7.25pm
10 August 2011
This topic was brought up in the Beatley Moments thread and is worth discussing.
The arguments for legalizing pot include “we have alcohol so why not pot” + why make recreational users feel like criminals? + society would reap a great deal of taxes + it’s expensive and fruitless to chase down pot criminals + people should decide what they want in their body + the Beatles made great music on pot + pot opens up creative channels in our minds.
These arguments have merit.
However…
– Pot IS potentially addictive; just less so than alcohol, heroin, nicotine,… See http://www.psychologytoday.com…..-addictive
– We already have one drug (alcohol) that brings pleasure but also wreaks havoc on our society and another drug that kills you (nicotine), do we need more? How many more? Where do we draw the line? (I’m a beer guy in case you’re wondering where I’m coming from, but addiction is a big deal in my family.)
– Contrary to alcohol which is gone without a trace within hours, pot has a half life of 2 weeks. (two weeks after your toke, half of it is still lingering around in all your fat cells). If you then take a medication, no one can tell you what the interaction of that medication will be with that stuff still floating inside you.
– Generally speaking, should we allow anyone to take anything they want? Narcotics? Anti-depressants? Do we get rid of “prescription” medications. So what if someone wants to take more blood pressure medication? So what if someone doesn’t mind getting addicted to something? Isn’t it their problem?
One difficulty is that it’s rarely just one person’s problem. When someone has a substance issue, MANY people end up “paying” for that problem.
Ideally, only fully informed, responsible people should be allowed to smoke, eat, chew, or imbibe “substances.” How do you accomplish that?????
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
9.45pm
16 August 2012
I’d bump this over to the thread about listening “altered”.
I have some thoughts on the topic, but I have to go take my kids to a Birthday party…
E is for 'Ergent'.
10.01pm
17 January 2013
10.37pm
1 December 2009
Yeah, a lot of people do.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
11.13pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Never listen to music when stoned, never had a desire to be stoned. My head wouldnt let me do it. I’ve been in the same room when joints have been handed round but i passed. Same with smoking, never done it and have never wanted to and both my parents did when i grew up so it wasnt as if it was a strict parental thing. I do drink but very rarely. I live very quietly in the middle of the country with the nearest shop a 15 minute walk, and some would ask is it living because i’m not out there every night doing stuff.
Im in a melancholy frame of mind.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
2.12am
14 January 2013
2.13am
16 August 2012
3.10am
17 January 2013
meanmistermustard said
I live very quietly in the middle of the country with the nearest shop a 15 minute walk, and some would ask is it living because i’m not out there every night doing stuff.
Heart Of The Country ! Sounds lovely!
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
9.10am
14 December 2012
I don’t drink or do drugs or any of that stuff. I have no problem if people want to do it, I’m just worried about how it will affect people in the work place. I don’t want my guys working on the machines all buzzed out! xD
"I'd tell her I love her, but she'd only reject me in the end and I'd be frustrated. That's why I play guitar; it's my active compensatory factor" -Ringo said something like this once, I changed it up a bit.
SatanHimself said
Not participating… As much as I want to…! Joe! Move this thing!
No! It’s a different thread. ITSWD was asking specifically about legalisation/decriminalisation, rather than whether people here like getting stoned and listening to music. That’s been covered elsewhere.
Disclosure: I’ve taken my share of various drugs over the years, but nothing since about 1996 (no particular reason, I just prefer not to nowadays). I prefer drinking, and there are lots of drugs I just don’t get on with. I have no problem with people doing whatever they want to themselves, as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else.
However, I would like to see drugs fully decriminalised and licensed, at least in the UK. The tax revenues would be enormous, prisons and courts would have fewer people passing through them, the black market would mostly disappear, crops could be grown without exploitation and murder, people’s careers wouldn’t be destroyed by criminal records, they would be allowed to buy unadulterated products, and addicts could be registered and helped. It’s governments’ fears of looking soft on drugs that prevents a grown-up conversation about the benefits of allowing people to do things they’re doing anyway, only with less harm to themselves and others as a by-product.
The extra tax should be put towards healthcare, rehabilitation and awareness campaigns. That’s what I think anyway – I’m sure some here will disagree.
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12.53pm
16 August 2012
Duly noted, Joe!
I’ll toss in my opinion here: While a wholesale legalization is of course much too much, marijuana at this point really should be decriminalized first, where the punishments involve confiscation and ticketing.
At some point (especially in America, as it’s already beginning to happen) enough cash-strapped governments are going to realize that there is serious money to be made from something that carries little to no health or risks in society.
Look at it this way: A bunch of stupid teenagers drinking alcohol get destructive. a group of stupid teenagers smoking weed get the munchies and watch cartoons.
Probably the biggest hurdle that nobody wants to admit is that there are still too many people who make a LOT of money keeping marijuana illegal, and they will fight to the death to keep it illegal, thus ensuring their way of life.
E is for 'Ergent'.
12.25pm
20 January 2012
Addiction is also a pretty big deal in my family. Closest to me, my wife is a recovering alcoholic, 14 years sober (hurrah!). She’s also been a daily or so pot smoker for the last 13 of those 14 years — while still managing not to touch a drop of alcohol. If you’ve ever gone down the alcoholism rabbit hole with someone you love and managed to claw your way back out still alive, you will scoff at the notion that being “addicted” to cannabis is anything like being addicted to alcohol. If one of these substances needed to be illegal, western society has certainly chosen the wrong one.
