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Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

theatlantic.com

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Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#101

Post by MichaelGG »

wmeredith wrote: post #66
swalkergibson wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone whose sister just died of a heroin overdose, I hope that we will get to the point that all drugs are legal. My sister died alone in a locked bedroom because of the shame and stigma associated with her addiction and related mental illness. I have no doubt that if there was a safe place she could go to use pharmaceutical grade heroin with clean needles that she would be alive today.

You're probably right. One of the most interesting things about heroin is that there are no long term negative side effects other than the addiction itself. This is as opppsed to something like meth that will make your teeth fall out with regular use. All the pitfalls of heroin addiction are socioeconomic. I'm sorry for your loss.

Constipation and weakening of bowel can be quite inconvenient side effects of opiate use.

Methamphetamine is also fairly safe (mainly psychosis and heart issues right?). Teeth falling out is more of a result of people tweaking for days without taking care of themselves. After all, methamphetamine is a Schedule II, prescribed, commercial medication.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#102

Post by vertex-four »

elohesra wrote: post #100
vertex-four wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While many may emit water vapour, I believe there's studies which show that there are non-negligible amounts of other substances in some e-cigarette vapours. I do not think there's enough scientific data to make a long-term decision; perhaps just regulating the manufacturers so that we know what's putting what into the air is enough? My personal opinion is that no matter the safety, I cannot cope with the smell of e-…

> I cannot cope with the smell of e-cigarettes Okay, fair enough. Have you tried asking the vapers if they would mind not smoking them indoors? I know I've stopped doing so in confined conference rooms after a coworker commented that they didn't like the smell. I appreciate it sucks that vaping is just one more thing which intrudes on your personal space and freedoms, but so do so many things at the office, from peop…

> Have you tried asking the vapers if they would mind not smoking them indoors?

Yes. Unfortunately, some people do not seem to care about others, especially when they see what they're doing as "harmless". There seems to be a certain militancy among some vapers that doesn't exist around most other things.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#103

Post by vertex-four »

Crito wrote: post #97
vertex-four wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While many may emit water vapour, I believe there's studies which show that there are non-negligible amounts of other substances in some e-cigarette vapours. I do not think there's enough scientific data to make a long-term decision; perhaps just regulating the manufacturers so that we know what's putting what into the air is enough? My personal opinion is that no matter the safety, I cannot cope with the smell of e-…

I don't think that either smell nor "non-water compounds" are reasons to regulate e-cigarettes tighter than we regulate perfumes, colognes, or spray deodorants. Similar regulation for all four seems reasonable to me.

Those things don't tend to protrude more than a few inches, maximum, from a person's body, and there's an established culture whereby people will be reprimanded if they do.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#104

Post by ahlatimer »

vertex-four wrote: post #93
elohesra wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of that is analogous to existing regulation regarding cigarettes But this is why e-cigarette campaigners say that politicians are just meddling out of personal distaste, rather than any scientific backing. The two core reasons why cigarettes cannot be smoked indoors are: 1) Doing so (potentially) causes deleterious effects to people who inhale the second-hand smoke. At the very least, it can be agreed that it's…

While many may emit water vapour, I believe there's studies which show that there are non-negligible amounts of other substances in some e-cigarette vapours. I do not think there's enough scientific data to make a long-term decision; perhaps just regulating the manufacturers so that we know what's putting what into the air is enough? My personal opinion is that no matter the safety, I cannot cope with the smell of e-…

I think it's reasonable to ask vapers around you to take it elsewhere if it bothers you. Similarly, if someone is wearing a very strong perfume that bothers you, take it up with them. As a vaper, I'll generally ask first before vaping in a closed area, but if I don't, I'm totally okay with someone asking me to take it elsewhere. If you run into large groups of people who don't, those people are just dicks. That doesn't mean we should start legislating away everything that's irritating to some group of people.

It seems to me that the argument for legislation seems to come from the idea that smoking is bad, smokers are bad people, so anything that looks like smoking is also bad.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#105

Post by Crito »

Jun8 wrote: post #12
mabbo wrote: post #3

It's become obvious that laws can't stop drugs. Imagine a world where the level of convenience described here was normal, but without the bullshit. No more money wasted on police trying to stop it. No sales to minors (at least, no more than cigarettes and alcohol have now). Taxes on income by drugs dealers (Colorado is showing a hell of a windfall). Reliability and safety in quality, so that you get exactly what you…

"No sales to minors" If law enforcement cannot stop drug sale en masse, how do you propose that sale to minors will be prevented? The analogy with cigarettes and alcohol is not very apt: a lot of chain stores sell these (although some are pulling out: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/02/05/cvs-to-... ). It's clear that such outlets will not be open to drugs like heroin or MDMA.

