Do you live in an area where a lot of medical cannabis is grown?

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   Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years ago

   If you do, how is it affecting your community?

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      Steve Orionposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I wish...

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   Cagsilposted 11 years ago

   Nope.
   
   Medical Cannabis isn't legal in my state that I know of, unless I missed it somewhere along the line.
   
   However, I've not heard of a negative effect on the communities in which do.

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   Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years ago

   I live in California. My county board of supervisors recently passed an emergency  "nuisance ordinance," restricting the number of plants per parcel to less than what the state law allows citing numerous complaints about the smell.

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      Cagsilposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You mean, government said it was from complaints of the smell. And the likelihood government is lying about complaints? Higher than ever in the past.

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         Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         There have been a few cases of people ripping off growers which resulted in car chases and exchanges of gunfire. There are always a few idiots.

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            Cagsilposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            If that's what they are complaining about then they could complain about just any old average crime in their neighborhood the same way, and never receive a response.
            Yes, and always will be.

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   knolyourselfposted 11 years ago

   Toward the autumn, one can smell it from the interstate highway when passing certain areas.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I see you're in California also, the smell is pervasive in some areas.

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   livelongerposted 11 years ago

   I don't understand the smell objection. Marijuana doesn't smell bad. I find many other plants have a more objectionable smell.
   
   I'm a vegetarian and don't really like the smell of my neighbors' barbecues, but could not conceive of an instance in which I'd complain to the police about it.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you there, it does have a potent and distinct smell, but I find it pleasant.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with you there, it smells lots better than those feed lots along I-5.

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   Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

   They've passed it as being legal in Michigan and Feds have come in and arrested people. The communities where they sold it, didn't like it being available.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      In my area many local businesses seem to be embracing the idea, having sales on greenhouse supplies and clippers. There are those who object to it also though.
      
      We did have a rash of federal raids last fall, but I don't think it had anything to do with public sentiment about the issue.
      
      In California it's not legal to sell it, you can grow your own if you have a Doctor's recommendation. Even the Dispensaries are kind of a legal grey area and a lot of them have been shut down.

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   prettydarkhorseposted 11 years ago

   I don't know here! When I was a kid, they are just anywhere in the hills and they cover it with banana plants.

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   maxoxam41posted 11 years ago

   No and honestly I wouldn't mind. I LOVE its minty smell! In what way could it affect a community? It is a plant therefore natural. The presence of other plants doesn't bother us or does it?

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      IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree it is natural, as are deadly Nightshades or Foxgloves (digitalis).
      
      But that does not give us the right to abuse it.
      
      Successive governments have felt the need to suppress cannabis usage, and I think we need to question why.
      
      It could either be:
      
      a) It is really bad for us
      
      or
      
      b) it is better for us than what the government could talk us into taking.
      
      For pain relief, morphine is strongest of all. Comes from another plant - the Opium poppy.
      
      I wish the whole situation was just as simple as saying that successive governments want us to take other drugs when we are in pain or suffering, but the very fact that marijuana remains outlawed in many parts of the world should tell us something.
      
      All I'm saying is, be very careful not to promote an unproven drug.
      
      Given the years it has been in existence, its positive effects should be well-documented, but aren't.
      
      Why is that?
      
      I'm not asking you, or anyone reading, but it's food for thought.

