Texas House passes bill that reduces penalties for Texans caught with small amounts of marijuana

[deemus]

I know of two cautionary tales involving pot.

A guy lost his kid because he preferred pot to being a dad. At his CPS hearing he told them he sees nothing wrong with enjoying a plant God created. Custody denied.

Another guy I knew became worthless when he started smoking pot. Dude was on track to be at or near valedictorian. He started smoking pot and ditched everything else. He was the typical stoner who lost all motivation to do anything other than smoke pot.

The stoner stereotype is very real. There is a reason entire movies have been made about Potheads. Some of you guys need to read some more articles of the effects in CO of legalization. It has not worked out like they expected.

 

[popper]

I said young, stupid and Willy - as a connective. If you desire to rot your brain out, do that in private (become a hermit please) I don't want to meet you - on the road! She has a cousin who started on MJ 50 yrs ago. His Mom supports him now after several stints in rehab and jail. She is in her mid 80s. His wife OD. Another friend adopted a crack baby that ended up burning the house down and OD a few years back. I could go on.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

The 'natural plant' argument is not credible.

Opium and heroin are derived from poppies.

Poppies are a 'natural plant' too......

 

[Maverick44]

@Maverick44
Colorado’s ERs were full of people overdosing on pot laced foods , even kids who got into these things by accident. Most of these were from people without insurance so guess who got stuck paying for it?
There was also a huge deal in Colorado after it was discovered that people were using there EBT cards at ATMs inside pot shops to get cash and by pot with that money meant for food and utilities.
Keep telling me how it doesn’t effect other people...

Full of people overdosing on Marijuana? Really? Sure, it is technically possible to overdose on it just like someone can overdose on caffeine, but both types of overdose are rare. Marijuana overdosing is rarely fatal.

https://drugabuse.com/marijuana-abuse/overdose/

I would be interested in seeing the source of your claim that the ERs are full of them.

As for the kids getting into it, yeps that bad. Just as bad as them getting into the liquor cabinet or getting a hold of pop's cigs. If you carelessly leave something laying around, a kid is bound to get a hold of it. How many of you would leave a loaded gun just lying around near young children? Does that fact that that could and sometimes does happen justify the laws that require guns to be unloaded and locked up at all times?

The insurance thing is a moot point. That's going to keep happening regardless of marijuana use. Do you know how many people will take their kid to the ER for a simple runny nose just because they don't have the insurance to take them to a regular family practice clinic? If you're that worried about the money a few pot heads going to the ER are costing you, you might not want to know about all the other BS that goes through the ER.

Wanna take a guess as to how much cigarette smokers cost taxpayers each year? Should we criminalize the possessions of tobacco products?

Have you ever worked retail, like retail as in Walmart or Dollar General? Let me tell you about it, you get really well acquainted with all the tricks and the scams that the EBT people will try to pull. Why would a pot shop be any different? Even if that pot shop wasn't there, what makes you think they wouldn't just keep using that money for drugs anyways? It's not like the EBT cards magically work in pot shop ATMs but nowhere else.

Your examples of pot use effecting other people are solely dependent on those who are abusing the system and would likely be doing so regardless of their use of pot. Their use of pot is not what's driving that behavior, it's just them being a piece of human filth. EBT has been abused for years and unless the system is given the total overhaul that it desperately needs, that's not going to change any time soon. People have been going to the ER and skipping out on the bills for just about as long. Again, until the system changes that behavior is not going to change. Marijuana use is not directly related to these actions, but I invite you to post empirical data that proves otherwise.

 

[Maverick44]

I said young, stupid and Willy - as a connective. If you desire to rot your brain out, do that in private (become a hermit please) I don't want to meet you - on the road! She has a cousin who started on MJ 50 yrs ago. His Mom supports him now after several stints in rehab and jail. She is in her mid 80s. His wife OD. Another friend adopted a crack baby that ended up burning the house down and OD a few years back. I could go on.

My entire argument is based on the believe that you should have the RIGHT to choose whether or not you smoke marijuana, NOT that you should. My personal opinion is that you shouldn't smoke it (or cigarettes for that matter), but that I shouldn't have the right to tell you want you can and cannot do in your own home.

As for being on the road while high, I absolutely agree. That should come with severe penalties. At home though? I couldn't care less.

 

[Maverick44]

The 'natural plant' argument is not credible.

Opium and heroin are derived from poppies.

Poppies are a 'natural plant' too......

