President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Kamala Harris
(R) Donald Trump
80%↑
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd
(D) Adam Frisch
52%↑
48%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
52%↑
48%↓
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
January 02, 2011 09:15 PM UTC
34 Comments
http://www.suntimes.com/lifest…
This study found that binge drinking is down, but teen marijuana use is up. Now, I would argue that a statistic like that is a GREAT thing considering you can’t die from smoking weed, but you sure as hell can die from binge drinking.
I’d be interested to see statistics on whether or not teens who tried pot were more or less likely to try any other drug–I’ve always been of the opinion that pot is definitely a gateway drug into experimenting with substances like LSD, mushrooms, and other hallucinogenic drugs, but not into drugs like meth, cocaine, or heroin.
Anyway, getting back to your argument WLJ, the problem I have with the notion of opening up “medical” marijuana like we have in Colorado to the national market is the make-believe aspect of the law that tries to convince people that the system isn’t being abused by people who just want to smoke weed legally–or the notion that such abuses even constitute abuse at all.
I’m all for decriminalization, but I think trying to model legalization like we have in Colorado for the whole country would be an unmitigated disaster. It’s too easy for the system to be abused, and though the State has the opportunity to create a windfall of tax revenues, I think it’s clear that it would be a legitimized prohibition that helps a few small business owners (like you) and a lot of unseemly characters like the drug cartels and organized crime.
There would still be laws federally against marijuana, just not penalties enforced federally for certain activities in states with medical marijuana laws. Medical Marijuana Centers (as our state government has now coined “dispensaries”) would be able to get bank loans like any other business, because presumably the federal government wouldn’t threaten to prosecute banks. Perhaps, it would allow veterans who use medical marijuana to obtain housing in states with medical marijuana laws. Stuff like that.
It doesn’t sound — from reading the article — that Polis is saying that marijuana would be legalized for sale nationally in dispensaries for people who obtain recommendations from physicians, like in Colorado.
But I haven’t seen Rep. Polis’ full proposal. Curious as to what exactly it is.
If anything, I’d think that state regulations cut back drastically on organized crime. There are, after all, armed state inspectors monitoring the cultivation of crops now in Colorado, and sales in dispensaries.
and it hasn’t had the solution you’re describing.
I wasn’t even necessarily taking issue to anything that Polis had said, really. I was more talking about what Wanda wrote.
I don’t think these things take effect immediately or happen overnight. But no drop in the black market due to our regulated system of cannabis distribution? That wouldn’t be wholly accurate, now, either.
You were the one who brought up the concept of a national system that you hoped wouldn’t look like Colorado’s medical marijuana laws.
Wanda was praising our system.
I happen to think Colorado’s laws (including the “reforms” passed by the legislature last year) are flawed.
And I can see where what I said was accurate: She, nor Polis, have proposed expanding Colorado’s system nationally.
We’re pretty much all on the same page here, I’m just trying to make sure that if we’re having a real discussion about legalization, we try not to make the same mistakes on a national level that we’ve made here.
The new legislative session will see new medical marijuana legislation introduced. Very soon, we’ll collectively be able to debate the pros and cons of all that.
My friend’s spouse owns a dispensary. They said 60% of their customers, they guesstimate, are legit medical patients. 40% is a huge number of potheads who just take advantage of it. We need to get a handle on that. Although pot doesn’t cause the traffic accidents and violence alcohol can, it has been responsible for many kids getting lazy and dropping out of school. It still needs to be regulated well.
As a side note, can you imagine the celebration proponents of this bill would have?
Almost all of my friends who smoke pot, have been smoking since high school or junior high. It is funny that most of us don’t drink much. Most of my friends graduated from America’s best universities. I was one of the few that went to a state school.
I realize the small sample of my friends and don’t mean much when we are talking polling. But i can’t help but feel like it is time to discuss the kid that sits on the couch and doesn’t do well in school. My guess is to begin with the parents. What is going on at home?
Are people dropping out because of pot, no. It is a complete impossibility to link pot to the reason kids fail. Many failing kids may use pot, but that is not the reason they began to fail.
Too many in our society have smoked and have gone on to great things, including 12 US Presidents and countless elected officials of all parties, walks of life and socio-economic backgrounds.
Kids drop out when parents aren’t paying attention. Parents need to quit making excuses why their child is messed up and look in the mirror.
But my original point was that I don’t think that statistic is necessarily something that needed to be defended. Binge drinking is potentially deadly–not the mention horribly unhealthy–whereas no one has ever died from a THC overdose. If the risky thing kids are doing that can potentially kill them is going down, that’s a good thing IMO.
the current MMJ system in Colorado. If pot were simply legalized, cancer patients and pot heads alike would have ample access.
