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Two in Three Americans Now Support Legalizing Marijuana

141 points by uptown 8y ago

phakding 8y ago
It's amazing to look back and see how the public support built up for this over last 40 something years. I am not sure how many more years before this country follows Canada or Uruguay.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  > I am not sure how many more years before this country follows Canada or Uruguay. At least two more years.
- 8ytecoder 8y ago
  It's also amazing how the drug wars banished it in traditionally Marijuana countries as well (like India) where it's now going to be an uphill battle to re-legalize it. It all feels so unnecessary.
jaggederest 8y ago
I think it's pretty transparently clear that even if you hate the drug itself, there have been no obvious disasters in the legalized states. Tax revenue plus no hugely obvious negative effects is a hard argument to deny. On a broader level, this is exactly what federalism is about - states being able to try things to experiment, without committing the entire country irrevocably.
- cronix 8y ago
  The data is still coming in. There was a recent report done by insurance companies that in the states where it's been legalized for recreational use, accident reports are up ~5-6% and everyone's rates in those states are going up to reflect that. http://fortune.com/2018/10/18/legal-marijuana-car-accidents-study/ http://fortune.com/2018/10/18/legal-marijuana-car-accidents-...
  - u801e 8y ago
    Correlation does not equal causation.
    - jsgo 8y ago
      No disagreement there, but the correlation is apparently causing an increase in car insurance costs, regardless of causation.
      - stickfigure 8y ago
        the correlation is apparently causing an increase in car insurance costs, regardless of causation This does not parse.
        timerol 8y ago
        Insurance companies notice a correlation, so increase rates to compensate. (Since insurance companies are in the business of spotting and correcting for correlations more than causes.) Therefore a correlation between states which legalize marijuana and increases in accidents cause an increase in car insurance costs. Marijuana doesn't need to cause accidents for this to be the case. What that analysis doesn't take into account is whether the next state to legalize marijuana will also have to deal with increased accident rates and insurance costs. This is IMO the more important question.
      - coding123 8y ago
        I don't think correlation is even necessary to raise rates if there is a 5-6% increase in accidents. Also - in the states that went legal, there is an active population boom, but just as likely is being caused by tech startups. Population increases are more likely to cause an accident rate to increase. We just won't know (for sure) if pot or jobs are the cause for the population increases. Maybe it's pot jobs?
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
- RIMR 8y ago
  I can even excuse being personally disinterested in Cannabis, but you would have to be pretty entrenched in misinformation to hate cannabis itself. What societal harm is there? The biggest complaint I ever hear that isn't based on a non-truth is "it smells bad".
  - dyarosla 8y ago
    Didn’t downvote you but wanted to respond- Smells bad can itself be a big deal. Some people also have migraines that result from inhaling second hand marijuana smoke. Moreover, many people don’t want to smell the stuff in their daily commute- and the smell definitely lingers longer, than say, tobacco, in an open space. I’m not opposed to legalization, but saying that there’s no societal harm is pretty misinformed too. Seemingly minor things like ‘smells bad’ can easily make one hate cannabis.
    - bfuller 8y ago
      Everyone is moving to vaping distillate. There's virtually no smell if you're outdoors.
    - klank 8y ago
      > Seemingly minor things like ‘smells bad’ can easily make one hate cannabis. I think an individual hating something doesn't necessarily elevate that thing to the level of "societal harm". For example, durian smells bad. Many people hate it because of its smell. However, I've never heard somebody go on about the harm durian is causing to society.
      - Mediterraneo10 8y ago
        Durian is banned in the Singapore metro (with a sign alerting to the prohibition that has gone viral) because of its smell. Calling for keeping marijuana strictly illegal based on its smell is silly. Still, the smell is just as noxious as cigarette smoke to many people. I found walking around downtown Montevideo annoying. Legalization should come with some measures against smoking in public, just like those being applied to tobacco in many places around the world.
- aphextron 8y ago
  >I think it's pretty transparently clear that even if you hate the drug itself, there have been no obvious disasters in the legalized states. Tax revenue plus no hugely obvious negative effects is a hard argument to deny. As someone who supports legalization, it's still way too early to definitively say that. Marijuana is not a harmless substance. There will very definitely be some negative effects, and acting like it's a magical panacea will not be helpful. Marijuana addiction is very real, although it only affects a small subset of users (~9% is often quoted). There have been zero long term studies with regard to a population's lifetime health outcomes having regular access to highly potent, legal marijuana. Only time will tell, although on the net I have no doubt these negatives will balance to an overall positive.
  - mjevans 8y ago
