Happy Weed Legalization, Canada!!!!

[Teenwolf]

Woohoo!

Okay, so it's the (neo)Liberal party that introduced legalization... so they let the provinces decide the rules, and it's kinda messed up in different places... and they had to give police extra abilities to prosecute people for impaired driving which relies on highly flawed mechanisms of testing, which will result in many people still unjustly going to prison for driving impaired despite a lack of impairment... so it's not all perfect, but legalization is a start towards finding a reasonable set of regulations.

There's an overpriced government site to order from, but no physical dispensaries in my town yet. Surprisingly, the Liberals in Ontario had an awful legalization plan, and the clownshow Rob Ford (brother of the crackhead Toronto mayor) fixed some of the issues, as his only bright spot... I'll probably just stick to ordering from the non-government online site I go to. I usually pay $100-$140 OZ, and I believe the government is hoping for $240-$280 OZ, so the government still needs to step up to compete more with black market pricing... but maybe I'm naive, and the legal shops will be flooded with empty-nesters, retired folks, and chronic pain management switchers moreso than the usual smokers. Both illicit and legal markets could continue to co-exist. We shall see.

I could grow up to 4 plants, which could yield several pounds of weed if I knew what I was doing... but I don't. Might be fun to experiment with growing, but I still have to keep it a secret from my 11 year old daughter for a while longer.

It's really weird to see it all commercialized and out in the open though... the Oh Henry 4:25 chocolate bars creep me out... "for that intense hunger you need, right at 4:25"... hahaha.... they're gonna put weed in Pepsi and into stuffed-crust pizzas, and injected into Big Macs and whatnot... it's kinda weird and creepy to me. But the world is going to hell, might as well light one up as we watch the world go up.

[In the Corn]

Why the need to hide it from your daughter?

[senorsheep]

Why the need to hide it from your daughter?

Speaking for myself only...

Marijuana presents medical risks to children that it does not present to adults. An 11-year-old may not be able to process why it's "OK for dad" but not "OK for me." I didn't discuss my marijuana use with my kids until they were in their middle teens. Seems like a sensible precaution to me.

Did you expose your 11-year-old child(ren) to your "adults only" activities? I wouldn't even drink in front of my kids when they were young.

[TranaGreg]

I could grow up to 4 plants, which could yield several pounds of weed if I knew what I was doing... but I don't. Might be fun to experiment with growing, but I still have to keep it a secret from my 11 year old daughter for a while longer.

The smell. I had a friend who had two 5 ft plants in his backyard. The smell was pretty extreme.

[Teenwolf]

The smell. I had a friend who had two 5 ft plants in his backyard. The smell was pretty extreme.

I guess I'd worry about the smell attracting teenagers or other thieves to break into my yard to cut down my plants, so you'd probably want to grow them indoors using hydroponics... unless you lived out in the country. I'm thinking of buying a little piece of country property for $3-$5K so I can do some work out there. I'd want a place to dump my landscaping debris and wood chip to compost... and maybe grow my personal limit somewhere on the property as well. But I'd be too nervous where I live to grow in my backyard in the city.

[Teenwolf]

Why the need to hide it from your daughter?

I think the idea that "good people don't do drugs" is pretty hard-wired into kids. I know I grew up during the height of "Just say NO", so I can understand why someone like my daughter would be upset to learn that I smoke pot, even though it's now legal. My daughter is incredibly precocious (at least I think) for her age. She's barely started into tween type of movies (I was exposed to hardcore violence and sexual content as a young child, much more desensitized.) She's also only with me every 2nd weekend, so I put all the ashtrays and bongs and whatnot away while she's here and it's not an issue. I suspect she'll figure it out within the next few years, but I'm doing my best to hide it. Oh, and her step dad hates weed. He's a college professor known for ranting about how his stoner students never get anything done. So he scares me. Those are all of my reasons.

[Judge Jude]

all of this is very similar to what is happening now in NJ (and DE, MS, WV, and as of this week, NM) regarding legal sports betting.

Nevada had a virtual monopoly on it for a half-century - and if you've ever been to Las Vegas (I was just there again last week on business), well, it fits the 'anything goes' vibe of the city. but in May, the US Supreme Court ruled - on 10th Amendment grounds - that the 26-year-old federal law should be thrown out because it "commandeers" states to do the feds' bidding (Congress could outlaw sports betting tomorrow, a la Prohibition, all sides agree. they just couldn't do what ex-Knick/NJ Senator Bill Bradley's bill did for all that time).

in NJ, illegal bookmakers have thrived forever, but now residents not only can legally bet in Atlantic City casinos or at two racetracks, but also bet legally online in the state. it's confusing to a lot of people, and some of the legal lines frankly can't compete with the illegal bookies (who also let you bet on credit and don't make you pay taxes on a big score).

I'm pretty agnostic on both topics (shocking, I know). I do wonder about driving-while-impaired issues. I think the 50-state framework works well here. The $15 minimum wage issue has passed in several states, and those less certain of its benefit can wait and see how it shakes out in more progressive states (I don't know of any clear conclusions good or bad just yet, but we have time). same with these issues.

The SCOTUS ruling drew in all of the conservatives - think "state's rights" - but also Justice Kagan from the left. The original law was seen as a mess, frankly, across the board (trivia: one of the two judges whose 2-1 ruling at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was thrown out is Donald Trump's older sister because of course she is).

[Teenwolf]

JJ, you'll have to go slower, I'm super blazed, and it's hard to read this much text on my phone while driving...

In all seriousness, I believe there is 1 key danger, that's people who are drinkers deciding to add weed to the mix. I think most new pot smokers would never decide to drive without booze impairing their judgment. When I started smoking, as a non-drinker, I was blown away by the level of intoxication, but after 20 or 30 or 1000 times, the impairment isnt the same as it used to be. Either way, booze makes people lose their inhibitions and cause crime. Stoners are too paranoid to go out and drive or cause a fight, usually folks that just wanna talk about good books, movies, video games, etc. I guess I worry about weed concentrates to a degree, if folks need the next-next level live resin extracts or whatever, but even then, worst case scenario is a whitey (like a blackout drunk, but in the weed version you dont puke, just die for like 3 seconds, sometimes get the shakey-shakies, and then come back to life again, no biggie)... but that will shake a person up. Nobody drives after that. I just know that I made exponentially more awful life decisions in my decade as a drinker than I have in the last 7 years since switching over to "greener pastures".

Oh, and that doesn't include the benefits of:

Prison reform
Helps fight opioid epidemic
reduces accidental drug overdoses
Helps people with PTSD, other medical ailments
And, uh... makes you feel good and stuff.

I also personally love the fact that it's literally a plant. And also the other fact that you could ingest as much as you want without fear of overdose or other immediate or known long term health risk. It's kind of amazing. Not many other thrills offer that level of safety. I see a net benefit to people's mental and physical health.