Legalize Pot
POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Monday, July 20, 2026 00:53
VIEWED: 2708
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Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
MD... I don't keep track of this stuff, but are you in Australia ?
Everyone I know who has been there, lived there, says the Auzzies drink a LOT more than most Americans, on average, and yet my guess is y'all have less of a problem w/ drunks getting behind the wheel than we have here in the US. Stricter laws, and an over all awareness that if you get nailed for doing something so stupid, it'll result in far worse than losing your license for 6 months, am I right ?
What are all these things floating across my screen *hic* I don't know whether we drink more or less than Americans, but some of us sure drink a lot.
Drink driving laws - and now drug driving laws are very strict here and you can and will be randomly tested. It has changed the culture around driving under the influence. I don't know what the penalties are, but I think 12 months is first offence but perhaps it depends on how far you are over the limit. 0.05 is the blood alcohol limit.
There are also lots of ad campaigns around these things.
Remember, if you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot ;)
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Just getting back on line; went up to the Sierras for a couple of days--gawd it's gorgeous up there!! Snow melting off the granite, the rivers are up (tho' not as high as I'd like, given we didn't have great rain), wildflowers a-bloom, lupine EVERYWHERE along the road, and out in the Eastern Sierra dessert, where Paula lives, it's gorgeous and silent and, well, just gorgeous...
That's the "back side" of the Sierra Nevadas, just this side of the Nevada border; they built their home (and whatta home!) in the high desert JUST beyond the mountains...snow doesn't stick as bad and it's a 20-acre minimum...no close neighbors! Me, I'd have rather she'd have built where she rangered, IN the mountains, but it wasn't my money, and I've learned to love it there, too; in its way, it's beautiful.
But oh, man, that fucking DRIVE! Two hours of it are through the mountains, which is great, but from here to Placerville, straight freeway--through Saccamenna area, 75 mph bumper to bumper just to SURVIVE! That and the fact that I never sleep well up there (dogs antsy, altitude, change of routine, etc.,) I feel "stoned" this morning.
Onward:
Rap, we are once again, as in most things not about politics, in complete agreement.Quote:
When people evolve past base idiocy we can lift all those pesky laws.
Which, will, of course, be never.
Mark, I totally disagree. You can be JUST as unaware of how stoned you are, if you're a regular stoner, as you can if drunk...even moreso because the effects seem milder. One difference for me was that it was easier to "straighten up"--marijuana is as much as anything a psychological high...the brain intensifies the high itself. For me, I would start feeling stoned immediately after my first toke, and obviously the drug hadn't hit my brain yet (20 minutes or so is normal). Alternatively, I could "sober up" real quick if I needed to--not sober, obviously, but more "conscious" if you will. If something happened--seeing a cop car for example--I got a lot more aware and "awake" immediately. I was still obviously under the influence, but the effect was lessened.
The danger with dope and driving is that you drive a lot SLOWER, often far too much slower, and can become ridiculously "cautious", which is as dangerous on the road as swerving and being obviously drunk, in its way. If you check out Google, there are lots of tests they've done and yes, we're as dangerous in our way behind a wheel as anyone who drinks. I used to drive stoned all the time...but that was back when dope wasn't what it is now.
As to potency. Dope nowadays is TONS more potent than it used to be, even not that long ago. One reason I gave it up. I'm not into getting wasted, I just liked my couple of hits, like an evening cocktail, to mellow out my normal hyperness. I used to smoke as much as anyone in my twenties; as it got stronger and stronger, I smoked less and less, until it was down to a toke or two at night by my thirties. Now, one toke can lay me out, so where's the pleasure in that? If I had a hit during the day, I just ended up nodding off. Bah. From my early twenties on I smoked nothing but Humboldt Gold, as I have a friend up there. When it became medically legal, I started buying it around at local marijuana clubs, and it's tons stronger than what I smoked before. But I just had a hit of the stuff I used to smoke yesterday, as it happened, and one toke had me nicely stoned, so even the illegal stuff has gotten a lot stronger. Probably not the same--my entire body metabolism changed when I stopped taking a
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Quote:
Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
MD... I don't keep track of this stuff, but are you in Australia ?
Everyone I know who has been there, lived there, says the Auzzies drink a LOT more than most Americans, on average, and yet my guess is y'all have less of a problem w/ drunks getting behind the wheel than we have here in the US. Stricter laws, and an over all awareness that if you get nailed for doing something so stupid, it'll result in far worse than losing your license for 6 months, am I right ?
What are all these things floating across my screen *hic* I don't know whether we drink more or less than Americans, but some of us sure drink a lot.
Drink driving laws - and now drug driving laws are very strict here and you can and will be randomly tested. It has changed the culture around driving under the influence. I don't know what the penalties are, but I think 12 months is first offence but perhaps it depends on how far you are over the limit. 0.05 is the blood alcohol limit.