    I support legalizing... well nearly everything. Some things might be actually dangerous and need to only be used within controlled settings. Having said that, I'd really prefer if everyone that wanted marijuana would use the ediables rather than smoking it in various ways. Living in a state where it's legal, I absolutely detest the smell, it's smoke is even more potent and disgusting than tobacco. On the same note, I hate tobacco smoke and want use of such products to be limited to negative-draw scrubbed exhaust environments.
    - TheCycoONE 8y ago
      In Ontario, smoking tobacco or marijuana is illegal at anywhere in any business that the public has regular access to, including outdoor patios, as well as a buffer area around playgrounds. That mostly eliminates being forced to endure other peoples smoke more than in passing - unless your neighbors smoke heavily in their yard.
    - wwweston 8y ago
      I couldn't agree more. I supported various decriminalization and legalization pushes on the principle that the criminal justice system is a poor avenue for addressing things that are public health problem, which is a principle I still believe in. But I've got some considerable buyer's regret; I don't want to smoke myself, and as far as I can tell, it's shockingly common that smokers of either tobacco or cannabis are (a) pretty bad at realizing how others experience it (and how far the experience travels) and/or (b) not particularly considerate about the fact that others haven't signed up for it. It's particularly galling in living situations where people will smoke on balconies or just outside an entryway apparently heedless of the fact that smoke will travel in other people's windows; and even smoking indoors travels through both windows and ventilation systems. For a while I thought this might be something that could be solved via education and etiquette, but there are too many entitled smokers. I don't think this is a problem that's going to be fixable without at least minor citations/fines to back up the right behavior. And we might need to see if there's a relationship with production that's neither full-on industrialized nor necessarily driven underground.
- hockeybias 8y ago
  https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/marijuana-driving-accidents-bn/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/marijuana-driving-acci...
- bliblah 8y ago
  The issue is that because banks operate on an interstate level they won't risk getting their hands dirty with weed money until congress legalizes it full stop. This creates a situation that all these businesses need to operate in cash like 1980's drug dealers or find some credit union that solely operates in the state. During my visit of Portland the cashier of one the dispensaries described to me all the additional security measures they had to take including building a bank vault in the store. During tax season they have to hire private security and armed guards with armored vehicles to transfer duffel bags full of cash to the department of revenue who then penalizes them an additional fee for paying in large sums of cash. This is ironic because the department of state then has to go on a hiring spree and needs to purchase equipment to count out this massive amount of cash (probably millions once add up all the dispensaries). Its a big waste of money since all the hires and equipment are unnecessary once you realize that 99% of all other businesses just pay via wire or check. I also can't imagine how much money is spent by the business trying to keep track of all the loose cash.
  - acct1771 8y ago
    Why do you describe credit unions as if they were trash?
    - bliblah 8y ago
      I didn't say that? I merely state that there options were use petty cash or rely on a credit union that does NOT perform interstate commerce which is pretty rare.
      - acct1771 8y ago
        The "some" reads like condescension, may be a regional thing, sorry!
wowzap 8y ago
I just hope we don't end up like California and keep hundreds in fines for smoking in public, open containers in cars, having more than 30 grams, etc. People should be allowed to possess any amount they want, grow as many plants as they want, etc. What's the point of legalization if a police officer can still stop you and search to make sure you have under 30 grams? What's the point of legalization if smoking weed still prevents you from buying a gun or holding down a federal job? I like Larry Sharpe's viewpoint here - Marijuana should be regulated like onions.
- xyzzyz 8y ago
  > I just hope we don't end up like California and keep hundreds in fines for smoking in public, open containers in cars, having more than 30 grams, etc. I don't see why we should treat marijuana more leniently than we treat alcohol. Drinking in public is already illegal in most places. > What's the point of legalization if a police officer can still stop you and search to make sure you have under 30 grams? Police officer cannot stop and search you without a probable cause. > I like Larry Sharpe's viewpoint here - Marijuana should be regulated like onions. Maybe, but let's regulate marijuana like alcohol first, and then, when we regulate alcohol like onions, we can move on to do the same with marijuana.
  - wowzap 8y ago
    1. Drinking in public in California is a $100 fine, smoking marijuana in public is $250. 2. Probable cause - "our drug dog is trained to detect over 30 grams of Marijuana.", "I smelled marijuana and suspected an open container, asked to see the open container to verify it was legal, open container held over 30 grams." 3.You're right about alcohol... fun fact - it's still federally illegal to distill spirits.
