Thank You!

[ford93]

Well now that Floridians are celebrating their victory over voting "no" on Medical Marijuana. The drug dealers are happy!! These people don't seem to understand that this bill was for Medicinal purposes not getting high. I'am a two time cancer patient and this could have been a breakthrough for people like me. I do hope that someday people will be more open minded on this issue. The pharmaceutical companies are also happy and will continue making pills out of heroin. Heroin is more deadly and kids are dying from the use of it. I guess people don't understand that kids are more incline in using pills than any other drug. Alcohol is another killer which causes more deaths in car accidents.

Just because it was a drug used by teens including myself back in the day to feel good does not mean it's a bad drug. It has medical purposes just like any other drugs. In fact all illegal drugs do have medical purposes it's up to the people who are making them to have it made for medical purposes.

In Amsterdam drugs are legal and there are no crisis going on over there, yes they do have rehabs but we also have rehabs. Portugal allows people to have ten day supply which I believe is one or two grams of Cocaine and there too are no crisis and again yes they have rehabs there too. Spain tolerates cultivation for self use. Uruguay legalized Marijuana last year. Here in America there are several states that have allowed Medicinal Marijuana. Our men and women from the armed forces that suffer from PTSD some have tried it and agree on the medical purposes. Who knows if that 29 yr. old Brittany Maynard that took her own life in Oregon due to brain cancer could have been saved. When Alcohol was illegal people were very much against it and now look you can buy it anywhere and people don't glamorize it because it's legal!!

I know the next time it is on the ballot it will pass. Doesn't people know that the state of California has had legal for almost 20 years.

DAMN SNOW BIRDS!!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

This is a subject that varies all over the place. So many different points of view.

But I will lay it out from my point of view and from my own experience.

I have been a marijuana smoker for 30+ years. I live in California where it is legal with a prescription. I am legal. I have a bad back and have been prescribed pharmaceutical pain medication. Over time, those made me sick to my stomach and just stopped taking them on my own.

When I watch law enforcement or politicians talk about how dangerous marijuana is, or how it's a gateway drug or how it makes people lazy and they don't hold jobs or that it's addictive. I can say, that I am well into a 30 year study of my own along with almost everyone I know. None of the people I know have trouble holding down a job in some of the most professional businesses you can dream of, from aerospace to high end computer programing to government work. None of these people are full blow hard drug users. None of them are criminals. They are law abiding recreational pot smokers who relax in the evening.

When I got my prescription a few years ago the doctor told me that smoking unfiltered was the most dangerous thing about smoking anything and suggested I use a vaporizer or water pipe (Bong).

For 25 years I have been a professional vocalist with more than 15 albums under my belt and have experience 0 issues with my lungs or any diminished power from my voice.

I traveled to Amsterdam in 2007 and experienced everything they had to offer in terms of "The strongest pot in the world" and didn't find things to be much different from California.

I lived in Japan for spell where marijuana is very hard to come by. I never made an effort to get any and did without the entire time I was there and suffered no withdrawals at all. Keeping in mind I had not taken a pause from smoking since 1992 when I had to fight my ex wife in court for the custody of my daughter and quit for 3 months.

I don't smoke during the day, I NEVER smoked at any job I have ever held, I never smoke and drive and I smoke daily.

Prohibition in the United States based on the "Gate Way" excuse or the "Couch Lock" excuse or the "Leads to a life of Crime" excuse and it's all BULL SH@T. These things can't be proven because it's all AFTER THE FACT. If a person is LAZY and smokes pot, how do we know they aren't just a lazy POS regardless. There is no way of knowing. The same goes for a person that is a life time criminal who smokes pot. Maybe they are just a low life criminal regardless AND they smoke pot.

In my 30 year study, I have seen first hand that none of this nonsense stands up. The 1000's of people I have smoked with and worked with over the years aren't lawbreakers. They are hard working people. They are great parents. They are police officers, teachers, machinist's, engineer's, Craftsmen, Artist's, friends, family members and loved ones. In fact, I have only met a handful of people that have never smoked! I even smoked with a 90 year old woman in Colorado who had been smoking since the 1930's! I spoke with her in great detail regarding these very subjects and she said the same thing. It's all BS.

