Drugs

[FoolKiller]

That is a fair statement, it's the point some might cross when they tell another who to employ that bothers me. Also of course you do realize a pot test well show + even if 29 days have past sense the bastage burned the bush.

They are supposed to be creating a test that police can use for DUI stops. If they can do that then we are fine.

They never had to test for it active in your system, so the test never existed. Employers wanted the widest time range possible to weed out drug users in general, so that exists.

If they try to regulate it to that degree it will not be surprising, but it would not be likely to hold up in court if the job does not have other specific safety regulations. But anywhere there are safety rules for using equipment or performing an act this rule will exist, but it will be unnecessary.

 

[arora]

I'm not advocating reckless behavior, I'm not a robot and I don't expect others to be so either.

 

[nobuffalo]

The smell of illegal substances coming from next door? No, not reasonable.

Why? I'm sorry but I just don't understand what the legality has to do with it. What if the smell absolutely does not stick onto your clothing or the drug does not get into your system, why then would it be a big deal?

Also, see Foolkiller's post.

FoolKiller's business is his business, he can make whatever requirements he wants.

I don't care what other people do either - want to break the law? Carry on, but know the consequences. However, if you break the law and make it obvious to me, I will report you for breaking the law. If you do something to annoy me (such as allowing weed smoke to waft onto my property) while doing something illegal (such as smoking weed), I am almost guaranteed to report you.

Sure you care, you'll report them. It's rather frightening really, having people who can't think for themselves and will report someone just because their government says it's a no-no. That is at least the impression I am getting from you.

As for the discussion of how long it is in your system there's a lot of factors with that I think. I myself have passed after only two weeks but I'm a skinny guy and at the time wasn't smoking much.

 

[arora]

If you give him the benefit of the doubt, he simply does not want some stink, I'm ok with that. As one of my heros once said "when we live on top of each other as the Europeans do, we shall be as corrupt as the Europeans."

He also managed to lay down a pretty sound foundation we now like to ignore.

As far as legalities go, it's the trespass that will get you every time, no one wants some jerk steeling from them, or living with violence all around.

 

[ExigeEvan]

A responsible citizen would inform the police if the neighbours were being a threat or brought around those who would be considered a problem for the neighbourhood.

From what you have said, they're basically good neighbours who are friendly and inviting but like to occasionally indulge in a toke once in a while. Why would you want to create a huge riff between the two of you?

Well that's my point, they're decent neighbours. A little messy,a little noisy, but those aren't an issue as it's far below the mess that I've seen before. But they are clearly partaking in illegal activity so some extent. I don't know the limit of the activity.

Is it getting you high? Do you complain when you smell their BBQ?

I would be annoyed if they had a BBQ while my washing was out drying, but that's not illegal.

You can get hungry!

My point is, and I'm sure you get it, if it's not affecting you and you can only smell it why would you need to do anything? About the only way you're gonna get a contact high is if you're in a smoked out car or room that's visibly full of smoke and you're inhaling it, even then it isn't much of one. If you just don't like the smell then too bad, using the legality of it as an excuse to have it stopped is kinda lame.

Because employment...

Evan, are you familiar enough as neighbours to have a face-to-face chat about it? I'm sure they'll be apologetic and want to work with you to find a compromise.

Sadly I'm not. My housemates are more so, but even then it's only the occasional neighbourly acknowledgement.

That is a ridiculous problem, growing a plant and burning it should not be such a deal. I agree with the rest of what you said.

My line of work is very dependent on having a clean criminal record. Very. Also, to have anything to do with drugs would stop me travelling to the USA and probably several middle eastern countries. A very, very big issue. An issue where my employment would be severely limited in future.

I don't work in Mcdonalds.

I don't care or want to care or know what another person does with his own time, I find it offensive the controlling aspect of our society. I already said I agreed with the rest of your post so...

I don't wish to control anything someone does within their own home, but when it comes into my home it can be an issue.

I don't believe it's enough to cause an issue at someones employment.

Do you even know the US limits on people with even a minor a drug conviction in the USA?

Why? I'm sorry but I just don't understand what the legality has to do with it. What if the smell absolutely does not stick onto your clothing or the drug does not get into your system, why then would it be a big deal?

