Sent a message to both Trump and Vance, I’ll get something along to my state reps as well. I swear there are parts of the city that are nothing but storefront after storefront of smoke shops. It attracts a bad crowd and just straight to the point they all look like shit.
It’s interesting to see the developments on this in other counties. Weed was unofficially decriminalised in Dublin during Covid. I think I would have been unthinkingly in favour if someone had asked me beforehand but boy was I wrong. Even just the smell, I hate it so much, it’s suddenly everywhere.
People compare weed to alcohol a lot and some of the attitude differences are interesting. There’s a societal acceptance even amongst drinkers that booze is basically bad and should be limited to certain times. Even someone who enjoys drinking would accept that say cracking open a beer on the way to work in the morning is deeply disordered and sad. But weed is covered by this umbrella of marginal identity so we apply the idea that no one should ever feel bad or guilty about it. You can actually regularly smell it at tram stops at 7 in the morning, people smoking on the street way to work, in parks at lunch. Weed heads are incredibly thinskinned and touchy about anyone negatively critiquing their habit in a way drinkers aren’t, I think that’s also revealing.
Astute. Traditionally, vice, even when legalized, has always been confined to certain times and places. You must physically GO to a casino, a strip club, a liquor store, and even smoking, long ubiquitous in American culture, was driven out of public spaces. Moreover, no one has ever devised an identity around being a casino-goer, or a strip club-goer, or a drinker, the way that smoking pot isn't just a vice but a lifestyle. Someone whose whole lifestyle revolved around going to a casino or a strip club would be seen by society as a degenerate.
Drugs, gambling, and prostitution are the big three vices that have historically been recognized as things responsible governments should be keeping at bay. Civilization really boils down to promoting virtues and suppressing vices. Seeing the rise of vice culture is the clearest and most alarming sign of decline. Hopefully we can turn the tide before it is too late
I sent a comment, thanks for including the contact form like others have said. Even in an illegal state like mine, I've watched one of my childhood best friends smoke himself into being a half retarded paranoid schizo. I can only imagine how many more will turn out like him if it's rescheduled.
The physiological effects don’t get enough attention, I had friends from college who have smoked themselves into zombie like states, it’s just sad to see and it multiplies a person’s bad decisions exponentially.
I first encountered Mr. Berenson in the SoHo Forum debate, "Should All Drugs Be Legal?" hosted by the libertarian ReasonTV.
The SoHo Forum debates are worth watching, by the way. They're not YouTube "debates" of mind-numbing crosstalk from pseudo-intellectuals and e-pundits, but actual discourses between well-informed and well-behaved opponents.
Berenson is great. He was amazing during Covid and was one of the only journalists speaking out against the insanity and he sued Biden for infringing on his First Amendment rights. But his best work is on drugs, and I hope he continues to cover the drug and gambling situations. Thanks for the recommendation on that SoHo Forum debate. I’ve got to watch it now. I do have to say Berenson is much better on print or in a friendly format like his Joe Rogan podcasts. His speaking manner and pauses make him seem flustered when I don’t actually think he is.
It’s absurd that the crybully Jimmy Kimmel became a free-speech icon whilst most Americans have never even heard of Berenson.
Glad you’re enjoying the SoHo Forum. They have a number of great debates on important subjects and don’t shy away from controversy. Guaranteed to learn something from both sides.
I hope you’re right. I worry it has been so normalized beyond the point of return. We’re seeing formally major breweries in my area shut down, and one common explanation has been that the younger generations are opting to stay in and smoke weed then go out and drink.
Speaking of, stoners are often conflating weed and alcohol, claiming that alcohol is significantly more damaging to the consumer. While I don’t even buy this, the real problem is weeds effect on the society in general. We built America on whiskey and cigarettes.
If I was still an irony poisoned millennial from the 2010s I would start a campaign to repeal 21. But I haven't had a drink since the summer and I feel fantastic so there is something to no alcohol
Getting off caffeine completely changed my life. It’s a literal neurotoxin that plants use to dissuade insects from eating them. We also need to ban gambling from your phone at a federal level. I can’t fathom the bankruptcies that are coming when people who spend seven hours a day on their phones start spending real money on gambling apps.
Above, Conor Fitzgerald noted the difference between societal attitudes towards alcohol and marijuana, namely how everyone knows that consuming alcohol is a vice and should be limited to certain places and times, whereas consuming marijuana is rationalized as a "lifestyle" and "identity." The same is true of gambling. I wouldn't ban gambling, just as I wouldn't ban alcohol or tobacco--the impulse to ban vice is ultimately utopian--but I would confine gambling to certain places and times, as it was before. Freeing people, especially young men, to gamble all day on their phones, has been disastrous.
