Question: Newspaper questions if the Gators have a weed problem

[dWarriors88]

Well, since it impairs you I'm sure there have been plenty of traffic fatalities that were the result of smoking weed.

That's one of the biggest problems officials from state governments are having. There's no test that police can perform at a traffic stop, like they can for Alcohol, using BAC (yet). But if you get behind the wheel of a vehicle under the influence of anything, be it marijuana, alcohol, or pain killers, you are endangering not just your life by the lives of others.

However, there has been no direct link between marijuana use and death, or serious disease. Outside the fact that smoke can still cause cancer, which there is a way to get around that by eating or 'vaporizing'(not quite sure what that is, but have heard from some guys at school about it). I'm pretty sure you can drink your self to death, but you can only smoke yourself to sleep.

 

[dWarriors88]

Well, like most threads about MJ, this thread has drifted far from football...

It is officially a hot button issue, and people are starting to talk about it more.

 

[cbi1972]

It is officially a hot button issue, and people are starting to talk about it more.

Not in the football forum

 

[briancm]

the law is full of stupid rules.

Too many laws, period.

 

[uafan4life]

it's against the law. that's all that needs to be said.

the law is full of stupid rules.

Just because you think a law is stupid, even if it is empirically stupid, that does not give you the right to circumvent that law. If you want a law changed, there are ways to change those laws.

And, for the record, I'm on the legalize marijuana bandwagon. Also, for the record, I've never done any illegal drugs.

 

[uafan4life]

Well, since it impairs you I'm sure there have been plenty of traffic fatalities that were the result of smoking weed.

And that makes it worse than alcohol, how?

 

[uafan4life]

EXACTLY. It never fails, anytime a thread comes up about someone getting busted for smoking pot, having it in their possession or selling it, we get the stoners in our ranks who roll out "studies" from obscure medical sources that extol the virtues of smoking pot, how drugs are really good for you, how they've performed cardio vascular surgery while high as a kite, scored a perfect score on the ACT while stoned, etc.

On the face of it, it would make sense to legalize the stuff. My problem with that is when you do that, when people's lives get out of control and their lives become a never ending train wreck, many of them are going to want the government to get their lives back together for them and there will no doubt be some "compassionate" politicians who will be more than happy to spend billions on a new "program" to assist them which of course will never end. Scoff if you will but there are millions of Americans out there who would like the government to take care of them from womb to tomb. As long as they have subsidized housing, cable TV with HBO and a cell phone, they're fat, lazy and happy with ZERO desire to ever leave that lifestyle.

Again, how does this make it any worse than alcohol?

 

[gmart74]

look i hate hippies and tokers tend to irritate the hell out of me for various reasons. all im saying is that the laws on the books for weed are utterly stupid. so i would hope that an intelligent cop wouldnt waste his time booking the idiot smoker on the corner and instead put his time to good use finding the rapist or murderer down the street. quite frankly im much more concerned about bankers stealing billions of dollars rather than some burnout smoking some leaf in his living room.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

My roommate in college smoked pot about every day. I could tell anytime he was high and it appeared to me it impaired his judgement. I have no issue of legalizing it and taxing the absolute crap of it. But its just another thing for someone to misuse and get behind the wheel of a vehicle and kill somebody. I understand there are more alcohol related car accidents than pot related but that's probably because alcohol isn't illegal and pot is. Legalize pot and I'd imagine those numbers would begin to quickly even out.

From a revenue generating standpoint we could more than likely balance the budget within ten years by legalizing and taxing it.

 

[uafan4life]

My roommate in college smoked pot about every day. I could tell anytime he was high and it appeared to me it impaired his judgement. I have no issue of legalizing it and taxing the absolute crap of it. But its just another thing for someone to misuse and get behind the wheel of a vehicle and kill somebody. I understand there are more alcohol related car accidents than pot related but that's probably because alcohol isn't illegal and pot is. Legalize pot and I'd imagine those numbers would begin to quickly even out.

From a revenue generating standpoint we could more than likely balance the budget within ten years by legalizing and taxing it.

I've heard that argument a lot, and I understand it. However, the effects of marijuana - just like alcohol - vary from person to person. But if you are going to make that argument as an indictment of marijuana, are you not equally indicting alcohol? If so, why should one be legal while the other is illegal?

I have yet to hear even a decent argument in support of the banning of marijuana.

On the average it impairs a person less than alcohol, e.g. smoking for two hours versus drinking for two hours. It has much, much, much fewer health risks, especially secondhand, than smoking tobacco. Yet those two are illegal. It is no more psychotropic for the average person than any number of prescription medications that people are allowed to use and even drive after taking.

Smoking marijuana doesn't make you any greater of a risk to yourself or others, depending on the situation, than alcohol, tobacco, or a plethora of legally taken prescription drugs.

You can't say that for heroin, cocaine, or meth. That's why those are illegal. And those reasons were used when marijauna was first banned. Some of the supposed side-effects of marijuana were, and I quote: "loose morals and murderous fits of rage." Of course, those side-effects were listed in public information ads which were funded by, wait for it, the tobacco industry.

 

[gmart74]

back to the football aspect of it- in high school we had a couple gunners on the kickoff team that would show up for games completely stupified. they would then absolutely kill whoever they hit on kickoffs. so it kinda was a performance enhancing drug for them. i wonder if these athletes are using it to get high for games or just using it during the week.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I've heard that argument a lot, and I understand it. However, the effects of marijuana - just like alcohol - vary from person to person. But if you are going to make that argument as an indictment of marijuana, are you not equally indicting alcohol? If so, why should one be legal while the other is illegal?

