420 Policies and Laws

[shikitohno]

GoVegan, not sure if you're being serious or not, but if you are, here's why I disagree with you. True, there's no convenient way of determining when last you smoked. Blood tests for concentration of THC and the substances it breaks down into can give a quite accurate picture of when you last smoked and how much, but they simply aren't workable right now. Maybe someone can make one of those meters like diabetics have, where you get result in a couple of second from pricking your finger.

That being said, Cali doesn't really care. What's more important to them is, whether you make weed legal or not, if I'm driving high, I'm going to be driving high. If they make it legal, at least they're getting some tax money off me.

For those saying the rest of us have no clue what cali bud is like, because it's THC content is way higher, I have one word for you: hash. No matter how dank your stuff is out there, you're not going to get 70-90% THC content like you do with good hash. A quarter of hash between three people, I'm still sane and capable of functioning as a normal human being.

Plus, guys talking about growing being expensive, you're all assuming everyone's going to grow indoors. It can be prohibitively expensive to grow indoors with a hydro setup. You can still have some nice tres if you plant them outside, and take care of them properly. You have to watch out for pests and deer and put down all the same fertilizer/nutrients. But, on the plus side of it, you've got a natural grow lamp with built in timers.

[sgreger1]

No, No and No! - there is no accurate test around to tell when someone last used marijuana. It can stay in your system for 30 days or even longer. There are lawyers out there who salivate over defending marijuana based DUI'S because it is impossible to prove if they were actually stoned when they were driving. It will also open up lawsuits against employers who dismiss their employees for a positive pee test. You cannot prove when someone smoked it. Having said that, I could care less what people do in their homes and would support this law if it were written in a way to help keep our roads and workplaces safe. For example, if you are driving erratically and you have THC in your system, it will be a DUI period! We already have enough problems with alcohol. The legalization of marijuana will just make it worse. This will be just like the medical marijuana issue. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the law was very poorly written and people get marijuana prescribed for any medical condition known to man.

Employers will no longer be allowed to require you don't piss hot for marijuana. It's like Alcohol, you can use it at home, but can't be intoxicated at work. no diff than alcohol.

As for DUI's they routinely give out DUI's for smoking pot. They can't test blood content or prove you were on it at the time but it seems to work in court today so i don't imagine that will change. Also i'm sure they will develop some way to test for it on the spot once it's legalized.

[sgreger1]

Shikitomo,

Hash is semi big here, same with kief and gels etc. Hash gives me a different high so not the same thing but that may just be me. Here we put hash on top of our bowls.


I've grown before and outdoor growing takes a lot of effort, and hydroponics takes even more effort, but it's worth it. At the end of the day most people wouldn't grow their own. You can grow your own tobacco too but few do it.
Its a fun project though and some will. I doubt it will change the price much, as growing your own isn't an avenue I imagine a whole lot of people will take after a while. Easier to just buy it already dank for 10-20$.



And re: the dipping snus is hash oil etc, I think that would be a great project, someone should try it (or pay me to do it for you lol)

[ladysnus]

Hey, I watched a really good flick the other night. it's called
"The Union" you gotta see it, I think everyone in America should see this.
Tells the truth about MJ, medical research, gov lies over the yrs.
fabulous!

[truthwolf1]

Hey, I watched a really good flick the other night. it's called
"The Union" you gotta see it, I think everyone in America should see this.
Tells the truth about MJ, medical research, gov lies over the yrs.
fabulous!

Just watched the trailer!
That whole clip about private prisons is scary on a lot of levels.
Legalization is coming and if anything will probably be similar to the Holland model.

On a deeper thought I think the visions/thoughts and spiritualism that comes with using hallucinogenics is the governments biggest fear.

[Owens187]

Hash is semi big here, same with kief and gels etc. Hash gives me a different high so not the same thing but that may just be me. Here we put hash on top of our bowls.

Word.