    - jaggederest 8y ago
      > it's still federally illegal to distill spirits. Without a distillery license. Which is not especially expensive, and is wholly reasonable considering the significantly higher technical and safety threshold of operating a distillery. Bathtub gin used to kill people.
uptown 8y ago
Colorado Total Marijuana Sales: 2014 $683,523,739 2015 $995,591,255 2016 $1,307,203,473 2017 $1,507,702,219 2018* $1,022,245,511 (Through August 2018) Source: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/20/theres-no-stopping-colorados-marijuana-market.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/20/theres-no-stopping... I think it's going to be increasingly difficult for states facing budget shortfalls to ignore this as a potential new source of tax revenue.
- eof 8y ago
  Vermont legalized but set up no tax structure. Legal to grow and gift, but not sell. There was a lot of pressure to get it legal, a veto from the governor, and apparently no consensus on how to tax/license it.
  - apendleton 8y ago
    DC is in a similar boat for slightly different reasons: possession and use were legalized by citizen initiative with the expectation that the city would create a regulatory apparatus for production and sale, and then they were forbidden from spending any of their money to do so by Congress, which has veto power over their budget. So now it's in a weird quasi-legal gray area.
mabbo 8y ago
In Canada, nothing has really changed. Everyone who smoked pot before still does. Most people who didn't still don't. We just aren't wasting any more effort policing something no one cares about.
- eli 8y ago
  Hasn't it been like 5 days? Seems a little soon to draw conclusions
  - mabbo 8y ago
    There were some very dire predictions. ... But you are still correct.
- lazerpants 8y ago
  It has been my experience in Colorado that a lot of additional people will try or occasionally use cannabis over time after legalization. First it becomes normal to try it, people realize it's not that big of deal, they become occasional users. Also, there's a big barrier to entry when you have to find a dealer to buy illegal drugs from, it's just not worth it for most casual users to maintain the relationship in order to use infrequently. I'm pro-legalization though. I don't think more people occasionally using cannabis is a big deal.
  - sample2 8y ago
    This is exactly my experience in Oregon. There are of course still people who don't partake at all, but I know plenty of non smokers who have now become occasional users. Having said that, they seem to use it in place of alcohol. Seems like a wash, if not a net positive to me.
jsgo 8y ago
I don't use it nor if it were legal tomorrow, I highly doubt that would change (I don't drink either, for that matter). That being said, with one of the major knocks (or at least scapegoats) against it being crime, if they'd look historically at prohibition how organized crime benefited from the prohibition of alcohol and ending the prohibition was a sizable blow to crime, I don't see why they'd be so against it. Dunno. Taxing it would be good. Regulating it should be okay. I really don't see the cons of legalizing it when you have alcohol legalized (which I'm not advocating for it not to be).
- stevenwoo 8y ago
  Last time this was in the up for a vote in California my memory (could be faulty) was three of the biggest opponents of marijuana legalization were pharmaceutical industry, alcohol industry and the prison industrial complex. There is not a citizen push to keep it illegal, it's businesses trying to limit competition.
baldfat 8y ago
There are plenty of things to be concerned about but that fight has been lost. Here I will quote a scientist. Personally I have plenty of friends and my brother as examples what over use of pot can do to ruin lives. > Now, as a scientist, I’m unimpressed with many of the widely used arguments for the legalization of marijuana. 1) “It’s natural!” So is arsenic. 2)“It’s beneficial!” The best-documented medicinal effects of marijuana are achieved without the chemical compound that gets users high. 3) “It’s not addictive!” This is false, because the brain adapts to marijuana as it does to all abused drugs, and these neural adjustments lead to tolerance, dependence and craving — the hallmarks of addiction. Conclusion: Still, I’m not against legalization. I simply object to the astounding lack of skepticism about pot in our current debate. Whether or not to legalize weed is the wrong question. The right one is: How will growing use of delta-9-THC affect individuals and communities? Though the evidence is far from complete, wishful thinking and widespread enthusiasm are no substitutes for careful consideration. Instead of rushing to enact new laws that are as nonsensical as the ones they replace, let’s sort out the costs and benefits, using current scientific knowledge, while supporting the research needed to clarify the neural and social consequences of frequent use of THC. Perhaps then we’ll avoid practices that inure future generations to what’s really important. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/25/feature/legalizing-marijuana-is-fine-but-dont-ignore-the-science-on-its-dangers/?utm_term=.237f9c0773e1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/0...
- leetcrew 8y ago
  > Whether or not to legalize weed is the wrong question. The right one is: How will growing use of delta-9-THC affect individuals and communities? strongly disagree. the only question we should be asking about cannabis (and other drugs) is "do they harm people who haven't freely decided to consume them?". if not, there is nothing left to talk about wrt the law. edit: unless i misunderstand your post and you are making a point outside of legality?
