Senator Feinstein Opposes Legal Marijuana (San Jose, San Francisco: crimes, home, living)

[Beaconowner]

Originally Posted by lorrysda

The difference is simple...if one drinks enough alcohol to "get high" it is "VISUALLY" apparent and coordination is "VISUALLY" impaired to observers.

If one takes drugs, it is usually not "VISUALLY" obvious to most others. It is dangerous in that marijuana "can" screw up the brain forever, but it also leads to using harder drugs than can/will cause brain damage and impair life. We won't even go into the criminal problems it causes.

Alcohol, on the other hand, takes far longer to do the same damage and at least gives the alcoholic time to figure it out and straighten up.

Having been in the Construction business for many years, my husband and I experienced first hand how devastating being a "druggie" can be, no matter what form. It destroys lives, it is dangerous on the job and for the life of me I cannot figure out why when I grew up anything to do with drugs was "ostracized" and known to be very bad and now it is accepted...Geez!

First off, but down the beer and try to understand this: we already have DUI laws and police confront "high" drivers that have used cannabis every day. So, no news to them, they are and can handle it. Second, since there is no "safe" level established, any amount in your blood can be considered DUI. It will also persist in your tissue long enough for testing. This is unlike the way alcohol works, which some drunks use as a way to beat a DUI by delaying testing long enough so their blood level drops to a legally accepted level. You can also be legally impaired with alcohol but display no visual signs, so there goes that argument. The National Transportation and Safety Administration did a study of both alcohol and cannabis impaired drivers. What they found was that the cannabis users actively tried to compensate for their impairment and had a lower level of errors that could lead to an accident. This contrasted with the alcohol users which tended to deny any impairment, made no attempt to compensate for their impairment and had a high level of errors that could have led to accidents. The study is available on the Internet. Using marijuana does have physical clues that police are well aware of, including a strong smell, red eyes, etc. NO, several studies all the way back to the 1970's have shown that cannabis is NOT a gateway drug. If you are looking for a gateway drug, alcohol and tobacco are way more likely the source. Yes, you are right, using cannabis can cause "criminal problems", that's because it is illegal. It wouldn't cause those problems if it were legal. What part of that don't you get? Alcohol starts doing damage from the first drink, including harmful changes to the brain, like brain hemmorage, it is a toxic substance, cannabis is not. NO drunk is just going to "straighten out". A casual cannabis user can quit at any time with little to no side effects. How about doing some research about the actual effects of cannabis and alcohol rather than just parroting decades old arguments that were debunked many times over?

[steel7]

Watch the movie by Cheech & Chong called "Up In Smoke".

[FresnoFacts]

Feinstein and Jerry Brown are both opposing the prop.

Jerry Brown keeps saying that he is against Prop 19, has repeated that position again the last few days.

But I expect Jerry would quickly flip flop if Prop 19 passed (he'd probably even try to take credit for it ), just like he did with Prop 13 and property taxes years ago.

[californio sur]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

Feinstein and Jerry Brown are both opposing the prop.

Jerry Brown keeps saying that he is against Prop 19, has repeated that position again the last few days.

But I expect Jerry would quickly flip flop if Prop 19 passed (he'd probably even try to take credit for it ), just like he did with Prop 13 and property taxes years ago.

I don't think any politicians are willing to support Prop 19 out of fear that it could hurt them. It's safe to voice opposition but I bet both Jerry Brown and Diane Feinstein have smoked marijuana and probably don't care one way or the other about it just like a lot of Californians. It's not a life or death issue for most people including myself.

[Pretzelogik]

Originally Posted by californio sur

"Feinstein supports campaign to defeat marijuana legalization measure

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California's senior U.S. senator, has lent her support to the campaign to defeat Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization measure on the state's November ballot.

The prominent Democrat, first elected to the Senate in 1992, signed the ballot argument against the initiative. On Monday, she issued a statement through the opposition campaign calling the measure "a jumbled legal nightmare that will make our highways, our workplaces and our communities less safe."

Feinstein supports campaign to defeat marijuana legalization measure - latimes.com

Obviously attempting to attract some conservative/independent voters

[LongIslandEddie]

Originally Posted by californio sur

I don't think any politicians are willing to support Prop 19 out of fear that it could hurt them. It's safe to voice opposition but I bet both Jerry Brown and Diane Feinstein have smoked marijuana and probably don't care one way or the other about it just like a lot of Californians. It's not a life or death issue for most people including myself.

I'm still awaiting that glorious (but long delayed) day, when the politicians stop treating the issues that we are dealing with at this moment in time,
stop dealing with these issues in their traditional inept fashion. Where are the progressive politicians who will be worthy of being considered as the
George Washington's or the Thomas Jefferson's of this time? Why can't they understand that the entire system is teetering on the brink of collapse
while our self-sustaining government grows larger and much more dependent upon, "We the people", than ever before? Just where are their heads,
(not to mention), their hearts?

