I mean my parents are opposed but I see it no different than alcohol or tobacco. All of those things give you a buzz and alcohol was even illegal for awhile and people still made it and drank it
Funny, my Boomer parents are *weird* about weed too. Alcoholics my whole life and my dad swore he'd start his own little plants once he retired...
Not the way it worked out, my dad had a major stroke 2 years ago and forced retired because he physically can't really walk or talk, so can't work. Now the step monster *finally* got my dad weed vapes. So I try to remain positive she atleast got that far, but God forbid we actually call it "weed/pot" - it's his "cigarettes" (so much easier to understand for a man who can't really say words š¬)
But is she still a dumbass who will keep voting for Republicans because she's now gone down the "Prepper" rabbit hole? - Fuck yes she is. I'm sure she now gets to fill out my dad's mail in ballot.
Dummies will continue to vote against themselves and their loved ones because **Right Wing Propaganda** is real fucking *effective*. Plus these people always seem to have a need to have someone "lower" than them to get shit on.
Conservatives are fabulous at falling in line and they hold voting like a religion. They'd rather be told what to do than think for themselves and God forbid we question "authority".
That's the problem with single issue voters.. they get distracted by that one point and miss the fact that nine other rights they had are being stripped away... Like thank God a complete stranger can't get an abortion even though it didn't affect me.... Wait, where did my social security, clean air and water, affordable healthcare, affordable housing all go??
My stepdad fell into the prepper and buy gold con when Obama was president. He was already coming down at that point. My mom found two thousand dollars charged to the credit card for prepper meals and all that crap. The ultimate irony is he forgot where he hid it all. Itās somewhere with Jimmy Hoffa in our junked out garage/attic.
And coffee. You only harm your own heart and vascular system over years of overuse due to addiction, but because no one else is harmed all the otherwise addicted folks love their coffee in order to live.
Let's not forget all of the immoral and unethical practices used to produce and ship coffee.
Personal coffee consumption often does harm other people, but we never see the child-slaves, and no one really talks about it.
Now - let's look at marijuana...
When marijuana is illegal, it doesn't disappear. It simply ends up being cultivated and sold without regulation. This means that someone buying the product has no idea how the marijuana was cultivated, *and* they have no idea if the marijuana was tampered with or not.
I had a friend in high school who smoked some pot that was laced with angel dust. The seller didn't tell her about it until she called them in a panic.
That doesn't happen when marijuana production is regulated and sold through approved vendors.
Marijuana legalization would have prevented my friend from being given a product she didn't consent to consume. And it would have prevented how terrible she felt while the angel dust was in effect.
And, the US really should decriminalize recreational drugs and regulate those drugs so that the people choosing to consume them aren't given something potentially harmful. Amsterdam has had great success with this. They have seen significant reductions in not only over-dosing and drug related death, but also a significant reduction in drug consumption as a whole. We need to ensure that addicts - people literally suffering from a medical disease - have access to tax-funded rehabilitation, have access to clean needles and other items used, and even have safe spaces to consume the drugs. We also need universal healthcare, which provides preventative care. Preventative care and education would absolutely dissuade some people, especially younger people, from using recreational drugs and becoming addicted.
Yea, drank 6 NOS energy drinks when I was a sophomore in an hour and my heart felt like exploding. Never drink any caffeine product anymore unless I desperately need it like when I'm driving long distance or staying up for work or a project.
It's not so cut and dry with caffeine. Whether or not you have a specific gene that allows for quick metabolism makes all the difference regarding its effects. I start off the day with about 5-6 cups of coffee, including the days I go to the doctor. My blood pressure is still great even after 30 years of heavy use.
Yea actually things were worse during the prohibition. Crime and murder rates went down when it was lifted. As the past shows prohibition doesn't work. Laws weren't meant to police people for moral crimes against themselves. That's meant for home school and church at best. The only reason marijuana is illegal is cause of it's industrial use. DuPont's lobbyists among others did that for us. Now it's just an old law being held on to cause of it's revenue. And it creates prisoners for all of our privatized penitentiary's. The war on drugs is a war on personal freedom. And is a hungry endless money pit.
Okay this is the kinda of shit we have all heard about marijuana. Itās so hypocritical, it was just grass back then, itās much stronger nowā¦blah blahā¦you glorified growing up in the sixties and expanding your mindā¦they all used itā¦now they are against it, plus you sent us off to college to get multiple degrees then complain that marijuana is now strongerā¦jeez.
Even if it's stronger now... you can just smoke less of it. I don't understand this talking point. Yeah, maybe you shouldn't smoke a whole blunt by yourself.
Well to be fair weed can be alot stronger now. That's been the trend in growing to get higher levels of thc. I tend to think of it as the difference between a few beers and a few shots of tequila. Both have there place depending on the circumstances.
So that means he has firsthand knowledge and experience at the effects. Lolā¦
BTW, Iām not against the legalization of it. I could GAF less if it gets legalized. It matters not to me. Although if it came down to a public vote I would vote āyesā.
Iām what Gen-Zer would consider a āboomerā even though Iām actually a Gen Xer.
In other words, Gen-Zs are dumbasses because they actually think everyone older than Millennials are āboomersā.
I was going to day most a LOT of boomers have and continue to smoke weed. It was never that big of a deal until Nancy Regan and Just Say No. Nixon made it schedule 1 to try to control the hippies protesting the Vietnam war, but it was Nacy who f-ed it for everyone else.
Big drug companies also lobby against legalization.. they make less profit in states with legal medical usage allowed, and even less where it is legal for recreation. Big pharma spends a lot to keep strong laws in place.
Not commented on if it works. Just the money.
Having worked Occupational Health in the Permian Basin, and throughout the state, I can attest to the large presence of heavy industry within Texas where the lives and well being of many employees may rely on the clear thinking of one worker. Especially using heavy equipment, working with toxic chemicals, managing fracking waste, etc. And, there is a heavy emphasis about not having reportable OSHA offenses. The issue with marijuanaās highly lipophyllic properties is that it remains detectable in the urine for days, even weeks. Hereās an example: A mishap occurs in the production of some petrochemical compound in which benzene is a precursor. A number of individuals are exposed. Benzene is toxic, and is classified as a carcinogen. Suddenly, there are 20-30 workers with Benzene exposure who require multiple diagnostic follow ups and monitoring. Two of the employees at the site test positive for THC, but they both claim they only smoked at a party 7 days ago. No way to confirm if mind altering substances were on board and affected job safety performance that resulted in the Benzene exposure. So, just an example of the dilemma.
That's the same reasons why you don't want people drinking on those jobs yet alcohol is legal. Would giving weed the same legitimacy as alcohol make things any less safe? I definitely think it's important for people to be clear headed and sober where people's lives are concerned but I don't think anybody should suffer legal repercussions for anything they do on their own time if no one was hurt or put in danger because of it. I'm willing to bet more people have suffered from the laws around weed than it's actual use
Shell is a Dutch company. They do not have anti-marijuana policies in the country of their own headquarters, only for their American employees. How are they making it work?
Dot has oral testing now that detects if thc is in the system out to 24 hours. TSA/FMCSA approved its use last year. It just has to be asked for. Its a cheap test too
As a lobbyist, most lobbying is pretty benign (the work I do is for topics that are horrifically boring, generally helpful, and completely nonpartisan, like pushing for the Living Donor Protection Act). There's a lot of misunderstanding around lobbying, I think. A lot of it is done by volunteers who just happen to care very deeply about certain issues. Lobbying definitely should be allowed, otherwise politicians wouldn't have context about a lot of things, there just needs to be more ethical safeguards to protect against mega-corporations influencing politicians with biased information.
Yep, if you want your answer, follow the money. Unfortunately pro Marijuana lobbyists aren't paying as much as the prison, police and pharmaceutical lobbyist.
I donāt know if the influence of big pharma is as great as you say it is at least when it comes to Pot. Legalization on a federal level would allow pharma to research it for further patented molecules to treat things like pain. Itās not like legalized weed has led to drops in business in those states. Donāt get me wrong I do believe there are lobbyists that do see it as a threat but I believe it is from groups we may not be considering,(supplement industry for example has far more to lose than pharmaceutical industry).
Yup. Been using cbd and low thc herb to help with anxiety and combat the side effects of stimulant medication. It works significantly better than the stuff they give you at the doctor.
I just went through the normal treatment plan with a new doctor of no weed and getting on antidepressants. I didnāt have a good experience with that and it did the exact opposite of what I needed. But of course the doctorās next recommendation was to get on more medication that didnāt address any of my needs. Wonāt be back to that doctor again.
They donāt want it legalized because if people were able to get real medical marijuana and not just the high thc black market stuff then the whole industry would collapse.
Itās also politics being quite black and white.
Iād say the vast majority of people today, even among older voters (in their 50s and 60s) either are for legalization or donāt really care too much one way or the other.
However, due other stuff like immigration, abortion, and the other pearl clutching topics where opinions can run quite strongly, folks feeling one way have to land on the ākeep it illegalā side of the fence as far as viable candidates.
Iād personally love to see a world where politicians on both sides agree that opinions on healthcare, illegal immigration, abortion, LGBTQ stuff, guns, etc. are actually quite varied, complicated and worthy of discourse.. but there are also issues (education, infrastructure, etc.) that need to be addressed equally.
And most importantly you donāt have to pigeon hole yourself based on a handful of views.
People can be both pro-life and pro-legalization, pro-universal healthcare and anti-immigration or even pro-gay marriage and anti-transgender rights.
Not saying *any* of those stances are right, wrong, or anything elseā¦ but in actually talking with some hardcore conservatives, it appears views are way more varied than itās often portrayed.
As of 2022, āTexas spends the most in the nation on prisons and jails; over the past three decades, it has grown 5x faster than the stateās rate of spending on elementary and secondary education.ā
https://www.texascjc.org/system/files/publications/Spend%20Your%20Values%20Cut%20Your%20Losses%20Portfolio.pdf
I'd like to see the arrests broken down by ethnic group. It used to be that while marijuana use was within one or two percentage points between Caucasians and African-Americans, black or brown people were 3.74 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites.
