TRUE LIBERTY said:
So from one criminal organization to another one for them to regulate it. All the while a government that hands out light sentences on the drunks and drug users of other substances that
hurt and kill endless people. We are already light on crime and now we want to just hand it out willy nilly to everyone just like the loosely written law the Florida people rejected.
If it would have been really about helping people they would take the high effects out of the weed and make it with tight controls for the sick. If we ever really get tough on personal responsibility then I will say smoke yourself all the way to the grave for all I care.
There are thousands studies on the effects of pot it is not even question on what it does the body and mind. But as like every study the silly excuses come out on how they got it wrong. It hurts the body and makes people dumber.
BALONEY pot does not dramatically effect your driving!
Weed and driving effects
Turns out, drivers who smoke marijuana within a few hours of driving are almost twice as likely to get into an accident as sober drivers. And though the accident stats aren’t as bad as they are for drinking and driving, the risk is palpable.
While alcohol is still the most common accident-inducing substance, a recent survey quoted on the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Web site found that 6.8 percent of drivers who were involved in accidents — most of whom were under 35 — tested positive for THC (the chemical found in marijuana).
http://blog.esurance.com/is-driving-high-dangerous/
Tell that to all these families who lost there loved ones it does not effect driving capabilities. And I would bet a substantial amount the ones under the influence that survived and hurt people are on the roads again.
Driving Under The Influence Of Marijuana: Fatal Pot-Related Car Crashes Triple Over 10 Years
The National Institute on Drug Abuse says the use of any psychoactive drug makes driving a car highly unsafe, putting not only the driver in danger, but also passengers and other drivers on the road. Although the effects of specific drugs differ on how they act in the brain, they all impair abilities necessary for safely operating a vehicle. A driver’s motor skills, balance and coordination, perception, attention, reaction time, and judgment are all altered by the use of these mind-altering drugs.
Young drivers are found to be particularly at risk for drugged driving based on data on youth behaviors. An estimated 10.3 million people aged 12 or older, reported driving under the influence of illegal drugs, according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Now a team of researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, sought to assess just how prevalent marijuana use was in a series of fatal car crashes over the course of 10 years.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/driving-under-influence-marijuana-fatal-pot-related-car-crashes-triple-over-10-years-268638
Police: Driver high on marijuana hits, kills pedestrian in Vancouver
Colorado's legal pot is not so rosy with tax dollars.
In Colorado, there’s a 2.9% sales tax and a 10% marijuana sales tax. Plus, there is a 15% excise tax on the average market rate of retail marijuana. If you add that up, it’s 27.9%.
Just think of all that tax revenue! Like a closer Amsterdam, Colorado would be on the New Pot Trail, getting marijuana tourists in addition to locals imbibing. Legalize and tax it, they said. But it turns out the $33.5 million Colorado projected to collect in the first six months of 2014 was a little too rosy. It’s now the next morning, so to speak, and Colorado is missing $21.5M in pot taxes!
One explanation is that old habits die hard. With all those taxes, many smokers are still buying on the black market. Go figure. The state thought more people would migrate out of the black market.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/09/02/21-5-million-in-marijuana-taxes-just-went-up-in-smoke/
Crime in Colorado is not so rosy after legalizing pot no matter how much the left tries to spin it.
Interpreting Denver's Crime Rates before and after Pot Legalization
When we look at when the crime rates for offenses that have spiked during the past year actually began their rapid rise, it is clear that rates started to increase substantially in May 2013, and then increased much more in June 2013, after which they have been approximately stable at this significantly higher level. Could this be due to Colorado's gun law changes? This may play a minor background role, but – given their timing and nature – these firearms restrictions are not likely the cause of the skyrocketing crime rates for most offenses during May/June 2013.
What happened in May 2013? On May 8, the Colorado legislature passed bills regulating the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of recreational marijuana. In late May 2013, the governor signed the bills into law. On January 1, 2014, the first stores in the state to sell pot for recreational use opened.
It was during May and June 2013 that crime rates in Denver for offenses such as simple assaults, intimidation, disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace, family offenses/nonviolent, liquor law/drunkeness, violation of a restraining/court order, and criminal trespassing went through the roof effectively overnight (in some cases by almost two orders of magnitude when compared either to the same month in 2012 or to only a few months prior).
