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<p>Why the eagerness to tax? If it is taxed there will be an illegal black market to provide it cheaper, and then a new ‘war’ on marijuana tax cheats will arise.</p>
<p>You don’t get taxed (yet, who knows what may come) for growing your own carrots, so I think similarly marijuana should be left alone.</p>
<p>Recreational marijuana will be taxed to the high heavens. In Colorado, the industry is being regulated by the Colorado Department of Revenue.</p>
<p>Legalize it and regulate it like alcohol. Have we learned nothing from Prohibition?</p>
<p>Don’t know why people keep raising the issue of people growing their own as a con for legalization. It’s not like you can’t already home brew beer in your kitchen.</p>
<p>Ah Mini: from thy own UW :</p>
<p>Nope - it actually comes from the National Cannnabis Institute of Australia. </p>
<p>“This results in the lungs being exposed to:”</p>
<p>If you read what it says, this is “per puff”. Do you want to compare the average number of puffs a typical tobacco user takes with that of the average marijuana user? You’re being silly.</p>
<p>We DO have longitudinal studies, following marijuana users over 40 years. There are NO deaths attributable to marijuana - not lung cancer deaths, not other cancer deaths, not COPD. None, zero, zilch, nada. </p>
<p>(I spent 20 years as a regular advisor to ADAI, and you’ll find my name on the semi-annual published papers of the Community Epidemiological Workgroup of ADAI, where we also published attributable deaths. Marijuana? Not a one. <a href=“http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/organization/workgroups-interest-groups-consortia/community-epidemiology-work-group-cewg[/url]”>http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/organization/workgroups-interest-groups-consortia/community-epidemiology-work-group-cewg</a> This is what I did for a living. <a href=“http://www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/dbhr/2010%20Trends%20Report%20links.pdf[/url]”>www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/dbhr/2010%20Trends%20Report%20links.pdf</a></p>
<p>Maybe if we removed one avenue for at-risk kids to make easy money by selling illegal pot at inflated market prices, there will be just one more reason for them to stay in school.</p>
<p>Mini: feel free to encourage your friends and family to inhale smoke into their lungs because you are certain it is safe…I will ‘be silly’ and encourage mine to not.</p>
<p>dietz,
The issue is not whether pot is good for your lungs, but whether it should be legalized. I can think of many things that are not good for you that are legal: cigarettes, pornography, wagyu beef.</p>
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<p>Soooooo… what about cigarette smoke? Cigar? Shisha/Hookah? Those are already legal.</p>
<p>I received this week a pamphlet from our Colorado county about an upcoming ballot in November for or against a type of MJ tax- the for was revenue for schools and education and the con was that the tax was too high and might encourage maintaining the black market. This is what is down the pike here…</p>
<p>lol, like there isn’t already a black market now that feeds crime</p>
<p>I’m voting for the tax, I thought there was some irony in where the money is going.</p>
<p>GMT: I’m all for making it legal. It already is in CA. The implementation of that legality through the use of dispensaries is a game. Our local free weekly magazine has several ads for ‘get your medical marijuana prescription today…just call…phone consultations available’. There are parents of HS students who, when they discover their kiddle is partaking of the medication…strongly urge them to get a prescription! Why, so if they are discovered by law enforcement to be in possesion - they can whip out their laminated card and show their legal right to do just that.</p>
<p>My discussion with with the other poster centered around the claim that marijuana is not harmful because it supposedly hasn’t killed anyone. Sorry, smoke in the lung = bad idea.</p>
<p>I think anybody that is against medical marijuana has never had cancer directly affect their family. My sister has it and without the marijuana, she just may have lost her life. The prescription form was not a good substitute for her. Too hard to control. I cannot understand how people can think that allowing her the one thing that could save her life would be a bad thing. There are many, many substances used now that taken incorrectly can cause injury or death but we allow them because of the good they can do. How is this any different?</p>
<p>Sure people abuse the system. But people abuse every system. That doesn’t mean that those who could greatly benefit from it should not be allowed to have it because someone else could use it improperly.</p>
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<p>If only we could get back to a society where common sense and a bit of self responsibility was the rule of the day. Maybe then we could take the ‘do not use while sleeping or immersed in water’ label from the hair dryer and the ‘do not drink’ label off the car battery.</p>
<p>Are labels really a big problem for you?
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<p>@dietz,</p>
<p>You forgot the label that says: Caution, coffee is hot</p>
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<p>Actually they are a source of amusement. What is a problem for me (and for society IMO) is the need to label something that is soooo obvious and yet…part of our populace still needs to be warned in big bold letters. And…if no label is present and someone does something dumb…then they sue. THAT’s where I have a problem.</p>
<p>As one comedian puts it…I guess someone was driving along and got very thirsty…the thought came to them…hey…there is water in the battery…yo…I got me a straw…I think I’ll drink me some! …But now we have a label to make sure that all future thirsty people will be warned of the danger of drinking from a battery.</p>
<p>Guess we better get going on the appropriate labels for MJ. Let’s see…may cause cravings which hit after pizza delivery hours! </p>
<p>End of PSA…back to regular scheduled programming…</p>
<p>The Colorado Department of Revenue released the rules for the sale of recreational marijuana. I believe they are effective January 1, 2014. They are interesting. Labeling has to include statements that there may be health risks associated with consumption, and that the product was produced without regulatory oversight for health, safety or efficacy. So a lot of individual choice and judgment here. Personally, I would not be concerned about the occasional inhalation of marijuana smoke, but understand that others may feel differently.</p>
<p>The rules also allow for a citizen of the state to grow up to 6 plants in their home. They go on to say that only 3 of those plants can be “flowering” at the same time. This amused me as I am not sure how one monitors that or how the state would enforce that rule. I think that allowing people to grow in their home might cut down on the black market. </p>
<p>It’s interesting reading and I must admit I still had that vaguely uncomfortable feeling as I read the article. It is a brave new world.</p>
<p>[Rules</a> For Legal Recreational Marijuana Sales Announced In Colorado](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Rules For Legal Recreational Marijuana Sales Announced In Colorado | HuffPost Denver)</p>
<p>There are all sorts of ways to get the benefits of marijuana, without smoking a joint. Smoking paper will give more exposure to burnt paper into lungs - probably not ideal. There are capsules and tongue dissolving strips and canna butter and vaporizers and, well, if so inclined you could even imbibe making a type of pipe out of a water bottle. Or a piece of fruit. </p>
<p>Medical marijuana is legal in my state and truly was a source of major pain relief for someone in my family. I cannot imagine what would have happened if it wasn’t available for him - doctors all set to give ever increasing doses of narcotics. Pretty sure it would have been much more dangerous to his health, long term being addicted to opiates. </p>
<p>The fact that it is a class 1 drug makes no sense to me. So illogical.</p>
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<p>There was never such a society, gullibility and stupidity are built in to human populations.</p>