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Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being downvoted because it's Trump, which is bullshit. It's the first time in modern US history that a sitting President has come anywhere close to declaring support for or proclaiming he'd be ok with the Federal Government legalizing recreational marijuana consumption. The reason for that, is because Trump is an aggressive populist that doesn't particularly care about entrenched, ancient political live wires.…

The problem is that legalization of cannabis in US was never actually about cannabis per se. It was about this: "The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.​" "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men.​" "Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing.​" "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and enterta…

[deleted]

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#152
Funny story: I'm from the Netherlands and was 15 and on vacation in France. All the kids smoked weed, which they got in the harbor. They were surprised I never did it because it was legal in the Netherlands, all I could say was that you had to be 18 to get it so I couldn't get it.

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#153

Meanwhile in Britain, the former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague, spoke out and claimed that the war on cannabis had been "irreversibly lost". He was quickly shut down by Theresa May, who categorically ruled out legalisation or even decriminalisation [1]. I don't understand how politicians can stand up and claim that legalisation would have substantial negatives, when every experiment with legalisatio…

I think this has to do with the psychology of disgust sensitivity. Conservatives tend to have stronger senses of disgust than liberals and especially libertarians. "Smoking weed is stinky/gross/icky, therefore we gotta ban it." Here's just one article on the link between disgust and political leanings: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/caveman-politics/201... As a personal anecdote about this, I support decrimi…

I think this is the first good argument I’ve ever heard for legal strictures on marijuana use. The analogy to cigarettes is perfect and proves the original point about legislation: when it starts bothering other people, there’s room for restrictions. That was always the case for legalisation of drugs: “it’s my body, I’m not putting anyone else at risk.” Well, smoke inside only, don’t have windows open because it stinks. No children around.

I could, honestly, completely get behind that.

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#154

Funny story: I'm from the Netherlands and was 15 and on vacation in France. All the kids smoked weed, which they got in the harbor. They were surprised I never did it because it was legal in the Netherlands, all I could say was that you had to be 18 to get it so I couldn't get it.

It's not legal, it's tolerated in law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gedogen)

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#155
post #117
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want to point out that GHB isn’t so dangerous as you point out, relative to the other major drugs (not least of them alcohol). See https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Rational... for a nice graphical summary. You can go to a liquor store today and purchase a lethal amount of alcohol for about $20. And it’s lawful to advertise the stuff. GHB is less harmful, but it’s illegal.

Depends on where. In a lot of Europe (and afaik also Canada) alcohol purchasing times are heavily regulated to combat binge, especially youth, drinking. For example no alcohol sales past 9pm, no sales before 10am etc. And you can’t advertise drinking. You can promote brands, but not drinking directly. Which is weird and I don’t know how the line is defined, but it exists in at least some countries I’ve been to.

Well "a lot of Europe" really means Scandinavia. To be precise it is only Norway, Finland and Sweden where alcohol is sold only by one brand of state owned shops.

As far as i know you can drink whatever you want, when you want after you are 18. Notable exception is Germany where from 16 you can drink undistilled drinks like beer and wine. Oh we had lot of fun when i was 16 on our school trip to Germany. Good times.

About advertising i think it applies again to Scandinavia.

Overall i think people have pretty positive drinking habits in europe. Most people try it early and drink quite regulary meaning they can manage it without much problems.

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#156

Funny story: I'm from the Netherlands and was 15 and on vacation in France. All the kids smoked weed, which they got in the harbor. They were surprised I never did it because it was legal in the Netherlands, all I could say was that you had to be 18 to get it so I couldn't get it.

>They were surprised I never did it because it was legal in the Netherlands, all I could say was that you had to be 18 to get it so I couldn't get it.

I'd guess the age never stopped most of those kids

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#157
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its way easier to overdose on hard drugs than alcohol. with alcohol, its a slow progress. you keep drinkng and most people pass out / lose their will to drink after they've had enough. hard drugs are generally a single portion and once its in your blood, its too late. you cant say 'hey, i've got enough for today' once you feel it hitting you. You're already doomed if you've chosen the wrong dosage from the start. > T…

I think a lot of this can be attributed to these drugs being used in a completely ad hoc manner. There's no usage guidelines on a bag of cocaine. There's no 'Active Ingredient' percentage listed. You dont know what it is. You can't compare it to another until you've had it. Any pill that's an upper is called 'molly' Somehow the vast majority of people who take legal hard drugs such as vicodin or dilaudid, don't overd…

>Somehow the vast majority of people who take legal hard drugs such as vicodin or dilaudid, don't overdose on them. There's a culture built around taking these drugs responsibly according to their directions.

And yet there are tons of addicts on those:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this has to do with the psychology of disgust sensitivity. Conservatives tend to have stronger senses of disgust than liberals and especially libertarians. "Smoking weed is stinky/gross/icky, therefore we gotta ban it." Here's just one article on the link between disgust and political leanings: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/caveman-politics/201... As a personal anecdote about this, I support decrimi…

I think this is the first good argument I’ve ever heard for legal strictures on marijuana use. The analogy to cigarettes is perfect and proves the original point about legislation: when it starts bothering other people, there’s room for restrictions. That was always the case for legalisation of drugs: “it’s my body, I’m not putting anyone else at risk.” Well, smoke inside only, don’t have windows open because it stin…

[deleted]

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#159

Meanwhile in Britain, the former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague, spoke out and claimed that the war on cannabis had been "irreversibly lost". He was quickly shut down by Theresa May, who categorically ruled out legalisation or even decriminalisation [1]. I don't understand how politicians can stand up and claim that legalisation would have substantial negatives, when every experiment with legalisatio…

> Drug prohibition has been a categorical failure in every outcome it was intended to achieve.

Possibly you don't understand the intended outcomes.

1. Provide for the ongoing growth of the FBI's empire once it became apparent that prohibition was going to end.

2. Provide an easy pretext for locking up blacks and hippies/ anti-war protestors. This according Erlichman, one of Richard Nixon's closest aides. https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-...

Protip: Often the stated reason for a policy is not the real reason.

See also "for the children".

Re: Canada legalises recreational cannabis use

#160

Meanwhile in Britain, the former leader of the Conservative Party, William Hague, spoke out and claimed that the war on cannabis had been "irreversibly lost". He was quickly shut down by Theresa May, who categorically ruled out legalisation or even decriminalisation [1]. I don't understand how politicians can stand up and claim that legalisation would have substantial negatives, when every experiment with legalisatio…

We already have many problems caused by alcohol and cigarettes, costing taxpayers billions in unnecessary expenses. I get it, people need to escape reality they live in. We know that some weed smokers end up schizophrenic and that in general smoking weed weakens one's will, so in many cases we end up with grown up children going only after the things attainable by easiest efforts. There are also some legit medical uses that might help a wide range of disorders; those are fine regulated the same way as medical heroin or amphetamines are. However, why open another Pandora's box, add another bunch of disorders to the open, inviting people that would have never used them before, causing them issues? Nobody knows how would their genetic makeup respond to even first absorption of a drug. I.e. the minimal requirement of justice in preventing harm to innocents would be violated.

If you however like post-justice post-truth world, then anything goes. Why not accept all hard drugs, all sexual deviations, all violent or manipulative behaviors then? It's natural anyway, observed in animals daily, isn't it? The hard line must be placed somewhere, or not?

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