I read that the Senate in Canada recommended an almost complete legalization of marijuana–it would be regulated like tobacco and alcohol.
While this is obviously far from becoming law, I am willing to bet it would attract the ire of the “drugs are evil (except nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine)” cadre that is quite powerful in the U.S. government.
Anyway, I would imagine that the U.S. government would be pretty upset if after years of fighting their “War on Drugs”, the Great White North made it so every stoner could walk down to the corner store and buy a doob (and thus possibly ignite a flood of Americans crossing the border to get some legal weed).
If this legislation moves further along, is the U.S. likely to tell Canada to knock it off, either directly or indirectly (like when they made the national drinking age 21)? Are they hoping that Canada gets cold feet and lets the bill die? Would they risk international rebuke by meddling in the legislation of our number one trade aprtner?
DISCLAIMER: I don’t smoke marijuana and wouldn’t no matter what its legal status was. I also apologize if this is more GD than IMHO.
For one thing, the Canadian Senate is a legislative body with very little actual power, and even a unanimous vote would have no effect unless the House of Commons agreed, and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
I sincerely and humbly salute our neighbor to the north for this…even if they don’t go through with the decriminalization, they are at least having an honest debate. My hopes that I will live to see an end to the ugly travesty that is the War on Drugs in my own native land have just been given a big boost.
As to this:
Canada is a sovereign nation. The US cannot meddle in it’s affairs the way it did with the states, forcing them to adopt the national drinking age, among (many, many) other things, and I’m afraid some Canadian posters here might take offense at the implication that it can.
The US government could try something like trade sanctions or increased border controls to try to exert pressure on the Canadian government, but I don’t think that’s too likely. It is also my gut feeling that something like that would backfire, causing decriminalization to become more popular in Canada.
[sarcasm]You picked a great time to move to Louisiana if you’re a pot smoker, mandielise.[/sarcasm]
Over the past two months, it’s become damn near impossible to find a bag of weed anywhere in this state. Nobody seems to know why.
Of course, cocaine is EVERYWHERE. So if you want to get high (not drunk) in Louisiana, you have exactly one choice (one of the most dangerous ones out there) thanks to yet another odd, unintended side effect of the War on (some) Drugs.
FWIW, I’ve never touched coke and never will. I’d rather be (and, in fact, I am) stone cold sober than risk getting that monkey on my back. There are others who don’t feel the same way, though. Some circles of friends that wouldn’t have touched coke when weed was readily available are snorting that nasty crap because it’s all that’s out there and they hate alcohol.
I’ve heard about the Canadian Senate’s recomendation. I’ve never smoked pot, but everything I’ve heard about it leads me to believe that it’s probably no worse than alcohol, and it’s certainly not in the same league as cocaine, heroin, or acid. I live about an hour from the Canadian border. If pot were legalized there, I might go over just to try it. I wouldn’t want to make a regular habit of it, however, no more than I would want to become an alcoholic.
Yeah, neutron star! The cops have been REALLY cracking down. My friend saw a billboard near Lake Charles that said, “You think it’s dry now, wait till next month.”
Is there that much of an element of choice involved? My impression was always that, if one has a tendency towards addiction, the first toke/drink/puff/whatever was enough for capture by the ‘habit’–but that people vary widely in their tendencies toward addiction.
I’ve never smoked anything or drunk more than a sip of alcohol, so I honestly don’t know.
Pot isn’t physically addictive. It is, however, a lot of fun, so people can have a tendancy to get emotionally addicted to it - then again, people can get addicted to football games, ice cream, and chocolate (which has its own drug, caffeine in it).
In my experience (from watching friends), if someone smokes everyday, they become depressed when they don’t have any for a day. If someone smokes when they’re upset or frustrated, they’re more likely to smoke often. It DOES depend on personality tendancies… but also intelligence. Just like I never drink any alcohol when I’m upset - you always drink too much and it causes more problems. It’s the same with any drug.
I hope they go through with it, marijuana has been far too strictly attacked here in the States (and I’m going to college up there )
And no, I never have had any of it.
There is a ballot issue in Nevada that would legalize pot if you have under three ounces. I don’t think it will pass even though I hope it does. I don’t smoke pot myself. I tend to get really paranoid when I smoke the stuff. I don’t like pot. At the same time I think that pot is no where near as dangerous as beer. Pot is harmless for the most part and we are wasting the Cops time arresting pot users.
Actually, recent polls are showing there is a good chance of legalizing under 3 ounces passing! Plus, believe it or not, the police have come out in favor of the law as they say it will stop wasting their time arresting people with one joint.
I haven’t smoked any since Carter was President, but I probably will vote yes…
My brother-in-law is a sherrif’s deputy in LA, and from what I have overheard they don’t take people in if the only thing they have on them is simple possession of a small amount of weed. They don’t have the time or the jail space. They will use possession to take in people who they suspect have done other bad stuff. He said he fully expects it to be legalized in the next 5 years or so.
I want to know what the DEA will do if Nevada legalises under 3oz and Canada fully legalises! They’ll have BC Bud all over that damn border in no time for sure if it can be bought legally in Canada.
we live in interesting times!
Longer lines at border crossings would seem the obvious effect.
Too lazy to actually do the work to find this out for certain - but would Nevada’s legalizing 3oz do any good? Wouldn’t the drug still be illegal? Couldn’t the DEA still arrest you for those 2.4oz (whether or not the Nevada police could)? How much would it actually change?
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