what happened to the marijuana law in cali

[Rogue]

San Jose California:
It should be decriminalized because it's unproductive. Also because 99% of the people that use it, use it just to get high and don't need it for any medical use. So there you go, 99% of the people that take it, take it just to get high, and become more unproductive because of it. So why should it be legalized with those two factors in place?

I'm confused by your use of the word 'decriminalized' in the same breath as 'legalized.' I think you meant to say "It should be criminalized because it's unproductive."

Rational criminal prohibition of behavior needs moral turpitude. Smoking, baking, or vaporizing marijuana doesn't have moral turpitude. Weed, unlike beer, doesn't cause bar fights. Weed, unlike beer, doesn't cause reckless driving. Weed, unlike alcohol or tobacco, doesn't kill people. Nobody has ever robbed a bank with a need for their next fix of Mary Jane. The only time that laws should be concerned is when a behavior harms other people, because your personal disagreement with a behavior isn't rational justification in itself to criminalize behavior. Society is not your employer who sets work productivity standards. Society isn't your nanny to dictate what foods to eat for breakfast, how to brush your teeth, how to organize your laundry, and what's the best underwear garment to wear. We (at least I) don't live in China. People have the exclusive providence to will their want with their bodies as long as they don't harm other people. Marijuana is not a drug of physical addiction, the amount of 'addiction' is comparable to sugar or caffeine; the only people who go through 'marijuana treatment' are people who were arrested for possession and had the Hobson's choice between treatment or jail.

And yes, I'm stoned right now. I know you couldn't tell because my vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and intelligent reasoning abilities remain sharp. I have proven to you how smart things can be spoken while high.

Myth: Marijuana Causes an Amotivational Syndrome. Marijuana makes users passive, apathetic, and uninterested in the future. Students who use marijuana become underachievers and workers who use marijuana become unproductive.

Fact: For twenty-five years, researchers have searched for a marijuana-induced amotivational syndrome and have failed to find it. People who are intoxicated constantly, regardless of the drug, are unlikely to be productive members of society. There is nothing about marijuana specifically that causes people to lose their drive and ambition. In laboratory studies, subjects given high doses of marijuana for several days or even several weeks exhibit no decrease in work motivation or productivity. Among working adults, marijuana users tend to earn higher wages than non-users. College students who use marijuana have the same grades as nonusers. Among high school students, heavy use is associated with school failure, but school failure usually comes first.

Himmelstein, J.L. The Strange Career of Marihuana: Politics and Ideology of Drug Control in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.
Mellinger, G.D. et al. “Drug Use, Academic Performance, and Career Indecision:  Longitudinal Data in Search of a Model.” Longitudinal Research on Drug Use:  Empirical Findings and Methodological Issues. Ed. D.B. Kandel. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1978. 157-177.
Pope, H.G. et al., “Drug Use and Life Style Among College Undergraduates in 1989:  A Comparison With 1969 and 1978,” American Journal of Psychiatry 147 (1990): 998-1001.

 

[bigjohnson]

It DOES, however, make you care less about productivity.

So does a few shots of Basil Haydens. So what?

 

[Rogue]

So you proved that you can type a post high. So? Weed doesn't make it harder to type up a forum post and I never assumed it did (I've been high on here tons of times). It DOES, however, make you care less about productivity.

Why do my production numbers increase? Because it concentrates my attention span with cerebral tasks. Stoners experience a time warp where what feels like 10 seconds is only two seconds and 10-15 minutes is only two minutes, because you're paying more attention to things. I have proven with science which you cannot refute that stoners are no less productive members of society. What have you proven?

 

[bigjohnson]

"It makes me feel lazy" is not a good reason to outlaw something. Lest we forget, we don't make things legal in America, everything is legal until we make it ILLEGAL.

 

[TheBucketOfTruth]

A good compromise for MJ would be to selectively ban the smoking of it in crowded public places and near buildings you do not own. Fully legalize it in personal residences and on private property.