You have an argument with opium, but not heroin unless you consider the chemicals needed to make it such as acetic anhydride, chloroform and sodium carbonate, along with the acid or ether needed to purify it to be natural as well.

Both are a little different than smoking a bud/flower

 

[baboon]

Another guy I knew became worthless when he started smoking pot. Dude was on track to be at or near valedictorian. He started smoking pot and ditched everything else. He was the typical stoner who lost all motivation to do anything other than smoke pot.

The same can be said of drinking!
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=The+simps...eer&t=h_&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=OxLjvY5CrjQ
And what about all the guys who just fail @ life, like momma's boys & henpecked dudes or just plain losers?

 

[vmax]

Full of people overdosing on Marijuana? Really? Sure, it is technically possible to overdose on it just like someone can overdose on caffeine, but both types of overdose are rare. Marijuana overdosing is rarely fatal.

https://drugabuse.com/marijuana-abuse/overdose/

I would be interested in seeing the source of your claim that the ERs are full of them.

As for the kids getting into it, yeps that bad. Just as bad as them getting into the liquor cabinet or getting a hold of pop's cigs. If you carelessly leave something laying around, a kid is bound to get a hold of it. How many of you would leave a loaded gun just lying around near young children? Does that fact that that could and sometimes does happen justify the laws that require guns to be unloaded and locked up at all times?

The insurance thing is a moot point. That's going to keep happening regardless of marijuana use. Do you know how many people will take their kid to the ER for a simple runny nose just because they don't have the insurance to take them to a regular family practice clinic? If you're that worried about the money a few pot heads going to the ER are costing you, you might not want to know about all the other BS that goes through the ER.

Wanna take a guess as to how much cigarette smokers cost taxpayers each year? Should we criminalize the possessions of tobacco products?

Have you ever worked retail, like retail as in Walmart or Dollar General? Let me tell you about it, you get really well acquainted with all the tricks and the scams that the EBT people will try to pull. Why would a pot shop be any different? Even if that pot shop wasn't there, what makes you think they wouldn't just keep using that money for drugs anyways? It's not like the EBT cards magically work in pot shop ATMs but nowhere else.

Your examples of pot use effecting other people are solely dependent on those who are abusing the system and would likely be doing so regardless of their use of pot. Their use of pot is not what's driving that behavior, it's just them being a piece of human filth. EBT has been abused for years and unless the system is given the total overhaul that it desperately needs, that's not going to change any time soon. People have been going to the ER and skipping out on the bills for just about as long. Again, until the system changes that behavior is not going to change. Marijuana use is not directly related to these actions, but I invite you to post empirical data that proves otherwise.

Okay, you want to smoke pot... I get it. Go ahead.
you want pot to be legal...I don't agree, but you have that right to feel that way.

I'm not going to sit here and provide link after link to press stories I have read over the last 5 years about what happened in Colorado ERs with people ODing on edible MJ
If you want to know you can google it, of course, I suspect that magically, you won't be able to find any stories about it....

I'm not inclined to do research for you. You have already made your mind up anyway.
Carry on!

 

[toddnjoyce]

My entire argument is based on the believe that you should have the RIGHT to choose whether or not you smoke marijuana, NOT that you should. My personal opinion is that you shouldn't smoke it (or cigarettes for that matter), but that I shouldn't have the right to tell you want you can and cannot do in your own home.

As for being on the road while high, I absolutely agree. That should come with severe penalties. At home though? I couldn't care less.

Well, there’s a difference between a right and a privilege. There is no right to alcohol or tobacco, but there is one to firearms.

 

[Sublime]

The same can be said of drinking!
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=The+simps...eer&t=h_&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=OxLjvY5CrjQ
And what about all the guys who just fail @ life, like momma's boys & henpecked dudes or just plain losers?

I don't doubt it but this is not an either or argument but rather a thread about laws dealing with MJ, not alcohol.

What about all the failures of losers in mom's basement? No doubt they abound but it accelerates when they use MJ. They become bigger losers.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[baboon]

I think the topic has more to do with addictive personalities then what the person decides will be their vice. I knew a guy who was a sex addict & couldn't keep a job because of the idiot things he did.

 

[Maverick44]

Okay, you want to smoke pot... I get it. Go ahead.

Why is it that people can't have a discussion anymore without being accused of being something they're not? Oh, you think people should have freedom of choice? You must be a pot head. Oh, you don't like something Trump did? You must be a libtard. It gets tiring. This is not directed solely at you vmax. It just seems like that sort of thing has become far too common on forums. God forbid you play devil's advocate every once in awhile.

you want pot to be legal...I don't agree, but you have that right to feel that way.