  - baldfat 8y ago
    Well I could make the point that pot isn't harmless. Heck smartphones aren't harmless and alcohol is responsible for 6% of all deaths. I see hundreds of kids every week at work where parents are disengaged with their kids and super engaged with their phone. I think we have an issue with the questions we ask as humans. I am just making the point that we need to look past our individual lenses but that's really never going to happen to our community as a whole. PS I am a life long abstainer of all vices minus my addiction to sugar.
intopieces 8y ago
Three in Three could support legalizing marijuana and it wouldn’t make it any more likely to be be legalized. Our legislatures are old enough to have written Reefer Madness.
dawhizkid 8y ago
I get extremely paranoid on marijuana, and if I don't it just makes me feel lazy and tired. Not sure if it's genetic or what but have never been able to enjoy it.
- amanaplanacanal 8y ago
  I enjoyed it quite a bit in my teens and twenties, but not so much anymore in my 50s and 60s.
  - slantaclaus 8y ago
    I am one of the founding members of New South Botanicals, which sells CBD oil exclusively because we're not in a marijuana state. Our average customer is aged 55-60 years old.
- slantaclaus 8y ago
  This is probably because the cannabis you used had too much THC in it and not enough CBD.
  - taurath 8y ago
    Or neurochemically it just doesn't have the typical effect. Sensitivities to substances and actually in-vitro effects vary widely from person to person.
- onemoresoop 8y ago
  Try to use less. A lot less. Like a whole lot less. One puff only. MJ can intoxicate you and its effects are nasty and very non enjoyable in high doses. Try one puff and wait for 10 minutes and if you want more try another one. Once buzzed learn its effects. Don't look for more unless experienced. Also, i remember when i first started using it, it took me a month of smoking to get to enjoy it fully. Same goes with alcohol. Remember the first time you got drunk? Im sure it came with some consequences...
  - 8y ago
egwynn 8y ago
To me it’s not a question about whether it’s good or bad that people consume marijuana. It’s about whether taxpayers are currently getting anything near what they pay for from the practice of enforcing prohibition. If 2x the people start using marijuana but we get to cut the DEA’s budget by a factor of 10, then let’s try diverting that money into initiatives that help people out. Throwing people in jail clearly isn’t working.
llamataboot 8y ago
Seeing the rapid tipping point (look at the past 20 years) gives me hope that we me see decriminalization of all substances in more countries (even the US) during my lifetime. I believe that prohibition just represents an emotional cognitive bias (drugs are bad! drug users are bad!) as any rational evidence based analysis comes to the conclusion that not only does prohibition not work for decreasing drug use, it actually increases both the negative person effects of that use and contributes to externalities like increasing the power/funds of violent drug cartels in various parts of the world. Portugal was a great experiment. It worked. Let's push for full legalization or at least decriminalization across the board.
- codyb 8y ago
  The big negatives in Portugal is the fact stuff isn't actually legalized. Walking around Lisbon at night you're constantly accosted by thuggish groups of dealers offering cocaine, hash, marijuana, and other drugs. If you watch them from a bar or something you'll see people interact with them and suddenly there are four of them around and they demand more and more money after the person had already paid the agreed upon price. I even saw someone get jumped by a group of these guys after he protested that they had agreed to 20 euros for some weed and then wanted however much more. They should make that studf legal so drug users can go buy quality drugs from the pharmacist or whatever and cleanup the streets of all the semi-violent and aggressive drug gangs that roam their cities.
  - b1r6 8y ago
    Are there no police in these areas to deter harassment/assault/robbery? If not, that's certainly a contributing factor.
    - codyb 8y ago
      I never saw the police do a single thing and the gangs seem to focus exclusively on foreigners which seems to be most of the people partying in Lisbon while I was there.
rv-de 8y ago
I really hope the legalization of Cannabis is going to make some progress in Germany. If you are German and sympathizing with this - then please support Deutscher Hanfverband (https://hanfverband.de/unterstuetzen https://hanfverband.de/unterstuetzen). They (and especially Georg Wurth who is heading this organization) are doing a fantastic job promoting this request. For me Cannabis legalization is a symbol for science and reason based politics and legislation. And I am so sick of the fear mongering FUD-based reasoning of CDU and AfD. My personal theory for why right-wing politicians (except for those of the extreme libertarian fraction) are so passionately against legalization of Cannabis is because of group formation reaching back to their youth. You identify with a group also by rituals, habits and enemies. And I guess they just developed a bias against this other group of "hippies" who used to smoke joints. And they carry this resentment with them into their adulthood and agenda.
brianpc 8y ago
The other one was too high to answer the survey

