This turned into a semantics conversation pretty quickly!
Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
111–120 of 151 posts
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#112I'd argue that "de-prioritization" is worse than the status quo because it allows more people to feel secure using the drug but lets the state retain power of arbitrary enforcement.
Baby steps.
I remember smoking cannabis openly in front of police officers in British Columbia 20 years ago because they had a similar de prioritization policy in the city I lived in.
And now cannabis is legal federally.
It takes a long time for enforcers of unjust laws (which have persisted for decades) to learn and admit that they were wrong.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#113Do acid and molly next.
Molly’s significantly more dangerous than acid or psilocybin, no?
Ecstasy 'no more dangerous than horse riding'
Taking ecstasy is no more dangerous than riding a horse, according to the head of the Government's drug advisory body.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
The gateway drug effect is only real in a black market where an actor will likely be pushing many different drugs. If they are all available legally, and the populace is educated about them, the outcome is likely to be better than the contrary, where it's illegal, and taboo.
Exactly, places like Amsterdam where you can buy both marijuana and shrooms legally are not destroyed pits of hell either. In fact I enjoy Amsterdam a lot and it does many things much better than comparable cities in Germany. Especially catastrophically bad places like Berlin.
There are many cultural differences at play though. The only difference between Denver and Amsterdam is not height. The point I was trying to make in my post was there are many factors at play, but I believe gateway drug effect will be one of them.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Molly’s significantly more dangerous than acid or psilocybin, no?
Yes. It's trivial to overdose non-lethally on MDMA and there's a good possibility for permanent brain damage when it occurs, even just from a single overdose. It seems to mostly damage memory from what I've seen. Years ago when I knew people attending EDM festivals and researched these drugs to understand the risks, it sounded like most of the harm was caused by oxidative stress resulting from the excess serotonin re…
Further damage is done from the brain overheating - which is likely when one is energetically dancing for hours in an enclosed nightclub.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#116I quit visiting Colorado. Every resort I went to everyone was high and the service was lousy. People who are high all the time don't even understand how stupid they look and how poor of a job they're doing. Legal or not, there is a huge problem with druggies in Colorado.
Notably, we visited a chain restaurant and all the stone employees weren't clearing the tables. It was disgusting and we left. Places like that won't stay in business.
Ski rental places? Fuggetaboutit--it was like talking to Cheech & Chong. Do I trust these people are doing a good job? No.
I was no fan of the drug war, either, mind you. People need self-control.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#117I quit visiting Colorado. Every resort I went to everyone was high and the service was lousy. People who are high all the time don't even understand how stupid they look and how poor of a job they're doing. Legal or not, there is a huge problem with druggies in Colorado. Notably, we visited a chain restaurant and all the stone employees weren't clearing the tables. It was disgusting and we left. Places like that won'…
This could be a short-term symptom of something being re-introduced. Even though it has been legal in Colorado for 5 years now, the relatively slower process in neighbouring states would delay the normalising process.
Take alcohol as an example: do you think it would be acceptable for restaurant employees to be drunk in work? It seems likely this is only being momentarily tolerated in cannabis' case due to novelty.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#118I quit visiting Colorado. Every resort I went to everyone was high and the service was lousy. People who are high all the time don't even understand how stupid they look and how poor of a job they're doing. Legal or not, there is a huge problem with druggies in Colorado. Notably, we visited a chain restaurant and all the stone employees weren't clearing the tables. It was disgusting and we left. Places like that won'…
Totally get it. I think we are going through the initial phase of the weed policy implementation. Next phase will be brought about by social shaming (via yelp, facebook, in person, here, etc) and the desire for businesses to give good service (and receive $$). Then we could see some moderation and improved behavior
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#119I quit visiting Colorado. Every resort I went to everyone was high and the service was lousy. People who are high all the time don't even understand how stupid they look and how poor of a job they're doing. Legal or not, there is a huge problem with druggies in Colorado. Notably, we visited a chain restaurant and all the stone employees weren't clearing the tables. It was disgusting and we left. Places like that won'…
I've been there the last 3 years in a row and had the exact opposite experience as you.
Re: Denver decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms
#120I quit visiting Colorado. Every resort I went to everyone was high and the service was lousy. People who are high all the time don't even understand how stupid they look and how poor of a job they're doing. Legal or not, there is a huge problem with druggies in Colorado. Notably, we visited a chain restaurant and all the stone employees weren't clearing the tables. It was disgusting and we left. Places like that won'…
My wife and I moved to Colorado shortly after legalization. We hardly consume marijuana, but don't have a problem at all with people who use regularly.
Our experience has been markedly different from OP; zero downsides to legalization.
Colorado is a delightful place, though the Denver housing market is going the way of California.