The remarkable process of Marihuana legalization

[QUOTE]it is O.K. to be high as long as you can afford to buy it in nice little packages of approved sterility, dose etc

Much as it is OK to be buzzed as long as you can afford to buy beer, wine, and spirits of approved percentage alcohol in containers of acceptable size, etc

Recreational pot has been legal in California for 8+ years now (but I have to laugh; it was essentially legal if you could afford to pay a quack dr for a script going back more than 2 decades). We probably have fewer people sober than high by mid-afternoon, and all day on weekends and holidays. At least most of them stay home.

Where do you get your data, r2?

Are you high, OP?

Op did you vote for Trump, like the rest of your generation?

Can't they take the stank out of it? One of the worst odors on earth.

I look down on anyone who smokes it recreationally. It helps my low self esteem and it's better than being a racist.

It’s the weed availability heaven that I dreamed of as a teen in the 90s. I never liked the black market scummy aspects of obtaining weed. I don’t want to smoke with a dealer. I don’t want to wait on a dealer or put up with dry spells. No complaints here. My weed is lab tested for contaminants and strong as hell.

And, in some places, it can be delivered right to your door.

I do wonder how much state and local government revenue is generated from taxes. In California it adds almost 30% to the purchase price.

IDing is an absolute -- Driver's License bar codes are scanned before each purchase. Local grocery stores and mom and pop liquor stores are pretty lax about IDing despite a large university in my city (Sacramento). So it's probably harder for minors to procure.

It’s cheap in some places. In Oregon you can buy it by the bale for nothing.

In California, the smell of pot smoke is everywhere. The smell seems to be really sticky and long lasting.

Amazing how people come into stores, reeking of pot and the scent gets on EVERYTHING in the store. 10 minutes later, the store can still reek of pot. The smell does not dissipate quickly.

People were going to use it anyway, and it's probably less harmful to society overall than booze or ciggies.

OP I have thoughts, on your, use of, commas.

Oh deer

Seems like OP is saying that legalization took the fun out of it?

I like the legalization - product and quality control, unlike whatever you may get on the street. Plus a HUGE variety of buds, gummies, vapes, tinctures - you name it.

You want to be energetic and creative - then go for Sativa. You want to be dreamy (and sleepy) then go all Indica. Or mix and match to your liking.

I love that I can take a quick vape puff of Indica and it will put me right to sleep.

Some of the prices are very high here in SoCal - but I go maybe 3x a year to my place.

Toronto is surely the weed capital of the world. Canadians have always been huge weeds consumers. Mushrooms will 100% be next for legalization here.

Canucks are kewl.

R17 - capital? Not even Amsterdam? Canada is relatively late to the party on legalized weed.

BC Bud

I'm in my 60's so I don't smoke weed, I'm actually one of the few allergic to it. Like not just cough, cough allergic; its 24-48 hours of full blown allergies. So its ediles for me, almost every evening after work. Takes my metabolism about an hour for it to hit. I'd say mildly high, 20mg dosing, I do miss being able to smoke it though.

Sort of like abortion in reverse.

Well, it's a lot harder to make the case the abortion harms no one than it is to make the case that weed harms no one.

Wouldn’t abortion in reverse be . . insemination?

R21 - 20mg edible? Jeesh - I'm good with 5mg. I know - everyone makes fun of me for it. A 10 puts me on my ass.

I'm a light weight too, R25.

r11 = Chicken Little on steroids. Or a very delicately, a delirious Karen with many triggers, stated boundary-wise and enraged when everybody shrugs and chokes from the Vicks-Vape-O-Rub and ammonia eye-watering combo that emanates from her nethers.

She's just walks around like that noxious train derailment in East Palastine, OH trying to blame Biden or Pete Buttigieg for her poor hygiene.

I don't have a blanket issue with it but I do have a few issues.

The smell. I don't mind a faint wiff but fucking hell, wake bake hot boxxing in a closet or car and then going in public is FAR too acceptable.

I think the quantity of high is also too acceptable. It's not acceptable to show up to work blackout drunk, why is showing up not able to open your eyes past a squint acceptable? Don't work stoned. It's ridiculous.

I see far too many people driving, smoking a pre roll. Maybe that's just a Vermont thing but you can't drink and drive, how's that ok?

Also, it doesn't cure cancer, Most people aren't taking it for anxiety, no your fibromialga doesn't require it.