141 points by uptown 8y ago

It's amazing to look back and see how the public support built up for this over last 40 something years. I am not sure how many more years before this country follows Canada or Uruguay.

craftyguy 8y ago
> I am not sure how many more years before this country follows Canada or Uruguay. At least two more years.
8ytecoder 8y ago
It's also amazing how the drug wars banished it in traditionally Marijuana countries as well (like India) where it's now going to be an uphill battle to re-legalize it. It all feels so unnecessary.

jaggederest 8y ago

I think it's pretty transparently clear that even if you hate the drug itself, there have been no obvious disasters in the legalized states. Tax revenue plus no hugely obvious negative effects is a hard argument to deny. On a broader level, this is exactly what federalism is about - states being able to try things to experiment, without committing the entire country irrevocably.

cronix 8y ago
The data is still coming in. There was a recent report done by insurance companies that in the states where it's been legalized for recreational use, accident reports are up ~5-6% and everyone's rates in those states are going up to reflect that. http://fortune.com/2018/10/18/legal-marijuana-car-accidents-study/ http://fortune.com/2018/10/18/legal-marijuana-car-accidents-...
- u801e 8y ago
  Correlation does not equal causation.
  - jsgo 8y ago
    No disagreement there, but the correlation is apparently causing an increase in car insurance costs, regardless of causation.
    - stickfigure 8y ago
      the correlation is apparently causing an increase in car insurance costs, regardless of causation This does not parse.
      - timerol 8y ago
        Insurance companies notice a correlation, so increase rates to compensate. (Since insurance companies are in the business of spotting and correcting for correlations more than causes.) Therefore a correlation between states which legalize marijuana and increases in accidents cause an increase in car insurance costs. Marijuana doesn't need to cause accidents for this to be the case. What that analysis doesn't take into account is whether the next state to legalize marijuana will also have to deal with increased accident rates and insurance costs. This is IMO the more important question.
    - coding123 8y ago
      I don't think correlation is even necessary to raise rates if there is a 5-6% increase in accidents. Also - in the states that went legal, there is an active population boom, but just as likely is being caused by tech startups. Population increases are more likely to cause an accident rate to increase. We just won't know (for sure) if pot or jobs are the cause for the population increases. Maybe it's pot jobs?
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
RIMR 8y ago
I can even excuse being personally disinterested in Cannabis, but you would have to be pretty entrenched in misinformation to hate cannabis itself. What societal harm is there? The biggest complaint I ever hear that isn't based on a non-truth is "it smells bad".
- dyarosla 8y ago
  Didn’t downvote you but wanted to respond- Smells bad can itself be a big deal. Some people also have migraines that result from inhaling second hand marijuana smoke. Moreover, many people don’t want to smell the stuff in their daily commute- and the smell definitely lingers longer, than say, tobacco, in an open space. I’m not opposed to legalization, but saying that there’s no societal harm is pretty misinformed too. Seemingly minor things like ‘smells bad’ can easily make one hate cannabis.
  - bfuller 8y ago
    Everyone is moving to vaping distillate. There's virtually no smell if you're outdoors.
  - klank 8y ago
    > Seemingly minor things like ‘smells bad’ can easily make one hate cannabis. I think an individual hating something doesn't necessarily elevate that thing to the level of "societal harm". For example, durian smells bad. Many people hate it because of its smell. However, I've never heard somebody go on about the harm durian is causing to society.
    - Mediterraneo10 8y ago
      Durian is banned in the Singapore metro (with a sign alerting to the prohibition that has gone viral) because of its smell. Calling for keeping marijuana strictly illegal based on its smell is silly. Still, the smell is just as noxious as cigarette smoke to many people. I found walking around downtown Montevideo annoying. Legalization should come with some measures against smoking in public, just like those being applied to tobacco in many places around the world.
aphextron 8y ago
>I think it's pretty transparently clear that even if you hate the drug itself, there have been no obvious disasters in the legalized states. Tax revenue plus no hugely obvious negative effects is a hard argument to deny. As someone who supports legalization, it's still way too early to definitively say that. Marijuana is not a harmless substance. There will very definitely be some negative effects, and acting like it's a magical panacea will not be helpful. Marijuana addiction is very real, although it only affects a small subset of users (~9% is often quoted). There have been zero long term studies with regard to a population's lifetime health outcomes having regular access to highly potent, legal marijuana. Only time will tell, although on the net I have no doubt these negatives will balance to an overall positive.
- mjevans 8y ago
  I support legalizing... well nearly everything. Some things might be actually dangerous and need to only be used within controlled settings. Having said that, I'd really prefer if everyone that wanted marijuana would use the ediables rather than smoking it in various ways. Living in a state where it's legal, I absolutely detest the smell, it's smoke is even more potent and disgusting than tobacco. On the same note, I hate tobacco smoke and want use of such products to be limited to negative-draw scrubbed exhaust environments.
  - TheCycoONE 8y ago
    In Ontario, smoking tobacco or marijuana is illegal at anywhere in any business that the public has regular access to, including outdoor patios, as well as a buffer area around playgrounds. That mostly eliminates being forced to endure other peoples smoke more than in passing - unless your neighbors smoke heavily in their yard.
  - wwweston 8y ago
    I couldn't agree more. I supported various decriminalization and legalization pushes on the principle that the criminal justice system is a poor avenue for addressing things that are public health problem, which is a principle I still believe in. But I've got some considerable buyer's regret; I don't want to smoke myself, and as far as I can tell, it's shockingly common that smokers of either tobacco or cannabis are (a) pretty bad at realizing how others experience it (and how far the experience travels) and/or (b) not particularly considerate about the fact that others haven't signed up for it. It's particularly galling in living situations where people will smoke on balconies or just outside an entryway apparently heedless of the fact that smoke will travel in other people's windows; and even smoking indoors travels through both windows and ventilation systems. For a while I thought this might be something that could be solved via education and etiquette, but there are too many entitled smokers. I don't think this is a problem that's going to be fixable without at least minor citations/fines to back up the right behavior. And we might need to see if there's a relationship with production that's neither full-on industrialized nor necessarily driven underground.
hockeybias 8y ago
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/marijuana-driving-accidents-bn/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/marijuana-driving-acci...
bliblah 8y ago
The issue is that because banks operate on an interstate level they won't risk getting their hands dirty with weed money until congress legalizes it full stop. This creates a situation that all these businesses need to operate in cash like 1980's drug dealers or find some credit union that solely operates in the state. During my visit of Portland the cashier of one the dispensaries described to me all the additional security measures they had to take including building a bank vault in the store. During tax season they have to hire private security and armed guards with armored vehicles to transfer duffel bags full of cash to the department of revenue who then penalizes them an additional fee for paying in large sums of cash. This is ironic because the department of state then has to go on a hiring spree and needs to purchase equipment to count out this massive amount of cash (probably millions once add up all the dispensaries). Its a big waste of money since all the hires and equipment are unnecessary once you realize that 99% of all other businesses just pay via wire or check. I also can't imagine how much money is spent by the business trying to keep track of all the loose cash.
- acct1771 8y ago
  Why do you describe credit unions as if they were trash?
  - bliblah 8y ago
    I didn't say that? I merely state that there options were use petty cash or rely on a credit union that does NOT perform interstate commerce which is pretty rare.
    - acct1771 8y ago
      The "some" reads like condescension, may be a regional thing, sorry!

