serai: A kiss between Casey Connor and Zeke Tyler (DudeWhatever)
serai ([personal profile] serai) wrote2009-12-14 03:25 pm

Oh wow man

.
So it looks like organizers have more than enough signatures to get a measure put on the California ballot in 2010 to legalize marijuana. The measure would legalize:

Possession by an adult of up to 1 ounce of weed

The right to grow your own in a 25-square foot space on your property

Local governments to decide on sales within their areas


So this would put us more or less back where we were in the 70's, when Steve Martin said in his comedy show, "Boy, I wouldn't smoke marijuana in California these days. You can get a ticket for that!"


Here's my thinking.

I believe weed should be legal for adults to possess, so long as they don't go about doing dangerous things while stoned, like driving heavy machinery or handling firearms. I think both of those should carry stiff penalties.

I believe adults should have the right to grow their own weed for personal use, and that means ANY personal use, medical or otherwise, the above exceptions still applying.

HOWEVER

Given both of those passing into law, I believe selling weed should not be legal unless you have a license, just as with any other comestible. Sellers should have to apply for a permit and submit to occasional inspections if they want to sell to the public. There's way too much shit-headed criminality associated these days with weed, and apologies to all the lovely dealers I've known through the years, it's not the hippie days anymore. The black market in weed gets people killed, so it should go.

Besides, if you can grow your own, you have no need to buy weed. It's probably the world's easiest plant to grow, even easier than tomatoes, for gods' sakes. I should know, 'cause I did it when I lived in Santa Cruz. Not a lot, just a dozen small plants in one oak half-barrel out in the sun on a secluded porch. Got the seeds from a friend, sprouted and planted them. Other than watering, and pouring some fish-meal solution on the soil every three weeks or so, I didn't have to do anything, and got a lovely crop of quite good weed. It was ridiculously easy, and if I'd had the means and legal freedom to do more, I probably could have had a very good crop in that beautiful space. After all, it ain't called "weed" for nothin'!


So I do hope this law passes, because it's about damn time we stopped wasting money on this non-crime, and filling our jails with people who don't deserve to be there. We had legal weed in CA in the 70's, and there was no epidemic of HORRID CRIME OMG. All that happened back then was...people smoked weed. Just like now, except they weren't scared. And nobody died or anything. Imagine that.

[identity profile] gloryunderhill.livejournal.com 2009-12-15 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
I recall Bill Hicks doing a bit on being stoned versus being drunk. After going through several comparisons he summed up by saying "Let's face it, you can't really cause much trouble when you're rubber cemented to the couch. Pass the Cheetos dude."

I couldn't agree with Bill or you more on this topic!

[identity profile] serai1.livejournal.com 2009-12-15 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
My parents are Latins, and I was raised with the idea that alcohol was for consuming with food, in the form of wine or beer. VERY occasionally, my parents might have some brandy. My grandma always took a shot of aguardiente in the mornings because she said it was very good for her health, and as she lived til well over 90, I have no reason to doubt her. As kids, starting around age 7, my siblings and I were given tiny amounts of wine - about an inch in a glass of 7-Up - which my dad said would get us accustomed to it and keep us from craving it later. He was right. None of us ever developed any interest in alcohol other than as an accompaniment to meals.

That said, I really detest alcohol drunk for its own sake. It makes me feel dizzy and sick, my body reacts with pain in my joints, and it turns me into a fucking bitch besides. Also, I just really fucking HATE the sensation of being drunk, and I've never been able to understand why anyone would ever want to feel it.

On the other hand, weed has the capacity to make me creative and happy (I've done some of my best writing while high), magnifies sensations like taste and touch, and makes it possible for me to get through difficulties without worry or anxiety. When those effects start to fade off, and the weed just ends up making me lazy and stupid, I quit for a few months to a few years, and later take it up again, all the great effects renewed. There's no comparison between that and the nasty, petulant violence I experience with alcohol.

[identity profile] aredhelebenesse.livejournal.com 2009-12-15 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
Pipeweed would be completely legal as soon as they'd raised a tax on it, like on alcoholic drinks or cigarettes too. It's all just a matter of money, who earns it and who not.

[identity profile] biting-moopie.livejournal.com 2009-12-22 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
It's definitely all about money. Hemp is an extremely versatile plant and would pose a threat to the cotton and logging industries.

The Netherlands has legalised marijuana and society didn't disintegrate. Crime went down and the police could spend time and resources on real problems.