Now that pot's legal in Alaska, are you guys gonna just start petting the grizzlies instead of hunting them?

Chuck In all actuality there won't be an a bit of difference one way or the other. The old stoners will remain so and the kids will still buy grams for $20. The only problem I envision is the hard drugs (heroin,meth,crack) that the street dealers will have along for an extra added attraction. The hard drugs are especially devastating when they hit the villages, most if not all suicides up here are probably performed during drug or alcoholic blackouts!

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by waterrat:
The hard drugs are especially devastating when they hit the villages, most if not all suicides up here are probably performed during drug or alcoholic blackouts!

Jim

One of the most abused drugs in the villages, as you know, is gasoline.

quote:

Originally posted by waterrat:
Chuck In all actuality there won't be an a bit of difference one way or the other. The old stoners will remain so and the kids will still buy grams for $20. The only problem I envision is the hard drugs (heroin,meth,crack) that the street dealers will have along for an extra added attraction. The hard drugs are especially devastating when they hit the villages, most if not all suicides up here are probably performed during drug or alcoholic blackouts!

Jim

Hi Jim, I agree. A happy and reflective Veterans Day to all of you.

I seriously doubt much will change - other than there will be a few less prisoners doing time for drugs and possibly a few more doing time for stupidity

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:


One of the most abused drugs in the villages, as you know, is gasoline.

Same here! Good grief, it is hard to teach kids wasted from hitting the petrol all night! I think Outback Australian communities have a lot in common with remote Alaskan and Canadian communities, just that we hunt buffalo instead of bears!

I was talking to a friend that grows his own and has for a long time. About the commercial aspects of the law. There are a lot of bugs that will need to get worked out and in realaty I think once it goes national that big corporations will take it over. Beins there is money to be made and control to be gained. Those that crave those 2 things will take them. When you can walk into the liquor store part of a big box store and buy pot I garrentee it won't be just some old stoner doing the supplying.

Like Scotch whiskey and the Kennedy's, someone will get their cut.


A big issue also is the enforcement of dui laws and enforcement practices.
There will need to be a definitive test that can be administered under field conditions that will hold up in court.
More laws, more regulation. I don't see that the average.pot head gained a thing. I think it will just be different not better.

The Feds won't recognize the new law as it will still be a felony under federal law. Don't get caught with dope and guns by the feds or you will become a felon over night.

The implementation, regulation, and figuring out how to fuck up a system that a stoner can run will be a great little make work government project!..

Not much changed here in Colorado after the legalization of pot. Stoners are still stoners. The only real difference is that the state is making tax revenue off of it now.

Oh and it has started an interesting cottage industry. Since it is illegal to deposit funds derived from pot sales in a bank. This is a huge cash business.

Officially carrying a gun while transporting this cash or product is a federal offense as mentioned above. With that in mind there has been a demand for washed up and low level MMA fighters and boxers who offer their skills as security and transport agents for the local businesses. I have several very capable fighters at my gym who never made it to the "show" who moonlight in the industry.

I am not condoning or promoting the practice. I simply find it an interesting twist in the unintended economy of legalized drugs.

There have been some upsides in Colorado. Weed has gotten a reputation as a "gateway drug". My opinion, and it's only that, is that the reason for that is the young folks were forced to buy it from dealers who also sold other hard drugs. At least now at the dispensaries they check IDs, are strictly regulated and hopefully will put a dent in the illegal drug business so the police can concentrate on the hard drug dealers.

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:
Not much changed here in Colorado after the legalization of pot. Stoners are still stoners. The only real difference is that the state is making tax revenue off of it now.

Oh and it has started an interesting cottage industry. Since it is illegal to deposit funds derived from pot sales in a bank. This is a huge cash business.

Officially carrying a gun while transporting this cash or product is a federal offense as mentioned above. With that in mind there has been a demand for washed up and low level MMA fighters and boxers who offer their skills as security and transport agents for the local businesses. I have several very capable fighters at my gym who never made it to the "show" who moonlight in the industry.

I am not condoning or promoting the practice. I simply find it an interesting twist in the unintended economy of legalized drugs.

When we were in Denver before heading East for Joyce's Pronghorn hunt we visited a "dispensary" out of curiosity. incredibly organized. You had a waiting room where you took a number like at the Alaska DMV. Then you were escorted to a second secured room. All the items for sale were in the same white generic looking containers. We asked a lot of questions, as this was before the vote here in Alaska to legalize.

The other thing was there was a very buff looking guard at the door that checked ID. He was in uniform and was obviously carrying.

For some reason I've been under the impression that Alaska had some form of legalized pot for some time, apparently not the case.

Not that I know of. But since I mostly got out of the timber industry. I haven't spent much time around stoners. Main reason I got out of it was the companies Won't drug test. . Now that crank has become very common just too many crankers workin in the brush. Since there's no telling what a guy is doing staying awake when everyone else on the crew is sleeping. Its never good and they tend to get aids and hepatitis pretty regular. I'm not putting myself in a position where I will have to.pack them out and get their blood on me. . No thanks. And since they are 3 or 4 times as likley to get hurt or killed than a non druggy in the brush . I just removed myself from that equation.

