Prop 205 to Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Arizona (NOV 2016) (Phoenix, Scottsdale: taxi, living in)

[PhoenixSomeday]

Originally Posted by elkotronics

But making it easy for most neandarthals in any state is intentionally shooting yourself up with some of Kurt Cobain's finest stuff, just because you're ignorant of all it can do.

Alcohol is easier to obtain and I have very rarely heard of someone under a heavy marijuana influence doing a fraction of the damage of someone under a heavy alcohol influence. Alcohol is far, far more dangerous. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's safe. As with anything, one has to do something responsibly. Some will, some won't. The difference is the consequences of being heavily under the influence. Both can impair you, but I've almost always seen marijuana pacify people, while alcohol amps them up.

[elkotronics]

Alcohol is easier to obtain and I have very rarely heard of someone under a heavy marijuana influence doing a fraction of the damage of someone under a heavy alcohol influence. Alcohol is far, far more dangerous. Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's safe. As with anything, one has to do something responsibly. Some will, some won't. The difference is the consequences of being heavily under the influence. Both can impair you, but I've almost always seen marijuana pacify people, while alcohol amps them up.


You're right, alcohol is dangerous, too. Drank in moderation it can actually help you feel better. Marijuana does usually calm a person, but, that is part of the problem. How slow shall we go with our reactionary time? Heavy marijuana usage has been studied and it is shown to harm permanently synapses in the brain. Synapses are the very important communication connectors between sections of our brains. The damage pot does to them is permanent, it doesn't get healed, like the Creator builds in to some of our body parts when they're damaged.


So to say pot usage, especially heavy pot usage, is harmless to our bodies, is wrong.

[PhoenixSomeday]

Originally Posted by elkotronics

You're right, alcohol is dangerous, too. Drank in moderation it can actually help you feel better. Marijuana does usually calm a person, but, that is part of the problem. How slow shall we go with our reactionary time? Heavy marijuana usage has been studied and it is shown to harm permanently synapses in the brain. Synapses are the very important communication connectors between sections of our brains. The damage pot does to them is permanent, it doesn't get healed, like the Creator builds in to some of our body parts when they're damaged.


So to say pot usage, especially heavy pot usage, is harmless to our bodies, is wrong.

I know it's harmful to the brain, we touched upon this in psychology 101 in college under the section dealing with how consciousness can be altered (the pictures of the brains showed a whole lot more empty space, i.e. lost gray matter, in the chronic, heavy marijuana user). I didn't say otherwise, but I know that most people seem to commonly believe it to be harmless, when it's not.

[JGMotorsport64]

480K ballots left to count. Longshot but you never know if anything gets swayed.

[azriverfan.]

It failed for good reason. I voted for it but I can understand the opposition. The primary reason it failed was due to drivers and safety. I don't think people have an issue with people smoking pot but they are concerned about people driving while high. There is no real way to diagnose if someone had smoked recently or last week because it stays in your system for a long time. I think the technology to assess whether someone smoked recently is still in development. But I think once they come up with that solution, it will likely pass.

I also think there should be legislation to outlaw certain edibles and anything that could look appealing to children within reason like lolilops.

[jamies]

So, will we be able to trade ammo for pot with Californians?

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by jimj

Well given that many see Vegas as the Sodom and Gomorrah of the west, where anything goes as long as it's profitable it's not surprising is it?

Oh Pleeeeeeeez!!! This ultra-conservative, Mormon flavored city?

Medical Marijuana was voted in in the year 2000, and it Only took them 15 years to open the first dispensary! And when Tick Segerblom (the lone ultra-liberal legislator in this conservative state) said enough was enough, and crafted a bill, with a deadline, to open 40 dispensaries in Clark County, our flamboyant mayor of Las Vegas remarked: There'll be no medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of Las Vegas! And ditto to even more conservative Henderson, Boulder City, North Las Vegas and Mesquite! But Tick injected a clause which woke them all up! No dispensary within 25 miles of one's house, you'd be allowed to grow 10 plants in your house! That got the wheels moving, finally, in this highly conservative city that loves the sweet smell of Money!

