I added the emphasis to "knowingly." If someone doesn't have pot in plain view, while you can technically be charged with possession, it's next to impossible to find you guilty of possession if you had no idea the pot was there in the first place.
Hence, this is why I do not call the police unless I know it's there. If I meet some obvious stoner on the street who stinks of weed, or if I meet DKong at a convention, I'm not going to call 911 or some shit. I'm talking about when I know there is weed in a place I don't want it to be.
I added the emphasis to "knowingly." If someone doesn't have pot in plain view, while you can technically be charged with possession, it's next to impossible to find you guilty of possession if you had no idea the pot was there in the first place.
Hence, this is why I do not call the police unless I know it's there. If I meet some obvious stoner on the street who stinks of weed, or if I meet DKong at a convention, I'm not going to call 911 or some shit. I'm talking about when I know there is weed in a place I don't want it to be.
Whoa whoa whoa. You said that your reason for disliking pot was this:
I'm also fine with marijuana being legal. That's not the reason I would call the cops on someone. The reason is this.
You have to be familiar with the laws regarding possession. Let's pretend I come over to your house, and you've got some weed in a drawer or something. In some situations, I could be busted for possession. It's not about whether weed should be illegal or not. It's about putting other people's livelihood at risk without their consent. Even if I think a law is totally wrong, it's my decision whether I want to break it or not. It's no different than making everyone in my car put their seat belt on.
So, what I was saying was that this is not the case, at least in New York. If someone has pot where you can't see it, you can't be found guilty of possession, as you did not knowingly possess it.
If you go somewhere and the pot is in open view, that's a far riskier situation. However, I doubt you'd go to somebody's house and be surprised if they had pot in the open. You probably know your friends well enough to know if they'll be smoking up together, so then the question becomes: why did you enter into that situation in the first place?
Wouldn't you just tell them to remove it first instead of fucking things up by calling the law? Seems a little extreme.
Exactly. I would only call the police if the situation warranted it. Someone bringing a socksworth to our New Year's party warrants being kicked out. Same person who is also causing problems for us may warrant police. It's really a matter of circumstance.
For example. If my dorm-mate had come home reeking of weed on a regular basis, and insisted on using it in the room despite my objections: police. If the same dorm-mate stored it elsewhere and never used it in the room: ignored.
The law is such that any smoker is basically at the mercy of anyone who doesn't. The moral: don't anger non-weed-smokers if you smoke weed.
They don't want to put up competition for the alcohol and cigarette industries (which would probably get destroyed if weed was made legal, don't quote me on it, though).
From personal experience, that is, living in a country where weed is legal alongside cigarette and alcohol industries, I have to say that your concern is false. What ruins the cigarette industry more is the fact that they have to put warning labels on all packs. Which also is a problem for our government, since it makes a lot of money of the purchase of cigarettes and alcohol, yet it wants the best for its citizens by outlawing smoking inside public buildings. Double edged swords, yay.
For example. If my dorm-mate had come home reeking of weed on a regular basis, and insisted on using it in the room despite my objections: police. If the same dorm-mate stored it elsewhere and never used it in the room: ignored.
The law is such that any smoker is basically at the mercy of anyone who doesn't. The moral: don't anger non-weed-smokers if you smoke weed.
Trueness. Weed smokers clearly realize that they are at the mercy of the non-smokers. Thus, by making your "keep that shit away" stance clearly known, you actually help the weed smokers out. They know to keep that shit away from you, and will gladly do so.
To bring it back to DKong and his friends. Perhaps the problem is that DKong was not keeping that shit away from them?
So then, as long as someone else accounts for your weed stance, you're OK with that? Say you show up to a friend's place, and he says something like, "Hey Scott, I want to smoke some weed. I know you're not cool with that, so we should just call it a night here. Sound good?" As long as he doesn't proceed to smoke weed while you're there, are you OK with that?
For me, it's all about coming to a mutual agreement. When my little brother visits me, he always asks my permission to bring weed along, and I always stipulate exactly when and where he may smoke it. He always agrees. If you had a roommate that wanted to smoke, it should be between the two of you to come up with something agreeable, and generally, it's the smoker who needs to make the concessions.
If you couldn't manage to come to an agreement, then you may need to appeal to a higher authority. I wouldn't go right to the cops unless it was heavily warranted; if it were in a dorm, I'd go to the RA first, and then go up the chain of command after that. You call the cops for serious business.
To bring it back to DKong and his friends. Perhaps the problem is that DKong was not keeping that shit away from them?
