Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy?

[Shai Gar]

By ALISON STATEMAN / LOS ANGELES Friday, Mar. 13, 2009​

Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic state assemblyman Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale

 

[Bored Now]

My bottles are green not blue. California is a cesspool now. This whole state feels dead. I cant wait to move but I'll miss the smoke.

 

[bamf]

Don't come to Michigan! We're just as dead (but you can smoke your medical green here! Of course my surgeon wouldn't even consider it as an alternative to Vicodin. Shame)

 

[J. Cardigan]

It can help rescue the nation's economy, but we're too fucking backwards to consider it. Better not let little Johnny get the ganja, or else he'll start selling crack to feed his habit!

Out of every single drug I can think of, cannabis is by FAR the most effective and the least harmful. It works better than Tylenol for headaches (with the side effect of getting high..), cleared up a runny nose for me more than once (go figure), and has all kinds of practical, beneficial uses for cancer patients. The fact that alcohol is legal and weed is widely regarded to be more detrimental to the well-being of our society is just mind boggling.

It took years, but I think I've finally convinced my dad that weed isn't as bad as Nancy Reagan made it out to be. I think it was when I told him that if it was legalized and regulated, it would put gangsters and the Mexican mafia out of a job. Well, maybe not, but it would effectively steal most of their revenue.

I live in one of the most liberal parts of North Carolina, and it's still hard as shit to find weed here. :/

Edit: The USC professor's statement trips me out. "All we have to do is look at the two legalized drugs, tobacco and alcohol, and look at the carnage that they've caused"; yeah, but one kills your lungs, another kills your liver, and NEITHER of them have proven medicinal uses, unless you want to count something like isopropyl alcohol. They're both still legal, and people would go up in arms about how their civil rights are being violated if either were to ever be criminalized. Look at how well prohibition went in the 30's... There is no doubt in my mind a lot of these people are paid off by pharmaceutical companies, judging from how much they stand to lose. Just another way of showing how fucked up our society is...

 

[bamf]

I've never understood how people can limit what other people put in their bodies in a responsible manner...Sure people would/are irresponsible with drugs, but people are also irresponsible with the legal drugs, driving, guns, etc etc etc

 

[IndigoSensor]

I have doubts that pot could save the economy, but it clearly could help. Tetrahydrocannibinol can be damaging to the brain in excessive use because it does cause rewiring. However, like any kind of substance, it is fine in limited ammounts.

The people that say it is a gateway drug are actually correct, pot could be a gateway drug to some people. It makes one curious to what other things do, and is a stepping stone to trying something harder. This can be a dangerous thing, but only to people with an addictive and or weak personality will let it run away with things, and cause damage.

Pot should be legal.

I've never understood how people can limit what other people put in their bodies in a responsible manner...Sure people would/are irresponsible with drugs, but people are also irresponsible with the legal drugs, driving, guns, etc etc etc

I agree. However, I think harmful drugs like heroin, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (excasty) and methamphetamine should still be illegal. However the punishments for such use should just be a fine, and community service, not jail time.

 

[bamf]

I have doubts that pot could save the economy, but it clearly could help. Tetrahydrocannibinol can be damaging to the brain in excessive use because it does cause rewiring. However, like any kind of substance, it is fine in limited ammounts.

The people that say it is a gateway drug are actually correct, pot could be a gateway drug to some people. It makes one curious to what other things do, and is a stepping stone to trying something harder. This can be a dangerous thing, but only to people with an addictive and or weak personality will let it run away with things, and cause damage.

Pot should be legal.



I agree. However, I think harmful drugs like heroin, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (excasty) and methamphetamine should still be illegal. However the punishments for such use should just be a fine, and community service, not jail time.

I agree, the users shouldn't be punished if they use responsibly. If they endanger other people, then by all means there should be harsher punishments, but the same goes for any sort of endangerment, drug induced or not. Go after the drug dealers, not the common folk.

