Six months after marijuana legalization: Colorado tax revenue skyrockets as crime falls

a reply to: revmoofoo

Well, we aren't there yet. Getting there but I am still a "criminal" because I live in a state where it is still very illegal.
It is odd to me that others claim that medicinal value isn't to be had from cannabis, when my experience SCREAMS otherwise. Many would like to claim that everyone who utilizes cannabis is doing it "for the high"...I beg to differ, but I won't argue with them too much.

My right to a plant that provides me relief is inalienable....what the government says be damned! I won't be forced to use medications that I KNOW cause me bad side-effects when I KNOW that there is a medication (cannabis) that provides relief (far greater relief btw) without all the nasty side-effects. I won't be talked to like I am some junkie because of it...and I don't give a damn who knows it.

Anyways, off the soap-box, Jakal

We are still a ways off, but in due time.
Education is the key to ending the hypocritical prohibition on this wonderful herb.

originally posted by: whyamIhere

Now we need to make Achohol illegal. It kills thousands...

Didn't we try that once? We did and we got Al Capone

originally posted by: Jakal26
a reply to: revmoofoo

"It is odd to me that others claim that medicinal value isn't to be had from cannabis"

It's well beyond odd, it's downright ignorant if you ask me. Many here might already be familiar with Granny Storm Crow's List, but for those who aren't, especially for those who claim that cannabis has little to none medicinal or therapeutic value, it's well worth a look - asa-nc.com...

a reply to: ElectricUniverse
Damn, poor soul, keep swallowing the propaganda juice I guess, it must be tasty. Reefer madness is strong in you.

If coffee addiction is not so bad, and MJ addiction is not as bad as coffee addiction, what does that tell you about MJ addiction?

Probably wasting my breath, but MJ is only as addictive as videogames, gambling etc etc. It's mental addiction, not the kind of addiction as say heroin. It's not a physical addiction, you don't go through physical withdrawal symptoms that can actually be life threatening like a bad alcoholic or heroin addict. Even coffee addiction has some physical effects, where there is absolutely none in MJ.

Take this from someone that went from pretty heavy MJ use, to no use whatsoever in two days flat. No physical side effects at all.

Kicking a SSNRI on the otherhand, let me tell you, that was a trip and a half, thanks doctor idiot for either lieing to me, or being totally ignorant about the pills you push.....

originally posted by: ElectricUniverse

originally posted by: NavyDoc


We saw the same effect after alcohol prohibition was ended in the 1930's. The WOD is just as foolish as Prohibition.

Except for the fact that with MJ you don't need to smoke 3-6 joints to have impaired motor skills, impaired judgement, a slowed reaction time, etc.

With one joint you get to the high that alcohol gives you after heavy consumption. So essentially it is the same as legalizing drunk driving. Not to mention that the effects of MJ persist much longer than the effects of alcohol.

What about popping prescription pills and driving? A few of those can impair you FAR worse than marijuana can. Pain pills will put you to sleep. Nothing like driving next to someone nodding out behind the wheel huh? All your points can be refuted by just giving you an example of a legal version of these same things with a drug that is WORSE for you than marijuana. You are fighting a losing battle here. Marijuana only needs to be legalized and you nor the government have no business telling me I cannot use it.

-I'm a conservative! How dare you!

-I'm a liberal! I'm offended by you!

-I only watch fox
-I only watch cnn

-We need to vote! We need to win!
-Rock the vote! Win!

-Democrats!!
-Republicans!!
-Conservatives!!
-Liberals!!



-I'm for Obama!
-I'm for Romney!

-Glen Beck!!!
-Alex Jones!!!


.... GIANT BONG RIP....

Wait, what? What are we, sheep?
Have I been sleeping?

Once we all love jah and receive the vibrating waves of light that carry the message of omnipotence, then we will truly change the world, collectively.

Wow... some people really have some skewed, unreal views on MJ ...and they accuse users of being impaired.

No psychoactive substance should be ingested from a position of ignorance, as they all have their own characteristics and individual effects, but blanket laws shouldn't be involved either.

