DEA to reclassify Marijuana from schedule I to schedule III

[Half Moon]

I am consistently pissed off that I could go outside my office on my "tobacco free campus" - and light up the biggest fucking joint on the planet and smoke it down. But if I want to smoke a cigar, a cigarette, chew some Skoal, or use a Zyn pouch I can be fired.

We live in a fucking bizarro world where people mistakenly believe inhalation of combustibles is fine as long as it is -not- nicotine.

Well, yeah, but you're looking for objective reasoning. At a certain point it's about ideological archetypes and virtue signaling. Big tobacco = evil corporations spreading death for profit; marijuana = peace and love and groovy rebellion against The Man.

A couple decades back I lived in a small, hard left town. The sort of place that not only declares itself a "nuclear free zone" but posts it on road signs. During the time I lived there, the town council passed ordinances, in the same week and without the slightest sense of irony, banning tobacco use in any form on the town green; and, allowing smoking marijuana on the town green. Go figure.

[TGS]

We live in a fucking bizarro world where people mistakenly believe inhalation of combustibles is fine as long as it is -not- nicotine.

When I was still working at a hospital and vaping became popular, the activity provided a steady stream of patient census for a condition known colloquially as "popcorn lung." It was enough that there was permanent presence of popcorn lung from vaping in the ICU. If we had one gigantic hospital for that county instead of 5 smaller hospitals (all 5-15 minutes away from each other), there was enough patients that we could have had a unit specifically just for popcorn lung from vaping.

John Q Public is retarded.

[JRB]

Yeah Revel. My girlfriend and I went to see In This Moment. Had to sit through Mike’s Dead, who I had never heard of before but found okay, and Kim Dracula, who I seriously dislike after having seen them as an opening act in a previous show. I also really like the venue. The food options are better than at the amphitheater and they don’t have a problem with off duty LE being armed. I paid $8 for a carne adovada burrito that I think consisted of at least a half pound of pork wrapped in a tortilla and was full all evening. They also provide free cups of water at every bar if you ask whereas at the amphitheater it seems you have to buy overpriced waters or already have a cup or bottle that you can refill. I’ll definitely try to get the balcony tickets next time we see a show there. It looked a lot more enjoyable than standing for three hours in a sea of people while having to smell their weed smoke.

Who did you go see?

Sunday's concert was Sleep Theory, Veil of Maya, Wage War, and Nothing More. Sleep Theory is basically a brand new band but they got some good airplay on Sirius XM 'Octane' which I listen to a lot, so it was cool to see them open up. I was impressed by their music and their stage presence. Veil of Maya, never heard of them, they were okay. We were really there for Wage War, which is one of my wife's favorite bands. They were fantastic but their set didn't include any of her top three favorite songs so that was kind of a bummer. Nothing More, I was really impressed by their show and I like their music more after seeing them live.
I totally agree, the burrito joint in the downstairs food court is spectacular - I think I got the carne asada last time though, but it's hard to go wrong there.
Balcony/VIP/whatever they call it tickets are worth every penny, you just have to get there early to stake out the good spots closest to the stage. There's bar stools all along the railing and there's drink holders too.

My wife and I really wanted to see Motionless in White and In This Moment, but our babysitting network was tapped out. Luckily we've seen both bands before elsewhere, but that almost made it worse because both always put on a heck of a show.

[WobblyPossum]

Sunday's concert was Sleep Theory, Veil of Maya, Wage War, and Nothing More. Sleep Theory is basically a brand new band but they got some good airplay on Sirius XM 'Octane' which I listen to a lot, so it was cool to see them open up. I was impressed by their music and their stage presence. Veil of Maya, never heard of them, they were okay. We were really there for Wage War, which is one of my wife's favorite bands. They were fantastic but their set didn't include any of her top three favorite songs so that was kind of a bummer. Nothing More, I was really impressed by their show and I like their music more after seeing them live.
I totally agree, the burrito joint in the downstairs food court is spectacular - I think I got the carne asada last time though, but it's hard to go wrong there.
Balcony/VIP/whatever they call it tickets are worth every penny, you just have to get there early to stake out the good spots closest to the stage. There's bar stools all along the railing and there's drink holders too.

My wife and I really wanted to see Motionless in White and In This Moment, but our babysitting network was tapped out. Luckily we've seen both bands before elsewhere, but that almost made it worse because both always put on a heck of a show.

We actually had to duck out before Motionless in White to the stage because my girlfriend has a 0645 shift in the morning. We aren’t huge fans so it wasn’t a big deal. We were both there primarily for In This Moment. They did put in a hell of a show and played both of my favorite songs. The rest of the bands coming to Revel this year don’t interest me a whole lot which is disappointing but amphitheater is getting some good acts.

[Alaskapopo]

Funny weed jokes aside, I will say that this is not all without problems. We had a guy up in Rockford stab and bludgeon 4 people to death after consuming what he said was tainted marijuana that made him psychotic. In California, a woman stabbed her boyfriend 108 times, killing him, after consuming marijuana that had an extremely elevated THC content and it triggered a psychotic episode.

