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House passes Canabis decriminalization

Mader Levap said:
Nah, harder stuff should be banned, but criminalization should apply only to ones producing and selling drug. Junkies should be detoxed, not in jail for merely buying and using it.
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My thoughts.

I say treat the harder drugs like huffing paint or drinking household items not meant to be drunk.
 
I absolutely despise the use of recreational drugs and yet think it's a major waste of time and resources to criminalize their use. I also think in a way criminalizing them makes them more attractive.
 
ChristianProgressive said:
This is one time I say "good on em". Pot has multiple dangerous effects on the brain, especially in young people. Not only should it remain illegal, but enforcement efforts need to be stepped up.
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You'd be in favour of crimilalising alcohol then?
 
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acbytesla said:
I absolutely despise the use of recreational drugs and yet think it's a major waste of time and resources to criminalize their use. I also think in a way criminalizing them makes them more attractive.
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And makes it much harder to keep them out of the hands of the underage.

And puts enormous sums of money into the hands of people who do bad things with it.
 
"House passes Cannabis decriminalization."

So... nothing then? Like literally nothing? Like as close to nothing as something could happen and still be detectable by science levels of nothing?

So what it went from ~400 bills that the McConnel is gleefully sitting on with no chance of changing his mind and zero chance of anyone doing anything about to ~401 bills?

The House might has well of wished upon a star or thrown a coin in a wishing well.
 
Mike! said:
Some 35 plus years ago, that was my primary stomping ground.
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I was there for a few months a couple of years ago. Probably a lot has changed since you were there given the changes in the Seattle area during the same timeframe.
 
JoeMorgue said:
"House passes Cannabis decriminalization."

So... nothing then? Like literally nothing? Like as close to nothing as something could happen and still be detectable by science levels of nothing?

So what it went from ~400 bills that the McConnel is gleefully sitting on with no chance of changing his mind and zero chance of anyone doing anything about to ~401 bills?

The House might has well of wished upon a star or thrown a coin in a wishing well.
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I disagree. Canabis legalisation just passed in what, four elections this November? 69 percent of the public today thinks it should be legalized. You pass the bill to make the GOP defend being on the other side of something the country supports.
 
acbytesla said:
I disagree. Canabis legalisation just passed in what, four elections this November? 69 percent of the public today thinks it should be legalized. You pass the bill to make the GOP defend being on the other side of something the country supports.
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Okay. And?

67% of Americans support equal pay for men and women. H.R.7, Paycheck Fairness Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since March of 2019.

83% of Americans support background checks for gun owners. H.R.8, Bipartisan Background Checks Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since February of 2019.

67% of Americans support a higher minimum wage. H.R.582, Raise the Wage Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since July of 2019.

74% of Americans support paths to citizenship. H.R.6, American Dream and Promise Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since July of 2019.

H.R.1, For the People Act, a sweeping reform of voting rights and security. Been sitting on his desk since January of 2019.

H.R.1585, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. Expired and wasn't renewed in 2018.

I could go on but my point has been made.
 
JoeMorgue said:
Okay. And?

67% of Americans support equal pay for men and women. H.R.7, Paycheck Fairness Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since March of 2019.

83% of Americans support background checks for gun owners. H.R.8, Bipartisan Background Checks Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since February of 2019.

67% of Americans support a higher minimum wage. H.R.582, Raise the Wage Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since July of 2019.

74% of Americans support paths to citizenship. H.R.6, American Dream and Promise Act is sitting on McConnel's desk waiting for a vote. It's been there since July of 2019.

H.R.1, For the People Act, a sweeping reform of voting rights and security. Been sitting on his desk since January of 2019.

H.R.1585, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. Expired and wasn't renewed in 2018.