But in the end, I have also seen close friends that were hurt or sick and cast into situations beyond their control and Corporate pharmaceutical's were unable to help them from the daily pain they live with. I have watched people close to me dwindle away while they ingested scores of opiate & heroin based pills that took away their appetite and rotted away their insides until they were a shell of a human being. Then, with my own eyes I watched them make the transition from a laundry list of painkillers costing a literal fortune per month to just smoking pot. I watched them gain weight. I watched them return from a dark place. I watched them gain control back over their life.

My personal 30 year study trump's anything some politician, church leader or law enforcement agency could ever tell me. Big pharmaceutical companies make Billions with a B with their designer drugs. I watch the federal government complain that "We as citizens are not doing enough to keep these drugs out of the hands of kids" but I never hear them mention the companies that flood the TV commercials and the market place with said drugs.

And lastly, if you don't want to smoke, DON'T! but don;t F#$%ing tell me what I can or can't do!

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

My younger brother is a heroin, meth etc addict, has a massive criminal history and is currently in prison. It's different for everybody but I know for sure that smoking pot led my brother to harder drugs at the age of 14.

But I agree Chris that it's all about choices. I chose to never smoke or take drugs and I'm glad. My brother was diagnosed with early stage emphysema years ago and will never give up the smokes or the drugs and they will kill him.

I agree that people should be free to make choices. Each to their own.

James....

 

[ford93]

Chris you and I have something in common we were our own laboratory and we both have the proof. The problem is that the majority of people have been told by our Gov. about the use of Marijuana and people fall in that belief it happened with Alcohol, people in those times were saying the very same thing not to legalized liquor it's going to destroy our youth and so on. Where is liquor now?
Has the country fallen to addiction because of it hell NO! Why because it is not glamorized! Now I do agree that liquor does have it's negatives. I look at it this way this should be legalized and with restrictions on age because I know adults tend to be more responsible then teenagers. Not to say I was irresponsible when I was a teen, I've always had been responsible with practically everything including smoking. I've never glamorized it and never moved to a much harder drug I'm not that way. There are people that are never satisfied with the effect so they move to much harder drugs because they want to be like a vegetable. There are two kinds of people there are junkies that just want to be numbed and stupid and then there are the likes as me that just did it to enjoy the moment. Now there have been studies that a certain breast cancer can be cured. Hello there are potentials of this drug in helping the sick. Not to offend anyone but our savior even says it the Bible "all that is green can be use for medicine".

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Jimmy, I have one friend that took the path of your brother. He was the first person to introduce me to alcohol when we were in high school. He found a Chinese restaurant that sold beer to us at lunch time and we were off and drinking. Later on he went off the deep end and has spent his life in and out of rehab and jail. He has taken everything under the sun and strangely enough, pot was never his thing when we were kids. He smoked only very rarely. Later on his thing was crack. Both his parents were full blow alcoholic's and there is no doubt that it was past down to him as a disease. He has a brother however that never had that problem. Never drank or did drugs, had a family, ran his own business. So I think that some percentage is built right into your DNA as to whether you have an addictive personality, like your brother and like my friend. My friend was going to overdose on everything from caffeine to sugar. You name it, he's going over the line with it. These people exist with or without pot.

On a side note, Alaska, Oregon and Washington DC passed legalization

 

[blu_fuz]

I have a drank now and then, never got hooked on anything else and consider myself to be 'clean as a whistle' as my mother would say .

 

[BoomboxLover48]

I used to smoke from say age 15 till 32 and had to give up because of frequent cough and irritation plus 2 uncles who were chain smokers died young because of lung cancer. I am always so tempted to smoke especially after a few drinks but control myself not to.