I took care of a patient around the time that marijuana was recreationally legalized in IL who had consumed almost an entire can of edibles (patient had dementia and thought they were candy) and was brought into the hospital fully psychotic and it took a LONG time for it to even sort of abate. The combo of dementia and a huge amount of THC was pretty bad.

All that to say, "Reefer madness" while the butt of more than a few jokes, is a real actual thing and while Marijuana does have some definite benefits...like many a substance that is consumed for medical and recreational purposes, the dose determines whether it's a medicine or poison. It's not for everyone. Much like alcohol or tobacco.

Alcohol causes a lot more crime than marijuana

[45dotACP]

Alcohol causes a lot more crime than marijuana

Lot more health problems too. But they tried complete prohibition on that too.

Not saying it has no use whatsoever or that it belongs in schedule 1 with people being thrown in jail for it....but the notion that it's harmless is a bunch of Joe Rogan podcaster bro half truth.

Dose makes the poison, like I said. And with much more concentrated synthetic versions being available, the doses available are wayyy over what your daddy was smoking when he went to see Grateful Dead with that one hippy chick....

[Totem Polar]

that one hippy chick....

AKA “mom…”

[BillSWPA]

Alcohol causes a lot more crime than marijuana

I once watched a judge tell a criminal defendant that 9 out of every 10 people that ended up as criminal defendants in his courtroom were there because of drugs in one way or another.

[bofe954]

Alcohol causes a lot more crime than marijuana

You're probably right but I would qualify it with, "I'm not sure we know". A lot of people are high all day and we have no idea what effect it's had on all of the decisions they make, and have been making for years. It's not like we're documenting what people are pulling positive for when they commit crimes, and it's not like they aren't used together.

The whole "but it's better than alcohol" rationale is also kind of strange to me anyway. It's a pretty low bar. It's like arguing about whether cake is a healthier breakfast than doughnuts or something.

Don't get me wrong, the schedule I was too much, and I don't really care about legalization either. I approve of it in the sense that I think people shouldn't have to deal with drug dealers to get it.

In my opinion it hasn't really been illegal here for a long time. Less than an ounce and a half was essentially a parking ticket. To get that parking ticket, a cop somehow had find you with it and be annoyed enough to bother writing one. That isn't happening in your living room, or at a concert, or in the middle of a park, or whatever. If you're stupid enough to get one, you write a check.

I haven't seen the huge benefit to states that have legalized, but I'd love to be educated. California legalized in 2016 and I think their medical program was abused enough that it's been legal awhile longer. What miracles have they performed with all the tax money? I watched a doc about how Oakland was trying to attract indoor growers to create industry and generate tax revenue. Want to move to Oakland, is it better there somehow than it was in 2016? Has crime gone down in states with legalized marijuana?

I think my state's program has some enormous flaws, and is actually losing money at the moment, so I may just be bitter. I just haven't been sold on any improvement legalization has had for most people.

My opinion of it here is that it's another cash grab by the state, looking to take more money from people with low incomes. I also suspect the legalize lobby spent a shitload of money and that politicians saw it as a way to generate votes. As usual I'd love to be wrong.

[Alaskapopo]

You're probably right but I would qualify it with, "I'm not sure we know". A lot of people are high all day and we have no idea what effect it's had on all of the decisions they make, and have been making for years. It's not like we're documenting what people are pulling positive for when they commit crimes, and it's not like they aren't used together.

The whole "but it's better than alcohol" rationale is also kind of strange to me anyway. It's a pretty low bar. It's like arguing about whether cake is a healthier breakfast than doughnuts or something.

Don't get me wrong, the schedule I was too much, and I don't really care about legalization either. I approve of it in the sense that I think people shouldn't have to deal with drug dealers to get it.

In my opinion it hasn't really been illegal here for a long time. Less than an ounce and a half was essentially a parking ticket. To get that parking ticket, a cop somehow had find you with it and be annoyed enough to bother writing one. That isn't happening in your living room, or at a concert, or in the middle of a park, or whatever. If you're stupid enough to get one, you write a check.

I haven't seen the huge benefit to states that have legalized, but I'd love to be educated. California legalized in 2016 and I think their medical program was abused enough that it's been legal awhile longer. What miracles have they performed with all the tax money? I watched a doc about how Oakland was trying to attract indoor growers to create industry and generate tax revenue. Want to move to Oakland, is it better there somehow than it was in 2016? Has crime gone down in states with legalized marijuana?

I think my state's program has some enormous flaws, and is actually losing money at the moment, so I may just be bitter. I just haven't been sold on any improvement legalization has had for most people.

My opinion of it here is that it's another cash grab by the state, looking to take more money from people with low incomes. I also suspect the legalize lobby spent a shitload of money and that politicians saw it as a way to generate votes. As usual I'd love to be wrong.

Been a police officer 24 and a half years. Always see a lot more crime committed by drunk people than marijuana impaired people. Drunks also like to fight and do violent crime far more. In my experience at least.
I don’t personally support using any substance for recreational purposes but if your trying to schedule things by their danger to the public then alcohol is far higher on the food chain then marijuana.