# Hey, druggies! Screw you.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 14, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366 "2009-08-14T01:15:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/141 "2009-08-17T02:53:01Z")
> [@Enfant Terrible](#):
>
> It also does not address the home grower/synthesizer, with absolutely no connection to the murderous cartels in Mexico or Afghanistan or elsewhere. Your last sentence is revealing… lobby for law changes… does this mean that your objections would be removed with a change in the law even if the desired effects on the wealth of the narcotraffickers was not as severely impacted as we all imagine and hope?
Yes, it fucking well DOES since I specifically said “stop supporting the monsters.” Notice, I didn’t say, “Stop buying drugs entirely.”
Jesus.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/142 "2009-08-17T02:55:22Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#):
>
> Your argument is that, by buying drugs, you are supporting vicious gangbanging murderers.
My argument, again, is that by buying drugs from monsters you are supporting monsters. If you can buy drugs from non-monsters, this doesn’t apply–which I thought would be pretty damned obvious given the context, but whatever.
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### Author:  [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/143 "2009-08-17T02:56:58Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> My argument, again, is that by buying drugs from monsters you are supporting monsters. If you can buy drugs from non-monsters, this doesn’t apply–which I thought would be pretty damned obvious given the context, but whatever.
Then shouldn’t this thread be called “Hey, druggies (who buy drugs from monsters)! Screw you. (Growin’ your own’s alright tho)”?
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/144 "2009-08-17T02:58:08Z")
And, for the record, just as I don’t believe that every Doper who smokes is a considerate smoker and every Doper learned to read in utero and every Doper is a good driver, I don’t believe that every Doper is so so concerned about where their drugs come from.
The people on this board are average, not exceptional.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/145 "2009-08-17T02:59:08Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#):
>
> Then shouldn’t this thread be called “Hey, druggies (who buy drugs from monsters)! Screw you. (Growin’ your own’s alright tho)”?
Well, I’ll just get out my magic wand and change the thread title.
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### Author:  [@The\_Understander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Understander)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/146 "2009-08-17T03:05:11Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> Yes, it fucking well DOES since I specifically said “stop supporting the monsters.” Notice, I didn’t say, “Stop buying drugs entirely.”
>
> Jesus.
That’s terrific. Good to know you’re not as batshit as the moralizers, then. I still am curious about your stance on other, legal industries that support monsters.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/147 "2009-08-17T03:05:29Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#):
>
> …(I produced DMT and psilocybin/psilocin, and also cannabis oil.)…
Good ol’ ganja is the utility infielder of drugs, the ol’ reliable. Psilocybin may be taken as evidence of a loving Goddess, its not pretentious like LSD, giving you dime-store Yoda insights.
But DMT? Hell, why not get a buzz smoking a guitar pick? You can hear the brain cells snap like strings of cheap Chinese firecrackers. Yuck-o-rama.
But, I’m assuming you already wised up on that one, so, peace.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/148 "2009-08-17T03:12:12Z")
> [@Enfant Terrible](#):
>
> That’s terrific. Good to know you’re not as batshit as the moralizers, then. I still am curious about your stance on other, legal industries that support monsters.
Try to limit your support. Do what you can. It’s hard to go without some things, but not others.
If there’s a luxury in your life and you find out that people are being slaughtered over it, try to drop it or find another source.
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### Author:  [@The\_Understander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Understander)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/149 "2009-08-17T03:26:01Z")
That’s a perfectly sensible stance. I still believe that the majority of the blame has to go to those who perpetuate a policy born in racism and steeped in utter disregard for personal liberty.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/150 "2009-08-17T03:44:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> But DMT? Hell, why not get a buzz smoking a guitar pick?
To be clear, my DMT was extracted from locally-growing reed canary grass, not synthesized. Yield from this was never enough to be considered as revenue source; it was strictly for pleasure. While smoking it was in no way comparable with smoking weed or hash, it wasn’t as guitar-pick tasting as synthetic.
As for why – damn, but it was _interesting,_ and I don’t think I’ve suffered any significant cognitive immprmnt.
