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Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

theguardian.com

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Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#301

Post by [deleted] »

ElevenLathe wrote: post #245
InefficientRed wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, okay. Just confusion of terms. My brain organizes things as "beer, wine, and alcohol (aka spirits)" as opposed to "alcohol, including beer and wine". And an "alcoholic beverage" is just either a spirit alone or a spirit mixed with something. Probably because that's how my state organizes the stores (with wine/alcohol in separate stores from beer, so if you say "we need to buy beer" that means going to a different…

The unambiguous word in these situations is "liquor", at least in US English.

[deleted]

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#302

Post by concinds »

mschuster91 wrote: post #138
NickRandom wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Perhaps we studied different histories? As far as I was aware, the criminalization of weed was related to hemp being a competitor to the wood/paper industry. https://greathemp.net/why-hemp-was-banned-in-1937/

> "You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.…

Bullshit. That quote came from Baum in a 1994 interview of Ehrlichman. Baum was writing a book about the war on drugs, so why did the quote only come out in 2016? Why not put it in the book?

> "because it did not fit the narrative style focused on putting the readers in the middle of the backroom discussions themselves, without input from the author."

The worst lie I've ever heard. The quote is gold for a backroom discussion.

Then Ehrlichman dies, and the quote comes out more than a decade later, when he can't dispute it; with zero corroboration except Baum, and no recording! (No recording for a book background interview of an influential US political actor?)

The quote is reddit-catnip but only spreads because of low-integrity operators in the media. Golden rule: don't put words in people's mouths after they're dead.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#303

Post by piva00 »

yccs27 wrote: post #70
coldcode wrote: post #29

While I have no interest in weed, I never understood why people are against it, since cigarettes are also a drug and are far more damaging to heath and the economy, and in the US kills a couple hundred thousand folks a year, or alcohol, which is a drug, and kills tens of thousands of people a year. Eliminating illegality would save in so many ways, and taxes could help offset other taxes. But no, weed is somehow more…

I don't think we would ever legalize cigarettes and alcohol if they weren't already widespread. You cited the numbers yourself, it would be a terrible decision. But lots of people are already using these substances, and we've seen how well it works to make alcohol illegal... The reason cigs/alcohol are legal has nothing to do with their addictiveness or the harm they do, so a comparison with them. The anti-legalizati…

> The anti-legalization thought is simply: Cigarettes and alcohol are already bad enough, let's not add a third substance!

Which is a stupid thought given that even when completely banned and carrying harsh penalties people still partake in drug usage. Draconian laws may diminish the ratio of users but they are still there, and draconian laws only make those people become pariahs in their societies, pushing them into deeper holes.

Singapore, Japan, Sweden, Philippines, etc. still have drugs and users, no matter how draconian prohibition is...

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#304

Post by treis »

grasshopperpurp wrote: post #217
treis wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between Indica and Sativa is to a large extent imagined. Even if it's not most of the strains you buy today are hybrids.

>The difference between Indica and Sativa is to a large extent imagined. Can you elaborate? This is very contrary to my experience. . . . NM I looked it up and see what you're referring to. I'll have to look into it more, because, again, it doesn't sync with my experience. >Even if it's not most of the strains you buy today are hybrids. I've never had an ounce of difficulty finding Indicas or Sativas at dispensaries.…

>of difficulty finding Indicas or Sativas at dispensaries

Finding things they call Indica or Sativa. Afaik given that there's no objective difference between the two you can call it anything you want.

I'm a relatively inexperienced smoker so take the following with grain of salt but this is what I've noticed.

Since it's a plant there's definitely differences seed to seed, soil to soil, season to season, flower to flower, etc.

Weed these days is so potent small differences in flower smoked add up to large differences in THC/CBD/etc consumed. Like you're not carefully weighing out the amount you put in a bowl. It's done by eye and by volume which both have a large margin of error.

Then there's smoking technique. How you hold the lighter, how you inhale, how much water in the bong, and so on all impact how much smoke is produced and consumed.

Then we're talking about perception. How high you are is really how high you perceive you are. And that can be affected by mood, tiredness, what activity you do after smoking, and so on.

In my experience same flower, same technique, same amount, etc can lead to wildly disparate outcomes. Most of the time it's about the same. But every so often I find myself blasted to the moon or not really feeling much.

But all that said, Sommeliers can repeatedly recognize specific vintages where I can mostly just recognize broad categories. Maybe there's weed sommeliers out there that can do the same.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#305

Post by ipaddr »

chimprich wrote: post #281
peanut_worm wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still find lower THC cannabis at any dispensary. Most carry from 10 to 30%. Most also carry CBD flower and very low dose edibles. I also don’t understand this argument because you can just take 1 hit and be done. No one is forcing you to finish a whole joint. Should liquor be outlawed because it is stronger than beer?

> I also don’t understand this argument because you can just take 1 hit and be done. The increased THC concentration compared to other psychoactive chemicals seems to produce more paranoia and other negative effects in some people, so it's not just a strength issue. The effect is different if the proportion of THC to CBD increases. It's also easier to get more THC than you intended if you're consuming stronger stuff.…

Vaping at 170 will make you freakout where 200-210+ will make you relaxed. Controlling is possible.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#306

Post by ElevenLathe »

grzm wrote: post #300
InefficientRed wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought "liquor" was stuff like Lemoncello and Amaretto. (FWIW I'm a native US English speaker.)

