Flying SquidElton John Says Legalizing Marijuana in America and Canada Is “One of the Greatest Mistakes of All Time”
deegeeseOh joy, moralizing from a dry drunk.
Who dresses like a bad acid trip.
woelkchenWho dresses like a bad acid trip.
But he’s blind these days, so now he has an excuse for that part.
thebigslimeOK boomer
paraphrandHey! It fits this time
I appreciate his history and how it guides this, but I argue that - in the context of addiction - not banning alcohol and its societal promotion is a greater harm by any government. Absurd? Yes. But deep down inside it’s no more absurd than prohibiting marijuana considering their similarities in both societal use. I was going to say similarities in relative harm too, but alcohol is killing vastly more people than all other recreational drugs.
We already know what alcohol prohibition did in the U.S. and we know that our prisons are filled with people who happened to have a dime bag in their pocket when a cop stopped them. He’s not an idiot. He has to know about both of those things.
I spent age 16-25 a constant pothead. I mean, some weeks I’d just never be sober. My friend said that I sat up in bed, opened the drawer, pulled out a baggie, packed a bowl, smoked 2 hits, and then layed back down. All without waking up, or stop snoring.
I have never once done any other drug. I’m 42 now, and haven’t smoked weed in about 10 years.
I know others with similar stories. Weed does not lead to other drugs. Your choices do.
HEXN3TMy choices led to other drugs, and my choices led to me living a happier life, finally breaking free from my self-destructive habits. These Nixonites corpses need to finish their rigor mortis already.
cRazi_manCool story. Weed should be legal. But let’s not pretend it doesn’t have any harmful effects. Alcohol and smoking should be illegal though.
We Have To Talk About Weed
CruxifuxShut up, nerd.
SkullgridHis point is that it’s not a drug that has to lead to other drugs
1985MustangCobrayes it has, though not as big as some people make it out to.
it has, because it’s illegal and puts people into contact with the legal market.
When you actually look at it, alcohol or coffee (depending on your interpretation of drug) are far bigger gateway drugs, alongside tobacco.
I agree with everything you say. vapes (i dont like that name) were alot more controlled being sold only in ecigarette stores, and when they weren’t disposable or these small little devices, there was not many people who were “non-tobacco users” starting.
Source: worked in the e-cigarette industry for a few years. Left when big tobacco came in.
No one is pretending that, certainly not the person you responded to.
Alcohol should be illegal? What a dumb take.
Improper education leads to other, harder drugs. See DARE
Good call. I had my first intro to drugs in 3rd grade health class. I walked away thinking weed was the absolute worst thing you could do, but meth and acid were alright. I later found out that lesson was right in only one regard.
I mean acid and a few other psychedelics are ok. Meth abuse is harmful for sure, same for many opioids except when used in a medical setting or if you actually need them.
Different people take it differently. I lead a super active life, and am more active than my friends who don't indulge.
I clean, do stuff, am active, and consume heroic amounts of weed. I wake up early AF and am always early to things. I am not forgetful either or act "confused".
I know everybody is affected differently.l, yet I hold the belief that the "stoner stereotype" is not as much about the weed slowing people down but about people being themselves and using weed as an excuse.
Perhaps my belief is due to my experience with it.
Perhaps my belief is due to my experience with it.
And you just demonstrated far more self awareness than Elton John!
Weed led me to lsd which led to improving myself through some good long looks in the mirror. Meanwhile opiate addiction is far more frequently caused by legitimate prescription (and I’m not advocating against it, yall don’t want to experience surgery like those of us who are allergic have to)
Weed opened my mind to trying other drugs, for sure. It wasn’t weed itself though, it was the fact that I was told growing up that all drugs, including weed, will ruin my life and health. I tired weed and it was giggly and relatively benign, which made me realize that everything I was taught was wrong.
I’ve had some of the best times of my life on MDMA, with my partner!
I wish the press would stop asking fucking celebrities questions about social issues. They do not represent society and never will.
I agree, but I find it amusing in this case since this guy pretty much owes his career to people in the 70s getting high and listening to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Typical Boomer/Conservative move. They enjoy something and then enjoy it even more by telling everyone else they’re not allowed to use it.
YokozunaAs much of a shit head as he is, I can separate the man from the music and jam that shit loud as fuck because good lord it’s a banger.
You can’t lock me in your penthouse, I’m going back to my town!
Unless they say the thing I like, then they are the best person ever!
(I jest here about people’s hypocrisy, but I agree, I don’t listen to artists because I necessarily sign off on every single dumb opinion they have or action they take. I pirate anyway, who cares.)