I understand your points. People who have such a strong desire for such vices will pursue them. Prohibition might have been a mistake, but I wonder if a decade of “cooling off” for the majority of people might have helped reduce the rates of alcoholism.
But I believe in putting roadblocks up so the common person who doesn’t start with that addiction personality is not as tempted. I’d be fascinated to read what the porn reading/watching rare of men was before smart phones and fast speed internet access. I imagine it wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now. There were barriers to entry. They had to go to some seedy part of town or endure the glance of others in grabbing a magazine from the rack. Now we have 13 year old porn addicts with unlimited free access to internet porn at the touch of a few buttons. With only gambling it’s even worse as all the ads imply you’ll somehow have even more guaranteed money by putting a small bet or even losing somehow on your first round(s). It needs to be banned and quickly.
Yes, there must be barriers to entry to vice. Porn is an excellent example. It’s been around in one form or another forever, and a little indulgence is preferable to repression. Anyone who isn’t honest about the problems of young men being able to access it any time and any place, however, just isn’t trustworthy.
I’m skeptical of “addiction” when it comes to most vices and believe that people are simply forming bad habits in their youth because of the deconstruction of barriers to entry.
In late stage Rome, money became God and morals got thrown out the window (at least for the elite.)
Same thing happening now in the new Rome (America.)
Conservatives don’t conserve anything because it’s not profitable for them to conserve it, they would much rather promote degeneracy and get rich than stick to tradition.
Trump is part of clown world, not hard to see that although I believe he has some good people in his administration but the Trump and Kushner family that run the White House will always put profits over morals… always.
What's still more infuriating is how pot smokers act as if they're above laws against smoking in public places or driving under the influence. To be fair, they act this way because they're treated this way. The public and even the authorities are much more passive towards confronting pot smoke than they ever were towards tobacco smoke. Half the time people mistake the smell of pot for the smell of juices emitted from skunk ass, which says a lot.
The other day, as I was walking back to my car from the gym, I caught a whiff of pot. The car parked next to mine was full of broccoli-haired Zoomer bros, heads hunched before their phones, passing around a joint. I called the non-emergency police line (everyone should have that number stored on their phone) and went on my merry way. People smoking pot while driving are no different than those drinking while driving.
Thanks for the link to send a message. I gladly did so. The decriminalization of marijuana in Missouri has been a huge disaster unfolding in front of my eyes. I cannot even drive down the street without smelling weed from the car next to me in traffic, to say nothing of other public places, all of which reek now.
I am hoping that marijuana will gradually become increasingly unpopular, especially as growing scientific evidence points to its being far from as harmless as advertised.
I will do this. Texas was poised to completely ban THC products in 2025. This measure was vetoed by Greg Abbot.
I love Greg Abbot. I think he’s done so much for Texas. I just am seriously reconsidering voting for him in the next election cycle because of this veto.
Hopefully Trump’s confidants give him good advice on this topic.
I'm grateful to Greg Abbott for using his state's unique position on the border to fight the Feds' anarcho-tyranny from 2021-25, but didn't he pay homage at George Floyd's casket?
The far-right libertarian remnants from the Nineties excepted, most libertarians crave social status, and Trump/MAGA is low-status and socially downwardly mobile.
Thank you for including the link. I sent a message. Reclassifying weed is going the wrong way.
Sent a message to both Trump and Vance, I’ll get something along to my state reps as well. I swear there are parts of the city that are nothing but storefront after storefront of smoke shops. It attracts a bad crowd and just straight to the point they all look like shit.
Clearly this is pandering after losing the youth vote (even the male youth vote) so lopsidedly in VA, NJ, and NY.
It’s interesting to see the developments on this in other counties. Weed was unofficially decriminalised in Dublin during Covid. I think I would have been unthinkingly in favour if someone had asked me beforehand but boy was I wrong. Even just the smell, I hate it so much, it’s suddenly everywhere.
People compare weed to alcohol a lot and some of the attitude differences are interesting. There’s a societal acceptance even amongst drinkers that booze is basically bad and should be limited to certain times. Even someone who enjoys drinking would accept that say cracking open a beer on the way to work in the morning is deeply disordered and sad. But weed is covered by this umbrella of marginal identity so we apply the idea that no one should ever feel bad or guilty about it. You can actually regularly smell it at tram stops at 7 in the morning, people smoking on the street way to work, in parks at lunch. Weed heads are incredibly thinskinned and touchy about anyone negatively critiquing their habit in a way drinkers aren’t, I think that’s also revealing.