In Washington (state), it is legal for people who are over 21 to buy cannabis. However there is nobody that is currently legally allowed to sell cannabis (to non-medical patients).

Nevertheless, a few groups have popped up that are willing to sell cannabis to you (buying from them is legal, selling to you is illegal, only one party in the transaction is at risk). These groups are hyper-vigilant about only selling to people who can legally purchase from them (are over 21). They do this because the officials have publicly stated that their policy is to tolerate this, as long as they are operating within the general spirit of the legalization laws.

Bars rarely card me anymore. These guys? Every single time.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#106

Post by WarDekar »

cnp wrote: post #44
JPKab wrote: post #2

This is a nice take on the reality of the middle to upper middle class drug economy. It's not all episodes of the Wire. If you're picking up ecstasy or high-grade cannabis, chances are you're doing it like this. I have to admit that I miss MDMA. I haven't touched the stuff in over 10 years, but it was awesome to use once a year or so. I'm pretty thoroughly convinced that I overcame some issues with trusting people an…

I've personally seen MDMA fix two marriages, with one session each. Its divine stuff. I'm very happy that new studies have been completed or are being planned to further explore the psychotherapeutical side of the drug. But aside from that, I agree. It's the best. No hangover (if it's pure), short duration, music sounds amazing, an amplified sense of intellectual focus and compassion, and good times with friends. You…

No hangover? Except for, let's see, a short list:

Severely depleted serotonin levels, causing irritability and possibly depression

Loss of focus, concentration, and attention (good luck programming competently the day after)

Bruxism (jaw clenching/grinding)

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#107

Post by vertex-four »

ahlatimer wrote: post #104
vertex-four wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While many may emit water vapour, I believe there's studies which show that there are non-negligible amounts of other substances in some e-cigarette vapours. I do not think there's enough scientific data to make a long-term decision; perhaps just regulating the manufacturers so that we know what's putting what into the air is enough? My personal opinion is that no matter the safety, I cannot cope with the smell of e-…

I think it's reasonable to ask vapers around you to take it elsewhere if it bothers you. Similarly, if someone is wearing a very strong perfume that bothers you, take it up with them. As a vaper, I'll generally ask first before vaping in a closed area, but if I don't, I'm totally okay with someone asking me to take it elsewhere. If you run into large groups of people who don't, those people are just dicks. That doesn…

Aye, it probably does come from that. I'll wait to see what becomes of "vaper culture" before making an opinion, but before then, I'm honestly not going to get involved either way on this process.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#108

Post by Crito »

vertex-four wrote: post #103
Crito wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that either smell nor "non-water compounds" are reasons to regulate e-cigarettes tighter than we regulate perfumes, colognes, or spray deodorants. Similar regulation for all four seems reasonable to me.

Those things don't tend to protrude more than a few inches, maximum, from a person's body, and there's an established culture whereby people will be reprimanded if they do.

Heh, tell that to the elevator in my office building. You find e-cigs offensive? I don't, but I do have those sort of problems with perfumes.

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#109

Post by neltnerb »

vertex-four wrote: post #103
Crito wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that either smell nor "non-water compounds" are reasons to regulate e-cigarettes tighter than we regulate perfumes, colognes, or spray deodorants. Similar regulation for all four seems reasonable to me.

Those things don't tend to protrude more than a few inches, maximum, from a person's body, and there's an established culture whereby people will be reprimanded if they do.

Quite a few perfumes give me a migraine with even fairly limited exposure. By the time I notice the smell enough to run away, it's usually too late. If someone is wearing axe body spray I have to immediately leave the room.

http://www.ewg.org/research/not-so-sexy

Re: Your Friendly Neighborhood Drug Dealer

#110

Post by driverdan »

cylinder wrote: post #74
smacktoward wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$360,000 tax free , remember.

It's not tax free. That much cash is useless unless it's laundered.

10% laundering "tax" is much less than the almost 40% the government would take otherwise.
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