[sgreger1]

Lol, only in CA could you manage to smoke a $100 snap with top notch dank, hash on top, kief sprinkled on that, garnish with some thc gell, and then smoke it out of a double chamber ROOR with laser etched down-stem and the double bubbler attachment.

[GoVegan]

Employers will still test for marijuana use because they are required to by their insurance companies. There was a case a few years ago involving a man who got fired after testing positive for marijuana even though he provided his employer with verification that he had a prescription for it. I don't remember the exact case but there is a similar case here.

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/w...pot_users.html

Now, on the other extreme just google marijuana DUI and you will see that there are literally thousands of lawyers that specialize in getting people, for a price, off of their DUI charges by fighting the validity of the test results. Open any paper and you will also see articles about innocent people dying when they were hit by some driver under the influence of drugs. I am not against people smoking marijuana in the privacy of their homes but I am afraid that legalizing marijuana will only make a bad problem even worse.

Again, if the law were to say that if you are driving erratically AND test positive for marijuana (regardless of when you used) you are guilty of a DUI and will lose your license, I will vote for it. The marijuana laws are very lax in California already and legalizing it will do nothing but provide more lawyers with jobs, provide our state with tax revenue and kill more innocent people.

[sgreger1]

I think few employers would still test people after it's been legalized for a while. It will start affecting their ability to hire. It's like if they said you cannot drink for the last 30 days, there'd be no work force. The insurance rules will change.



As for the DUI thing, that's retarded vegan cummon, what if i'm swerving because I dropped my cell phone and I smoked weed 29 days ago, I have ot pay the $10,000 fine, take classes and lose my license for a year, all while never being able to get cheap insurance ever again or be employed places that require a clean DMV record?

I am telling you, the tech will be developed and it will be possible to test for on the spot thc levels, they would make this their first priority. They already have DRE's (Drug recognition programs) that can test for stuff on the spot and be accurate. These will be issued to CA cops and the tech will get better over time, the DUI thing is not the issue if you ask me.


It's no different than prescription drugs. Should we outlaw prescription drugs? If I took 10 vicodin it's equally as hard to prove it, it's at the discretion of the officer. Drinking still accounts for almost all DUI's and if you want to make things safer than try to figure out how to get people to stop drinking and driving.

[GoVegan]

OK when the technology for an accurate THC test then I will consider voting yes to legalizing marijuana. One of the main reasons that alcohol is a factor in so many DUI's is that it is much easier to test for legally (breath instead of blood) and that it is legal to buy everywhere. Legalizing marijuana will only compound this problem. The social costs will also be enormous as many people do center their lifestyle around their addictions. The damage that drugs, including marijuana, create is enormous. I see this damage every single day I go to work. People will neglect their children and jobs over marijuana consumption. I can guarantee that.

I think a better idea will be to watch Mexico for a few years. They have decriminalized many drugs for personal use in response to all of the drug issues they are having now. If decriminalization works well and actually helps fight their drug issues than perhaps we can slowly adapt a similar strategy. At this time, I do not think that we are in the position to legalize marijuana and we could suffer some major consequences if we are not careful about this.

[sgreger1]

Most of the people I have ever been friends with are potheads. Like any segment of society, you have those that are fine and succeed and those that get lazy and decide to neglect their responsibilities. We need to be consistent, if alcohol makes the cut for being legal than weed surely meets the same requirements. In countries where it is legal things like people not taking care of their kids because of weed is not a problem. We have several countries that have legalized it and it hasn't had a negative affect so no need to wait for mexico.

Plus we could stop these drug cartels, which is a larger danger than any DUI ever was.


I don't smoke and I don't want my kids smoking but I still support legalization for mainly money reasons (for the state), which is the only reason why the state is even considering it..

[Owens187]

Employers will still test for marijuana use because they are required to by their insurance companies. There was a case a few years ago involving a man who got fired after testing positive for marijuana even though he provided his employer with verification that he had a prescription for it. I don't remember the exact case but there is a similar case here.
.

The reason for that is because employers don't go by the state medical marijuana law in that sense, they follow federal law, which still classifies it as illegal. So even with a prescription, they can still terminate you. I'm wondering if that will change when the state says its 100% LEGAL.

