November 20, 2009

"It's not like you're going to be walking down State Street in Madison or walking in downtown Milwaukee and there's going to be compassion centers or dispensaries every other door."

"I just don't think that's going to happen."

The medical marijuana bill's sponsor just doesn't think that's going to happen. All right then.
Medical marijuana is sold under catchy names like Space Queen, Blue Dream, Purple Urkel and Train Wreck, and health-conscious users are gravitating toward vaporizers rather than smoking.
Great! Health-conscious folk with doctors notes are using Space Queen, Blue Dream, Purple Urkel and Train Wreck. Focus on health! Thank God they're not smoking!

38 comments:

Big Mike said...

You know, I never thought to ask the question before now. Do indoor smoking bans cover only tobacco products? Or do people puffing their medical marijuana have to go outdoors, too?

garage mahal said...

Man I don't feel good all of a sudden.

Phil 314 said...

I know all of the medical and libertarian arguments for medical marijuana. I'd only ask, what other medication do we prscribe that is SMOKED?

traditionalguy said...

Just say yes to drugs. It's for the children.But be sure to protect our children from "The Opiate of the People" which is that scary belief in the Christian faith taught by their parents that used to do the job. With out a faith, people will need feel good anti-depressants to face their lives.

Meade said...

garage mahal said...
Man I don't feel good all of a sudden.

'ere... 'ave a 'it of Urkel!

Triangle Man said...

Certainly not every other door. That would over saturate the market. One per block max.

Penny said...

After alllllllllllllllllllll these years, this movement is finally picking up some solid support.

Soon enough, cigarette smokers will be emptying out their joints, and replacing the contents with tobacco.

Crazy world we live in.

Fred4Pres said...

Sorry to go off topic but:

Iraqi detainees are taunting Wisconsin National Guard members with Brett Farve jokes.

Maybe these Iraqis Detainees are just being like ignorant monkeys just mimicing taunts they over heard about Farve, but if they actually get this issue, and are following American Football--is hell freezing over?

Somehow this seems like a good thing.

steve uhr said...

So marijuana should not be available to help sick people feel better because the names of the various strains are not to your liking? If they were called Paxil or Viagra would you approve? And isn't it a good thing that there is a way to consume the drug that may reduce its side effects?

Why is it that normally sensible people who claim to strongly favor individual freedom get so hung up on this issue? Live and let live Ann.

Unknown said...

Steve said...

So marijuana should not be available to help sick people feel better because the names of the various strains are not to your liking?

As I've said before, you get the same effect with legal drugs using IVpush. The whole "medical" marijuana thing is up (or down) there with global warming.

Wait till those "sick" people start showing up for work, driving, etc., and claim they can't be held responsible for whatever went wrong because it's legal.

TMink said...

edutcher, alcohol is legal, but I would get fired if I showed up to work tanked or tipsy and I would get a dui if I drive drunk.

Trey

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I am for complete legalization, but I don't like this gray-area semi-criminal seediness pot dispensaries have fallen into.

I wouldn't want one on my street.

I'm suspicious of a business that has to work with criminals to supply its customers. I doubt most dispensaries are growing their own.

Where's the customers' money going? To Mexican drug gangs? I don't want to give them money.

Lynne said...

Why aren't any federal agencies talking about inspecting and regulating marijuana crops, if it's going to be a legalized drug?

Shouldn't it be subject to the same safeguards as all other drugs?

I'm confused by this.

Geoff Matthews said...

Tmink,

What happens to the truck driver (or pilot) that tests positive for MJ because of second-hand smoke?

Or the policeman, high school athlete (assuming they still conduct drug tests), nurse or physician?

wv - innibio - results from second-hand MJ

Paddy O said...

Might find this interesting:

"LOS ANGELES -- The city council here is considering a controversial measure that seeks to rein in the estimated 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries that have sprung up locally, most within the last year.

Voters approved an initiative in 1996 to allow seriously ill individuals to use marijuana for medical purposes and a 2003 state law permitted the formation of collectives to distribute marijuana.

