Rolling Cannabis Politics Thread

xp

Xxp Alaska and Oregon legalized, I don't think Alaska has stores set up yet.

In "I'm too old for this shit" news: I picked up a brownie from a local compassion club over the weekend. I'm in Toronto, and though the weed's not quite legal yet, shops catering to medicinal users are popping up all over the place.

There was no recommended dosage or serving size on the package, so I played it safe and only ate half. Within 20 minutes, I was already feeling the butterflies. By the hour mark, I was tripping full-blown: seeing shifting colours, hearing music, oppressed by the patterns in the room, etc. My head felt strapped to a missile, I scared the shit out of my wife, and had the paranoid realization that I wasn't playing the game I thought I was: "Oh, you thought you were playing the take a little break from reality game? Turns out you were playing the take your life in your hands game."

Two days later and I'm still a bit groggy. I'm guessing as cannabis — and in particular edibles — becomes more widely available, this sort of experience will be more common. I'm also guessing that the resulting stroke or heart-attack risk will be more than negligible.

I'm all for a new legal regime, but care needs to be taken with how the product is labelled and distributed. This shit is no joke.

I would have asked at the store about the dosage tbh. eating cannabis when you don't know the dose is a sure fire way to get way too high and lose your shit if you aren't careful.

yeah they sell brownies at my dispensary that are 20 doses!!!

I'm not a user, but I have the impression that edibles for medicinal use tend to require ingesting only a very small amount, because the user is often very ill and doesn't want to eat much.

"I played it safe and ate way too much," is what you mean to have typed there. (In the US, everything is labelled clearly with potency and dosage etc, btw.)

I'm also guessing that the resulting stroke or heart-attack risk

there is no lethal dosage of marijuana, and there is no risk of stroke or heart attack.

fyi

All true, my fault, bit off more than, etc. (though in my defense, I'd consumed that much of a different edible in the past with nowhere near the same outcome).

However, I'm suspicious of the "no lethal dosage" claims, given how little comprehensive study there has been around the drug.

There may be a heightened risk of heart attacks:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2776633/Cannabis-trigger-heart-attack-Risk-increases-FIVE-fold-hour-drug-smoked.html

I assume stroke risk might be similar. And what about the drug exacerbating an existing illness? Does that not figure into a "lethal dosage" discussion?

It's needs more study, of course, but in the meantime, the speed at which high-dose products are popping up in public places and the dismissal of health-risk warnings seems blithe and dangerous to me.

it's public health dangers are primarily in the area of triggering psychotic events/psychological issues imo

I am not a doctor but that Daily Mail article raised a number of alarm bells for me re junk science - most specifically because the man being profiled is described as a cigarette smoker!

Which isn't to say it's 100% safe - I've seen a lot of studies that have linked marijuana use to schizophrenia development in pre-schizophrenic patients, which is what I'm assuming Shakey is referring to. I've also seen suggestions that pre-schizophrenic patients might gravitate towards marijuana use as a way to alleviate symptoms. I read a lot about this at one point but I don't remember where the state of the consensus is.

if there were lethal dosages of a commonly used illegal drug - as there are in the cases of p much every other illegal drug like cocaine, heroin, meth, etc. - then, y'know, there would be reports of people ODing. and not just anecdotal reports, but clearly identifiable patterns as with these other drugs. But there aren't.

yes that's what I was ref'ing re: schizophrenia Mordy

xp

my personal experience is that too much can be very overwhelming if i'm frayed at the seams psychologically or emotionally and trying to hold it together. on the other hand it can lead me to examine what's going on a little more closely which is ultimately helpful.

http://fortune.com/2016/04/06/dea-decision-marijuana-reschedule/

Promising news, I'll believe it when it actually happens

even rumors are a huge step forward imo

from another article

In 2006, the FDA reaffirmed that they find “no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States,” in response to a 2002 petition to reclassify marijuana as Schedule II. In July of 2011, the DEA formally denied this petition, repeating that marijuana has no accepted medical use and would therefore remain in schedule I. In 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for DC upheld that determination.

I'm willing to bet they will continue the same bullshit. It's in their best interest to keep it as it is.
it's all a joke and there should be more outrage in regards to the whole war on drugs in general.

Rescheduling could also have a major financial effect on the legal marijuana industry, which some estimates suggest will hit $6.7 billion in sales this year while expanding to nearly $22 billion by 2020. While more and more states have voted to legalize marijuana in some form over the past several years, the drug remains very much illegal on the federal level—an inconvenient fact for a rapidly expanding industry that has led to a range of issues for marijuana-related businesses, from a lack of banking options to federal tax issues.

carne you are prob right that is is safer to assume they will continue w/ the same bullshit but i do think the picture has changed even the past couple years, the number states that allow it in some form or that have decriminalized it is a larger enough number that could potentially motivate the fed gov to correct the huge disconnect between some of these states' laws and federal law. idk maybe that is just wishful thinking

i don't think it's a good thing for the ongoing legitimacy of the federal govt to have a huge quantity of citizens breaking federal law. it doesn't just erode trust in the federal drug policy but in all federal authority. for at least self-preservation sake i hope they get on board with the states.

