If you think it's a slam dunk in either direction, you haven't really thought about it. The economics of it are not black and white.

Primate @ 27/3/2018 22:55

If you think it's a slam dunk in either direction, you haven't really thought about it. The economics of it are not black and white.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/19/news/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue/index.html

Colorado is contributing almost $200 million a year to their education system solely from the legalization and taxing of marijuana. In a state like Arkansas, that kind of money could go a long way to bringing our education system out of the bottom 2 or 3 states pretty quickly.


If people are going to do the drugs anyway, you might as well legalize them (to make them safer -- stricter manufacturing standards, for example) and tax them, and get some benefit to society instead of financing local gangs and foreign drug cartel leaders. Just the act of legalizing pot would go a long ways to making the border between Mexico and the U.S. a whole lot safer place to be.

lel this is pretty apt timing.

Last night I hung out with one of my buddies I haven't seen since high school
Me and my buddy scooped him up from his crib
We were gonna toke up (smoke some cannabis, thats for u old folk) at my other pal's apartment but he wanted to go downtown to get some coke, alright whatever. My buddy wasn't at the apartment yet anyways
So he offers to share and I'm like fuck it, I've done coke a few times before, it's around a 40 minute ride back so it'd be a good way to kill the time

So turns out it wasn't coke...it was fucking meth
It burned like hell going down, I should have known when I saw some weird ass crystals/bigger particles
So I've been up for over 24 hours, it's the shittest thing ever
I read Sausage Island AS & HvV all last night cuz I couldn't fucking sleep
Fuck this guy, I'm not talking to him anymore
Also never putting something up my nose again, fuck that shit

Primate @ 27/3/2018 21:22

I mean, do you folks seriously think you should be able to go to Wal-Mart and buy meth, coke, and heroin over the counter. Do you not see an even bigger epidemic than we have now?

The fentanyl epidemic is due to Oxycontin distribution getting tightened up. Led people to heroin and people cut the heroin with fentanyl which is much easier to OD on. It's better if someone knows doseage and consistently what they are putting into their body then from the streets where there is no accountability regulation.

Also there are steps to this. Full blown legalization would never just happen. The first step is decriminalization of all drugs, they should be a civil matter first. Next that should transition into no penalty for possession. Criminalizing drug use is terrible.

I voted all of them, since I think all drugs should be legal to buy / have, addicts being treated like criminals and added to the legal slave labor is pretty fucked up IMO.

I think most of them should be regulated and available recreationally (some with certain limits, since they're fine for you unless you abuse them), for reasons stated by others.
Some of them, like heroin, probably shouldn't.

Igor @ 28/3/2018 0:43

lel this is pretty apt timing. Last night I hung out with one of my buddies I haven't seen since high school Me and my buddy scooped him up from his crib We were gonna toke up (smoke some cannabis, thats for u old folk) at my other pal's apartment but he wanted to go downtown to get some coke, alright whatever. My buddy wasn't at the apartment yet anyways So he offers to share and I'm like fuck it, I've done coke a few times before, it's around a 40 minute ride back so it'd be a good way to kill the time So turns out it wasn't coke...it was fucking meth It burned like hell going down, I should have known when I saw some weird ass crystals/bigger particles So I've been up for over 24 hours, it's the shittest thing ever I read Sausage Island AS & HvV all last night cuz I couldn't fucking sleep Fuck this guy, I'm not talking to him anymore Also never putting something up my nose again, fuck that shit

The future of America is bright.

Igor @ 27/3/2018 23:46

Primate @ 27/3/2018 21:22 I mean, do you folks seriously think you should be able to go to Wal-Mart and buy meth, coke, and heroin over the counter. Do you not see an even bigger epidemic than we have now? The fentanyl epidemic is due to Oxycontin distribution getting tightened up. Led people to heroin and people cut the heroin with fentanyl which is much easier to OD on. It's better if someone knows doseage and consistently what they are putting into their body then from the streets where there is no accountability regulation. Also there are steps to this. Full blown legalization would never just happen. The first step is decriminalization of all drugs, they should be a civil matter first. Next that should transition into no penalty for possession. Criminalizing drug use is terrible.

The opiate epidemic is the case against legalization, not for it, goofball. It's wildly addictive. Enough so that even under medical supervision we have built a nation of addicts. Take away that supervision and we're living on the set of the walking dead.

Criminalization hasn't worked well, aside from running manufacturing away from one state and into another, it hasn't been much help. Then again, it has been horribly managed and carried out, especially on the federal level.

In my opinion make everything legal. If you want to ruin your life have at it. Sign a waiver say your family can't sue and enjoy.

