POT Machines

[Woody]

Yes ... POT machines. That is not a typo. I did not mean POP Machines. I meant POT.

What is going on in California?

According to Fox News ... In Calif. you can buy pot from a vending machine. On the good side ... they will not allow you to buy cigarettes from a vending machine ... but ....

POT --- YES

Have you Californians gone totally ...

NUTs ??

California is going to Pot.

[fccool]

This is not a black and white issue. The whole war on drugs in 80s and 90s and even today went totally out of hand IMO. Yes, consuming drugs is dangerous. But in many cases, over the counter drugs which are legal would get you a lot "higher" than any amount of pot you can smoke. Alcohol is legal, and it is more widely abused than Pot. So, it is all how you view it.

Today, kids are getting up to 3 years in jail and ruined life just for being stupid. Nobody is getting upset about alcohol on any level (outside of drunk driving), as there would be riots if dry laws get passed.

In some countries, like Amsterdam and in Middle East... those things are legal as authorities realized that they can not stop them and prosecuting people would do more damage than letting them do it in peaceful and restricted environments where they would not be harming anyone else.

Let's look at it that way, in US Alcohol is legal, tobacco is legal, over the counter drugs with potential abuse are legal, prostitution is legal in Nevada, porn is legal. Believe it or not, Pot is safer than alcohol and tobacco. I don't endorse it, but today's policies are way out of line as people's lives are ruined over these acts of personal stupidity. Three years in federal prisons will hardly do any correction, and quite opposite... will only perpetuate the problem. And this problem can not be solved from top down, and only from bottom up, with families and friends educating their children.

So, I don't see a Pot machine being any more nuts than a liquor store. I've seen alcohol doing far more damage than pot.

[Bravus]

Almost as scary as POTUS machines

[Dr. Shane]

See my War On Drugs thread. The War on Drugs was a good idea, it is working, and thousands of lives have avoided the terrible consequences of getting wrapped up in drugs.

It would be better if we made alcohol illegal too - no doubt. The big LIE of prohibition was that if we repealed it organized crime would be destroyed. Well, we repealed it and we still have organized crime. However prohibition worked so well it took over thirty years after it was repealed before per capita alcohol consumption returned to its pre-prohibition level. The biggest problem with prohibition was that alcohol remained legal in Mexico and Canada. That isn't an issue with the war on drugs.

[Amelia]

*general post*

I'm for new ways to manage pain but then I read this in an article about the AVM's

Quote:

"Robert Miko displays his doctor's recommendation for marijuana. Miko suffers from anger management. Miko is taking marijuana instead of pharmaceuticals to help him with anger management, he says. Without it, he says he's surly and violent. With it, "I'm friendlier, I'm compassionate, I'm not angry, I love people. I look at life and I love life."

oooooookay......

Quote:

Since 1996, it's been legal to use marijuana medically in California with a doctor's recommendation. The federal government has a different philosophy, however. Federal officials say, "It is illegal to use marijuana in the United States. Period."

That means that shiny, new machine dispensing marijuana in Mehdizadeh's center may be there for only a short time. The Feds always confiscate marijuana after a raid, he says, even if they have to use bolt cutters and a can opener to get to it.

[CyberGuy]

Yes ... POT machines. That is not a typo. I did not mean POP Machines. I meant POT.

What is going on in California?

According to Fox News ... In Calif. you can buy pot from a vending machine. On the good side ... they will not allow you to buy cigarettes from a vending machine ... but ....

POT --- YES

Have you Californians gone totally ...

NUTs ??

California is going to Pot.

I do not know where you get pot from vending machines. Certainly not in our area. Pot does grow wild out in the forests of california. My dad said that as a kid the fed would come and gather up all the wild marijuana plants and burn them. Trouble is by ripping them up they seeded the ground with the marijanua seeds and the next year there was more than before.

[Woody]

Well ... they showed the vending machines on the news. But then THEY were looking for them. I hope you haven't.

