Alaskans to Vote on Legalizing Marijuana

[seemslikeadream]

Alaskans to Vote on Legalizing Marijuana
Fri Oct 29, 2004 02:26 PM ET

By Yereth Rosen

...

Alaska already allows legal possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults, the most liberal policy among the 50 U.S. states, thanks to a 1975 state Supreme Court ruling.

"Our territory and now state has traditionally been the home of people who prize their individuality and who have chosen to settle or to continue living here in order to achieve a measure of control over their own lifestyles which is now virtually unattainable in many of our sister states," the oft-quoted ruling said.

...

Alaska's initiative is one of three marijuana questions on ballots across the country. In Oregon, voters are being asked to expand allowable medical marijuana use, and voters in Montana will decide whether to become the 10th state to legalize its medical use.

Pro-initiative groups said no opinion polls had been taken on the measure. But if the initiative passes, Alaska's Legislature will be responsible for defining how to regulate marijuana, in the same way the state decides on alcohol restrictions. After the 1975 ruling, the Legislature defined a "small amount" of marijuana as 4 ounces (114 grams).

With financial backing from the Marijuana Policy Project, a group funded partly by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, the initiative group has used television advertisements and mailings to emphasize Alaskans' love for personal freedoms.


more
http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6663411

[pelagius]

1. In the 70s, Alaskan adults...

...could grow up to three plants for personal use. When the Republicans took over, they changed that.

[DeadManInc]

2. Alaska

No wonder it is a republican state, they are too stoned to see what shrub is doing.

[Divine Discontent]

3. CLEVER comment

sounds about right to me!


sorry, pro pot folks. but I know a young man who used it (along with his friends) like it was pop. they became addicts. they got high, drove in their car and permanently injured people, and still use it, and they're not too swift and it's getting them more burnt out appearing all the time. I hope they vote it down, drugs are bad.

I'm sure I'll here from the pro pot people, but hey, I can't blame em, they have their right to voice their love of the stuff.

[maxsolomon]

4. please explain the difference

between driving impaired on a legal substance (alcohol) and and an illegal one (marijuana).

irresponsible use is irresponsible use. legality has shit to do with it.

[seemslikeadream]

7. I see no cleverness in that comment

and you might want to check your facts.

[Zhade]

8. I don't think the poster is interested in facts, SLAD.

I can tell anyone, from personal experience, that he's full of shit.

[seemslikeadream]

12. Medical Marijuana and Driving:

A 2002 review of seven separate studies involving 7,934 drivers reported, "Crash culpability studies have failed to demonstrate that drivers with cannabinoids in the blood are significantly more likely than drug-free drivers to be culpable in road crashes." This result is likely because subject under the influence of marijuana are aware of their impairment and compensate for it accordingly, such as by slowing down and by focusing their attention when they know a response will be required. This reaction is just the opposite of that exhibited by drivers under the influence of alcohol, who tend to drive in a more risky manner proportional to their intoxication.
http://www.americanmarijuana.org/


Marijuana and Driving: A Review of the Scientific Evidence

It is well established that alcohol increases accident risk. Evidence of marijuana’s culpability in on-road driving accidents is much less convincing.

Although cannabis intoxication has been shown to mildly impair psychomotor skills, this impairment does not appear to be severe or long lasting. In driving simulator tests, this impairment is typically manifested by subjects decreasing their driving speed and requiring greater time to respond to emergency situations.

Nevertheless, this impairment does not appear to play a significant role in on-road traffic accidents. A 2002 review of seven separate studies involving 7,934 drivers reported, “Crash culpability studies have failed to demonstrate that drivers with cannabinoids in the blood are significantly more likely than drug-free drivers to be culpable in road crashes.” This result is likely because subject under the influence of marijuana are aware of their impairment and compensate for it accordingly, such as by slowing down and by focusing their attention when they know a response will be required. This reaction is just the opposite of that exhibited by drivers under the influence of alcohol, who tend to drive in a more risky manner proportional to their intoxication.

Today, a large body of research exists exploring the impact of marijuana on psychomotor skills and actual driving performance. This research consists of driving simulator studies, on-road performance studies, crash culpability studies, and summary reviews of the existing evidence. To date, the result of this research is fairly consistent: Marijuana has a measurable yet relatively mild effect on psychomotor skills, yet it does not appear to play a significant role in vehicle crashes, particularly when compared to alcohol. Below is a summary of some of the existing data.