I thinned trees one summer in Montana, had the same problem. People were cutting themselves with chain saws and dropping trees on each other. Not a fun job, switched to fire fighting that summer, it was safer.

My brother a pot head lives in Colorado was a pot head before is is a pot head after.

The state is raking in lots of tax's.

Stupid people do stupid stuff not matter what the law says.

quote:

Originally posted by Macs B:
For some reason I've been under the impression that Alaska had some form of legalized pot for some time, apparently not the case.

You're thinking of the Ravin decision:

A 1975 decision by the Alaska Supreme Court that held the Alaska Constitution's right to privacy protects an adult's ability to use and possess a small amount of marijuana in the home for personal use.[1] The Alaska Supreme Court thereby became the first—and only—state or federal court to announce a constitutional privacy right that protects some level of marijuana use and possession

The "small" amount allowed under Ravin was under 4 oz.

Here's my problem. As part of my job I manage two municipal pools staffed by lifeguards. Most of my guards are in that high school to college age area. We have a zero tolerance policy on being under the influence of alcohol/drugs while at work. Prior to the new law it was pretty easy to test someone for THC in their system if we thought they were under the influence. As pot was illegal to have it in your system was an automatic termination. Now you can get stoned and show up to work as there is no readily available tool to test for sobriety as there is with alcohol. If they do test positive, the person can say I smoked last night or last week. Really scares me to know that your child might be in my pool with a guard who isn't fit for duty. Or driving the school bus, or cement mixer etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Hughiam:
Here's my problem. As part of my job I manage two municipal pools staffed by lifeguards. Most of my guards are in that high school to college age area. We have a zero tolerance policy on being under the influence of alcohol/drugs while at work. Prior to the new law it was pretty easy to test someone for THC in their system if we thought they were under the influence. As pot was illegal to have it in your system was an automatic termination. Now you can get stoned and show up to work as there is no readily available tool to test for sobriety as there is with alcohol. If they do test positive, the person can say I smoked last night or last week. Really scares me to know that your child might be in my pool with a guard who isn't fit for duty. Or driving the school bus, or cement mixer etc.

I believe the rules on testing and sensitive worksites remain the same. It will become interesting only after someone challenges test results as not being time sensitive.

I suspect you are not going to see a lick of difference in your work situation.

amazing...

quote:

Originally posted by Hughiam:
Here's my problem. As part of my job I manage two municipal pools staffed by lifeguards. Most of my guards are in that high school to college age area. We have a zero tolerance policy on being under the influence of alcohol/drugs while at work. Prior to the new law it was pretty easy to test someone for THC in their system if we thought they were under the influence. As pot was illegal to have it in your system was an automatic termination. Now you can get stoned and show up to work as there is no readily available tool to test for sobriety as there is with alcohol. If they do test positive, the person can say I smoked last night or last week. Really scares me to know that your child might be in my pool with a guard who isn't fit for duty. Or driving the school bus, or cement mixer etc.

School bus drivers have to have a class B CDL cement tk. either A or B that means federal DOT rules apply. random piss tests.

Pot......... just do not care. On a personal note, I never tried it, but then I do not and never did smoke. My Dad gave me a cigarette when I was 6........ he was smoking and shaving in the morning and I asked. He gave it to me and told me to take a big drag. Shortly there after I was puking and never got the urge again, which is why I never tried pot...... looked like a repeat to me. LOL

Having said that, the billions we waste on enforcing laws against it is ridiculous. There are certain things in the human behaviour/psychology factor that you will never get away from. Drugs (and that includes alcohol) have been a part of human culture since our species evolved. It is not going away.

The US seems to really have a mental brain fart when it comes to marihuana. The war on drugs is a complete failure, unless you want to look at the creation of federal departments of bureaucracy and enforcement. Then it is a winner!!!

The land of the free has the highest level of incarceration of any country on the planet. Take away the narcotics aspect and you would see a huge difference.

I was in law enforcement, so was my father. Drug enforcement......... especially pot.......... is a never ending waste of time and money. The hard drugs are a nasty and different situation, but pot? Who cares. Never went to a fight or domestic fuelled by too many joints. Too many beers? Oh ya.

Really when you look at ganja, who cares? And for testing........ grass shows up in your system far longer than booze, even though the affects of it are long gone.

Anyways, there are a lot more serious things out there to worry about than pot. I hope they legalize it all over and then tax the shit out of it like they do with booze and cigarettes. The hugely expensive levels of enforcement and bureaucracy could surely be used for better things.

I move up here in 1980 and if I remember right I think it was legal then.

quote:

Anyways, there are a lot more serious things out there to worry about than pot. I hope they legalize it all over and then tax the shit out of it like they do with booze and cigarettes. The hugely expensive levels of enforcement and bureaucracy could surely be used for better things.

+1
True that.

In the rural areas, the potheads have been growing the junk for as long as anyone can remember; nobody ever gets busted; pretty open actually. Trouble is it always works it's way down to the older grade school kids; they get caught with it a school, parents are called in to take them home.

I was surprised to see it legalized. I hate seeing kids introduced to all the dope out there, first with pot. Pretty quick they are hanging with the doper crowd and it's usually downhill from there.