That is your right and I respect that.

I'm not going to sit here and provide link after link to press stories I have read over the last 5 years about what happened in Colorado ERs with people ODing on edible MJ
If you want to know you can google it, of course, I suspect that magically, you won't be able to find any stories about it....

I'm sure I could find plenty of stories where somebody did something stupid and ended up in the ER. Want proof? Enjoy.

https://www.google.com/search?clien....108.380.3j1......0....1..gws-wiz.intbIdGqwRM

What I was asking for were specific numbers at to how often that actually happens. I was genuinely interested in seeing that.

I'm not inclined to do research for you. You have already made your mind up anyway.
Carry on!

Well, it's not so much research for me as it is backing up your own argument. If I'm not prepared to back up something I say with hard evidence, I don't post it. Simple as that. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same of others. I consider myself pretty open minded, and my priority in a discussion is fact and truth. Even if those facts are inconvenient to my argument. The thing is though, you have to actually prove those facts. Just telling me something and expecting me to take it at face value and believe it is not going to work on me. I have to see actual evidence that proves your point. If you don't want to take the time to post that proof, that is your prerogative. Just don't be surprised when I don't take your word as fact. I spend nearly 2 hours on my one response to Todd's post (#30) because I actually looked through his sources and read what they had to say. I am not set in my ways, and my mind can be changed. It just can't be change without someone putting the effort in.

 

[Maverick44]

Well fellas, it's been a good discussion but I think I'm going to bow out for now. It's been a long week and I still have a ways to go before it's over. I'd rather not spend the rest of it arguing over a plant.

 

[vmax]

I'm having a conversation and exchange of ideas ...I'm not writing an article or paper so I dont nessesarily have to include citations and references.
I've read enough about this over the years to feel comfortable in what I'm claiming.

All good man, we just come from different angles on this.
That's okay.

 

[Younggun]

Sigh

I really hate these debates. Lots of opinions from fairly mild to extreme. Lots of studies with conflicting results and bias on both sides. Lots of “blood in the streets” vs “nothing bad at all ever comes from pot”.

Seems those who really want to exchange ideas are drown out by those more interested in shouting the other side down.


Lots of telling people, but very little asking what or why someone thinks a certain way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[popper]

Their use of pot is not what's driving that behavior, it's just them being a piece of human filth. That is your opinion. Basically, we all have mental/behavior problems. Choose your poison (booze, sex, drugs, internet) to overcome it? You can blot it out or choose to deal with the problem. Prohibition era was about tax money and the poor and dangerous quality of booze; you want corn whisky fermented with lye and open to all the ground critters? Bathtub gin that was mostly nasty narcotic?. Snake oil with who knows what? Coke used to be in Coke and a bunch of other stuff. It had/has it's uses. Not for 'recreation'.

 

[deemus]

The same can be said of drinking!
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=The+simps...eer&t=h_&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=OxLjvY5CrjQ
And what about all the guys who just fail @ life, like momma's boys & henpecked dudes or just plain losers?

True. But the guy I mentioned drank often. But the weed made him an idiot.

 

[Sublime]

Their use of pot is not what's driving that behavior, it's just them being a piece of human filth. That is your opinion. Basically, we all have mental/behavior problems. Choose your poison (booze, sex, drugs, internet) to overcome it? You can blot it out or choose to deal with the problem. Prohibition era was about tax money and the poor and dangerous quality of booze; you want corn whisky fermented with lye and open to all the ground critters? Bathtub gin that was mostly nasty narcotic?. Snake oil with who knows what? Coke used to be in Coke and a bunch of other stuff. It had/has it's uses. Not for 'recreation'.

Why did Coca Cola put cocaine in coke initially? I think MJ exacerbates them being a piece of human filth. I really do not see MJ, other drugs, or alcohol really lifting people up.
True, most of us have some type of anti-social behavior but most have learned to function well in society despite that.

What is that saying - If you gotta ask the question, you already have the answer.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

 

[HKShooter65]

So many distractions, a paucity of facts and a profusion of opinions!
..............................
Fact:
Prohibition against ethanol was a disaster and was reversed.

Opinion:
Prohibition against cannabis products is, quite similarly, a disaster.

..........................
Fact:
Ethyl alcohol is vastly more harmful and toxic than is THC.

Opinion:
Legalize pot and society will figure out the management details.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

So, are we talking pot smokers that only smoke pot and don't do other drugs, or pot smokers which graduated to the hard stuff but still smoke pot too?