(For more information on NORML’s position regarding marijuana, driving and the law, please click here or visit NORML’s Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use.)
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5450

[arcos]

30. Thank you for posting this...

Empírical evidence and my own personal experience suggested this, but I had never seen any study about it.

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

13. Malarkey!

That kids got other things causing what you're describing. Pot probably keeps him from being worse than you already see him. You pot haters are as illogical as Bush lovers.

[kwyjibo]

18. drugs are bad, mmkay

There's a book out called Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser.. it's mostly about the black market, but there's an essay on marijuana. It's pretty interesting, especially the facts about people in prison for harmless marijuana crimes. I suggest you read it, or something like it (there are tons of books on the subject that would definitely educate you), so you'll have something more substantial to say than "drugs are bad" the next time the topic comes up.

[GeorgeBushytail]

25. Both Kerry and Edwards have used marijuana

How would their lives be better if they had spent time in jail for using it.

Prohibition didn't work with alcohol, either.

[NickB79]

28. Whats the difference between drunk drivers and stoned drivers?

A drunk driver will drive right through a stop sign; a stoned driver will wait for it to turn green :-) I love that joke, but it does make a good point. Most drunks I have been around gain a feeling of invincibility, making them major hazards on the road, while most pot users I've been around become paranoid about everything. I have much less fear of being hit by a stoned driver than I do a drunk driver, and see no reason to alter that perception.

[LivingInTheBubble]

35. Cannabis is not addictive.

[maxsolomon]

5. hey alaska, make sure

you up the penalties for growing & distribution, like in BC.

you can have it, but you can't grow it or sell it, right?

[Zhade]

6. GO ALASKA! Shake off this bullshit Prohibition!

Free Nature's gift from the shackles of governmental tyranny!

[harpo]

22. hear hear!!!

:smoke:

[VegasWolf]

9. Unfortunately, the Medical Marijuana fell off the ballot here

in Nevada due to a technicality. We still have to drive
back to CA so that my wife can get it for her glaucoma.
She has already lost one eye to glaucoma and will
do anything to keep the other one. Her eye pressure drops
dramatically when she smokes it.

This worthless drug war has to end.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[Gyre]

10. Man, that's gonna really cut into the Jack Daniel's profits.

Can't have that! Hee hee.

Gyre

[GeorgeBushytail]

11. I am a medical marijuana patient

I use it to control my seizures and deal with Thalamic Pain Syndrome. I have a legal authorization to use it in Washington State from my neurologist.

When I drive across the country I feel like a refugee. I cross the Washington border into Idaho and the medical pot I need is now illegal. Friends of mine have suffered because of Bush's persecution of patient grow co-ops.

John Kerry has promised to stop the DEA raids on med mj co-ops. A small step toward sanity.

[Divine Discontent]

14. the facts? sure I like talking facts. I've used it, except for medicinal

uses, it needs to stay in the ground. I am all for someone who's physically ill getting doses of this or other drugs to alleviate their horrible pain. It's, if anything a drug for specific medical problems, God's gift is the ability to resist this drug if you don't have a real need.

Q: Does marijuana lead to the use of other drugs?
A: Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana (7). For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs.

To better determine this risk, scientists are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. Further research is needed to predict who will be at greatest risk.


Q: How can you tell if someone has been using marijuana?
A: If someone is high on marijuana, he or she might

seem dizzy and have trouble walking;
seem silly and giggly for no reason;
have very red, bloodshot eyes; and
have a hard time remembering things that just happened.

They also have a hard time making rational decisions. Of course, they think they are on top of their game, could run a marathon and beat everyone, drive a car better than Junior, BLAH BLAH BLAH, it's a drug, it distorts perceptions and I can only hope it stays illegal. I've seen it destroy my best friends life, and all he did was marijuana (no others, or alcohol), eventually to the point of 3 or 4 times a day, because he became addicted to the high. And who said I approved of hard liquor? Poor argument, it's a legal drug that causes horrible deaths every hour around the world. Humans are weak, we all have that within us, we must conquer these addictions. My Father is an alcoholic, but he conquered it. I believe a person can conquer any addiction they want over time.