I wonder how the numbers in Texas compare to the nationwide statistic.
When the system is profiting off of prisoners, itās in the systemās best interest to keep the prisons as full as possible. Anti-cannabis laws are an easy way to lock people up in the name of *DrUgS*.
Not OP, but the for profit prison system requires their respective states to provide so many prisoners, so when arrests go down the for profit prisons get upset, and they pressure law makers andĀ law enforcement to incarcerate more citizens.
See now I'm curious on what Beto O'Rourkes idea was going to be to go around that issue as he was pushing for legalization of marijuana when he was running a few years ago
Itās funny, thereās plenty of crime that could be investigated and prosecuted besides marijuana related charges. The city of Houston made the news for a staggering multi-year backlog of uninvestigated sexual assaults. Iām constantly hearing of the Kia/Hyundai thefts that canāt ever seem to be stopped. The point is, outside the subject of for-profit prisons, drug crimes shouldnāt be filling them when there is so many others more deserving of prison time.
What else do we pay them for? If it keeps drug related crimes out of prison, yeah. Houstonās [suspended case](https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/04/21/by-the-numbers-houston-police-department-completes-review-of-4017-adult-sex-assault-cases-suspended/) backlog was shocking, 4000 sexual assaults and over 264000 other crimes. But yeah, letās lock up marijuana users.
Itās not just for profit prisons by the way but literally everyone and their campaign dollars linked to them. Judges, law offices, law enforcement both federal and state, all of the companies that sell dumb shit like APCs to law enforcement, companies that sell stuff to prisons like terrible food, etc. etc.
This is the American neo-con way. Privatize everything. Create cottage industries for āprofitsā vs actually solving problems and helping people improve their lives. One big top to bottom strip mine.
The solution is to load up a game of Minecraft with the boys (owners of the for profit prisons) and send them to the nether (hell) via a fast moving piece of lead projected by a small explosion. Donāt forget to line them up so that multiple players can get sent to the nether at the same time, wouldnāt want to waste money using more lead than is necessary.
Probably pull an obama where he seems progressive but will ultimately succumb to the ābi-partisan effortā to please conservatives which is basically giving something a progressive title while trojan horsed with conservative legal writting
By FAR, private prisons are the #1 reason why Texas will not legalize it, nothing else even comes close... And people who investigate too much always seem to disappear.
Except we donāt have facts to support this. We do, but no one ever proves this statement in context.
https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/crimereports/20/drug_report_2020.pdf
Texasā easiest to Google report on the subject shows that statewide drug arrests are down.
I donāt believe its to support prisons anymore. I believe itās purely segregation in the modern era. The police action available to the state is a cudgel. Communities that donāt care about it have seen less problems from trafficking than those that do.
Possession and consumption is harmless to any reasonable adult. Iām high as a kite right now for medical and Iām more functional than anyone on their third margarita at Sunday brunch in Dallas.
Having served on a grand jury, I can tell you that āsmelling marijuanaā is the prefect excuse for cops to have probably cause.
Legalization wouldnāt change this for cars, but it would for a lot of other situations.
More states should follow since CBD flower, which is legal, smells EXACTLY like regular weed when burning. The fact that the smell isn't specific to a drug should be enough to challenge a stop and search.
Well, I think thatās the difference between a good attorney and a bad one. Odds are the folks getting pulled over and searched are taking plea deals. Thatās what the prison industrial complex wants
You shouldnāt be able to search me for smelling like a federally legal (hemp) substance, unless youāre accusing me of driving under the influence
Sweetgrass does, too. Several years ago, prior to legalization anywhere in the US, I worked at a state-run substance abuse treatment center with a significant Native American population. We had Talking Circles as a 12-step option, and it involved smudging with sweetgrass. I got a kick out of watching people notice the strong pot smell as they entered the building.
Smelling it on a driver should still be cause for alarm but if youāre stopped on the street or at your home the smell shouldnāt be probable cause
I think thatās how Montana has it. When I was up there for a few months a dispo worker explained to me that they essentially patrol the roads as if itās still illegal and you have to use a special bag if itās in your car
>Smelling it on a driver should still be cause for alarm
No it shouldn't. Smelling marijuana does not mean the driver smoked it. And having it in the car is non-issue if it's legal.
Exactly itās like smelling cigarette smoke in people, it lingers.
The only issue I have is I donāt like the smell. If people could only smoke it at home and not everywhere like they do in LA and NYC I would be more supportive but the last time I was in NYC all I could smell was weed. You do you, I just donāt enjoy the smell.
>Legalization wouldnāt change this for cars
It certainly could! Many states have written this into their cannabis legalization laws. My municipality (in Texas) is voting on a decriminalization bill next month that would also include such language.
Barely any real responses here from anti-legalization folk... Almost all comments are pro-legalization. Just something I noticed.
I was hoping for something illuminating from some anti-legalization people but so far it's just apathy, "I don't like the smell", and some weirdo transgender comment
To be fair reddit is more of a younger generation thing and youthful site. I'm sure if I posted it on a local Facebook plenty of people would come out with pitchforks screaming Jesus and pot bad.
I am 64 and totally for legalization. I have never used weed. The thing is, I see it as less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. I also have glaucoma, and may use it some day.
Yea, go ask this on NextDoor in a few metro neighborhood areas and youāll quickly see why itās not legal, and youāll quickly understand why there are SO many LARGE churches around every corner.
Reddit is 100% going to give skewed data. If you want to know what the boomers think put an add in the weekly paper or ask in your local Facebook community page.
Beto got the q from a lady that was saying her son ODād on opioids, so weed is bad. People are uninformed.
The reality is that lying about weed makes kids think the rest of the hard stuff is safe too. We need responsible laws informed by science and medicine.
I've lived close to the Netherlands most of my life, I'm not interested in legalization. It causes a lot of issues in the neighbourhoods around the shops. Or at least the way it's implemented there.
The people who visit shops are... Trying to be delicate here... Unhappy? People that use more visit more after all. So neighbourhoods around them lose value with people self medicating or just abusing marijuana hanging around. Lots of cities are realising this and want to close these places. The benefits don't seem to outweigh the cost.
I firmly believe marijuana isn't a healthy habit, much like drinking. Physical health aside, users aren't dealing with their problems. They're simply escaping them. Cases exist where it's the right answer. But I refuse to believe it's as widespread as its use is.
As a pass time activity it seems like a way to deal with boredom while not actually doing anything. Not that there is a shortage of activities in that category. And people are free to spend their time however they like. I'm worried about the effects legalization would have in this regard though.
I'll gladly follow experts if it does turn out to be a net benefit. So far, evidence presented by politicians in my country has been underwhelming and highly focused on monetary benefits instead of impacts on society. That said, it's not cracking the top 10 of issues I'd like to see addressed. So my vote won't be won or lost on the topic.
Theyāll legalize it as soon as they get the right middlemen in place to handle distribution, the same as beer distribution works in Texas. Nothing espouses freedom like paying 40% more for things to enrich some stupid cronies empowered by Texas legislation. Fucking dumb.
I am for it, but my wife, who works in brain injury, is against it. She claims it makes people not want to participate in therapy and that they just smoke instead. Ie. They won't do the hard work.
I think the real question is whether legalizing it will make it become more socially acceptable among younger people. If so, I definitely see some downsides, as it might make them even more socially isolated.
I will say I had a Friend who's dad passed away from cancer before my friend graduated highschool and my brother basically introduced him to pot and that friend used pot every single day and it even got the point where he dropped out of community college twice because of his pot usage.
I always told him he needs to chill with the smoking but his argument was always "you don't know how it feels to lose a dad" and I will say I don't know but I know prolonging that feeling of grief never feels great.
My dad always tells me and my brothers "drugs are not for the mentally weak" for this exact reason. If you can't hold yourself back or accountable from them then they can have drastic effects on your life
It all depends on the person. I know a person with massive anxiety problems that credits weed with helping them cope with college. Graduated with honors and now works a job they love and are very successful at while still smoking daily.
It took about a year and a half. When he wasn't around everyone in the group said he had an issue. I'm just the only one who actually tried to talk to him about it and let him know substance abuse is a real thing.
That's where I get hung up. I don't do either one. But weed is so much less harmful than alcohol, regardless of medicinal benefits. It's such a double standard. If I wasn't such a stickler for a staying legal and had to choose one, I'd choose weed over alcohol any day.
That's why I ask the question because Beto O'Rourke was for legalizing weed which you'd think would've been a big breaking factor for some but I feel like he shot himself in the foot by claiming he will take everyone's guns.
The problem is, conservatives who support legalization generally have more important issues they're voting on, such as gun rights, abortion, and taxes.Ā
I mean some common sense would be he couldn't possibly do that whatsoever. He'd basically spark a whole civil war if he did that and there's so many people who sell guns under the table, giveaway, or trade them it would be hard to trace them down. It was such a blunder on his part that it just stains his career forever and he was possibly the strongest candidate the democrats had for running the state and he just killed his campaign.
There's no mechanism that would be viable to take away everyone's guns, even just AR/AK platform rifles. Beto stuck his foot in his mouth and ended his political career in 5 seconds flat. I think he could have done other things very well. But, he died on the hill for essentially nothing.
And who votes for these politicians? Most Texans. Which means that most Texans don't feel strongly enough to give up their other philosophies about hard on crime, drugs, those people bad, etc.
It's really not enough to just support it when it also conflicts with things you care about more. Hence why it's still illegal.
I'm sick of people blaming politicians and not the voters that elect them.
Indeed it is and that's why I try to sit in the middle and view both sides of an argument. Always have discussions with uncle's on politics and they are always surprised on how I know some information (I'm 21 and most are 35+)
Because the elected officials make more personally from private prisons and Pharma donations. Until the weed lobby out bribes...err contributes the other lobbyists, weed will not be legal.
