High times in Oakland

[AdirondackDog]

Apparently Oakland is authorizing the growth of Mary Jane. To be honest, Im on the fence about this. I hate encouraging drug use, I wouldnt touch the stuff. However, this could be a good way to stimulate the economy a little bit.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/21...rijuana-farms/

[Osotogary]

And guess which community is right next to Oakland? That's right, Berkeley, University of California campus etc.. This should be fun.

[AdirondackDog]

Hell, the way I see it, it could be a good opportunity to slow down the illegal trade too. Note that I said Slow down.

[Integrity57]

I believe in it's legit use by terminal cancer patients and for other real medical problems but if it's just sold to the general public then it has the potential to be as bad as booze with the DUIs and drinking and driving related fatalities.

[Lynn2]

Grass is and will be no where near as bad as booze or tobacco. Not in terms of morbidity or mortality.

And not in terms of anti-social behavior when it comes to a comparison with booze.

Grass is being widely used. Nothing is going to stop it from being widely used. The billions we spend on trying to police it is wasted money. The millions we could raise in taxes can pay for needed services.

To say its a no-brainer is an understatement.

[Old Marine]

Package it up, put in in cigarette machines, and collect a whole lot of tax money on it.

[egbutler1]

Toke it the hell up!!! Its our right to be able too f the government trying to tell people what they can put in their body. As long as there is no crimes involved who gives a chit? If there is crime involved deal with it appropriately instead of chasing drug users for using drugs wasting billions on a failed policy. I'm voting yes on prop 19 this nov to legalize pot in CA and will gladly take a fatty hit out in the open when it passes. Just look at the numbers pot is pretty much harmless compared to some of these Rx's and booze that is out there your just hurting yourself. I enjoy pot not all the time but hell every now and than why the hell not. But no I wouldn't want to see it legal for kids never! Its an adult choice for adults. And shame on anyone who blames pot for their transition to harder drugs you pot is not a gateway drug. To those who blame pot I say its not pots fault that you turned into a crack addict its your own damn fault. But everyone has their own opinion and i'm voicing mine not trying to fight anyone. Semper Fi brothers!

[GT6238]

One of my nieces and her hubby live in Oakland. Yes she's a Berkeley grad and works for the Peoples Republic of Berkeley (as she calls it). She says this won't make much difference since smoke is already all over the place anyway...The Northern California small time growers might take a hit, though.

[egbutler1]

I believe in it's legit use by terminal cancer patients and for other real medical problems but if it's just sold to the general public then it has the potential to be as bad as booze with the DUIs and drinking and driving related fatalities.

Nice, but please look at the numbers only 230 people were admitted to a hospital in 2006 for pot use compared to 73k or so with booze. I smoked tons in high school and a bit every now and than never ever wanted to get into a car and drive anywhere while stoned more like flip on the tv eat some chips and laz out. But people out there will no doubt bout it but we will have to deal with them as they come. I just think if someone wants to smoke some grass they should be able too but with all the same consequences that come with drinking. It would save billions free up prisons and let law enforcement focus on more important things. But I do see where your coming from and its a totally legit concern. A former surgeon general is supporting prop 19 here in california as well as the young dems/reps and 100's of law enforcement officers some ranking very high up. I just think its time for a new strategy.

"I do not come to this position cavalierly. I am a board-certified, career emergency physician who witnesses the adverse health effects of licit and illicit drugs daily. Yet the recent RAND report on the financial impact of Proposition 19 reaffirmed my belief that the legalization and regulation of marijuana would make our communities safer and more just.
According to RAND, fewer than 200 total patients were admitted to California hospitals in 2008 for “marijuana abuse or dependence.” This relatively low number did not surprise me. In my 35-plus years as an emergency physician in busy ERs in Northern California, I have never needed to admit a patient due to an adverse reaction or medical problem caused by marijuana.
Personally, I have taken care of fewer than 10 patients during my entire professional career whose chief complaint was related to marijuana. Mostly these were parents who were cajoled to smoke by their teenage kids and then experienced an anxious reaction. One hysterical woman called 911 because her dog had eaten a baggie of marijuana. Both the patient and the dog ended up fine.
Comparing the health care consequences of marijuana to the health care consequences of alcohol is startling. In 2006, there were 72,771 hospitalizations in California related to the use of alcohol. Of these, 34,292 hospitalizations were due to illnesses or chronic conditions caused by alcohol consumption. This total is roughly 200 times the number of hospital admissions associated with marijuana."

[Lynn2]

"But no I wouldn't want to see it legal for kids never! Its an adult choice for adults."

A trip to Amsterdam Netherlands can show you how to make this work. A country with a much lower grass usage rate than the US for both kids and adults I might add.

Sell it in licensed tax paying shops. Have rules on ages that can buy. Have limits on how much you can buy if you want. Hammer the shop if they do not abide by the rules. Tax them and tax them again.

And it really works. Most Dutch I know are in fact not smokers themselves. For them its just not a big deal.

3 am walking alone on a semi-deserted street I have never felt safer. Try that in Baltimore.

[ameriken]

Compared to alcohol, pot is far more benign. You never hear a story about a pothead getting stoned and then getting into a fueled frenzy and beating the sh*t out of his wife and kids.

About the most violent thing a pothead would do is walk into a wall as he went into the kitchen to find some twinkies.

If alcohol is legal, there is absolutely no reason to keep pot illegal.

[egbutler1]

"But no I wouldn't want to see it legal for kids never! Its an adult choice for adults."

A trip to Amsterdam Netherlands can show you how to make this work. A country with a much lower grass usage rate than the US for both kids and adults I might add.

Sell it in licensed tax paying shops. Have rules on ages that can buy. Have limits on how much you can buy if you want. Hammer the shop if they do not abide by the rules. Tax them and tax them again.

And it really works. Most Dutch I know are in fact not smokers themselves. For them its just not a big deal.

3 am walking alone on a semi-deserted street I have never felt safer. Try that in Baltimore.

totally agree! But I mean like it should not be legal for kids to buy the stuff even though they will just as I did in High School they will always find a way.

[Lynn2]

Quirky country that it is--- the Dutch have never come to grips with the growing end of things.

You can, at age 18 and above, walk into any Amsterdam Coffeeshop and buy up to five grams and smoke it without worry. No worry for the smoker no worry for the shop. Its the grower and the transporter that has to worry.

While having a shop is legal. Buying in a shop is legal. Large scale growing (anything above 5 plants) is not legal. Nor is any importation.

Its a Grey Area for sure. And by grey area I do not mean the well know much beloved Grey Area coffeeshop that is owned by a couple of Yanks.

[Lynn2]

http://www.csfroghollow.nl/

And here you can see what a menu might look like

[Quinbo]

I was in Amsterdam about a month ago. It wasn't what I expected.