I almost hate to be the one making this post, because I'm usually the first one to rush into these posts and brutally shoot down any and all arguments against legalization.... Butttttt..... After reading one of the threads in the general section titled "what is your favorite part of being a stoner", I realized that several of my favorite things about being a stoner, relate to the fact that it's illegal. I love being part of the pro-marijuana movement, I dedicate a large part of my time researching and discussing legalization with people, if it's legal I wont need to convince anyone. The other thing is, stoners have an instantaneous bond with other stoners upon learning that they smoke. This is due, in large part, to being part of a counterculture, a group that "goes against the machine", we have secrets, we deal under the table, we go around behind society's back and do something that is stigmatized. It's almost like all stoners have a fraternal bond based on the fact that we operate beyond the bounds of the law. It's exiting to have and share connects with other people, to know growers,to grow yourself, to discover better dealers and occasionally get that absolutely phenomenal pickup and know that you have something seriously good to look forward to smoking. Will that still be exiting if you can go to the grocery store, pick up some 30% THC Marlboro joints and light up as soon as you walk outside, in full view? To be perfectly honest with you, I genuinely believe that will vanish when marijuana goes mainstream. Beer drinkers don't meet other people who drink beer and immediately have a certain connection. Tobacco smokers have a little bit of a bond in that they all sit together on smoke breaks and in designated smoking areas, but that's strictly due to proximity, not really the fact that they smoke tobacco. I realize that it would be extremely selfish to wish that prohibition and all it's negatives remain in order to maintain the subculture. I'm not saying I hope marijuana remains illegal, I'm merely pointing out that I would really miss these aspects of pot. Thoughts?
I completely agree. Pot shouldn't be legalized, it should be decriminalized. I push for legalization because I know decriminalized is a dream. It's not illegal on a federal or state level, but society still shakes a finger at it. We just won't get arrested. Like Salvia. Like I said though, it's a dream. If we want the laws taken away, we have to legalize it. I doubt it will be decriminalized. The big companys (there I fixed it :]) will find the cheapest and fasted way to grow it. Probably add chemicals to the crops, like they do for tobacco, and it will be probably be more expensive. Btw, if you haven't seen The Union: The Business Behind Getting High you should.
The beer brewing subculture, however, is completely insane....with their endless arguments over hops, and their beer fests. Have you ever been to a beer fest? Those people get really weird about their beer... Oregon Brewers Festival 2009 Cannabis users will differentiate like beer consumers-you'll have your Bud Light over the counter pot users, and your out there on the fringe growers, and their fans, breeding ever odder strains.
I'm not a stoner, I just like to enjoy some bud every once in a while, so I can't relate. I wouldn't mind it at all if everything you described just disappeared and it was treated like alcohol.
I totaly disagree, I love herb for herb not because i think it makes me cool or i belong to some clique or i like to fight the fight for legalization only secretly hoping it never happens? I hate the notion that anytime i light up cops just bust in and slap cuffs on me! or my grow op? put me behind bars for a few years? whats wrong with you? Alcoholics do have social meetings its called A.A. but seriously theres cliques in everything regardless of its legal status. Think about all the guys who hate domestic beer only drink imported stuff or the guys who only want to drink at their local micro brew or the good ol boys just swearing by their anheuser busch products. Its just the concept of some people in washington thinking their smater then you and deciding for you what you can and cant put in your body! it just leads to even more stupid regulations/rules
I have to agree with the poster above. I like weed for weed and i don't think i should be punished for it. Sure a part of me likes sneaking around, but when that cop is walking toward you and you're high as shit you start to really hate the sneaking around part
Killer queen, wad up? i used to live in nebraska but was just wanting to say The govt doesnt put chemicals in the tobacco the cig companys do that and there are plenty of additive free and organicaly grown tobacco products out there. As for the the fastest cheapest way thing, you dont think the grow ops in mexico or some areas of cali are grown with shit ton of pesticides/ferts then not cured properly and shipped out to make quick turnaround profit? Free market baby, consumer gets what he pays for
I agree with white lotus. Sure there will be those who dont give a fuck about other stoners, who want match bowls with strangers, but there will also be an open connoisseur community. If you have heard wine people talk about their favorite wines, beer people about their favorite micro brew, you know exactly what it will be like for weed. Sure you can get some skank weed from 7-11, but you will also be able to take a trip through humboldt or BC, just like wine people go through nappa valley. It will also very likely be cheaper considering a very large amount of weed cost now is trafficking, risk and price gouging. An ounce could be around $20. edit: also that is pretty selfish man, our brothers and sisters are rotting in jail with violent criminals as we speak.
I think this message board is about the extent of the "stoner" community I wish to take part in. I just want to go buy myself a lil ole legal sack and toke up in my own home and not require a prescription or worry about job and real life repercussions to be able to do so. For me, at the base of it all, legalization is about rights - and that goes for whether for or against it for community reasons.
See I have already thought about this and have talked to the guy that sells to me, I he holds a big fondness for hash bars, which in a sense is not to different from regular bars, except instead of selling alcohol we sell green and have hookahs, bongs, blunts, joints, whatever all over the place. So once it is decriminalized-regulated-taxed and whatnot all we do is open/join a hash bar, that way we can still have our stoner community, and be in good terms with the law. Of course your not going to be able to get that rush of having weed on you driving through town, but who cares, it gets old after you get used to it anyways.
People keep talking about this rush of sneaking around with it or watever...what rush? you mean paranoia? lol you guys must not have had to many run ends with cops or the legal system or you would be all for legalization
Trust me I have not experienced the harassment of the law, but I have seen it first hand. The guy that sells to me is rather popular with his local law enforcers, but he still sells to me so he must be doing something right. I'm all for legalization and there are alternatives to what we know as the stoner gathering now, and it will always be a social thing to me just because I have met so many good friends with it. I admit there are a couple of people I have met that I only consider "Druggies" but those are only a few.
A person who smokes because of others is not a true smoker. Beer drinkers do have connections. It's just usually the people that don't drink crappy beer.(Heineken's #1) I personally cannot wait for the day when I can buy a joint at the store and not worry about anything except how good it will be.
Well gee you would be no friend of mine you greedy ass, take your weed and cram it then. lol j/k. I don't smoke because of other's, I just prefer to smoke with others (unless I'm working then I'll smoke by myself so I can focus on my work.)
To me it's about not getting butt raped in prison for enjoying a plant that is safer than most, if not all, drugs known to man. While the alcoholics go and get in car accidents and beat up their wives. Seriously prison is the last place in the world you ever want to be.
Haha Waddup fellow Nebraskian :] lots of corn feilds! I don't blame you for leaving lol! Yes yes. I didn't mean to make it sound like the gov does it. Still However, if we legalize it, most of it's going to be grown with all of those chemicals. There won't be that grower/dealer that you know isn't putting pesticides/ferts/chems in it. It will be regulated. I mean im thinking about big companys getting their hands in it. I'm sure people will have to get a permit to grow it or something, but what if it turns out like Monsanto??
Yea monsantos is a pretty F'd up company. I would still stick to home grown if marlboro or anyone started selling packaged joints. Yea, used to live in omaha it wasnt that bad, lived in couple more states since then now im in delaware and guess what....fuckn corn fields
It's like some of the members on here don't think. Legalization doesn't mean the government grows it! It doesn't mean we start getting communist weed! It means American's create jobs and get paid rather than drug cartels. Decriminalization still leaves marijuana connected to a black market that makes most of it's profit off the America's #1 illicit drug.
I fixed my post to more what I mean. And hey I do think ! I just don't trust big companys with my weed.