Azelma wrote:
So you favor not letting people have access to medicines that would make them feel better because some people would abuse it? We better outlaw morphine or any other drug that can be used for other reasons.
Outrageous example on CNN. Exactly. That's not the prevailing motivation.
Morphine and other heavy-duty painkillers are prescription only. Meaning they're illegal. No one is seriously saying that we would actually treat marijuana like morphine, where it is administered in a controlled setting, according to a fixed dosage, with strict quality control regulations, and possession/trafficking/writing frivolous prescriptions is a serious crime.
If we were to do so - would you be okay with weed being legal only in the form of controlled-release pills, just as opium is manufactured into precise doses of morphine instead of being smoked in the raw? This is done so that morphine can be delivered in the way most suitable to remove pain and not just getting high, and so that the dosage can be precisely controlled.
Somehow I think proper medical delivery would really kill the enthusiasm for legalizing weed.
Whenever one hears pushers hiding behind this medicinal marijuana crap, it always just means "my junkie den is perfectly legal". It never means they're maintaining anything like a professional medical practice. Because that's not what they want.
Azelma wrote:
Tobacco is cheap? Have you ever bought cigarettes?
Assuming money were no object, how much tobacco could one individual consume? How much weed?
Azelma wrote:
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Do you really think that pot would see the same usage habits as coffee or cigarettes?
No - I think it would see the same usage habits as alcohol (why are you leaving alcohol out of your comments by the way? Seems like it's inconvenient for you to mention it....)
Because the serious side effects of alcohol break the comparison.
Azelma wrote:
Again, I think comparing weed to tobacco/caffeine is less fair than comparing it to alcohol. And what's this general outlook on life, or day-to-day behavior business? Obviously you're referring to stoners...someone who smokes weed most of the day, every day, has tremendous apathy, and produces nothing. What about people who smoke a joint from time to time? It's just the same as someone having a couple glasses of wine to mellow out after a hard days' work. The only difference is the legality.
Apathy is a dangerous social force. People should not be able to take a chemical that makes them instantly feel better about their problems.
And no I am not referring to stoners - this is even more true of people in mainstream society than it is of potheads. People who are part of mainstream society have an obligation to get upset and stay upset, so they are compelled to do something about their state of mind.
Azelma wrote:
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Conversely, if coffee or tobacco was banned, do you really think that people scraping to get by would pay $100 or w/e to their neighborhood dealer to get a few ounces of grinds?
Honestly, I think people addicted to coffee would do A LOT to get some if they could.
That what you link is comedy is case in point. There would not be an underground trade in coffee comparable to what weed is today if coffee were outlawed. Caffeine is addictive but it is not compelling the way weed is.
Azelma wrote:
Also, I don't think you have any idea how much pot actually costs.
You're right, I don't. Enlighten me.
