Pot Legalized

Quote: reno

But illegal tobacco sales only exist in states with excessive taxation.

In Utah, 9% of adults smoke. (State tax per pack: $1.70)
In California, 11% of adults smoke. (State tax per pack: $2.87)
In Missouri, 22% of adults smoke. (State tax per pack: 17 cents.)

Surely there's a correlation between taxes & consumption. So the balancing act is to tax it high enough to reduce consumption, and simultaneously low enough to discourage a black market.

Quote: zippyboy

You drink a helluva lot more than I smoke, EB.

I always chuckle when I here proponents of alcohol bash pot.
Damaged caused by alcohol to one's family, to one's own physical health, and
to society far out way the damage of pot.

Quote: reno

In Utah, 9% of adults smoke. (State tax per pack: $1.70)
In California, 11% of adults smoke. (State tax per pack: $2.87)
In Missouri, 22% of adults smoke. (State tax per pack: 17 cents.)

Surely there's a correlation between taxes & consumption. So the balancing act is to tax it high enough to reduce consumption, and simultaneously low enough to discourage a black market.

What I have noticed is not so much people quitting but they do not smoke as much. Anyone grew up in the 70s or 80s knew of someone who smoked 2 packs a day. Not so much anymore. But I rarely meet people who had quit totally due to the price.

At my last job a woman spent $450 a month on smokes for her and her daughter. I didn't even tell her that was the payment on the car she wanted to buy. Why bother there?

Quote: AZDuffman

I rarely meet people who had quit totally due to the price.

I agree. Addicts aren't especially sensitive to price.

You know who is sensitive to price? Teenagers. And most teenagers can't afford a pack-a-day habit if the price is $6/pack.

Quote: reno

You know who is sensitive to price? Teenagers. And most teenagers can't afford a pack-a-day habit if the price is $6/pack.

What I don't get with the under-30s is this Vape thing. They love it. Two stores in my neighborhood.

Quote: AZDuffman

What I don't get with the under-30s is this Vape thing. They love it. Two stores in my neighborhood.

Compared to traditional tobacco cigarettes, the odor from e-cig vaping doesn't stink up your clothing/furniture/car as much, it doesn't stain your teeth, it's cheaper ($1,387 vs $2,569 annually), and it's probably at least a little less dangerous to your long-term health. (Kind of a low bar to claim that it's less dangerous; most things are less dangerous than cigarettes.)

Quote: AZDuffman

What I don't get with the under-30s is this Vape thing. They love it. Two stores in my neighborhood.

We had one store, went out of biz in 4 months.

The Canadians are studying whether marijuana can be used to wean addicts off crack cocaine.

Quote: Business Insider

We found that people who intentionally used cannabis to control their crack use showed a marked decline in crack consumption, with the proportion of people reporting daily use dropping from 35% to less than 20%.

Data for this study, which was recently presented at the Harm Reduction Conference in Montreal, were drawn from three open and ongoing prospective cohorts of more than 2,000 people who consume drugs (not necessarily just stimulants). They were the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS); the AIDS Care Cohort to Evaluate exposure to Survival Services (ACCESS); and the At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS).

Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Are chronic pot users less damaging to society than crack cocaine addicts?

Quote: reno

Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Are chronic pot users less damaging to society than crack cocaine addicts?

Seems like the high would be way different, crack being a stimulant pot more depressive. In the end pot users probably easier to handle as more zoned out.

Quote: reno

The Canadians are studying whether marijuana can be used to wean addicts off crack cocaine.



Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Are chronic pot users less damaging to society than crack cocaine addicts?

MJ can definitely be a medicine with many uses.
Just according to the stat givin in the quote, it appears that there is benefit from the cannabis. In some ways using mj like ibuprofen to help reduce the pain from weaning off narcotics can be very helpful, but in this case the reduction of crack use from 35 to 20% might be at least partially attributed to the fact that the users actually want to stop using their DOC?

I have believed several times that almost anything around cocaine is often self healing. I have watched coke run it's course with people and witnessed people try it, like it, goe balls deep on a binge with it, and then figure it out. That stuff is a great high. I wish it didn't have all the side effects, but like all narcotics, it do. At the very least, users will suffer risk of economic ruin.

Some of the best data on your question will come from the addicts themselves, or a twelve step program. I have read where many think it is just swapping one drug for another, but I don't believe that at all.

Opiods are different than "go fast" drugs IMO. I think the dependency on speed is more mental, and the dependence on opiods is more physical. That stuff eats a person clear to the cellular level. MJ can be a miracle, or not.

As far as risking a bunch of the population running around on MJ, we already are exposed. WJC and RR both quoted 20% of the population is using drugs on a daily basis. I don't believe that number includes all the prescription drugs, even minutely.