But in Los Angeles, store-front marijuana dispensaries proliferated unchecked because the city council never set forth guidelines for how they should operate. Some dispensaries aggressively promote themselves with billboards and neon signs. Others have opened up near schools."

Big Mike said...

I don't understand how the politicians can get away with sin taxes on booze and tobacco, but not balance the state budgets by adding medical marijuana to the list.

Unknown said...

TMink said...

edutcher, alcohol is legal, but I would get fired if I showed up to work tanked or tipsy and I would get a dui if I drive drunk

I see your point, but we both know this will be PC-protected.

WV "holyr" Superior, as, "holyr than thou"

Unknown said...

Yeah, it's really under control in LA, too.

Map of LA Dispensaries

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

And how many dispensaries are run by organized crime? Sure seems like something they'd like.

Original Mike said...

Well, it that's not going to happen, then what's the point?

LouisAntoine said...

If Marijuana was simply legalized, the whole 'medical' part would cease to be an issue.

The problem is America's residual hippie-phobia. There is no good reason not to treat weed like booze... if there is, I haven't heard it. It's just because authorities have a tremendous fear of long-beards and negro jazz musicians pleasuring their blonde daughters.

ricpic said...

Compassion Centers for pity fucks!

Big Mike said...

The problem is America's residual hippie-phobia. There is no good reason not to treat weed like booze

I can think of one -- we don't have a quick and nonintrusive test for being under the influence of THC (or benzoylmethyl ecgonine or opiates, for that matter) despite the fact that individuals who have ingested these drugs can be even more impaired in their automobile driving than a person who has imbibed ethanol.

If we're going to legalize marijuana, we need the equivalent of a breathalyzer for THC. Right now the only way to test for THC is to have the suspect urinate into a cup and have the urine tested at a lab. Not quite suitable for a traffic stop.

LouisAntoine said...

the fact that individuals who have ingested these drugs can be even more impaired in their automobile driving than a person who has imbibed ethanol

any evidence for this?

Unknown said...

Montagne Montaigne said...

The problem is America's residual hippie-phobia.

Good reason for that. The same philosophy is alive in Bambi and SanFran Nan.

There is no good reason not to treat weed like booze... if there is, I haven't heard it.

You can drink without getting drunk. The whole point of MaryJane is to get high.

It's just because authorities have a tremendous fear of long-beards and negro jazz musicians pleasuring their blonde daughters.

Racist! - and Hairist!

jeff said...

Montagne Montaigne:
Because it's almost impossible to drive while using one hand to hold the pringles can and the other to eat the chips. Throw in the "Dude! Have you ever, you know, ever REALLY looked at your feet!" while driving.......now you have one of those drivers ed films from the 60's.

Big Mike said...

any evidence for this?

If reading your posts isn't evidence then I can't imagine what is!

Hey Professor! How about putting up one of those little voting gizmos to see how many people are skeptical of my assertion that illegal drugs can lead to impaired driving?

Monty, my friend, you have given me my laugh for the day. In fact, it's apt to last all the way through Black Friday.

Simon Kenton said...

There have been about 30 applications to open dispensaries in Boulder. The city council is vaporing about what to do about this: let them next to schools? keep them away from schools? if we keep them away from schools, what about the third-graders whose glaucoma has flared up? have you no compassion for exopthalmic 8-year-olds? how many do we need? Yadda. The most solid suggestion is, of course, to tax them. There's also been one fairly dramatic robbery - the joint was apparently fingered by one of the compassionatees, and 4 of his friends took it down, bagging gallons of weed. The Escalade they used for the hiest was too, too easily recognized.

- - - said...

LA showed how naive people can be about the MJ industry, but this doesn't mean we should keep jailing people for simply using something which is PROVEN to be less harmful than alcohol, less addictive than caffeine (by independent studies, hence the AMA’s recent recommendation to have MJ moved from Schedule I to Schedule II).

We should learn from LA’s obvious mistakes, keep the profiteers out of the drug industry (same could go for Big Pharma), and let states and local govs decide how to move forward, if they want to.

