Ve haff vays of meking you schnarf!
[Clockwork Orange] Perhaps there is a punishment aspect to the procedure after all. [/CL]
But wait! There’s more! Here’s what you get to do in the shooting gallery.
FINE! I QUIT! STOP! NO RATS! TAKE JULIA!
Do they prop your eyes open with toothpicks and play the Beethoven Ninth over and over, too?
Typical government thinking: let us spend millions to stop people from growing their own stuff and then let us spend millions growing stuff that nobody wants. Now they will spend millions on studies to find out what went wrong.
Anyone want some “Flin Flon Dope”? I got some cheap!
Exactly.
And the new pot bill plans to increase penalties for growing your own, even if it’s small amounts. Thus effectively sealing the monopoly that large criminal gangs have on growing the stuff.
If you criminalize growing dope, only criminals will grow dope …
The irony is that some of the “best” pot available is grown in BC, where that guy is from. So where does the government try to grow it? At the bottom of a mine shaft in northern Manitoba. I say, if the government wants to distribute pot, fine, but leave its production to people who know what they’re doing.
Oregonians?
They’re decriminalizing Marijiuana possesion left right and center. If its not illigal to use it, why should it be such a big deal to grow/sell? If you ask me this is just the governments way of trying to turn Marijiuana into the next tobacco industry. They don’t object to the drug itself, they just want to make sure all the money off of pot goes into their own pockets.
And here’s a secret: Every BC-er under the age of 30 is secretly proud as hell of our pot… I just find it funny that it’s such a point of pride.
You know, if the product were decent, I’d say more power to 'em.
I’ve been saying for years that if the government would either sell its own pot, or heavily tax legal suppliers, it would be an enormous source of revenue. Dear God, just * think * what we could do with that money.
If farming were allowed, marijuana prices would fall. Marijuana will grow in poor soil which cannot bear other crops. It would be easy to grow and maintain-- they don’t call it “weed” for nothing. With huge crops being reaped, prices would be very low indeed.
A tax could then be levied on marijuana retail sales, bringing the prices up to the level that they are today, what the market will obviously bear. For example, lets say the price of a quarter ounce would fall to $5. (Which is just wild-ass speculation.) The government could easily triple the price in taxes without the consumer blinking an eye.
I envision well-funded, well-maintained schools, health care for the poor, and a host of other goodies that the tax revenue could pay for without diverting funds from other projects.
And while you’re at it, Lissa, I’d like a pony, too.
Great idea! Ponies for all!
Hey, I never claimed I wasn’t a naive idealist.
It’s bumming me out: Canada’s becoming that Twilight Zone episode Time Enough at Last – crystal, crystal everywhere, nor any bump to take… And what’s with the mirrored booths? Are they kidding? What’s next – the ol’ Abner Louima for sexual addicts?
BTW, you’re right, Beagle, nice segue in that article. It’s like writing a story on the First Naturally-Bred Gorilla Triplets, then ending with “meanwhile, the giraffe exhibit has had remarkably low attendance this year.”
The problem isn’t the Rx bud. It’s probably the BCers finally got to taste some southern bunk. Glenlivet on the rocks or Ten High from a bag?
That may be so, but won’t someone think of the Glaxos? What about the Pfizers? Ohhhhhhh, lament for my Merck.
No, I totally agree with Lissa on this. But the government can’t do anything right. That’s the only problem. They’d end up turning it into an additive riddled concoction that’s WAY worse for you than the original drug, like tobacco. Not to mention the complaint in the OP that it tastes like crap-doodles. And of course if they did manage to do a good job with Pot itself, they’d do sh*t all with the profits.
I can’t turn on the TV without hearing how dangerous “BC bud” is. You know, it’s 15,000 times stronger than the pot grown in the 1960s? Or is that 100,000,000? The number keeps going up. They keep doing stories on it.
Meanwhile, in the real world, upon hearing the ‘news’…
Cool, dude. One hit’ll do ya…
The law of unintended consequences.
But, somehow, the Canadian government comes up with something “unfit for human consumption.”
This is not an object lesson on the Canadian government so much as government generally. One way the government could have acquired marijuana would have been to set up a one room office and buy it from existing growers. That would have cost much less money and no big incompetent business interests would have been stroked. Despite those drawbacks, with proper testing, I think things would have gone much more smoothly.
Well that’s exactly what I just said or at leats I hope implied. I don’t smoke BC weed or any other weed. I gave that up years ago. No aspersions to those that do, but I have to concentrate. One toke off that crap puts me to bed for the night.
Hey, Canada’s really just the test bed for when (and it WILL!) pot is legalized in the states. Damn, I can’t wait for the day when I can take a nice, fat hit right in front of a cop.
OK, I’ll bite Cervaise. I’m an Oregonian and the voting populace here has told the supreme court that they can pry the fat boys out of our collective dead, cold fingers when Hell freezes over.
Seriously, we have had the medical marijuana law for some time now, and it’s turned into quite the conundrum. There are those that use it responsibly (with a doctor’s script); and those that abuse the privilege for profit (e.g. illegal growers).
The Bad Apples (those that abuse the law for their own profit and gain) make it very difficult for the others that would like to grow their own Medical Marijuana for pain & nausea relief. The local sheriffs here routinely ‘bust’ any growers of pot, permits notwithstanding. It has become the policy due to abuse of the law.
And it’s a drag. There are many people that would benefit from the medical uses of marijuana, and the criminals are making it hard for the legally sanctioned users. They get lumped into the ‘druggies’ group by virtue of exercising their Supreme Court given rights to use marijuana legally.
I’m sure that in time, all these issues will be worked out. I can tell you that it’s not all Buds and Roses at this time, but somewhere down the road, a comprimise will be worked out. Heck, we were the first state to initialize the container deposit on beverages and we found a way to make that work. It will just take some time.
Trust me. 
All I know is based on the US media. BC bud sounds like the breakfast of an alcoholic to me (BC Powder is a headache medicine, Bud’s beer).
The stories I’m referring to are usually based on law enforcement interviews suggesting that the new Canadian laws will cause tons of marijuana to be shipped directly to our elementary schools, or something. Then they talk about how strong it is.
My only point on that is, has anyone heard of someone dying of pot poisoning? Speed? Yes, lots. Heroin? Always. Alcohol? Frequently, not even counting the traffic deaths. Cocaine? Sure. Prescription drugs? Of course. Mix any of the above and the risks go up even more. ODing on almost any drug is commonplace – ephedra for one – except marijuana.
No matter how strong it is, the question is, so what? In theory you’d smoke less and get less lung damage, I guess.
Yeah, I know; I was being kind of facetious. Up here in Seattle, we know we can count on our neighbors to the north and south for the, shall we say, expert horticulture.
And while we’re on the subject, it’s worth mentioning that in Tuesday’s primary election, our Initiative 75, which orders the police and prosecutor to make marijuana offenses the lowest possible priority for enforcement, was passing 60-40 as of midnight. This despite a last-minute and hilariously hysterical visit from one of the Ashcroftbots claiming we were going to be the victims of a “con” or something.
Oh the times, they are a changin’…