Most people I've known who smoked pot gave it up (over a dozen) after they grew up emotionally after several attempts to break the bondage of it's hold, just like my friends and family who quit smoking cigs & drinking. Of course, I know older folks who use it in their 50's, and they sure look like it & they say it helps them relax. I suggest a favorite food or a glass of wine, or even music, whatever else besides a drug that'll do it. But all these pot users I use to hang out with treat it like it's gold and fight over it, because - as I said, they're addicted. Smoke it if you got it? Doesn't sound like an addictive comment at all!

[seemslikeadream]

15. GAFFLED

Player hater, sholda tha show

Step off

[Divine Discontent]

16. and most importantly....

just like cigarettes -

Marijuana contains some of the same cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke, and at higher levels.

So, hey, just like an old man I saw who ignored the chems in cigs and was having surgery at the hospital because of cancer for it, he wishes he didn't smoke, but sadly, he got addicted.

you have your reasons you think it's fine, I have mine that are scientifically based and have seen from many occassions, I doubt my views aren't anything you haven't heard, but I really hope you'll consider finding a better alternative.

:) Go Kerry!

[NickB79]

27. A little math quiz on marijuana smoking vs. tobacco smoking

The last commercial I saw that used the "marijuana is more hazardous than cigarettes" line stated that one joint has as much carcinogenic material as four cigarettes. I can't speak for it's veracity, but I'll accept their statement as fact for now. Most smokers I know go through ~1-1.5 packs a day, or 20-30 cigarettes daily. That means a marijuana user would have to smoke 5-8 joints PER DAY to equal the amount of carcinogenic material an average smoker takes in in one day. I have met a few people who smoke a joint in the morning and at night, but 5-8 of them daily? The comparison between marijuana and tobacco for what can cause more risk of cancer is absolutely ridiculous.

BTW, since I've just shown that the average cigarette smoker gets far more carcinogens than the average pot smoker, when do you propose we make tobacco illegal? Or, for that matter, alcohol, considering all the drunk driving deaths that occur annually from that?

[Champ]

19. Ah you used the gateway theory

Marijuana is the most popular drug in the US so it's reasonable to expect most hard drug users to have used marijuana. But the facts most marijuana users do not use hard drugs and heroin and cocaine drug use went down when amsterdam decriminilized marijuana.
I'm sorry about your friends but I know over half a hundred people who work a job, raise kids, pay their bills on time, and have a little weed on the side. Instead we have people with no prior criminal records getting locked up, fined, and probation for small possession and paraphenelia. Also if it was legal people would get it at the store instead of possibly giving a criminal money for marijuana. several attempts to break the bondage of it's hold According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, out of all the people who tried it, very few still use it. Trust me, the far majority of users out there are not destructive users but yet we as a society punish them as criminals.

[hippywife]

32. Not to mention the fact

the gateway is really one of opportunity, not addiction. Because it's illegal, many times it's the criminal element who control it's mass distribution. The criminal element is also responsible for the distribution of harder drugs. They already have an open market chain so why not introduce their customers to the other products in their line? Legalize it and take it out of the hands of the criminal element, and the gateway of opportunity disappears.

[jmowreader]

34. This may be another of those urban legends...

but supposedly unscrupulous dealers will take ditch weed, mix it with another drug (PCP is one of the most commonly cited adulterants) then sell it as some sort of superweed. Naturally, the people who smoke this superweed will do shit people smoking pure marijuana wouldn't do.

What PCP will do: My brother-in-law is a cop, has been one for years. He told me of a PCP user he and another officer tried to take in. They first emptied two cans of Mace on him--no effect. His partner then emptied a 9mm pistol into him--little effect. My BIL finally dropped him with the contents of a .45. PCP users are like bears--you can put a lot of lead into one before it does anything to him.

If you could go to a store and buy marijuana, you'd get pure marijuana of reliable quality, not ditch weed with PCP on it. You'd also get marijuana from a dealer who was interested in selling marijuana, not one who was interested in selling cocaine or heroin but who carries marijuana as a convenience to his customers.