It should be treated more like alcohol and less like jesus.

That's what I said, RC -- pot should not be legal unless they have a test to determine if you're driving while high.

It's bad enough all the drunk fucks who drive around my neighborhood. In fact, most of them lost their licenses due to too many DUIs. But that doesn't stop them from driving.

Could some of you share how you obtain marijuana? Do you grow it, or do you have a trusted dealer?

It’s been a fun ride. I used to go to the Cannabis Buyer’s Club on Church St in San Francisco, before it was legal as a friend’s caretaker. That was a fun scene, compassionate care with erstwhile beatniks, splayed across several couches in a large room.

Then I got my medical card while I lived in SoMa/SF and there were 5 dispensaries within a few blocks or I could go to a local bar and find someone to share a bowl with on the patio.

I eventually joined the ONAC Church while living in the East Bay, to avoid paying the medical card fee. They leveraged a loophole to allow marijuana use as religious expression, that didn’t last too many years, though.

Now I’m southeastern MA and I get it delivered along with my UberEats.

I would reply but I’m stoned out of my mind

Mari HUANA

[quote]Toronto is surely the weed capital of the world.

Is that so?

[quote]Toronto is surely the weed capital of the world.

Toronto is on par with any other Canadian city with a population of more than 200 000. It's not remarkable. Amsterdam's coffee shops make it the world weed capital.

r29, I definitely have really strong feelings on it because a guy I went to high school with actually killed a father a few years after graduating and spent quite a while in jail for it. He was driving high as fuck. He went on to marry my, at the time, best friend who was... his parole officer and they had all been friends in high school.

I can't speak for Toronto but it isn't all that easy to get legal cannabis in Montreal. Forget about prepared edibles but I have mixed feelings about that.

I have a dealer who delivers if I can't get to the provincially-run weed store on Queen Mary.

[quote]Forget about prepared edibles but I have mixed feelings about that.

Curious r37, what are your thoughts on prepared edibles?

weed and tree, weed and tree

R38, Our Pepere Legault's provincial government has restricted the sale of prepared cannabis edibles like cookies and gummies because of their attraction to children.

I'm ambivalent. They sell edible oils though.

It's a shame there are so few stores. The stores are very good. Well-informed, helpful staff. Not afraid to ask what kind of good time you seek. Good selection.

But technically you can only use the stores if you are a resident of Quebec. They used to ask for ID and would take Driver's License, RAMQ, or passport. Visitors were stuck with buying illegal.

I've only used two stores, the one in Snowdon on Queen Mary and the one in St-Henri on Notre-Dame. They were both very strict about ID checks at first, regardless of age (I'm 66 now) but haven't even bothered with anyone I've seen for about three years unless age is an issue.

cookies and CAKES

It's true that Quebec was strangely reluctant (for such a progressive place) on the topic of legalization.

Very true. Not quebec but the government in charge. The CAQ

You would think you’d smell it a lot more. Nobody does it outside even though it’s legal. I’m not going to the smoking area with bowl.

Somebody and the Government are making big money with it.

Part of the legalization debate in Canada was to transfer a share of the profits into the public purse for increased social programs. Give the people the money organized crime was making.

In Husker-Flyoverstan, they finally are getting medical. But you can get hemp down at 50 Shades of Green down on Dodge.

r31 "before it was legal as a friend’s caretaker"

r47 I get mine from the chef at the Boiler Room

It’s a tale of two cities or of two groups of smokers. One group the tobacco smokers were popular, plentiful, powerful, popular, and legal. The pot smokers were the dregs and very illegal.

That was 1964 A few short years later the world has changed.

We are one major STD outbreak away from seeing how the world can and will change even more.

The Gummies are a gift from God. I have a lot of sleep issues, cant shut off my mind. Even when I do I never really get deep sleep. I have not smoked weed since my 20s and now in my late 50's I decided to try the gummies. Best night sleep I ever had! They don't stink, they taste good and I love that I know the exact dose I am getting every time.

The Camino brand are the best tasting if you dont like that weed smell and actually like what normal gummies taste like.

In 1964 when tobacco smokers ruled we had LBJ and a Dem Congress passing Medicaid. Now in 2025 when pot smokers rule we have Trump and a Repub Congress destroying Medicaid. Ironic,

I'm baked right now.