I'm not saying one is worse than the other. I'm just saying it would be one more substance out there that is readily available and easy to get for someone to abuse, get behind the wheel of a vehicle and kill somebody. But I have no doubt in my mind that, like alcohol, pot impairs judgement. And just like alcohol, a person doesn't have to be slobbering drunk or stoned completely out of their mind for it to impair judgement enough to eff-up in a vehicle and kill somebody. My pot head roomate didn't drink. Didn't like the hang-over feeling so he didn't drink. So he wasn't one of those that would be the kind to get drunk, get behind the wheel and kill somebody. But legalizing pot he'd now be one of those to worry about. I wonder how many "new risks" would enter the "market" so to speak by legalizing pot? Those like my roomate who didn't drink but did pot?

Considering how many lives alcohol related auto accidents and fatalities cause each year. Do we really want to legalize another substance that would almost guarantee an increase of auto accidents and fatalities? I'm not advocating that it is "right" to legalize alcohol and "wrong" legalize pot due to the type of substance. But simply presenting the question do we want to put another substance readily available at the hands of the public that could add to the existing problem of alcohol related deaths regarding automobile accidents? Because I'd can guarantee you it would.

 

[Bodhisattva]

How much of your money do you want to spend to keep someone else from smoking pot and punishing them if they do? I'd prefer to spend nothing.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

How much of your money do you want to spend to keep someone else from smoking pot and punishing them if they do? I'd prefer to spend nothing.

I guess its all relative. Ask the mother who gets the phone call that her 17 year old daughter has been killed by a driver that was driving impaired and ran a stop sign or a traffic light and killed her. My dad woke up one morning and found my neighbor's son's Mazda 626 parked in the middle of their front yard facing their house about 30 feet from the where the living room was.

When my dad knocked on their door the next morning to tell them their "drunk son" parked his car in his front yard he said "My son doesn't drink." In which the father was absolutely right and was absolutely right that his son wasn't drinking the night before. But what he didn't know was that his son's front left blue jean pocket had pot in it and when they walked over to my parents yard and opened the vehicle the inside of his vehicle smelled like Cheech and Chong's apartment. But I'm glad pot doesn't impact judgement as much as alcohol. I guess if he would have been drinking he would have went ahead and drove the car through the living room of my parents' house. :biggrin2:

 

[CharminTide]

But simply presenting the question do we want to put another substance readily available at the hands of the public that could add to the existing problem of alcohol related deaths regarding automobile accidents? Because I'd can guarantee you it would.

Just as an aside, it was easier to score weed than either alcohol or cigarettes in my high school. Legalization brings with it some manner of regulation.

I say legalize it, set a minimum age of 18, tax it for revenue, cut spending by defunding much of the ridiculous Drug War, and dry up numerous avenues of illicit trafficking between the border states and Mexico. If ever there was a testament to the power of (tobacco) lobbyists to hamstring our government and blind them to common sense, this is it.

 

[uafan4life]

Considering how many lives alcohol related auto accidents and fatalities cause each year. Do we really want to legalize another substance that would almost guarantee an increase of auto accidents and fatalities? I'm not advocating that it is "right" to legalize alcohol and "wrong" legalize pot due to the type of substance. But simply presenting the question do we want to put another substance readily available at the hands of the public that could add to the existing problem of alcohol related deaths regarding automobile accidents? Because I'd can guarantee you it would.

The number of legally available substances that can impair a person's judgement enough to cause a serious car accident number in the hundreds. Heck, you don't even need a substance. A little lack of sleep or a little too much cell phone and there you go.

As for adding another substance that is legally available that can impair people leading to greater numbers, I think you're forgetting a very important point. It's not that adding marijauna to the public domain would drastically increase the number of people stupid enough to smoke it and then drive. Stupid is stupid. So your room-mate didn't drink. If he's stupid enough to smoke weed for an hour and then get behind the wheel then weed isn't going to be the only judgment or reaction impairing substance that he has in his system when he gets behind the wheel.

Substance abuse and vehicles definitely don't mix. However, banning the substance doesn't address the problem. I'm not sure exactly how to properly and adequately address the problem, short of biometric sensors with substance testing required for the car to start. Don't see that happening any time soon. One thing we could do, though, is drastically increase the consequences for DUI/DWI. How about first offense: lose your license for 1 year, second offense: lose your license for 3 years and spend a year in jail, third offense: lose your license for good and spend 2 years in jail. Oh, and if you're caught driving with a license suspended due to DUI/DWI then you get a year in jail for that.

It would be expensive, so we'd need to implement a work-prison program so that the prison system can help support itself. That, however, is a topic for another thread.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Just as an aside, it was easier to score weed than either alcohol or cigarettes in my high school. Legalization brings with it some manner of regulation.

I say legalize it, set a minimum age of 18, tax it for revenue, cut spending by defunding much of the ridiculous Drug War, and dry up numerous avenues of illicit trafficking between the border states and Mexico. If ever there was a testament to the power of (tobacco) lobbyists to hamstring our government and blind them to common sense, this is it.

I agree. I see both sides of the equation. I really don't have a passionate stance on this one. But I do see both sides. As above, when its your child that dies in the wreck due to someone behind the wheel of a vehicle impaired, whether it be from pot, alcohol or pickled sausage, it doesn't matter. Your child is still just as dead. Tax revenue, defunding drug wars really isn't important at that point.

 

[bamanut_aj]

Back to the topic of the thread, I don't know if you'd call it a weed problem or a 'getting caught' problem, but there are definitely issues down at the u of f!

No, that is not to say that it doesn't happen at other schools, but the article and the thread aren't about other schools. Yes, there is a problem at uf.

 

[TommyMac]

And that makes it worse than alcohol, how?

Don't recall saying it was. :conf2:

 

[PacadermaTideUs]

No way. The Gators DO NOT have a problem with ganja.