Nice Scotch whiskey, Bourbon and German beer has become a weakness and I do it only when my wife is not around (hiding from her) mostly in the evenings. I am a happy drunk! I make sure everything is okay and safe and I am with a good company when I travel or visit friends. It doesn't take much time to get into trouble if one is not careful.

A few shots of whiskey and listening to good music is so much fun.. .imagination flies and one become a happy dreamer! I wish I could smoke too...!

Actually all good men either drink or smoke...or do something crazy..

 

[Ghettoboom767]

40 years here, if im out, no big deal!
I dont smoke for 1-3 months at a time.
When I was in my 20's and 30, s I took 1 year off-no big deal.
It's truly milder than alcohol and impairs less.
I see I think Oregon just jumoed on board,3 states legal and Michigan I believe you can grow inside for personal consumption.
I also never smoke before or during work.
Think of all the tax revenue and the the excess waste of law enforcement harassing people with grass!! Balance the budget with that much revenue!
I wish the rest of the srates would wake up and smell the coffee (or grass)!
Fire it up and enjoy the Boombox and all of its lights in its glory and the music!!📼📼📻📻🎶🎵🎼☺

 

[floyd]

my big dream is to wash up on the shore of some desert island inhabited by amazon women and weed .

 

[ford93]

my big dream is to wash up on the shore of some desert island inhabited by amazon women and weed .

Hmmm I wonder how would those woofers sound next to the mic.

I'm with you on that dream!

No No not a desert to dry how about a beach with white sands crystal blue ocean and further inland a small hideaway sweet water cave to chill after swimming at the beach.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

my big dream is to wash up on the shore of some desert island inhabited by amazon women and weed .

Yep, that sounds great, you just stay on your side of the island. I don't need you swinging in the breeze & taking all my girls!

 

[ford93]

Yep, that sounds great, you just stay on your side of the island. I don't need you swinging in the breeze & taking all my girls!

:jason:

 

[Reli]

Well now that Floridians are celebrating their victory over voting "no" on Medical Marijuana. The drug dealers are happy!! These people don't seem to understand that this bill was for Medicinal purposes not getting high. I'am a two time cancer patient and this could have been a breakthrough for people like me. I do hope that someday people will be more open minded on this issue. The pharmaceutical companies are also happy and will continue making pills out of heroin. Heroin is more deadly and kids are dying from the use of it. I guess people don't understand that kids are more incline in using pills than any other drug. Alcohol is another killer which causes more deaths in car accidents.

Just because it was a drug used by teens including myself back in the day to feel good does not mean it's a bad drug. It has medical purposes just like any other drugs. In fact all illegal drugs do have medical purposes it's up to the people who are making them to have it made for medical purposes.

In Amsterdam drugs are legal and there are no crisis going on over there, yes they do have rehabs but we also have rehabs. Portugal allows people to have ten day supply which I believe is one or two grams of Cocaine and there too are no crisis and again yes they have rehabs there too. Spain tolerates cultivation for self use. Uruguay legalized Marijuana last year. Here in America there are several states that have allowed Medicinal Marijuana. Our men and women from the armed forces that suffer from PTSD some have tried it and agree on the medical purposes. Who knows if that 29 yr. old Brittany Maynard that took her own life in Oregon due to brain cancer could have been saved. When Alcohol was illegal people were very much against it and now look you can buy it anywhere and people don't glamorize it because it's legal!!

I know the next time it is on the ballot it will pass. Doesn't people know that the state of California has had legal for almost 20 years.

DAMN SNOW BIRDS!!

What do you expect from Floriduh, there is very little culture or progressiveness there, with the exception of Miami, and even that place pales in comparison to San Francisco, Chicago, LA, NYC, Boston, etc.

Alcohol is a drug -- people use it to alter their mood and "escape". Same reason people use other drugs. You could easily die if you drink too much. Yet it's legal, because certain people think it's "better" than other drugs. Probably because they enjoy drinking and don't want to give it up. While thumbing their nose at people who use other drugs. Hypocrites.