And MJ, of all the substances used recreationally (or medically, or with determined perseverance) is the one you might get away with jumping in not knowing squat about... although some of the better strains these days are... surprising (ever read Aramaic in a cottage cheese ceiling for three hours?).

Leave people alone... they'll figure it out... or they'll ask someone that has already done so. The FED hasn't ... yet.

a reply to: Telos
Black market exports from CO will put some money in the hands of a new kinda Capone. These guys will run for office. Just imagine the revenue CO has that is off the books. Stupid feds are missing out. Lotsa bucks, like the Kennedy family.

a reply to: centhwevir1979
Agreed, and to the point of the OP, the growing of hemp will also increase state revenues and could open up new agricultural avenues to farmers stuck in the gov't subsidy rut. Not sure how it would impact the crime rate, but hemp is a different variety of cannabis sativa than marijuana. Here is an excellent report on the subject to our congress Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity. I'm sure they missed the point, due to no large industry paybacks.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: MarlinGrace

There may be an upside to this. Its very possible, as in highly likely, that in the US, as robotics and automation progress, we've past the point of peak employment. By that is meant that we've past the point of peak labor participation rate. If that is the case then going forward, there will be more and more people who can't find full time work. As that happens, legal use of marijuana would help combat the frustration of these peoples futile lives! A stoned populace is a happy populace and they may well be easier for the gov't to manipulate and control such that crime rates will continue to fall.

A very good point. Automation is replacing industrial workers. The good-paying jobs for people of average or below-average intelligence are disappearing.

The "war on weed" has been a costly and damaging failure. I don't use it, as I like having a clear head. But I know people who do; people who live normal, productive lives. Let's bring them back to being legal. You can't stop a weed that grows anywhere. Actually, we can't stop any other illegal drugs, either, but the rest have known hazards to health.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

The linked to article states:

In May, controls on marijuana edibles were tightened after two people died. In one case, a college student jumped from a hotel balcony after eating six times the suggested maximum amount of pot-laced cookies. In the other, a Denver man was charged with shooting dead his wife after apparently getting high from eating marijuana-infused candy.

HUH? Are they implying someone actually did a study which showed that if one were to eat more than X number of " pot-laced cookies " they'd fly off the handle, or should that be hotel balcony?

And the guy who shot his wife? Did he consume a barrel full of Jolly Rancher "Green Laughing Grass"?

a reply to: Parthin

A very good point. Automation is replacing industrial workers. The good-paying jobs for people of average or below-average intelligence are disappearing.

Heard this a.m. on the news that Amazon is looking to put robots in their distribution centers, thus replacing the human workers. I don't have the time to research how many people they employ at their distribution centers, but I'd have to believe that across the country they employ at least several thousand. What this brings to mind is the intention of Henry Ford. Ford insisted on building a vehicle at lowest possible cost per unit so....his employees could afford to buy one. Similarly, I heard on CNBC that Tesla doesn't have any humans on its assembly lines. I have to believe that's something of an exaggeration, but none the less, are the robots going to be paid to buy products from Amazon and Tesla?

And the proof that this dislocation is taking its toll on middle class and the economy as a whole is the fact that home builders report (again, on CNBC) that they're focus is on high end homes because only the wealthy can afford to buy homes (and they're paying in cash because the lending process has become so complex they don't want to be involved with it). The home builders, if reports are true, aren't building out subdivisions of starter homes for first time home buyers because of the lack of demand due to the fact that the only jobs left out there are as Baristas at Starbucks and they don't make enough money to buy houses.

I get the fact that we're in a period of tremendous change in the economic system, and that its happening in an environment of political stalemate, but if someone doesn't wake up to the fact that this is going to impoverish millions, in 50 years this country is going to look more like Brazil or South Africa with vast slums of cardboard homes surrounding the inner core of cities where the wealthy work. Its a formula for disaster.

originally posted by: Jakal26

Sorry, I'm not in Colorado and don't intend on being. I'm in VA. Not sure what the point of that comment is, to be honest.