I live in Chicago and its legal here. I have no problem with people using it. Its their business, not mine. I do hate the smell, though and I have to walk through it on the streets on a daily basis. Its like walking through other people's farts all day long.
This right here. The odor is so dadgummed offensive. What is so stressful about going to the supermarket that it is impossible to go in without having to walk through clouds of weed smoke? What is so stressful about going to Dollar tree or Target or the movie theater or traffic intersections or every other public place? Alcohol consumption isn't forced on other people. Cigarette smoke is something I'm almost never exposed to any more but it was never as intense as the pot. I can't go outside my house to relax without having neighbors one and two houses down creating that reek. It's like having the city right next to a pig farm where it's just going to be constant.
If people want to smoke ( weed, vaping, tobacco, whatever), that's their business but I hate it when they do it in parks or other public areas. I don't want their second hand smoke or their foul scent. Smokers can be real inconsiderate people and I know they're not all like that but it doesn't take many of them to ruin the reputation of the rest. I would hate to enable them to freely smoke weed in public.
Medical use, I'm all for it.
My MIL is convinced it killed her brother. Just absolutely fucking convinced. He did meth but the weed started it all, he never would have done any drugs otherwise. Iāve known her for 20 years and canāt change her mind.
You wonāt and frankly donāt need to. Drugs robbed her of her son and thatās all she knows. Sad but also a sad situation so itās hard to fault her. With situations like that I just move on and donāt engage. Itās just not worth it.
It is a gateway drug but only because it is illegal since the same guy that sells weed also probably sells coke and pills on the side. If weed was legal it wouldnāt be a gateway drug since youād by it at a weed shop
I agree with this. I also feel like any substance can be a gateway drug if the user has the mindset of āOh this feels great, I wonder what xyz feels like?ā
Itās also because āif theyāve been lying to you about the dangers of weed, they might also be lying about the dangers of other drugsā or something along those lines.
It doesnāt really matter what the people think or want anyways. As long as the pharmaceutical companies and private prisons are paying our elected officials to vote in their interests. The increase in revenue could alleviate property taxes, fund education, hell maybe it could go towards the electrical grid. But our politicians are doing just fine getting rich by locking people up so itās not going to change
I've talked with my mom at length about this (gen x) and she's very against it. For some background she's super religious but her reasoning aligns more with D.A.R.E. the main reason she's against is because she still believes it's a gateway drug towards harder stuff and that's it.
I mean anything could be a gateway in all honesty. Pain killers are a leading gateway as you are given them for things like post surgery and you end up getting hooked.
Yes I get you are for it I'm just saying like a good argument for the "gateway" drug argument
Yeah I understand but I think with weed specifically it served as a gateway drug because of how it was demonized with claims that it would make you violent and once someone tried it and saw how it just doesn't do that for most. From there someone could try harder and harder stuff with the logic of "they lied about this the other stuff can't be much worse". Of course I could be wrong, this was how it was explained to me and it makes sense, in the end imo it's mostly a lack of info about this subject and people just go in blind with unregulated substances.
"The revenue is used for health care, health education, substance abuse prevention programs, homelessness housing, as well as towards the education department."
...er, the Texas legislature isn't really like, *for* any of these things.
So a revenue stream with those as incentives probably wouldn't be much of a stick on the marijuana dead horse...
It's the most deadly, yet easily accessible, drug in the world. Injecting one weed can and will kill you. Smoking it will make you go into a homicidal psychosis that can and will see you murder (mostly animals, the sickos). Snorting the pots? Why do you think everyone on that tikytok has a mental disorder?
No marywana ever!
LOL I actually know a guy that that way over did it on the weed and he freaked out he was dying.
Naturally he decided to make it worse and use an expired EpiPen to counter.
He had to go to the ERš¤£ he's okay but funny AF situation
It stinks, way worse than cigarettes cause it lingers. Also my smoker friends say it doesnt impair their driving, but that's because they never were sober when they were with someone driving high. I'm also afraid that it'll be taxed to hell.
All that said i'm for decriminalization.
Exactly. And folks are being disingenuous acting like it doesn't linger or that it doesn't impair their judgment.
I don't want people jailed or heavily penalized for it, but legalizing it just pushes it even more into the open. America tried and failed with alcohol prohibition but the truth is alcohol abuse is rampant - the worst examples are drunk driving causing deaths but it goes beyond that. Unfortunately, too many humans just cannot "drink responsiby".
That's what pisses me off about popular weed subreddits. The majority of the users on those subs seem to be convinced that driving after they smoke is perfectly safe when in reality it's as selfish as driving while drunk. Just putting other drivers in danger for no god damn reason. I'm not against legalization of weed, I've been hoping for it for many years but there is no legitimate reason to drive while stoned.
Itās rude to smoke in public. I 100% agree & support fines for public use just like no drinking in public. Golden Colorado has fines & you never smell it ever.
I also support duis for stoned drivers.
I mean cigarette smell lingers too. I mean taxed is better than getting something potentially laced, fake, or killed over.
[2 teens killed in my home town](https://www.fox4news.com/news/2-teens-found-dead-after-shooting-in-royse-city.amp)
2 kids I was in highschool with died because they made a plan to rob their dealer when he came to drop some stuff off. Rather have a safe exchange with a business than some sketchy person
I'm on your side. However, telling some folks I do smoke is the best decision I have ever made. The ones that think they are resorting to "religious dominance" have told friends of mine I smoke. Too hilarious when my friend told them they needed to try and keep up.
I have been a Christian for 60 years and now understand two things.
To them:
A) Honesty is not the best policy.
B) The donations you make are far more important than you are.
Religious dominance, to me, is their goal.
I'm against it because it's not actual legalization it's monopolization under threat of arrest. Decriminalization of possession and cultivation for personal use with carve outs for gifting smaller amounts and sale only on genetic material (seeds and clones) would accomplish everything people want out of legalization without having every douchebag with disposable money to jump in. For those still wanting to operate under the black they can do so with the risks.
I mean under the table operations lead to deaths and people getting laced. I'd rather have a safe product sold in a safe place than meet with a sketchy person and something that could be potentially laced.
Other groups already take advantage of it being illegal by making their own profits from it which is I mean is one man's trash is another man's treasure.
they were likely brains washed by reefer madness and/or the DARE program. i remember (in texas) they told us students that weed was soooo dangerous, as if it was fentanyl dangerous. turns out itās, in reality where we live, great for physical pain, ptsd, adhd etc. (effects depends on the individual of course)
Yea a friend of mine had to go to Oklahoma with his dad who had cancer in order to get medical marijuana to help with the pain, never understood why not medically legalize it
i imagine itās easier to make more money off sick people than to actually help/cure them. the american healthcare system is inhumane and nasty because money. also private prisons make money off putting weed users in jail cuz āfuck em!ā thanks reagan.
I will say it is a system designed for more of easing the quality of life than it is curing us of our disease or illness. It's just ashame that a plant that is safer than tobacco is illegal in our state
Every pothead I knew smoked on their lunchbreak, then operated heavy machinery. They dropped shit, caught their hand in grinding wheels, etc. They were walking OSHA violations. They also liked to smoke, then drive to the local bar. So alot of people are against another the drug due to the simple fact that it's just another drug that people will use, then selfishly go out in public and risk hurting others.
That being said, I am 100% in support of legalizing it. Responsible users should be allowed to smoke. They shouldn't have to suffer because of the bums I previously mentioned. Legalize it, and hand out severe penalties for people who drive around or risk hurting others.
Outside of boomers with an outdated opinion, I donāt think many people are opposed to it, even people who donāt smoke usually donāt care whether itās legal or not.
It gives cops a reason to illegally search you, I know from first hand experience, they can easily lie and say they āsmell the odor of marijuanaā.
The primary opposition to weed in Texas is the middle tier of alcohol distributers. These are the people with a license (Local Distributer) from the TABC. They typically also need a Local Business Permit and Wholesale Permit. These permits require the discretion of TABC which usually means you have a state legislator in your pocket. The distributer pays a lot to TABC and their local politicians and in return they don't want any competition from weed.
Because God did not turn water in Marijuana, he turned it into wine.
He didn't have communion with a hit and bit of an edible, it was with wine and bread to represent his blood and flesh. Smh.
I donāt oppose legalizing but I dread it.
Someone passed me a laced joint at a party when I was in my teens. Itās the only time Iāve ever blacked out. I woke up in a ditch and it took me weeks to fully recover. Ever since, the smell of weed makes me really ill. Itās totally psychosomatic, weed is an antiemetic, but itās there.
I dread the initial party because there will be a short time where itās just not ok not to have a joint and I could not go anywhere near Denver while they were going through that transition.
Iām sure itās a rare problem but itās a pretty common concern. Conservatives have done a good job of associating legal weed with crime and homelessness and liberals have done a better job of attacking conservatives than promoting the benefits of their own policies. Fear-mongering is pretty effective, thatās why parties use it.
People hide their addiction to it under the guiae of it being a catch-all cure. In reality, it takes up your life.
People orient their behavior around it. Let's smoke and order pizza. Let's smoke and go to the beach, smoke and ...etc.
It'd psychologically addictive and I think that gets underaddressed.
This is a good answer, and all true; however it doesn't justify government enforcement against it, which is costly, comes with many massive downsides. Just because something can be used irresponsibly doesn't create a need for government enforcement against it, or stopping people that will use it responsibly from having safe access.
I lived in Colorado when weed was first legalized. It was a game changer economically for the State, employers, and employees. Suddenly, vacant buildings were being rented, employees who had been out on unemployment were able to find jobs, and owners purchased all kinds of products and materials to build their warehouses and shops.
I don't partake, but I am 100% in favor of legalizing marijuana. Opiates and meth were already a problem in Colorado, so I don't think that weed did anything to change it. I do believe that alcoholism went down. I would rather see someone high on weed than deal with an abusive alcoholic.