I could go on but my point has been made.
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Your point is great. But I bet the degree which people want to to decriminalize pot is much more.
 
acbytesla said:
I disagree. Canabis legalisation just passed in what, four elections this November? 69 percent of the public today thinks it should be legalized. You pass the bill to make the GOP defend being on the other side of something the country supports.
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I'd like to agree with this, and do with the basic idea of putting them on the record. Then I remember their adamant opposition to the ACA, and how, when there was public support for things in it like protection for pre-existing conditions, the GOP simply changed the record, and began claiming that only they could provide that protection- all while they were having vote after vote to overturn the law that already provided it, and with nothing tangible to replace it with.

The only thing the GOP needs to do defend being on the wrong side of something the country supports is to claim, when necessary, that they actually always supported it, and in fact, gosh, only they can make it so anyway.
 
acbytesla said:
Your point is great. But I bet the degree which people want to to decriminalize pot is much more.
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A majority of people may support it but for how many is it a litmus test issue? The needle won't move on this in the Senate until it becomes a "Go home issue" for Senators. I would try to tie legalization to ending mass incarceration. That makes it a go home issue for Senators in Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania and a few other states with Republican senators but large Democrat leaning urban areas.
 
Craig4 said:
A majority of people may support it but for how many is it a litmus test issue? The needle won't move on this in the Senate until it becomes a "Go home issue" for Senators. I would try to tie legalization to ending mass incarceration. That makes it a go home issue for Senators in Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania and a few other states with Republican senators but large Democrat leaning urban areas.
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There's also the factor of sales tax revenue their state could be making.
They could be bringing in money from it instead of spending money on enforcement and incarceration.
 
ChristianProgressive said:
This is one time I say "good on em". Pot has multiple dangerous effects on the brain, especially in young people. Not only should it remain illegal, but enforcement efforts need to be stepped up.
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Why?
- Are the prisons not full enough for you?
- Is there not enough demand for more police officers, courts and prisons for you?
- Is organized crime not profitable enough for you?
- Are too many people living normal productive lives when with a little more effort, we could destroy them instead?
 
psionl0 said:
Why?
- Are the prisons not full enough for you?
- Is there not enough demand for more police officers, courts and prisons for you?
- Is organized crime not profitable enough for you?
- Are too many people living normal productive lives when with a little more effort, we could destroy them instead?
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Indeed.

And, most importantly, especially hereabouts on this skeptics site: I think it is pretty widely accepted (although TBF I don't have any research quotes handy) that the ganja is fairly innocuous. Far less so than alcohol, for instance. So that it makes no sense at all to subject this particular substance to all kinds of laws and rules and whatnot (unless we're also willing to do the same for alcohol and coffee!). I mean, apart from anything and everything else, this seems to be blatant, and entirely unreasonable, special pleading.

I myself am all for not just decriminalization but for making marijuana entirely freely available.


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eta:
Just started this thread, to actually examine the proposition that I'm kind of taking for granted here, that marijuana is fairly harmless, certainly less harmful than alcohol.
 
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ChristianProgressive said:
This is one time I say "good on em". Pot has multiple dangerous effects on the brain, especially in young people. Not only should it remain illegal, but enforcement efforts need to be stepped up.
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Ambrosia said:
Multiple dangerous effects??

For example?

In young people, sure. Any mind altering substance is best avoided until after your brain has mostly finished growing. For healthy adults though marijuana is about as close to harmless as you can get.

It's impossible to die from overdose. As in actually physically impossible.

It can trigger latent mental health problems, or exacerbate existing ones. So it's not totally without risk, but the risks are *very* small for a healthy adult, certainly much smaller than other legal and regulated drugs.

If it's available legally then when you buy the stuff you know what's in what you are buying so it won't be mixed with anything like 'Spice' or other synthetic cannabinoids, which are likely more harmful.

The downsides of criminalisation of marijuana far, far outweigh any positive impacts of prohibtion.
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I use to feel the way you do CP. But criminalization has been a total and abject failure. It hasn't kept marijuana out of the hands of children. It has however resulted in millions of people being incarcerated and having criminal records. Enforcement is expensive. Prison cells, police and legal costs are enormous.

Alcohol is ten times more dangerous than cannabis and yet you can buy it everywhere. Should we make it illegal?
 
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