wowzap 8y ago

I just hope we don't end up like California and keep hundreds in fines for smoking in public, open containers in cars, having more than 30 grams, etc. People should be allowed to possess any amount they want, grow as many plants as they want, etc. What's the point of legalization if a police officer can still stop you and search to make sure you have under 30 grams? What's the point of legalization if smoking weed still prevents you from buying a gun or holding down a federal job? I like Larry Sharpe's viewpoint here - Marijuana should be regulated like onions.

xyzzyz 8y ago
> I just hope we don't end up like California and keep hundreds in fines for smoking in public, open containers in cars, having more than 30 grams, etc. I don't see why we should treat marijuana more leniently than we treat alcohol. Drinking in public is already illegal in most places. > What's the point of legalization if a police officer can still stop you and search to make sure you have under 30 grams? Police officer cannot stop and search you without a probable cause. > I like Larry Sharpe's viewpoint here - Marijuana should be regulated like onions. Maybe, but let's regulate marijuana like alcohol first, and then, when we regulate alcohol like onions, we can move on to do the same with marijuana.
- wowzap 8y ago
  1. Drinking in public in California is a $100 fine, smoking marijuana in public is $250. 2. Probable cause - "our drug dog is trained to detect over 30 grams of Marijuana.", "I smelled marijuana and suspected an open container, asked to see the open container to verify it was legal, open container held over 30 grams." 3.You're right about alcohol... fun fact - it's still federally illegal to distill spirits.
  - jaggederest 8y ago
    > it's still federally illegal to distill spirits. Without a distillery license. Which is not especially expensive, and is wholly reasonable considering the significantly higher technical and safety threshold of operating a distillery. Bathtub gin used to kill people.