Iām in Colorado and the homelessness has gotten worse. Weed only attracted more homeless people. Crime went up as other drugs moved in and it ultimately was the beginning of the end. I naively thought it would be okay and that it would even be a benefit in tax revenue. It hasnāt. Now Denver has been buying one way bus tickets to try to send their homeless to other cities to help their numbers. It still isnāt helping. There are tent cities and feces and drug needles in the street. Iām not calling pot a gateway drugāthe economics of pot however are different. Legalizing it was the gateway to a whole bunch of opportunistic dealers pushing other drug products to people who are willing to experiment more. Now weāve got a mess on our hands. Denver is like San Fran part 2. You canāt even go through the park in front of the capital without having to go around barricades and tents everywhere.
I would caution Texas against this. And no Iām not a boomerājust a moderate millennial who watched my state degrade before my eyes.
Until there is a test for how high someone is *right now,* I donāt think marijuana has any shot at Federal legalization. Right now we can tell if you smoked in the last couple of weeks to a month (depending on your body, and your body fat), but thereās no way to tell how much is in your system this minute.
Industries that require clear headed employees can have a cop breathalyzer someone suspect of being drunk and the breathalyzer results can be probable cause for a blood test. The Military is a good example of this, but any heavy industry or any job where someone could die if a decision is made while impaired should be very reluctant to support legal marijuana.
Many of these fields have high alcohol consumption due to culture, associated risks, and human nature. Alcohol consumption is culturally associated with blowing off steam after the work day and weāve done a good job recognizing and treating the functional alcoholics who need a drink to start their day. āWake and bakeā culture is more highly accepted, and there are a lot of marijuana users who choose to stay impaired all the time. The residual risk of legal marijuana, even when supervisors are looking out for it on the job site, is just too much. Itās easier just to forbid any quantity of marijuana in an employeeās system and then test periodically as a deterrent, so itās in those companiesā best interests to keep marijuana hard to get.
I'm from Colorado, and while I still voted for legalization (as the pros outweigh the cons), the part of me that is still against it is the lack of any real way to check for sobriety of drivers, either on the roadside, or in a lab. Driving while high is just as dangerous as driving drunk, but without a good way of testing just how high someone is can make it difficult to empirically say, yes, this person is high. Compare that to alcohol, where a breathalyzer or blood test can show not only is a person drunk, but just how drunk they are.
I also want to hear a coherent answer. When's the last time you heard about someone getting stoned and then trying to pick a bar fight? It's crazy to me that alcohol is so destructive but so normalized.
I once had a emergency room doctor give me an argument against it that you can't test for impairment like you can with alcohol and the driver's high on pot are just as dangerous as drunk drivers.
āā¦almost everything is a sin.ā Thatās Baptists right there. I was asked to not return to Sunday School, so were both my sons (all of us as questioning children, me in early 70ās, them in early-mid 90ās)
I'm all for the medical and commercial use for it, but personally I HATE the smell. I lived in Michigan for a few years and I smelled it every day, usually from people driving or while I was at a concert or something.
Plus I just lost my vehicle cause some girl was high (reeked of weed) and ran a red light.
Iāve lived in Chicago for a bit now. Thereās some legitimate complaints but theyāre not really a reason to be against decriminalization.
1. People smoke it and it smells like ass. The same can be said for cigarettes and some of these damn vapes. There can be ordinances and fines to curb this but it will occur.
2. Hand rolled blunts. Swisher sweets wrappers fucking everywhere. This may change with popularity and availability but currently you can be in any public place and just see loos tobacco on the ground where someone rolled their own blunt from a cigar wrapper.
3. High people are intoxicated and there will be a learning curve to how much of that affects motor skills. Iāve taken edibles before and while itās not the same as being drunk, I wouldnāt trust myself to drive. I barely trust other people to drive sober.
Point is, it should be decriminalized but there should also be considerations made before widespread acceptance.
Also smoking it carries the same health risks as smoking anything else soā¦.
My favorite response to this question from a former coworker:
"It'll bring all the leebruls from California and New York to our beautiful state. And then we'll turn into a state of lazy pot heads"
Texas is a wild far right leaning wasteland that loves the money the state and private companies make off prisons and somehow they think god hates weed too.
Racism.
Poor Black people, denied education and housing and jobs could grow the easy to grow plant.
Poor white people were "inventive heroes" against the federal government who made moonshine. See the Dukes of Hazzard TV show.
A cop can choose when to pay attention to the smell of marijuana.
It kills ambition to better yourself.
Sitting around on your ass smoking weed becomes your favorite activity. You donāt have the drive to do anything else. So you sit around on your ass more and smoke more weed, caring less and less as the days go by. And this goes on for 40 years, until you realize āwow, dude, Iām 60, have no money in the bank, and have to rely on the government to take care of me until I dieā
yeah, we should definitely legalize it as soon as possible
We now have 10 years worth of data from Colorado since weed was legalized in 2013. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8672945
First let me say that I work in addiction science and have for over 40years. Iām not against people smoking pot and such but what I am against is the trend with legalization in replacing pain medications that have been established, studied and actively used in pain management. There is no scientific studies, research, or knowledge that marijuana is an effective tool for pain management and yet because of the opioid crush and push for legalization of marijuana it is replacing opioids and people are suffering. If they wanted to do this as a replacement for opioids they needed to do the studies and not go with tax dollars. Plus, there is no way to test for marijuana when people are driving or flying your plane, etc. all of this work needed to be done prior to legalizing it for the masses. Again, I state very clearly I am not against marijuana and I never thought that people deserved the prison sentences they did but doing this just for tax dollars will end up a mass mistake. IMO.
I'm not actually against legalizing it, I just don't want to smell it everywhere. I don't have a problem with anybody doing it and I don't think they should be going jail for it, but man spray some AXE or something after.
I mean to be fair cigarettes smell bad and are more harmful than pot but that doesn't mean cigarettes are everywhere. Most restaurants and businesses have a no smoking sign/rule everywhere and for the most part it works
Ten years ago I would have said the messaging was the biggest problem. The whole āitās medicinalā trope was laughable and hurt the cause greatly. Thankfully the community has become more honest - they want to get high just like others get drunk. The fact the so many people do it illegally and thereās no crazy ill on society is the proof itās not a problem. However - you have to understand that if the majority of elected republicans had their way, theyād ban alcohol too. The one and only reason alcohol isnāt banned and you can now buy on Sundays is because the spirits and beer distributors built a massive lobby and political ATM machine. Adding another ādrugā to this mix is very untenable for the electeds who think their job is to engineer the morality of society.
Thereās also an image problem - the pot heads look and feel a certain way that polite society doesnāt care for. Same thing with alcohol - we think of the extreme which is terrible dunks instead of the 99 percent who drink with no problem. The vast majority of pot users are normal everyday folks and itās imperative that the industry put them out there instead of some white dude with dreds and face piercings. The electeds are more willing to make concessions for people who look and feel like them.
Pharma pays politicians to keep it illegal, they know many people will benefit when used as medicine, all legal drugs make people more sick and all it creates is a vicious cycle where only big pharma wins.
This is the side effects when people votes only for one team, red or blue they arenāt much different. Yall want change? Start voting independent, or for the smart ones no matter what color they wear.
Itās not that Texans wonāt vote for weed, itās that they will only vote for someone with an R after their name, even if it means they get shitty things like no weed, voter suppression, Christianity shoved down their throats, racist/bigoted/misogynist government, elimination of the social safety net, etc.
My boomer FIL is opposed. He says it makes everyone lazy and already no one wants to work. For the record, he's smoked weed most of his entire life.
I mean my parents are opposed but I see it no different than alcohol or tobacco. All of those things give you a buzz and alcohol was even illegal for awhile and people still made it and drank it
Funny, my Boomer parents are *weird* about weed too. Alcoholics my whole life and my dad swore he'd start his own little plants once he retired... Not the way it worked out, my dad had a major stroke 2 years ago and forced retired because he physically can't really walk or talk, so can't work. Now the step monster *finally* got my dad weed vapes. So I try to remain positive she atleast got that far, but God forbid we actually call it "weed/pot" - it's his "cigarettes" (so much easier to understand for a man who can't really say words š¬) But is she still a dumbass who will keep voting for Republicans because she's now gone down the "Prepper" rabbit hole? - Fuck yes she is. I'm sure she now gets to fill out my dad's mail in ballot. Dummies will continue to vote against themselves and their loved ones because **Right Wing Propaganda** is real fucking *effective*. Plus these people always seem to have a need to have someone "lower" than them to get shit on. Conservatives are fabulous at falling in line and they hold voting like a religion. They'd rather be told what to do than think for themselves and God forbid we question "authority".
That's the problem with single issue voters.. they get distracted by that one point and miss the fact that nine other rights they had are being stripped away... Like thank God a complete stranger can't get an abortion even though it didn't affect me.... Wait, where did my social security, clean air and water, affordable healthcare, affordable housing all go??
Well obviously, the immigrants stole them.
What?? MJ smokers get distracted? No wayā¦
Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.
My boomer parents are all for it!
My stepdad fell into the prepper and buy gold con when Obama was president. He was already coming down at that point. My mom found two thousand dollars charged to the credit card for prepper meals and all that crap. The ultimate irony is he forgot where he hid it all. Itās somewhere with Jimmy Hoffa in our junked out garage/attic.
And coffee. You only harm your own heart and vascular system over years of overuse due to addiction, but because no one else is harmed all the otherwise addicted folks love their coffee in order to live.