This time around, Tick crafted it so there wouldn't be a repeat of the medical marijuana's long delay, and set a deadline in this ballot, stating that the legislature has until 2018 to iron out all the glitches. And? as of 1/1/17 it will be legal to possess one ounce of marijuana without fear of an arrest!

Viva, Viva, Viva my hero legislator Tick Segerblom!

Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul, Jewish, billionaire, owner of the Venetian, spent $3 million trying to defeat the recreational marijuana Ballot 2, and he's spent money all over the country, even trying to defeat medical marijuana ballots, and I'm sure he partly funded the opposition to the ballot in AZ.

The big worry here in Las Vegas is the potential loss of convention business due to its passage. Not the loss of tourists.

If Las Vegas is so liberal, then why don't you see some young, sexy, muscular men serving drinks to the patrons in the casino's? And yes, visiting comedians are still censored in Las Vegas, and the vice squad is very active in all the strip hotels weeding out prostitutes.

[whitem3]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

480K ballots left to count. Longshot but you never know if anything gets swayed.

There are more than 672,000 ballots left to be added to the count from Tuesday's election in Arizona, with more than 75 percent of them in Maricopa County, state officials said Wednesday. There are about 48,000 uncounted early and provisional ballots in Pima County, with 470,000 uncounted in the Phoenix area.

3/4 of uncounted Az ballots are in Maricopa County

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by whitem3

There are more than 672,000 ballots left to be added to the count from Tuesday's election in Arizona, with more than 75 percent of them in Maricopa County, state officials said Wednesday. There are about 48,000 uncounted early and provisional ballots in Pima County, with 470,000 uncounted in the Phoenix area.

3/4 of uncounted Az ballots are in Maricopa County

I saw that too. How can they say that 205 was defeated with more outstanding ballots than the difference between the yes's and no's?

[ScottsdaleMark]

My ballot which was dropped off on election day has been received and counted. It's amazing how long it takes to process all the votes. We shall see if Adrian Fontes (currently up by 10K votes) speeds things up next time around, or if it's not a Purcell problem, but rather a County / State problem. I know the state didn't certify the machines as early as Purcell would have liked, but, is buying more machines a possibility? Hopefully the winner will keep the public apprised.

Also, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who voted no on 205. I truly appreciate your vote.

I wonder...weed advocates always say, well, alcohol's worse. And, hey, I agree that alcohol is incredibly dangerous and I'm opposed to it. But do weed advocates support higher taxes and greater restrictions on alcohol? Or do they just want the same laissez-faire treatment that alcohol gets, e.g. for society to just tolerate the negatives because people like doing it?

Instead of passing a weed bill to raise a few million for the state, why can't we just raise alcohol taxes?

There is so much money in booze that the liquor lobby is incredibly powerful...even in the depths of the recession...did anyone raise liquor taxes? Nope...they just started taxing groceries (e.g. City of Phoenix) and taking money from the schools (state government) instead. Our elected officials chose to shortchange families and students, rather than go up against the liquor lobby. That shows you the power that the people are up against in trying to confront the political power of alcohol producers and distributors.

Or, maybe I'm out of touch and alcohol is so popular that higher alcohol taxes would've inspired popular unrest. I'm sure that's what the liquor lobby would tell me.

The marijuana industry, once legalized fully, would become a extremely powerful lobby to contend with, especially if weed was legalized via a 205-esque bill that basically enshrines certain current MMJ industry insiders with a leg up on any competition.

This was a corporate bill all the way and honestly the Marijuana Policy Project -- which has been fighting this fight for literal decades -- should be kind of ashamed at the way they've caved in to these cartelization bills instead of advocating for a more free/open approach to legalization, which I assume is what weed users actually want.