized today. 5 years down the road, what will those numbers be?

probably about 11% and 41%

[cardsfansince82]

I think it's very possible to use marijuana responsibly and not have it harm your relationships or life functions. That said, I'm about as pro weed as you can get and I still recognize there are limitations.

I've spent some time in Denver post legalization and there are some noticeable differences. Maybe I was just expecting them or looking for them, but they were there. It seemed like any employee I encountered even outside of dispensaries was stoned out of their mind and gave poor service. I saw two separate pedestrians come extraordinarily close to getting run over by cars where the driver didn't even brake at all. I saw several other instances where it was obvious the driver in front of me was impaired in some way. Legalizing weed overall would be a huge net positive when you figure the cost spent on policing, cost spent on incarcerating, the tax revenue that would be realized, plus all the small business opportunities. But there will be some drawbacks.

I have no interest in living in a world where meth and stuff like that is freely available.

I live out here and haven't noticed anything like what you're describing. Maybe I'm not looking for it. Or maybe everyone in Boulder was already stoned.

My experience is limited to a few days in downtown Denver, which I would imagine is a little different than Boulder. You would certainly have a better feel for it living there. Maybe it was an anomaly but I just got this sense that everyone was impaired everywhere I went. In places where it is legal/medically approved, a lot of the regular users are switching over to highly concentrated waxes and oils and edibles. Some of that stuff is so strong that it goes above and beyond just your average dude smoking a bowl on the couch, into more of a full on drug habit where dependencies could legitimately develop. I think it becomes a little less harmless at that point and isn't really a great idea for recreational use.

[Radbird]

I haven't smoked pot since the '70s but I have heard it is much more potent now.

[Arthur Dent]

My experience is limited to a few days in downtown Denver, which I would imagine is a little different than Boulder. You would certainly have a better feel for it living there. Maybe it was an anomaly but I just got this sense that everyone was impaired everywhere I went. In places where it is legal/medically approved, a lot of the regular users are switching over to highly concentrated waxes and oils and edibles. Some of that stuff is so strong that it goes above and beyond just your average dude smoking a bowl on the couch, into more of a full on drug habit where dependencies could legitimately develop. I think it becomes a little less harmless at that point and isn't really a great idea for recreational use.

Is dose concentration not regulated?

[lukethedrifter]

My experience is limited to a few days in downtown Denver, which I would imagine is a little different than Boulder. You would certainly have a better feel for it living there. Maybe it was an anomaly but I just got this sense that everyone was impaired everywhere I went. In places where it is legal/medically approved, a lot of the regular users are switching over to highly concentrated waxes and oils and edibles. Some of that stuff is so strong that it goes above and beyond just your average dude smoking a bowl on the couch, into more of a full on drug habit where dependencies could legitimately develop. I think it becomes a little less harmless at that point and isn't really a great idea for recreational use.

Is dose concentration not regulated?

Stepson manages a dispensary. Sends his mom home with some medibles. She eats the chocolates and gets super high even though she only had a tiny bit.

Anyway, after talking to him about it I think the answer is(or was) no.

[cardsfansince82]

The edibles for recreational sale have a max dose per cookie, piece of candy, etc. that is quite low with the inexperienced user in mind. Of course you could just eat more than one. Edibles that are medical only have no limit. I've seen single chocolate bars that have like 35x the recreational dose for something like $15. Obviously you are supposed to ration it out, but that's all on self control.

My main concern is the wax/shatter/concentrates that are just newer ways to make hash. The entire point is to make it as strong as possible. Some of them are up in the 80-90% range of pure THC. Back in rad's day stuff was like 5-10%, now you can find stuff in the 20-25% range in most stores. But if you are smoking it in a traditional manner you are still losing a lot of that during combustion and what floats ino the air between tokes. It's still relatively easy to control your dose. The waxes etc have to be either vaporized or smoked in enclosed glass . So not only is it 3-4 times stronger to begin with you are also ingesting 100% of it. Since it's so much more potent it's much more likely you will ingest massive amounts each time and establish a baseline tolerance. It's kind of like if your only choices for alcohol were beer and everclear, and everyone started preferring everclear. I don't think it's a good thing.

[pioneer98]

I definitely think more drugs should be legal and the punishment for getting caught with them should be a lot less.

Drugs like heroin that are highly addictive might be where I'd draw the line, but it's tough. If a drug is so addictive someone will spend all their money on it then it can ruin their life and they can become a drag on society. But a lot more drugs should be legalized, and taxed like other legal drugs such as alcohol or cigarettes.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I definitely think more drugs should be legal and the punishment for getting caught with them should be a lot less.

Drugs like heroin that are highly addictive might be where I'd draw the line, but it's tough. If a drug is so addictive someone will spend all their money on it then it can ruin their life and they can become a drag on society. But a lot more drugs should be legalized, and taxed like other legal drugs such as alcohol or cigarettes.

Here's how you could make it work if you legalize all drugs - make the drug sellers / manufacturers / marketers liable for treatment and damages caused by use of their product. Including alcohol vendors.

They could buy insurance against the claims. Let the actuaries figure out the costs and price the insurance accordingly. Its what they do.

Then the price of the drugs reflects their harm. The worst are priced out. Someone growing / manufacturing their own? Too bad for you - no help. You can't cure stupid. Go curl up in the corner and die [expletive].

[MrSaigon]

Then where would we get our best rappers? Did you think about that?

There's probably been some interesting stuff written about how it would affect racial issues. I think about that Joe Rogan interview with the former Baltimore cop someone posted here.