I have no problem with workplace drug bans, restrictions, or testing........But making them illegal is essentially telling people what they can and can't do in their spare time. Ridiculous.

And as for harder drugs (coke, heroin, etc.), who cares if people get addicted or even die. If you're an idiot who makes bad decisions, you should pay the price.

 

[floyd]

Yep, that sounds great, you just stay on your side of the island. I don't need you swinging in the breeze & taking all my girls!

hell at my age i better hope i'm a castaway from the viagra ship.

 

[BoomboxLover48]

hell at my age i better hope i'm a castaway from the viagra ship.

to a Horny Island!

Massage parlours all over.....sniffing and eating is all free served with local wine!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

hell at my age i better hope i'm a castaway from the viagra ship.

What do you expect from Floriduh, there is very little culture or progressiveness there, with the exception of Miami, and even that place pales in comparison to San Francisco, Chicago, LA, NYC, Boston, etc.

Alcohol is a drug -- people use it to alter their mood and "escape". Same reason people use other drugs. You could easily die if you drink too much. Yet it's legal, because certain people think it's "better" than other drugs. Probably because they enjoy drinking and don't want to give it up. While thumbing their nose at people who use other drugs. Hypocrites.

I have no problem with workplace drug bans, restrictions, or testing........But making them illegal is essentially telling people what they can and can't do in their spare time. Ridiculous.

And as for harder drugs (coke, heroin, etc.), who cares if people get addicted or even die. If you're an idiot who makes bad decisions, you should pay the price.

After reading this thread the last few days I realised that Alcohol was my "Ladder" drug. That's what I started with and then it led me to kids that were drinking and smoking pot. But as a teen I didn't smoke that often. It just wasn't my thing.

Being in a Heavy Metal band for 25 years put me in places that would make my mother cry and I'm not going to lie about it, I did just about everything there is to do, but I never stuck a needle in my arm, never smoked crack, never took ecstasy and never overdosed on anything.

It's only been the last 10 years that I have realised that a little puff puff is way better than drinking a 12 pack of beer every night or a half bottle of gin. 1 hit of weed and 2-3 beers and it's a relaxing evening. Do I need it, NO, but I am 46 years old. I think I am allowed.

I have a good friend who is a pipe fitter for the Union. He works at major sites like gas refineries. He doesn't smoke while he's on the job, only when he is taking time off.

I don't want him or anyone else taking drugs while they are working on systems as volatile as that.

"Recreational" is on your spare time. NOT AT WORK!

 

[ford93]

I agree Chris and that's where educating folks comes into play, I know for a fact that if whenever Medical Marijuana is legalized first thing the teens are going to do is act stupid and smoke in the public trying to prove a point. That's not how you get folks to accept it. Respect the public do it at home only and not at work, schools, theaters, parks etc.. If people want it legalized then act responsively so that it can be accepted. In Europe the people act as they should and that's why it is tolerated. I think Europeans handle things a lot better than us.

We need to grow up and act responsively and everything will work out just fine. There's no need to "I want to get really ****ed up" kind of attitude that's just acting as a child and so stupid in my opinion.

This is why the flower children in the 60's gave themselves a bad name because those images of them dancing in la la land and the regular folks seeing that they thought that it was Marijuana that made them act that way, when in reality it was acid. The Rastafarians in Jamaica do it because it is part of their religion and this practice has been going on for years and you don't hear about a major crisis happening there.

Bottom line it's all about moderation and responsibility.

As for me I want it to hopefully help me maybe in preventing any more cancer. I'm on borrowed time and I live my life everyday with that thought. It is something that I do not wish on anyone.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

I agree Chris and that's where educating folks comes into play, I know for a fact that if whenever Medical Marijuana is legalized first thing the teens are going to do is act stupid and smoke in the public trying to prove a point. That's not how you get folks to accept it. Respect the public do it at home only and not at work, schools, theaters, parks etc.. If people want it legalized then act responsively so that it can be accepted. In Europe the people act as they should and that's why it is tolerated. I think Europeans handle things a lot better than us.

