Free the weed, dope, cannabis, hooch, Fri 4 Feb, outside Auckland District Courts

[ducatilover]

It'll take me a while too. I'm soooo stoned right now.

Got any decent munchies?

[Usarka]

Got any decent munchies?

Bag of doritos!

[Banditbandit]

Bag of doritos!

Shit maaan .. yer spellinks pretty damm hot for an out of it stoner ...

[ducatilover]

I could do some doritos. Who needs weed when you're high on being fuckin' awesome?

[mashman]

I just want to know, if it is to be legalised, how is it going to be distributed and what positive effects will it have on society? I'd like to hear from users and non users too. Not just users because that's biased, just like me saying cigarettes and motorbikes should stay legal.

It'll save money and generate money at the same time, through saving Police time and effort chasing down cannabis growers, court time by not having prosecute anyone growing the stuff, jail costs by having less inmates etc... Where "criminals" can sell weed tax free to fund whatever, they could become the producers and earn an "honest" living. Then there's the Tourism revenues. There are likely all sorts of other benefits... and if it makes life better for you guys... I'm more than happy to smoke myself into a vegetative state to fund your charitable contribution breaks

The legal highs already generate billions in revenue (global according to the news)... what's the problem with cannabis? a product that does exactly the same thing?

A few positives???

[ducatilover]

It'll save money and generate money at the same time, through saving Police time and effort chasing down cannabis growers, court time by not having prosecute anyone growing the stuff, jail costs by having less inmates etc... Where "criminals" can sell weed tax free to fund whatever, they could become the producers and earn an "honest" living. Then there's the Tourism revenues. There are likely all sorts of other benefits... and if it makes life better for you guys... I'm more than happy to smoke myself into a vegetative state to fund your charitable contribution breaks

The legal highs already generate billions in revenue (global according to the news)... what's the problem with cannabis? a product that does exactly the same thing?

A few positives???

Well put and some good points.
From an economic point of view it could well be made to profit the gubbermint.
Another interesting thing to bring up is some of these legal highs that I could go purchase in town are going to be worse for me that marijuana (disregarding the genetic predisposition to be raped by it mentally)

[scumdog]

We've got alcohol and tobacco - and both are trouble, ban them.

So why legalise some other potentially troublesome product too?

Oh, and while pot allegedly makes people behave in a more more benign manner than alcohol does, in my experience a shitload of stoners are also piss-heads - and of a disposition that has a propensity to cause trouble.

[mashman]

Well put and some good points.
From an economic point of view it could well be made to profit the gubbermint.
Another interesting thing to bring up is some of these legal highs that I could go purchase in town are going to be worse for me that marijuana (disregarding the genetic predisposition to be raped by it mentally)

They're bright people? Where's the problem? it'll keep the legal high revenues from leaving NZ too... might even come with one of them Made in NZ stickers

True... their was the recent problem with legal highs containing bad bad ingredients. You could argue that the same could be done with cannabis. Although I'd hope that govt "controls" would prevent that from happening... meh...

We've got alcohol and tobacco - and both are trouble, ban them.

So why legalise some other potentially troublesome product too?

Oh, and while pot allegedly makes people behave in a more more benign manner than alcohol does, in my experience a shitload of stoners are also piss-heads - and of a disposition that has a propensity to cause trouble.

heh... we've got nuclear weapons, war and famine... can we ban them too? (not self inflicted)



As scissorhands put it earlier. There are plenty of "fuckwits" out there that aren't "drugged" up? "Drugs" amplify it? The results of making cannabis legal in NZ cannot be determined. Best guesses the lot of 'em (mine included ). Cannabis is already out there and has been used for millenia... why not suck it and see and make a few $$$ along the way? As mentioned by another, education will go a long way towards "helping".

[Banditbandit]

I am not in favour of legalizing the sale of cannabis ...

I am in favour of legalizing the growth and possession ... if people could grow a smal number of plants for their own use the illegal trade would dry up .. and the crims would lose a source of income ... and the petty crime associated with people trying to get money to purchase cannabis on the black market would also drop away ...

Legalize growth and possession but keep the sale of it illegal.

[bogan]

It'll save money and generate money at the same time, through saving Police time and effort chasing down cannabis growers, court time by not having prosecute anyone growing the stuff, jail costs by having less inmates etc... Where "criminals" can sell weed tax free to fund whatever, they could become the producers and earn an "honest" living. Then there's the Tourism revenues. There are likely all sorts of other benefits... and if it makes life better for you guys... I'm more than happy to smoke myself into a vegetative state to fund your charitable contribution breaks

The legal highs already generate billions in revenue (global according to the news)... what's the problem with cannabis? a product that does exactly the same thing?

A few positives???