Prohibition of alcohol didn’t work in the US. It certainly hasn’t worked for cannabis either. It’s time for a change.
It's gotta be rock and roll music if you wanna dance with me
4.09pm
1 December 2009
And the folks in Washington and Colorado apparently agree.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
4.30am
6 December 2012
6.00am
17 January 2013
Egroeg Evoli said
Hi everyone. As of now, my plan is to be drug-free, cigarette-free, and alcohol-free. Call me a goody-goody. I don’t mind.
That’s not goody-goody, there’s nothing wrong with that! I definitely do not advocate people that don’t smoke pot to start. To me it’s about people that already do it, people that have been smoking it for years and are going to smoke it whether it’s legal or not. I smoked cigarettes from 19 (legal age in Canada) to 26. Basically I felt like s***e for 7 years. Didn’t drink until 17, never liked it that much. I had my phase in my early twenties. Now I drink about twice a year, and I haven’t had more than a “buzz” in over 3 years. I don’t miss it. To each their own, as long as they are responsible.
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
2.03pm
16 August 2012
Egroeg Evoli said
Hi everyone. As of now, my plan is to be drug-free, cigarette-free, and alcohol-free. Call me a goody-goody. I don’t mind.
There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘no’. It’ll be an individual choice that you’ll have to make, and your friends and peers won’t make it any easier. But if you do keep straight-edge, you’ll certainly save a lot of money and your body will thank you for it as well.
E is for 'Ergent'.
3.04pm
14 January 2013
Egroeg Evoli said
Hi everyone. As of now, my plan is to be drug-free, cigarette-free, and alcohol-free. Call me a goody-goody. I don’t mind.SatanHimself said
There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘no’. It’ll be an individual choice that you’ll have to make, and your friends and peers won’t make it any easier. But if you do keep straight-edge, you’ll certainly save a lot of money and your body will thank you for it as well.
Except for the pot, I don’t smoke cigarets or drink. I tried cigarets, but it wasn’t for me and drinking never appealed to me. While you may have some backlash or jabs from friends or peers, you’ll find people respecting you maybe even more. Just keep your head on straight and you’ll do fine. No worries.
4.19pm
17 January 2013
My older sister used to tease me and my friends in highs-school. Every time we got together she’d call it a “pop and chip party” just because we were all straight. We had a great time, didn’t need drugs or drinks!
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
4.57pm
5 November 2011
People who say marijuana is not addictive is wrong, you can get addicted to anything, like I used to be addicted to sunflower seeds. I would literally eat them all day long and skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner, have sunflower seed instead. I still love them, but if I eat too much of them now I get massive stomach aches.
I don’t think marijuana should be legalized, and there is a difference between alcohol being legal and if marijuana were to be. The big one is that if marijuana were to be legalized, there would be no way in making sure people don’t drive or go to work, while under the influence of marijuana, since it stays in your bloodstream for weeks. While some people might be able to drive while on marijuana, it’s definitely not a good idea for most people, because marijuana can make it hard for people to concentrate on one thing like that. Also, drinking does not alter your brain like marijuana does, unless your drinking to get drunk. Depending on who you are, one drink is nothing. One joint however, is not the same, unless you have grown a tolerance to them. I’m not against marijuana, I have smoked it a few times. Never had a cigarette or drank in my life, though, and never plan on it.
All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit
11.44pm
17 January 2013
unknown said
People who say marijuana is not addictive is wrong, you can get addicted to anything, like I used to be addicted to sunflower seeds. I would literally eat them all day long and skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner, have sunflower seed instead. I still love them, but if I eat too much of them now I get massive stomach aches.I don’t think marijuana should be legalized, and there is a difference between alcohol being legal and if marijuana were to be. The big one is that if marijuana were to be legalized, there would be no way in making sure people don’t drive or go to work, while under the influence of marijuana, since it stays in your bloodstream for weeks. While some people might be able to drive while on marijuana, it’s definitely not a good idea for most people, because marijuana can make it hard for people to concentrate on one thing like that. Also, drinking does not alter your brain like marijuana does, unless your drinking to get drunk. Depending on who you are, one drink is nothing. One joint however, is not the same, unless you have grown a tolerance to them. I’m not against marijuana, I have smoked it a few times. Never had a cigarette or drank in my life, though, and never plan on it.
Yeah… have to disagree on many points here. I’ve drank, and I have smoked.. lots. Drinking doesn’t alter your brain like marijuana, really? I’m sorry to sound pretentious here, but I have BIG a problem with people that don’t do it, or have only done it a few times talking like they know about it. Sorry, but if you haven’t, then you really have no idea.
You should not drink and drive, just like you should not drive stoned. In my opinion, driving drunk is way worse. I have never done it, but I admit I used to drive stoned a lot in my younger days.. and I am NOT excusing it, I’m just saying it’s different, but it’s still bad. No you can’t stop people from doing it, just like you can’t stop all of the drunk drivers! Same thing, people are going to do it whether it’s legal or not.
I will agree on one thing though… it is addictive. That is very true.
"Please don't bring your banjo back, I know where it's been.. I wasn't hardly gone a day, when it became the scene.. Banjos! Banjos! All the time, I can't forget that tune.. and if I ever see another banjo, I'm going out and buy a big balloon!"
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