uptown 8y ago

Colorado Total Marijuana Sales: 2014 $683,523,739 2015 $995,591,255 2016 $1,307,203,473 2017 $1,507,702,219 2018* $1,022,245,511 (Through August 2018) Source: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/20/theres-no-stopping-colorados-marijuana-market.aspx https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/10/20/theres-no-stopping... I think it's going to be increasingly difficult for states facing budget shortfalls to ignore this as a potential new source of tax revenue.

eof 8y ago
Vermont legalized but set up no tax structure. Legal to grow and gift, but not sell. There was a lot of pressure to get it legal, a veto from the governor, and apparently no consensus on how to tax/license it.
- apendleton 8y ago
  DC is in a similar boat for slightly different reasons: possession and use were legalized by citizen initiative with the expectation that the city would create a regulatory apparatus for production and sale, and then they were forbidden from spending any of their money to do so by Congress, which has veto power over their budget. So now it's in a weird quasi-legal gray area.

mabbo 8y ago

In Canada, nothing has really changed. Everyone who smoked pot before still does. Most people who didn't still don't. We just aren't wasting any more effort policing something no one cares about.

eli 8y ago
Hasn't it been like 5 days? Seems a little soon to draw conclusions
- mabbo 8y ago
  There were some very dire predictions. ... But you are still correct.
lazerpants 8y ago
It has been my experience in Colorado that a lot of additional people will try or occasionally use cannabis over time after legalization. First it becomes normal to try it, people realize it's not that big of deal, they become occasional users. Also, there's a big barrier to entry when you have to find a dealer to buy illegal drugs from, it's just not worth it for most casual users to maintain the relationship in order to use infrequently. I'm pro-legalization though. I don't think more people occasionally using cannabis is a big deal.
- sample2 8y ago
  This is exactly my experience in Oregon. There are of course still people who don't partake at all, but I know plenty of non smokers who have now become occasional users. Having said that, they seem to use it in place of alcohol. Seems like a wash, if not a net positive to me.

jsgo 8y ago

I don't use it nor if it were legal tomorrow, I highly doubt that would change (I don't drink either, for that matter). That being said, with one of the major knocks (or at least scapegoats) against it being crime, if they'd look historically at prohibition how organized crime benefited from the prohibition of alcohol and ending the prohibition was a sizable blow to crime, I don't see why they'd be so against it. Dunno. Taxing it would be good. Regulating it should be okay. I really don't see the cons of legalizing it when you have alcohol legalized (which I'm not advocating for it not to be).

stevenwoo 8y ago
Last time this was in the up for a vote in California my memory (could be faulty) was three of the biggest opponents of marijuana legalization were pharmaceutical industry, alcohol industry and the prison industrial complex. There is not a citizen push to keep it illegal, it's businesses trying to limit competition.

baldfat 8y ago

There are plenty of things to be concerned about but that fight has been lost. Here I will quote a scientist. Personally I have plenty of friends and my brother as examples what over use of pot can do to ruin lives. > Now, as a scientist, I’m unimpressed with many of the widely used arguments for the legalization of marijuana. 1) “It’s natural!” So is arsenic. 2)“It’s beneficial!” The best-documented medicinal effects of marijuana are achieved without the chemical compound that gets users high. 3) “It’s not addictive!” This is false, because the brain adapts to marijuana as it does to all abused drugs, and these neural adjustments lead to tolerance, dependence and craving — the hallmarks of addiction. Conclusion: Still, I’m not against legalization. I simply object to the astounding lack of skepticism about pot in our current debate. Whether or not to legalize weed is the wrong question. The right one is: How will growing use of delta-9-THC affect individuals and communities? Though the evidence is far from complete, wishful thinking and widespread enthusiasm are no substitutes for careful consideration. Instead of rushing to enact new laws that are as nonsensical as the ones they replace, let’s sort out the costs and benefits, using current scientific knowledge, while supporting the research needed to clarify the neural and social consequences of frequent use of THC. Perhaps then we’ll avoid practices that inure future generations to what’s really important. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/25/feature/legalizing-marijuana-is-fine-but-dont-ignore-the-science-on-its-dangers/?utm_term=.237f9c0773e1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/0...