It means that MJ doesn't have to be "legalized' all over the U.S. more so when there are millions of people who oppose it's legalization... It means it can stay in states like CO but we don't really need that crap to be legalized all over. If people want to use it, move to the states that have legalized it. People like you don't seem to understand the irony that despite the fact that many people like you are the same ones whinning how TPTB are dumbing down the population, yet you agree with the legalization of drugs that help with the dumbing down of the population...

originally posted by: Jakal26


...
An addict? Nah, I don't buy the "once a junkie always a junkie" ideology shoved down the throats' of "12 steppers"....
I've been there done that....went to the very bottom and back, multiple times. I have been dead because of that.....multiple times (clinically, which really isn't dead)

Guess what? NONE of that had ANYTHING to do with cannabis. None of it!
...

Riiight... So you have died on several occasions because of it, but not because of it... I've got ya... Hey, you are free to keep using drugs which "have caused, but have not caused your clinical death"...

a reply to: ElectricUniverse
I think you are misinterpreting that last one. I believe he is saying he OD on something a bit harder than MJ, and that is had nothing to do with MJ. I could be wrong, but that is how I read it.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

If people want to use it, move to the states that have legalized it.

No thank you. I'll stay in my home state and keep trying to educate the misguided who have been fed "refer madness" propaganda for years on end, leading to your sort of thinking. I refuse to shuffle or be shuffled around because of my views on a plant.....a weed that will grow nearly anywhere, under many conditions. You cannot regulate morality, nature, or the human propensity to desire intoxicants. Not to mention, even if you could, who the HELL gave YOU, or anyone else that right?
Do you have any clue the damage done by the "war on drugs"? (a war on freedom is what it is)

People like you don't seem to understand the irony that despite the fact that many people like you are the same ones whinning how TPTB are dumbing down the population, yet you agree with the legalization of drugs that help with the dumbing down of the population...

Assume much? Whining about tptb dumbing down the population? Do I know you?
Not to mention, there is absolutely no evidence that cannabis "dumbs down" anyone. Actually, there is quite a bit of evidence to the contrary, though I won't bother spoon-feeding you any sources for that info because you aren't interested in it. You are interested in repeating the same ole tired rhetoric about the "evils of marijuana".

Riiight... So you have died on several occasions because of it, but not because of it... I've got ya... Hey, you are free to keep using drugs which "have caused, but have not caused your clinical death"...

Are you daft of just playing dumb for the sake of it?
Right under the bit about me clinically dying....you can read the part where I stated, VERY clearly, that "NONE OF THAT, had ANYTHING to do with MJ"........not to mention the fact that not a single human being has EVER died from using cannabis. If they have, I guess I (and the rest of the world) missed it. Please be so kind as to show me proof of that, I am interested in seeing it.

And when it comes to the "clinically dying" because of drugs part of my post....I don't give a damn if you believe that or not. I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else. It isn't something to be proud of genius. It was personal experience that I DECIDED to share on a public forum. It wasn't up for debate, nor did I have any intent on doing so.

Yeah, it was the cannabis :/
NO....how about Oxycontin (and various other opiates) in combination with various benzodiazepines. Those drugs, I got from the same people that write papers like the AMA [bought and paid for] garbage that you have posted here in this thread, tainting it with toxic lies about one of the most medicinally useful herbs on this planet. Go job, spreading the lies about cannabis and all. Maybe one day you will be rewarded for your efforts at suppressing an herb that many MANY people KNOW helps them and aides them when they ill.

Figured I would put my 2 cents in here.

I'm against legalizing of marijuana until they stop the massive anti-smoking campaign. Marijuana has some benefits to some people but at the same time it is just as harmful as smoking tobacco.

I personally find it kind of ironic as a smoker myself (tobacco).

a reply to: Oklastatefan

Your claim that smoking cannabis is as harmful as tobacco is flawed. Smoking cannabis isn't associated with the same increased risk of developing lung cancer, and in fact, when smoked with tobacco the cannabinoids found in cannabis may actually exert a preventative effect;

Study published Oct. 2005 - Cannabis and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic

"While chemically very similar, there are fundamental differences in the pharmacological properties between cannabis and tobacco smoke. Cannabis smoke contains cannabinoids whereas tobacco smoke contains nicotine. Available scientific data, that examines the carcinogenic properties of inhaling smoke and its biological consequences, suggests reasons why tobacco smoke, but not cannabis smoke, may result in lung cancer.

