When recreational drugs are legal...

[Makalakumu]

Thought this perspective was interesting. Perhaps weed is very different from alcohol.

http://www.10thplanetwatch.com/2008/06/eddie-bravo-marijuana-martial-arts-master/

You didn’t start training stoned until 2003, five years after you began smoking weed. Why was that?
I was afraid of training jiu-jitsu stoned because I was usually the smallest guy in the gym. I thought the weed would make me relax while I trained. I would walk into the gym and drink a Red Bull because at that point I thought I needed to be extra wiry and aggressive and alert.

I thought I couldn’t roll stoned. I thought it would be impossible. At first I didn’t think I could do anything stoned. I didn’t think I could drive stoned. I didn’t think I could anything stoned except stay at home at night and order food and watch TV and write down these crazy ideas I was coming up with.

Then I met one of the top American jiu-jitsu players and I had a talk with him at the World Championships in Brazil, and he told me that he trains jiu-jitsu stoned all the time and it makes him flow better. He said he felt like a ninja when rolled stoned, but I didn’t believe him.

Eventually, I did start rolling stoned when I opened up my own school. My classes are at 8:30 p.m. Up until then I had only been a day trainer; I had never waked and baked so it was really easy for me to avoid mixing my weed and my training. I would only smoke weed at night, and I trained during the day. Since day one of teaching I’ve taught every night class totally baked. That guy was right, you do flow better stoned.

 

[Steve]

Which brings us back to marijuana. Are you saying that marijuana has the same or greater pain relieving properties without making you 'loopy'?

The pain I have is largely a result of muscle spasms. Typically, I'm prescribed vicodin and flexeril. As I've said earlier, I haven't smoked weed in over 20 years, but it's said to help specifically with muscle spasms. If the pain I experience is a result of muscle spasms, particularly in the periformis muscle, I'd much rather give weed a shot before taking more muscle relaxants and an opiate based pain killer. Just saying, the option would be nice.

 

[rickster]

Marijuana can reduce nausea and loss of appetite for people who are undergoing chemotherapy and can actually counteract many of the side effects of the drugs used to fight cancer. It has also been shown to slow or stop the growth of certain types of cancer.
.

Marijuana has loss of appetite?

 

[Steve]

Marijuana has loss of appetite?

LOL. No. The opposite. People who are undergoing chemotherapy, or are taking medications for things such as AIDS, can have a loss of appetite. Weed has been reported to help with this.

 

[rickster]

LOL. No. The opposite. People who are undergoing chemotherapy, or are taking medications for things such as AIDS, can have a loss of appetite. Weed has been reported to help with this.

Ah, just checking to see if I read it right......

 

[ballen0351]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Unable to rein in hundreds of medical pot shops that blossomed around the nation's second-biggest metropolis, the Los Angeles City Council banned them Tuesday until the state's highest court weighs in.
The 14-0 vote drew an angry, profanity-laced response from some medical marijuana advocates who attended the council meeting.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was prepared to sign the ordinance, according to his spokeswoman, Vicki Curry. The storefront ban would then go into effect after 30 days.
In the interim, letters will be sent to as many as 900 dispensaries advising them of the ban.
The city has fumbled with its medical marijuana laws for years, trying to provide safe and affordable access to the drug for legitimate patients while addressing worries by neighborhood groups that streets were being overrun by dispensaries and pot users.
"Relief is on the way," said Councilman Jose Huizar, who introduced the so-called "gentle ban."

 

[Makalakumu]

More government control of the free market. Let's shut down 900 businesses in the middle of a recession.

 

[zDom]

I'm sure other communities will appreciate the tax revenue from those businesses.

If tax is not collected for those transactions, it should be.

 

[ballen0351]

I'm sure other communities will appreciate the tax revenue from those businesses.

If tax is not collected for those transactions, it should be.

I'm not sure why the link for the article didn't post as well but the story also said like 90 other California cities have similar laws and several counties in California have banned it as well. So it seems not all is rainbows and candy canes in the world of legal marijuana

 

[Steve]

A lot of the issues with "legal marijuana" stem from it not being actually "legal." It's in a limbo land in between controlled and illegal. It's not quite a prescription drug, or you could get it from a pharmacy and not a "dispensary." It's not quite illegal... it's just in a place where there is a demand and people are looking for a way to bend and stretch the situation. I'm not surprised that "medical" marijuana is causing issues. It's a farce, like DADT... a half assed attempt to appease both sides.

