OT Ramblings, Musings and other OT Stuff -- WARNING -- OT

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

I used to think legalizing MJ wouldn't be so bad...but then I had kids...lol.

 
Like I said, if children are involved then it's a different story.  I know a kid that by the time he was 5 he knew what a bong was.....NOT GOOD!!!  I don't like the idea of using drugs when children are present.  Its too much of a chance that they would start using or even wose accidentally eat/swallow it and have mental/physical issues or even die.

See number 2

i guess that arguement depends on where you stand on the law in question. earlier the smoking bans were mentioned. i am in favor of smoking bans because of my own selfish and personal opinions. i dont see the bans as necessarily taking away freedoms but enabling me to more thoroughly excersie my own freedoms. the bans only affect me in a positive way. majority of people want to be able to eat at a restaurant or go to a bar without having to endure cigarette smoke. in a democracy majority rules, but establishments kept catering to a minority of the population because that is what was always done. unfortunately, the gov't had to step in and make laws to favor the majority's thinking.

 
I agree with the above... my reasons are selfish too. I actually don't think our country is all about freedom of choice, it's about life, liberty and happiness and certain freedoms from government repression. But just as someone driving drunk threatens my life, liberty, and happiness, someone (really, dozens of someones) filling a room with smoke also threatens my life, liberty and happiness. You could say I don't have to go to the bar - I also don't have to drive on the roads - but why should your freedom to produce a toxic cloud trump my freedom to go out and socialize? Social acceptability, like it or not, has always and always will influence our laws... from prohibition to drug laws to abortion laws to gun control... all the law really is, anyway, is a consensus about what is and isn't acceptable to our society. Those things change over time and sometimes change back too, according to cultural shifts... smoking bans are most likely only going to increase in the US, so, (you know I had to say it) smoke em if you got em!

how would you regulate...the presence of children or not as relates to MJ in a private home being legal?
 
IMO it's far more likely to work if you are ONLY allowed to smoke it, possess it, and buy it legally in specific bars or clubs...where children are sure not to be present....within hours where people are not likely to then go to jobs where they work around children. Possession or growing in a home should still be illegal...possession or use by minors should still be illegal...it'd be an adult choice to go to these places and buy and smoke it. I think I'd be fine with that...I don't know if anything like that's been proposed or not?
 

If kids are around of course thats bad, I remember growing up, some certain adults in my life locking the doors and windows and burning up.....they always told us to quit acting like animals....
 Alone in your house, or maybe even with other adults fine....but then comes in the who is adults? 18 or 21? You can get sent off to kill for someone else's problems at 18 but you can't have a beer until you are 21?
So the idiot in chief would pass another law....you are an adult at 18 with certain limits....drinking a beer after work, NO you will get a fine!!! But you can go to this country and get treated like an adult....still can't drink though, but you can help us kill some off....Drink and we will take away half of your pay check for 2 months, you're grounded for 45 days and you have to start over at a lower rank, how does that sound?

ORIGINAL: jjsmom06

Alright Billy..so if you disagree on my comments, debate away... [] 

 
Certainly.  I can handle you and Candace at the same time.  In fact...nevermind.  []
 
A helmet MIGHT offer a motorcyclist a degree of protection at very low speeds, but it is miniscule.  At higher speeds a helmet is useless.  There are times when your best bet as a rider is to lay the bike down.  A helmet is handy in this situation as it offers your head some protection as you slide down the road.  Road rash really sucks.  The problem I have with a helmet is it makes you less aware of your surroundings and therefore more likely to be involved in an accident.  With a helmet, you can't hear nearly as well and you can't see as well.
 
I am not sure if there are any states that require a helmet for riders over a certain age.  That alone should speak volumes as to how effective helmets are at preventing injury.  You might look into an organization called ABATE if  you really have an interest in this subject.

But with MJ - what is the difference between IT and BOOZE in terms of regulating it's use in front of children?  Or cigarettes for that matter?  It's not up to the government to ensure that your kids don't do whatever it is you don't want them to do (drink, smoke, etc.) it's up to the parents. 