And by the way:

Anyone who says that THC is a harmless drug with no potential negative short term effects (some impaired cognitions for most users if vaporized) or long term effects (increased risk of cancer if smoked or potential problems if used while operating machinery or a vehicle) certainly has their head in the clouds; but anyone who thinks that THC is any worse than alcohol when used responsibly (it's actually less harmful) has their head in the sand.

Rob said...

Good grief. What's next, distribution centers for men's short pants?

Bender said...

Where's Eric Cartman and his hippie drill when you need him?

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Cartman is busy making Jeremy eat his parents in the other thread.

careen said...

I say let them have their boom years. It'll sort it self out eventually. It'll eventually consolidate just like any business. Doesn't the city like license revenue? They need it.

Eric said...

If we're going to legalize marijuana, we need the equivalent of a breathalyzer for THC. Right now the only way to test for THC is to have the suspect urinate into a cup and have the urine tested at a lab. Not quite suitable for a traffic stop.

And yet today people get busted for driving under the influence of MJ all the time. How does the situation change if people can buy it legally? Presumably open container laws will apply (open baggie laws?).

kentuckyliz said...

http://marijuanavaporizer.com/

A vaporizer helps reduce tar residues in the lungs. I don't think they should allow people to *smoke* marijuana. you think the Anti-Smoking Nazis would be all over this.

There's already three legal prescription marijuana drugs. Legal in the US since 1985. Medical marijuana is moot.

MJ should never be used for glaucoma or those with ophthalmic disorders. MJ increases intraocular pressure, which is dangerous for people with glaucoma and other eye diseases.

Kytril + Phenergan is a better anti-emetic than MJ. Both are generic and much cheaper than MJ. Let's give them the cheap blue pill.

Oh but they don't make you high.

When we have Obamacare, the gummint won't let you inflict respiratory, brain, and genetic damage upon yourself. Don't kid yourself. They don't want to pay for the consequences.

TMink said...

"What happens to the truck driver (or pilot) that tests positive for MJ because of second-hand smoke?"

Can that indeed happen? Honestly, I always viewed that as a lame excuse used be people who pop a positive.

Edutcher, I certainly hope you are wrong! I would smoke legal pot, but absolutly not before work! Oh my goodness, that would be the last thing I would do! With my ADHD, work is quite interesting enough, I do not need a slowed down noggin to make work harder or keep my patients from getting what they come to me for. Same with alcohol or perscription drugs or whatever. One time I took an over the counter cold remedy that made me groggy and I had to appologize all day long. I do NOT want people stoned at work, starting with me.

I hope that cultural prohibitions would develop once the use is legal. There could be PSA's done by famous potheads. Snoop Dog could do the first one. "Don't be all stizzled at work. Wait till you get home to the crib my nizzles"

Trey

TMink said...

Big Mike, you are exactly right about there needing to be a test for current marijuana intoxication. Stoned driving is obviously impaired driving.

Trey

Aridog said...

John Lynch wrote: " I am for complete legalization, but I don't like this gray-area semi-criminal seediness pot dispensaries have fallen into. "

I think that summarizes my feelings. The quasi legality thing bothers me. Maybe I spent to much inner city time, but when products have names like Purple Urkel or Space Queen I tend to be suspicous of just what is mixed in with the weed. PCP is a popular "seasoning" on the street, as well as a few others even worse. All are "homemade" concoctions as used. It really isn't much of a chore to use a stone mill on some Mexican Hemp shards, add some green food coloring and "seasoning" to make "da bomb" street product for a high price.

I quit Mother Nature years ago (many) for two reasons: 1.) My employer (at the time, the US Army) instituted random drug testing for certain specialties. and 2.)I'd reached the point where I trusted nothing that I did not know who grew it and trusted them. Most of those would share but not give you any to take home.

It is just my opinion, from witnessed catastrophes, but "street weed" is toxic more often than not. Without some controls on the actual source and processing of "medical weed." I'd still have the same reservations. If I ever needed the benefit, I'd much prefer pharmecutical grade product in other than smoked form.

That said...the scene in "Harold & Kumar: Escape from Gitmo" where they toke up with GW is hilarious. Especially the logic the character GW used to justify it all.