We need to grow up and act responsively and everything will work out just fine. There's no need to "I want to get really farked up" kind of attitude that's just acting as a child and so stupid in my opinion.

This is why the flower children in the 60's gave themselves a bad name because those images of them dancing in la la land and the regular folks seeing that they thought that it was Marijuana that made them act that way, when in reality it was acid. The Rastafarians in Jamaica do it because it is part of their religion and this practice has been going on for years and you don't hear about a major crisis happening there.

Bottom line it's all about moderation and responsibility.

As for me I want it to hopefully help me maybe in preventing any more cancer. I'm on borrowed time and I live my life everyday with that thought. It is something that I do not wish on anyone.

Wow man, sorry to hear about your condition man. That has to be a heavy weight on your shoulders never knowing IF or WHEN.

In Hollywood, Ca, you can smoke in public, on the streets. Many times I have walked off the stage at the Whiskey a Go Go, onto Sunset Blvd and fired up a joint right in front of the place with police 10 feet away. Totally legal.

The whole thing is a mind set. Not for the people smoking it, but for EVERYONE ELSE. It's more of a cultural issue than it is about how Pot affects the user.

The interesting thing about pot user's (in my experience)

They don't break into houses or businesses to steal to get weed (crack / coke / heroin)
They don't get into fist fights at bars or clubs (alcohol)
They don't overdose (all other drugs)

I have said my whole life, "If society acted more like pot smokers, this would be a better world". WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

It's a lot like this website and the boombox community in the sense that you have something in common. "It's you against the world" (boomboxes are loud and feared ). This common area brings people together in a positive way.

In thirty years I have never:

Fought someone over weed
Never had someone rip me off on a weed deal
Never was slipped the wrong drug into the baggy I bought in a "Bad drug deal"

and most of all NEVER HAD TO GO WITHOUT! Law enforcement has NEVER stopped me from getting weed EVER! Their efforts have been completely in vain and all the money spent was a complete waste and I have had that conversation with every pot smoker I have ever met. All YOUR money the government has spent on Marijuana prohibition was thrown away! An estimated 20 Billion dollars a year.

NOT ONLY THAT, I have never had to do without, simply because of the kindness of other pot smokers. I have never had any dry spells because pot smokers are generous kind sharing folks. As much as there is "Boombox Karma", there certainly is "Pot Karma". I can't count how many times I was out of weed and out of money and some how, magically, out of the blue someone stepped into my life completely unexpectedly and said "Hey dude, you wanna burn?".

In the end, I believe it should be up to the individual. That's it. That's all. I would never hold someone down and force it on them or blow it in their face or slip it in their food. I don't think anyone younger than 18 should smoke. But I promise you they will, just like they will steal beer from their dad or swipe a pint of Jack from the grocery store. Hell, I have read more kids are taking prescription drugs that they steal from their parents medicine cabinet than they smoke weed.

Again, if it's not your thing, that's totally cool. I would never look down my nose at someone that doesn't smoke. But if you've never smoked and want to tell me I can't then your WAY OUT OF LINE!

 

[Ken]

Damn, Chris. Good points. Hell, a whole thread full of good points...

You have a way with words when it's something you're passionate about.

You have no idea what living in a legal state, but having all the work in your County on military bases, does to your "right" to smoke. It sucks. It's tough to watch many enjoy when you are not supposed to. Hell, there must be half the County that could be tested for cause. Some individual towns and counties up here are trying to ban it within their limits even after we passed legalization.

This is a long way from over, folks. I think, though, that the tide of history is on our side.

Burn one for me, will ya? ...and if anyone doesn't like it, send Phil Rudd over to "convince" him.

 

[frontside5]

I just watched The Culture High. A bit long and repetitive but did a good job in snagging some very high-level interview subjects (including one retired supreme court judge if I remember correctly).

Main takeaway I'll always remember: # alcohol OD's: a lot; # marijuana OD's: zero.