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### Author:  [@TheFatKid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFatKid)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/151 "2009-08-17T10:22:21Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> I don’t think an ignorant drug user would bear any responsibility for what goes on in the world in order to provide him or her with their next fix. But once you do know, it becomes your responsibility, not in whole, but in part.
>
> Once you discover what goes on in an industry, and drugs are an industry, you can either support that industry or stop supporting it. It isn’t any user’s fault that the industry is so horribly screwed up, but once you know that it is, it’s your responsibility to stop. Lobby for law changes and in the mean time stop supporting the monsters.
I sincerely hope you’re a vegetarian who uses no fossil fuels and makes your own clothes.
Oh, and who doesn’t use a computer, either.
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### Author:  [@TheFatKid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFatKid)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/152 "2009-08-17T10:25:54Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> No, it really doesn’t. You described ways in which you try not to deal with the monsters.
>
> I know that Dopers are people who are desperate to find exceptions and, yeah, fine, there are exceptions. But if there were enough exceptions there wouldn’t be the drug industry problems that exist.
>
> So don’t base arguments on the exceptions.
You obviously have no idea how much weed is grown in Kentucky alone, for example. Or BC. I’d hardly call home-grown an “exception” that you have to be “desperate to find”.
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### Author:  [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/153 "2009-08-17T18:06:00Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> My argument, again, is that by buying drugs from monsters you are supporting monsters. If you can buy drugs from non-monsters, this doesn’t apply–which I thought would be pretty damned obvious given the context, but whatever.
Except that while drugs are illegal and because criminals follow no rules, eventually you will be funding monsters, if not directly, indirectly. The bottom line is to change the laws about weed, which are completely asinine, legalize it, regulate it and tax the ever-loving hell out of it. Then, hyper-criminalize drugs like Heroin and Cocaine, meaning that the possession of enough of the stuff to make a dose means mandatory lockdown time (yeah, yeah we’re not treating the addicts, keep your shorts on) in a rehab facility that at once gets you off the smack or coke, and brings you back as a productive member of society. If you have enough of it that you intend to deliver/sell, it’s a mandatory life sentence and then treat bootleggers of weed as you do bootleggers of cigarettes and such under the RICO statutes.
Frankly, there are solid and pertinent reasons to keep all recreational drugs illegal. The unintended consequeces of their existance (violence, theft etc) are chief among these, however there can be no evolution of the laws and of society until we break free from this puritannical viewpoint and see things as they are.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/154 "2009-08-17T18:30:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> And, for the record, just as I don’t believe that every Doper who smokes is a considerate smoker and every Doper learned to read in utero and every Doper is a good driver, I don’t believe that every Doper is so so concerned about where their drugs come from.
>
> The people on this board are average, not exceptional.
As others have noted … if you are smoking pot these days, and you live in North America, and don’t care where it comes from … chances are you are smoking stuff grown right here at home. People who run grow-ops may not be the most savory types, but they are hardly “monsters”.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/155 "2009-08-17T19:44:43Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#):
>
> Except that while drugs are illegal and because criminals follow no rules, eventually you will be funding monsters, if not directly, indirectly.
You need to talk to the people in this thread who claim that it’s all sunshine and pancakes.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/156 "2009-08-17T19:46:19Z")
From one side comes the outraged cries that no no no! We’re only buying from domestic good guys!
From the other side comes the outraged cries that no no no! It’s impossible for lawbreakers to be unmonstrous!
You guys aren’t arguing with me. You’re arguing with each other.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/157 "2009-08-17T21:45:36Z")
I have a hard time believing that the domestic supply of pot is enough to keep prices down to reasonable levels, and to ensure steady supply.
Oh sure, you can always find the guy selling the stanky $120 quarter bags, but other than once and awhile, who can afford it? And yes, there’s plenty of moldy shwag grown in the USA, but…don’t we import a LOT of marijuana from Mexico?
And aren’t the Mexican drug cartels the people that the OP is railing against? Coke and meth aren’t their only games, they’re deeply involved in weed distribution, too, IIRC.
Unless you’re like **Larry Mudd** and have a deeply entrenched, trustworthy circle of friends from whom you can purchase a bag with verifiable provenance, how on Earth does the average pot smoker know where their weed comes from?
