The Soviet state let Russians have their vodka. It kept them in a stupor and that served the interests of the Soviet state. The state of Virginia will let Virginians buy pot – recreationally now – which will serve the interests of the state once again. The common denominator is that whatever the state does, it does in its own interests.
The interests of the people are always incidental.
Virginia previously “decriminalized” small-scale possession and use of pot. The word is bracketed within air fingers quote marks to mark the state’s habitual and characteristic creation of “crimes,” which very much serves the interests of the state. Most people are not criminals in the sense that most people aren’t thieves, don’t physically assault or threaten to assault other people. Such crimes are relatively uncommon, which is why the state creates more “crimes.” When everyone is a “criminal” – or at least, an “offender” of some sort – then the state has a ready excuse to go after anyone, any time it likes. The arbitrary and capricious nature of this is obvious yet many do not see it. As a young man, I was arrested for the “crime” – as it was back then – of growing pot plants. Today, it is legal to grow pot plants and soon it will be legal for people in Virginia to buy it, too.
Without a “prescription,” even.
In Virginia – right now – you can dial-a-quack (literally) and obtain a “prescription” that says you have a “medical condition” that pot will ease. You tell the phone quack all about your ache and pains; how you have trouble getting to sleep at night. The quack agrees that you need pot and texts you a “prescription” that grants entre into what are styled “dispensaries,” where you get to fill your own “prescription.” Meaning you get to peruse through a menu of available types of pot – the actual plant material or its distilled essence in liquid/vape form as well as “edible” form. Interestingly, there is no dosage specification or limit. It’s all another kabuki opera performance. We pretend to be patients who are there to alleviate/treat our symptoms – and they pretend to be medical people.
Well, soon it will not be necessary to dial-a-quack and get a “prescription” for pot and visit a “dispensary.” This week, the state issued a new law granting permission for Virginians to buy pot without the kabuki at 350 state-approved pot shops, which are probably going to be run by the state in the manner of the liquor (ABC) shops the state controls. You’ll probably have to show ID and of course it won’t be just for show. They will likely scan your ID, so that the state knows not just that it’s you but that you just bought pot. (This is no small thing; federal law prohibits users of illegal drugs to purchase firearms and – at the federal level – pot is still an illegal “drug.”)
This “… gives us a smarter and safer path forward – one that protects consumers, keeps products tested and accurately labeled, and creates a legal marketplace that is affordable and accessible enough to actually compete,” says state Sen. Lashrecse Aird. What she means is a state-sanctioned, state-controlled marketplace. It won’t be legal for just anyone to start selling pot. The state still regards that as a “crime” – or at least, an “offense” (depending upon the amount sold). And – of course – the state will collect its share of the proceeds, via the taxes it will impose on each transaction. That part again about the state always acting in congruence with its own interests. There is so much money to be made selling pot that the state decided to get into that market. Private transactions between private individuals result in no tax collected and that will always be a crime in the eyes of the state.
Meanwhile – it is not going too far, is it? – to state that the state is now actively complicit in the dealing of drugs it used to toss people into prison for dealing. Of course, these terms imply something bad rather than merely illicit. Coffee (caffeine) is a drug, too. As is alcohol. Somehow, some “drugs” are ok but others are not and the distinction seems to be based on no rational consideration in that alcohol is objectively more “dangerous” than pot. No one has ever “OD’d” on pot. They get sleepy. And they get the munchies. Alcohol can absolutely kill you if you drink too much, too quickly. It is also physically addictive (as is caffeine) which pot is not. 
It never mattered – and it does not matter now.
The state has decided it is ok with people getting high. For basically the same reason the Soviet state was ok with the Russian people getting drunk.
. . .
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Arkansas Cops Arrest Man Over Bottle of Perfume
‘An Arkansas cop claimed he had pay dirt when he found a vial of Opium perfume inside a man’s car — saying it was the narcotic opium — and arrested the man on felony drug charges.
Kapil Raghu, an immigrant from India, ended up spending a month in custody.
“They knew when they opened that bottle that it was a bottle of cologne,” said his wife, Ashley Mays, in a telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star. “They knew it, and they still arrested him and took him to jail. No one had enough integrity to say, ‘Hey, hold on, something is not right here.’”
The felony drug charges were dismissed after a crime lab determined the suspected narcotic was a popular perfume by Yves Saint Laurent that has been on the market since 1977.’
https://atlantablackstar.com/2025/08/08/arkansas-cops-found-perfume-in-a-mans-car-and-arrested-him/
Besides controlling and taxing “the good stuff”, as well as stupefying the majority, there’s another not-so-obvious reason behind legalizing it: to get more and more people to REVERE the government. That way, those in power have more and more useful idiots to DEFEND them, should there ever be an uprising.
Well, Max, go bite off a babydick, like your relatives are so fond of doing.
Off topic I know.
As appalling as this case is, it does at least offer some slim hope that someone might manage to produce and raise offspring outside of the government’s clutches and even without its knowledge. Though of course one hopes they do a better job of it than this.
I found the public school experience so horrific that at the tender age of 13 I made the conscious decision never to have children unless and until I could be *very* sure they’d never end up in the public school system.
I meant to raise any children of mine according to my own ideas and principles. What I could not teach them myself I would have hired the best private tutors to teach them.
Altogether what I had in mind would have born some resemblance to the upbringing of Paul Atreides in Frank Herbert’s _Dune_.
Of course all this would have necessitated great material wealth, which I never achieved (in any *lasting* way).
https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/16-children-ohio-siders-family/
Hiring the best private tutors would indeed require great material wealth, but many children do well with only their parents (and in some cases several parents cooperating) teaching them. My wife and I raised and homeschooled five children on one income; none of them ever saw the inside of a government school. All five had dental braces and piano lessons. We had to sacrifice much, but it was well worth it! Fifteen grandchildren (and they’re still coming!), all within five miles of my house. One daughter — an impressive critical thinker — has nine children 18 months – 14 years old, all homeschooled, and not one of them has had a single MIC vaccination.
Right on! I wish I could have done the same.
“But these prohibition laws seem to produce an atmosphere that is most unwholesome; they do not stop drinking, but they make it something secret and shameful.
