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Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

nytimes.com

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Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#181

Post by baddox »

letstryagain wrote: post #172
dasil003 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that precisely the situation of marijuana in the Netherlands?

Almost but not exactly. The situation in the Netherlands is more complicated. Technically it's still illegal, however it's effectively decriminalised for personal use. Small amounts found on you (less than 5 grams) will not be prosecuted. No more than 5 grams may be sold to one person in one transaction. You must be over 18. 'Coffee shops' should not cause any trouble, drugs may not be advertised and the mayor can or…

Does the EU have the equivalent of "feds" in the USA (e.g. DEA) that could catch someone with small amounts of marijuana in the Netherlands and prosecute them not under national law, but under EU law?

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#182

Post by baddox »

vyrotek wrote: post #3

"Skeptical federal authorities are also paying attention. Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department has given a tentative approval for Colorado and Washington to move ahead with regulating marijuana. But it warned that federal officials could intervene if the state regulations failed to keep the drug away from children, drug cartels or federal property, and out of other states." I h…

In the situation you're talking about, it would be the feds ruining it for everyone else.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#183

Post by baddox »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #127
code_duck wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it would be really nice if people and journalists commenting on this would understand and acknowledge that cannabis has been widely available legally in Colorado for years, both through legal home growing and at retail outlets.

You don't think that the expansion of the law to allow recreational use will change the usage patterns? I am really curious.

Not as a noticeable percentage of total usage. There will obviously be some drug tourism, but mostly for the novelty, since no one who wants marijuana in the US can't get it easily and relatively risk-free.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#184

Post by baddox »

mkhpalm wrote: post #55
vyrotek wrote: post #3

"Skeptical federal authorities are also paying attention. Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department has given a tentative approval for Colorado and Washington to move ahead with regulating marijuana. But it warned that federal officials could intervene if the state regulations failed to keep the drug away from children, drug cartels or federal property, and out of other states." I h…

Truth is, every law is based on people who ruin it for everybody else. That is how marijuana got outlawed in the first place. People has this belief that we are somehow rewarded for passing thousands of new laws every year. The resulting authoritarian society is just the unintended consequence. Nobody actually picks authoritarianism on purpose.

> Truth is, every law is based on people who ruin it for everybody else.

On the contrary, I think only unreasonable laws are based on people who ruin it for everybody else. Law banning murder and theft, for example, are reasonable and could exist in a world without murder and theft without effecting anyone. However, laws banning firearms or lock picks are unreasonable, and if implemented in a world without murder and theft would effect many people.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#185

Post by shiven »

squintychino wrote: post #65
lotharbot wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "tea" you get for 6 dollars a pound in the US is, generally speaking, the crumbs and fragments leftover from making actually good tea. Wouldn't surprise me if you could also eventually get crumb-and-fragment grade pot for 6 bucks a pound. There's still a market for legitimately high grade tea (not Teavana). I'm interested to see what sort of market develops, over time, for legitimately high-grade MJ here in Color…

Could you recommend a good place online to order good "tea"? I'd seriously like to try some to get a sense of what real tea is suppose to taste like.

TeaGschwendner http://www.tgtea.com "Earl Grey No. 69", best damn tea, ever.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#186

Post by lotharbot »

sliverstorm wrote: post #132
huherto wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/11/244527860/forget-the-50-states... My guess is that people in Colorado tend to be more libertarian. They don't want government interference, and at the same time they don't follow the religious culture in the deep south.

There's a little bit of libertarian undercurrent there, but I believe it's more of an emergent phenomenon from the mixing of independent-by-nature left- and right-wing voters. Colorado, with large swaths of rural areas as well as big cities, is rather purple. Put together left- and right-wing voters, and you get either statism or libertarianism, and Colorado leans towards libertarianism. Or so my theory goes.

IMO both Colorado's right-leaning and left-leaning populations have had a libertarian bent for a long time -- from the "leave us alone" ranchers of Idalia to the "let us be" hippies of Nederland.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#187

Post by code_duck »

code_duck wrote: post #169
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't think that the expansion of the law to allow recreational use will change the usage patterns? I am really curious.

I think it will change the patterns for some demographics more than others. Most people in the demographic where use is heaviest, college students, have had no problem finding cannabis in Colorado for at least 20 or 30 years now, and particularly in the past few years with the medical dispensaries. Anyone who wanted to could go get a red card for $160 and then shop at any of the numerous dispensaries around the state…

Sorry for the typos... That was a pretty long comment to tap on my phone.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#188

Post by rmc »

cookiecaper wrote: post #146
rmc wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on, can you explain this to a European? How can something be legal and illegal?!

So the EU is basically the "United States of Europe". Remember, the US is a bunch of independent states (NOT provinces) who pool resources for the sake of defensive and economic convenience, just like the EU. Technically, the Feds are supposed to have very limited powers. The situation in Colorado is analogous to The Netherlands explicitly declaring something allowed that the EU councils in Brussels have explicitly d…

Well considering the EU has no guns, no army, no police force[1], no courts for people, and no prisons and the Netherlands does, it's obvious which to trust.

EU law binds countries, not people. If a country does something that goes against EU law (which happens all the freaking time), then you can sue the country in the EU courts to get the country to change the law. The EU isn't able to arrest you. And regardless, it's the national law is the only real law. EU law is just what a country is supposed to do.

[1] There is Europol (European Police Office) which is only for aiding cooperation between national police forces. It has no powers of arrest, and (most tellingly) it only has 800 staff for a population of half a billion people.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#189

Post by rmc »

baddox wrote: post #181
letstryagain wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost but not exactly. The situation in the Netherlands is more complicated. Technically it's still illegal, however it's effectively decriminalised for personal use. Small amounts found on you (less than 5 grams) will not be prosecuted. No more than 5 grams may be sold to one person in one transaction. You must be over 18. 'Coffee shops' should not cause any trouble, drugs may not be advertised and the mayor can or…

Does the EU have the equivalent of "feds" in the USA (e.g. DEA) that could catch someone with small amounts of marijuana in the Netherlands and prosecute them not under national law, but under EU law?

Nope. EU doesn't do criminal things. EU tells countries what their criminal systems do. There is Europol (European Police Office) which is only for aiding cooperation between national police forces. It has no powers of arrest, and (most tellingly) it only has 800 staff for a population of half a billion people. Not at all like "the feds".

And I don't think there is any EU law on illegal drugs like that.

Re: Colorado Stores Throw Open Their Doors to Pot Buyers

#190

Post by rmc »

letstryagain wrote: post #172
dasil003 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that precisely the situation of marijuana in the Netherlands?

Almost but not exactly. The situation in the Netherlands is more complicated. Technically it's still illegal, however it's effectively decriminalised for personal use. Small amounts found on you (less than 5 grams) will not be prosecuted. No more than 5 grams may be sold to one person in one transaction. You must be over 18. 'Coffee shops' should not cause any trouble, drugs may not be advertised and the mayor can or…

Yep. Netherlands is basically "It's illegal but we don't enforce it". Which I can understand. That's different from "It's illegal and legal". Which sounds crazy...
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