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         kirstenblogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Are you aware of the reasons why marijuana was made illegal to begin with? I did a little history research myself a while back and found the reasons to be totally sickening. Marijuana was a popular crop for a whole host of purposes including smoking it for thousands of years. When the logging industry and the cotton industry in America wanted a monopoly their biggest competition was hemp, its both a superior source of paper and textiles. Racism was rife in america at the time as well. The conditions were perfect for both industries to demonise this plant. They started lobbying the government to ban this plant and manipulated the racists attitudes that were prevalent back then. White hemp smokers were told that the marijuana the black and mexican people were smoking was dangerous and could lead to violence and laziness. All while smoking their hemp the white farmers got on board with this idea that marijuana was dangerous even tho there was no proof what so ever. The first person ever arrested in America for a marijuana charge was a white farmer who's family had been growing marijuana for generations, he had no idea that his plants were going to be banned when marijuana was banned. It didn't take long for the first scientists to come along and say 'hey wait a minute, there is no evidence to support this claim that marijuana is dangerous' then it became illegal to even study it. The fight was on just to prove that the claims were being made without any proof at all. Frankly, if humans have been smoking pot for thousands of years and we managed to build a country some call the best the world has ever known (America, even tho I might dispute this claim) and it is well known that the founding fathers of this great nation grew and smoked marijuana, how the heck can anyone actually believe its that dangerous???? What is dangerous is it being illegal.

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         aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Izzy, the evidence of it's worth is out there, but prohibition is big business and if folk started getting cured with cannabis THC oil and such, BigPharma would lose billions of $$$$ and cancer would be a non started disease to cure with no problems.
         
         [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0psJhQHk_GI[/url)
         
         [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG4WTvUBD18[/url)
         
         [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6eJzbY_V3g[/url)
         
         Unfortunately BigPharma have too much to lose by allowing the truth to come out.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It's really not the plant itself that has an effect on the community, it's people's behavior in relation to it. People who grow it, use it, want it, sell it, steal it, object to it, or want to arrest and imprison people for it.

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   Barbara Kayposted 11 years ago

   When used for medical purposes, it is usually used for cancer patients. Since it is safer than chemo, I don't get anyone's objections. As long as it is grown and sold in a controlled way, I don't see what the problem is.
   
   It might cut down on some of the activity of the Mexican cartels and all of their violence too.

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    Randy Godwinposted 11 years ago

    No one has died from smoking pot.  How many legal drugs can this be said about?  Ask those who are against it what kind of legal drugs they are taking and if it can kill them if abused.  The pot laws are stupid and cost billions to the taxpayers when it could add money in taxes, products, and income for farmers and retailers.  By the way, I have glaucoma and have to pay for very expensive eye drops--even with insurance--when I could simply grow my own medicine instead if the idots didn't keep it illegal.
    
    

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    Cagsilposted 11 years ago

    Enough said.
    
    

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       Randy Godwinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Truer than many think, Ray.  All one has to do is read the transcripts of the hearing which resulted in the Marijuana Stamp Act to see it was to protect the interests of big business.  Untold amounts of money and otherwise innocent people rotting in jail has been the result of this contemptible legislation.  It's time it came to and end.
       
       

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    habeeposted 11 years ago

    Medical pot isn't legal here, but the plants are still being grown in my area. Just think of all the government revenue we're missing out on!

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       kirstenblogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Great point habee! I don't think many pot smokers out there would have a problem with paying a little tax on it if that means they can smoke it without fear of being arrested. In a generation that might change but for now folks who smoke would likely pay that tax happily

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          aguasilverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          The essential aspect would be to keep the tax on manufactured product to a level where it was cheaper to buy MJ from the store than it was from the dealers, and allow free growth for personal usage to everyone, which in any case would kill the dealers ability to sell.
          
          It's a herb, and like any other plant, we should NOT be taxed for growing it in our own property.
          
          Just by legalising cannabis, a whole lot of crime would disappear.

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             kirstenblogposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             I would tend to agree that you cannot possibly tax a person on a plant they grew themselves, same as the gov. can't tax you on the food you grow in your garden. I do suspect that a lot of people would happy pay more then one might guess to just buy their joints from a store safely, instead of from a dealer who might not be very safe. The dangers of buying from a dealer are both that the dealer could be criminally violent (a woman could worry about rape for instance) as well as worrying about buying something that is laced with something else like PCP (for instance).
             
             I agree totally that legalising cannabis would do away with a whole lot of crime, expensive to the taxpayer crime. In money saved alone the benefit to the state is huge, I for one would rather the taxes I pay go toward education or something else socially beneficial instead of something that is socially destructive like sending young people to jail for smoking a plant.

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