In that scenario, the consensus of the public (who do not like to smell weed all day) would get their way in busy public places, and those who like weed could enjoy it in parks and on private property.

Using this method, the majority get their way but the minority are protected.

I think if cannabis is legal that one should be able to smoke it anywhere where tobacco is allowed to be smoked. Second hand smoke from cigarettes is more harmful than cannabis and IMO cigarette smoke smells way worse.

 

[maqnetik]

federally its still illegal no matter what any particular state has to say-- which means you can still go to prison for the rest of your life if someone really feels like making an example of you.

the fact that its a victimless crime has nothing to do with the fact that youre using a foreign substance to fill a void in your soul you should be working to eliminate.

:yawn:

 

[Darth]

"If it were to be legal people would be smoking it out in public. I can't imagine how bad it would be on my college campus."


I agree. It would be horrendous.

 

[bigjohnson]

federally its still illegal no matter what any particular state has to say-- which means you can still go to prison for the rest of your life if someone really feels like making an example of you.

the fact that its a victimless crime has nothing to do with the fact that youre using a foreign substance to fill a void in your soul you should be working to eliminate.

:yawn:

Whatever. I guess you never drink alcohol or caffeine. As for Federal crimes ... I've read the constitution, I don't see where this authority comes from. I doubt Joe user has to worry, the Feds will be going after bigger fish.

 

[Rogue]

There is a thing called fun. People do drugs because the chemical experience makes them feel good. Sometimes with harder drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, and beer, the pursuit of feeling good can spiral out of control and lead to long-term problems or serious complications, but marijuana isn't a harder drug. Anything which can make people feel good can be misused and abused by depressed and broken personalities, but people can feel good about themselves and have fun without the need of psychoanalysis. THC is a 'foreign' chemical but it's coincidentally the exact same weight density as your natural cannabinoid receptor system in your nervous system, so the actual reaction to THC is precisely how your body was 'designed' to respond, which you cannot say for any other drug, prescription or illicit. THC actually helps regulate your neurotransmitters and may be neuroprotective in the prevention of neurological disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, protects against beer-induced damage, prevents lung cancer, so vaporized weed (99% pure THC with all the carcinogens left behind) can be a good idea even if you're currently healthy. Preventative medicine is the best medicine.

There's the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. In my opinion, you can violate the letter of the law but remain truthful to the spirit (intent) of the law. When I come across a red traffic light and nobody's around, in any direction, I will blow though it after making sure nobody is nearby.

 

[Outsider]

You got to differentiate your correlation between marijuana and lazy people. Lazy people would be lazy without marijuana. It's not like it's "marijuana's fault" certain people are lazy. It might just be lazy people are attracted to marijuana. Then why ban it, to punish them for being lazy?

"You can't have your marijuana because you don't have a job, but go ahead and have another menthol and 12 pack."

By the way saying that alcohol does not make people unproductive is crazy! Do you know how many alcoholics don't work because they're drunk all the time?

 

[Rogue]

That's true, but it makes you slowwwwww.

I will agree with you that weed slows things down, but where does that leave us? The only societal concern should be if and when impairments were harming other people. Beer is legal but we don't outright criminalize drinking beer because a few people decide to drink & drive drunk. Free societies allows flexibility for people to exercise personal responsibility in their decisions. Marijuana is the most commonly found illicit drug in traffic accidents (prescription drugs are probably even more common), but statistics on marijuana traffic accidents are unreliable because marijuana metabolites are inactive (non-impairing) and can remain in detectable amounts in urine tests for many weeks, long after impairment has cleared up. Almost every traffic accident fatality in which marijuana is found also includes alcohol—it's beer which is causing the accidents. Smoking while driving drunk is very dangerous and most people like myself support regulatory restrictions similar to current drinking laws: minimum age restrictions and driving prohibitions.

Other than operating heavy machinery, I can't seem to think of any activities in which impairment would be a societal concern.