leetcrew 8y ago
> Whether or not to legalize weed is the wrong question. The right one is: How will growing use of delta-9-THC affect individuals and communities? strongly disagree. the only question we should be asking about cannabis (and other drugs) is "do they harm people who haven't freely decided to consume them?". if not, there is nothing left to talk about wrt the law. edit: unless i misunderstand your post and you are making a point outside of legality?
- baldfat 8y ago
  Well I could make the point that pot isn't harmless. Heck smartphones aren't harmless and alcohol is responsible for 6% of all deaths. I see hundreds of kids every week at work where parents are disengaged with their kids and super engaged with their phone. I think we have an issue with the questions we ask as humans. I am just making the point that we need to look past our individual lenses but that's really never going to happen to our community as a whole. PS I am a life long abstainer of all vices minus my addiction to sugar.

intopieces 8y ago

Three in Three could support legalizing marijuana and it wouldn’t make it any more likely to be be legalized. Our legislatures are old enough to have written Reefer Madness.

dawhizkid 8y ago

I get extremely paranoid on marijuana, and if I don't it just makes me feel lazy and tired. Not sure if it's genetic or what but have never been able to enjoy it.

amanaplanacanal 8y ago
I enjoyed it quite a bit in my teens and twenties, but not so much anymore in my 50s and 60s.
- slantaclaus 8y ago
  I am one of the founding members of New South Botanicals, which sells CBD oil exclusively because we're not in a marijuana state. Our average customer is aged 55-60 years old.
slantaclaus 8y ago
This is probably because the cannabis you used had too much THC in it and not enough CBD.
- taurath 8y ago
  Or neurochemically it just doesn't have the typical effect. Sensitivities to substances and actually in-vitro effects vary widely from person to person.
onemoresoop 8y ago
Try to use less. A lot less. Like a whole lot less. One puff only. MJ can intoxicate you and its effects are nasty and very non enjoyable in high doses. Try one puff and wait for 10 minutes and if you want more try another one. Once buzzed learn its effects. Don't look for more unless experienced. Also, i remember when i first started using it, it took me a month of smoking to get to enjoy it fully. Same goes with alcohol. Remember the first time you got drunk? Im sure it came with some consequences...
- 8y ago

egwynn 8y ago

To me it’s not a question about whether it’s good or bad that people consume marijuana. It’s about whether taxpayers are currently getting anything near what they pay for from the practice of enforcing prohibition. If 2x the people start using marijuana but we get to cut the DEA’s budget by a factor of 10, then let’s try diverting that money into initiatives that help people out. Throwing people in jail clearly isn’t working.

llamataboot 8y ago

Seeing the rapid tipping point (look at the past 20 years) gives me hope that we me see decriminalization of all substances in more countries (even the US) during my lifetime. I believe that prohibition just represents an emotional cognitive bias (drugs are bad! drug users are bad!) as any rational evidence based analysis comes to the conclusion that not only does prohibition not work for decreasing drug use, it actually increases both the negative person effects of that use and contributes to externalities like increasing the power/funds of violent drug cartels in various parts of the world. Portugal was a great experiment. It worked. Let's push for full legalization or at least decriminalization across the board.

codyb 8y ago
The big negatives in Portugal is the fact stuff isn't actually legalized. Walking around Lisbon at night you're constantly accosted by thuggish groups of dealers offering cocaine, hash, marijuana, and other drugs. If you watch them from a bar or something you'll see people interact with them and suddenly there are four of them around and they demand more and more money after the person had already paid the agreed upon price. I even saw someone get jumped by a group of these guys after he protested that they had agreed to 20 euros for some weed and then wanted however much more. They should make that studf legal so drug users can go buy quality drugs from the pharmacist or whatever and cleanup the streets of all the semi-violent and aggressive drug gangs that roam their cities.
- b1r6 8y ago
  Are there no police in these areas to deter harassment/assault/robbery? If not, that's certainly a contributing factor.
  - codyb 8y ago
    I never saw the police do a single thing and the gangs seem to focus exclusively on foreigners which seems to be most of the people partying in Lisbon while I was there.

rv-de 8y ago

I really hope the legalization of Cannabis is going to make some progress in Germany. If you are German and sympathizing with this - then please support Deutscher Hanfverband (https://hanfverband.de/unterstuetzen https://hanfverband.de/unterstuetzen). They (and especially Georg Wurth who is heading this organization) are doing a fantastic job promoting this request. For me Cannabis legalization is a symbol for science and reason based politics and legislation. And I am so sick of the fear mongering FUD-based reasoning of CDU and AfD. My personal theory for why right-wing politicians (except for those of the extreme libertarian fraction) are so passionately against legalization of Cannabis is because of group formation reaching back to their youth. You identify with a group also by rituals, habits and enemies. And I guess they just developed a bias against this other group of "hippies" who used to smoke joints. And they carry this resentment with them into their adulthood and agenda.

brianpc 8y ago

The other one was too high to answer the survey