4 ms·

It's very very very easy to acquire marijuana. Just because you don't know how you'd acquire an 8th, doesn't mean that it isn't easy to acquire. If you're the

by onedev 14y ago

It's very very very easy to acquire marijuana. Just because you don't know how you'd acquire an 8th, doesn't mean that it isn't easy to acquire. If you're the type of person to smoke, then you'd know where to go to get it. Or you can just ask someone and they'd tell you.

tptacek 14y ago
No, I disagree. The fact that I don't know how to an acquire an 8th does mean it isn't easy to acquire. You're discarding the context of the thread here. Everybody agrees that the "type of person to smoke" --- that is, people who are driven to smoke --- can readily acquire marijuana. But it does not follow from that that everybody can readily acquire marijuana. Marijuana is stigmatized. Its distribution is cliquish and sometimes confined to subcultures (we may be blinded to that because demographically we tend to adhere to some of those subcultures). It's also illegal. The point here is: marijuana would be much easier to get --- so much easier that it is likely that way more people would try it --- if it was legalized or completely decriminalized. (I oppose criminalization).
drivebyacct2 14y ago
It's one thing to know who to ask for weed. It's another to be able to find any random stranger, walk to a gas station and get alcohol. They're both "easy" in a sense, but there's a semantic difference about whether it's easy for YOU to get cannabis or if it's easy for ANYONE to get alcohol. I suspect tptacek is right at least about trying it. The debate about a longer-term trend of overall use is almost pointless until we wait and see. Many, many people I know claim that they haven't tried it because: they don't know where to/how to, they don't trust that they wouldn't get something tainted, it's illegal. Yes, there are some that repeat the "it makes you a loser", etc, and they're not going to try it either way, but I certainly think that it will be more accessible to people who would have never pursued it but may be curious. (edit, sorry, there are also plenty of people who simply don't want to do it or don't want to be mentally impaired, or are worried about provoking an underlying mental issue, etc, I don't mean to criticize them.

by onedev 14y ago

tptacek 14y ago

No, I disagree. The fact that I don't know how to an acquire an 8th does mean it isn't easy to acquire. You're discarding the context of the thread here. Everybody agrees that the "type of person to smoke" --- that is, people who are driven to smoke --- can readily acquire marijuana. But it does not follow from that that everybody can readily acquire marijuana. Marijuana is stigmatized. Its distribution is cliquish and sometimes confined to subcultures (we may be blinded to that because demographically we tend to adhere to some of those subcultures). It's also illegal. The point here is: marijuana would be much easier to get --- so much easier that it is likely that way more people would try it --- if it was legalized or completely decriminalized. (I oppose criminalization).

drivebyacct2 14y ago

It's one thing to know who to ask for weed. It's another to be able to find any random stranger, walk to a gas station and get alcohol. They're both "easy" in a sense, but there's a semantic difference about whether it's easy for YOU to get cannabis or if it's easy for ANYONE to get alcohol. I suspect tptacek is right at least about trying it. The debate about a longer-term trend of overall use is almost pointless until we wait and see. Many, many people I know claim that they haven't tried it because: they don't know where to/how to, they don't trust that they wouldn't get something tainted, it's illegal. Yes, there are some that repeat the "it makes you a loser", etc, and they're not going to try it either way, but I certainly think that it will be more accessible to people who would have never pursued it but may be curious. (edit, sorry, there are also plenty of people who simply don't want to do it or don't want to be mentally impaired, or are worried about provoking an underlying mental issue, etc, I don't mean to criticize them.