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/04/interpreting_denvers_crime_rates_before_and_after_pot_legalization.html
Pot Legalization and Crime Rates in Denver, Colorado
Over the first two months of 2014, “simple assaults” in Denver are up an astonishing 70% over the same timeframe in 2013. The crime of “intimidation” is up 86%, and all “crimes against persons” have increased 32% compared to 2013. But the real changes are evident in the “all other offenses” category. Here we see that “disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace” has increased 1,144% (from only 18 offenses in 2013 to 224 in 2014), “family offences/nonviolent” are up 97%, “liquor law/drunkeness” is up 1,150%, “violation of a restraining/court order” increased 87%, “criminal trespassing” is up 339%, and the “all other offenses” subcategory have increased 400%.
Of course there is also data available back to 2009 that illustrates the anomalously high incidence level for these offenses during the first two months of 2014 following marijuana legalization, as shown in the table below.
I don't think you understand how marijuana actually affects people. When has anyone died because of marijuana? Also, THC has been strictly controlled for very sick people for a long time under the name Marinol. CBD is also being researched and allowed in some states for the treatment of things like epilepsy. The problem with tightly controlling it is that there will be a large demographic of people who could use it but won't have access to it. I personally stand with the side who believe that people should have easy access to medicine, especially medicine that is not harmful.
I understand pot just fine. Just like any drug it messes up the mind and body. Could careless about finding out when anyone died from pot. I just care about the consequences of t hurting others and we the people paying for medical expenses. If the people who truly want it for medical then take the high effects out of it that is very easily done now and lets see who really wants it then for medical purposes.
Please cite the "thousands of studies" you're referencing and I will happily debate them with you. That is a very broad statement to make without any anecdotal evidence. I am a computer programmer and smoke on a nearly daily basis, yet I am no dumber because of it. The only way it can harm one's body is by smoking, however there are plenty of routes of ingestion; vaporizing, lotions, foods, etc. Cannabis itself has no toxicity to the human body.
Tell you what you do the research and google cannabis, pot, marijuana and have at it for making excuses why you should continue smoking. As I said I would love to give people the right to smoke until the cows come home. Just enforce the laws we have now better and make much stricter laws on the people who hurt others from the use of drinking and pot. But it aint gonna happen so I do not see myself supporting it anytime soon.
I'm sorry for anyone who has lost a loved one to a driving accident. However, when I read through all of your articles, I noticed that the results had simply considered the fact that marijuana was in the user's system. One of the articles pointed out in obvious flaw with this, which is that there is
no reliable way to see if a user is intoxicated at the time of an accident. Marijuana can remain in one's system for
months at a time. Whether pot will inhibit your ability to drive is a subjective truth. For the majority of people, empirical evidence has shown that it has a minor effect. Please reference the link in my last reply if you wish to learn more.
With regard to the tax revenue, your article ignores the fact that the recreational marijuana industry has generated a lot of revenue already. Despite the fact that people are still buying from the black market, it's working! And as time progresses I'm sure we'll see many changes in how states and our country handle marijuana taxes, and the climate will shift. It has only been a year since stores have been allowed to sell it. My bottom line point on the subject is that the statistics have shown that it is benefiting Colorado, the people are happy with it, and there's only room for improvement.
But they have not made the revenue they expected. Now government has to spend more money on law enforcement, inspectors, courts are dealing with increased crime. And as I said I could deal with and except this to increase freedoms but for all this enlarging government for pot the offenders who hurt others because of pot and drinking get light sentences and are back out all to soon putting people at risk.
I will say the same thing about the crime rates as I did the driving incidents.
Correlation does not equal causation! Please cite something more refutable and preferably less biased next time. Nothing in your article suggested that marijuana was the cause for the crime increase.
Sure it does when the spike happens right when a new product is made legal. Nothing wrong with that source. Take it or leave it.
edit: Also, don't troll about Canada in this thread. This is a thread about marijuana.
You bring something up I do not agree with and it has something to do with Canada I will say my opinion every time. You can ignore it or not.
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