You may be thinking of liqueur . https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liqueur > a usually sweetened alcoholic liquor (such as brandy) flavored with fruit, spices, nuts, herbs, or seeds vs liquor https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liquor > a usually distilled rather than fermented alcoholic beverage see https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amaretto > an almond-flavored liqueur and https://en.wikipe…

Yep, liqueur is cutesy syrupy stuff made in european monasteries or whatever, typically around 40 proof. Liquor (as in "corn likker") is the stuff for getting messed up fast, typically at least 80 proof.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#307

Post by dpbriggs »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #269
dpbriggs wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible to have concerns about it even if alcohol is worse. I think most people are reacting to the "it cures cancer" culture which denies any negative effect. Personally I've seen weed addiction in close friends and family and it's not pretty. It's slowly poisoning yourself while your life stagnates or falls apart. But they're convinced they're not addicted as you can't get addicted to weed.

>But they're convinced they're not addicted as you can't get addicted to weed. Habit forming, yes. Physically addictive? No.

Recovery from wake and bake will involve withdrawal symptoms and cravings, both of which have a physical basis. You can't expect flooding your brain all day and every day with a menagerie of feel-good chemicals and not expect adaptations which need to be undone.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#308

Post by filoleg »

wishfish wrote: post #26
selfmodruntime wrote: post #3

I think the legalization of cannabis in Europe has a lot of potential. I just wish that we would take measures to avoid the ever increasing levels of THC dosage in weed to insane levels, like you see in the US or California specifically. I firmly believe that cannabis can do a lot of good, but the poison is in the dosage. It has been shown in the past that increasing THC while decreasing CBD leads to an increase in n…

Do weed shops in legal states not have "light" options? Seems weird if they didn't, but I guess that might be a side effect of recent legalization. That the heavy stuff sells better to consumers who used to take whatever they could find back in the black market days. Anyways, I'm asking because I unfortunately live in a state where it's still illegal.

They do, and their selection is constantly growing.

Shortly after it became legal (speaking for WA only here), it felt like every manufacturer chased the highest THC first.

Many years after, we now have the other side gaining a large presence. All sorts of things from high thc to 50/50 blend thc/cbd to high cbd/almost no thc concentrates. I can confirm that it isn't just a marketing bs, tried one of those low thc/high cbd carts before, and it didnt give me the feeling of high almost at all, even after about 10 hits (normally, 1-2 hits of a typical thc cart is plenty enough for me to feel it strongly and be done).

Low thc stuff is getting very high presence/prevalence among users and in advertising as well, it isnt reserved for the backshelf as "oh yeah, if regular stuff is too strong for you, we got a shelf in the back just for lighter stuff." It is sold and presented (in marketing and among customers) equivalently to how beers are sold in terms of varying percentages. Some like 4-5% alcohol, some like 7-8%, others prefer imperial versions (typically 9-11%), etc, but there is no "this is the one type of beer for everyone, the rest is just weaker/stronger alternatives."

However, I've only noticed this type of a push for promotion and popularity gain of less-thc-strong oils at dispensaries start gaining momentum only since around 2019. However, that area has been growing heavily and feels larger than ever now, so I can only see it gaining more footing in the future.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#309

Post by filoleg »

jotm wrote: post #211
doggwalker wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love a light option but with the people I know I am in the minority. Most people I know are so use to 20%+ THC strains that they would never want something less. Even before my state legalized, I hadn't run into anything besides high grade strains in years. I imagine it would be really hard to find low quality weed anywhere in the US at this point.

Is it illegal to grow your own? It's the easiest way to get something low THC. Hell, you can even smoke (or better, use a dry herb vape) the leaves of any plant if the buds are too strong - from my experience, they have a more relaxing effect.

> is it illegal to grow on your own

Depends on the state, even among those where weed is legal. WA has a pretty terrible duality - buying is very easy, and i like how that part was handled. Growing your own recreationally (i.e., not as a registered producer/manufacturer)? Not allowed at all, unless you are a medical user, and you are limited to only 4 plants.

Re: Germany’s move to legalise cannabis expected to create ‘domino effect’

#310

Post by Hamuko »

dymk wrote: post #270
Hamuko wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use any of them. Doesn't mean that I'm not affected by the harmful effects of them.

Particularly weed, what negative externalities do you experience?

Not that many at the moment, considering that it's an illegal substance and <2% of the population consumes weed monthly (<0.2% daily), meaning that it's consumed a lot less than cigarettes (approximately 12% of the population between 20 and 64 smoke daily). It's also primarily used by young people here, meaning that long-term effects are not yet visible. But obviously there are health factors to consider with smoking weed (heart infarcts, lung issues/cancer, mental health issues, etc) that will be subsidized by the rest of the society. I'm also concerned about the affects of weed on driving if it becomes legal and its consumption increases, as alcohol is involved in every fourth fatal car accident and weed increases risk factors for car crashes.
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