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Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#175101: Feb 20th 2017 at 10:10:06 AM

[up][up]The neurogenetic issues are why I'm all for legalisation. Because haveing illegal supplies of varying strengths and no monitored standards... is not a good thing. Like alcohol and tobacco, government needs to be all over the standards of all psychotropic substances for everybody's good as a health and safety concern.

edited 20th Feb '17 10:11:32 AM by Euodiachloris

GutstheBerserker from Haiti Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#175102: Feb 20th 2017 at 10:15:52 AM

Hey @Euodiachloris, can you point me towards any good online ressources to read-up on the behavioral side effects of cannabis usage?

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#175103: Feb 20th 2017 at 10:16:04 AM

[up][up]You won't see me disputing that. Basically my stance on legalization is that if you can't easily overdose on it, I'm all for it, since it lets us maintain quality and cut out some of the criminals. If you can easily overdose, well, at that point I tend towards wanting to keep it illegal.

edited 20th Feb '17 10:50:33 AM by AmbarSonofDeshar

Wryte Since: Jul, 2010
#175104: Feb 20th 2017 at 10:42:03 AM

Figuring out in high school that I'm terrible at substance control, if not outright an addictive personality, remains one of the best things to have happened to me. I'd hate to think where I'd be now if I'd ever gotten startes on alcohol or any drugs.

It still hasn't entirely sunk in for me that it's legal here. I still doubletake everytime I see a billboard for it.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#175105: Feb 20th 2017 at 10:55:49 AM

Milo Yiannoupolos disinvited from CPAC over the pedophilia comments.

It was only a matter of time before he went a BIT too far.

Lanceleoghauni Cyborg Helmsman from Z or R Twice Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: In my bunk
#175106: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:06:34 AM

I tend towards full legalization of drugs as I feel the root of the drug use problem is systemic. But then, I'm also in favor of legalizing physician assisted suicide so maybe my ideas of agency are outside the norm. Not that it matters much if we won't get our act together and build a sane medical system in this country to treat the epidemic that is drug abuse.

edited 20th Feb '17 11:07:12 AM by Lanceleoghauni

"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#175107: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:11:22 AM

I want to drive a nail to the heads of the people who claim smoking cannabis is more healthy than smoking regular cigarettes.

Because for sure smoking unfiltered burning paper and herbs is totally going to do wonders to your lungs.

[up][up]Dem libruls and their safe spaces shutting off speakers they don't agree with...Oh wait!

edited 20th Feb '17 11:13:27 AM by AngelusNox

Inter arma enim silent leges
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#175108: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:11:48 AM

Personally, I'd like for marijuana to be legalized, but stuff like heroin and meth I'm perfectly fine with keeping illegal.

I do, however, think that sentences for mere possession should be relaxed considerably.

Oh God! Natural light!
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#175109: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:27:31 AM

It's worth noting that heroin was legal until we found out how addictive opioids were.

And in fact, heroin was legal even after opioids were banned because the company holding the patent claimed (based on research their team had made that curiously had never been replicated) it wasn't addictive. They sued the federal government and while the case was ongoing you could still buy heroin in stores.

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#175110: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:29:36 AM

And in fact, heroin was legal even after opioids were banned because the company holding the patent claimed (based on research their team had made that curiously had never been replicated) it wasn't addictive. They sued the federal government and while the case was ongoing you could still buy heroin in stores.

These guys I assume.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#175111: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:30:17 AM

[up][up][up][up]*puffs on his 100% tobacco cigar from sunny Cuba* get good, scrub tongue

edited 20th Feb '17 11:30:34 AM by 3of4

"You can reply to this Message!"
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#175112: Feb 20th 2017 at 11:38:56 AM

One in ten users wind up dependent according to the last batch of stats I saw. Which is a lot less than become dependent on say, nicotine or heroin (9/10), but a hell of a lot more than become dependent on alcohol (0.3 to 0.5/10).

Entirely out of curiosity, what's the dependency rate on caffeine? Pretty sure I've got a chemical addiction to that one, and it never gets brought up in discussions of addictive substances.

I want to drive a nail to the heads of the people who claim smoking cannabis is more healthy than smoking regular cigarettes.

Because for sure smoking unfiltered burning paper and herbs is totally going to do wonders to your lungs.

A lot of people who smoke cannabis actually don't use paper at all. In my state, bubblers, vape pens, and edibles are more common than actual joints.

edited 20th Feb '17 11:39:23 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#175113: Feb 20th 2017 at 12:05:11 PM

Caffeine's a little weird. Caffeine will give you a boost...until you get addicted to it, at which time it will bring you up to the level of energy of people who avoid caffeine live at normally. So, basically, the only benefit caffeine gives you (giving you energy) only exists because dependency on caffeine takes away some of the energy that you would otherwise have.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#175114: Feb 20th 2017 at 12:10:47 PM

But being low-energy is the worst thing a person can be!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#175115: Feb 20th 2017 at 12:19:47 PM

Milo Yiannoupolos disinvited from CPAC over the pedophilia comments. It was only a matter of time before he went a BIT too far.
On a lighter note, I found this in that twitter thread.

I'm supportive of legalization, but certain pot activists can really drive me up the wall sometimes. "Oh, marijuana actually cures cancer, but the government and the drug companies are hiding that information because of greed. I read it on the internet." [gives me the web address of some ridiculous conspiracy site or a quack doctor]

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#175116: Feb 20th 2017 at 12:22:06 PM

[up]I've seen way too much of that garbage in my Facebook feed.