Apparently, the drug stores are the great places for drinking in some Southern prohibition towns; they are great, ornate, elaborately furnished places, evidently not intended for the sale of medicaments, but for convivial intercourse.”
— Cecil Chesterton (brother of G.K. Chesterton, who also opposed prohibition), March 14, 1915 (referring to localized prohibition — dry towns and counties — in the American South)
Now it’s totally OK, since the state is collecting the 40%+ sales tax on it. The state of Illinois charges up to FORTY percent tax on “legal” pot, Virginia will likely charge a rate like it, because why wouldn’t they?
It’s always about the revenue generation. ALWAYS! Just like “speeding” tickets…..
I imagine many people still buy it at the corner dealer, just for the tax savings!
My understanding is that a recent Supreme Court ruling means that your smoking pot doesn’t take away your 2A rights unless of course you are deemed perpetually high.
Me I’ll stick with caffeine.
I skimmed it and realized that all of the comments are about getting high?!? Y’all realize that all you have to do is breathe deep the gathering gloom, on July the 4th, and you’ll get high as a retarded chimpanzee. Aluminum and barium are wonderful for calming/necrotizing brain stems. It’s free, you don’t have to buy a case of beer or a quarter oz of pot. Blame it on jews if that whets your whistle/was purposely implanted in your brain by men superior in every way to you.
Bugs are crop dusted. Conscious humans reconnoiter the situation and either don’t get caught in it, or have their tar barriers active.
Hi Max,
It’s not about “getting high.” It’s about being left alone – and leaving others alone. I am having a cup of strong hot coffee right now. I like how it tastes and it helps me – via the drug caffeine – get focused on work. This is exclusively my business. Just as it is not any of my business if some other man wants to enjoy a tumbler of whiskey after work. Just as it is not that man’s business whether another man smokes pot to help him sleep. None of these things are any of the state’s business, most of all.
>man smokes pot to help him sleep.
Or gets laid.
Hi Adi,
Yes, once. But now? I only smoke to ease body aches and get some sleep.
Virginia needs lots of pot, and should surrender their firearms. I personally believe Virginians should be mandated to wear knee pads and helmets when outside the bounds of their curtilage. They shall certainly be epically crop dusted on Saturday, the 4th of July.
“Richard Greene” surfs the net to stir the pot. Whether he’s AI bot or real, I don’t know or care. If you interact with him you’re even more retarded than the bot, manservant is.
If climate is the worst problem facing mankind, then it is worth looking at a plant that converts more CO2 than any other plant to oxygen pound for pound.
If we are eradicating it, then we are creating climate change are we not?
Supposed to be a reply one of Richard Green’s comments
Several comments here:
1) Pot as Soma a la Brave New World.
2) This is not a market driven action because the state picks winners and losers rather than letting individual consumers decide.
3) You will be tracked when you buy from state sponsored dispensaries. If that matters to you, it is an issue.
4) On the other hand, somewhat standardized dosing with specific strains allow one to titrate dosage and preferences. If we had a true free market this would also be true and in fact suppliers would compete on clean products, as well.
We’re all stars now, in the dope show
Well, there’s a flashback to a time when the adventure was new. Thanks, Marilyn!
They want a docile and compliant population who accepts the banning of cash and walking into your jew run prison cell, 24/7 surveilliance. A panopticon, like Gaza, which was the testing grounds for it.
Jews run it, huh? You think that up all by yourself?
Max, Many white men run nothing. That doesn’t mean that generally speaking white men don’t run everything. Unfortunately, it’s (mostly) the wrong white men (Jews).
Jew primaried Massie harassed by Fox reporter on “story” broke by Jew Laura Loomer.
https://www.facebook.com/TYTsports/videos/thomas-massie-explodes-at-karen-fox-news-reporter/3422374881277685/
After Trump was making peace with Iran, suddenly Drudge had a link every day about his relationship with 34 year-old, blonde Natalie Harp, who according to Snopes is NOT his hospice nurse (she BA from Point Loma Nazarene U and MBA from Liberty U (both with CIA ties)]. According to NYT 11/25/24 Harp was “omnipresent in images of Mr. Trump on the campaign trail” (But I bet you never saw/heard of her!). “Ms. Harp, a devout Christian who grew up in California, first caught the attention of Mr. Trump in 2019 when she appeared on FOX NEWS, and credited him with saving her life [so Fox News provided the introduction]. She had bone cancer, she said, and legislation that Mr. Trump signed in 2018, the Right to Try law, saved her by giving her access to experimental treatments. It is unclear what drugs she was referring to. Mr. Trump loved the story and invited her to speak on his behalf at the 2020 Republican National Convention. She joined his staff in 2022, after leaving her job as an anchor at the far-right One America News Network, where she further endeared herself to Mr. Trump by endorsing his baseless claims about the 2020 election being stolen.” In 2023 when it looked like Trump could be president again (?) Harp wrote Trump some (private) letters that somehow were made available to NYT (and re-enkindled their “relationship”?): “In 2023, Ms. Harp sent a series of letters to Mr. Trump that unnerved people around him, according to a half-dozen people with knowledge of them. “You are all that matters to me,” she wrote in one of the letters, which were seen by The New York Times. The letters’ authenticity was confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of them. [how did they get this knowledge and why only after the election is it reported?] “I don’t ever want to let you down,” Ms. Harp wrote, thanking Mr. Trump for being her “Guardian and Protector in this Life.”
“In another letter, she told Mr. Trump that she wanted to get back to “that synergy” she used to have with him, where “we’d talk about everything and nothing.”
“I want to bring you joy,” she wrote, “to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk ‘work.’”
[According to this same 11/25/24 NYT article: “When Mr. Trump sent angry text messages to the billionaire donor Miriam Adelson over the summer, it was Ms. Harp who pressed “send,” according to two people with knowledge of the incident. The texts almost cost Mr. Trump the support of one of his party’s biggest donors, before intermediaries worked to repair the relationship.” (Jared and Ivana Kushner did not give any speeches at the ’24 Republican Nat’l Conv either where they were supposedly out of favor but guess that relationship got all patched up too since 1st thing Jared is negotiating nuclear peace deals, flying to Russia–just like Adelson is Trump’s bff (but Harp is not on Adelson’s/Fox/CIA/Mossad payroll (the NYT said so–but somehow they know everything going on between Trump and Harp)).]
