Reefer sanity

So, the follow-up questions should be... Is pot tax exempt (like medicine) or taxed, like alcohol and tobacco? Can I 'make' my own, like the home wine and beer maker? Or will the "revenuers' come after the still?
Bear in mind that the reason behind Federal Marijuana laws is failure to pay a tax. You are supposed to buy a stamp, just like hunting ducks. The Feds haven't issued any stamps!
Have we come around to the idea yet that killing the Cartels and helping solve the deficit might be a good idea? It sure would help if the legal apparatus gets out in front of this and sets up a framework to answer some of the questions. Like: Sold in stores? 21 years old? What constitutes 'intoxicated' for a drug that stays in your system for a week? Can THC content be regulated like tar and nicotine, or percent alcohol?
It seems to me that if we are going to go down this road anyway, we ought to have some idea where it goes.

OhC-Mon wrote:

So, the follow-up questions should be... Is pot tax exempt (like medicine) or taxed, like alcohol and tobacco? Can I 'make' my own, like the home wine and beer maker? Or will the "revenuers' come after the still?
Bear in mind that the reason behind Federal Marijuana laws is failure to pay a tax. You are supposed to buy a stamp, just like hunting ducks. The Feds haven't issued any stamps!
Have we come around to the idea yet that killing the Cartels and helping solve the deficit might be a good idea? It sure would help if the legal apparatus gets out in front of this and sets up a framework to answer some of the questions. Like: Sold in stores? 21 years old? What constitutes 'intoxicated' for a drug that stays in your system for a week? Can THC content be regulated like tar and nicotine, or percent alcohol?
It seems to me that if we are going to go down this road anyway, we ought to have some idea where it goes.

I have never understood any valid arguments against medical marijuana. That is a no brainer. And since we are losing the war on drugs, filling our prisons with low level users and delaers(mostly non violent)and making drug dealers rich, why not tax and legalize marijuana? There are a lot of questions but the hurdles can be overcome.

Bear in mind that the reason behind Federal Marijuana laws is failure to pay a tax. You are supposed to buy a stamp, just like hunting ducks. The Feds haven't issued any stamps!

The Marijuana Tax Act of which you write was superceded by the Controlled Substance Act in 1970.

Has anyone ever had a family member that is in severe pain and would like to spend quality time with family during their last days on earth? This situation has changed my mind about pot. These last days with a loved one are priceless and pot enables the patient to think clearly as opposed to the standard drug pain relievers. This mercy should be the utmost importance. Thank you.

Roma wrote:

Has anyone ever had a family member that is in severe pain and would like to spend quality time with family during their last days on earth? This situation has changed my mind about pot. These last days with a loved one are priceless and pot enables the patient to think clearly as opposed to the standard drug pain relievers. This mercy should be the utmost importance. Thank you.

Yes I have. Having smoked my fair share of it, I never really thought of pot in a medicinal way. Not that I didnt think it had medicinal value, just that I had lived in california for a while and the people I knew who had medical cards were really just stoners who were otherwise perfectly healthy.

Then I saw first hand. My grandfather was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, a 70 year old man who probably never touched drugs in his life. Here he was rolling joints. I was shocked to see him go from pain and lifelessness to a complete other person after he would smoke. He would sit and tell stories and be more like his old self again. It helped him to eat too. He had no appetite unless he smoked. When he didnt have any pot he would have no choice but to use heavy doses or Morphine that would make him fall asleep or sit there in a stupor. Very sad. I will say that because of pot, the quality of his last days was so much better than if he had only narcotics to rely on. It was better for him and better for us as we got to spend quality time with him. I am 100% for legalizing weed. If not completely then at least for medical use.

Roma wrote:

Has anyone ever had a family member that is in severe pain and would like to spend quality time with family during their last days on earth? This situation has changed my mind about pot. These last days with a loved one are priceless and pot enables the patient to think clearly as opposed to the standard drug pain relievers. This mercy should be the utmost importance. Thank you.

There are many pain relivers at least as effective as pot. That said, the main reason I'm responding is your phrase, "These last days with a loved one are priceless". What struck me was the attendance at wakes. People who would have really enjoyed the company and friendship of those who came to see their body after a twenty or thirty years absence only to say, "gee, she/he looks wonderful". Makes my f'n gag.

There once was a time when Cocaine was used for medicinal purposes too. Even Sigmund Freud used it.

http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/cocain...

