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I really think this glamourises weed, and moves us towards a point where there will be companies marketing weed at us. We need to stop throwing people in priso

I really think this glamourises weed, and moves us towards a point where there will be companies marketing weed at us. We need to stop throwing people in prison for using heroin and cocaine. But if the only alternative is to put someone in the business of getting people addicted to heroin...Well, why should we accept that dilemma? We need to find a third way, in between drugs being illegal, and them being a marketable product like any other. And shit like this isn't helping.

hockeybias 12y ago
Agree completely.
TillE 12y ago
Whenever you get concerned about this sort of thing, just look at the Netherlands for an example of how you can have a very public marijuana culture that's still quite small. Usage rates are the same as elsewhere. It's just not an actual problem. By all means, forbid advertising like most places do with tobacco. But there's little harm in it becoming a legal commercial product.
- serve_yay 12y ago
  The amount of such concern trolling is immensely out of line with whatever the threat is supposed to be. Makes you wish some of that concern would be applied to other already-existing aspects of our society.
noamyoungerm 12y ago
> a point where there will be companies marketing weed at us. What did you expect? I thought it was common knowledge that the weed market would be basically swept up by companies that operate like Marlboro (and as soon as it's legal nationwide, just watch all the cigarette companies turn to weed companies)
couchand 12y ago
I'm going to strongly disagree with this argument. You don't see wine critics advocating downing 1.5L bottles of grocery-store wine, you don't see food critics telling you to stuff your face with McDonald's. If anything, presenting high-bar critiques has the potential to reduce abuse of cannabis by focusing on quality over quantity.
edgarallenbro 12y ago
No, shit like this isn't helping. You are talking out of your ass about something you clearly know nothing about. Marijuana is as addictive as potatoes. The fact that you even mention heroin in your post shows you clearly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Alcohol is way more addictive and dangerous than pot and we have a huge craft brewing and tasting culture in this country. If you know absolutely nothing about a subject, for the love of god, please stop and think before you hit reply. You're not contributing at all by posting when you know nothing about the subject.
- syllogism 12y ago
  > Marijuana is as addictive as potatoes. Maybe we disagree on how addictive potatoes are? Marijuana is fairly addictive, with about 9% of users becoming addicted.[1] Alcohol's quite addictive too. I don't know whether it's more or less so than marijuana. But with alcohol, we have what we have. If I were designing policy and we didn't have the drinking culture that we do, I'd be hoping we wouldn't end up here. All I'm saying is this: it's actually a bad thing if lots more people end up smoking lots more weed. It's bad in two ways. One, it's bad intrinsically, because I do think that smoking weed three or four times a week demotivates you and keeps you from getting your shit done. Two, we need to learn how to legalise drugs without use increasing massively, because we've got a lot more drugs to legalise. [1] Number pulled from the summary here: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-tha... , citing research here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3371269/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3371269/ . I haven't read the paper, but I do trust this blog a lot.
  - couchand 12y ago
    it's actually a bad thing if lots more people end up smoking lots more weed Nice straw man, but it falls down when you actually look at the rates of usage in places with legalization. For instance, The Netherlands, where the toking habits are somewhat safer than in San Francisco [0]. [0]: http://www1.ucsc.edu/currents/03-04/05-03/drug_study.html http://www1.ucsc.edu/currents/03-04/05-03/drug_study.html
toby 12y ago
Isn't that exactly what decriminalization is? "The new law maintained the status of illegality for using or possessing any drug for personal use without authorization. However, the offense was changed from a criminal one, with prison a possible punishment, to an administrative one if the amount possessed was no more than ten days' supply of that substance." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal
pessimizer 12y ago
How did pot become heroin in your analogy when it's not nearly as dangerous as beer? edit: Are you questioning the possibility of heroin being regulated as pot is in Colorado. or are you questioning pot being regulated in Colorado like beer has been regulated for the past century? I'm confused by your intention.
Nursie 12y ago
>> I really think this glamourises weed, and moves us towards a point where there will be companies marketing weed at us. Then we outlaw that like tobacco advertising is outlawed in most countries. But companies selling weed to us isn't actually a problem. In fact it's better than unregulated black-market sales. >> We need to stop throwing people in prison for using heroin and cocaine. But if the only alternative is to put someone in the business of getting people addicted to heroin...Well, why should we accept that dilemma? Why would that be the only alternative? Look at the Portuguese model. >> We need to find a third way, in between drugs being illegal, and them being a marketable product like any other. We already have this third way for alcohol and tobacco in most places. >> And shit like this isn't helping. Neither is the use of the term 'drugs', nor the idea that we necessarily have to treat them all the same.

hockeybias 12y ago

Agree completely.