Drudge also had links about how a court was going to force Todd Blanche to release unredacted Epstein files. Suddenly Trump started bombing Iran again and now the talks are off. According to latest JD Vance interview 60 day MOU is just to restock world oil supplies. And Israel is not leaving Lebanon or Gaza and just authorized 13 new settlements for the West Bank.
[AI (owner of Fox) “Rupert Murdoch owned a controlling stake in NDS Group, an Israeli-founded digital encryption and cybersecurity firm, from 1992 until its acquisition by Cisco Systems in 2012. NDS specialized in smartcard technology and was famously utilized by Murdoch’s News Corp to secure its global satellite and pay-TV networks….The most notable scandal erupted in 2012 when an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama alleged that NDS security operatives leaked secret access codes onto the internet. This piracy effectively allowed thousands of users to view channels for free, allegedly leading to the financial collapse of ONdigital, the primary rival of Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). Though the BBC allegations sparked heavy scrutiny, Murdoch’s News Corp staunchly denied any illegal corporate espionage, and NDS was eventually cleared of similar charges in U.S. federal courts.]
Here in Oklahoma in 2018, 57% of voters told the government that they wanted “medical marijuana”. Oklahoma had no choice but to begrudgingly oblige.
But don’t you worry, the state always finds a way. Regulators! Mount up! Now in 2026, they have cracked down on legal growers so much that it has created a new black market. Oklahoma said OK, you want to grow or sell weed, you have to jump through these ridiculous hoops. These hoops are so restrictive and convoluted, that legal growers get raided and shut down over the flimsiest of reasons. These raids are happening all over the state. Growers can’t compete with the black market, and now it’s booming again.
I don’t have a stake in this fight, because I hate the state apparatus and that smelly plant too. I do find it funny, all the hubbub over a plant. If I cared enough, I might think it a neat idea to become a modern day “Johnny Appleweed” and do some guerilla planting all over the city of Tulsa.
(To the tune, more-or-less, of “Hooray For Hollywood.”)
Potheads are paranoid
You ought to see them when they’re running low
They’re on the phone to everyone they know
They’ve got to go
And rush all over town to get some more dope
They think their phones are bugged
And that you’re working for the FBI
Or maybe it’s the DEA
But either way
If you do not get high you must be narcing
Hi David,
Pot doesn’t make me paranoid. What it does do is calm me down, ease my body aches and help me get a good night’s sleep.
How pot affects you is your own fucking business. The only obligation you have WRT pot or any other “recreational” substances is to make sure that you indulge responsibly; i.e., you’re not driving, operating heaving machinery, or “packing” while drunk or stoned.
“Good Deltas Take Their Soma.”
Soma: the drug used by the state to control the population in Aldous Huxley”s _Brave New World_.
We probably lose more brain cells from the shit being sprayed on our food, and our heads, than the occasional toke, or strong drink can account for. I may be retarded, but I’m not retarded enough to believe the lies and slander coming from any official government sources. They are the same people constantly agitating against having nice things. And now, we would be expected to believe that because GovCo put its (TAX) stamp on something that its ‘all clear, safe and effective.’ Would never trust the stuff coming from one of these giant dispensaries. Almost took a job in a ginormous grow op in N Az and the amount of chemicals and pesticides they use on that shit is stunning. Probably not a bad thing though, as it will ultimately cull the remaining low IQ leftist hippies and zionist boomers.
Was growing my own long before it became legal. Even though some of the thrill is gone, I now take satisfaction in being more meticulous and keeping better records of my grows and their seed progenies. I’m never rushed now, with some sativas over 5 feet tall and not even in pre flower, the only rush will be, can they finish before thanksgiving and avoid the bud rot brought on by the winter rain. Nice babies btw, Eric.
When they legalized pot here a few years ago the state began raking in a bunch of money, and every town that had a dispensary in its borders also got a cut. Shows that greed outweighs nanny state puritanism when it comes to government.
Eric makes a valid point about the Soviets and vodka; keep the population drunk and/or stoned and they’re way easier to manage. I think the PTB hope marijuana will become the Soma nationwide for us peasants.
To paraphrase a line from Top Gun, “I’ve got the greed for weed.” – GovCo
‘Cannabis shops in Virginia will not be run by the state. Instead, Virginia is launching a privately-operated, state-licensed retail market.’ — Goolag AI Overview
Now if states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania could just get rid of the damned state monopoly on liquor sales, with its scarce locations, inconvenient hours, and unimaginative presentation!
At the local small grocery/convenience store, I can buy anything from beer to pre-mixed cocktails to vodka, cognac and whisky — from early morning to late at night.
When they began, state ABC stores likely reflected a Prohibition mentality. Alcohol was seen as dangerous and disreputable, so only the state could dispense it — in moderation — to depraved dipsomaniacs like my goodself.
Some of ABC’s best customers are rum-soaked state Delegates, getting lubed up to legislate. In the olden days, before competition from radio, TeeVee and TikTok, many statesmen were spellbinding orators. That art has withered away, to the point that few can even complete a sentence. And no one would listen if they did. 🙁
“Some of ABC’s best customers are rum-soaked state Delegates, getting lubed up to legislate.”
Thank goodness Lindsey Graham isn’t a state delegate.
Kang the Rigelian kept a store of rum aboard his spacecraft so any humans he abducted he could soak in it and thus render their testimony unreliable.
Ms Lindsey gets lubed, but its got nothing to do with alcohol.
I had lunch today with Mark Hackett, the Constitution Party candidate who is running against Lady Lindsey Graham in the general election for US Senate this year. My friend knows he won’t win, because there’s absolutely nothing a Republican candidate here could say or do or be that would persuade South Carolinian Republicans to abandon God’s Own Party. They have plighted their political troth to the Republican Party, and though that marriage was made in Hell, they will remain faithful to their whorish partner until death does them part. (As I’ve said here before, if only 1 in 7 Republicans had voted for Bob Conley in 2008, today Graham would be cleaning restrooms and making new friends at an I26 rest area.)