I'm not too sure about even banning the obviously dangerous stuff. If people want to be dumb and destroy their bodies then so be it. Stupid is as stupid does. If someone wants to drink hydrochloric acid then it's their horribly misinformed decision to do so (kinda like how I'm staunchly against suicide but I'd never dream of wanting it to remain illegal). It's definitely sad but I'm uncomfortable in saying no one can. Education (only in my opinion of course) should be our weapon against negligent and irresponsible use, not fear tactics and propaganda.

 

[Shai Gar]

If it's legal, why go after the dealers?

Unless they're mixing in dangerous stuff.

 

[bamf]

If it's legal, why go after the dealers?

Unless they're mixing in dangerous stuff.

Well I was thinking more along the lines of dealing substances that are illegal (even if I think they shouldn't be), and mainly for the reason of unregulated additives and dangers to kids in impoverished neighborhoods (where the gangs and selling become the 'only' escape).

 

[Shai Gar]

Better an escape than none.

 

[bamf]

Better an escape than none.

But is it truly an escape?

 

[Shai Gar]

sure, why not...

 

[bamf]

sure, why not...

I feel that it only keeps the circle going; escaping poverty to join crime and then bringing children into the world with broken families in the midst of poverty (mind you I'm talking about inner city slums, where you don't get rich from selling drugs and joining gangs or you don't stay alive long enough to enjoy it)

 

[J. Cardigan]

I agree. However, I think harmful drugs like heroin, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (excasty) and methamphetamine should still be illegal. However the punishments for such use should just be a fine, and community service, not jail time.

There are more dangerous painkillers than heroin that are prescribed to cancer patients and those who've had major surgeries. Heroin is something like four times as strong as morphine, and fentanyl is about 80 times as strong. All it is is another stepping stone on the opiate ladder. It's a rung that probably needs to be re-instated by doctors, since in many cases oxymorphone/hydromorphone isn't enough and fentanyl is wayyy too much.

I don't understand where people get off saying ecstasy is dangerous. Sure, it's dangerous to dance all night without getting water, but provided ALL you're getting is MDMA and it's not being cut with something (and it usually is; one of the reasons regulation would help), it's one of the safer drugs around. MDMA, like cannabis, has legitimate medicinal/psychotherapeutic applications. And please, no one come in talking about how it puts holes in your brain. That came from ONE study which has since been scrutinized for a variety of reasons. I'll find it later, as I have to go to work now.

I very much agree with you on the punishment aspect, though.

 

[MindYourHead]

It took years, but I think I've finally convinced my dad that weed isn't as bad as Nancy Reagan made it out to be. I think it was when I told him that if it was legalized and regulated, it would put gangsters and the Mexican mafia out of a job. Well, maybe not, but it would effectively steal most of their revenue.

Mentioning Reagan reminded me of how the government cracking down on the smuggling of marijuana into the US in the early 80's helped to create the cocaine epidemic of the mid 80's.

I recall to this day weed was hard to come by for a time during '82 or '83.
I called my dealer for an update, and he said no, nothing. It's still dry, but I do have some coke. That I can get, and actually it is not only easier to carry, but the profit margin is higher.

Fast forward a few years later when I was sufficiently addicted to coke and wanted to stop using it, I found that weed helped ease my Jonesing.

Just last week here in the Twin Cities several grow house were busted up.
I'm sure it is going on in other parts of the country too, where a nice suburban house is purchased and used solely for growing weed.
I see these busts and think of what a waste of tax dollars the war on drugs is.
Make it legal, at least let us grow a few plants for our own use, and the incentive for violent gangs to be involved is removed.

I thought for sure when those of us in our 40's came to power, there would be a more enlightened view towards marijuana.
But, we just continue to pour money we don't have down the rat hole called the War on Drugs.

Obama hasn't the balls to approach this issue.

 

[Eniko]

Pot really isn't the ultimate ebil that lots of Americans seem to think it is. I live in a country where you can go to a shop and buy some, and it's not like we have huge drug addict problems. Hell extreme consumption of alcohol among minors (called "coma binge drinking" since it can put you in a coma, and blacking out is often the goal) is a far, far bigger problem.

Then again I suppose you don't let people drink til they're 21 either. So I guess you get points there.