There are also lots of ad campaigns around these things.
Remember, if you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot ;)
Here, in most places, I believe it's 0.08 to be registered as DUI. It use to be 0.10, or maybe a bit higher. ( varies by state, I believe ) 1st offense , you lose your license for 6 months, but you can get a waiver that allows you to drive to and from work. Penalties get higher and higher, of course, but there's only token ads which drive home the hassle you can go through if you get nailed.
Many think of it almost as a challenge, a game, to get tanked and then sneak past the cops and 'win' by making it home alive, or not killing anyone else.
It's a sad commentary on U.S. culture, I have to admit.
Also... cool pics, Niki. Thanks for posting.
Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen
Resident USA Freedom Fundie
" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall
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Quote:
Dope isn't the "gateway drug" they make it out to be, but back then, its EXTREMELY illegal status meant those who dealt it also dealt heavy stuff. Less so these days.
Yup, that was pretty much my experience, too - if you knew a pot dealer, chances are he was also selling anything from meth to coke to heroin or crack, because at that point illegal is illegal, since they're all basically on the same level of illegality.
As I've said before, I never cared for the high pot gave - it made me feel slowed down and dumbed down, and I much prefer to be "up" and on edge. I could see myself getting very hooked on coke or speed, which is why I avoid them. I even limit my intake of stuff like Red Bull.
Ecstasy was quite enjoyable while it was legal, but it was a strange high. You *felt* very relaxed and chilled out, but you were in fact very "up" - and if you ever saw anyone on X, they tended to look a bit crazed, even though inside, they probably felt like they just had a valium or something. Once it became illegal, there were all sorts of "bathtub" blends going around, and they tended to come with some really nasty side effects like anxiety attacks and paranoia weeks after the fact, or withdrawal symptoms on a par with heroin, and stuff like that. I tried some exactly one time after it was banned, and it was a bad time.
"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero
"I was wrong" - Hero, 2012
Mitt Romney, introducing his running mate: "Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan!"
Rappy's response? "You're lying, gullible ( believing in some BS you heard on msnbc ) or hard of hearing."
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Niki
I'm not sure I agree with your summary.
I'm going to focus on young people, b/c mostly us older folk have been there/ done that; and b/c young people tend to get more addicted the earlier they start using drugs; and their brains are still wiring-up, so effects can last a lifetime.
When I think of the young people who are doing drugs that I know of, they're not trying to escape reality in the way you and I might - they're just trying to par-TAY! A part of the cachet is that they're not supposed to be doing it, and all the cool kids are. And also when you're young you're invincible so you'll do anything. And while kids are doing more drugs younger, what they're mostly doing is getting wasted on alcohol in massive binges at parties.
So I don't see them turning to drugs to escape per se.
I think if drugs were legal and not a socially forbidden territory, but obtainable only through prescription, it would take some of the lure of drugs away from early experimenters.
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Kiki:
Of course, you made a good point. Also young people get high because it's a "social" thing, everyone else is doing something at that par-TAY (large part of the reason I started when I did). Very valid point. The fact remains that humans always have sought some form of inebriation, in virtually every society, but your point is quite right as well.
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Growing cannabis in CT will be legal in July. Here's why buying seeds is complicated.
https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/growing-marijuana-in-connectic
ut-2023-18090689.php
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its not as dangerous as other drugs, cigarettes and booze might in fact be more 'dangerous' but States and Nations have rules yet
Potheads can be idiots, it can be annoying being around them like drunks are annoying but pot heads then get to be 'sleepy' while drunks can be the loud type of annoying
Gigi Hadid Photographed in Public for the First Time Since Her Arrest
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/gigi-hadid-photographed-public-first-0148386
09.html
This marks Hadid’s first public outing since she was arrested last week for carrying marijuana and drug paraphernalia
Cayman Islands arrest
a self-governing British Overseas Territory 264-square-kilometre (102-square-mile) territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, nearCuba and northeast of Honduras, sort of like the British Virgin Islands a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean and not linked to Epstein island the Cayman's are between Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
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Trump signs order to speed up review of psychedelic drugs for mental health treatment
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/excutive-order-p
sychedelic-drugs-ibogaine-mental-health-research-rcna340790
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Trump says his buddies can make money
you can smoke crap or find a way to drink in many parts of the world
legal sellers, small guys and Arab mafia in Europe sell that stuff
the guys on team Trump want some of the mafia business, like they took away cash from the Mob who controlled booze
America’s Biggest Cannabis Greenhouse Wants To Become ‘The Sunkist Of Weed’
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2026/06/25/glass-house-ameri
cas-biggest-cannabis-greenhouse-wants-to-become-the-sunkist-of-weed/
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