[Dr. Shane]

Wild marijuana is normally not too strong. For those already addicted to pot it doesn't normally get them high as it is not strong enough. If all a person has ever smoked is the wild marijuana, then yes, for many people they can get high on it. When I was into drugs, we would use wild marijuana to make hash.

[Amelia]

Shane, from the article I read, there are different strains/strengths of marijuana.

CG, there are two vending machines. Both in LA.

Also the machines dispense other meds in addition to pot.

This is what it looks like

[Dr. Shane]

Yes, there are a variety of marijuana, just like there is a variety of mushrooms. We can go pick mushrooms in the forest too but we might get poisonous ones so it is not advisable. I never lived in California so the wild marijuana there could be just wonderful but if it was, why would anyone be buying it on the street? I am guessing that it is the same kind of weak marijuana that grows wild in much of North America. I could be wrong.

[fccool]

Yes, for MJ to be the street product, it has to be grown properly. Although, it does not stop people from smoking the weaker stuff. I think that DEA does not differentiate either. It it is in a bag and you are caught with it... and you don't have rich parents to pay for your stupidity...

It's just sad that kids are getting locked up and it does not really solve the problem. It does not. The amount of the repeated offenders is staggering. Last year marijuana arrests hit all time high, and most of these are users and not dealers, and not many things change after. The problem is that the mindset behind the drug culture is not being altered, and much of the "rap culture" prides in this issue. It is viewed as an inevitable way of life... the way of the streets

On top of that you have an industry of Self Funded narco agents who depend on the drug bust confiscation property to even have a job. So you can't trust that there are no cases of the system abuse, when the system that solves the problem, depends on the existence of that problem to begin with. I think there should be a serious reform in the mindset of targeting the root of the problem, which is not the drug trafficers, not the dealers, and even not the kids who take this stuff. It is the overall moral education of the children. My parents were not a church goers, and still are atheists, but they have demonstrated enough that if I take part in this kind of stuff I will end up begging for money on the street corners. My dad literally took me and showed me kids in the flea market selling bath tubs from their houses just to get another hit. Most of these kids did not live past 25 either because of the stuff that they were shooting. I never wanted to even try it, and to this day I refuse take strong painkillers.

On the other hand we had prohibition under Gorbachev that made things even worse. Alcohol got more popular then ever as people were making their own which was impure and highly toxic. People drank cologne and medical alcohol. It was horrible. Just another example that you can't solve these things from the top down.

[Dr. Shane]

The War on Drugs includes education. There are several fronts to the War on Drugs. Education is a big part of it. Law enforcement is another. The impact has been profound. It is working. A lot less people are using drugs now then when the War on Drugs started.

The issue of decriminalization of marijuana is a separate but related issue. If marijuana was decriminalized than it would not be illegal to have small amounts. It would still be illegal to sell it. Those caught with large amounts would be charged with intent to sell. I have heard some good arguments about incorporating decriminalization into the War on Drugs. But again, to be clear, that wouldn't make marijuana legal.

The US had bootleggers during prohibition here too. And some people died or went blind from drinking it. But that isn't a good reason to legalize it. There are people today that lose their minds from sniffing glue, paint or gasoline. People do stupid things, when they are addicted, that put their lives in danger. The solution isn't repeal prohibition. The solution is to educate the public of the danger and provide treatment for those addicted so they can get free from the vice before they do kill themselves with something tainted.

[fccool]

I agree. Do you think that locking people up for years is a part of the solution too? I think putting kids through a monster of the jail system today does not correct them in any way, but just screws up their worldview for life, as many come out despising authority.

[Woody]

Yes, there are a variety of marijuana, just like there is a variety of mushrooms. We can go pick mushrooms in the forest too but we might get poisonous ones so it is not advisable. I never lived in California so the wild marijuana there could be just wonderful but if it was, why would anyone be buying it on the street? I am guessing that it is the same kind of weak marijuana that grows wild in much of North America. I could be wrong.

I have a dear friend who I grew up with. He is a Northern California Pot Grower. I will have to ask him. But those guys in the State of Jefferson are tight lipped about things. They are true rebels. All I can say is ... you are putting you life in danger if you step foot on their pot soil.