I went over to my friend's (and not even the one who was flipping a shit 2 days ago) house high once. It was actually the first time I ever got high, so I was freaking out and I didn't want to go home high, so I went to his house. I haven't been over there high since. I've never been in possession of pot when I was with either friend. I've never smoked around either of them. I've called both of them while high a few times. That is the extent of it.
living in a country where weed is legal
Where do you live? According to this list, weed isn't 100% legal anywhere except India and some odd country that I've never heard of.
Where do you live? According tothislist, weed isn't 100% legal anywhere except India and some odd country that I've never heard of.
The Netherlands. Saying it's legal is much shorter than explaining the entire thing. Know that I am lazy.
The Dutch politics reasoned that soft drugs do not have physically addictive qualities, and are not more harmful than, say, alcohol. Therefore, the Netherlands allows limited forms of possession and trade in soft-drugs (legalized in 1976).[10]
One is allowed to purchase and possess up to five grams of cannabis or hashish. Possessing more is interpreted as intent to trade the larger quantities, which is illegal. Only specially permitted “coffee shops†are allowed to sell soft drugs, and never more than five grams per person, per day. One needs to be 18 or over to access a coffee shop.
Smoking in public is technically allowed, however in many places prohibited by local regulation, limiting consumption to coffee shops, one's home, or a remote corner of a park.
Coffee shops are allowed to sell cannabis and hashish (and pay taxes on it), but can not legally buy stock. Also referred to as the ‘backdoor problem.’ Coffee shops have very strict rules to live by and are regularly checked by local authorities. Two strikes is out.[23]
Other types of sales are illegal; maximum punishment for large scale trade is 4 years in prison.
It's legal, but getting it is the illegal part. EDIT: I should note that, this policy has come into existence because enforcing the laws when it was illegal were too difficult, with this history in mind we can conclude that the same is more likely to happen here with torrenting data than in countries like the USA. This also already exists to some degree, I can 'legally' download music for example, the illegal part is the uploading.
That's actually the sort of legalization system I could envision in America. You legalize possession, and then grant special permits for certain establishments to sell limited quantities of certain drugs. That completely removes the concept of the "pusher" from the drug trade, and takes away a lot of the crime surrounding the drug trade by taking away the pusher's market.
The one problem, though, is how do the places get the weed in the first place? If they can't buy it, do they have to grow it themselves?
Proposal 1 passed in Michigan, so medicinal marijuana is now going to be legal. I've read that you can have legally posses up to 2.0 ounces and grow up to 12 plants in a locked building. You need to have a special card from a doctor and you must have a valid disorder/illness. You can't just say "I have a headache" or something like that.
The one problem, though, is how do the places get the weed in the first place? If they can't buy it, do they have to grow it themselves?
Growing it is also illegal. It's not perfect by far, and this the politicians realize. Some have proposed to set up a controlled production farm of weed, and the government has tried it, but it's still illegal to grow cannabis. Another problem is that because of the condonance policy on soft drugs the Netherlands is great drug trafficker country, even though there's been a lot of enforcement on that front. A few years back there was a lot of talk on the news about Schiphol and drug traffickers coming in by plane, having swallowed bags of drugs. There's an entire Wikipedia article about this, which has more details.
The one problem, though, is how do the places get the weed in the first place? If they can't buy it, do they have to grow it themselves?
My guess is illegal growing, illegally buying from "friends" who grow it, getting it from dealers, etc. Certainly not legally, though...which is why I say that the Netherlands don't really have legal weed.
That is indeed the type of legal system for cannabis that other countries need to start adopting.
Trueness. Weed smokers clearly realize that they are at the mercy of the non-smokers. Thus, by making your "keep that shit away" stance clearly known, you actually help the weed smokers out. They know to keep that shit away from you, and will gladly do so.
So if I say something like "Don't come near me or I'll kick you in the face", then I'm being a nice guy by helping you avoid getting kicked in the face?
To bring it back to DKong and his friends. Perhaps the problem is that DKong was not keeping that shit away from them?
There's a lot of speculation going on here. Perhaps DKong's friends are just total tools? There was a time, when I was a brainwashed little Christian boy, that I probably would've reacted to the same way to a friend of mine smoking weed, no matter how they went about it.
You need to have a special card from a doctor and you must have a valid disorder/illness
In California, it's absurdly easy to get a medical card. There are some shady doctors who will just give you one for a couple hundred bucks. I've known a few people who've done just that. Then you can just go down to the weed store and buy some weed.
There's a lot of speculation going on here. Perhaps DKong's friends are just total tools? There was a time, when I was a brainwashed little Christian boy, that I probably would've reacted to the same way to a friend of mine smoking weed, no matter how they went about it.
