I was reading this article this morning about how some people in Denver are petitioning for limited social use of marijuana:
Do you think this is a right or do you think they’re rocking the boat a bit considering so many other states haven’t yet legalized, nor have the feds. I wouldn’t mind having a smoke outside of my home personally.
A right? No. A reasonable idea? Yeah, I can get behind it, within the confines of existing smoking regulations.
The boat’s already been rocked; we’re just waiting to see its new balance point. I certainly don’t see something like this causing any appreciable panic or being seen as a bridge too far. It’s a not-unreasonable aspect of ending prohibition.
I vape weed pretty much every day and my roommates have told me they don’t want to smell it. I respect that and make sure they don’t. It’s ridiculous to try to assert my ‘Right’ to blow clouds in their faces.
Just legalize the stuff and let’s quit pretending.
Regards,
Shodan
I am against any expansion of the “right” to smoke. If these idiots want to eat food made with cannabis or drink cannabis tea I’m okay with that, but anyone wanting to turn their mind-altering drugs into an aerosol should go find a gutter and die in it.
In what Bizarro World is this even a tiny bit helpful or appropriate?
This.
It already is legal, Shodan, at least in Colorado. The matter at hand is where and how we, as a society, want to allow its consumption. Just as we place limits on where and how we consume alcohol or nicotine, we are figuring out where and how to consume cannabis.
.
My guess is that one reason the voters have approved the current measures is because in part it largely restricts weed use to private residences. That works because most of us think people should have the right within reason to do what they want in the privacy own home and it doesn’t specifically encourage driving after smoking (save vape clubs), falling right in line with the nationwide effort to discouraging driving after drinking.
With this measure people will be getting high away from home and then by necessity driving and right or wrong, safe or not the majority of the public is going to have a problem with that.
That is if I understand the measure correctly. The linked article really doesn’t give a whole lot of specifics about what exactly is proposed and how it would differ from current regulations.
It’s certainly going to be interesting when a Republican president gets elected somewhere down the road and decides to actually enforce the federal laws that Colorado has been flouting.
Marijuana isn’t really medicine, and I would prefer to say “if you want to get baked, go ahead” rather than pretend it is to treat your intractable dandruff.
But that’s just me.
AFAIK there are only a couple of conditions that might be treated by marijuana, and I doubt if there is a an epidemic of spasticity in Denver. “Medical marijuana” is mostly a code term for “let’s get high”. There’s nothing wrong with getting high, and marijuana is a fairly benign substance. But let’s not pretend that the marijuana clinics are crowded with cancer patients for whom nothing else relieves their suffering. Some of them are, no doubt, but not the rest.
Regards,
Shodan
I would assume that smoking laws would cover smoking marijuana and nicotine alike. Most smoking laws include vaping as well.
As far as public consumption, wouldn’t public intoxication laws cover being high from cannabis as well?
And driving under the influence laws should cover cannabis also, shouldn’t it?
Colorado already did that. Smoke all you want, for whatever reason you want, but only in private spaces.
Huh? Are you sure you’re in the right thread? Because AFAICT what you wrote is not at all related to the OP. I mean, you have the whole “Get off my lawn, you punks” routine down cold and all, but…
This is Great Debates, not The BBQ Pit.
Knock it off.
= = =
As for discussions of medical uses, (or their lack), the OP begins with a discussion of social activity with no claims for medical use, so let’s leave those sidebars for a different thread.
[ /Moderating ]
nm
Regards,
Shodan
I reiterate:
After reading your posts I keep looking to make sure I’m not in a zombie thread from 10 years ago.
I understand the position that allowing weed use outside of ones own home could be conducive to driving while stoned. But that falls on the shoulders of the user just like drinking and driving does. I’m a firm believer in property rights so if a business wants to allow pot or tobacco use on it’s property it should be allowed to. Those opposed should vote with their wallets and not patronize such places.
With current public sentiment running the way it is, it will be interesting to see a Republican get elected president with that as part of his or her campaign.
This isn’t a giant expansion of smoking rights. Cannabis users are asking for public smoking bars in Denver. Where one goes to smoke marijuana. And where one wouldn’t go if one wasn’t planning to smoke marijuana. Is this really a concern to anyone?
Or at least, where one wouldn’t go if one didn’t want to be around such smoking; perhaps one’s friends wish to pop in for a toke, as people do for a drink, when out and about?
I don’t see an objective reason to treat such establishments differently than alcohol bars, in jurisdictions that permit the latter, and have also legalized marijuana use by adults.
Indeed.