Recreational pot use big winner in election

Tanya M

Living with an attitude of gratitude
Staff member
Personally I don't like it but to each their own. Alcohol is legal but so many people use it irresponsibly. The same is true for pot. Making it legal means the states can get tax money out of it.
I have been out to Colorado a couple of times this year to visit family and it's crazy the impact legalizing for medicinal purposes has had on the state. It's still against federal law so the money they get from the sales cannot be put into banks that are backed by the federal government. Many of the owners of the "pot" shops have taken the money they make and pay cash for real estate, then turn around and sell it. Fancy money laundering. The cost of living there keeps rising. The house I sold there when I moved to the Midwest would cost 4 times what I sold it for!!
There are also numerous cases of young children over dosing on the edibles whether it be gummies, brownies or candy.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
There's a travel blogger and author I follow on YouTube who has an interesting video I watched just today. Timely.

I don't like it much, because of how my son is. I think pot stifles ambition and brain cells. BUT, it was, and remains, illegal in my state so I can't say that it being illegal had any effect. Legalization has its merits.

My Response to Governor LePage About Pot
 

mof

Momdidntsignupforthis
People will always abuse stuff...alcohol in ways is worse.

I truly don't know what to think.but babies being born with thc levels is sad.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I am interested in seeing what happens. I have friends who are successful business owners with kids my age who have smoked pot since the 60s, their kids smoked pot, all are very successful people, their grandkids are my kids age and are very successful. I don't see pot as wonderful or horrible. I don't think in time it will be any worse than alcohol and it certainly cannot do anything worse for us than cigarettes or other forms of tobacco.

I think babies born with alcohol, tobacco, thc or other drugs in them other than those that are medically necessary are sad. I doubt the legalization of marijuana will change that though.

I do wonder if marijuana would help my daughter. We are STILL fighting a report written by an idiot not-a-psychologist who said she had convergence and not epilepsy. Since that time, we have yet to get an EEG done without seizure medication, but as soon as the EEG is done, they stop prescribing the seizure medications and she has absence seizures again. The actual psychiatrists and psychologists we have seen have said it is NOT convergence, but the neurologists have refused to see her or treat her. So legalized marijuana would give us another option that would not need a neurologist. In another year or so she will FINALLY be old enough to see an adult neurologist. We have already seen every single pediatrician neuro in our entire STATE. So I am interested in this mildly. But it wasn't on my state's ballot. Though our grocery stores will be able to sell liquor and wine soon for the first time. Until now, only malt beverages with a max of 3.2% alcohol could be sold outside of a liquor store.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Well, I am against marijuana legalization a lot of good it does me. My son swears by it and gives marijuana credit for moderating the effects of his mental illness, particularly greater mood stability and less anger.

I agree with Lil that pot stifles ambition and motivation. We can always tell when my son has used (even with the effects worn off) because his skin looks gray, he is introverted and depressed.

I am holding my son to the rule that he cannot use in my house or any place that is mine--which has been tough to enforce. We fear playing hardball because we fear the consequences of his having to leave our orbit. Nevertheless tomorrow is the day that he will get a drug test. We are sitting on him hard. We insist he must do things to advance his situation as a condition of being close to us and receiving our support. But I believe the marijuana is a losing battle. We just cannot bear to throw him out again. It is harder on M than on I. He fears that my son will just fall through the cracks away from us and into harder drugs. That is another fear about marijuana. It really, really is a gateway drug.

I came of age in the 60's and 70's and I too know of so-called normal and successful people who have used pot for years without ill result. The thing is that our kids are not those kinds of people, at least for now they are not. To our kids it seems like Pot is a downer sapping any motivation or incentive at all that they may have, sapping self-respect and even self-control. That is what I think.
 

mof

Momdidntsignupforthis
My brother in law has used for 30 yrs...he's an engineer.. but, how can I say it's ok? Who knows what he has given up so he can smoke...career advancement because of drug testing.

I just feel that our Difficult Child children...addicts...whatever, have to know themselves. Alcoholics can't drink...period...they struggle everyday. Making put legal may free up jails and legal systems...so much bigger fish to fry. Though here there are so much drugs in the HS....we live in a middle-class area...no one is unaffected.

So like anything...it's all about choice.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Honestly I don't think about it much. It's going to happen.

It's going to affect some people in a bad way just like alcohol affects some people in a bad way. Those that want it illegally have no problem getting it anyway. Maybe if it's legal there won't be other drugs mixed in which I'd think is a good thing?

Also, if it's legal I can't help but thinking it may not be as "fun" for some of the younger kids? Doesn't being legal take the thrill out of it for some? That could be a good thing.

I agree with Mof - free up prisons and legal system for the bigger fish.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
I have been dealing with chronic pain for years, and have recently discovered that a CBD tincture dulls the sharp pain and eases my symptoms. I am not against legalization, but I disagree with the way the prop in CA was presented. The edibles and tinctures have uses, for those of us who prefer not to smoke for whatever reason, and I am not happy about them being banned. by the way, it's the THC that gets you high, not CBD.

I understand the potential of children eating the medicated foods, but honestly, with any substance, if a parent doesn't keep things put away safely, there's a problem. And as we all know, kids are resourceful, and they can get into anything, even if we've taken precautions.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Alcohol is legal and kids still drink.

Like alcohol, I know many who can smoke pot recreationally and do fine and some who can't handle pot, get lazy, don't care about anything or move on to harder drugs.i think pot is similar to alcohol.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
I think young people are being harmed by the propaganda that marajuana is safe, when we really don't have all the facts.

Yes, alcohol is legal, but teens are educated on the effects and consequences. Many do use it irresponsibly, anyway, but the info is at least out there for anyone to see.

