[Mars]

I quit a year or so ago, so I'm all for legal but heavily regulated.

[Nuke]

this tread makes me want to smoke a bowl

[Turambar]

this tread makes me want to smoke a bowl

I beat you to it.

[Ford Prefect]

Thing is, I have yet to see a reason that if it were decriminalized it shouldn't be even more heavily regulated then tobacco, but nobody wishing to decriminalize it wants to touch that with a ten-foot pole. So, okay, sure, we'll talk when you're ready to deal with that.

Um, how about we start with the fact that marijuana doesn't contain half of all the carcinogens known to man.

[NGTM-1R]

Um, how about we start with the fact that marijuana doesn't contain half of all the carcinogens known to man.

Wrong answer. The smoke's actually more carcinogenic then cigarette smoke. Try again.

[Mars]

Because most people won't smoke a pack of blunts a day?

Because they won't do this every day

[Ford Prefect]

Wrong answer. The smoke's actually more carcinogenic then cigarette smoke. Try again.

Eh, not according to my understanding. Kindly substantiate.

And Mars is also right. Nobody smokes marijuana the way people smoke cigarettes, because it's not chemically addictive. So even if that suspect claim were worthy of any credence, cigarettes would still pose a greater risk as far as cancer is concerned.

[NGTM-1R]

Eh, not according to my understanding. Kindly substantiate.

To be fair, people actually inhale less (usually) then they do with cigarettes, but there's actually a larger amount of tars in marijuana then there is in the average cigarette (according to various studies that have been waved about here in California over medical marijuana, by as much as twice), and the people who brought you the secondhand smoke troubles will have a field day with that. So they don't need a pack a day to pose the same risk, if not to themselves necessarily.

[highwayman]

Eh, not according to my understanding. Kindly substantiate.

To be fair, people actually inhale less (usually) then they do with cigarettes, but there's actually a larger amount of tars in marijuana then there is in the average cigarette (according to various studies that have been waved about here in California over medical marijuana, by as much as twice), and the people who brought you the secondhand smoke troubles will have a field day with that. So they don't need a pack a day to pose the same risk, if not to themselves necessarily.

Smoking it is definitely not healthy and depending on how much you smoke, it could possibly more harmful to you than cigarrettes over a long period of time. Were it legalized (not just decriminalized, which is quite different), there should be similar laws to cigs/alcohol - over 18/21 to purchase, no smoking in enclosed public spaces (if such laws exist in your locality) and clear warnings to consumers about possible adverse health effects. But as for determining those adverse health effects, far more money and effort need to be devoted to studying short- and long-term effects of marijuana usage - currently there are rather few studies on its effects, partly because the US government has been so determined to keep it illegal and has not been interested in granting exemptions or funding studies. I'd imagine that decriminalizing it would spur more in-depth studies if the goal was eventually to regulate and legalize.

[Scorpius]

Alaska, where I am temporarily living, has the loosest laws on marijuana in the USA. I could possess 1 oz of marijuana with no penalty whatsoever (in my experience that is more than enough).  4 oz is only a misdemeanor with a fine up to 1,000 dollars.  The enforcement agencies in my area don't bother with marijuana because meth is a much bigger problem up here.  Hell, now that I think of it, Ive only seen one police car in the 3 months I've been here.

I am still very puzzled as to why this drug is almost unilaterally considered illegal across the globe? What is so nefarious about weed that it requires the strictest punishment?  Why dont most of the countries around the world ban alcohol as well?  It cannot solely be the dangers of the drug. There must be an explanation more complicated than that...

[Nuke]

do you live in juneau? there's so much weed here i find it rather amusing how some 75% of the populace acts stoned.

[karajorma]

dont make weed legal. then i would probibly do absolutely nothing with my life. besides its no fun when you dont have to dodge cops all day to get a dime.

What if after the cops catch you then you have to smoke whatever you're carrying and then catch them?

