To the surprise of some, voters in both red and blue states, including Florida, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Massachusetts, recently rejected ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana and psychedelics—breaking the trend of approval of such measures by voters in many states across America over the past couple decades.
Living in Colorado I got to see first hand the ups and downs of legalisation.
Some good things were it brought a bunch of money to the state, rental incomes in the mountains went up a lot as growers moved in. Mom and pop growers were able to supplement their incomes in illegal but also unprosecuted grows. Pot smokers stopped getting busted.
The downside was criminality. Criminals from Texas and other states moved in, began large illegal grow operations. They were the same people selling coke and fentanyl in other states. People maybe not great to have around. Lots of cash, security goons. If you've ever been around criminals you know what I'm talking about. As a contractor I encountered these folks, cash customers, shady.
I have nothing against pot as a recreational drug, or at least it's less destructive than booze, but it's not all peace and love.
Recreational drug abuse is a product of two things. First, despair in both ghetto and holler brought on by the economic destruction of globalism. Stop and roll back that and you have made a start. The second-youthful stupidity-is harder to address since it has been around since the dawn of time. People have abused some form of brain eradicator ever since the first caveman discovered fermented grain. Hell, even elephants and robins abuse drugs. But can we at least suppress the relentless propaganda by Hollywood and mass culture. Notice that both of these are demand side solutions like the best of your solutions. Supply side, law enforcement and harm reduction strategies will be needed short term because things have gotten so out of control.
I live in Seattle and am a light pot smoker who smokes flowers, not concentrates. I welcomed legalization, but I've seen a lot of bad stuff come from it.
One is how it attracts homeless folks from all over the country which then attracts drug dealers from all over the world which then causes all kinds of crimes by the addicted who need to raise coin.
Another is that only 5-10% of weed sold here is legal weed. It grew the illegal market exponentially when it was legalized. Now some of the illegal weed is tainted with other drugs. Yikes.
Also, there's the problem of concentrates. They zombify people, including young people with brains still developing. And we know that excessive use of concentrates can trigger schizophrenia in young men.
It's a complicated issue and I currently cannot put my finger on any prevention strategies that would deter what we're seeing here except 1. activity vouchers where the young people could go do something other than drugs and video games. Even watching Mariners baseball games here in Seattle requires cable TV. 2. Optional Drug testing at Pediatrician wellness visits. It's often said that if a kid doesn't use drugs by the time they leave middle school, they probably won't ever. It perhaps gives kids an out if they can fend off peer pressure by saying that a drug test is possibly coming up. I'm all for trust, but perhaps verify at this point. It's not your grandma's drugs in many ways.
I wish we could find a way to attach responsibility and consequences for irresponsible drug use (violence, theft, public use) without punishing responsible adult choice. I also think it's absolutely insane to send drug users to same place as violent criminals. Why can't we seperate the two? There are entirely different issues that need to be addressed by these two groups. There is surely a middle ground somewhere.
All I'm getting from this is that people are shortsighted and uninformed. The drug war failed, the problem there is the side that supported it and continues to support it hasn't been flogged in the public square and made to apologize for their heinously stupid deeds and admit to being wrong. Instead they're seizing this moment to try to come roaring back.
As for marijuana still being illegal, it's just dumb. Cops don't need to be focused on arresting teenagers with joints like they have been for the last 60 years, and if you think they do, you're just dumb. And you will continue creating a problem where none would otherwise exist and making your communities unsafe and creating opportunities for organized crime.
This article has some nice ideas, but it's like looking at a student who's struggling to not get Fs in high school and telling them, "You know what you need to do, go to med school." The people and their federal government can't figure out to decriminalize marijuana, throwing out the ridiculous schedule system is orders of magnitude away from their capability.
Living in Colorado I got to see first hand the ups and downs of legalisation.
Some good things were it brought a bunch of money to the state, rental incomes in the mountains went up a lot as growers moved in. Mom and pop growers were able to supplement their incomes in illegal but also unprosecuted grows. Pot smokers stopped getting busted.
The downside was criminality. Criminals from Texas and other states moved in, began large illegal grow operations. They were the same people selling coke and fentanyl in other states. People maybe not great to have around. Lots of cash, security goons. If you've ever been around criminals you know what I'm talking about. As a contractor I encountered these folks, cash customers, shady.
I have nothing against pot as a recreational drug, or at least it's less destructive than booze, but it's not all peace and love.
Recreational drug abuse is a product of two things. First, despair in both ghetto and holler brought on by the economic destruction of globalism. Stop and roll back that and you have made a start. The second-youthful stupidity-is harder to address since it has been around since the dawn of time. People have abused some form of brain eradicator ever since the first caveman discovered fermented grain. Hell, even elephants and robins abuse drugs. But can we at least suppress the relentless propaganda by Hollywood and mass culture. Notice that both of these are demand side solutions like the best of your solutions. Supply side, law enforcement and harm reduction strategies will be needed short term because things have gotten so out of control.
The explosion in recreational drug abuse long predated the globalist turn.
As I said, it started with the cavemen. Globalism and the economic devastation is an accelerant.
I live in Seattle and am a light pot smoker who smokes flowers, not concentrates. I welcomed legalization, but I've seen a lot of bad stuff come from it.
One is how it attracts homeless folks from all over the country which then attracts drug dealers from all over the world which then causes all kinds of crimes by the addicted who need to raise coin.
Another is that only 5-10% of weed sold here is legal weed. It grew the illegal market exponentially when it was legalized. Now some of the illegal weed is tainted with other drugs. Yikes.
Also, there's the problem of concentrates. They zombify people, including young people with brains still developing. And we know that excessive use of concentrates can trigger schizophrenia in young men.
It's a complicated issue and I currently cannot put my finger on any prevention strategies that would deter what we're seeing here except 1. activity vouchers where the young people could go do something other than drugs and video games. Even watching Mariners baseball games here in Seattle requires cable TV. 2. Optional Drug testing at Pediatrician wellness visits. It's often said that if a kid doesn't use drugs by the time they leave middle school, they probably won't ever. It perhaps gives kids an out if they can fend off peer pressure by saying that a drug test is possibly coming up. I'm all for trust, but perhaps verify at this point. It's not your grandma's drugs in many ways.
I wish we could find a way to attach responsibility and consequences for irresponsible drug use (violence, theft, public use) without punishing responsible adult choice. I also think it's absolutely insane to send drug users to same place as violent criminals. Why can't we seperate the two? There are entirely different issues that need to be addressed by these two groups. There is surely a middle ground somewhere.
All I'm getting from this is that people are shortsighted and uninformed. The drug war failed, the problem there is the side that supported it and continues to support it hasn't been flogged in the public square and made to apologize for their heinously stupid deeds and admit to being wrong. Instead they're seizing this moment to try to come roaring back.
As for marijuana still being illegal, it's just dumb. Cops don't need to be focused on arresting teenagers with joints like they have been for the last 60 years, and if you think they do, you're just dumb. And you will continue creating a problem where none would otherwise exist and making your communities unsafe and creating opportunities for organized crime.
This article has some nice ideas, but it's like looking at a student who's struggling to not get Fs in high school and telling them, "You know what you need to do, go to med school." The people and their federal government can't figure out to decriminalize marijuana, throwing out the ridiculous schedule system is orders of magnitude away from their capability.
Hopefully what you have outlined will be considered and implemented by Trumps appointment of Dr. Weldon as CDC director.