It wouldn't be. But it's a threat, a possibility. Which is why I'm here...

 

[arora]

It should not be a crime, that is sorta the point. How about if/when a cat gets into a bad spot in his life we offer help rather then prison? Wild concept I know lol.

I understand the rest of the deal though 👍

I will always wonder why some arbitrary rule is just so easily accepted, but that is probably only me.

 

[ExigeEvan]

It should not be a crime, that is sorta the point. How about if/when a cat gets into a bad spot in his life we offer help rather then prison? Wild concept I know lol.

I understand the rest of the deal though 👍

I will always wonder why some arbitrary rule is just so easily accepted, but that is probably only me.

I'm all for discussing the legality of drugs, and personally very much in support of legalisation and taxation.

But while it's illegal there are several real world implications to people using it.

 

[arora]

I'm with ya, I'm just a rebel

 

[nobuffalo]

ExigeEvan, I personally feel you are overreacting (as for it getting into your system and causing you to fail a test) but without a test there is no way to know, that's just how I feel. I understand your concern but really don't see it as an issue. Have you ever known of anyone losing their job or receiving a drug conviction because of a neighbor smoking it and them occasionally smelling it?

I do not know the US limits on people with a minor drug conviction but I don't see this situation leading to one or even the possibility.

 

[Shaun]

That is a fair statement, it's the point some might cross when they tell another who to employ that bothers me. Also of course you do realize a pot test well show + even if 29 days have past sense the bastage burned the bush.

And this is my issue when my employer introduced random drug and alcohol tests last year while handing down another knee jerk/control all policy.

A question that I asked them when they informed us of the policy went like this.

So I could travel to Amsterdam or any part of the world where it isn't illegal to smoke weed. Smoke until my heart is content for four weeks, fly back to Aus, have another week off work and a week after returning to work be tested and fired because it's still traceable in my system?

After a pause the answer came back, well that's the new policy and if anyone doesn't like it they know where the gate is and can leave whenever they want.

Way to go, nice one.

It's just another form of control as far as I'm concerned. Personally it doesn't affect me as I don't smoke weed and very rarely drink. Still if one of the guys wants to have a joint to wind down on a Friday night I don't see how it's any of my employers business as long as they are not under the influence at work, and that's the grey area isn't it.

 

[FoolKiller]

I can understand not wanting the smell from an illegal act or use of an illegal substance wafting on to your property. In this new age of cops knocking down doors for the tiniest provocation I would not want anyone to be passing by and thinking that I might be the one smoking up because that is where they detected the smell. Personal opinion on legality no longer matters when cops could have a reason to bust in.

That said, I don't officially complain about neighbors. You could just catch the neighbor outside at some point and let him know the smell drifts over and while you won't call the police that others might and he/she needs to be more careful. They can be paranoid. The neighbor probably doesn't want the smell drifting.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Have you ever known of anyone losing their job or receiving a drug conviction because of a neighbor smoking it and them occasionally smelling it?

Nope, and I'd hate to be the first.

I do not know the US limits on people with a minor drug conviction but I don't see this situation leading to one or even the possibility.

As FK said, proximity alone is a concern. It wouldn't take a lot for them to throw a stash over the fence, or try to blame someone in my house for supply.

Extremely unlikely, but the sort of paranoia I'm willing to entertain for my job and career.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

Why? I'm sorry but I just don't understand what the legality has to do with it. What if the smell absolutely does not stick onto your clothing or the drug does not get into your system, why then would it be a big deal?

Legality has everything to do with it. If you want to smoke drugs, do it where I will never find out about it, then we have no problem. You won't be putting yourself in the position of risking being reported, and I won't be put in the position of having to report you for making it so obvious. I'm not risking having the police come knocking just because you are too lazy to be discreet about it.

If smoking weed was legal here, and it didn't leave any lasting trace, I still wouldn't want the smell of it on my property because I find it gag-inducing. If I smoked weed, I would be sure to be very careful about where I smoked it and who it could affect, because I would appreciate that not everyone wants weed smoke drifting through their garden.

Sure you care, you'll report them. It's rather frightening really, having people who can't think for themselves and will report someone just because their government says it's a no-no. That is at least the impression I am getting from you.

