Live data from Hacker News

There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

thehill.com

91–100 of 147 posts

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#91
post #90

Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (yes, psychological addiction is still addiction) and their futures have suffered as a consequence. I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possess…

Unfortunately, for most people, the side effects of being convicted are much worse than the side effects of smoking.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#92
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd probably faint if you heard a tenth of the stupid shit people do after drinking alcohol. And yes, it includes people jumping off buildings.

so what’s your point? it is all safe and no harm whatsoever?

No, he's just telling you that your anecdote is sad but does not at all reflect the impact cannabis has on most people, while the effects of alcohol are widely known, studied and quantified. We know how many people die of alcohol poisoning and we know how many die from cannabis overdose (0). We also know quite well how many die while doing stupid shit drunk and how many (much much less) people die while doing stupid shit high on pot.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it isn't hazardous like cigarette smoke. I really wish cigarettes were completely banned in public spaces. If you want to destroy your own lungs on your own property, fine. But I shouldn't have to breath it in.

Personally I find marijuana smoke way more irritating than cigarette smoke, at least second hand outside. Maybe I'm reading too much in to your comment, but with cigarette smoking there is a lot of the "if you want to destroy your lungs" attitude that I hypothesize stems from the puritain "if you want to prioritize enjoying something over long term health, I'll be especially harsh towards you". I 100% understand the…

> also, marijuana smoke is hazardous, just like tobacco smoke. Why would it be more benign?

I dunno if marijuana smoke is more benign, but I wouldn't be surprised if one is much more harmful than the other. they are different substances. wouldn't you rather be at a barbecue than next to a trash fire?

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#94
post #90

Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (yes, psychological addiction is still addiction) and their futures have suffered as a consequence. I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possess…

You can discourage while still having it legal. In fact, it's easier to detect people with problems if it's legalized, since they lose the incentive to hide the habit and it becomes easier for them to seek help when they feel like it. It's also easier for them to come clean and resume a normal life; otherwise, once you're tainted with felony, all the incentives are to fall back even worse on substance abuse.

If there is one thing we've learnt from the heroin years, is that these things have to be faced in the open, and that addicts are sick people, not bad people. You don't send sick people to jail, you send them to a hospital.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#95

Interesting to see people on social media with one breath talk about how mask wearing should be up to the individual, with another that legalizing weed is a terrible move that will lead to the breakdown on society. Personally I really do not like the smell so I would like a "freedom from skunk smell" bill passed too.

With decriminalization the smell is everywhere around parks too which bothers me the most when I’m trying to enjoy fresh air. I wish they’d go ahead and switch to vapes or something that smells less. Even tobacco was better or carries less.

I'm on the opposite side of this. Tobacco is the absolute worst lingering smell. It's not even a close comparison and never was. I think combustion should be less widespread for sure. I don't think we'll see mass switches to vaping without legality though.

Even now you can get flower vaporizers but it seems not all that many people know about them.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#96

Some people voted yes despite never consuming because it was persecuting a certain race of individuals. That’s not how laws should be formed in this country.

care to elaborate? that sounds like exactly the way laws ought to be formed in this country: people placing justness over the impact to their personal lives.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#97
post #90

Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (yes, psychological addiction is still addiction) and their futures have suffered as a consequence. I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possess…

>"I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possession, then let it be."

Did not prohibition already show how it ends up?

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#98
post #90

Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (yes, psychological addiction is still addiction) and their futures have suffered as a consequence. I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possess…

I agree with you that weed can be very problematic. But shouldn't adults have the right to live the lives they desire, as long as they don't negatively impact others?

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#100
post #90

Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (yes, psychological addiction is still addiction) and their futures have suffered as a consequence. I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possess…

If you look at the stats for countries where it is legalised you’ll find that abuse is not higher than in places where it is criminalised.

The war on drugs just hurts individuals and helps drug cartels. Surely that is antithetical to the goal of having a healthy society.

Post reply on HN