Hackett’s sole reason for running is to expose Graham’s treasonous truckling to Israel.
In Washington State they legalized Marijana 13 years ago. It wasn’t freedom for anyone to just use or sell pot but a regulated system that favored the retailer and put the grower at a disadvantage. With limited places to legally sell pot and more growers (legal growers following the rules and paid the security/storage expenses and taxes) trying to sell their crops to these places, pot prices dropped. The retailers got a bargain and then charged a lot to the public for selling it. How some of these people were prepped and ready to obtain a retailer’s licenses I suspect was corruptly fixed, but these retailers have been printing money ever since. Government doesn’t let just anybody have a license to print money… you know.
Pretty much the same here in NJ. Though not long after it became legal, they tried to raise the tax on cultivators by almost 500%. They also developed a new revenue stream through a Social Equity Excise fee that provides a continue flow of cash into their pockets. Also, municipalities can add on a tax of up to 2%. Gov is cashing in big time here. And the people don’t care. All the places are packed. The people I know who use are okay with the system. They say they are getting a more consistent product and can get it when they want.
The only time I use the stuff is if I listen to music. I have some big time amps (Nad 2200) and some big time loudspeakers(AR9’s). My basement is loaded with my refurbished loudspeakers(60 sets). Otherwise it makes me stupid, not that I need much help.
Is there any connection between your use of marijuana and 60 sets of refurbished speakers in your home, or is this a business?
I have 3 stereo systems in my small ranch home and three sets of extra speakers in case something breaks … and people think that’s weird
Nad 2200 and AR9’s are good choices and worth about $1500 in the used US market if in very good condition
I also have functioning sets of Ohm F’s, Dahlquist DQ20I, AR3, AR3a, Energy Connoisseurs, Klipsch Hersey, various EPI’s, KLH, Boston Acoustics, Infinity etc etc etc. I am a self proclaimed loudspeaker addict but recently have been cured as I have run out of space. Next step is find a larger house or garage.
The price for pot in Colorado didn’t go down and the black market actually increased.
https://iu.pressbooks.pub/perspectives2/chapter/black-market-marijuana-grows-with-colorado-legalization/
There’s a few reasons for this.
A big one was demand exploded. Every spring break frat bro, van-lifer ski bum, middle aged experimenter and old hippie flooded into the state. There was no way the legally operating network could ever hope to keep up.
Another is not wanting to be ID’d. I kind of thought Washington might have the libertarian prepping contingent as well, who didn’t stop being suspicious of g’ment watch lists. This isn’t just consumer but providers who had records wouldn’t pass vetting and there’s those who wouldn’t want the paper trail of starting a business that no above board lawyer would risk his license representing.
Also the greed and incompetence of the state licensing and regulation made the business overhead high. They put in place ridiculously high taxes such that even if the costs of growing it in the open were lower the price the consumer saw wasn’t any lower.
With enforcement nearly impossible operating black market meant you could charge the market rate set by the retailers but instead of 20% margin after jumping through all the hoops you were making 100%.
Also didn’t help that the state had no mechanism for all the cash rolling in since no national bank would touch their money (FDIC and Federal Reserve and all) but the state demanded their fees and taxes. People were driving to Denver literally with duffle bags stuffed with tens of thousands $$$$ to pay them, which also legally made the state revenue office a Federal drug money laundering operation.
Same thing happened with moonshiners: The end of Prohibition didn’t mean no more moonshine, for pretty much the same reasons described above.
Fees, licenses, sales tax, state as vendor, etc.
The state has no problem with much of any endeavor, as long as it gets its cut.
Practically the entire “war on drugs” was purposed to fund the CIA off the books.
I’m not a fan of Prohibition—of any kind. Prohibition was proven not to work, and Prohibition only expands the scope of government and enriches the likes of Al Capone and Meyer Lansky.
That said, I’m also not a fan of state governments hopping on the cannabis bus. Methinks they’re doing so to tap into a revenue stream that would otherwise go to criminals, as well as cope with the fact that they just don’t have the resources to bust everyone who tokes up. What’s more, while cannabis is, by many measures, not as harmful as alcohol (Cops I know would rather deal with a dozen stoners than one drunk), cannabis is not 100 percent safe, yet it’s being made out to be that way.
The bottom line is that there will be unintended consequences here, and you and I will have to deal with them, and as is too often the case, the government of Virginia won’t. Because politics, like love, means never having to say you’re sorry or admit you’re wrong.
Especially now, the market has played out so the amount of money once available if your state was an early actor is gone. It’s like gambling. When it was just Nevada and Atlantic City there were mountains of money in it for them. With the proliferation of river boats, reservation casinos and online sports books Las Vegas is a sad ghost town and very few casinos anywhere come close to what the Strip used to be. Yeah, it was over the top gaudy but it was clean, new and had an unmistakable energy and draw. Las Vegas might as well be Orlando, it got the same bland character. If it wasn’t for big name acts having a residence no one’s going there.
Yet somehow Trump managed to go bankrupt in Atlantic City during an era of monopoly.
Government = criminals
All the federales from DC to Norfolk can get blazed now. Maybe the ones that need it the most will. And as a result leave us alone.
“federal law prohibits users of illegal drugs to purchase firearms”
The Supreme Court just declared the prohibition on owning guns by casual weed users to be unconstitutional. Not sure how many other drugs that applies to.
So you’re GTG on that score. But you still have the problem of Spanberger’s state-level gun and magazine ban.
“Hey, goyim… we’re giving you weed while we simultaneously ban your guns.” We’re living in Huxley’s “Brave New World.”
Marijuana use has risks, including addiction, mental health issues, and negative effects on physical health, particularly for young users and pregnant women.
Respiratory Issues: Smoking marijuana can harm lung tissues, leading to chronic bronchitis … Pot gummies are supposed to be healthier than smoking pot.
Impaired Functioning: Marijuana affects coordination, reaction times, and judgment, which can lead to dangerous situations, especially while driving
i don’t want children smoking marijuana and i don’t want people driving under the influence of marijuana. If it requires government controls to do that, then they are a good thing.