SteveEven if I agreed it was a mistake, I’d have a hard time placing it in the top 500.
It’s not quite up there with, for example, owning humans as property.
No, no, no… He places it as the 9,876,546,207th greatest mistake. So, still technically correct if he were listing the top 10 billion mistakes.
ChozoStick to music, Elton.
I’d rather he didn’t do that either, any more
BlueFootedPeteyIt can be addictive. It can lead to other drugs. Neither of which means it needs to be illegal.
If we want to worry about addicts, maybe we should worry about all of the sugar addicts, considering obesity is a much bigger problem when it comes to all sorts of things in society, especially our healthcare system.
The sugar problem is wild. And I’ll admit iv beens in it’s clutches a lot longer than weed. Also I’m still happy with weed, and while I am trying to cut back on the sugars wholly shit it’s so much harder than weed. Or booze, which I also enjoy and struggle with.
Sugar, ultraprocessed food, shopping/overconsumption, porn, gambling. Lots of normal things condoned by our society can be addictive for a segment of the population.
Right, but detracting from the point isn’t very productive. Weed does have the opportunity to be addicting. Now that the world is leading towards more open use of it, hopefully we can do more research and better understand how things work.
Absolutely, do the research. But don’t pretend like this is the big addiction problem that must be solved.
no i never said anything like that. there is other drugs that have that issue like opioids
I know you didn’t, but that’s essentially what Elton John is saying.
elton john can walk down the yellow brick road
This is honestly one of the saddest parts about all of this. 80+ years of scientific research that we could have been doing. All of the treatments and medicines that we’d likely have…
Yeah its really stupid. Also on kinda the same point i wish hemp was used more widely.
Lead to other drugs, no.
I don’t think he would be as famous if people weren’t doing drugs while listening to his music
Or because of the drugs he was doing when making his music.
And now he’s out of my library.
CarbonIceDragonI mean, sure, its addictive and unhealthy. But, the people suffering from it are the people that take it in the first place, so, banning personal possession and use is effectively punishing the victims, adding more suffering which may drive some to seek more drugs to get through. And if you instead ban production and distribution, you simply create a perfect niche for organized crime to appear to do those things, which creates worse problems than the drugs themselves. If such drugs dont force those involved with them to hide, at least it is possible to put some regulations on them, and more easily monitor and intervene in their use.
Wait, weed is legal in the US? When was that a thing?
(Marijuana is still illegal federally in the USĺ
Wait, weed is legal in the US? When was that a thing?
Since 1996 in California.
Federal agents can still arrest you, even for personal use. Its just that US Presidents have decided to tell federal agencies to not enforce it. We don’t know what the 2nd trump administration would do, they seems to love this idea of “tough on crime” so they could decide to enforce controlled substances more strictly, even non-violent personal uses.
Who is getting busted by federal agents for a half oz or a vape? It is legal in the states that have legalized it. Of course I’d rather it be made legal federally and I hate the states’ rights kind of issue it is but to act like it is functionally illegal across the US is silly.
Its de facto legal, but only because there aren’t enough federal agents to enforce it, but de jure illegal, because the law is still on the books, marijuana is still a Schedule I Controlled Substance.
Also, its only if you are a citizen, that you can just smoke weed, the risk is low for any legal reprocussions. But for non-citizens, that little weed can get you deported. Its silly, but its true.
They’ve set up a situation where they can basically choose when and to whom, the law will apply to. This is exactly what Republicans want. This will be a defining feature of the upcoming Trump regime.
They will likely just use it as one of their legal cudgels for silencing dissent/opposition. In other words, they don’t give a shit, but it will still be technically illegal so they can use it when it suits them.
Fuck off elton. You know as well as anyone the same can be said for alcohol. As a legalization person I am very disappointed in at least the illinois legalization. It does not allow for private grow for everyone and puts to much money into to small of hands. In addition all the adult entertainment should have severe advertising restrictions. They should be restricted to only having adverts in other adult businesses. So liquor stores, dispensiaries, gambling establishments, bars, etc. stores should not be able to advertise liquor but just have the section with prices and thats it. Same with restaurants. We should totally allow adults to do these things but it stay out of the general public space.
Illinois is especially bad on catering to this shit. I agree, their cannabis laws suck, but I also hate that every bar also has slot machines. Let’s encourage two addictions at once and make every place you can get a drink a place you can also lose your shirt!
I’m just on the Indiana side of the Indiana/Illinois border and I appreciate being able to drive half an hour to a dispensary, but Illinois “vice” laws are seriously fucked up.