https://twitter.com/GovernorTomWolf/status/720354200761163776

nice!!

fantastic, congratulations PA

No edibles or flowers? Are u supposed to inject these Marijuanas?

vape oil - obv not ideal but better than before

http://mashable.com/2016/04/18/anti-weed-film-posters/#wqew0JJT8kqN

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/philpott-un-marijuana-legislation-legalize-1.3544554

Canada to legalise next Spring.

ohio is close to passing a (fairly restrictive) medical cannabis bill

Medical marijuana bill clears Ohio House in bipartisan vote http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/05/medical_marijuana_bill_clears.html

What would the bill do?

Patients with one of about 20 qualifying medical conditions could buy and use marijuana if their Ohio-licensed physician recommends it.
The doctor would have to recommend a type of marijuana and method of consumption -- smoking would not be allowed.
A nine-member medical marijuana commission would write rules and regulations for the program within two years of the bill becoming law.
The state would issue licenses for growing, testing, processing, and selling marijuana. Application fees and other details would be decided by the commission.
Caregivers and parents who are patients would not be arrested or lose their children for possessing or using marijuana.
Employers could still maintain drug-free workplace policies, and patients fired for marijuana use would be ineligible for unemployment compensation.
Municipalities can decide to ban marijuana businesses.
The legislature will urge the federal government to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug, which some say will increase medical research on the plant.

It's really strange reading restrictions like that after driving by a crane putting up a giant green sign at the new BUD HUT today.

Yep mind boggling

Incredibly frustrating to have that reality of easily acquired edibles and oils and high CBD strains, etc., so close yet so far.

Last time I smoked I am pretty sure it was laced with something. Thought T was a army captain freaking out. lolz

Gov. John Kasich signs medical marijuana bill into law http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/06/gov_john_kasich_signs_medical.html

Ohio legalized medical marijuana: Here's what you need to know http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/06/ohio_legalized_medical_marijua.html#incart_m-rpt-1

the bill kind of blows tbh, i mean it is a step in the right direction but cmon this is 2016

after all the controversy over the "monopoly" thing last year we end up with this shitty ass medical bill

i feel u - neighbors + allies in shitty mm bills

good for kasich tho not being a complete piece of shit. we had to boot our republican governor to get our underwhelming bill signed

new evidence that marijuana is an effective way to combat prescription drug abuse:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/medical-marijuana-prescription-drugs-1.3667375

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/13/one-striking-chart-shows-why-pharma-companies-are-fighting-legal-marijuana/

it's literally a life-and-death issue

DEA declines rescheduling, shocking no one but the 22-year old neo-hippies on my Facebook feed who are bummed as hell right now.

But they are opening the door to a much higher level of scientific research

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/08/big_weed_is_throwing_some_of_its_new_money_into_politics.html

In Nevada, for example, at least 39 out of 47 major donors—who gave at least $5,000 each to the campaign supporting legal weed—have financial interests in expanding the legal marijuana market. They contributed $625,000 of the more than $1 million that the pro-pot political committee has raised so far. Among them: more than a dozen existing medical marijuana dispensaries and five beer distributors, which would have the first shot at being the state’s recreational pot dispensaries and distributors, respectively.

Similarly, in Arizona, where a pending court case could complicate marijuana advocates’ path to the ballot, at least 26 of the 35 top donors potentially stand to make a profit if recreational marijuana is legalized there. The campaign so far has raised $2.2 million.

In Massachusetts, 11 out of 18 major donors came from the marijuana industry, though they accounted for only $80,000 of the nearly $500,000 supporters raised.

Apparently leading in all the states where it's on the ballot this time.
Objection in California is now coming from the current growers, yeesh.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2016/oct/21/mexicos-demand-potent-california-marijuana-creates/

Voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada approve recreational use of marijuana

how does a Trump administration affect this positive move toward legalization nationwide or even for the states that have legalized ?

I think people expecting AG Giuliani to leave all the blue states with legal weed alone are delusional. If I owned a dispensary I'd be looking for a buyer.

is it worth the political capital to go after this when it appears the genie is already out of the bottle ?

i think there is some comfort to be found in the fact that legalization now has wider public support. would seem like a weird battle for trump to fight but yea giuliani is fucked

xp i kind of agree. 20% of the country now lives in states w/ legal weed right? that's a lot

What political capital? The states that legalized, by and large, voted for Hillary and the remaining groups that oppose it are firmly in Trump's political base - even if a majority of Americans favors legalization it's a low priority for most and we all know how much influence public opinion has on policy.

He also took a shit-ton of money from Sheldon Adelson (who despises legal weed, even medical) and private prisons (ditto).

I mean, I wouldn't bet either way myself, but if I were involved in the legal weed business I'd be looking for options to get out.

oh i guess af of an hour or so ago add Maine to that list