Well, let me assure you, I am not someone who you should be frightened of. I don't need the law to tell me what I should and shouldn't agree with, but I have to obey it because I could get in trouble if I don't.

Since we're playing that game, the impression that I am getting from you is that you struggle to understand why neighbours should be considerate, and think that I should have to tolerate things which I really shouldn't, especially on my own property.

I care when it starts to affect me. I'm sure that if my neighbours did smoke weed they wouldn't appreciate me lighting a bonfire on a sunny Sunday afternoon and letting the smoke go onto their property while they were sat outside enjoying a bottle of wine, because I would be being an inconsiderate 🤬. Some times you have to step back and think about how you would feel if someone did the same to you, and go from there.

Smoking weed is illegal here. I don't particularly agree with it being illegal, but it is. Due to it being illegal, I really don't want anything to do with it, because even the slightest rumour could destroy my client base and put me (and my girlfriend, for that matter) out of work. I would much rather report you and you get in trouble for having actually done something wrong (in the eyes of the law) than take even the slightest, infinitesimal chance of being dragged into it myself for turning a blind eye.

Ahh, that's a little more tricky then, Evan. You could go around and explain the position you are in (your job and how it could be affected) and try to work something out, but I guess that then you are pretty much admitting to being in full knowledge that they are smoking illegal substances, and could get stung in the future. Either way, I would make the effort to talk to the first, and go from there.

 

[kennylmao]

I think drugs should be made legal. People need to experience the good and the bad things in life. They need to be able to decide for themselves how they lived their own lives. If they 🤬 up and ended up becoming a useless bum from drug abuse then I guess they were never fit to live a productive life anyway. I see it as a whole 'survival of the fittest thing', in this sense it's the mentally fit which survive. It's all in the mind.

 

[counter345]

For me, legalizing and illegalizing drugs have always been a slippery slope. However, the complex part, in my opinion, is how and when the extent of certain drugs negatively affect other people, not just the drug user.

 

[Joel]

For me, legalizing and illegalizing drugs have always been a slippery slope. However, the complex part, in my opinion, is how and when the extent of certain drugs negatively affect other people, not just the drug user.

Thing is though, the point where they affect other people is already illegal. If you get drunk and beat someone up, it's still assault. Same thing if you're on drugs. I understand we don't want parents shooting up before reading their kids a bedtime story, but I don't think it's all that much different than the millions of alcoholic parents.

I don't really see how it's a slippery slope to be honest. Marijuana will probably be legalized in the next couple of decades in more liberal parts of the world, but I don't think it's realistic to say it will lead to meth being legal.

Guess my opinion is that it's easier to minimize societal damage and solve drug problems when it doesn't have to be done in the courts and prisons. Mentally healthy people don't get in to heroin, and it's time to treat it as a mental health problem instead of a crime. Throwing people in prison for being addicted to hard drugs just makes zero sense.

 

[arora]

Lets see how far this goes. It's worth a read but I'll just pull a few quotes from it, Holder attempting to more or less get rid of the mandatory min sentencing etc.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...3850c2-012c-11e3-96a8-d3b921c0924a_story.html

“Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no good law enforcement reason,” Holder plans to say. “We cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation.”

The cost of incarceration in the United States was $80 billion in 2010, according to the Justice Department. While the U.S. population has increased by about a third since 1980, the federal prison population has grown by about 800 percent. Justice Department officials said federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent over capacity.

 

[shmogt]

Ok I will explain why they are illegal. Basically all of us go to school or have a job etc and help out society. One day that may end and we will turn to drugs to dull the problems away. The police will than arrest you and put you in jail for the smallest offence since all the stupid minimum sentencing laws. Basically if you get caught more than once you could risk an extreme amount of time in prison. See by you doing drugs you are still contributing to society because now they have to employ police, judges, lawyers, prison guards, etc. You actually help out way more than you ever did.

The worst is they have made it even more into a business with minimum sentencing for specific drugs. Cocaine and crack are literally the same thing except crack is mixed with baking soda. However you get 15x the jail time if you get caught for crack offenses. They know that if you are rich you are doing cocaine and are probably productive however if you are smoking crack chances are you are poor and would make them more money in jail. Meth is the same thing. I have never heard of a rich person doing meth. It's always poor redneck type people.