Medically, it may be a good thing.

Recreationally, for young people, I worry that it will have unintended consequences for too many, who are not being told the whole truth, good and bad.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
for young people, I worry that it will have unintended consequences for too many, who are not being told the whole truth, good and bad.
Apple. Think about driver's education and safe sex, and pregnancy--or even drug education--"say no to drugs."

While I am not disputing the need for all of this education (how could I, it's smart and necessary), these kids will do as they please--until they themselves really understand and accept the responsibility to curb the dangers of their behaviors and the risk to which they expose others, let alone themselves.

And for our own kids, in so many of them there seems to be an underlying lack of their own value and their need to make choices to enhance it, rather than degrade it.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Apple. Think about driver's education and safe sex, and pregnancy--or even drug education--"say no to drugs."

While I am not disputing the need for all of this education (how could I, it's smart and necessary), these kids will do as they please--until they themselves really understand and accept the responsibility to curb the dangers of their behaviors and the risk to which they expose others, let alone themselves.

And for our own kids, in so many of them there seems to be an underlying lack of their own value and their need to make choices to enhance it, rather than degrade it.

I'm not trying to say that some kids won't use it regardless. Of course they will, especially many of our D Cs.

I'm just saying that many more will use if they think there are no negative consequences to using and plenty of positives.

Think of the opium addictions, or the recreational use of x-rays before the harm of radiation was realized, or the many, many other examples.

I just think that marajuana is presented as just another plant, with no negative side effects.

That's all I am saying.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
just another plant
I agree with every word you write, Apple, in each of your posts. Just a plant, not a drug. Those are exactly the words used by my son.

How naïve. Do they think at all of the genetic modification that has been used over the past 40 years or so to enhance the effects they so crave? I am in complete agreement.
 

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
Whether you're for it or against it, it probably won't be around much for at least 4 years because the Republicans have vowed to enforce the federal laws against it, no matter what the states voted. Not sure what that will do to some state's tax situations, etc. but it is what it is. I think that legalization is inevitable. I'm not crazy about the idea but Prohibition didn't work and this isn't working either.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I think it's inevitable too but it won't come quickly. It's a bit like the lottery. It was legal in other states long before it was here in the Bible belt. And once we did get the lottery, the state started making so much money off of it, they'll never go back. But eventually it will come, even here, probably the medical marijuana first, then the recreational. When it comes right down to it, to the powers that be, it's all about the $$$. If it were regulated, sold and taxed like alcohol or tobacco, then maybe our schools would be better and our roads wouldn't be full of potholes!

I came up through the 60's so you can guess which side I'm on. This is something we did all the time and I never once saw anyone who was harmed by it. No auto accidents, no fights, no marriages destroyed, no families torn apart by pot like mine was by alcohol! Yet one is legal, the other is not! And I don't want to hear the "gateway" argument! It's no more of a "gateway" to harder things than drinking milk or Dr. Pepper is a gateway to being an alcoholic! Pure BS!
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I came up through the 60's so you can guess which side I'm on. This is something we did all the time and I never once saw anyone who was harmed by it. No auto accidents, no fights, no marriages destroyed, no families torn apart by pot like mine was by alcohol! Yet one is legal, the other is not! And I don't want to hear the "gateway" argument! It's no more of a "gateway" to harder things than drinking milk or Dr. Pepper is a gateway to being an alcoholic! Pure BS
I agree with your post for the most part and you certainly have got me thinking.

In science there is what is known as the third variable problem. It can be as if "proven" that variable one causes variable two. Except it does not. There is a third or fourth variable that either causes, or influences both variables. They are both a factor of another unseen or unacknowledged other things.

I have written here that to me marijuana is a gateway drug. I never, ever believed that until my son became an "addict." Nor did I ever believe marijuana was addictive. Until my son developed such problems and I was desperate to pin the tail on the donkey, any donkey.

This is what I know (when I am honest with myself):

my son has lacked motivation.
my son can be a poor decision-maker.
my son can withdraw and be morose.
my son seeks solace and respite and mood stability and a sense of well-being from marijuana.

Each of these things and all of them together could be the mover, rather than marijuana.

I accept that. Except I want to blame the marijuana.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I disagree that pot never ended a marriage or caused a traffic accident or doesn't cause a lack of motivation. Pot affects some people, like me, badly and overuse of it does cause a lack of motivation. It is not worse than alcohol but in my opinion it is just as destructive, especially with daily use. Some people can use it recreationally, like alcohol, and some can't. I shudder to think k of myself behind the wheel of a car while stoned. It really slowed my reflexes down to squat. It also affected my concentration. I knew it was bad for me so after about eight tries, I stopped trying. This was in the 70s.
 
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AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Copa,

I have never thought that marajuana was the main problem for my step-son, or your son, or many of the kids we talk about on this board. It may exacerbate their problems, but it is not their primary malady.

My step-son has told us that his ADHD medications were his gateway drug. Who knows? Maybe he just wants to blame his parents for his problems, and saying that will absolve himself of the responsibility.

I do know that it has been a negative driving force in his life, and while some people can use responsibly, he cannot.

And, I do know that when the govt. starts getting its share of the revenue, it will be much harder to disseminate the true costs to society and the individual.
 

UpandDown

Active Member
I am very interested in understanding marijuana and anxiety. Curious if any others notice that it seems to create anxiety in their loved one? I think my son has always been shy and slow to warm to new situations. But now he is suffering from anxiety. I don't ever remember him being like this growing up. And one main difference is that he smokes pot quite often. He won't go to any social events or really anywhere other than school, work and one friends house. Yet if I dare suggest that perhaps the pot is contributing to his unease, he denies it. Thoughts?
 
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