Ruin peoples lives? Jeez man you’re full of some serious shit today. All you have to do is….wait for it….dont break the goddamn law!
It's not the prosecution, it's the initial arrest that could damage someone's life. Say you got an overzealous officer who finds you growing a couple of plants for personal use only. You get arrested, miss work, it costs you money for bail etc. The prosecutor probably won't waste his time but the damage is already done. By allowing personal use plants all that is not even happening.
Getting prosecuted and sent to jail can ruin a person’s life. Yes. As the above person pointed out, just having to defend oneself can be an expensive ordeal. The question is whether any person should be sent to jail solely for possession. Pretty resounding no for me. With marijuana it’s not even close considering I view it the same as alcohol or tobacco. Products people can buy at Publix. Plenty of real crimes to prosecute. Prosecuting marijuana is a ridiculous waste of resources with no real societal benefit to doing it.
You’re wasting a lot of font. Just say that people make bad choices and they get punished. That’s a good thing. Everything else is you making excuses for bad behavior.
Again, I am unequivocally for legalization because arresting and throwing people in jail for pot is just stupid. But my kids psychiatrist for many years has been saying there is a small but non trivial percent of people who smoke pot will have a psychotic break with marijuana, especially at the higher doses and with those who may already have some underlying mental illness. This is now turning out to be the case, so he was ahead of the curve. People in hospitals and ERs are becoming quite familiar with various conditions popping up due to pot consumption.
99% of the time it's someone who wasn't ready for the strength and duration of an edible who freaks out. The percentage of people who suffer psychosis from Marijuana is infintesimally small, and is far less than those who suffer from psychosis caused by alcohol and prescription drugs. Gas station boner pills are much more likely to cause a psychotic break
It is comparatively small, but not infintesimally small. Why can’t two things be true at once? Yes, it should be legalized, and yes it is generally safe for most that use it moderately but it can be dangerous for a minority and it can be abused. Why do people keep telling me it isn’t as bad as alcohol? What does that have to do with anything?
I don't agree at all. Back in the 70's growing up in Gainesville many grew their own weed outside and in the woods near where they lived and it is a weed and very easy to grow. It does not need much at all just a little sunshine and water once in a while. I grow a vegetable garden every year and tomatoes are much harder to grow than maryjane is. If someone used a grow light or had a greenhouse it would be even easier and it could be grown in the winter also. I would think. The reason people don't grow their own as much these days is because they made even growing a small amount a felony years ago. Police can spot it easy from the air so a person would need to grow it in doors and would face steep penalties if caught. I would guess that the same money that is pushing to pass the new law does not want people to be able to grow their own and cut into the profits. They will make sure they are the only ones that can sell it or grow it.
Sure, if you can grow it outdoors, and don’t care much about the quality, nature will handle quit a bit of it for you. But that’s not the reality for most people. Even if legal, your HOA is not going to let you grow weed in your backyard. So most will have to grow indoors. You then have to get the right spectrum light set up, a hydroponic system and some tents to regulate the environment. You have to monitor and temperature and humidity. And of course filtration/ventilation/exhaust to control the odor. It’s not rocket surgery, but it’s not cheap, and you need to know what you are doing. It’s probably going to take a few cycles to get it right. Compare that to going to the dispensary and getting a large choice of quality weed for a couple hundred an ounce. And vapes, edibles, oils, etc. Zero effort involved. The overwhelming majority of people are not going to grow their own weed. For the same reason the overwhelming majority of people don’t grow their own tomatoes.
Alcohol won’t cause you to lose your mind in a short period of time. It can cause dementia after decades and decades of heavy use.
Alcohol poisoning will kill you in one night of bad choices. You smoke too much weed, you might get a tummy ache from bad eating choices. Or more likely just fall asleep.
I don’t really get the, ‘alcohol and cigarettes are legal therefor we can’t have laws governing other mind altering drugs’.
Do some research, ya get drunk and the next day you are hung over. You’re young and you smoke too much HPTHC and you have psychosis it doesn’t just go away the next day and anti psychotic meds don’t work super great. It fat soluble so it stays in your brain. Plenty of studies show in young users 18-25 it lows cognitive ability by an average of 1 standard deviation. Follow the science. Sure there are plenty of lifetime smokers who never have a problem.
Google cannabis induced psychosis. The lab grown strains aren’t like the 3-4% stuff people got decades ago. Plus they have been able to breed out the CBD which appears to be somewhat protective for developing psychosis. I know 3 psychiatrists in town who are seeing 1-2 new patients a week from this. Wasn’t happening before Florida passed the “medical card” which is a total joke also but that’s a different topic.
The point is weed was supposedly illegal due to its danger. But we’ve known for half a century that it’s not nearly as dangerous as other substances that we are fine with being legal. The reality of course, is weed being made illegal had more to with xenophobia than safety concerns.
