Well Now, I Think This Is A Licensing Violation...

[Cat Herder]

It's actually higher prices legally to cover taxation and businesses liability and the employees, insurance, etc.

Interesting. I had not thought of that.

I am still getting used to the idea that respectable adults actually do this. :: It is just something that simply isn't legal or socially acceptable, here. It is viewed as further evidence of the decay of our country.

[Controlled Chaos]

So funny Cat Herder. In my neck of the woods its seen as akin to having a few beers or a glass of wine. Its not legal here yet...but I know at least 2 daycare families that smoke (great parents, good jobs) and if it were legal...I would too

[daycarediva]

Interesting. I had not thought of that.

I am still getting used to the idea that respectable adults actually do this. :: It is just something that simply isn't legal or socially acceptable, here. It is viewed as further evidence of the decay of our country.

The cousin I am referring to is getting his MBA, paying cash all the way. He's doing what he loves (ha!). He looks like a total stoner/loser punk kid though, until you know he just bought a house and paid cash and drives a BMW- paid for with cash. He randomly sends us items from his shop. dh and dd have pot leaf socks, we have ash trays (although we don't smoke anything- etc). The business aspect of it IS interesting, and since licenses are limited, it's BIG business now. He is saving like crazy to retire by 40, has an IRA worth more than mine at the moment (he is 22 now I believe) He is also using his money to diversify, he just bought land and is putting up storage units, and he is doing rental properties now, too. So that when the market floods, he has a safety net.

So funny Cat Herder. In my neck of the woods its seen as akin to having a few beers or a glass of wine. Its not legal here yet...but I know at least 2 daycare families that smoke (great parents, good jobs) and if it were legal...I would too

Same here. I wish we could replace weed with the heroin epidemic we have going on. They just found a 19yo college student dead in her dorm room yesterday and a drug addict od'ed and was dumped right behind the police station a few weeks ago, and then there was one they found floating in the lake this summer. Fun times here!

[Mike]

I will never agree with marijuana, and dislike the idea of it becoming normal. It has the same properties as alcohol. Some people can drink or use socially with no problems, but some get more regular due to life issues, and eventually get into harder drinks and drugs, and some end up dying, or killing others, because of it. Alcohol being legal is enough option for messing people's minds. We don't need another way to do it. Nothing against anyone here who is for, or uses, but in my home, there will never be any of either.

[mommyneedsadayoff]

I will never agree with marijuana, and dislike the idea of it becoming normal. It has the same properties as alcohol. Some people can drink or use socially with no problems, but some get more regular due to life issues, and eventually get into harder drinks and drugs, and some end up dying, or killing others, because of it. Alcohol being legal is enough option for messing people's minds. We don't need another way to do it. Nothing against anyone here who is for, or uses, but in my home, there will never be any of either.

I respectfully disagree about the alcohol/MJ comparison, but the reason I bolded your last sentence is to show that having that choice is what is most important. You can choose not partake or have it in your house and is a perfectly reasonable choice to make. The people who use it and benefit from it do not get that same choice. Now that CO and WA, and many other states are legalizing it, even if just medicinal use, other people are finally getting the respect and ability to make their own choice for their own lives. I don't feel others should tell me what I can or cannot put in my body, just as I would never tell them what they should eat, drink, what meds they should take, ect. It is none of my business. Again, I respectfully disagree about the harmful effects that legalization of mj would have. I feel that keeping it illegal has led to far worse outcomes, including unnecessary death and incarceration.

[Mike]

I know that some people can get addicted to it just like alcohol, and eventually get into harder drugs, because in my late teens, a guy I knew was using it and got into harder drugs. He died at the age of 20 when he thought he could fly. In his case, it wouldn't have mattered if marijuana was legal or not. It was the start of his death.

Marijuana addiction may not be common, but it is real.

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/marijuana-addiction-rare-but-real-072014

[mommyneedsadayoff]

I know that some people can get addicted to it just like alcohol, and eventually get into harder drugs, because in my late teens, a guy I knew was using it and got into harder drugs. He died at the age of 20 when he thought he could fly. In his case, it wouldn't have mattered if marijuana was legal or not. It was the start of his death.