In the past year i was talking with baby boomer friends about my trouble getting 8 hours sleep and i was shocked to find out how many women over age 70 used marijuana to fall asleep. Michigan residents could first buy recreational marijuana without a doctor’s note on December 1, 2019
In the 1960s–1970s, average THC in cannabis was around 1% American Psychological Association. By the late 1970s, seized samples averaged 3–4% THC
Today, legal dispensary flower often averages 22–25% THC, with some strains exceeding 30%, and concentrates (waxes, oils) reaching 90–95% THC
22–25% THC is much too powerful for free use for everyone.
I have a baby boomer friend who vapes every day of her life and drives under the influence … she totaled two cars while driving under the influence in the past three years … and now has to pay $500 a month for car insurance … while I pay under $100 a month
Richard,
Pot is not addictive; that’s nonsense. I’ve been an occasional/recreation user since high school. I am not addicted to pot. No more so, at any rate, than the man who likes a beer or two every now and then is an alcoholic.
Mental health issues? “Reefer Madness,” again. Of course pot “affects coordination, reaction times, and judgment, which can lead to dangerous situations, especially while driving.” So does alcohol. The issue is how much? Puritan hysterics have defined “drunk” driving as having a BAC of as little as .05 percent – no evidence of actually impaired driving needed. Your Boomer friend may just be a poor driver. Yes, of course – a poor driver is made worse by pot (and alcohol) but the thing that annoys me is that this dumbed-down standard is applied to everyone, which is both absurd and vicious.
My ex mother-in-law was a terrible driver. She didn’t drink or use pot but she regularly got into “accidents.” I am an excellent driver as established by my accident-free driving record going back decades. I am a safer – more competent/attentive/skilled – driver even with a little booze or pot in my system than she was 100 percent sober. Yet I risk being arrested for “drunk” driving just because I am found to have a trivial amount of booze in my system at some “checkpoint.” Irrespective of any evidence that my actual driving was “impaired.” Absent the “checkpoint,” my actual driving would have given no cause to suspect I was “impaired.”
She could run into someone due to her poor driving ability and all she’ll get is maybe a ticket.
Here’s some Reefer Madness for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjHOBJzhb0
“Pot is not addictive; that’s nonsense.”
It’s not physiologically addictive like heroin but it can be psychologically addictive for sure. When I was an undergrad I knew a bunch of guys who were big-time stoners, they couldn’t function without it. They were stoned every waking moment. It was a definite crutch for them.
Of course this varies by individual, some people certainly can be casual users without being dependent in weed.
More a habit than an addiction. You get used to the buzz, and have trouble getting along without it, for a little while.
Hi John,
Yup. I have many such habits. I think it debases the word “addiction” to describe habits as addictions.
So you’ve been using pot for decades but you’re not addicted? Don’t you see the irony in that statement? One type of addiction is physiological, like a chemical dependence in your body to alcohol or heroin.
Habitual dependence is another addiction, this is psychological. Exercise to some people becomes an addiction with real emotional manifestation, like getting very depressed in its absence, and potentially negative physical fitness results.
Body builders and ultra endurance athletes are addicted to their sports to the point of shortening their lives due to the stresses. They aren’t generally physically fit in any real sense but they can’t stop doing what they do anymore than a heroin addict could.
Pot addiction falls more into the alcohol dependence, it dulls the pain of dealing with a fucked up world. You’re an outcast but that’s because it’s normal for your brain not to want to adjust to a maladjusted world. Your brain’s drive to nonconformity needs a coping mechanism and we happen to have cannabinoid receptors.
THC and CBD are not benign substances in our bodies, there is a deterministic pathology. In fact some of the euphoria a pot user gets is the same physiology as endurance runners experience as runner’s high. It’s also why daily exercise has measurable neural benefits. Saying your addicted to pot has social aspect (Reefer Madness!) but in your brain and body it’s no different than feeling like you have to hit the gym and do a mind puzzle every day or you’ll feel bad. Endroannabinoids are no different than endorphins in this case. Our bodies aren’t binary devices, yes-or-no. They’re highly interdependent systems.
Hi Anon,
I am no more addicted to pot than I am to alcohol – or cheeseburgers. I occasionally enjoy eating a cheeseburger. I feel no compulsion to eat them every day or even once a month. I likewise enjoy a glass of whiskey every now and then. I am not an alcoholic on account of that. Just the same, I occasionally smoke pot. Emphasis on occasionally. The idea that a person who occasionally does anything is an “addict” is vacuous and schoolmarmish.
Why do I occasionally smoke pot? It is not – as you say – to dull the pain of a fucked up world. It is to dull body aches and help me get some sleep.
Personally I do not use it but I could see minor doses for stuff like insomnia. But I have a CDL so even if I wanted to use it for “medicinal” purposes I couldn’t.
Getting laid on occasion doesn’t make me a “prevert” nor rapist. Having an occasional “snort” doesn’t make me an “alky”. Sheesh. All these self-righteous, puritanical blue noses need to get a fucking life and quit sticking their big noses in MINE.
Hi Douglas,
I was a little surprised also to find a number of people here suggesting that smoking pot is disreputable, “addictive” and damaging. Essentially the same arguments (in principle) used by some people to defend seatbelt laws and “speeding” enforcement. My parents were like this. They both drank liquor occasionally and weren’t “alcoholics” because of it. When I told them I smoked pot sometimes, they were a bit appalled. This dissonance is very common – and not just with regard to pot.
Well, I don’t advocate marijuana’s “recreational” use, but as there are many ways the THC can be ingested or inhaled these days (CBD oils being “vaped” appearing to be a common alternative to “rolling up a fattie” and “blazing away”), it’s quite possible for someone to “indulge”, no different than my having a nightly “snort” which I find to have less “side” effects than taking sleeping pills.