If I don't want to wear a seatbelt, that's my business. I should be the one to choose whether or not I want to take the chance of flying through the windshield of my car.

 
While I do agree to a large extent.... I also feel you are making that choice for your family too. For your parents, spouse, SO, or friends who will have to care for you. For your children who you will not be able to be a parent to any longer.   There is so much more that goes into making these decisions that seem small to many of us.
 
I have worked as a therapist for many years with people who have traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries due to not wearing seatbelts or helmets. I have sat hugging and crying with the family members grieving for the loss of their loved one (despite the fact that they are not dead…simply disabled for the rest of their life).  YOUR choice to not wear a seatbelt or helmet does not just affect you. It may seem a small thing to you but it is not to your family and they spend the rest of their life feeling so frustrated that their loved one did NOT chose a different choice that day and they are helpless to change anything because you can#%92t turn back time.
 
It is exactly too many of the above situations that I have been in that chose me to take a different career path. I now work toward injury prevention and I spend a lot of my days in the schools teaching children and teens the importance of helmet and seatbelts. I would hope that you would require your children to wear the appropriate protection and  I cannot count the times over the past 6 years I have heard kids say that “my parents don#%92t wear theirs so what is the big deal??” Adults have a huge ABILITY to change the way their children view safety and to have a great impact on their lives.
 
NOW..all that said..I am a HUGE advocate of individual rights…just perhaps not in all cases and it is a very slippery slope indeed…[]
 

ORIGINAL: labcrab

But with MJ - what is the difference between IT and BOOZE in terms of regulating it's use in front of children?  Or cigarettes for that matter?  It's not up to the government to ensure that your kids don't do whatever it is you don't want them to do (drink, smoke, etc.) it's up to the parents. 

 
The difference between MJ & alcohol (and cigarettes) is that you can get a high off of MJ just being around it (contact high).  Yes, I think it would be VERY difficult to regulate it.  Yes, it should be up to the parents to teach kids about MANY different things, but unfortunately some parents don't do it.  I do like the idea of the hash bars, etc. where kids wouldn't be allowed. 

I cannot count the times over the past 6 years I have heard kids say that “my parents don#%92t wear theirs so what is the big deal??”

 
LOL!  I can't count how many times I would say that to Mom when she would tell me to put my seatbelt on and Dad wasn't wearing his.  To this day I wear my seatbelt.  I didn't much when I was in high school just driving around town (my hometown is about 600 people), but when I would go out on the highway I would wear it. 

labcrab it's not about whether they do it...it's about safety issues from being around it. You can drink all you want in front of a pregnant woman and her fetus won't be affected, a young baby and it won't be affected...not so with MJ.

ORIGINAL: huskymom
How do you use a gun to protect yourself from a tyrannical government?

 
Send a government official to take my guns and you will find out.  []
 

Thats just scary.

 
That you should even have to be concerned about government stomping on your rights certainly is scary.
 

 And of course the Constitution says nothing about driving.  It was written how long ago? 

 
We have a process by which our Constitution can be changed.

My daughter FREAKED OUT the few times I forgot to strap her in the booster seat and the car started LMAO! She helps us remember for sure!She's really sure I think that she will get sucked out the window if her seatbelt isn't on...I doubt that the habit of buckling up will ever leave her as an adult.
 
Probably time to show her how to buckle herself in...actually.

My daughter FREAKED OUT the few times I forgot to strap her in the booster seat and the car started LMAO! She helps us remember for sure!

 
Good for you Gina... Keep her always understanding that booster seats are for BIG kids, not little kids or babies...and no matter what your current law is, for her best protection, have her stay in the booster seat until she is 4 feet 9 inches tall... 

ORIGINAL: jones
Well, but the government controls whether or not bars/restaurants can sell wine, beer, and liquor. It also controls how late they can sell alcohol and how late they can stay open. Private clubs are different from privately owned bars... private clubs can still have smoking because they are considered private property in a way that a drinking establishment is not.

 
They do, but the question is, should they?  IOW and for example, why should the governement dictate the business hours of a bar to a bar owner?