DEA to reclassify Marijuana from schedule I to schedule III

[SouthNarc]

I'm sure this will help our society with our current intelligence and common sense shortage.

The country has turned into a big Id-monster.

[Hambo]

Doesn’t marijuana have a half life of one day?

How many people are now going to be unable to drive safely or hold a job because they are under the influence of this stuff?

How many more will have problems because they are involuntarily breathing in the secondhand smoke?

Half life? Nobody gives a shit about no stinking weed half life. I did a quick check, and you can be impaired for 3-10 hours. I doubt that any of our medical or illegal (for now) pot users are ever unimpaired. And they are addicted, because they go off like a drunk who has been told he needs AA if you mention anything negative about weed.

And check this out. I have a buddy who is a mental health/addiction counselor, and he has sold his soul by working for a "marijuana assisted rehab." It's incredibly popular, and incredibly profitable, which is what the whole weed thing, legal or illegal, is really about.

[RoyGBiv]

Half life? Nobody gives a shit about no stinking weed half life. I did a quick check, and you can be impaired for 3-10 hours.

@BillSWPA
This is consistent with my recollection from when I was in the drug testing business...

Separate from impairment, since THC is fat-soluble, a heavy user can test positive long (weeks) after last use, especially if they are losing weight... so... if you are getting drug tested at work after smoking weed a few weeks ago... eat an avocado burger the night before. (<-- burger thing not actually medical advice... just funny in a you-never-know sorta way)..

Unlike Cocaine and it's derivatives which are typically gone from the system except for hair) in a day

[WobblyPossum]

You know I disagree with you because we’ve talked about it in person. But I’m certainly fine with people having differing opinions based on their own experiences.

Over 16 years in LE, 14 years working drugs (with fugitives and violent crime sprinkled in). I enjoy it, and think it’s a worthy cause. I’m not for locking up addicts for being addicts, but I’m not sure of a place that actually does that. Here it would be a misdemeanor ticket.

I consider when we were dealing with bath salts and synthetic weed an experiment with legalization, and it was total chaos. I wouldn’t want to go through it again. And I guess the whole “de-criminalization” thing isn’t going too well in Oregon.

But I don’t know what the answer is. I would start with really going after the cartels in Mexico. Until then I’ll just keep doing my thing (even though the DOJ continues to make it harder).

It’s always a pleasure talking to you, buddy. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me and the world would probably be pretty boring if they did.

I don’t think anyone is locking up addicts for being addicts these days but that is something that was regularly done. Plenty of people in the past went to jail and eventually prison for simple possession back in the day. These days, if you’re locked up for simple possession, it’s probably because you’re the suspect in a couple dozen more serious cases and the possession is just what they were able to get you on.

I don’t think the problem is that we’ve decriminalized drugs. I think the problem is that much of the US has basically decriminalized crime. Many of the otherwise illegal things people do to feed their drug habits or because of their drug habits aren’t getting punished. Look at the homeless encampment problems all over the west coast and the southwest. Look at people not being charged for retail theft in big cities. Look at the leftist DAs releasing people charged with violent offenses on their own recognizance time and time again so they can reoffend. Look at the push to dismantle the infrastructure that enforces our immigration laws.

I think if we legalized and taxed the purchase and use of drugs while still maintaining the system that enforces the laws that punish infringing on/victimizing your fellow citizens, we’d be in a much better place. Maybe that’s me living in libertarian fantasy land. I don’t know.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the cartels get hit harder but I’m not sure what the strategy should be. There are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon of declaring them foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) because that would open a lot of options for the government. I think there would be a lot of second and third order effects that people aren’t digging into. There’s a reason we didn’t declare the Taliban an FTO during the GWOT and that’s because so many people in the country of Afghanistan had ties to them. People we needed in our efforts to set up a government that we hoped could manage the country. There are a lot of people in Mexico with ties to some cartel or another whether they’re people in government or just normal people living their lives. We can’t really count on the government of Mexico to manage the cartel problem on its end either. It seems like every year that passes Mexico gets closer and closer to becoming a full fledge failed narco-state.

[blues]

I was foreman on a jury for a marijuana smuggling case - 400# of bales stuffed in the cab of a pickup, “hidden” under a blanket. County trial.

Yes, the smuggler was caught driving the truck, going north from the US/Mexico border. Yes, we did convict on some of the charges.