TillE 12y ago

Whenever you get concerned about this sort of thing, just look at the Netherlands for an example of how you can have a very public marijuana culture that's still quite small. Usage rates are the same as elsewhere. It's just not an actual problem. By all means, forbid advertising like most places do with tobacco. But there's little harm in it becoming a legal commercial product.

serve_yay 12y ago
The amount of such concern trolling is immensely out of line with whatever the threat is supposed to be. Makes you wish some of that concern would be applied to other already-existing aspects of our society.

noamyoungerm 12y ago

> a point where there will be companies marketing weed at us. What did you expect? I thought it was common knowledge that the weed market would be basically swept up by companies that operate like Marlboro (and as soon as it's legal nationwide, just watch all the cigarette companies turn to weed companies)

couchand 12y ago

I'm going to strongly disagree with this argument. You don't see wine critics advocating downing 1.5L bottles of grocery-store wine, you don't see food critics telling you to stuff your face with McDonald's. If anything, presenting high-bar critiques has the potential to reduce abuse of cannabis by focusing on quality over quantity.

edgarallenbro 12y ago

No, shit like this isn't helping. You are talking out of your ass about something you clearly know nothing about. Marijuana is as addictive as potatoes. The fact that you even mention heroin in your post shows you clearly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Alcohol is way more addictive and dangerous than pot and we have a huge craft brewing and tasting culture in this country. If you know absolutely nothing about a subject, for the love of god, please stop and think before you hit reply. You're not contributing at all by posting when you know nothing about the subject.

syllogism 12y ago
> Marijuana is as addictive as potatoes. Maybe we disagree on how addictive potatoes are? Marijuana is fairly addictive, with about 9% of users becoming addicted.[1] Alcohol's quite addictive too. I don't know whether it's more or less so than marijuana. But with alcohol, we have what we have. If I were designing policy and we didn't have the drinking culture that we do, I'd be hoping we wouldn't end up here. All I'm saying is this: it's actually a bad thing if lots more people end up smoking lots more weed. It's bad in two ways. One, it's bad intrinsically, because I do think that smoking weed three or four times a week demotivates you and keeps you from getting your shit done. Two, we need to learn how to legalise drugs without use increasing massively, because we've got a lot more drugs to legalise. [1] Number pulled from the summary here: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/01/05/marijuana-much-more-tha... , citing research here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3371269/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3371269/ . I haven't read the paper, but I do trust this blog a lot.
- couchand 12y ago
  it's actually a bad thing if lots more people end up smoking lots more weed Nice straw man, but it falls down when you actually look at the rates of usage in places with legalization. For instance, The Netherlands, where the toking habits are somewhat safer than in San Francisco [0]. [0]: http://www1.ucsc.edu/currents/03-04/05-03/drug_study.html http://www1.ucsc.edu/currents/03-04/05-03/drug_study.html

toby 12y ago

Isn't that exactly what decriminalization is? "The new law maintained the status of illegality for using or possessing any drug for personal use without authorization. However, the offense was changed from a criminal one, with prison a possible punishment, to an administrative one if the amount possessed was no more than ten days' supply of that substance." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal

pessimizer 12y ago

How did pot become heroin in your analogy when it's not nearly as dangerous as beer? edit: Are you questioning the possibility of heroin being regulated as pot is in Colorado. or are you questioning pot being regulated in Colorado like beer has been regulated for the past century? I'm confused by your intention.

Nursie 12y ago

>> I really think this glamourises weed, and moves us towards a point where there will be companies marketing weed at us. Then we outlaw that like tobacco advertising is outlawed in most countries. But companies selling weed to us isn't actually a problem. In fact it's better than unregulated black-market sales. >> We need to stop throwing people in prison for using heroin and cocaine. But if the only alternative is to put someone in the business of getting people addicted to heroin...Well, why should we accept that dilemma? Why would that be the only alternative? Look at the Portuguese model. >> We need to find a third way, in between drugs being illegal, and them being a marketable product like any other. We already have this third way for alcohol and tobacco in most places. >> And shit like this isn't helping. Neither is the use of the term 'drugs', nor the idea that we necessarily have to treat them all the same.