He was a medicinal pioneer in his time. He was a neurologist and his theories on psychology are still in use today. Does this make Cocaine acceptable for use as a medicine? We can only speculate as to how twentieth century history and 21st Century Medicine would be different if the Germans had discovered marijuana instead of cocaine.

I say, treat it symptomatically and if Marijuana is an effective treatment, use it but don't abuse it. But, to legalize this substance for anything other than medicinal purposes will only contribute to the decline of the moral fiber of our society. Much like alcohol still does to this very day. After all, I've never met an Alcoholic that hasn't had to hit rock bottom before they were willing to admit that they had a problem to the point where they did something about it. The same can be said for drug addicts. Denial is a terrible thing and enabling is even worst.

many rama bama ding dong supporters are ex or retro loon Woodstockers, so what do you expect????

Wondering wrote:

<quoted text>
There are many pain relivers at least as effective as pot. That said, the main reason I'm responding is your phrase, "These last days with a loved one are priceless". What struck me was the attendance at wakes. People who would have really enjoyed the company and friendship of those who came to see their body after a twenty or thirty years absence only to say, "gee, she/he looks wonderful". Makes my f'n gag.

Wondering, attenndance at wakes should not be looked at through such a cynical prism. Their are limits in how much time we can make for friends and even acquantenses that we respect and/or hold in high regard. I find it comforting at a wake when someone offers sympathy who may not have seen my grandfather for 20 + yrs. but recalls him as a good, honest, person and wants to pay their respects. There is comfort for those grieving to hear how the loved one you lost touched the lives of others and inspires them to take the time to pay their respects. Just another way of looking at it I guess.

Marijuana is no longer a "gateway" without out a dealer involved to market and push more expensive and addictive drugs.

Growing for consuption should be legalized just like the fed. allowances for making Beer and Wine.

citizen kane wrote:

Marijuana is no longer a "gateway" without out a dealer involved to market and push more expensive and addictive drugs.
Growing for consuption should be legalized just like the fed. allowances for making Beer and Wine.

All of this is one man, or group of men, telling another man, or group of men, what he can and can't do. Think about that.

Years ago my friends mother had cancer and wouldnt eat at all.
He got her to smoke some now and then, not an abuser.
I saw her weeks after eating with little discomfort and put some meat on her bones and didnt need to be fed through a tube anymore.
She died a while later and to this day although I dont praise the use of it, I know it helped her big time.

Stanley wrote:

There once was a time when Cocaine was used for medicinal purposes too. Even Sigmund Freud used it.
http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/cocain...
He was a medicinal pioneer in his time. He was a neurologist and his theories on psychology are still in use today. Does this make Cocaine acceptable for use as a medicine? We can only speculate as to how twentieth century history and 21st Century Medicine would be different if the Germans had discovered marijuana instead of cocaine.
I say, treat it symptomatically and if Marijuana is an effective treatment, use it but don't abuse it. But, to legalize this substance for anything other than medicinal purposes will only contribute to the decline of the moral fiber of our society. Much like alcohol still does to this very day. After all, I've never met an Alcoholic that hasn't had to hit rock bottom before they were willing to admit that they had a problem to the point where they did something about it. The same can be said for drug addicts. Denial is a terrible thing and enabling is even worst.

The Germans also gave their soldiers meth in order to keep them fighting for days at a time.
I do take issue with your morality statement. There are millions of drinkers and smokers who live perfectly normal lives and whose morals need not be questioned by you or anyone else for that matter. One's morals has little to do with what they smoke or drink and more to do with their upbringing and chemical makeup. To judge a person because they like to smoke a little cannabis or drink a few beers is just wrong.

Marijuana is one of, if not the safest therapeutically active drug known to man. There are other painkillers that may be more effective, but those pain pills are far more dangerous, and far more addictive.

Marijuana is basically non toxic, and slightly less addictive then coffee. There are 0 recorded deaths from marijuana overdose in recorded history, and scientists have had to theorize how much smoked, or consumed marijuana would be a lethal dose. They estimate someone would have to eat pounds of it, or smoke several thousand joints within 15 minutes.

This is not the case with even aspirin which claims about 2000 lives every year. Tylenol is very liver toxic, ibuprofen will eat a hole in your stomach. Opiates such as Oxycontin, percoset, vicoden, codeine, morphine etc, are very addictive, and more debilitating then marijuana, and most of them have a lethal dose that is not too much more then a therapeutic dose.