Spin @ 27/3/2018 23:29

Primate @ 27/3/2018 22:55 If you think it's a slam dunk in either direction, you haven't really thought about it. The economics of it are not black and white. http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/19/news/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue/index.html Colorado is contributing almost $200 million a year to their education system solely from the legalization and taxing of marijuana. In a state like Arkansas, that kind of money could go a long way to bringing our education system out of the bottom 2 or 3 states pretty quickly. If people are going to do the drugs anyway, you might as well legalize them (to make them safer -- stricter manufacturing standards, for example) and tax them, and get some benefit to society instead of financing local gangs and foreign drug cartel leaders. Just the act of legalizing pot would go a long ways to making the border between Mexico and the U.S. a whole lot safer place to be.

How has industry in Colorado fared? Crime rates? Traffic fatalities? ER visits related to overdose?

Illegal pot is still around in Colorado, even more than it was before. Drug arrests are up, not down. The cartels have a presence in the legal and illegal sides of the trade.

There hasn't been enough data to say if they are making or losing money, and that's just little old harmless pot.

Ahoda @ 28/3/2018 5:37

In my opinion make everything legal. If you want to ruin your life have at it. Sign a waiver say your family can't sue and enjoy.

Who supports all of the out of work addicts when their numbers grow? It's not just their life it has an impact on.

Primate @ 28/3/2018 6:48

Ahoda @ 28/3/2018 5:37 In my opinion make everything legal. If you want to ruin your life have at it. Sign a waiver say your family can't sue and enjoy. Who supports all of the out of work addicts when their numbers grow? It's not just their life it has an impact on.

fuck em

How do you accidentally do meth? Get a hold of your life, man!

Primate @ 28/3/2018 8:47

Spin @ 27/3/2018 23:29 Primate @ 27/3/2018 22:55 If you think it's a slam dunk in either direction, you haven't really thought about it. The economics of it are not black and white. http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/19/news/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue/index.html Colorado is contributing almost $200 million a year to their education system solely from the legalization and taxing of marijuana. In a state like Arkansas, that kind of money could go a long way to bringing our education system out of the bottom 2 or 3 states pretty quickly. If people are going to do the drugs anyway, you might as well legalize them (to make them safer -- stricter manufacturing standards, for example) and tax them, and get some benefit to society instead of financing local gangs and foreign drug cartel leaders. Just the act of legalizing pot would go a long ways to making the border between Mexico and the U.S. a whole lot safer place to be. How has industry in Colorado fared? Crime rates? Traffic fatalities? ER visits related to overdose? Illegal pot is still around in Colorado, even more than it was before. Drug arrests are up, not down. The cartels have a presence in the legal and illegal sides of the trade. There hasn't been enough data to say if they are making or losing money, and that's just little old harmless pot.

What are your sources?

The simple act of decriminalization of personal possession made things much better in places like Portugal. Because addiction is not only the substance's fault, but includes a whole social context. And by removing a layer of marginalization, the user has a more solid basis to manage the risks.

Igor @ 28/3/2018 5:46

The fentanyl epidemic is due to

The fentanyl epidemic is due to the simple fact that laboratory drugs are far easier to manufacture at scale than protecting disconnected valleys of poppies ESPECIALLY when America puts boots on the ground and pays warlords to stomp your agriculture.

Yeah, I'm talking about Afghanistan. The war there put a real dent in opium production and absolutely trashed a lot of the smuggling routes through Turkey into Europe. But after American troops drew down, poppy production spiked and was actually at an all-time high last year. But is any of that making it to the US? Not really. Most of it comes from Mexico and Columbia, who were more than happy to shift production from coca to meet demand. You can draw a very thick line from the Aghan War to the rise of the cartels in Mexico.

You can also draw a thick line to the industrialization of fentanyl production in China, which accounts for the vast majority of North American supply. Every port on the Pacific is facing a crisis, most notably LA and Vancouver. We are way past this being simple diversion from medical supply. We are to the point where fentanyl and even carfentanil are far stronger and much cheaper than other street opiods, with predictable results.

We are also dealing with substances that are not comparable to substances like alcohol or tobacco or cannabis. The lethality is categorically different, so arguments to legalization have to account for that first. Same goes for arguments to prohibition, especially if that's backed by the casual initiation of supply disruptions that caused all this in the first place. Yeah, the Taliban were making bank on opium. Big whoop, that was the devil we knew, and now look. You think China is gonna stop? They don't fucking care, and neither does Russia or North Korea (who are starting to do the same).

Blame the neocons.