Skeptic Project

lol suckers

The day "liberty and freedom" retake the House, "liberty and freedom" is voted down.

Yeah, the potheads on Twitter were apopletic last night over this. One guy went on a total homophobic rant, screeching that California is a land of crazies and idiots because they "love fags" and "hate freedom" (meaning pot), and because they elected Schwarzenegger.

I don't care much about pot for its own sake one way or the other, but I'm always annoyed by pro-pot activists who make like it's the biggest political issue in the country and will stomp around marching for pot rights when they don't give a shit about real issues. I love to seem them rage, so I got a grin when 19 went down last night.

The pot vs. alcohol analogy doesn't work for me.

I drink alcohol because I love wine and beer. Both are an art form and you can appreciate their taste, artistry and the way they complement food. Cocktails are also an art form. Nothing beats a good martini. The alcohol is secondary. There are lots of people who drink just to get drunk, but that's really not the point of alcoholic beverages.

The point of pot, on the other hand, is to get high. The intoxicating effects are the main thing. Sure, there's variation, "Maui Gold" might be different than "Jamaica Red," but all the differences are based on the intoxicating effect. There's no other point.

When I tell this to pot advocates they scratch their heads and go "Huh?" Then they usually accuse me of sympathizing with The Man and being brainwashed by stuff like Reefer Madness and C. Everett Koop. Not too different than CTs, really.

I'm not sure about that point either Muertos. As an ex-heavy weed smoker, me and most of my mates would put a lot of emphasis on the particular taste qualities of different types of gear...of course regardless of taste, if there was no intoxitating effect we wouldn't buy a certain type of weed again...but isn't that also the case for booze?? If you got offered a bottle of the most beautiful whisky, would you really buy it if it didn't get you tipsy?

Plus, even if you have only one beer, or glass of wine, or whisky, there is a subtle physiological reaction because of the alcohol that you cannot completely seperate from the other qualities of that drink.

I mistakenly bought a bottle of low alcohol white wine. It tasted very pleasant, but before knowing that it was reduced alcohol I definately noticed that it lacked something in its quality.

I absolutely loathe far lefties and libertardians who make pot the sole deciding factor for their political and social views. I want to punch them all in the face.

Booze tastes like shit and getting a buzz is why most people drink it. I don't buy Muertos' wine sipping while wearing monocles and top hats stuff.

goddammit. i just wanted prop 19 to pass so that we'd probably get labeling on our buds which indicate which type of high you get, rather than going through a dealer who has no idea about the levels of THC vs CBD in it.

Also, so that less people would be going to jail for it.

Also, for a big source of revenue for the state.

Also, because it's much less dangerous than alcohol, so wtf??

Yeah, sideways was an awesome movie, and by awesome I mean "quite enjoyable in a mature kind of way"

I didn't know about it until election day, but neither vote would have surprised me. They don't let gaymos marry, why would they allow anything else?

GODDAMNIT ED YOU TROLL

Its pretty obvious to me that alcohol does more harm to society than cannabis, even though I believe cannabis can have a more negative personal effect more QUICKLY than alcohol will, thats small potatoes really when you consider the harm alcohol does. I dont really see any good reason to have one be legal and one not, I think cannabis to be illegal is what is causing 90% of what people consider the harm of it.

This brings me onto prostitution, which should also be legal because...

I don't care if pot is legal. I don't care if it's illegal. I see good arguments either way. But like Matt, what does bug me is people who think it's this huge civil liberties issue. It isn't. It's pretty irrelevant. All these kids moaning that Prop 19 failed, big deal, get over it. It's just pot, it's not like it's anything important.

I think it's bad in general to give government the power to decide whether meaningless things like pot can be made illegal or not, but for an actual political decision - meh.

Well, yes, I would take alcohol prohibition more seriously than pot prohibition, but not because it's "my vice." Alcohol occupies a cultural and economic position in society that is not comparable in any way to pot. We know for a fact what the effects of alcohol prohibition are because we tried that: it made a huge difference and not for the better. We also know for a fact what the effects of pot legalization are because pot was legal in post places until the 1930s: it makes very little difference.

I don't smoke but I would strongly oppose the prohibition of cigarettes. Tobacco has a particular cultural and economic position that would make prohibition of it a disaster. It depends on what you're trying to ban and why. The moral arguments for banning substance X or Y don't make much difference to me. I think heavy pot use does make people stupid, but that's not why it wouldn't bother me if pot remains illegal. Alcohol does make some people violent and abusive, but that alone isn't a reason to make it illegal.

We shouldn't make alcohol illegal, we SHOULD make pot legal. I just dont see any reason to have one legal and not the other. edit: especially considering how much more damaging to society alcohol is.

Everyone's focusing on the harm to society. Yes, alcohol is harmful to society. Pot probably is too but obviously to a far lesser degree, or maybe it's not harmful at all. But you have to take into consideration not only the harm to society, but the benefit as well.

What are the benefits of alcohol to society? Huge, if you measure in economic terms--booze has been big business since human civilization began. Also huge in cultural terms. A huge number of social rituals involve or revolve around alcohol use. Yes, it has a tremendous cost, but the cost of banning it is also huge, as we know from the Prohibition era.

What are the benefits of pot to society? Marginal, in my view. Potheads are happy when they're high. OK, that's a benefit. Cheech and Chong, Jay and Silent Bob and High Times magazine. That's about it.

Many of you are assuming that the only reason substance X is legal when substance Y is not is because someone thinks substance X must do less damage than substance Y does. In reality the analysis is totally different. Substance X is probably legal, despite doing more damage, because its benefits are far greater. Substance Y does little damage but brings little benefit either, so it doesn't really matter whether it's legal or not.

Because brown people used it.