As I read these posts I'm picturing every single weed smoking character from TV and movies - the old guy from that 7Os show, the guys from Half Baked, several characters from Weeds, Harold and Kumar, and Pigpen among others.

It definitely makes you stupid, but you generally remember most of the things you did. Better than being an angry drunk.

Unless it's scrupulously raised and inspected, pot can harbor some NASTY fungus (from poor storage and other factors), leading to sinus fungal infections that are hard to treat and can lead to surgery. If you're up for a horror story, read about aspergillis spores, sinus fungal balls, and the recovery process after fungal ball retrieval surgery. Yikes. I def not anti-pot, but will not longer smoke any form of it. It has taken me a solid year to bounce back from a fungal ordeal. Edibles are an option, but they can be unpredictable, and piexes in the same package can produce wildly different results.

I'm wondering if the conspiratorial thinking and Qanon wave was pushed along a little by all the CBD and pot smoking everyone is into these days

"It definitely makes you stupid." I disagree on the whole while acknowledging that may be the case for some. For others, it can bring complete clarity about anything. Light bulb moments galore. Furthermore, during high school age ago, I regularly smoked with a very intelligent girl who would often pick up one of her text books and read page after page.

R51, sleep issues is why I use as well, but I'm getting tired of the psychoactive effect. Would you mind providing some detail on the process of using gummies for sleep?

I am not able to read while high. And it keeps me up at night, unlike most people. However it does keep me from being bored. And it is fantastic for using during yard work and other domestic drudgery.

Most naysaying Marys here seem to forget there's such a thing as edibles and they don't smell and are better for you than alcohol.

Nor does it "make" you stupid. You're already stupid or not.

OK, it gives you (while under the influence) a very special kind of intelligence that is not necessarily practical in the real world?

I was not a naysaying Mary, R60, but I must say that my morning subway commute has been a hotbox for several years now. I would estimate half of the people, many of them in their teens and early 20s (this is on the orange line in Boston, smell like they’ve waked and baked. Imagine if half the people on your commute were drinking out of flasks.

Now that it’s summer and people are driving with the car windows open, I’m constantly smelling it from passing cars as I walk down the street.

I was all for legalization but now that we’ve done it I think we have way over-normalized weed.

There's always unintended consequences, R62, but I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater and even hint that we've gone too far with pot. Don't give the pious among us any reason to take away one of the few things we've fought for and won.

I'm the first to admit I'm a pot head, and that I self-medicate. I'm a type-A person who worries, prepares, and plans for every contingency to a fault. I lost friends, boyfriends and colleagues over the psychological condition that compels me to obsess over everything. I've even lost a job due to taking it too far, and while I've also benefited enormously when contingency planning paid off, in the end I have to say that discovering pot has definitely extended my life if not outright saved it. I have no doubt that I would have had a stroke or heart attack by now if I had not found a way to turn off that voice compelling me to not be happy with a plan, a first backup plan, backup plan 2 and then obsessing over what would happen if the plan failed and neither backup plan worked. Shit happens, and you can't control for every detail. Pot helped me see that. 30 years ago, I probably would have gone to a doctor and gotten a prescription for Xanax or Valium, or worse, turned to alcohol. Instead, I smoked a joint, relaxed, and got some sleep. Everything improved.

Pot has been a godsend.

I get that, R63, and I’m not advocating for recriminalization. But a little enforcement of the fact that it is not currently legal to smoke in public (at least where I am) would be nice. Because right now our few remaining common public spaces all smell like cheap weed.

r43 The system was set up under the Quebec Liberals. The CAQ took over just as legalization came into effect

I completely agree with no public consumption, R64. I hate the lounges attached to dispensaries; I always wonder how those folks are going to get home without getting behind the wheel after seeing all the cars in the parking lot proving that at most one or two took an Uber. I can't imagine smoking a joint while driving; that boggles my mind. I've been yelled at when I've told people smoking pot in public to go home and smoke it there.

R11 must be a dog who can type. What a tale!

[quote]Most naysaying Marys here seem to forget there's such a thing as edibles and they don't smell and are better for you than alcohol.

But not necessarily good for you ... at least, if you're a chronic user (no pun intended).

I freeze my gummies, then eat them right out of the freezer. Come to Ontario r40, lots of edibles. Lots!

R69, I have had Ontario relatives send them by Canada Post. All legal. Also a nephew in Kanata sends me his home-grown. Nice happy stuff. Like laughing gas.