MSNBC has posted an article about how the 420 phenomenon is now stretching into the commercial realm. Once an obscure reference to the use of marijuana, the term is now used in everyday life. With April 20th being noted as the latest association to the 'celebration', many lawmakers and doctors are growing concerned that this commercialization is styming efforts to reduce the use of the recreational drug. In the meantime, filmmakers are seeing an opportunity to capitalize off the phenomenon. One filmmaker is even offering free DVDs to people that agree to show the movie publicly on the fateful day. Click the link above for more on this article.

You can read the article here.

Just a note, I don't support the phenomenon or the use of the drug myself, I just find this interesting in the aspect of how rapidly this term has become mainstream. Cultural shifts always garner my interest.

I don't use it, but it's pretty much fact that marijuana is safer* than tobacco and alcohol, and those are legal. It's ridiculous how random our society is about what's taboo and what's acceptable.
















*No one has ever died from too much pot. Ever. Ev. Er. But you'll go to jail if you use it!

Hey, they had to give all the busybodies something to worry about after prohibition.

Thurgood: I'm here today because I'm addicted..to marijuana.
Rehab patient: You in here 'cuz of marijuana?! Man, this is some BULLSQUASH!
Bob Saget: Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck DIK for coke.
Rehab patient: I've seen him!
Bob Saget: Now that's an addiction, man. You ever suck some DIK for marijuana?
Thurgood: No, I can't say I have.
Bob Saget: I didn't think so.

I think society + taboos + ridiculousness go hand in hand...

like, why can't I say "shit" on TV but I can say "crap" or "poop" or "feces" or "dung" or what have you

on-topic: you can't overdose from pot, but it does increase your susceptibility to long-term psychological issues. And of course, inhaling smoke is never good for you. I'm not saying this to defend a particular position on legalization/regulation; I just thought it should be mentioned.

Oh, forgot to say that I am completely for the decriminalization of marijuana use. (Not that I have ever, EVER used it, myself. It would be a killer for both my career and my other hobby.)

How is putting some guy in jail for 3 months because he had a baggie full of grass making society safer?

Agreed.


Well, I didn't say it was good for you (although it does have some medical benefits, but then so does radiation, and no one uses that for recreation). I just mean it's not as bad for you as some stuff that is (and I think should be) legal.

But you probably knew that.

Speak for yourself, bro. I got some primo Uranium 238 if you're interested. Makes you feel like you're fukkin' Zorro. or Gumby.

*turns on gamma radiation*

aw yeah, that's the stuff

You just gave me an excellent idea for a photoshop, but I suck at image manipulation.

I'm all for the decriminalization of pot, but as Madhammaer mentioned, the mental health issues do have to be taken into account (come on, everyone one of us knows a burnout). Shoot, one of the least toxic drugs with regard to physical health risk is LSD, but the psychological damage it can cause is huge.

i've never heard of a burn out hurting anybody. just saying. also, 99% of the stoners i know are all responsible and productive members of society. the most dangerous thing i've ever seen a stoner do is drop a hot bowl on his lap while driving at 30 in a 55.

So we're back to the whole "you can fuck yourself up but not anyone else" thing...

I'm not saying that pot is the most dangerous substance ever, but it does carry health risks. I don't think that should be brushed aside.

I have always thought that the kneejerk reaction to pot had more to do with a generational gap/disgust/hate/embarassment/etc. of the 60's-70's Hippie culture (the members of which are now in their 50's and 60's and making the rules).

We have spent the majority of the 80's 90's and oughts in a conservative, millitary social climate.

If it grows and is natural then it should be legal. If it is artificial or refined then it should be illegal. /of

It's a solid philosophy.


Other items which carry health risks: Paint, Oreos, Aspirin, Knifes, Antifreeze, Peanuts (that allergy is harsh). The world's a dangerous place and your health isn't supposed to last forever.



That's a terrible idea.

I'd call it "naive." The health care costs for farged-up people come out of your pocket. As much as it sounds great to say "live and let live," that's not the world we live in.

That sounds a bit fatalistic, don't you think? In my opinion, we should be doing what we can to preserve people's quality of life.

I think his point is: Why are we so up in arms about protecting people from pot, but substances such as alcohol and tobacco are fine.

If the argument is that - pot is bad for you, then you can easily make a list of "things that are bad for you and are still legal" so that argument in and of itself holds little water.

Well, I was speaking more on a moral level than an economic one, but I guess we can have that discussion. How about this: We legalize drugs and take the billions we're spending on the drug war (also out of my pocket) and apply it, along with the hefty taxes we charge for the now legal drugs (out of the pockets of the users) and pay for the health care of people farged up on drugs? I think we'd break pretty even...maybe even come out ahead.


I agree that someone's quality of life should be preserved, but we shouldn't force a quality of life on someone that doesn't want it, which is exactly what you do when you outlaw choice in the name of safety.