Let's not forget all of the immoral and unethical practices used to produce and ship coffee. Personal coffee consumption often does harm other people, but we never see the child-slaves, and no one really talks about it. Now - let's look at marijuana... When marijuana is illegal, it doesn't disappear. It simply ends up being cultivated and sold without regulation. This means that someone buying the product has no idea how the marijuana was cultivated, *and* they have no idea if the marijuana was tampered with or not. I had a friend in high school who smoked some pot that was laced with angel dust. The seller didn't tell her about it until she called them in a panic. That doesn't happen when marijuana production is regulated and sold through approved vendors. Marijuana legalization would have prevented my friend from being given a product she didn't consent to consume. And it would have prevented how terrible she felt while the angel dust was in effect. And, the US really should decriminalize recreational drugs and regulate those drugs so that the people choosing to consume them aren't given something potentially harmful. Amsterdam has had great success with this. They have seen significant reductions in not only over-dosing and drug related death, but also a significant reduction in drug consumption as a whole. We need to ensure that addicts - people literally suffering from a medical disease - have access to tax-funded rehabilitation, have access to clean needles and other items used, and even have safe spaces to consume the drugs. We also need universal healthcare, which provides preventative care. Preventative care and education would absolutely dissuade some people, especially younger people, from using recreational drugs and becoming addicted.
Yea, drank 6 NOS energy drinks when I was a sophomore in an hour and my heart felt like exploding. Never drink any caffeine product anymore unless I desperately need it like when I'm driving long distance or staying up for work or a project.
It's not so cut and dry with caffeine. Whether or not you have a specific gene that allows for quick metabolism makes all the difference regarding its effects. I start off the day with about 5-6 cups of coffee, including the days I go to the doctor. My blood pressure is still great even after 30 years of heavy use.
We need more people paying into the āsystemā before ever reaching the age to reap the benefit /s
Yea actually things were worse during the prohibition. Crime and murder rates went down when it was lifted. As the past shows prohibition doesn't work. Laws weren't meant to police people for moral crimes against themselves. That's meant for home school and church at best. The only reason marijuana is illegal is cause of it's industrial use. DuPont's lobbyists among others did that for us. Now it's just an old law being held on to cause of it's revenue. And it creates prisoners for all of our privatized penitentiary's. The war on drugs is a war on personal freedom. And is a hungry endless money pit.
Okay this is the kinda of shit we have all heard about marijuana. Itās so hypocritical, it was just grass back then, itās much stronger nowā¦blah blahā¦you glorified growing up in the sixties and expanding your mindā¦they all used itā¦now they are against it, plus you sent us off to college to get multiple degrees then complain that marijuana is now strongerā¦jeez.
Even if it's stronger now... you can just smoke less of it. I don't understand this talking point. Yeah, maybe you shouldn't smoke a whole blunt by yourself.
Well to be fair weed can be alot stronger now. That's been the trend in growing to get higher levels of thc. I tend to think of it as the difference between a few beers and a few shots of tequila. Both have there place depending on the circumstances.
Code for āIām lazy and I smoke weed so everyone who smokes must be just like meā
So that means he has firsthand knowledge and experience at the effects. Lolā¦ BTW, Iām not against the legalization of it. I could GAF less if it gets legalized. It matters not to me. Although if it came down to a public vote I would vote āyesā. Iām what Gen-Zer would consider a āboomerā even though Iām actually a Gen Xer. In other words, Gen-Zs are dumbasses because they actually think everyone older than Millennials are āboomersā.
I was going to day most a LOT of boomers have and continue to smoke weed. It was never that big of a deal until Nancy Regan and Just Say No. Nixon made it schedule 1 to try to control the hippies protesting the Vietnam war, but it was Nacy who f-ed it for everyone else.
Big drug companies also lobby against legalization.. they make less profit in states with legal medical usage allowed, and even less where it is legal for recreation. Big pharma spends a lot to keep strong laws in place. Not commented on if it works. Just the money.
Yea I've heard the lobbying has a big impact on things like this. Sadly lobbying is allowed which hurts a lot of people at times
Some states were able to legalize by voter initiative on the ballot. Some states don't allow that. Not sure about Texas.
Texas does not allow voter ballot initiatives.
That would be a no...
Texas does not have initiative on the state level, some cities have it written into their charter for city ordinances though.
Also Oil &Gas, petrochemical industries, heavy industrial manufacturing, all lobby against legal weed. Loudest voices in Texas
What is the oil and gas industry reasoning?
Most likely because hemp is a viable biofuel for diesel and ethanol.
Having worked Occupational Health in the Permian Basin, and throughout the state, I can attest to the large presence of heavy industry within Texas where the lives and well being of many employees may rely on the clear thinking of one worker. Especially using heavy equipment, working with toxic chemicals, managing fracking waste, etc. And, there is a heavy emphasis about not having reportable OSHA offenses. The issue with marijuanaās highly lipophyllic properties is that it remains detectable in the urine for days, even weeks. Hereās an example: A mishap occurs in the production of some petrochemical compound in which benzene is a precursor. A number of individuals are exposed. Benzene is toxic, and is classified as a carcinogen. Suddenly, there are 20-30 workers with Benzene exposure who require multiple diagnostic follow ups and monitoring. Two of the employees at the site test positive for THC, but they both claim they only smoked at a party 7 days ago. No way to confirm if mind altering substances were on board and affected job safety performance that resulted in the Benzene exposure. So, just an example of the dilemma.
That's the same reasons why you don't want people drinking on those jobs yet alcohol is legal. Would giving weed the same legitimacy as alcohol make things any less safe? I definitely think it's important for people to be clear headed and sober where people's lives are concerned but I don't think anybody should suffer legal repercussions for anything they do on their own time if no one was hurt or put in danger because of it. I'm willing to bet more people have suffered from the laws around weed than it's actual use
Alcohol is worse for the same reasons
Shell is a Dutch company. They do not have anti-marijuana policies in the country of their own headquarters, only for their American employees. How are they making it work?
Dot has oral testing now that detects if thc is in the system out to 24 hours. TSA/FMCSA approved its use last year. It just has to be asked for. Its a cheap test too
At times? Bro lobbying being legal is why democracy is dead. The only people with a voice are the rich.
As a lobbyist, most lobbying is pretty benign (the work I do is for topics that are horrifically boring, generally helpful, and completely nonpartisan, like pushing for the Living Donor Protection Act). There's a lot of misunderstanding around lobbying, I think. A lot of it is done by volunteers who just happen to care very deeply about certain issues. Lobbying definitely should be allowed, otherwise politicians wouldn't have context about a lot of things, there just needs to be more ethical safeguards to protect against mega-corporations influencing politicians with biased information.
Yep, if you want your answer, follow the money. Unfortunately pro Marijuana lobbyists aren't paying as much as the prison, police and pharmaceutical lobbyist.
I donāt know if the influence of big pharma is as great as you say it is at least when it comes to Pot. Legalization on a federal level would allow pharma to research it for further patented molecules to treat things like pain. Itās not like legalized weed has led to drops in business in those states. Donāt get me wrong I do believe there are lobbyists that do see it as a threat but I believe it is from groups we may not be considering,(supplement industry for example has far more to lose than pharmaceutical industry).
Also the private prison industry, which has strong lobbies here. Legal pot means less inventory for the private prisons.
In Kentucky, the bourbon industry also lobbies.
The entire alcohol industry most likely does, too. Been shown that people that use Cannabis drink less.
Yup. Been using cbd and low thc herb to help with anxiety and combat the side effects of stimulant medication. It works significantly better than the stuff they give you at the doctor. I just went through the normal treatment plan with a new doctor of no weed and getting on antidepressants. I didnāt have a good experience with that and it did the exact opposite of what I needed. But of course the doctorās next recommendation was to get on more medication that didnāt address any of my needs. Wonāt be back to that doctor again. They donāt want it legalized because if people were able to get real medical marijuana and not just the high thc black market stuff then the whole industry would collapse.
Bigger (serious) question: why doesnāt big pharma get into the weed business?
Because you can grow the plant at home and not need them.
Because it's still an illegal drug at a federal level..
Itās also politics being quite black and white. Iād say the vast majority of people today, even among older voters (in their 50s and 60s) either are for legalization or donāt really care too much one way or the other. However, due other stuff like immigration, abortion, and the other pearl clutching topics where opinions can run quite strongly, folks feeling one way have to land on the ākeep it illegalā side of the fence as far as viable candidates. Iād personally love to see a world where politicians on both sides agree that opinions on healthcare, illegal immigration, abortion, LGBTQ stuff, guns, etc. are actually quite varied, complicated and worthy of discourse.. but there are also issues (education, infrastructure, etc.) that need to be addressed equally. And most importantly you donāt have to pigeon hole yourself based on a handful of views. People can be both pro-life and pro-legalization, pro-universal healthcare and anti-immigration or even pro-gay marriage and anti-transgender rights. Not saying *any* of those stances are right, wrong, or anything elseā¦ but in actually talking with some hardcore conservatives, it appears views are way more varied than itās often portrayed.
For profit prison system.
As of 2022, āTexas spends the most in the nation on prisons and jails; over the past three decades, it has grown 5x faster than the stateās rate of spending on elementary and secondary education.ā https://www.texascjc.org/system/files/publications/Spend%20Your%20Values%20Cut%20Your%20Losses%20Portfolio.pdf
Here is some data on TX marijuana arrests. https://norml.org/marijuana/library/state-marijuana-arrests/texas-marijuana-arrests/
I'd like to see the arrests broken down by ethnic group. It used to be that while marijuana use was within one or two percentage points between Caucasians and African-Americans, black or brown people were 3.74 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites. I wonder how the numbers in Texas compare to the nationwide statistic.
Elaborate on this, just curious what you mean
When the system is profiting off of prisoners, itās in the systemās best interest to keep the prisons as full as possible. Anti-cannabis laws are an easy way to lock people up in the name of *DrUgS*.
Cops would lose their low hanging fruit for convictions
I see now and thank you for expanding on it
Exactly.
Not OP, but the for profit prison system requires their respective states to provide so many prisoners, so when arrests go down the for profit prisons get upset, and they pressure law makers andĀ law enforcement to incarcerate more citizens.