Well, I just described my situation regarding "keeping it away from my friends" above. Also, one of my two friends said he doesn't really care, he's just been really busy, which is why he hasn't been in contact with me very often. As for my other friend, he just claims that I've changed radically since I've started smoking. "Yeah dude you're like some bob marley hippie peace fag now". I'll admit, and I think I've said it already in this thread, I don't "RAAAAGE" at certain things like I used to, but otherwise I'm the same dude. He basically said that by smoking, I've turned into a 100% generic pothead which is "a dime a dozen at my school" (he goes to a different school than I do), so he said he may as well just be friends with one of them. Total tool? More likely than I think.
In California, it's absurdly easy to get a medical card. There are some shady doctors who will just give you one for a couple hundred bucks. I've known a few people who've done just that. Then you can just go down to the weed store and buy some weed.
Other than Cali, though, you actually do have to have a valid reason.
The one problem, though, is how do the places get the weed in the first place? If they can't buy it, do they have to grow it themselves?
My guess is illegal growing, illegally buying from "friends" who grow it, getting it from dealers, etc. Certainly not legally, though...which is why I say that the Netherlands don't really have legal weed.
That is indeed the type of legal system for cannabis that other countries need to start adopting.
You're just being jealous. Go research it, basically the government looks the other way in regards of coffee shops obtaining cannabis. But yes, it's a better legal system than trying to fight soft drugs use. Belgium, Germany and Switzerland are debating on moving into this direction. It's pretty much the same as with same-sex marriage.
They say that weed is a gateway drug, but my friends didn't start doing acid and looking into other shit (nothing particularly bad though) until after a couple of them got caught and didn't want to risk smoking again. Just a thought.
Weed is not that bad. I am not against people doing it or having it, just keep it away from my house. Honestly I am on the boat that it should be legal, but that is another discussion. I do not think there really is a gateway drug but more people you choose to associate with and what you let them talk you into.
Its just the culture that surrounds them that makes it this way. When you make all the people who use anything recreationally into a criminal, then that's what they become. While I don't really do drugs other than drink occasionally, I'm for the legalization or at least decriminalization of many drugs.
While I cannot say many drugs I can say I am for at least marijuana being legal and prostitution. Not that I want to partake in either really but if they are regulated at least it is much safer to acquire/partake in them.
While I cannot say many drugs I can say I am for at least marijuana being legal and prostitution. Not that I want to partake in either really but if they are regulated at least it is much safer to acquire/partake in them.
This. I went on a tour of some Rochester drug houses once, and the drug trade is incredibly gang-controlled, at least on the East Coast. In California (at least northern CA), it's effectively legal, to the point where cops wouldn't say anything if they walked by you sitting in the park passing a joint among friends.
Comments
If you go somewhere and the pot is in open view, that's a far riskier situation. However, I doubt you'd go to somebody's house and be surprised if they had pot in the open. You probably know your friends well enough to know if they'll be smoking up together, so then the question becomes: why did you enter into that situation in the first place?
For example. If my dorm-mate had come home reeking of weed on a regular basis, and insisted on using it in the room despite my objections: police. If the same dorm-mate stored it elsewhere and never used it in the room: ignored.
The law is such that any smoker is basically at the mercy of anyone who doesn't. The moral: don't anger non-weed-smokers if you smoke weed.
To bring it back to DKong and his friends. Perhaps the problem is that DKong was not keeping that shit away from them?
For me, it's all about coming to a mutual agreement. When my little brother visits me, he always asks my permission to bring weed along, and I always stipulate exactly when and where he may smoke it. He always agrees. If you had a roommate that wanted to smoke, it should be between the two of you to come up with something agreeable, and generally, it's the smoker who needs to make the concessions.
If you couldn't manage to come to an agreement, then you may need to appeal to a higher authority. I wouldn't go right to the cops unless it was heavily warranted; if it were in a dorm, I'd go to the RA first, and then go up the chain of command after that. You call the cops for serious business.
According to this list, weed isn't 100% legal anywhere except India and some odd country that I've never heard of.
The one problem, though, is how do the places get the weed in the first place? If they can't buy it, do they have to grow it themselves?
That is indeed the type of legal system for cannabis that other countries need to start adopting.
As for my other friend, he just claims that I've changed radically since I've started smoking. "Yeah dude you're like some bob marley hippie peace fag now". I'll admit, and I think I've said it already in this thread, I don't "RAAAAGE" at certain things like I used to, but otherwise I'm the same dude. He basically said that by smoking, I've turned into a 100% generic pothead which is "a dime a dozen at my school" (he goes to a different school than I do), so he said he may as well just be friends with one of them.
Total tool? More likely than I think. Other than Cali, though, you actually do have to have a valid reason.