Police would still need to chase down unregistered/untaxed growers, otherwise what would stop people from doing that? More investigation would be needed in many cases as now it's easy to tell who's doing illegal shit, but if some is legal and some is not, it gets a bit more difficult.

This article actually has some well thought out arguments.

We've got alcohol and tobacco - and both are trouble, ban them.

So why legalise some other potentially troublesome product too?

Exactly, each argument for/against the substances should stand on it's own merits/detriments. Just because some things are as bad or worse in some aspects, it doesn't mean everything that is 'better' should be legalised!

[mashman]

I am not in favour of legalizing the sale of cannabis ...

I am in favour of legalizing the growth and possession ... if people could grow a smal number of plants for their own use the illegal trade would dry up .. and the crims would lose a source of income ... and the petty crime associated with people trying to get money to purchase cannabis on the black market would also drop away ...

Legalize growth and possession but keep the sale of it illegal.

To be honest that was my first point of call too, just decriminalising it... However, on reflection I can't see that working as such. The crims would lose a source of income and that would need to be replaced in other ways... a definate downside, be it b+e, DPB, selling other stuff etc... I'd rather they earned an honest living supplying the govt, than earned a living in dishonest ways and claiming "poverty" assistance through the govt.

Police would still need to chase down unregistered/untaxed growers, otherwise what would stop people from doing that? More investigation would be needed in many cases as now it's easy to tell who's doing illegal shit, but if some is legal and some is not, it gets a bit more difficult.

Why would they need to chase down the unregistered growers? Why not just leave them to it... nothing wrong with healthy competition in a legal marketplace... best you could get them for is tax evasion? (will go read yer document )

[mashman]

This article actually has some well thought out arguments.

Typical denier ... he's not a KB member is he . As I said earlier, there are no cold hard facts about what will happen in NZ if Cannabis were legalised. Shame that the will isn't there to try it IF there are potential economic and social advantages.

Let's face it. If it was our sanity "they" were trying to protect, Kronic et al would not be on the market... along with no alcohol or other chemicals (headache pills etc...) that haven't been studied for, and have results for 20+ years...

[bogan]

Why would they need to chase down the unregistered growers? Why not just leave them to it... nothing wrong with healthy competition in a legal marketplace... best you could get them for is tax evasion? (will go read yer document )

I was assuming there would be some regulations etc that growers have to adhere too, on top of the tax evasion.

Typical denier ... he's not a KB member is he . As I said earlier, there are no cold hard facts about what will happen in NZ if Cannabis were legalised. Shame that the will isn't there to try it IF there are potential economic and social advantages.

Let's face it. If it was our sanity "they" were trying to protect, Kronic et al would not be on the market... along with no alcohol or other chemicals (headache pills etc...) that haven't been studied for, and have results for 20+ years...

So if there are no cold hard facts, all you have for legalising it, is that you want to get high and not be worried about the cops?

Maybe other things should be banned, maybe not, either way they have very little bearing on the reasons for/against weed.

[ducatilover]

I am not in favour of legalizing the sale of cannabis ...

I am in favour of legalizing the growth and possession ... if people could grow a smal number of plants for their own use the illegal trade would dry up .. and the crims would lose a source of income ... and the petty crime associated with people trying to get money to purchase cannabis on the black market would also drop away ...

Legalize growth and possession but keep the sale of it illegal.

The problem with the crims losing money and customers could be quite large. Where will they go to make money?
The price of pot will rise because no-one wants to make less money, more people will grow their own, then the sellers are left in a "shit" position from an economic view and may turn to other things to make the money....
If anyone really gave a shit about getting proper information on this debate they'd go read this: http://www.amazon.com/Science-Mariju.../dp/0195131231

I am happy to listen to any argument and can understand the one where someone wants to get legally high...
That Kronic drug is not god at all, there (as far as I have read) are risks of neurotoxicity involved.

At the end of the day it will come down to the Govt. deciding if legal cannabis is economically viable.

[mashman]

I was assuming there would be some regulations etc that growers have to adhere too, on top of the tax evasion.

Are there any in place at the moment? By all means put some form of regulatory committee in place, I care not. They've only just started to think about this in terms of the legal highs... perhaps they could tag on one more .

So if there are no cold hard facts, all you have for legalising it, is that you want to get high and not be worried about the cops?

Maybe other things should be banned, maybe not, either way they have very little bearing on the reasons for/against weed.

Shouldn't that have been in quotes . and Nope... that's what the legal highs are for .

If the only reason to keep weed illegal is because it causes mental problems, then you're right, you should ban just about everything that changes the chemical balance of the brain... including them Mad Cows and Jacob. In which case I'd say there are definately crossovers between cannabis and coffee etc...