An example would be a town has a huge auto plant where everyone works at. That plant closes for whatever reason. Everyone in the town has no skills and there isn't enough jobs left in the town to hire everyone anyway. So what they do is build a jail and employ jail guards and police forces. They make they cops do random stops etc and just pick up anyone who has drugs. If you have nothing to do and your life is ruined there's a pretty good chance you will be doing drugs so it's easy to fill this prison quick. Than that's basically how it goes now half the town is running the jail and the other half is in it. They just took care of what to do with a huge town of unemployed people.

 

[Liquid]

Yes, the police will arrest you because we have laws against drugs. Completely true.

But, have you ever considered for even one second that those laws might be wrong and shouldn't be in place or should be edited?

 

[Keef]

Not once in my 12 years of grade school was the idea proposed that laws aren't necessarily right or good. When the more clever of us students would question or test the teacher they would generally laugh it off or dance around it. They're not supposed to put their own personal views into it, but instead teach whatever the curriculum says. And guess who designs the curriculum?

 

[Joel]

Not to mention how ludicrous the "education" on the drugs themselves is. They talk about weed like you'll die and lose everything you love from smoking one joint, and people actually believe it's that bad.

I almost wonder if it makes people more drawn to hard drugs. They make weed out to be the worst thing ever, so when kids inevitably try it and realize it's fun and isn't really a big deal, do they believe that heroin must not as bad as school said it was either?

I wish they could just cut the BS, there's some drugs that you just shouldn't touch, but putting marijuana under the same umbrella as meth or heroin is just dishonest, especially in an institution of "education".

 

[eight6er]

Not to mention how ludicrous the "education" on the drugs themselves is. They talk about weed like you'll die and lose everything you love from smoking one joint, and people actually believe it's that bad.

I almost wonder if it makes people more drawn to hard drugs. They make weed out to be the worst thing ever, so when kids inevitably try it and realize it's fun and isn't really a big deal, do they believe that heroin must not as bad as school said it was either?

I wish they could just cut the BS, there's some drugs that you just shouldn't touch, but putting marijuana under the same umbrella as meth or heroin is just dishonest, especially in an institution of "education".

This is the reason I tried many different drugs, I tried cannabis and thought it was fine, what's the big deal, why did they lie and say it's so bad? So I tried most everything but heroin. Drugs are not anywhere near as bad as they made out in school and the hardest most damaging one I tried was alcohol and I probably would never had tried any drugs only for alcohol. I never became addicted and had no problems what so ever.

It all depends on the person taking them, just like alcohol some people can enjoy it socially and never have a problem, while some become addicted or just have no control and ruin the fun for everyone.

 

[Azuremen]

Yes, the police will arrest you because we have laws against drugs. Completely true.

But, have you ever considered for even one second that those laws might be wrong and shouldn't be in place or should be edited?

I honestly can't tell if his post is just a giant piece of tongue in cheek or just, well, his usual rambling.

Not to mention how ludicrous the "education" on the drugs themselves is. They talk about weed like you'll die and lose everything you love from smoking one joint, and people actually believe it's that bad.

I almost wonder if it makes people more drawn to hard drugs. They make weed out to be the worst thing ever, so when kids inevitably try it and realize it's fun and isn't really a big deal, do they believe that heroin must not as bad as school said it was either?

I wish they could just cut the BS, there's some drugs that you just shouldn't touch, but putting marijuana under the same umbrella as meth or heroin is just dishonest, especially in an institution of "education".

I haven't looked into the educational practices here for a while, since we've legalized Marijuana to some extent and you can't go a day without smelling it if you're out and about. Of course, it can't be as bad as Japan, where adults adamantly believe Marijuana is just as bad as Meth.

But yes, the scare tactics system ultimately backfires I feel, as people just assume everything must be a lie. The amount of misinformation currently going around about Molly in the media is mind blowing - I've seen some outlets implying it is pure Ecstasy (which makes no sense as well) mixed with Meth and Coke and LSD. Then you have people thinking LSD is the most insane and dangerous drug since Meth, while its, minus the inevitable paradigm shifts it can cause, pretty benign compared to booze and weed even.