Again, my concern is should someone drive or operate heavy equipment in an impaired state. I’ve heard few argue seriously that the so-called “DUI epidemic” justifies a return to Prohibition; no, we have DUI enforcement as a CRIME, based on reasonable suspicion during a traffic stop or in wake of an accident, with arrests and prosecution being sustained by Probable Cause. FWIW, there’s been a huge uptick in downright unjustified DUI arrests on some of the flimsiest pretexts, simply because the officers/deputies involved get rewarded for racking up the “busts”, never mind what other abuses they can perpetrate, such as Civil Asset Forfeiture. It’s not unheard of for a motorist, carrying a large sum of cash, to get a bullshit “pinch” for DUI, then find his wallet emptied, and MAYBE there’s a receipt for the “Civil” seizure of the moola, or the Pigs just outright have stolen it. Never mind that not only does the motorist, on video, show no apparent signs of intoxication, and, even where requested to use the roadside breath tester (which is not directly admissible as evidence of impairment in any state, only the calibrated machine, used post-arrest, is and fulfills the “implied consent” laws of any state), he goes to the station as “blows zeros”, and then, is he released with an apology? Oh, HELL NO, he’s still held, with the officer then falsely claiming that he “sandbagged” the test, and gets a court order with an on-call magistrate to get a blood draw, as now it’s “drugged driving”. Again, no scientifically agreed-upon standards of impairment, it’s all subjective, especially with the junk-science “Drug Recognition Expert”. That sort of “expertise” a “peace ossifer” can attain with but an 80-hour online course!
Likely states “liberalized” and/or “legalized” the wacky weed b/c not only did they find stringent and Constitutionally-dubious enforcement to be expensive and a waste of law enforcement manpower, they’re GREEDY for the REVENUE of licenses, taxes, and so on. Never mind that “Uncle” still refuses to follow suit, and even a casual user can be persecuted, er, I mean, prosecuted by the Feds, with the local pigs tagging along for a piece of the haul. As I pointed out above, it’s also enabled the huge scam that DUI enforcement has become.
“I was a little surprised also to find a number of people here suggesting that smoking pot is disreputable”
The weed issue has ALWAYS been more of a cultural touchstone than a pharmacological matter. Weed was the holy communion of the Counterculture of the Sixties. Back then it was perfectly acceptable by the Establishment to smoke tobacco everywhere, though — indoors, on airplanes, at work, etc. The Marlboro Man was the symbol of America, not the longhaired sandal-wearing hippie with a peace sign pendant and a dime bag.
Today the situation is reversed. The Counterculture has become the Establishment, so weed is legal but tobacco is now seen as the ultimate demon drug. The same jurisdictions that are legalizing weed are banning cigarette smoking and even vaping just about everywhere. It’s absurd to see the New Establishment promoting the benefits of weed while demonizing tobacco — as if inhaling weed smoke into your lungs is any better for you than inhaling tobacco smoke.
Franky I get the idea that a little bit of weed for recreational use is no different than a couple of beers, but that has never really been what the debate is about.
And let us not forget that the hippie Counterculture of the Sixties adopted weed as a cultural talisman in no small part because in decades prior, weed was seen as a degenerate nigger drug of blacks and lowlifes in the subculture. Louis Armstrong was stoned most of his life, he actually wrote President Eisenhower a letter asking him to legalize weed, LOL.
The point being that the weed itself was less the issue than what it represented — an attack on the white, Establishment culture of a segregated, militarized America of the 1940s and 1950s.
Good take, X –
The incongruity re tobacco is very interesting. I don’t smoke and never have yet loathe and despise the way tobacco use has turned into a near-crime. Puritans are the worst sort of people in any age.
You do not understand the medical model of addiction….it’s very simple, addictive substances involve building up a tolerance requiring higher and higher doses. Second, addictive substances involve withdrawal when one quits. Neither really describes the effects of pot….damn folks, use some brainpower before spouting D.A.R.E. propaganda.
Who the fuck are you to presume to lecture me on “addiction”.
Well-said, Giuseppe!
I’ve experienced “withdrawal” symptoms from coffee – mild irritability, etc. when I am deprived of my morning Joe – but never from pot. In fact, that is one of the things I like about it. I can smoke a little in the evening to wind down and get some sleep and be 100 percent operational the next morning. If I have more than two mixed drinks, I wake up with a banger headache and feel like I got in a fight the night before.
A “Sublime” riposte…whether or not you smoked two joints last night.
Thank you, kind sir!
Ahhh, the “pot is so much more powerful than before” argument.
One might drink an entire 5-pack of beer in one sitting. For example, 3 beers per football game on teevee and you watch the early and late game. No big deal, a little relaxation. However, no one would ever down 72 ounces of 150 proof grain alcohol in the same period and live to tell about it.
So, pot is stronger now, good. Instead of smoking one or two joints you can take 3-5 puffs and get the same result. This is a massive economic advantage of “new pot”. And if someone DOES want to smoke two joints it’s not gonna kill ’em.
The market, once again, proves its superiority over command economy thinking.
PS: it’s the same dynamic that made cocaine worth smuggling and crack to exist. More potency, smaller dose. People want to get high and they don’t want to die. And, by the way, if heroin were legal fentanyl probably wouldn’t even exist as a street drug. And if it did, as a legal substance, people would find ways to use it for the most desirable effect.
ooops…6-pack
I was wondering where you got those 5 packs from
It sure ain’t my belly…
Haha, I was going to ask if they sell 5-packs in British Colombia…
But yes, thank you Mark for mentioning the truth about fentanyl. The only reason that is out there is because of opioids being illegal/prescription. Fentanyl is perfect for smuggling and its prevalence is a direct consequence of prohibition.
Don’t give those greedy JOO Fooks any “Ideers” WRT Shrinkflation. Else we’ll have 5-pack of 9.5 ounces cans of watered-down 3.2 “Old Yeller” piss.
One comment here…..I don’t believe the pot is more powerful, it’s just grown under more controlled conditions….that allows one to specify the number of units of THC in a given product, whereas in the old days, it was a crap shoot….you could buy a bag of skunk weed, or a bag of Thai sticks…..it is superior, IMO, that one can adjust dosage for desired effect….I know people who will get blotto to the point of being aphasic and I know people who just barely want a slight relaxing effect….individuals differ….it’s like the difference between people who will get blind drunk and folks who enjoy a glass or two of good wine…..one thing I notice is that most THC users do not tend to get really aggressive. Most of the people who assert the negative social effects of THC seem like neoPuritans to me….just saying.