[Grizzly]

If anyone wants legilation, do it the right way... We have weed decriminalization in The Netherlands (Which you all probabaly already know), but although selling weed isn't illegal, mass-scale (more then two plants) production is. And that is the only way to get enough amounts of it...

So bassicly, weed is still illegal in NL.

[S-99]

Alaska, where I am temporarily living, has the loosest laws on marijuana in the USA. I could possess 1 oz of marijuana with no penalty whatsoever (in my experience that is more than enough).  4 oz is only a misdemeanor with a fine up to 1,000 dollars.  The enforcement agencies in my area don't bother with marijuana because meth is a much bigger problem up here.  Hell, now that I think of it, Ive only seen one police car in the 3 months I've been here.

I am still very puzzled as to why this drug is almost unilaterally considered illegal across the globe? What is so nefarious about weed that it requires the strictest punishment?  Why dont most of the countries around the world ban alcohol as well?  It cannot solely be the dangers of the drug. There must be an explanation more complicated than that...

Yeah, weed is pretty much legal up here. As long as you keep it at your house. If you're caught transporting it, well then you're a dumbass and no one should ever rely on you for transporting stuff in secret ever again. Other than that, do it at your house, don't do it in public. It surprises me how people get caught smoking weed because they choose many of the worlds worst places to hide and smoke it. Only the smarter people seem to mandate the awesome secluded hidden area in a forest with room for a getaway trail.

I don't smoke weed, but i do have an awesome secluded hidden area in a random forest clearing that's about 25ft diameter walled off by tons of dead trees and logs with two entries, a firepit, and a hidden underground cooler. A totally awesome camp out spot, and the only place where my permafrost cooled secret cooler gets shared with my trusted under age friends.

[Snail]

I don't smoke weed, but i do have an awesome secluded hidden area in a random forest clearing that's about 25ft diameter walled off by tons of dead trees and logs with two entries, a firepit, and a hidden underground cooler. A totally awesome camp out spot, and the only place where my permafrost cooled secret cooler gets shared with my trusted under age friends.

What else do you do in there?

[Mars]

That would be pretty cold

[achtung]

Alaska, where I am temporarily living, has the loosest laws on marijuana in the USA. I could possess 1 oz of marijuana with no penalty whatsoever (in my experience that is more than enough).  4 oz is only a misdemeanor with a fine up to 1,000 dollars.  The enforcement agencies in my area don't bother with marijuana because meth is a much bigger problem up here.  Hell, now that I think of it, Ive only seen one police car in the 3 months I've been here.

I am still very puzzled as to why this drug is almost unilaterally considered illegal across the globe? What is so nefarious about weed that it requires the strictest punishment?  Why dont most of the countries around the world ban alcohol as well?  It cannot solely be the dangers of the drug. There must be an explanation more complicated than that...

Want an explanation?  It's very hard to tax.

Anyone can grow weed in large quantities quite easily with few or no special tools required.  That means most marijuana will be sold by off-the-books dealers and the government won't get its cut.

[MP-Ryan]

Eh, not according to my understanding. Kindly substantiate.

To be fair, people actually inhale less (usually) then they do with cigarettes, but there's actually a larger amount of tars in marijuana then there is in the average cigarette (according to various studies that have been waved about here in California over medical marijuana, by as much as twice), and the people who brought you the secondhand smoke troubles will have a field day with that. So they don't need a pack a day to pose the same risk, if not to themselves necessarily.

Smoking it is definitely not healthy and depending on how much you smoke, it could possibly more harmful to you than cigarrettes over a long period of time. Were it legalized (not just decriminalized, which is quite different), there should be similar laws to cigs/alcohol - over 18/21 to purchase, no smoking in enclosed public spaces (if such laws exist in your locality) and clear warnings to consumers about possible adverse health effects. But as for determining those adverse health effects, far more money and effort need to be devoted to studying short- and long-term effects of marijuana usage - currently there are rather few studies on its effects, partly because the US government has been so determined to keep it illegal and has not been interested in granting exemptions or funding studies. I'd imagine that decriminalizing it would spur more in-depth studies if the goal was eventually to regulate and legalize.