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#175117: Feb 20th 2017 at 12:24:39 PM

[The Hill] GOP loses top Senate contenders: Some politicians that the GOP was expecting to have as challengers for dem held Senate seats seem to be unwilling to run.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#175118: Feb 20th 2017 at 12:31:46 PM

[up] I think, at least at this point, that the House Republicans think that the Senate could still stay Republican, but they know that the House is most likely going to turn Blue unless they stay in and try to keep their main constituencies. If they leave the House to try to become Senators, and only Tea Partiers and Trumpeteer Republicans run to replace them, they'll lose even more seats to the Democrats. If they stay around, they have a better chance of keeping Moderates and Neocons from Voting Democrat or not voting at all.

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#175119: Feb 20th 2017 at 2:23:00 PM

The AJC is enjoying its new accolade

A brief note from the enemy of the people: A Colorado-based political action committee that sent a fundraising appeal in Karen Handel’s name claimed she would help Donald Trump build a wall on Mexico’s border and “end Muslim immigration” has no ties to the candidate, Handel’s campaign reports.

Save the American Way sent the email pitch ...allegedly in support of Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state who is one of 18 candidates in the April 18 race to replace U.S. Rep. Tom Price. The solicitation included this passage:
“If elected to Congress, she will work to build a wall on the border and end Muslim immigration. She is also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and a huge advocate for balancing the budget. As a conservative Christian, she is also 100% pro-life.”

Handel said in a statement:
“I support aggressive, legal and constitutional means to protect our country and secure our borders,” she said. “I do not, however, support the use of a religious litmus test in determining an individual’s immigration status.”
The PAC didn’t return a request for comment, but a growing number of political action committees with dubious links to candidates or causes, and with a target of raising small-dollar donations, are cropping up.
For her part, Handel also said: “If nothing else, I’m independent. My job, first and foremost, is to represent the best interests of the 6th,” Handel said. “There will be many times when I’m supportive of the president’s initiatives, and when I’m not, my job is to make them work better for the Sixth.”

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#175120: Feb 20th 2017 at 2:39:00 PM

but they know that the House is most likely going to turn Blue

Hahahahaha no.

The Republicans have such a huge inbuilt advantage in the house that they are favored to keep it, even with Trump's record unpopularity. Also note that midterms favor the Republicans.

The democrats will probably make gains, but gaining the majority is a longshot in the best of times.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#175121: Feb 20th 2017 at 2:40:23 PM

Honestly I'm not even sure it's mathematically possible for us to take the House even if we had an unprecedented turnout.

Oh really when?
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#175122: Feb 20th 2017 at 2:42:03 PM

You're mistaken. It's too early to talk about what the odds are with any kind of certainly, but historical averages suggest the Democrats will gain enough to overcome the structural disadvantages.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#175123: Feb 20th 2017 at 2:53:09 PM

Needs a sufficient margin of course.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#175124: Feb 20th 2017 at 3:06:52 PM

[up][up]That. Gerrymandering doesn't mean "Bam! Now districts are magically impossible to swing", it means "with these data about how the people vote in this state, we can assume that if we draw the districts like this they should probably end up with electoral results in this range on normal elections", if something managed to change one of those assumptions, like for example, Trump being so disgusting or incompetent that the educated (not rich, educated) whites switch in mass to the Democrats*, then some districts assumed to be safely republican will now be in play.

* To answer the likely argument of "they didn't switch in 2016", it's far easier to dismiss Trump as "liberal hysteria" or "fear campaigning" when he's not been elected, if he's governing then it's a different matter.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#175125: Feb 20th 2017 at 3:10:06 PM

I can't tell you about the House, but we may have at least one test for the bipartisan reach out vs Dem zerg rush grand strategies.

A Tale of Two Georgias

Parsing the silence of Sally Yates, the new hero of Georgia Democrats

She has been spotted here and there in Atlanta, ...And on Wednesday, at a Carter Center event that featured an ex-colleague, former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder. Sally Yates received a standing ovation at that last event, just for walking in. That was followed by another standing round of applause at an Atlanta gathering of lawyers the next day.

By the next Tuesday morning, Georgia Democrats were talking about the gift they had been given only months before the 2018 race for governor cranks up in earnest. Without saying a word in public, she had become a hero to millions of Democratic voters. Money would flow like honey from anti-Trump enthusiasts. “I’ll tell you, a woman who prosecuted a whole bunch of Atlanta politicians, with Republican support and now a full-throated stand against Donald Trump — well, that might be the magic bullet,” said Seth Clark, an experienced Democratic campaign hand.
As a potential politician, Yates is attractive because of her bipartisan appeal. She was brought into the Justice Department in 1989 by Bob Barr, a Republican who was U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia at the time.

A Trump stronghold in Georgia stands by him on his 1-month mark
Richard Yarber tries to explain his tortured relationship with the new president.

“If Donald Trump walked in here, within 10 minutes I’d slap him — he’s so arrogant,” Yarber declared. “But we need someone who is going to stand up. We need a man in the White House.”

Virtually no other place in Georgia was as supportive of Trump as Banks County, a sparsely populated area where nearly 9 out of every 10 residents voted for the Republican.

It’s hard to find a Democrat here. It’s even harder to find a Trump supporter who regrets his or her vote. And interviews with two dozen Banks County residents as the president approaches his one-month anniversary in the White House on Monday quickly revealed a few constants.

Most residents here brush off reports of chaos in the White House and reject the narrative that his administration is sinking into scandal and ineptitude. They feel his attacks on the media are justified. And they are somewhat concerned — if bemused — that he remains the same say-anything Trump he was on the campaign trail.

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives

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