Have you talked to any dropouts? I have. They drop out because school is BORING. Schools are a one-size-fits-all item, and there’s always a %age of students who don’t fit. Blaming cannabis is the cheap easy answer. It’s a hell of a lot more complicated than that.
I’m not a shrink, but I have done thousands of hours of para-professional counseling and support group volunteering at various non-profits over the past 25 years. I’ve read and followed the research on pot, and seen kids’ lives destroyed by it — most of them by simply dropping out of life and school. Why? THC effects the amygdala and the hippocampus areas of the brain. http://www.webmd.com/brain/new…
Is pot something to worry a lot about, as a public health crises? No, not compared to other things. Many more lives are destroyed by hard drugs and alcohol. The biggest problem with pot is that it disproportionately affects kids the younger they are – their brains are still growing and it has greater adverse effect on growing brains. http://www.allvoices.com/contr…
Other issues: Pot is many times stronger now than it was in my day due to genetic engineering. Research on the chemical addiction of THC was done on much weaker strains than those that exist in 2011. More recent studies suggest there is an addictive component at high doses. http://www.marijuanaaddiction….
It also depends on how you define “addiction”: http://healthland.time.com/201…
Pot is also commonly laced with harder drugs, and sometimes even, things like rat poison. Dispensaries are great in that there is a known supplier, which keeps the product clean. I support them. I believe pot should be legalized, taxed, and heavily regulated by the government. I have no issue with it morally — it’s just another drug like coffee and alcohol and should be treated as such, IMHO. I do, however, have big issues with the myth it is not at all harmful — it is, particularly in children. Then again, so is sugar.
Pot is not safe for people under 25, and our entire society needs to make it harder for kids to get ahold of it.
Pot needs to be legalized and regulated. It is the only way we can reduce the availability to minors. Pot also needs to be decriminalized. We waste a ridiculous amount of taxpayer resources locking up people who make bad decisions on their own health. Don’t punish them; educate them.
We need to keep prison beds open for real perps – domestic violence abusers, dog-fighting ring owners, pedophiles, etc.
You are buying into reefer madness. These are put up by Big Pharma, Big Alcohol and law enforcement.
In my family, what has destroyed some of the men is a felony conviction at 17 or 18. My older brother and i have smoked through high school and college, we are both graduates and both highly productive members of society. In the part of my family that is poor and Black, the felony possession charge has destroyed the family and people.
How does a Black 17 year old with a felony for having more than on once of pot create a meaningful life? The short answer is they do not. They become pawns of the Privatized Prison System and slave labor. Come on Nancy!
On your second point, we grow pot, a lot of pot and no it is not genetically engineered. Is it stronger? Well that depends. It better in terms of medicinal benefits (CBDs and CBNs go Full Spectrum Labs to see the research).
http://www.fullspectrumlabs.com/
It is finally OK to say you smoke pot, even with a sense of pride. So yes, more teens and older people are now admitting that they prefer Cannabis to drinking. I never admitted openly until last year, and i have been smoking since I was 16. That in my book is a good thing.
Look this is simple. If we want to discuss what grown-ups can use to relax and decided that our society is safer without recreational drugs, let’s have that discussion. Let’s start be making tobacco and alcohol illegal.
Clearly these drugs have killed people in record numbers every year. We even know that the tobacco companies add ingredients to ensure you become hooked. Can you imagine if my company was found to have added ingredients that make you addicted to eating our products!
If America wants that conversation i am all for it. Based on that idea, I say tobacco and alcohol should all be illegal. There is no good reason to have those drugs in our society if safety and teenagers are what we are talking protecting!!!!!!
Then we should discuss all the teenagers that are using prescription drugs found in their parents bathroom and arrest every doctor that has every over prescribed these drugs.
Since none of that is going happen and we have already said as a society we can have substance that help us relax or have fun, why can’t i use Cannabis?
Not one death ever…what else do we need to discuss? And what is all the flack about?
Red Bull is responsible for more deaths that Cannabis!
I am discussing complete legalization. No Department of Revenue oversight, no special committees. No different that alcohol for Americans over 21.
You could buy a joint at Whole Foods Market and great Cannabis infused Jerk Chicken at 8 Rivers. The Cartel would be out of business and the need for billions of dollars in law enforcement and criminal courts could be cut from our budget.
And because i deal with drunk people in my restaurant, i can guarantee that a person under the effects of Cannabis is a much better human to have in your establishment.
I would love to patronize your establishment the next time I am in Denver. My e-mail address is in my profile. If you will send me the name of your place , I will stop in the next time I come over the hill.
Keep up your advocacy…and thanks!
how much tax money is spent to keep folks locked up for drug offenses. Law and Order hawks may have some cover now that Pat Robertson has come out for decriminalizing small holding for personal use. He did so on two grounds: 1.) prisons are expensive 2.) someone goes to prison for a drug offense … then in prison, learns how to steal cars.