No, the carcinogenic effects of smoke produced by burning cannabis are fairly well known and studied.  Cannabis contains more natural carcinogens than cigarettes even have added to them during processing, and despite the fact that marijuana users tend to smoke less in general, they hold smoke longer and breathe deeper, thus ensuring they are actually at much higher carcinogen exposure levels than your average cigarette user.

In short, like pretty much every other kind of smoke you inhale:

...it's bad for you, mmmkay? =)

[S-99]

Honestly snail, it was a spot me and my friends used to drink at and cook hotdogs. Occasionally a spot where i'd go to sneak a beer or a smoke because of some stress. But, my other friend, if he still did weed at the time, then i know for sure he was smart and smoked back there. The spot is located way far on the back of his property deep in the forest and about a hundred feet away from a neighborhood road. It's within walking distance from my place. It's pretty cool.

I don't use the spot any more for anything unless i need absolute safe storage of something. My friend moved out of his house, so his backyard fence is no longer maintained, so the dogs can get out and go see what that crunching of dead leaves in the forest is and bark at it. His gma still lives there and is a *****.

That would be pretty cold

Actually when we made the underground cooler, we just dug like a 3 foot deep hole with the cooler taking up two feet of the depth and this took place in summer. When we closed the lid to the cooler, we had a foot thick chunk of dense forest ground moss to put on top of it, the chunk of moss was supported by some metal grating with a hidden handle that was like two inches underground when the moss is in place. And loaded it up with beer, we were then going to buy some ice later in the day. We forgot to buy ice, so we just decided to drink the beer. To our amazement it had all nice and cold like a normal refrigerator. That's when our brainfart for the day ended and realized it was due to the permafrost in the ground during summer keeping everything cold.

Having an underground cooler in summer where there's permafrost is really cool.

[highwayman]

No, the carcinogenic effects of smoke produced by burning cannabis are fairly well known and studied.  Cannabis contains more natural carcinogens than cigarettes even have added to them during processing, and despite the fact that marijuana users tend to smoke less in general, they hold smoke longer and breathe deeper, thus ensuring they are actually at much higher carcinogen exposure levels than your average cigarette user.

In short, like pretty much every other kind of smoke you inhale:

...it's bad for you, mmmkay? =)

Well it's somewhat misleading to just say that pot smokers are exposed to more carcinogens without showing the results of that exposure. In fact, while there are indeed more carcinogens, a recent study on long-term effects among the baby boom generation showed that even among the heaviest smokers over a period of decades, there was no increased risk of lung cancer compared to people who smoked less or not at all (see link below).

A total of 611 lung cancer patients living in Los Angeles County, and 601 patients with other cancers of the head and neck were compared with 1,040 people without cancer matched for age, sex, and the neighborhood they lived in.

All the participants were asked about lifetime use of marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol, as well as other drugs, their diets, occupation, family history of lung cancer, and socioeconomic status.

The heaviest marijuana users in the study had smoked more than 22,000 joints, while moderately heavy smokers had smoked between 11,000 and 22,000 joints.

While two-pack-a-day or more cigarette smokers were found to have a 20-fold increase in lung cancer risk, no elevation in risk was seen for even the very heaviest marijuana smokers.

The more tobacco a person smoked, the greater their risk of developing lung cancer and other cancers of the head and neck. But people who smoked more marijuana were not at increased risk compared with people who smoked less and people who didn’t smoke at all.

Here's the full story link (from FoxNews, nonetheless, although I have seen it reported elsewhere by more reputable news sites): http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196678,00.html.

So, yeah, pot smokers are exposed to more carcinogens, but there is clearly a difference between the other substances in pot and in cigarrettes which alter how the body reacts to those carcinogens. Focusing just on the carcinogenic qualities does not tell the whole story.