I agree G-Man, that pot is not necessarily “stronger” than before. However, that is the claim made by many. It defies logic and economic sense that people will consume “X” amount of whatever irrespective of potency.
While in college, lo these many decades ago, we were going to have a party and a girl asked me to buy some sloe gin for her. She’d been drinking the stuff that was sold at grocery stores (~30 proof) but I was going to the State Run store. She gave me $10 and when I got back I gave her a pint and about $2 change. Boy, was she pissed. She thought I’d ripped her off. I tried to explain the difference to no avail. However, later that evening, when she was puking the 80 proof down her arm she cussed me relentlessly as this small amount had never hit so hard. People do learn from such experiences.
Smoke pot-Drive slow.
Pot distorts your sense of time, most drivers under the influence of pot will drive slower than the speed limit. I am not condoning smoking and driving, just pointing out what happens.
“Marijuana use has risks”
So does getting out of bed in the morning.
Life is a terminal disease. Nobody gets out alive.
Hear, hear, Mr. Kable!
Richard is correct. Long-term exposure to THC kills brain cells, period. Those who argue against this salient point are, in most cases, arguing from a position of vested interest — i.e. they are “tokers” themselves and therefore too biased to admit the truth.
Hi Jason,
Well, I’ve been an occasional/recreational user since high school and I think I’m generally coherent and functional! Point being, alcohol also “kills brain cells, period.” The relevant point is how many – and is it enough to matter? In both cases – alcohol and pot – if you abuse the stuff and drink/smoke excessively, of course there are likely to be deleterious consequences. But occasional/recreational use? I doubt it. I do not know of any evidence that says otherwise.
Some twenty-six years ago, “Afroman” (IRL: Joseph Foreman), put out a tune lamenting his drug use, “Because I got high”, which became a huge hit. There’s no indication that his actual life is anywhere near as mess up as the famous tune would cause one to think; indeed, Mr. Foreman seems remarkably disciplined. He became (in)famous again for being the subject of a police raid, alleging that he was involved in illicit drug trafficking; the raid turned up nothing, but supposedly one of the raiding LEOs helped himself to some “Lemon Pound Cake” (the title of his retaliatory rap song about the raid), and he alleges that some $400 cash went missing. That at least WRT the pound cake the “porker” was caught red-handed in some minor misconduct was bad enough; they actually SUED him for defamation for complaining about them! Fortunately, their lawsuit was unsuccessful, as the jury found in Afroman’s favor, and IDK if he’s countersued (IMO, he ought to have), but the ACLU, whom normally I don’t favor, cited this case as a prime example of a SLAPP suit.
“Long-term exposure to THC kills brain cells, period.”
Why is that a reason for the state to get involved? No one gets out of here alive, after all.
Hi Cobblestones!
It’s the Puritan beast rearing its head. Demon Rum! Watch out for “Marihuana.” Oy vey. Yes, of course, these things can be abused. So can sugar. So can almost anything. In moderation, alcohol and pot are about as harmful as lighting a fart.
So can pussy be “overindulged” in I guess. Too bad. Like “Terrible Ted” Nugent, I’ll be a “wang dang” addict until I breathe my last with a shite-eating grin going from ear-to-ear, thanks to an amarous redhead with big “Ka-knockers” and a “bad” attitude.
True, Douglas!
Anything that controls you is out of your control. So long as it doesn’t, it’s probably ok.
I didn’t mean that … maybe my comment was confusing?
Health issues are for children and teenagers who are chronic users, such as smoking every day. For adults the main problem might be getting lazy and not getting much done. alcoholism does kill brain cells. If you’ve ever seen a person mentally deteriorate from that disease and become a homeless person, it is extremely sad.
No scientific evidence proves that long-term exposure to THC directly kills human brain cells.
i think an amusing article here would be a list of all the laws that EP ignores
That might require a two part article
Morning. Richard!
It’s easy for me to put that in a sentence – about “all the laws that EP ignores.” I ignore or try to evade obeying every single one that does not entail my causing harm to another person. Because why not? Why should I “buckle up”? Why should I waste my car’s gas and my time coming to a complete stop at a stop sign when I can see there is no reason to do that – other than it being “the law”? I do not wear Face Diapers. I flip the bird at any “law” that says I need permission to add to my house or build something on my land. I reject utterly the laws that claim I “owe” the state any of my money.
My standard is simple: Is an action morally wrong? If it is, then I do not do it – and I don’t need laws to keep me in check. I don’t steal. I don’t damage other people’s property; I do not commit acts of physical violence. Those are the only laws that a man is bound to obey and that merit punishment when violated. I do not feel the least bad about ignoring a law just because it is “the law.” Why would I? I am not, after all, an imbecile.
Seriously. Do you feel guilty – as in, ashamed – when you are handed a ticket by a cop for transgressing a traffic law? Or do you feel resentful. Think about this. Only a sociopath feels no guilt or shame when they have done something that is genuinely wrong. If you were sentenced to prison for a number of years because you got drunk and killed someone wile driving erratically, you’d feel bad – I hope – and also that you deserve to go to prison. But when you get handed a $200 fine for “speeding” you know it’s bullshit – I hope – and do not feel ashamed or guilty.
As Allowat Sakima says: Ponder my words.
“the main problem might be getting lazy”
I’ve read that same logic applied to Chinese antagonism over the opium wars back in the day when Britain was pumping the stuff into China whilst looting its silver. Half the peasantry was lazing about getting stoned and doing bugger-all.
Governments hate citizens who aren’t busy producing wealth and generating tax revenue.
Richard,
Who the fuck are you to say “22–25% THC is much too powerful for free use for everyone.”?
My dad often says shit like “people can’t handle it!” regarding pot or drugs. Well, maybe some can’t. That’s true. Who cares? Some people are completely inept and can’t handle anything. Fuck ’em!
I’m done with the safety cult. I don’t want things to be “safe” anymore. I want to live in the dangerous world of freedom.
Now I want everyone to get out there and get good and stoned. Ripped. Baked. Cooked.
Get out there and break the fuckin’ law! Get shit-faced and play with fireworks that fly and explode! Piss on a cop car! Windmill your cock in a busy intersection!