 

[MindYourHead]

Pot really isn't the ultimate ebil that lots of Americans seem to think it is. I live in a country where you can go to a shop and buy some, and it's not like we have huge drug addict problems. Hell extreme consumption of alcohol among minors (called "coma binge drinking" since it can put you in a coma, and blacking out is often the goal) is a far, far bigger problem.

Then again I suppose you don't let people drink til they're 21 either. So I guess you get points there.

The drinking age of 21 doesn't prevent anyone under that age from binge drinking. They either rob their parent's liquor cabinet, or know someone who is 21 that will buy alcohol for them.

Over the past 10 years, a trend developed called "Power Hour".
When the clock stikes Midnight and your birthday begins, you down 21 shots or drinks in the last hour the bar is open.
(Here the bars quit serving at 1:00 AM.)
Many people have died from alcohol poisoning playing this game. They pass out and never wake up.
We then passed a law that says you can't drink until after 8:00 AM on the morning of your 21st birthday. Which does nothing but allow our politicians to claim they care, and did something about the problem.

The Netherlands is a perfect example of how legal drug use does not automatically create a drug abuse problem.

 

[IndigoSensor]

There are more dangerous painkillers than heroin that are prescribed to cancer patients and those who've had major surgeries. Heroin is something like four times as strong as morphine, and fentanyl is about 80 times as strong. All it is is another stepping stone on the opiate ladder. It's a rung that probably needs to be re-instated by doctors, since in many cases oxymorphone/hydromorphone isn't enough and fentanyl is wayyy too much.

I don't understand where people get off saying ecstasy is dangerous. Sure, it's dangerous to dance all night without getting water, but provided ALL you're getting is MDMA and it's not being cut with something (and it usually is; one of the reasons regulation would help), it's one of the safer drugs around. MDMA, like cannabis, has legitimate medicinal/psychotherapeutic applications. And please, no one come in talking about how it puts holes in your brain. That came from ONE study which has since been scrutinized for a variety of reasons. I'll find it later, as I have to go to work now.

I very much agree with you on the punishment aspect, though.

I do not like the use of medical opiates suck as fentanyl like you have said unless it is needed in an extreme circumstance. Also, the addictive potential of them is lower then that of heroine. Also, user of heroine do not need it unlike people who are perscribed opiates, and it is not made under clean settings most of the time, and it is injectable.

mdma is dangerous to me because of how powerful of an ssri it is. It causes damage after use because it literally hit's the purge button on serotonin and the brain has to go to great lenghts to repair it. Doesn't mean it will put holes in your brain, but it does cause damage because people take far too much. I don't trust it. I also don't trust any drug that messes with dopamine alot, which mdma does as well.

 

[J. Cardigan]

My point was that heroin should be available for those who are in pain, not people who just want to get high. You don't have to inject heroin, just like it's totally possible to inject oxymorphone/roxycodone/etc. It's dangerous, but addicts don't give a shit; they just want to get high. The only reason fentanyl doesn't have as much potential for abuse is because it's extremely rare (a good thing) and most people overdose before they can develop a habit. Wilco's Jay Bennett died of a fentanyl overdose, which he was legally prescribed.

If cannabis was legal it could be prescribed in most cases of minor to moderate pain. I love taking painkillers, but I recognize that they cause a LOT of problems.

Most anti-depressants these days are SSRI's. Your argument also depends on someone abusing MDMA vs. taking it after your brain has recovered (supposed to be about a month or so). Anti-depressants, on the other hand, require you to take them every day and mess with your brain chemistry far worse than MDMA does.

I'm not trying to change your mind, but I'm just trying to state that the majority (doesn't mean ALL) illegal drugs have a stigma that usually doesn't have any basis in fact. If it does, chances are a pharmaceutical company sells a product that does far more harm.

Edit: As a fun fact, heroin's addictive properties go up exponentially when you inject it. Snorting it feels just like any other painkiller. I wasn't all that impressed with it, but I would never stick a needle in my arm. Same deal with cocaine.

 

[bamf]

I had a friend addicted to fentanyl, not a pretty sight what so ever