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I could come up with many reasons why MJ should be legal, from the wasted cost of law enforcement chasing down this drug as if it's heroin or some other WAY more dangerous substance, to the comparison to alcohol which is a proven mind altering and body destroying substance that kills, to it's medical uses, etc.
It should be legal because it's a fricken plant that grows naturally. If you want to keep it illegal then you are basically saying that you hate God and you don't agree with his/her judgement
How about poppies that grow naturally?
It's not illegal in California, Colorado, and numerous other states. As long as someone who is high doesn't get on the road, it matters not to me.
I grew up in the Sixties, a California native and attended Cal, so have been surrounded by the culture most of my life. Getting high has never appealed to me, although my siblings and some friends continue to enjoy cannabis. .
I live in a "legal" state (Yay!). I smoke almost every night right before I go to bed. Every few days I try going to sleep without it. I then spend at least two hours trying to get to sleep. Monday night I got up at 3:00am and took one hit. Just one, and it was a small one. I was asleep by 3:30. I do go through periods of up to two weeks where I don't need it. If I could determine what controls that and manipulate my life in a way to take advantage of it I would be one happy man.
I'll lay down to close my eyes and toss and turn if I don't smoke before I go to bed. My mind quiets down and I feel relaxed not drugged up nor do I wake up and feel like there's a fog over me.
Easy answer. Some people really enjoy being drunk or stoned. Most people can feel good without it if something good happens to them. But many people can feel good without anything good happening to them when they are drunk or stoned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annie1004
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I have sometimes wondered why it's necessary to take drugs (alcohol included) to psychologically feel good. I do not need medical marijuana for any health issues. I grew up in the Sixties and attended Cal, so have been around the culture most of my life.
There are so many reasons to make the drug federally legal. For one, more universities would be able to get grants to study marijuana so that beneficial compounds could be isolated. If you look at harm to society vs benefit, there's no way you can argue against weed being legal, taxed and regulated.
No one has to use marijuana, drink, or smoke tobacco, but some people choose to and are willing to pay more than just regular sales tax for the privilege. All that money ends up improving the community through better health and education progams.
It's been shown that legalization does not increase the rate of teen use. A lot of people 55+ are paying those sales taxes. I suspect that it is known as a drug for boring old people now.
It's also not controlled in many states now (mine included), nor is it generally considered a "mind-altering drug." So really, all of your points are kind of moot. Not to mention, witnessing the abuse of anything doesn't constitute a solid reason to ban it from everyone else. I've witnessed my share of alcohol abuse, but still don't think alcohol should be prohibited. We tried that and it failed, lol.
I can really relate to the OP, having a combination of ADD and OCD myself - and cannabis is the ONLY thing that helps sometimes, without any side effects beyond maybe the munchies. My job doesn't drug test (plus I never partake before/during work), and it's now legal for both medical AND recreational use here. So why would I even consider chemical pharmaceuticals instead?
I've tried a number of meds over the years, including Ritalin, Prozac, Vyvanse, Wellbutrin, etc, and hated all but maybe the Vyvanse. The Ritalin straight-up made me feel SUICIDAL, which I have never felt in my life. I've been depressed here and there, but suicidal? Never. Thankfully I was old enough (late 30s) and self-aware enough to recognize the cause, and immediately stopped taking the stuff. So yeah, back to cannabis only and feeling better than I did on those man-made drugs. I'm thankful to live in California, where they recognize an adult's right to use this plant as needed.
You are right, Its a bunch of chemicals - THC, terpenes, CBD, CBH, etc.
It doesn't work by magic - it works because the THC chemical binds CB1 and CB2 receptors in the brain. And possibly additional entourage effects from the other components - like CBD, terpenes.
Glad it works for you and you live in the right state. But your head slap icon was a bit much considering you seem to imagine its not chemicals
Making it legal will not prevent drug testing. Our company tests for drugs and alcohol. Everyone has to have a yearly test and random tests as assigned. every employee of every subcontractor on our work sites must also be tested and certified clean. We test for 15 types of drugs and alcohol. Regardless of whether they are legal in any given state, it is our company's determination we do not want to employ people who use those substances. Also our insurance requires it.
I was laughing (silently) when one large overhead door installation company tried to argue me out of the requirement. he said "My guys are clean. They arrive on time every day and take showers daily. We are not doing any drug testing." Sorry. Clean stoners are still stoners and still more likely to be unsafe.
There is no timeclock that will tell whether your use of Marijuana was three days ago, last night or ten minutes ago.
Maybe someday they will have the testing down to where they can do an instant test that will tell whether a person is currently impaired and just test everyone every morning. However, until then, all that a company can do is to assume that if you use at all - ever, you are impaired, and therefore a safety risk.
What about all of your employees that use legal pain killers, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, sleeping pills, etc? How about employees who haven't slept the previous night? Do you test them too? If not, why not? Our company also did random testing for mj and alcohol. It's why I quit smoking pot in 1982. I couldn't afford to lose my job. But I got drunk every night after work. But one of my co-workers who had PTSD from Vietnam was drugged to the gills with legal thorazine. He could barely stay awake and was a walking zombie. Who was the greater risk to safety, him or a pot smoker? It seems your policies are more political than related to safety. You say you don't want a bunch of potheads. But potheads are no more of a threat than the heavily legally drugged polulation at large.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens
Making it legal will not prevent drug testing. Our company tests for drugs and alcohol. Everyone has to have a yearly test and random tests as assigned. every employee of every subcontractor on our work sites must also be tested and certified clean. We test for 15 types of drugs and alcohol. Regardless of whether they are legal in any given state, it is our company's determination we do not want to employ people who use those substances. Also our insurance requires it.
I was laughing (silently) when one large overhead door installation company tried to argue me out of the requirement. he said "My guys are clean. They arrive on time every day and take showers daily. We are not doing any drug testing." Sorry. Clean stoners are still stoners and still more likely to be unsafe.
There is no timeclock that will tell whether your use of Marijuana was three days ago, last night or ten minutes ago.
Maybe someday they will have the testing down to where they can do an instant test that will tell whether a person is currently impaired and just test everyone every morning. However, until then, all that a company can do is to assume that if you use at all - ever, you are impaired, and therefore a safety risk.
I'm in Colorado. Legal pot has kind of been great. I don't partake anymore and never tried it until I got out here. But medical marijuana greatly improved my quality of life until I was able to have the surgery that halted my worst sinus headaches. I didn't need to go to a doctor for a "red card" so I could buy it - I just wandered down to the dispensary, bought some edibles and would zonk myself out at the first sign of a bad one. Before that, I would lose days of productivity at my job because the sinus headaches would interrupt my sleep and spike my anxiety - after the headache went away, I'd be exhausted for days. With easily accessible pot, I would only lose one day of productivity. I don't need it anymore after the surgery, so I don't use it.
I could have pushed my doctors to give me an opiate to deal with the pain, which was extreme. I didn't want to deal with the possibility of addiction. You have to work pretty hard to get addicted to pot.
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