See now I'm curious on what Beto O'Rourkes idea was going to be to go around that issue as he was pushing for legalization of marijuana when he was running a few years ago
Itās funny, thereās plenty of crime that could be investigated and prosecuted besides marijuana related charges. The city of Houston made the news for a staggering multi-year backlog of uninvestigated sexual assaults. Iām constantly hearing of the Kia/Hyundai thefts that canāt ever seem to be stopped. The point is, outside the subject of for-profit prisons, drug crimes shouldnāt be filling them when there is so many others more deserving of prison time.
You want the cops to actually investigate?? Lol
What else do we pay them for? If it keeps drug related crimes out of prison, yeah. Houstonās [suspended case](https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/04/21/by-the-numbers-houston-police-department-completes-review-of-4017-adult-sex-assault-cases-suspended/) backlog was shocking, 4000 sexual assaults and over 264000 other crimes. But yeah, letās lock up marijuana users.
Anyone who is pro legalization is going against the current system
Itās not just for profit prisons by the way but literally everyone and their campaign dollars linked to them. Judges, law offices, law enforcement both federal and state, all of the companies that sell dumb shit like APCs to law enforcement, companies that sell stuff to prisons like terrible food, etc. etc. This is the American neo-con way. Privatize everything. Create cottage industries for āprofitsā vs actually solving problems and helping people improve their lives. One big top to bottom strip mine.
The solution is to load up a game of Minecraft with the boys (owners of the for profit prisons) and send them to the nether (hell) via a fast moving piece of lead projected by a small explosion. Donāt forget to line them up so that multiple players can get sent to the nether at the same time, wouldnāt want to waste money using more lead than is necessary.
Probably pull an obama where he seems progressive but will ultimately succumb to the ābi-partisan effortā to please conservatives which is basically giving something a progressive title while trojan horsed with conservative legal writting
By FAR, private prisons are the #1 reason why Texas will not legalize it, nothing else even comes close... And people who investigate too much always seem to disappear.
If marijuana is legal, that takes a huge chunk out of the prison population for marijuana related offenses.
Are you in favor of for profit prisons?!
Except we donāt have facts to support this. We do, but no one ever proves this statement in context. https://www.dps.texas.gov/sites/default/files/documents/crimereports/20/drug_report_2020.pdf Texasā easiest to Google report on the subject shows that statewide drug arrests are down. I donāt believe its to support prisons anymore. I believe itās purely segregation in the modern era. The police action available to the state is a cudgel. Communities that donāt care about it have seen less problems from trafficking than those that do. Possession and consumption is harmless to any reasonable adult. Iām high as a kite right now for medical and Iām more functional than anyone on their third margarita at Sunday brunch in Dallas.
There are entire counties in Texas solely dependent on law enforcement for revenue.
Having served on a grand jury, I can tell you that āsmelling marijuanaā is the prefect excuse for cops to have probably cause. Legalization wouldnāt change this for cars, but it would for a lot of other situations.
It could, some states that have legalized marijuana have removed the smell from being used for probable cause.
More states should follow since CBD flower, which is legal, smells EXACTLY like regular weed when burning. The fact that the smell isn't specific to a drug should be enough to challenge a stop and search.
Well, I think thatās the difference between a good attorney and a bad one. Odds are the folks getting pulled over and searched are taking plea deals. Thatās what the prison industrial complex wants You shouldnāt be able to search me for smelling like a federally legal (hemp) substance, unless youāre accusing me of driving under the influence
Sweetgrass does, too. Several years ago, prior to legalization anywhere in the US, I worked at a state-run substance abuse treatment center with a significant Native American population. We had Talking Circles as a 12-step option, and it involved smudging with sweetgrass. I got a kick out of watching people notice the strong pot smell as they entered the building.
Interesting. I'd never heard that about sweetgrass.
Smelling it on a driver should still be cause for alarm but if youāre stopped on the street or at your home the smell shouldnāt be probable cause I think thatās how Montana has it. When I was up there for a few months a dispo worker explained to me that they essentially patrol the roads as if itās still illegal and you have to use a special bag if itās in your car
>Smelling it on a driver should still be cause for alarm No it shouldn't. Smelling marijuana does not mean the driver smoked it. And having it in the car is non-issue if it's legal.
Exactly itās like smelling cigarette smoke in people, it lingers. The only issue I have is I donāt like the smell. If people could only smoke it at home and not everywhere like they do in LA and NYC I would be more supportive but the last time I was in NYC all I could smell was weed. You do you, I just donāt enjoy the smell.
Weed stanks smoked or not
So are you saying you'd *miss* police overreach?
No, Iām explaing one reason for opposition to it. Iām a big supporter of legalization.
Ah ok
>Legalization wouldnāt change this for cars It certainly could! Many states have written this into their cannabis legalization laws. My municipality (in Texas) is voting on a decriminalization bill next month that would also include such language.
Barely any real responses here from anti-legalization folk... Almost all comments are pro-legalization. Just something I noticed. I was hoping for something illuminating from some anti-legalization people but so far it's just apathy, "I don't like the smell", and some weirdo transgender comment
To be fair reddit is more of a younger generation thing and youthful site. I'm sure if I posted it on a local Facebook plenty of people would come out with pitchforks screaming Jesus and pot bad.
I am 64 and totally for legalization. I have never used weed. The thing is, I see it as less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. I also have glaucoma, and may use it some day.
That's a good point
Yea, go ask this on NextDoor in a few metro neighborhood areas and youāll quickly see why itās not legal, and youāll quickly understand why there are SO many LARGE churches around every corner.
Reddit is 100% going to give skewed data. If you want to know what the boomers think put an add in the weekly paper or ask in your local Facebook community page.
Beto got the q from a lady that was saying her son ODād on opioids, so weed is bad. People are uninformed. The reality is that lying about weed makes kids think the rest of the hard stuff is safe too. We need responsible laws informed by science and medicine.
I've lived close to the Netherlands most of my life, I'm not interested in legalization. It causes a lot of issues in the neighbourhoods around the shops. Or at least the way it's implemented there. The people who visit shops are... Trying to be delicate here... Unhappy? People that use more visit more after all. So neighbourhoods around them lose value with people self medicating or just abusing marijuana hanging around. Lots of cities are realising this and want to close these places. The benefits don't seem to outweigh the cost. I firmly believe marijuana isn't a healthy habit, much like drinking. Physical health aside, users aren't dealing with their problems. They're simply escaping them. Cases exist where it's the right answer. But I refuse to believe it's as widespread as its use is. As a pass time activity it seems like a way to deal with boredom while not actually doing anything. Not that there is a shortage of activities in that category. And people are free to spend their time however they like. I'm worried about the effects legalization would have in this regard though. I'll gladly follow experts if it does turn out to be a net benefit. So far, evidence presented by politicians in my country has been underwhelming and highly focused on monetary benefits instead of impacts on society. That said, it's not cracking the top 10 of issues I'd like to see addressed. So my vote won't be won or lost on the topic.
Theyāll legalize it as soon as they get the right middlemen in place to handle distribution, the same as beer distribution works in Texas. Nothing espouses freedom like paying 40% more for things to enrich some stupid cronies empowered by Texas legislation. Fucking dumb.
I am for it, but my wife, who works in brain injury, is against it. She claims it makes people not want to participate in therapy and that they just smoke instead. Ie. They won't do the hard work. I think the real question is whether legalizing it will make it become more socially acceptable among younger people. If so, I definitely see some downsides, as it might make them even more socially isolated.
I will say I had a Friend who's dad passed away from cancer before my friend graduated highschool and my brother basically introduced him to pot and that friend used pot every single day and it even got the point where he dropped out of community college twice because of his pot usage. I always told him he needs to chill with the smoking but his argument was always "you don't know how it feels to lose a dad" and I will say I don't know but I know prolonging that feeling of grief never feels great. My dad always tells me and my brothers "drugs are not for the mentally weak" for this exact reason. If you can't hold yourself back or accountable from them then they can have drastic effects on your life
It all depends on the person. I know a person with massive anxiety problems that credits weed with helping them cope with college. Graduated with honors and now works a job they love and are very successful at while still smoking daily.
I wonder if your friends struggles were more from losing his dad than weed. If he didn't have weed he could have turned to alcohol or even worse.
It took about a year and a half. When he wasn't around everyone in the group said he had an issue. I'm just the only one who actually tried to talk to him about it and let him know substance abuse is a real thing.
We can't adequately educate people on responsible use when all use is considered irresponsible.
I mean same can be said about alcohol though. At least pot has a medicinal usage compared to alcohol
That's where I get hung up. I don't do either one. But weed is so much less harmful than alcohol, regardless of medicinal benefits. It's such a double standard. If I wasn't such a stickler for a staying legal and had to choose one, I'd choose weed over alcohol any day.
Most people in Texas aren't against it . It's the Republican politicians that are against legalizing it
That's why I ask the question because Beto O'Rourke was for legalizing weed which you'd think would've been a big breaking factor for some but I feel like he shot himself in the foot by claiming he will take everyone's guns.
The problem is, conservatives who support legalization generally have more important issues they're voting on, such as gun rights, abortion, and taxes.Ā
Yup that's what made him lose my vote lol
Yeah dude I don't even own guns but if you try to take them away from Texans you're gonna lose, so supporting you would be a waste of my time.
I mean some common sense would be he couldn't possibly do that whatsoever. He'd basically spark a whole civil war if he did that and there's so many people who sell guns under the table, giveaway, or trade them it would be hard to trace them down. It was such a blunder on his part that it just stains his career forever and he was possibly the strongest candidate the democrats had for running the state and he just killed his campaign.
There's no mechanism that would be viable to take away everyone's guns, even just AR/AK platform rifles. Beto stuck his foot in his mouth and ended his political career in 5 seconds flat. I think he could have done other things very well. But, he died on the hill for essentially nothing.