If marijuana were legal, then there would be inevitable regulation of it. It will also be taxed a lot and end up costing people money. Eventually it may even lose its mystique. For awhile people may not care about marijuana once it's been legalized, but in time, with it's open use, there will be greater studies of marijuana. There may even be greater proof of it's harmful effects to a user's health. In the end, marijuana will go the way of tobacco.

Why would it take away your precious Whiskey and Cane sugar? No seriously WHY?

All I'm saying is that pot is bad for you. I never said anything about whether or not it should be legalized.

I think they go waaaaaaaay overboard with trying to enforce marijuana prohibition. I mean one day I simply realized

"Hey all my plans start with I'm gonna get high and then..." but funny thing is mostly I just got high and if I did get to the other activities I really didn't have much fun cause who can concentrate. Frankly you blow a lot of time being stoned watching crappy tv and eating too much.

But you know... spending all this cash trying to stop people from doing it is kinda dumb, we should be concentrating on the real drugs, you know... the ones that people die from and can't stop using just because they decide to.


Oh also it totally didn't ruin my life like the commercials... I had a job I was in college, I made straight As (in design school though so that may not count )

Because the good or bad of something is not instantly defined by whether it naturally occurs.

Naturally Occurring: Arsenic, AIDS, Hitler, etc.
Artificial: Tons of medicine, airbags, probably numerous parts of your house, etc.

Fix'D

And again.

CURSE YOU, ARTIFICIAL WORLD

Fix'D yet again.

considering we are talking about Freefall here

burn'd

I was close to listing something similar, myself.

Fix'D to the Nth degree

Jumped.
Shark.

Context its a lost art..
I wasnt talking about tech, I was talking about centuries old uses. Arsenic forinstance may be a natural substance but it has to be extracted. Plants even the toxic ones should be legal to grow and consume if you so chose. AIDS is yet again deliberately out of context, disease should be controled. As for Hitler? You are talking murder not self choice.

i found that being high made it alot easier for me to concentrate. i mean sure there where times where i just wanted to veg out to pink floyd, but for the most part i could only get done sober about 50% of what i could when i was baked. math made so much more sense to me when i was high. i've always hated math and never been any good at it, but man it all just clicked when i was stoned. i also lost weight as oddly as that sounds.

See: Jimi Hendrix.

I honestly believe that being high is why he's the most awesome guitar player ever. EVAR!

I'm pretty sure that you can't just burn a marijuana plant and get high off it. There's always going to be some human involvement, and if that makes it "unnatural," then what are we? Space aliens? We're also part of nature, and that includes our brains.

sure you can.. haven't you seen the Break.com video of the news reporter who is standing beside a pile of marijauana plants and he/she can't even finish her report because she get high...



i don't think enough research has been done towards the longterm effects of use.... smoking it is still in the closet compared to cigarettes but if people started taking weed breaks and were out in the open like with cigarettes we'd see weed induced enphizima or worse. people smoke 2 packs a day, that's like 40 cigarettes. imagine if there were as many people smoking 40 joints a day.

Well, worker production would come to a standstill because everyone would be sitting around eating cold pizza and watching fukkin' Spongebob reruns.

I'd have to call BS on that...

Fix'd

Heh, years ago the San Diego PBS station used to show Teletubbies in the middle of the night.

no way

the only thing you do to weed before you sell it iirc is dry it. the only reason you do that is to make it burn better. it doesn't effect the thc content at all and would burn easily in a bon fire. i dare say that you would be able to get more thc inhalation from breathing in said smoke, as the weed wouldn't burn away and continue to burn for a long time. it'd the same effect as using a vaporizer i would think. although you wouldn't reap the benifits of using the vaporizer as you'd still inhale smoke.



thc isn't a physically addicting substance in the way that nicotine is. people smoke more because they are gradually more and more addicted to the nicotine and crave it more and more. i don't think it's physically possible to smoke 40 joints in the course of a day. perhaps if they're baby joints. i mean a joint has what about 2 bowls worth? plus the roach which on it's own should count for at least a bowl. thats alot of pot >_>

I don't understand you and your drug-related lingo. Hippie!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Fix'D

somebody's gonna sleep good.

The only verified health risk associated with pot smoking (aside from the fact that you're breathing in smoke) is a significantly increased risk of psychosis among individuals who have a genetic predisposition towards it. So if your mom's a schizo, don't do the doobage.

But yeah, you'd have to smoke a hell of a lot of weed to run a general "smoking" risk. I could never manage more than 15-20 bong hits myself before I got too stupid to figure out what to do. <_<

Its funny, I have a love hate relationship with the stuff. I had fun for a while and it was nice but then it seemed like towards the end of my green tenure I was always wanting to get high and I was leading a really boring life.

I'm really glad I quit, it had just lost that "whoo hoo!" thing for me way before I did.