Marijuana addiction may not be common, but it is real.
http://www.healthline.com/health-new...ut-real-072014

I think anything can be addictive and I am sure there are people who are addicted to marijuana or at least addicted to the habit of using it. I have heard of people being addicted to running, which I find insane, as I get tired walking into the kitchen:: I don't think it is fair to punish a majority of people for the addictive issues of very, very few people. The benefits of marijuana far out weigh the risks of addiction.

As for it being a gate way drug, I am sure there are people who have started with mj and moved onto harder drugs. One reason may be that when you make it illegal, you make it popular on the black market and while many dealer get by on selling just mj, many are also pushing much harder drugs. By forcing it underground, people are walking into potentially dangerous encounters with dealers and with other types of drugs. Legalizing it will make it much safer for people to acquire. They will find it regardless of law, so I feel that the safer, the better. And again, the main point is that it has many beneficial uses and unlike alcohol and other drugs, it is medical option for many people and far healthier than numerous synthetic drugs.

[Mike]

I think anything can be addictive and I am sure there are people who are addicted to marijuana or at least addicted to the habit of using it. I have heard of people being addicted to running, which I find insane, as I get tired walking into the kitchen:: I don't think it is fair to punish a majority of people for the addictive issues of very, very few people. The benefits of marijuana far out weigh the risks of addiction.

As for it being a gate way drug, I am sure there are people who have started with mj and moved onto harder drugs. One reason may be that when you make it illegal, you make it popular on the black market and while many dealer get by on selling just mj, many are also pushing much harder drugs. By forcing it underground, people are walking into potentially dangerous encounters with dealers and with other types of drugs. Legalizing it will make it much safer for people to acquire. They will find it regardless of law, so I feel that the safer, the better. And again, the main point is that it has many beneficial uses and unlike alcohol and other drugs, it is medical option for many people and far healthier than numerous synthetic drugs.

You have some good points there.

[Blackcat31]

I'd choose a provider that smoked weed now and then (off hours etc only) before I'd choose a provider that took certain types of prescription medications.

[Cat Herder]

The cousin I am referring to is getting his MBA

Oh, don't get me wrong. I was not taking pot shots (pun was not even intentional, just a happy accident). The laughy face was at me, the winky face was intended to point out I am trying to have an open mind. I get it. The water is not hot, even though everything and everyone in "my world" says it is boiling.

This is simply how I was taught my whole life. It takes time for an entire culture to change. We also have this down here :

"in the public school textbooks and classrooms, the religion of evolution is being taught to students by telling them that dinosaurs evolved into birds. So far, the Biblical model that creatures bring forth after their kind (birds produce birds, lizards produce lizards, etc) is the only observable (scientifically verifiable) model in existence; the religious model of evolution, that beast can produce bird, has never been observed in nature, but is still taught as if it's "science.":

And this:

"the proposed resolution acknowledging science’s contribution to mankind’s progress beyond the Stone Age is an “authoritarian” and “unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause and protection of the freedom of speech,” and as a Pagan religion is responsible for advancing infanticide, gun violence, wars, Nazism, and likely all the diseases that plagued humanity down through the ages. The creationists’ categorical claim is that evolution is a religion like atheism, and it leads them to assert that “since the constitution calls for the state not to be involved in the establishment of any religion,” atheists have no right asking the federal government to endorse and mandate the religion known as evolution. "

[Mom2Two]

Let's get real for a minute about the problems caused by any substance that messes with your brain and physical well-being.

http://www.who.int/gho/alcohol/harms_consequences/deaths_alcohol/en/

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

Those are some pretty high numbers for the problems caused JUST by alcohol.

I've read/watched some of the facts about what marijuana does to a person's brain. I do feel disappointed that people abuse their minds and bodies the way they do. And I find that people are often very uninformed of the actual facts, and often seem quite uninterested, preferring the escape of the Now over the reality of the Future.

Having said that, I am in favor of legal, prescription, medical marijuana use.