 

[Makalakumu]

A lot of the issues with "legal marijuana" stem from it not being actually "legal." It's in a limbo land in between controlled and illegal. It's not quite a prescription drug, or you could get it from a pharmacy and not a "dispensary." It's not quite illegal... it's just in a place where there is a demand and people are looking for a way to bend and stretch the situation. I'm not surprised that "medical" marijuana is causing issues. It's a farce, like DADT... a half assed attempt to appease both sides.

That's a huge problem with medical pot. It's not honestly dealing with the fact that a demand to use this stuff exists by a large cross section of people. So, all kinds of excuses get invented to smoke a joint. I would much rather people deal with the fact that people want to use pot for medical reason and for recreational reasons.

 

[granfire]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA.....

The fear mongering backfires.....

 

[ballen0351]

Another Harmless pot head:
PORTLAND, Ore. - A man who was shot dead by police is believed to have been involved in an armed robbery at a medical marijuana grow, a shooting where shots were fired at a car and an incident involving menacing with a gun.
The officer-involved shooting happened Saturday afternoon in North Portland after police tracked down a suspect vehicle they believed had been involved in the crimes.The armed robbery happened July 23 at a home at Southeast 104th and Division. Police say three suspects stole some marijuana plants at gunpoint and one of them fired off a shot at the house as they were leaving.
The man who lives at the home told KATU News that he grows 10 marijuana plants for one patient. He said he caught the three suspects, confronted them and that's when the shot was fired.

http://www.kval.com/news/local/Port...-was-involved-in-a-crime-spree-164214656.html

 

[rickster]

Another Harmless pot head:
PORTLAND, Ore. - A man who was shot dead by police is believed to have been involved in an armed robbery at a medical marijuana grow, a shooting where shots were fired at a car and an incident involving menacing with a gun.
The officer-involved shooting happened Saturday afternoon in North Portland after police tracked down a suspect vehicle they believed had been involved in the crimes.The armed robbery happened July 23 at a home at Southeast 104th and Division. Police say three suspects stole some marijuana plants at gunpoint and one of them fired off a shot at the house as they were leaving.
The man who lives at the home told KATU News that he grows 10 marijuana plants for one patient. He said he caught the three suspects, confronted them and that's when the shot was fired.

http://www.kval.com/news/local/Port...-was-involved-in-a-crime-spree-164214656.html

The robbers may have not been hardcore users, but people ooking to cash in

Hardcore potheads sit around getting high watching tube

 

[Makalakumu]

The robbers may have not been hardcore users, but people ooking to cash in

Hardcore potheads sit around getting high watching tube

The irony is that they were probably stealing in order to support a different illegal habit. Both of which are alleviated by legalization.

 

[ballen0351]

The irony is that they were probably stealing in order to support a different illegal habit. Both of which are alleviated by legalization.

Funny I didnt see that part in the story

 

[Tgace]

The habit of wanting dope but wanting to pay for it....

 

[Tez3]

Making something legal doesn't make the paying for it any easier. If addicts don't have the money to buy it from legal dealers they will still commit crimes to get it. Fairly obviously really. Addicts with money and/or a wage will always get what they want legal or not.

 

[Steve]

Making something legal doesn't make the paying for it any easier. If addicts don't have the money to buy it from legal dealers they will still commit crimes to get it. Fairly obviously really. Addicts with money and/or a wage will always get what they want legal or not.

True in theory, but in spite of their high price, we don't see as many people doing this over tobacco or alcohol. It happens, but much less frequently than we see for illicit drugs.

 

[ballen0351]

Making something legal doesn't make the paying for it any easier. If addicts don't have the money to buy it from legal dealers they will still commit crimes to get it. Fairly obviously really. Addicts with money and/or a wage will always get what they want legal or not.

Thats the point the pro-drug folks seem to forget when they claim making drug legal will lower crime. If I need to take you DVD player to buy my pot now making it legal wont all of a sudden make me have money to go buy it Im still going to need to take your DVD player. At least with Drugs being illegal we can order people into rehab and try to get them help. Once they are legal you loose that power and now the same poor "harmless" drug users are still in jail only now its for theft and robbery and not possession of CDS