DEA to reclassify Marijuana from schedule I to schedule III

[RevolverRob]

Man I think this is where the majority of the country is on EVERYTHING.

I think MOST regular people think to themselves “Yeah okay….we could have been doing better. But THIS shit sure isn’t working either”

I don't know the answer, but I know whatever the solution is - it won't be easy to execute.

That, I think, is what worries me the most. The people most equipped to do hard work are too busy being handicapped by politics, debt, inflation, I guess call it - life. And the folks with excess capacity are the softest and laziest of our society...

Maybe that is the problem...

[bofe954]

Man I think this is where the majority of the country is on EVERYTHING.

I think MOST regular people think to themselves “Yeah okay….we could have been doing better. But THIS shit sure isn’t working either”

I think there could be a difference between "decriminalize" and "legalize", and maybe even between "legalize" and "accept". I think there probably needs to be some sort of modern day sanitarium, but I don't know what it would look like. I think if you can't provide for yourself we are a modern enough society where we could provide for you, but you don't get to run around and beg, deal or steal to survive either...

We essentially use the criminal justice system to deal with mental health issues now, I think we could stop, but something else has to be in place first.

[Totem Polar]

Yes, I live in a state in which marijuana is legal for recreational use at the state statute level. I find the smell of burning marijuana annoying. Marijuana absolutely doesn’t need to be a schedule 1 drug like PCP and heroin. Even meth and fentanyl are schedule 2 drugs.

I’m in WA state, so, on the vanguard. I’m with Wobbly on this one.

I’ve mentioned this here before, but the first legal weed place in town was opened as soon as the ink was dry on the state statute, by two 65+ aged boomer couples as a retirement gig. In the first 16 months they were open, they did over 6 mil in business—as a mom n pop store—and, get this, paid 2.1 mil in taxes to the state. From just. one. shop.

There is no way we are putting that genie back in the bottle; it’s too much of a cash cow for the states that have, er, partaken. JMO.

[Totem Polar]

Dystopian zombie shithole.

Watching a dude squat and shit on the sidewalk literally within 10 feet of me and also watching a girl shoot up in broad daylight on a busy street corner, tells me that NONE of the legalization, decriminalization, tolerance, compassion…..whatever you want to call it….thats not working either.

Giving a homeless drug addict the wood shampoo and locking them up sure as fuck wasn’t compassionate.

The public also didn’t have to sidestep around addicts shooting heroin and piles of human shit either.

Progressive policies aren’t “progress” IMO.

Craig, do you think there is a difference between MJ use and other drugs?

I’m all in favor of the legalize/tax the shit out of pot route, because I’ve seen that feel-good movie here, since 2014.

However, I’m currently watching the same zombie movie as you on every commute to the private place. ODs are happening in decent brew pubs now, while families are trying to eat burgers and enjoy a local Vienna lager.

I don’t see, for example, fentanyl and weed as even remotely comparable from my viewpoint; I’d be very interested in your opinion since you used to deal with the fine details for a living. Thoughts, as you can?

[RoyGBiv]

I don't know the answer, but I know whatever the solution is - it won't be easy to execute.

...snip...

Maybe that is the problem...

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams

[TC215]

I never felt like my work in law enforcement impacted my community any less than during the two-three years I was working drugs. I truly felt that I was making absolutely no difference. The war on drugs as we’ve been fighting it has been an abject failure. Drugs are cheaper, more potent, and more readily available than they’ve ever been. Take Fentanyl for example. The last data I was briefed on indicated it costs the cartels approximately one cent to produce a fentanyl pill. These pills are selling for a little more than a dollar a piece at the wholesale level when you buy them by the 1,000 count (a “boat”). You can interdict a load of a few hundred thousand pills and the financial impact to the bad guys is practically nonexistent.

I’m at the point where I’d rather see them all legalized and taxed with the tax revenue being used to support drug court and treatment programs to help people manage their addictions better. Locking up drug users seems to make even less of a difference than locking up the dealers.

You know I disagree with you because we’ve talked about it in person. But I’m certainly fine with people having differing opinions based on their own experiences.

Over 16 years in LE, 14 years working drugs (with fugitives and violent crime sprinkled in). I enjoy it, and think it’s a worthy cause. I’m not for locking up addicts for being addicts, but I’m not sure of a place that actually does that. Here it would be a misdemeanor ticket.

I consider when we were dealing with bath salts and synthetic weed an experiment with legalization, and it was total chaos. I wouldn’t want to go through it again. And I guess the whole “de-criminalization” thing isn’t going too well in Oregon.

But I don’t know what the answer is. I would start with really going after the cartels in Mexico. Until then I’ll just keep doing my thing (even though the DOJ continues to make it harder).

[Duelist]

I'm proud to say I never made a marijuana case. The threshold was 5,000 lbs in Miami and nobody wanted to be bothered with it back then. We'd hand it off to state and local if they were interested.

I was foreman on a jury for a marijuana smuggling case - 400# of bales stuffed in the cab of a pickup, “hidden” under a blanket. County trial.

Yes, the smuggler was caught driving the truck, going north from the US/Mexico border. Yes, we did convict on some of the charges.

[SouthNarc]

Craig, do you think there is a difference between MJ use and other drugs?

I don’t see, for example, fentanyl and weed as even remotely comparable from my viewpoint; I’d be very interested in your opinion since you used to deal with the fine details for a living. Thoughts, as you can?

I don’t think *weed* as you and I understand it and the weed we grew up with and Fentanyl are even in the same ballpark no.

What’s being produced and marketed now as *weed* is simply not the same animal.

As far as drug laws go if you’re not harming anyone or making a public spectacle of yourself *personally* I think you should be able to do pretty much whatever you want. I haven’t made any big secret about being an advocate of psychedelic/enthiogenic substances like psilocybin, 5 MEO-DMT, cactus, and so on. That plant medicine has helped ALOT of guys in the special operations community. I’ve benefited from those substances myself. Yes there is the Burning Man archetype that just wants to see pretty colors but overwhelmingly at least in my circles people engaging in the use of those substances are doing so mindfully…with a purpose…in a very specific set and setting with intention.

I don’t get the same feeling from marijuana culture. Yes it absolutely has medicinal value but there is still a strong….stoner apathy vibe. For every Joe Rogan there seems to be a hundred dudes that barely just kinda get by because their life centers around getting baked. And to be fair I’m not IN recreational MJ culture so if I did a deep dive I may change my mind.🤷🏻*♂️

Looking at it in totality I don’t think legalized recreational marijuana is a *win* for American progress. Is it more freedom? Meh…I guess. I guess I just don’t feel that strongly about getting high.

And…..it fucking stinks man. Seriously. Every hotel, restaurant, parking lot, odd person you pass on the street fucking STINKS….of weed.

That’s a lot of rambling but I just got off a flight in Cincinnati and walked through the parking lot to my Doubletree and got a pretty good lungful of Indica from a couple of dude-bros in the parking lot, so I may not be super coherent.😂

[BillSWPA]

Doesn’t marijuana have a half life of one day?

How many people are now going to be unable to drive safely or hold a job because they are under the influence of this stuff?

How many more will have problems because they are involuntarily breathing in the secondhand smoke?

[Joe in PNG]

I'm sure this will help our society with our current intelligence and common sense shortage.