Ugh… I hate the smell.
I’m in favor of legalizing, or at least decriminalization. I kind of view it like alcohol… maybe a bit milder b/c at least anecdotally I’ve never seen someone rage out after getting stoned, and I’ve seen it a lot with alcohol… BUT, I HATE the smell. And I hate that it gets everywhere… when someone drinks at a party, I don’t have to taste it, but when someone smokes not only do I smell it, but it also just sticks in my clothes.
Not sure if that link will work, but it’s the HHS document addressing the proposal to lower the cannabis classification.
Yes there are people with addictive proclivities, and some people sought out medical MJ cards for questionable reasons, and like most/all meds it’s not without risk, but for issues like pain management, can be a better choice and less addictive than opioids, without risk of OD or withdrawal.
California is also restrictive on smoking (anything), with substantial social disapproval and awareness that (any) smoke is unpleasant and unhealthy. Using marijuana while driving can also result in a DUI in California, and smoking marijuana while driving makes it too obvious to any nearby police officer. Also, even long ago, many (tobacco) smokers did not smoke in their cars due to the effect on car resale value.
So it may not be too surprising if many marijuana users in California choose edibles or some such and/or self-limit smoking.
Vaping is not so stinky.
Hmmm… there sure to seem to be a lot of pot stores with weed as well as edibles. There must be a market and consumers purchasing.
As for police, I remember one of my kids telling me a story of a policeman approaching a coworker of his about jaywalking, and the coworker politely pointed out the person shooting up on the sidewalk. As you know, there are many who wish the police would be more willing to enforce laws like shoplifting, IV drug use on the streets, etc.
Not sure I really want to get too involved in this conversation, but there is a lot of research showing the link between mental health disorders and marijuana use. I too used to believe a little pot was fine (but have no interest in partaking myself), but now hope that my children never try it.
With just a quick search, I found this article that talks about a study a psychiatrist friend told me about:
I live outside of Portland and we rarely smell marijuana. Other, more interesting, drug use is plentiful though.
That said, I’ve been to nyc a few times in the last few years (used to live there)and the smell is everywhere and really damaging to the quality of life in the city.
I feel like I’m in the minority because I don’t use it. I don’t know how anyone can enjoy the smell, let alone intentionally inhale smoke into their lungs.
Yes, young teens starting recreational weed use before (per that article) 26 is a bad thing. And I also agree that those who use it “medicinally” for supposed management of anxiety could be potentially aggravating their symptoms in the long run if they are not utilizing more established treatment modalities. But if this reduction in drug class alleviates the criminalization of personal possession and frees the justice system to address other issues, or helps some chronic pain patients address chronic pain management without or with less opioid use , IMO that’s a good thing.
States where medical marijuana is legal have approved it for a varying list of conditions. Depending on where you live, these might include:
One relatively common measure to evaluate risk of death from drugs is comparing the ratio, lethal dose / effective dose. For example, one review found the following “safety ratio”, which is defined as (lethal to 1% of population / median effective dose).
For all practical purposes, nobody dies from a marijuana overdose. It’s certainly not comparable to deaths from the opioid epidemic, which has been attributed to ~1 million deaths in the United States and is one of the leading causes of deaths in younger persons, Rather than overdoses, more common are things like increased risk of car accidents while smoking marijuana, which was touched on above.
“Safety Ratio” of Various Drugs
Heroin – 6x
Alcohol – 10x
Meth – 10x
Cocaine – 15x
Ecstasy – 16x
Ketamine – 38x
Nicotine – 50x
Caffeine – 100x
LSD – 1000x
Marijuana – >1000x (too high to measure and highest evaluated drug)
The person I replied to suggested a person can’t die from marijuana.
The off-topic discussion about whether police should enforce some laws and not others is one better served by a new thread in the PF. Several posts deleted.
The Associated Press notes that the change, which is based on an August 2023 recommendation by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that resulted from a review President Joe Biden ordered in October 2022, “would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use.”
That is by no means the only thing rescheduling marijuana will not do. Biden wants credit for “marijuana reform,” which he hopes will help motivate young voters whose turnout could be crucial to his reelection. The announcement of the DEA’s decision seems designed to maximize its electoral impact. But voters should not be fooled: Although moving marijuana to Schedule III will facilitate medical research and provide a financial boost to the cannabis industry, it will leave federal pot prohibition essentially untouched.
Rescheduling marijuana will not resolve the conflict between the CSA and the laws of the 38 states that recognize cannabis as a medicine, 24 of which also allow recreational use. State-licensed marijuana businesses will remain criminal enterprises under federal law, exposing them to the risk of prosecution and forfeiture. While an annually renewed spending rider protects medical marijuana suppliers from those risks, prosecutorial discretion is the only thing that protects businesses serving the recreational market.
Even if they have state licenses, marijuana suppliers will be in the same legal position as anyone who sells a Schedule III drug without federal permission. Unauthorized distribution is punishable by up to 10 years in prison for a first offense and up to 20 years for subsequent offenses. That is less severe than the current federal penalties for growing or distributing marijuana, which include five-year, 10-year, and 20-year mandatory minimum sentences, depending on the number of plants or amount of marijuana. But distributing cannabis, with or without state permission, will remain a felony.
Remember that it’s still illegal on federal property and can impact ability to get clearance depending on agency requirements - if that is something a college student wants to pursue in the future.
True! My D23 is working at a summer camp this summer and just had to pass a drug test that included marijuana.
I’m (local govt employee) am not allowed to have it either - even if it’s prescribed by a doctor. And I’m subject to random drug tests. I was pulled the other month.
But it does make sense for certain professions. Do you really want your kid’s school bus driver to be on it?
A bus driver should not drive under the influence of any substance or narcotic.
You would not want a bus driver to be on anything that could impair driving, including some legal drugs like alcohol.
The proposal is to switch to schedule 3, which has stricter rules than standard prescriptions. Schedule 3 drugs include many substances that could be problematic to use while driving a school bus including things like ketamine and anesthetics powerful enough to euthanize animals. However, that does not mean that they should be moved to schedule 1 and forbidden to be used for any medical purposes/research.
Rather than change the drug schedule and make it forbidden for everyone, it can also be regulated within specific conditions where usage may be problematic. For example, there are many strict laws regarding drinking alcohol while driving, which could also be problematic for a school bus driver. Laws regarding smoking marijuana while driving are more varied, with harsher laws and more strict enforcement in some states than others.