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### Author:  [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/158 "2009-08-17T22:33:44Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> You need to talk to the people in this thread who claim that it’s all sunshine and pancakes.
Yeah, the odds are pretty good that none of the sunshine and pancakes crowd has seen the other side of the fence. I mean, there are so many things wrong with the way our country does business with regard to so-called controlled substances that it’s positively maddening. That said, just because it’s dumb for a plant to be illegal, doesn’t somehow make it legal.
Further, and because of its’ contraband status, it’s highly valuable.
Per pound, weed is between $1800 and $2000 on the street. Outdoor grows can net a pound of weed in 5-8 big bud plants. That’s roughly a 4’ x4’ square. Imagine every two months, with say you have an acre of land in the right location. You can grow enough weed for a pound of saleable in a 4’ x 4’ plot. There are 43,560 square feet in an acre, if you divide that up, assuming said 4’x4’ plot, that makes 2,722 16sq ft plots. 2,722 times $1800 = $4,900,500. Every. Two. Months.
Now, you take that and cut it in half for overhead and for essentially unused land in Mexico (or the hills of Tennessee) you’ll get $2,450,250. For the year, at the 1/2 rate, you have the potential to earn as a weed farmer $14,701,500 per acre, per year. Most Americans can’t imagine that kind of money, let alone dirt poor Mexican villagers with no hope. In a culture where people will kill for far, far less than that, you have a recipe for disaster. The contraband status is exactly the reason there is a drug war at all, remove the status, make it legal, you stop 80% of the violence in the first two years and you’re done.
THAT is the reason there’s so much violence, if you got a taste of that, you’d do whatever it took to hang on to it, it’s against the law anyway, you’re past the idea of legality at that point, so from growing, processing and selling dope to protecting your friends and family from people who want to take your operation over, leads to the violence we’re seeing today.
Also if you’ve smoked weed, shot smack, snorted or smoked cocaine, MDMA or any other high-traffic substance, the odds are great that you have blood on your hands.
Of course, if you have diamonds, shoes or a computer, you do too, but the big difference is the type of commerce one is engaged in and the laws that govern it. It’s STILL illegal, and if you get caught with it, you WILL go to jail. That’s the reality today. Fix the laws and maybe, just maybe, fewer people will die because someone wants to get high.
As an aside, this country sucks ten kinds of ass when it comes to rehabbing addicts of LEGAL substances, it’s going to take several generations to get addiction to be taken seriously in America.
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### Author:  [@TheFatKid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFatKid)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/159 "2009-08-18T01:36:40Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> You need to talk to the people in this thread who claim that it’s all sunshine and pancakes.
Nothing in this world is sunshine and pancakes. If you live in the refrigerated, air conditioned, petrol fueled, supermarket fed, air bussed, computer connected West, let me tell you, your life is built on other people’s misery. No way around it.
If you want to opt out of that, go build yourself a teepee in a national park and start hunting, gathering, tanning, and spinning.
And if you do that, you won’t be logging on to post in this forum, I reckon.
I realized a long time ago that I dance for the devil.
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### Author:  [@TheFatKid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFatKid)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-druggies-screw-you/506366/160 "2009-08-18T01:38:48Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#):
>
> I have a hard time believing that the domestic supply of pot is enough to keep prices down to reasonable levels, and to ensure steady supply.
>
> Oh sure, you can always find the guy selling the stanky $120 quarter bags, but other than once and awhile, who can afford it? And yes, there’s plenty of moldy shwag grown in the USA, but…don’t we import a LOT of marijuana from Mexico?
>
> And aren’t the Mexican drug cartels the people that the OP is railing against? Coke and meth aren’t their only games, they’re deeply involved in weed distribution, too, IIRC.
>
> Unless you’re like **Larry Mudd** and have a deeply entrenched, trustworthy circle of friends from whom you can purchase a bag with verifiable provenance, how on Earth does the average pot smoker know where their weed comes from?
Dude, where I am, if you’re buying Mexican, you’re buying trucker-butt brickweed.
If you’re buying hydroponic, it’s either from USA or BC.
ETA: Dope is Kentucky’s biggest cash crop.
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