I don't think the "the liquor companies are against it" or the "the cigarette companies are against it" line really works, either. The liquor companies are into Fulfilling a Need, as are the cigarette companies. Look at the coolers market: when flavored-beer coolers really started to take off, the liquor companies got into cooler products too. I know about Smirnoff Ice, Jim Beam & Coke, Bacardi Breezers. There are probably others--probably some tequila-based products, at least. If pot is legalized for domestic recreational sale, the first company out the door with a marijuana product will be either Altria Group or Seagram's. (And I'd bet on Altria Group if I had to choose one--the form factor of marijuana is closer to that of tobacco than alcohol.)

Two reasons still exist for pot to be illegal. One I've discussed--the inability to make a chemical test for marijuana intoxication. Alcohol's easy--if there's alcohol in your system and it's above a certain point, we know you're fucked up because alcohol leaves your system as it's metabolized. Pot is fat soluble and leaches out of your body over a period of days after you use it. You'd need some sort of test that's infallible and that doesn't rely on cannabinoid detection to judge intoxication. The other is the Cross Vote--the bloc of voters who don't care how many people Dubya gets killed so long as he says he's a Christian. The Cross Vote thinks pot is unspeakable evil and will vote against anyone who supports it, and since no one can afford to piss off the Cross Vote pot remains illegal. (The answer would be to round up all of the preachers and keep 'em stoned for about a month so they see that you don't instantly grow horns after your first hit.)

[shanti]

20. give it up

you won't find much support for your "theories" here.

[shanti]

21. have a glass of wine instead?

you are full of shit. tell that to all the people who have died from alcohol or as the result of alcohol! :grr:

you CANNOT become physically addicted to weed.

[Squatch]

23. No, God's gift is free choice

Choice to experience as much or as little of life as you want.

[Gyre]

24. Pot doesn't do shit

to ya except make you more laid-back and tolerant of what's normally intolerable. If anybody's a proponent of the "gateway" theory and claims to have smoked weed, they're either a liar or an "outlier" whose experience is more uncommon than common.

I've seen plenty of people die from livers failing from chronic alcoholism but nobody from chronic use of marijuana. Go figure a bias against pot unless from a self-rightous bible-whacker, or a shill for corporate America that hates pot because you can't effectively tax it because anybody can grow it.

You suggest "food or a glass of wine","to relax" instead of marijuana . Guess what? Wine is "a drug" too! It contains ethyl alcohol. "Smoke it if you got it" is a direct reference to cigarettes from pre-sixties. Not marijuana. Your evidence is shit, and inferences drawn from that evidence is exactly the same substance.

Sorry you're so ignorant on a subject that you imply you're an expert in. Your particular disease is all too common these days. Perhaps you could pose as an expert in scatology next time.

Gyre

[Lost4words]

31. Nah, dallan has it wrong.

I cant stand drunks, there dangerous and irresponsible. Here in NM every 20th +/- car has a fricking drunk behind the wheel. Some people have a dozen DWI's and still drive in this nutty state and eventually they kill innocents.

I'll go with smokers any day.

Maybe your young friends had other problems. You can never look at one activity and make vast global determinations about the reasons for that activity.

But as you age you will understand these things, I hope you watch out for the drunks for they are your biggest danger on road or on foot.

[Speed8098]

33. You are sooooo misinformed

Let me start by telling you that I am a family man. I earn a decent living in sales. I'm a homeowner who is active in my community. I have many friends whom I respect, and they respect me.
I have friends who are policemen, firefighters, and politicians. We have spirited conversations about just about anything. We go to dinner together, our children play together.

And I'm a 30 year pot smoker.

:nuke:

[LivingInTheBubble]

36. Fallacious arguments from a troll.

Q: Does coffee lead to the use of other drugs?
A: Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying coffee

Cigarettes are very much more addictive.

I think you are addicted to God.

God addicts are responsible for millions of deaths the world over, take care and take each day at a time i'm sure you can beat this thing.

[Jack_DeLeon]

17. I hope it passes...

the laws against marijuana are bullshit and completely unconstitutional.

[Kenergy]

26. Thank you George Soros!

You've supported us in many ways and I thank you.

Ken

[truthisfreedom]

29. i don't smoke it anymore, but vote pot, baby. it keeps you at home and

safe. nobody likes to drive crazy stoned, but look out for any drunk driver. and nobody ever likes to pick up a gun when they're stoned. they're full of love and slightly confused. woohoo! 8^) i wish i could go back there, but man, i have so many irons in the fire!