Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 238 posts

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#111

Post by hutzlibu »

lisivka wrote: post #81
Mz wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's always been this "gateway drug" argument around pot I have studied ...bunches of stuff. And I believe a huge factor is the fact that marijuana is illegal , so you cross an important legal threshold when you try it and that can become a slippery slope. I think details like that probably matter more than the substance per se. Addiction is hard to solve in part due to shame and all kinds of social reinforcement.…

Crossing streets on red light is illegal too. Enjoy it.

I do. Because I can go faster wherever I want to go and laugh at the people who stan at an empty road...

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#112

Post by smsm42 »

winter_blue wrote: post #62
anon987 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's to hoping people realize and deal with the real gateway drug: Prescription opiates

Opioids are actually much less harmful than other stuff, even alcohol. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, i.e. it literally kills brain cells. On the other hand, everyone's bodies produces opioids naturally. Endorphins are opioids, and the rush you get when you work out at a gym, is you getting mildly high on the natural opioid, endorphin (whose name is short for "endogenous morphine"). Synthetic and natural opioids have the s…

> everyone's bodies produces opioids naturally

That's one of the dangers of opioids - once external opioids get into the system, it adjusts for them and if they are withdrawn, everything breaks down. Of course, if you are seriously ill, then your other choice - e.g. suffering severe debilitating pain or depression - is worse, so you choose lesser of evils. But that doesn't make opioids something nice and safe.

With alcohol, for most people usage in typical recreational doses is completely safe. I've been using alcohol recreationally for decades without any problems, and so did many people I know. I suspect doing the same with opioids would end very badly (and I'm not inclined to test that hypothesis and don't recommend to anyone).

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#113

Post by smsm42 »

simplexion wrote: post #64
david-given wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ban oxygen. Approximately 93% of all people who have ever consumed it, even once , have died.

Oxygen is necessary to you living... sugar not so much.

Sugars are as necessary for your body to work as oxygen is [1]. Of course, you don't have to take them as refined sugar, there are much better ways.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose#Energy_source

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#114

Post by [deleted] »

nostromo wrote: post #55
cnp wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's to hoping people realize and deal with the real gateway drug: Alcohol, that great destroyer of worlds, marriages, cultures, physical health and particularly the brain, time (hangovers, boredom), coping strategies (emotional pain), real pain (coping strategies), poor decision making (you know it), and so on. Start here, and come into it with a few entrenched problems, and sure enough you'll find yourself elsewh…

Alcohol has costs, but it also has benefits. Looking at only one side of the equation doesn't make for fair analysis.

[deleted]

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#115

Post by tamana »

cnp wrote: post #17
anon987 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's to hoping people realize and deal with the real gateway drug: Prescription opiates

Here's to hoping people realize and deal with the real gateway drug: Alcohol, that great destroyer of worlds, marriages, cultures, physical health and particularly the brain, time (hangovers, boredom), coping strategies (emotional pain), real pain (coping strategies), poor decision making (you know it), and so on. Start here, and come into it with a few entrenched problems, and sure enough you'll find yourself elsewh…

What would happen to those rankings of meth and heroin were sold at every grocery store?

Alcohol takes a lot of blame because it is the most accessible and cheapest drug.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#116

Post by tamana »

winter_blue wrote: post #62
anon987 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's to hoping people realize and deal with the real gateway drug: Prescription opiates

Opioids are actually much less harmful than other stuff, even alcohol. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, i.e. it literally kills brain cells. On the other hand, everyone's bodies produces opioids naturally. Endorphins are opioids, and the rush you get when you work out at a gym, is you getting mildly high on the natural opioid, endorphin (whose name is short for "endogenous morphine"). Synthetic and natural opioids have the s…

Why so you insinuate that stuff your body produces is good to consume? That's a naturalistic fallacy.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#118

Post by jonknee »

conceit wrote: post #95
gregpilling wrote: post #85

Another reason not mentioned in the article is quality. Domestically produced hydroponically grown marijuana is so much better than the Mexican weed. I live 60 miles from Mexico in Tucson Arizona, we see a lot of it around here. The quality difference is huge - compare your favorite craft brew with Bud Light that has been left in the sun too long. I had a friend give me an ounce of Mexican weed last year. That is a f…

Since when is the sun worse than indoor lighting?

Since advanced indoor grow operations existed. The Sun is better only in price. Indoors you can control all the variables and have a consistently grown product on a schedule. It's far too expensive for most crops, but marijuana isn't most crops.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#119

Post by tamana »

wildmusings wrote: post #106
jqm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm of the opinion people should be able to do what they want. And certainly drugs being illegal causes more problems than it solves. That being said, here is a case to think about. When I was in my early 20's (20 years ago) I got a job in Phoenix AZ working on a concrete crew. We were building poured in place buildings (something like big box store size). First we would pour the floor. Then the walls on top of the f…

Here's how I look at it: it's a trade-off like any other. There are people with unsustainable work practices in every job. It could be long hours, little sleep, performance enhancing drugs, etc. If it makes them deliver better work, they'll get rewarded for it in their career, but they're most certainly suffering consequences elsewhere. Family strain, health problems, emotional drain, loneliness. The temptation is st…

Because rational people know that people aren't always rational.

Are you also opposed to those medians and guardrails on highways that impinge on your freedom to drive off the road when you so choose?

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#120

Post by tamana »

simplexion wrote: post #60
cnp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/02/10/australia-medical-mari... > The bill that would legalize cultivation of Australia medical marijuana is guaranteed to become law, with the main opposition party immediately pledging support

This is annoying though because it is nothing more than a step towards legalisation based on pseudo-science (since there isn't any great evidence for the efficacy of cannabis in treating anything). Why can't we go straight to legalisation without all the wasted time and money used on the whole "medical" cannabis step?

It's a path that worked in USA, so (social) science endorses this policy path
Post reply on HN