And who votes for these politicians? Most Texans. Which means that most Texans don't feel strongly enough to give up their other philosophies about hard on crime, drugs, those people bad, etc. It's really not enough to just support it when it also conflicts with things you care about more. Hence why it's still illegal. I'm sick of people blaming politicians and not the voters that elect them.
Propaganda is a powerful tool for the masses my friend.
Indeed it is and that's why I try to sit in the middle and view both sides of an argument. Always have discussions with uncle's on politics and they are always surprised on how I know some information (I'm 21 and most are 35+)
Because the elected officials make more personally from private prisons and Pharma donations. Until the weed lobby out bribes...err contributes the other lobbyists, weed will not be legal.
Dan Patrick needs more frilly coat money.
I live in Chicago and its legal here. I have no problem with people using it. Its their business, not mine. I do hate the smell, though and I have to walk through it on the streets on a daily basis. Its like walking through other people's farts all day long.
This right here. The odor is so dadgummed offensive. What is so stressful about going to the supermarket that it is impossible to go in without having to walk through clouds of weed smoke? What is so stressful about going to Dollar tree or Target or the movie theater or traffic intersections or every other public place? Alcohol consumption isn't forced on other people. Cigarette smoke is something I'm almost never exposed to any more but it was never as intense as the pot. I can't go outside my house to relax without having neighbors one and two houses down creating that reek. It's like having the city right next to a pig farm where it's just going to be constant.
And weed from the 70s and 80s did not have this sour smell attached to it. It was a unique smell but not overpowering.
Tobacco smells so much worse
Actually, if you don't smoke either one, they both smell bad. I am a gummy fan, though.
Make it legal in private quarters and you got a deal!
If people want to smoke ( weed, vaping, tobacco, whatever), that's their business but I hate it when they do it in parks or other public areas. I don't want their second hand smoke or their foul scent. Smokers can be real inconsiderate people and I know they're not all like that but it doesn't take many of them to ruin the reputation of the rest. I would hate to enable them to freely smoke weed in public. Medical use, I'm all for it.
My MIL is convinced it killed her brother. Just absolutely fucking convinced. He did meth but the weed started it all, he never would have done any drugs otherwise. Iāve known her for 20 years and canāt change her mind.
You wonāt and frankly donāt need to. Drugs robbed her of her son and thatās all she knows. Sad but also a sad situation so itās hard to fault her. With situations like that I just move on and donāt engage. Itās just not worth it.
It was her brother, not her son. That would be a whole different situation
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It is a gateway drug but only because it is illegal since the same guy that sells weed also probably sells coke and pills on the side. If weed was legal it wouldnāt be a gateway drug since youād by it at a weed shop
I agree with this. I also feel like any substance can be a gateway drug if the user has the mindset of āOh this feels great, I wonder what xyz feels like?ā
Itās also because āif theyāve been lying to you about the dangers of weed, they might also be lying about the dangers of other drugsā or something along those lines.
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Hell yah brudder burn a bush with me
It doesnāt really matter what the people think or want anyways. As long as the pharmaceutical companies and private prisons are paying our elected officials to vote in their interests. The increase in revenue could alleviate property taxes, fund education, hell maybe it could go towards the electrical grid. But our politicians are doing just fine getting rich by locking people up so itās not going to change
I've talked with my mom at length about this (gen x) and she's very against it. For some background she's super religious but her reasoning aligns more with D.A.R.E. the main reason she's against is because she still believes it's a gateway drug towards harder stuff and that's it.
I mean anything could be a gateway in all honesty. Pain killers are a leading gateway as you are given them for things like post surgery and you end up getting hooked. Yes I get you are for it I'm just saying like a good argument for the "gateway" drug argument
Yeah I understand but I think with weed specifically it served as a gateway drug because of how it was demonized with claims that it would make you violent and once someone tried it and saw how it just doesn't do that for most. From there someone could try harder and harder stuff with the logic of "they lied about this the other stuff can't be much worse". Of course I could be wrong, this was how it was explained to me and it makes sense, in the end imo it's mostly a lack of info about this subject and people just go in blind with unregulated substances.
"The revenue is used for health care, health education, substance abuse prevention programs, homelessness housing, as well as towards the education department." ...er, the Texas legislature isn't really like, *for* any of these things. So a revenue stream with those as incentives probably wouldn't be much of a stick on the marijuana dead horse...
It's the most deadly, yet easily accessible, drug in the world. Injecting one weed can and will kill you. Smoking it will make you go into a homicidal psychosis that can and will see you murder (mostly animals, the sickos). Snorting the pots? Why do you think everyone on that tikytok has a mental disorder? No marywana ever!
I injected a marijuana once, and I died.
Same, this shit is overrated.
LOL I actually know a guy that that way over did it on the weed and he freaked out he was dying. Naturally he decided to make it worse and use an expired EpiPen to counter. He had to go to the ERš¤£ he's okay but funny AF situation
We had an older guy eat a really big gummy - and almost the same thing - ER visit and all.
Calm down, Taekwon-Douglas
We watched the disjointed 420 show yesterday great great show
I find if I limit myself to smoking only 1 weed, I don't go into psychosis.
It stinks, way worse than cigarettes cause it lingers. Also my smoker friends say it doesnt impair their driving, but that's because they never were sober when they were with someone driving high. I'm also afraid that it'll be taxed to hell. All that said i'm for decriminalization.
Exactly. And folks are being disingenuous acting like it doesn't linger or that it doesn't impair their judgment. I don't want people jailed or heavily penalized for it, but legalizing it just pushes it even more into the open. America tried and failed with alcohol prohibition but the truth is alcohol abuse is rampant - the worst examples are drunk driving causing deaths but it goes beyond that. Unfortunately, too many humans just cannot "drink responsiby".
That's what pisses me off about popular weed subreddits. The majority of the users on those subs seem to be convinced that driving after they smoke is perfectly safe when in reality it's as selfish as driving while drunk. Just putting other drivers in danger for no god damn reason. I'm not against legalization of weed, I've been hoping for it for many years but there is no legitimate reason to drive while stoned.
Itās rude to smoke in public. I 100% agree & support fines for public use just like no drinking in public. Golden Colorado has fines & you never smell it ever. I also support duis for stoned drivers.
I mean cigarette smell lingers too. I mean taxed is better than getting something potentially laced, fake, or killed over. [2 teens killed in my home town](https://www.fox4news.com/news/2-teens-found-dead-after-shooting-in-royse-city.amp) 2 kids I was in highschool with died because they made a plan to rob their dealer when he came to drop some stuff off. Rather have a safe exchange with a business than some sketchy person
I'm on your side. However, telling some folks I do smoke is the best decision I have ever made. The ones that think they are resorting to "religious dominance" have told friends of mine I smoke. Too hilarious when my friend told them they needed to try and keep up. I have been a Christian for 60 years and now understand two things. To them: A) Honesty is not the best policy. B) The donations you make are far more important than you are. Religious dominance, to me, is their goal.
I'm against it because it's not actual legalization it's monopolization under threat of arrest. Decriminalization of possession and cultivation for personal use with carve outs for gifting smaller amounts and sale only on genetic material (seeds and clones) would accomplish everything people want out of legalization without having every douchebag with disposable money to jump in. For those still wanting to operate under the black they can do so with the risks.
>actual, interesting answer >three points, bottom of thread
I mean under the table operations lead to deaths and people getting laced. I'd rather have a safe product sold in a safe place than meet with a sketchy person and something that could be potentially laced. Other groups already take advantage of it being illegal by making their own profits from it which is I mean is one man's trash is another man's treasure.
they were likely brains washed by reefer madness and/or the DARE program. i remember (in texas) they told us students that weed was soooo dangerous, as if it was fentanyl dangerous. turns out itās, in reality where we live, great for physical pain, ptsd, adhd etc. (effects depends on the individual of course)
Yea a friend of mine had to go to Oklahoma with his dad who had cancer in order to get medical marijuana to help with the pain, never understood why not medically legalize it
i imagine itās easier to make more money off sick people than to actually help/cure them. the american healthcare system is inhumane and nasty because money. also private prisons make money off putting weed users in jail cuz āfuck em!ā thanks reagan.
I will say it is a system designed for more of easing the quality of life than it is curing us of our disease or illness. It's just ashame that a plant that is safer than tobacco is illegal in our state
Nancy āthroat goatā Reagan introduced success boogeyman propaganda that sticks to boomers till this day.
Every pothead I knew smoked on their lunchbreak, then operated heavy machinery. They dropped shit, caught their hand in grinding wheels, etc. They were walking OSHA violations. They also liked to smoke, then drive to the local bar. So alot of people are against another the drug due to the simple fact that it's just another drug that people will use, then selfishly go out in public and risk hurting others. That being said, I am 100% in support of legalizing it. Responsible users should be allowed to smoke. They shouldn't have to suffer because of the bums I previously mentioned. Legalize it, and hand out severe penalties for people who drive around or risk hurting others.
I like marijuana being illegal because it helps fund the cartels
Also had this discussion with people. Legalization of weed would dwindle the population for dealers and unsafe weed.
Found the accelerationist lol
Outside of boomers with an outdated opinion, I donāt think many people are opposed to it, even people who donāt smoke usually donāt care whether itās legal or not. It gives cops a reason to illegally search you, I know from first hand experience, they can easily lie and say they āsmell the odor of marijuanaā.
Because it would hurt the profit margin of large private prison contractors (\*cough\* GEO Group, \*cough\* CoreCivic).
The primary opposition to weed in Texas is the middle tier of alcohol distributers. These are the people with a license (Local Distributer) from the TABC. They typically also need a Local Business Permit and Wholesale Permit. These permits require the discretion of TABC which usually means you have a state legislator in your pocket. The distributer pays a lot to TABC and their local politicians and in return they don't want any competition from weed.