 

[Dennisch]

Silly people. LSD is awesome.

 

[Joel]

I haven't looked into the educational practices here for a while, since we've legalized Marijuana to some extent and you can't go a day without smelling it if you're out and about. Of course, it can't be as bad as Japan, where adults adamantly believe Marijuana is just as bad as Meth.

But yes, the scare tactics system ultimately backfires I feel, as people just assume everything must be a lie. The amount of misinformation currently going around about Molly in the media is mind blowing - I've seen some outlets implying it is pure Ecstasy (which makes no sense as well) mixed with Meth and Coke and LSD. Then you have people thinking LSD is the most insane and dangerous drug since Meth, while its, minus the inevitable paradigm shifts it can cause, pretty benign compared to booze and weed even.

It's essentially de facto legal here for personal use as it's pretty unlikely for a cop to arrest someone for anything that would reasonably be personal use. It'll be legal at some point, popular opinion is pretty convincingly in favour of legalization and taxation. Unfortunately our current government are moral conservatives campaigning on being "tough on crime" which means that we're throwing people in jail for have 6 or 7 plants in the garage and such.

I think the scare tactics are becoming less and less effective due to the internet. It's not hard for people to go online and research, and there's a lot more resources these days that will cut through the BS. The misinformation in schools and mainstream media is staggering at times.

 

[kennylmao]

I guess I wouldn't get addicted to marijuana then since I don't get addicted to alcohol. Drinking alcohol is nice, you get drunk and all, but I love my money more than being able to lose touch with reality for a short moment. Unless in the future my life turns out to be pure 🤬, then maybe I'd drink myself to death.

 

[shmogt]

Not to mention how ludicrous the "education" on the drugs themselves is. They talk about weed like you'll die and lose everything you love from smoking one joint, and people actually believe it's that bad.

I almost wonder if it makes people more drawn to hard drugs. They make weed out to be the worst thing ever, so when kids inevitably try it and realize it's fun and isn't really a big deal, do they believe that heroin must not as bad as school said it was either?

I wish they could just cut the BS, there's some drugs that you just shouldn't touch, but putting marijuana under the same umbrella as meth or heroin is just dishonest, especially in an institution of "education".

They actually had commercials back in the 80's I think it was where a guy came home and killed his wife and the ending says he smoked weed before hand. The effects of weed are calmness and laziness and yet their commercial he is extremely violent and productive. Pure scare tactics with no merit behind it.

 

[lbsf1]

I guess I wouldn't get addicted to marijuana then since I don't get addicted to alcohol. Drinking alcohol is nice, you get drunk and all, but I love my money more than being able to lose touch with reality for a short moment. Unless in the future my life turns out to be pure 🤬, then maybe I'd drink myself to death.

You can't get "addicted" to weed in the same way you can to alcohol. Your body can become physically dependant on alcohol however with weed the addiction would "only" be psychological and you can become psychologically addicted to anything.

 

[Bo]

They actually had commercials back in the 80's I think it was where a guy came home and killed his wife and the ending says he smoked weed before hand. The effects of weed are calmness and laziness and yet their commercial he is extremely violent and productive. Pure scare tactics with no merit behind it.

I have seen all too many drug PSAs/PIFs, and whilst they are hard hitting (and that is why us ad geeks love 'em!) I really doubt they would do much to stop anything now. They would need to balance strong facts and statistics (as many PSAs are doing nowadays) with ridiculously grotesque imagery in order to make an impact in today's world, but interestingly there is some truly disturbing and quite simply horrific stuff from the mid 70's to early 80's that I have found that I think would prove effective today.

 

[VolkswagenX]

They actually had commercials back in the 80's I think it was where a guy came home and killed his wife and the ending says he smoked weed before hand. The effects of weed are calmness and laziness and yet their commercial he is extremely violent and productive. Pure scare tactics with no merit behind it.

This pro soccer player here got banned a few years ago because he smoked a joint before one of the games. I remeber thinking: WHAT??, The guy should get a trophy for being able to perform stoned lol.