Although the Obummer admin. basically says that enforcing federal law in states that have medical use laws will not be a priority for his administaration, as it was under Bush.

Obama Administration to Stop Raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensers

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday outlined a shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the administration would effectively end the Bush administration’s frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.

Speaking with reporters, Mr. Holder provided few specifics but said the Justice Department’s enforcement policy would now be restricted to traffickers who falsely masqueraded as medical dispensaries and “use medical marijuana laws as a shield.”

In the Bush administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana distributors that violated federal statutes even if the dispensaries appeared to be complying with state laws. The raids produced a flood of complaints, particularly in California, which in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana sales to people with doctors’ prescriptions.

Graham Boyd, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union drug law project, said Mr. Holder’s remarks created a reasonable balance between conflicting state and federal laws and “seem to finally end the policy war over medical marijuana.” He said officials in California and the 12 other states that have authorized the use of medical marijuana had hesitated to adopt regulations to carry out their laws because of uncertainty created by the Bush administration.

Mr. Holder said the new approach was consistent with statements made by President Obama in the campaign and was based on an assessment of how to allocate scarce enforcement resources. He said dispensaries operating in accord with California law would not be a priority for the administration.

Mr. Holder’s comments appeared to be an effort to clarify the policy after some news reports last month interpreted his answer to a reporter’s question to be a flat assertion that all raids on marijuana growers would cease. Department officials said Mr. Holder had not intended to assert any policy change last month but was decidedly doing so on Wednesday.

Ethan Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, said Mr. Holder was telling the Drug Enforcement Administration that it should leave legitimate growers of medical marijuana untouched. “The message from the Bush Justice Department was ‘watch out — we have the authority to go after everybody,’ ” he said.

[Owens187]

And are we seriously looking at Mexico as a model, instead of, say, the Netherlands?

Theres a lot more going on in Mexico than the issue of legal weed.... :lol:

[truthwolf1]

Employers will still test for marijuana use because they are required to by their insurance companies. There was a case a few years ago involving a man who got fired after testing positive for marijuana even though he provided his employer with verification that he had a prescription for it. I don't remember the exact case but there is a similar case here.

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/w...pot_users.html

Now, on the other extreme just google marijuana DUI and you will see that there are literally thousands of lawyers that specialize in getting people, for a price, off of their DUI charges by fighting the validity of the test results. Open any paper and you will also see articles about innocent people dying when they were hit by some driver under the influence of drugs. I am not against people smoking marijuana in the privacy of their homes but I am afraid that legalizing marijuana will only make a bad problem even worse.

Again, if the law were to say that if you are driving erratically AND test positive for marijuana (regardless of when you used) you are guilty of a DUI and will lose your license, I will vote for it. The marijuana laws are very lax in California already and legalizing it will do nothing but provide more lawyers with jobs, provide our state with tax revenue and kill more innocent people.

Most people that I know if they are too high to drive they wont. If they do they are overly paranoid and drive a couple miles under the speed limit.

I am more worried about cell phones, twittering while driving and gps systems. Everyday I have a strange encounter of somebody that looks like they are under the influence only to see that they are jabbering away on a phone.

[sgreger1]

Owens, while i'm glad Obama said that, it's turned out to be a false promise. They in fact still do federal raids on dispensers here in CA, at least they do in socal. Everyone was very upset when they found out that raids were still going on and holder and obama were just talking with no action.




You guys are all thinking short term here. Long term, if cali legalizes it, after a few years the other states will as well, I am positive of this. Especially once they see how profitable it is and how it increases tourism, it's effects on the cost of operating prisons, reduced strain on the police force etc.

People this has all already been done, look at the netherlands. These doomsday scenarios you are all worried about will not happen if it's legalized. It may be bumpy at first but long term I still maintain that it's a solid idea and will be profitable and have a positive effect on crime, as well as reduce our prison population and help curb against drug cartels.