| Subject: Re: Summer's over, time to discuss marijuana legalisation |
Author:
Siannach
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Date Posted: 13:45:13 09/18/02 Wed
In reply to:
Astrid
's message, "Re: Summer's over, time to discuss marijuana legalisation" on 18:01:25 09/06/02 Fri
>I dunno, Michelle, I have used pot, alcohol, Gravol,
>cough medicine. Of all these, pot affected me the
>least. Pot affected my perceptions but didn't make
>groggy, sleepy, uncoordinated, etc.
>
I would suggest that you just didn't do enough. And are we just talking pot in the leaf form, or does legalization of marijuana include other forms like THC, oil or hashish? Because the stones you get on each of those is very different. Pot itself is a pretty light buzz, even on fairly high quality, but hash has a very heavy buzz, which I would describe as groggy and sleepy. Much more so than alcohol. I'm not exactly sure of where I stand on the legalization debate. I did it and sold it. It was a huge part of my life from age 15 to 23. But I'm not sure if I think it would be good to legalize it. I do know that I'd rather have a bunch of stoned people on the road than a bunch of drunk people. But since both would be legal, you'd have a much higher percentage of people who had used both substances simultaneously, and even in much smaller doses, that (excuse my language)fucks you up much more than using either on its own. Granted people on both are out there, but it would be a much more widespread problem if it were legal I imagine. I'd be ok with it if we criminalized alcohol consumption and replaced it with legalized marijuana though:-). I think alcohol is definitely worse. Societally. But there are things to be concerned about with legalized marijuana. Accessibility will increase for certain segments of the population (not for others of course), marijuana has measurable long term effects in terms of motivation and paranoia. Tolerance also decreases for some people over time and it can cause heart conditions and panic disorders in people who have been heavy users.
It would have been nice for me not to have been risking my future with a criminal record (what would I do when I wanted to volunteer in my kids school now had I actually gotten caught?), but I can't really see it as overly beneficial in many other ways. Sure it would cost our legal system and penal system less money. Sure we could charge GST. Sure it would stop us form facing national disgrace at international snowboarding events, but I don't know if there is any other real clear cut advantage to legalisation. I know I don't want my 16 year old purchasing it legally. If it was illegal, certain kids won't touch it. Others don't care. But even if just for the kids that it would make a difference to, I think it might be worth not legalising. However, I am fully in favour of legalisation for terminally ill patients who use it for pain relief. Recreationally, I don't think so.
Whether it would anger the US, I have no idea. I never even considered that before to tell the truth. In Alberta, we don't talk about legalisation as much as it might be talked about in BC. I rather suspect that it might look like a bigger possibilty to people there than it does to people in other parts of the country.
Siannach
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