Anyone who feels that it's morally wrong for people to use an all natural, virtually non toxic plant to help them cope with pain, nausea, insomnia, depression, or a whole host of other conditions which marijuana effectively treats, should be ashamed of themselves.

For recreational purposes alcohol is far more harmful to the users, and those around them then marijuana.

Marijuana isn't going anywhere, it's been used for thousands of years, and will be for thousands more. Laws against marijuana do little if anything to sway people who are going to try it from trying it. It easier to get then a loaf of bread despite billions being spent a year trying to eradicate it.

Tax it regulate it, so the state can make some money from it, as opposed to throwing money down the rat hole attempting get rid of it.

Stanley wrote:

There once was a time when Cocaine was used for medicinal purposes too. Even Sigmund Freud used it.
http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/cocain...
He was a medicinal pioneer in his time. He was a neurologist and his theories on psychology are still in use today. Does this make Cocaine acceptable for use as a medicine? We can only speculate as to how twentieth century history and 21st Century Medicine would be different if the Germans had discovered marijuana instead of cocaine.
I say, treat it symptomatically and if Marijuana is an effective treatment, use it but don't abuse it. But, to legalize this substance for anything other than medicinal purposes will only contribute to the decline of the moral fiber of our society. Much like alcohol still does to this very day. After all, I've never met an Alcoholic that hasn't had to hit rock bottom before they were willing to admit that they had a problem to the point where they did something about it. The same can be said for drug addicts. Denial is a terrible thing and enabling is even worst.

moral fiber?in todays society? Oh yeah I must of forgot.You gotta be kidding me! PALEEEEEZE

Len wrote:

<quoted text>
The Germans also gave their soldiers meth in order to keep them fighting for days at a time.
I do take issue with your morality statement. There are millions of drinkers and smokers who live perfectly normal lives and whose morals need not be questioned by you or anyone else for that matter. One's morals has little to do with what they smoke or drink and more to do with their upbringing and chemical makeup. To judge a person because they like to smoke a little cannabis or drink a few beers is just wrong.

I'm not questioning anyone's morals. If you think that the impaired judgement of those that are under the influence of any substance, be it alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, meth, etc. doesn't contribute to moral decline, you'd better check yourself. Most robberies, assaults, etc. are as a result of someone's substance abuse (regardless of the substance). I know people that have stolen from their own parents to support their habits. Is that moral or can it be considered OK because it was caused by a "disease?"

So, whether or not you take exception to it, doesn't mean that it doesn't contribute to the Moral decline of our society. Also, I have judged no one in my post. Saying that an act contributes to the moral decline doesn't pass judgement on anyone and anyone that feels like it does, should probably take a long look in the mirror to figure out why they take exception to it. Because to feel any contempt where one is not specifically pointed out usually means that they are feeling guilty about something. You can get ticked at that statement if you'd like. But, that would only serve to support the statement.

Len wrote:

<quoted text>
The Germans also gave their soldiers meth in order to keep them fighting for days at a time.
I do take issue with your morality statement. There are millions of drinkers and smokers who live perfectly normal lives and whose morals need not be questioned by you or anyone else for that matter. One's morals has little to do with what they smoke or drink and more to do with their upbringing and chemical makeup. To judge a person because they like to smoke a little cannabis or drink a few beers is just wrong.

I forgot to speak about this statement too:

You said, "The Germans also gave their soldiers meth in order to keep them fighting for days at a time."

Yeah, and they are the poster children for morality too? I don't know if there is any truth behind that claim. Bur assuming there is, the whole Meth thing really worked out well for them, didn't it?

Stanley wrote:

<quoted text>
I'm not questioning anyone's morals. If you think that the impaired judgement of those that are under the influence of any substance, be it alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, meth, etc.

Did you intentionally sandwich cannabis between alcohol and heroin in some sort of attempt to imply that it's somehow on the same level as alcohol and heroin?

Although I would agree that after someone's been jailed for pot (because someone found it as a tearing of the moral fiber of society), they're a lot more likely to commit crimes, because a criminal conviction isn't the best thing for finding a job these days, or, having been exposed to violent criminals, recidivism will simply become a lot easier.

King Tut wrote:

many rama bama ding dong supporters are ex or retro loon Woodstockers, so what do you expect????

ya got nothing to add to this discussion, so you call people names. I think the American people are smartening up to this type of counterproductive discussion. So just go away and cry with Glen Beck.