Originally Posted by
Gypsy Feet 
Taking the Quote out of context makes it look like I don't believe in prescriptions! I really believe for some of us, it is enough/imperative that we know ourselves well enough to self regulate (my story today), and for others (maybe most) it seems imperative to follow a program rigidly out of the woods and into the light.
What ever it takes!
Thanks for the clarification. As a chronic pain patient I can get defensive when I think someone says you can't take prescriptions as needed. So sorry for misunderstanding.
Originally Posted by
tyler I do think that pot is often a gateway drug, but that has much less to do with the pot than it does with the fact that it is illegal. Because it is illegal the chances of being exposed to other illegal "harder" drugs is much more likely than if it were legal.
Case in point was the situation gneiss brought up. If they were just in the bar drinking legal beer, it is highly unlikely someone would have whipped out a meth pipe and sparked it up. Instead they were already doing something illegal, smoking pot, so it was a much easier step to break out the meth.
This is why, and bear in mind pot is my DOC and has caused major wreckage in my life, I support the legalization of pot. I'm not in any way suggesting that people smoke it. I CLEARLY can not smoke it. But the damage done to people's life, like overman's cousin are now a burden on our criminal justice system for something that, in my mind at least, really wasn't that big a deal.
I agree with your reasons why pot is a gateway drug. I know that illegal drug use has gone down in my city since our LE has chosen to respect the state's laws on marijuana dispensaries.
My whole experience seeing pot legalized here has been interesting.
When pot first became legal, there was an upsurge in those who used it. There were a lot of folks who started playing with it now that they "could". Over time, the novelty has worn off. The majority of those abusing Medical Marijuana cards have gone back to alcohol or even just stopped abusing drugs completely. Most of them were "after dinner" smokers anyway. I haven't seen an upsurge of abusers at all.
I live a few blocks from a dispensary. At first, I saw a lot of new foot traffic I didn't like. Folks dealing in the back parking lot there etc. Now that a year has passed ninety plus percent of the people going in are ill, and it seems like any other store on the block.