Full legalization would be my preferred way as well, but I think it needs to be heavily regulated, just like alcohol and tobacco are. Instead of making the other two illegal, we should simply treat Marijuana–a drug we both agree is far safer than nicotine or alcohol–the same way we treat those other controlled substances.
I believe Car 31 pointed out in the last MMJ diary that the best way to deal with the problem of marijuana prohibition would be to take it off the list of Schedule 1 drugs.
I agree that the legalization of marijuana could be great for the economy*, but I think it needs to be heavily regulated. Colorado has done a small step toward the type of regulation I would like to see if we were to make marijuana legal at a national level. I think my biggest point here is to make sure we are not trying to model the national legalization reforms off what we have on the books here. IMO, the entire MMJ system in Colorado is a back-door legalization that is far too murky legally.
*the increase in the sale of Doritos alone could bring us out of the recession 🙂
So, how many liquor store owners were arrested last year? How many parents lost their kids to the system last year because they had alcohol in their house? And why is Suthers so focused on Cannabis when alcohol and tobacco and prescription drugs appears to the issue? Oh yeah, who financed his campaign?
6% of teenagers have tried pot and 25% drinking 5 drinks in row? This is Reefer Madness. We are being fooled into beleiveing that Cannabis is the issue.
Even more facts about GATEWAY DRUGS!!!
http://www.teendrugabuse.us/Pr…
http://www.dare.com/parents/Pa…
Even D.A.R.E. says the gateway drugs are tobacco and alcohol…
Look, i am not suggesting that it is a good thing kids get high at all. It would be a great world if we all exercised, ate the right type of food, didn’t let stress kill us and lived in a Disney Version of America. But that ain’t happening.
So let’s just all get real and decide if grown ups can have a safe herb to help cure nausea, ease pain and make you laugh and smile a little.
WLJ,
I came to CO to help get MMJ on the ballot for 1990. Stood outside grocery stores … all that. My interest was in terminal cancer, glaucoma, etc. Turns out that MMJ is more like Indian Gaming IMO. We have NIMBYs, we have folks that think it will solve all tax problems. I think your thoughts about ‘gateway’ drug are spot on. The feds lose credibility with kids by being … not credible.
to clean up the current mess. Developing quality standards, devising and providing patients with knowledge about dosing, teaching them to identify moldy or low quality Cannabis, protecting patients against fraud, and truly providing alternative therapies (as opposed to just “dealing pot”) are among the goals of a group called CCHPAA (say “chip-uh”), an acronym for the Cannabis Consumer Health and Patient Advocacy Association.
That group, and others like it, are trying to help the industry clean up its’ act and define itself. The very real medicinal aspect of Cannabis has long been overshadowed by a misinformed and paranoid attitude about marijuana.
Getting this thing right will take some time. Hysteria based on ignorance and prejudice is counterproductive. Don’t buy into it.
He’s a good representative. Pols has been hard on him in the past, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised that he shows a willingness to address issues that others won’t touch. This is one instance.
almost 100% of those who have used meth, heroin, etc started with milk
Love Jared Polis. He’s not my Rep, but he’s really everyone’s Rep, especially the outsiders (like Will on Glee). Have to go back to read thru the comments, but I probably agree with 99.7% of WLJ’s comments. And folks, “won’t someone please think of the children?” is so Helen Lovejoy. I’ve got a 19 year old with a license. Been through this one. Don’t give me gateways or peer pressure or health b.s. Want to talk specifics? I’m ready.
A person who has been using cannabis for 30 years doesn’t really get high. Some of us self-medicate for depression or anxiety, and we don’t get stoned, we simply feel more normal. How many of the people on this site eat too much? Drink too much? Shop too much? Hoard something? Smoke cigarettes? Have to have caffeine daily? Have to be in control of something? Like to watch porn?
Folks, we’re all looking for whatever it is that makes us happy – that is, the thing that will tell our brains to release dopamine. The thing that works for me (and WLJ and millions) is cannabis. The thing that worked for my dad was alcohol. He died of cirrhosis and liver cancer. It is just so hard for me to understand why people are so frightened and negative about cannabis. BTW – I’ve used pharmaceuticals for anxiety/depression. The primary effects felt like a sledgehammer on my system, and the side-effects were pretty ugly.
Decriminalization or legalization – I have no preference. I do know we are moving in the right direction.
Regulate it, and tax the hell out of it (like tobacco and alcohol).
Let’s move on
Denver Broncos…Still Suck! Proven Fact 4-12
though I hate to agree with a Raiders fan 🙂
(Some folks, longer.)
Let’s overcome decades of misinformation overnight, and legalize it–like yesterday, already.