Well done. I respect a jury that does its job and follows the law. I was blessed by them in my 20+ years and never presented a case that did not result in a conviction.


We had our hands full with mass quantities, (tons), of cocaine, followed by other narcotics, (morphine, heroin), etc etc. Marijuana just wasn't at the top of the list.

Sure, we'd seize bales from freighters, or ocean going tugs etc, and depending upon the case, the marine or air unit might prosecute. The Office of Investigations, which I was part of, and during my years in OCDETF, HIDTA and the Florida Joint Task Group, marijuana just never rose to the forefront.

I'm out of the game now, so I won't presume to know how and where manpower should be allocated.

[jh9]

For every Joe Rogan there seems to be a hundred dudes that barely just kinda get by because their life centers around getting baked.

The gray line is total overall, the others are constituent components of the total. Data from here.

There's a cost to everything, and legal marijuana is no exception. But note the dip in alcohol-related deaths back during Prohibition. You can say the same thing about booze and guns. Everything has a measurable harm to society built in. Some more than others, and some we just accept as the price of admission. Marijuana is the newest member of the club.

The "why" of it is another topic that probably belongs in the politics section. But I think it would be a mistake to look at the relationship as causal. Just like guns and murder. Legal access to guns can make it easier but the cause is elsewhere.

[BillSWPA]

Half life? Nobody gives a shit about no stinking weed half life. I did a quick check, and you can be impaired for 3-10 hours. I doubt that any of our medical or illegal (for now) pot users are ever unimpaired. And they are addicted, because they go off like a drunk who has been told he needs AA if you mention anything negative about weed.

And check this out. I have a buddy who is a mental health/addiction counselor, and he has sold his soul by working for a "marijuana assisted rehab." It's incredibly popular, and incredibly profitable, which is what the whole weed thing, legal or illegal, is really about.

It is not just the users who will be impaired. What about the people living in apartments who are unlucky enough to be next to a user who would have previously been evicted, but will now be able to stay? What about people who now have to walk through the weed smokers as well as the tobacco smokers at the entrance to the building where they work? People who are next to the “smokers lounge” in their workplace?

[breakingtime91]

It is not just the users who will be impaired. What about the people living in apartments who are unlucky enough to be next to a user who would have previously been evicted, but will now be able to stay? What about people who now have to walk through the weed smokers as well as the tobacco smokers at the entrance to the building where they work? People who are next to the “smokers lounge” in their workplace?

My understanding is there are laws in place to deal with open consumption, similar to alcohol. I'm a sober guy so I have no dog in the fight but in my opinion alcohol destroys far more lives and causes a lot more destruction than marijuana. I think this issue has a large education gap, especially with older people. The idea of being ok with alcohol from any stand point (addiction, mental health, physical health) but not marijuana seems more fear based than anything based in reality.


I say ban them both. Come on guys, soberity is the way.

[MickAK]

What’s being produced and marketed now as *weed* is simply not the same animal.

On a positive note, the generation coming up seems to have a better handle on how to properly mix life and marijuana consumption.

I have a lot more problems with millennial age people unable to manage work and use than Gen Z/A. They also tend to have less alcohol abuse issues. I'm not sure if decriminalization plays a factor there or they just watched people destroy themselves and it doesn't seem romantic like it did previously.

It's possible they're just too busy staring at their phones, I suppose.

[camsdaddy]

My understanding is there are laws in place to deal with open consumption, similar to alcohol. I'm a sober guy so I have no dog in the fight but in my opinion alcohol destroys far more lives and causes a lot more destruction than marijuana. I think this issue has a large education gap, especially with older people. The idea of being ok with alcohol from any stand point (addiction, mental health, physical health) but not marijuana seems more fear based than anything based in reality.


I say ban them both. Come on guys, soberity is the way.

My dad was an alcoholic who took prescribed pain pills and other meds for years. I always found it funny how anti marijuana he was. Ill never forget him telling someone one day that if I smoked pot or became gay he would disown me, a mate of another race was a given. I guess those were the most dissapointing things he could think of. Its funny we are ok with folks drowning their sorrows every night. We are ok with folks walking around on prescribed mind altering drugs with all sorts of side effects and we turn up our nose at marijuana.

Its honestly scary that so many of the vehicles we share the road with are being operated by folks distracted by electronic devices and on pain meds, anti anxiety/depressants, alcohol and weed. It seems like everyone is on something.