Life is too short to be “safe” and respectable all the time. Sometimes you must embrace your madness. Let out that monkey of chaos. Show your fangs. Scream at the sky!
I’m done with that shit as well. In the tranquility of servitude versus the animating contest of freedom, I choose freedom.
‘Windmill yer cock’ lol. Learn something new here everyday. Had to look that one up. I’m assuming you meant the seventh definition down on Urban Dictionary.
I believe you have it, Norman!
From “Kelly’s Heroes”…
Little Joe (Stuart Margolin): “We ain’t go no booze”!
Big Joe (Telly Savalas, speaking in a mocking tone:) “We ain’t got no booze!” Well, we’re gonna get some booze! I’m gonna go down to the rec center and lay my hands on some dirty pictures, and when I get back, I want that farmhouse not only cleaned up, but decorated and looking like a night club!”
To quote my younger brother” drive fast, take chances”. Fuck your safety.
Hell yeah, Nova. Sometimes you just have to hang your balls out there. A life lived in fear is hardly worth living.
And note, this won’t go into effect until NEXT YEAR!
When GovCo wants to criminalize what was previously “legal” behavior they have no trouble in saying it starts RIGHT NOW. When the laws criminalizing are to be repealed you get the mealy mouthed words as quoted above about “protect the consumer” and other BS with a, “golly, gee whiz, how can we do this…it’s gonna take years to figure this out” attitude.
Actual free exchange of goods and services is anathema to The State. Why can’t one just grow some and set up a roadside stand to sell it along with tomatoes, squash, etc.?
Mussolini would be proud.
Virginia has jumped back into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and residential ratepayers will feel the pain—again.
https://www.cfact.org/2026/06/30/virginias-return-to-rggi-another-ratepayer-rip-off-in-the-making/
But, Richard –
Aren’t you one of those people who believes the “climate” is “changing” due to human activity, such as using electricity?
Climate is warming due to human activity, mainly CO2 emissions and the reduction of air pollution. Both causes supported by a wealth of scientific evidence. Understanding the general causes of global warming does not determine whether global warming is bad news or good news.
Based on 50 years of actual experience with global warming since 1975, it is obvious to me that global warming has been good news:
(1) Less air pollution since 1980 causes warming
That’s good news
(2) CO2 emissions do cause warming (but mainly in colder nations, in colder months, at night (TMIN) + larger food plants, longer growing seasons. That’s good news too.
The purpose of my climate and energy website, with 1.55 million lifetime page views, is to eliminate politics from climate science and energy policy (both usually bad news under a democrat governor, like in Virginia)
Only 23% of American drivers have never been in a car accident during their lifetime. Driving under the influence of alcohol or pot will not make them better drivers.
Richard,
The important question is whether the “change” is unnatural – and (next) whether it is harmful. The answer to the former is hugely debatable. To begin with, the “climate” is always “changing.” It has never been static. The use of the term “climate change” to suggest something unnatural is happening is scientifically illiterate and deliberately meant to suggest that “change” is unnatural and ominous.
The answer to the latter – whether “change” is harmful – is manifestly no. The “climate change” thing is another hystericized control mechanism, of a piece with “COVID,” which was hyped as if were Bubonic Plague when in fact it was just a bad cold for most people, if they even got it.
You state that “Driving under the influence of alcohol or pot will not make them better drivers.” This is pabulum. It is not a question of making someone a better or worse driver. It is that skill varies. Let me try to explain this to you. A couple of weeks ago, I took off the afternoon to do a strenuous hike – Dragon’s Tooth – on a 90-something degree day. This hike is for me a good workout. It could be dangerous for someone not in good physical shape. Should the trail be closed on 90 degree days because the hike could be dangerous or prove fatal to people who aren’t in good physical condition?
Maybe the roads ought to be “locked down” when it snows. Or gets dark out. After all, there’s an increased risk! Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety first!
This is the sort of silly evil underpinning the idea that everyone is meaningfully impaired – “drunk” when they are found to have an arbitrary BAC (0.05 percent in some states).
I once spent a couple of days with Bob Bondurant, the ex-race-car driver turned high performance driving instructor; Bob liked his liquor. The man was still a vastly more competent driver even with a few drinks in his system than 99 percent of the driving public. Yet he’d also be subject to a “drunk” driving charge, not because of his actual driving but because he was found to have a little alcohol in his system at a “checkpoint.”
It is people such as yourself who are why this country has become a Face Diaper’d, buckled-up, pants-shitting perpetual kindergarten for terrified and mildly retarded children.
The evidence that warming since 1975 was natural is nis weak. For example, solar energy that reaches the top of earth’s atmosphere has not increased since the late 1970s. some of the warming during the day, probably not the majority, is from a reduction in the percentage of cloudiness. scientists do not know if the reduction of cloudiness is a natural climate forcing or a climate feedback caused by warming from man made causes.
The climate always changes arguments is used by novices who do not understand the history of climate change. We are living in a period called an interglacial that started about 12,000 years ago. The global average temperature is unusually steady during an interglacial period. Meaning the warming of +1° C. in the past 50 years is very unusual for an interglacial period, and very unlikely to be 100% natural, or even 50% natural.
Unfortunately, the UN’s IPCC claims the past 50 years of warming was 100% caused by human-emitted greenhouse gases
“Climate” has become a political battle of CO2 does nothing versus CO2 causes all the warming. … studying this subject since 1997, i consider these two positions to be dumb and dumber.
Smokem if you got em.
Anyone that’d believe the United Nations, a Communist Front when founded in 1945, and has outlived its original sponsors, is no one to be taken seriously.
Wow, that last line was *golden*, Eric.
When one looks at how much energy the “Oith” (How the late Mel Blanc voicing Bugs Bunny ‘pre-nounced’ our planet’s name) puts out in a common thunderstorm, as compared to, say, the Tsar Bomba, well, we should get the idea than Man is INSIGNIFICANT, downright PUNY. No, we don’t affect climate in any manner that’s permanent at all, and it’s mightily presumptuous and arrogant to believe that we do or can.
I don’t force my religion on anyone. I just wish the environmentalists would return the favor.