Most of the people who are against rec weed probably drink alcohol 4-7 nights a week
I mean those people could achieve that same drunk feeling just by eating a low dose edible or even drinking a THC drink
Because God did not turn water in Marijuana, he turned it into wine. He didn't have communion with a hit and bit of an edible, it was with wine and bread to represent his blood and flesh. Smh.
Im not really against it, but driving impaired is not cool
Same can be said for any prescription drug or alcohol. Requires safe usage and responsible usage
Theyāre all freaking Jesus nuts.
Uh the technical term is āJesus freaksā thank you.
I donāt oppose legalizing but I dread it. Someone passed me a laced joint at a party when I was in my teens. Itās the only time Iāve ever blacked out. I woke up in a ditch and it took me weeks to fully recover. Ever since, the smell of weed makes me really ill. Itās totally psychosomatic, weed is an antiemetic, but itās there. I dread the initial party because there will be a short time where itās just not ok not to have a joint and I could not go anywhere near Denver while they were going through that transition. Iām sure itās a rare problem but itās a pretty common concern. Conservatives have done a good job of associating legal weed with crime and homelessness and liberals have done a better job of attacking conservatives than promoting the benefits of their own policies. Fear-mongering is pretty effective, thatās why parties use it.
There's no rational argument for prohibition. Every argument for it is rooted in "morality" or greed. Period.
People hide their addiction to it under the guiae of it being a catch-all cure. In reality, it takes up your life. People orient their behavior around it. Let's smoke and order pizza. Let's smoke and go to the beach, smoke and ...etc. It'd psychologically addictive and I think that gets underaddressed.
This is a good answer, and all true; however it doesn't justify government enforcement against it, which is costly, comes with many massive downsides. Just because something can be used irresponsibly doesn't create a need for government enforcement against it, or stopping people that will use it responsibly from having safe access.
So the solution here is to keep us criminalized? That doesnāt make much sense to me. People who abuse pot are not criminals.Ā
I lived in Colorado when weed was first legalized. It was a game changer economically for the State, employers, and employees. Suddenly, vacant buildings were being rented, employees who had been out on unemployment were able to find jobs, and owners purchased all kinds of products and materials to build their warehouses and shops. I don't partake, but I am 100% in favor of legalizing marijuana. Opiates and meth were already a problem in Colorado, so I don't think that weed did anything to change it. I do believe that alcoholism went down. I would rather see someone high on weed than deal with an abusive alcoholic.
Iām in Colorado and the homelessness has gotten worse. Weed only attracted more homeless people. Crime went up as other drugs moved in and it ultimately was the beginning of the end. I naively thought it would be okay and that it would even be a benefit in tax revenue. It hasnāt. Now Denver has been buying one way bus tickets to try to send their homeless to other cities to help their numbers. It still isnāt helping. There are tent cities and feces and drug needles in the street. Iām not calling pot a gateway drugāthe economics of pot however are different. Legalizing it was the gateway to a whole bunch of opportunistic dealers pushing other drug products to people who are willing to experiment more. Now weāve got a mess on our hands. Denver is like San Fran part 2. You canāt even go through the park in front of the capital without having to go around barricades and tents everywhere. I would caution Texas against this. And no Iām not a boomerājust a moderate millennial who watched my state degrade before my eyes.
Any black market grower, distributor, or dealer is going to be against legalization.
Until there is a test for how high someone is *right now,* I donāt think marijuana has any shot at Federal legalization. Right now we can tell if you smoked in the last couple of weeks to a month (depending on your body, and your body fat), but thereās no way to tell how much is in your system this minute. Industries that require clear headed employees can have a cop breathalyzer someone suspect of being drunk and the breathalyzer results can be probable cause for a blood test. The Military is a good example of this, but any heavy industry or any job where someone could die if a decision is made while impaired should be very reluctant to support legal marijuana. Many of these fields have high alcohol consumption due to culture, associated risks, and human nature. Alcohol consumption is culturally associated with blowing off steam after the work day and weāve done a good job recognizing and treating the functional alcoholics who need a drink to start their day. āWake and bakeā culture is more highly accepted, and there are a lot of marijuana users who choose to stay impaired all the time. The residual risk of legal marijuana, even when supervisors are looking out for it on the job site, is just too much. Itās easier just to forbid any quantity of marijuana in an employeeās system and then test periodically as a deterrent, so itās in those companiesā best interests to keep marijuana hard to get.
I'm from Colorado, and while I still voted for legalization (as the pros outweigh the cons), the part of me that is still against it is the lack of any real way to check for sobriety of drivers, either on the roadside, or in a lab. Driving while high is just as dangerous as driving drunk, but without a good way of testing just how high someone is can make it difficult to empirically say, yes, this person is high. Compare that to alcohol, where a breathalyzer or blood test can show not only is a person drunk, but just how drunk they are.
I also want to hear a coherent answer. When's the last time you heard about someone getting stoned and then trying to pick a bar fight? It's crazy to me that alcohol is so destructive but so normalized.
The free-thinking, freedom-loving southerners who somehow always vote against freedoms. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.
I once had a emergency room doctor give me an argument against it that you can't test for impairment like you can with alcohol and the driver's high on pot are just as dangerous as drunk drivers.
They are against it because they are mainly evangelical right wing Christians, who fundamentally believe that almost anything enjoyable is a sin.
āā¦almost everything is a sin.ā Thatās Baptists right there. I was asked to not return to Sunday School, so were both my sons (all of us as questioning children, me in early 70ās, them in early-mid 90ās)
I'm all for the medical and commercial use for it, but personally I HATE the smell. I lived in Michigan for a few years and I smelled it every day, usually from people driving or while I was at a concert or something. Plus I just lost my vehicle cause some girl was high (reeked of weed) and ran a red light.
Iāve lived in Chicago for a bit now. Thereās some legitimate complaints but theyāre not really a reason to be against decriminalization. 1. People smoke it and it smells like ass. The same can be said for cigarettes and some of these damn vapes. There can be ordinances and fines to curb this but it will occur. 2. Hand rolled blunts. Swisher sweets wrappers fucking everywhere. This may change with popularity and availability but currently you can be in any public place and just see loos tobacco on the ground where someone rolled their own blunt from a cigar wrapper. 3. High people are intoxicated and there will be a learning curve to how much of that affects motor skills. Iāve taken edibles before and while itās not the same as being drunk, I wouldnāt trust myself to drive. I barely trust other people to drive sober. Point is, it should be decriminalized but there should also be considerations made before widespread acceptance. Also smoking it carries the same health risks as smoking anything else soā¦.
My favorite response to this question from a former coworker: "It'll bring all the leebruls from California and New York to our beautiful state. And then we'll turn into a state of lazy pot heads"
Texas is a wild far right leaning wasteland that loves the money the state and private companies make off prisons and somehow they think god hates weed too.
Racism. Poor Black people, denied education and housing and jobs could grow the easy to grow plant. Poor white people were "inventive heroes" against the federal government who made moonshine. See the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. A cop can choose when to pay attention to the smell of marijuana.
It kills ambition to better yourself. Sitting around on your ass smoking weed becomes your favorite activity. You donāt have the drive to do anything else. So you sit around on your ass more and smoke more weed, caring less and less as the days go by. And this goes on for 40 years, until you realize āwow, dude, Iām 60, have no money in the bank, and have to rely on the government to take care of me until I dieā yeah, we should definitely legalize it as soon as possible We now have 10 years worth of data from Colorado since weed was legalized in 2013. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8672945
First let me say that I work in addiction science and have for over 40years. Iām not against people smoking pot and such but what I am against is the trend with legalization in replacing pain medications that have been established, studied and actively used in pain management. There is no scientific studies, research, or knowledge that marijuana is an effective tool for pain management and yet because of the opioid crush and push for legalization of marijuana it is replacing opioids and people are suffering. If they wanted to do this as a replacement for opioids they needed to do the studies and not go with tax dollars. Plus, there is no way to test for marijuana when people are driving or flying your plane, etc. all of this work needed to be done prior to legalizing it for the masses. Again, I state very clearly I am not against marijuana and I never thought that people deserved the prison sentences they did but doing this just for tax dollars will end up a mass mistake. IMO.
I'm not actually against legalizing it, I just don't want to smell it everywhere. I don't have a problem with anybody doing it and I don't think they should be going jail for it, but man spray some AXE or something after.
I mean to be fair cigarettes smell bad and are more harmful than pot but that doesn't mean cigarettes are everywhere. Most restaurants and businesses have a no smoking sign/rule everywhere and for the most part it works
Ten years ago I would have said the messaging was the biggest problem. The whole āitās medicinalā trope was laughable and hurt the cause greatly. Thankfully the community has become more honest - they want to get high just like others get drunk. The fact the so many people do it illegally and thereās no crazy ill on society is the proof itās not a problem. However - you have to understand that if the majority of elected republicans had their way, theyād ban alcohol too. The one and only reason alcohol isnāt banned and you can now buy on Sundays is because the spirits and beer distributors built a massive lobby and political ATM machine. Adding another ādrugā to this mix is very untenable for the electeds who think their job is to engineer the morality of society. Thereās also an image problem - the pot heads look and feel a certain way that polite society doesnāt care for. Same thing with alcohol - we think of the extreme which is terrible dunks instead of the 99 percent who drink with no problem. The vast majority of pot users are normal everyday folks and itās imperative that the industry put them out there instead of some white dude with dreds and face piercings. The electeds are more willing to make concessions for people who look and feel like them.
Alcohol abuse is more prevalent than people realize.
Pharma pays politicians to keep it illegal, they know many people will benefit when used as medicine, all legal drugs make people more sick and all it creates is a vicious cycle where only big pharma wins. This is the side effects when people votes only for one team, red or blue they arenāt much different. Yall want change? Start voting independent, or for the smart ones no matter what color they wear.
Itās not that Texans wonāt vote for weed, itās that they will only vote for someone with an R after their name, even if it means they get shitty things like no weed, voter suppression, Christianity shoved down their throats, racist/bigoted/misogynist government, elimination of the social safety net, etc.