Who needs a president or a governor, senator, representative etc., that fails to feel for the people and to truly understand the situation that
America is in today? When are they going to hold a "let's get down to business" summit, create a "think tank", appointing another special czar,
(really strange title, huh?) and get down to the business of positive and progressive thinking?

And, as in your comment: <It's not a life or death issue for most people including myself.>,
That may be true for the most part, but when one stops to consider the tremendous drain on resources, that criminalizing marijuana has created,
while we drown in national and global debt, see our borders overrun, our prisons fill, and watch our political leaders run around in circles, like rats
or dogs, chasing their tails.

Perhaps the saddest commentary is this fact:<"and probably don't care one way or the other about it">
Although they may not care about it today, let me assure you, there will come a day when they will have to care about it because the issue,
is not going to go away until it is positively and finally resolved.

[Bunjee]

I think we should be careful about making casual comparisons to alcohol. Booze has been legal a long time and many laws have been developed over decades to oversee its manufacture, distribution and sale. I sometimes do work with beverage distributors. There are lots of legal issues. On-premise/off-premise sales, labeling for % alcohol content, licensing with all its many rules and many ways to lose a license, zoning for sales and distribution, rules for manufacture, FDA requirements, etc. If anyone thinks they can just distill their own booze and distribute it without oversight, they're wrong. Some people may do it, but they're violating federal law. We won't even get into excise taxes. Every single point above has a book of regulations attached to it.

The marijuana industry has no such structure in place. I don't know if it wants one; but without, there's no simple equivalence to alcohol.

[Bulldogdad]

Originally Posted by californio sur

I don't think any politicians are willing to support Prop 19 out of fear that it could hurt them. It's safe to voice opposition but I bet both Jerry Brown and Diane Feinstein have smoked marijuana and probably don't care one way or the other about it just like a lot of Californians. It's not a life or death issue for most people including myself.

Moonbeam maybe. Diane no. Feinstein is more straight laced than you might think. I have been watching her political career since the 1960's. Supporting prop 19 is a bad political choice currently. There is going to be a huge swell against it like there was right before prop 8.

[lorrysda]

Originally Posted by californio sur

No offense but can you back up anything you claim about marijuana with facts? I don't think so. Just because your personal experience has been negative doesn't mean it is that way with the majority of people. Some people can not die eating peanuts because of a serious reaction but most people love peanuts and aren't deadly allergic to that natural food.

If marijuana is so deadly why do 13 states classify it as a "medicine"? And more states are allowing its medicinal use each year. Canada totally legalized marijuana many years ago. Are all their citizens dangerously "screwing up" their brains? Do you honestly think that prescribed pain killers like Oxycontin are safer than marijuana? Most pain pills are strongly addictive; marijuana is not. We know how dangerous alcohol and tobacco are unlike marijuana.

When someone posts a antiquated statement about "killer" marijuana it is clear that they don't know what they are talking about.

Didn't say anything about "killer" marijuana...just that it is "dangerous." If you are not aware of the "danger" and where use of this can go and the actual science "behind medical usefulness" I suggest you do your own research and then you will be better educated on the subject. I've done mine, I've seen the sorry results.

[lorrysda]

Originally Posted by Beaconowner

First off, but down the beer and try to understand this: we already have DUI laws and police confront "high" drivers that have used cannabis every day. So, no news to them, they are and can handle it. Second, since there is no "safe" level established, any amount in your blood can be considered DUI. It will also persist in your tissue long enough for testing. This is unlike the way alcohol works, which some drunks use as a way to beat a DUI by delaying testing long enough so their blood level drops to a legally accepted level. You can also be legally impaired with alcohol but display no visual signs, so there goes that argument. The National Transportation and Safety Administration did a study of both alcohol and cannabis impaired drivers. What they found was that the cannabis users actively tried to compensate for their impairment and had a lower level of errors that could lead to an accident. This contrasted with the alcohol users which tended to deny any impairment, made no attempt to compensate for their impairment and had a high level of errors that could have led to accidents. The study is available on the Internet. Using marijuana does have physical clues that police are well aware of, including a strong smell, red eyes, etc. NO, several studies all the way back to the 1970's have shown that cannabis is NOT a gateway drug. If you are looking for a gateway drug, alcohol and tobacco are way more likely the source. Yes, you are right, using cannabis can cause "criminal problems", that's because it is illegal. It wouldn't cause those problems if it were legal. What part of that don't you get? Alcohol starts doing damage from the first drink, including harmful changes to the brain, like brain hemmorage, it is a toxic substance, cannabis is not. NO drunk is just going to "straighten out". A casual cannabis user can quit at any time with little to no side effects. How about doing some research about the actual effects of cannabis and alcohol rather than just parroting decades old arguments that were debunked many times over?

Note I was not addressing DUI's or the police. I address the issue in the many aspects of life. One area that is super dangerous is the area of using heavy equipment on the construction site. There are many more that have nothing to do with DUI's and police. There are areas that affect the health, welfare and quality of life near and down the road.