...Furthermore, compounds found in cannabis have been shown to kill numerous cancer types including: lung cancer, breast and prostate, leukemia and lymphoma, glioma, skin cancer, and pheochromocytoma.

...despite potentially higher levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in cannabis smoke compared to tobacco smoke (dependent on what part of the plant is smoked), the THC present in cannabis smoke should exert a protective effect against pro-carcinogens that require activation. In contrast, nicotine activates some CYP1A1 activities, thus potentially increasing the carcinogenic effects of tobacco smoke.

...In conclusion, while both tobacco and cannabis smoke have similar properties chemically, their pharmacological activities differ greatly. Components of cannabis smoke minimize some carcinogenic pathways whereas tobacco smoke enhances some. Both types of smoke contain carcinogens and particulate matter that promotes inflammatory immune responses that may enhance the carcinogenic effects of the smoke. However, cannabis typically down-regulates immunologically-generated free radical production by promoting a Th2 immune cytokine profile. Furthermore, THC inhibits the enzyme necessary to activate some of the carcinogens found in smoke. In contrast, tobacco smoke increases the likelihood of carcinogenesis by overcoming normal cellular checkpoint protective mechanisms through the activity of respiratory epithelial cell nicotine receptors. ....Furthermore, nicotine promotes tumor angiogenesis whereas cannabis inhibits it."

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...


Study published June 2013 - Effects of marijuana smoking on the lung

"Regular smoking of marijuana by itself causes visible and microscopic injury to the large airways that is consistently associated with an increased likelihood of symptoms of chronic bronchitis that subside after cessation of use. On the other hand, habitual use of marijuana alone does not appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function when assessed either cross-sectionally or longitudinally, except for possible increases in lung volumes and modest increases in airway resistance of unclear clinical significance. Therefore, no clear link to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been established. ...In summary, the accumulated weight of evidence implies far lower risks for pulmonary complications of even regular heavy use of marijuana compared with the grave pulmonary consequences of tobacco."

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...


Other things worth considering are things like the fact that cannabis isn't physically addictive like tobacco is, so users tend not to chain-smoke joints in the same way a tobacco user might chain-smoke cigarettes, and the more potent the cannabis is, generally the less gets smoked further still. Compounds found in tobacco harden the arteries, potentially leading to heart disease, while certain cannabinoids exert vasorelaxation (this is why peoples eyes go red after using larger amounts of, or more potent forms of cannabis). Tobacco also clogs up the lungs, while THC is a bronchodilator, it opens up the airways helping to expel smoke, dirt, and phlegm. Interestingly, cannabis 'cigarettes' were once recommended as a treatment for asthma;

History of Cannabis as a Medicine - By Lester Grinspoon, M.D.,

"In 1860, Dr. RR M'Meens reported the findings of the Committee on Cannabis Indica to the Ohio State Medical Society. ... M'Meens reviewed symptoms and conditions for which Indian hemp had been found useful, including tetanus, neuralgia, dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation), convulsions, the pain of rheumatism and childbirth, asthma, postpartum psychosis, gonorrhea, and chronic bronchitis." (p3)

www.maps.org...





Other things to think about are the various methods of ingestion, for example smoking combusted plant material is fast becoming a thing of the past as vaporizer technology continues to advance, come down in price, and be more readily available. With the development of vaporizers, which deliver carcinogen-free vapour, any carcinogenic potential of smoked cannabis has been largely eliminated. Medically speaking, there are also transdermal applications, oromucosal sprays and ebibles. Which method is used ultimately comes down to the individual, their condition, and dose titration.

a reply to: Oklastatefan
Studies prove you wrong. In one Swiss study they found smoking pot makes you a safer driver. Ignore the studies funded by the alcohol lobby, they stand to loose billions when it is legalized. It cured my father of alcoholism, but they put him in jail for it.

a reply to: Jakal26

Wow, so just "because it's a plant" you think it's safe to use?... really?... heck, there are many poisonous plants which are just "plants"... Are you going to eat them too because "you have been fed the poison madness which is not true"?...

I posted evidence to back my statements. You can deny them all you want. It won't change the facts.