Astute. Traditionally, vice, even when legalized, has always been confined to certain times and places. You must physically GO to a casino, a strip club, a liquor store, and even smoking, long ubiquitous in American culture, was driven out of public spaces. Moreover, no one has ever devised an identity around being a casino-goer, or a strip club-goer, or a drinker, the way that smoking pot isn't just a vice but a lifestyle. Someone whose whole lifestyle revolved around going to a casino or a strip club would be seen by society as a degenerate.
Drugs, gambling, and prostitution are the big three vices that have historically been recognized as things responsible governments should be keeping at bay. Civilization really boils down to promoting virtues and suppressing vices. Seeing the rise of vice culture is the clearest and most alarming sign of decline. Hopefully we can turn the tide before it is too late
I sent a comment, thanks for including the contact form like others have said. Even in an illegal state like mine, I've watched one of my childhood best friends smoke himself into being a half retarded paranoid schizo. I can only imagine how many more will turn out like him if it's rescheduled.
The physiological effects don’t get enough attention, I had friends from college who have smoked themselves into zombie like states, it’s just sad to see and it multiplies a person’s bad decisions exponentially.
"Tell Your Children" by Alex Berenson was interesting read on the dangers of marijuana. Definitely has a connection to exacerbating mental disorders.
I first encountered Mr. Berenson in the SoHo Forum debate, "Should All Drugs Be Legal?" hosted by the libertarian ReasonTV.
The SoHo Forum debates are worth watching, by the way. They're not YouTube "debates" of mind-numbing crosstalk from pseudo-intellectuals and e-pundits, but actual discourses between well-informed and well-behaved opponents.
Berenson is great. He was amazing during Covid and was one of the only journalists speaking out against the insanity and he sued Biden for infringing on his First Amendment rights. But his best work is on drugs, and I hope he continues to cover the drug and gambling situations. Thanks for the recommendation on that SoHo Forum debate. I’ve got to watch it now. I do have to say Berenson is much better on print or in a friendly format like his Joe Rogan podcasts. His speaking manner and pauses make him seem flustered when I don’t actually think he is.
It’s absurd that the crybully Jimmy Kimmel became a free-speech icon whilst most Americans have never even heard of Berenson.
Glad you’re enjoying the SoHo Forum. They have a number of great debates on important subjects and don’t shy away from controversy. Guaranteed to learn something from both sides.
Big agree Mister Grove.
I'm not really sure where this is coming from because public opinion is definitely turning against weed. It's gross and nobody wants to be around it.
I hope you’re right. I worry it has been so normalized beyond the point of return. We’re seeing formally major breweries in my area shut down, and one common explanation has been that the younger generations are opting to stay in and smoke weed then go out and drink.
Speaking of, stoners are often conflating weed and alcohol, claiming that alcohol is significantly more damaging to the consumer. While I don’t even buy this, the real problem is weeds effect on the society in general. We built America on whiskey and cigarettes.
Let’s schedule alcohol while we are at it. Pure poison. Also nicotine and caffeine.
If I was still an irony poisoned millennial from the 2010s I would start a campaign to repeal 21. But I haven't had a drink since the summer and I feel fantastic so there is something to no alcohol
Getting off caffeine completely changed my life. It’s a literal neurotoxin that plants use to dissuade insects from eating them. We also need to ban gambling from your phone at a federal level. I can’t fathom the bankruptcies that are coming when people who spend seven hours a day on their phones start spending real money on gambling apps.
Above, Conor Fitzgerald noted the difference between societal attitudes towards alcohol and marijuana, namely how everyone knows that consuming alcohol is a vice and should be limited to certain places and times, whereas consuming marijuana is rationalized as a "lifestyle" and "identity." The same is true of gambling. I wouldn't ban gambling, just as I wouldn't ban alcohol or tobacco--the impulse to ban vice is ultimately utopian--but I would confine gambling to certain places and times, as it was before. Freeing people, especially young men, to gamble all day on their phones, has been disastrous.
I understand your points. People who have such a strong desire for such vices will pursue them. Prohibition might have been a mistake, but I wonder if a decade of “cooling off” for the majority of people might have helped reduce the rates of alcoholism.
But I believe in putting roadblocks up so the common person who doesn’t start with that addiction personality is not as tempted. I’d be fascinated to read what the porn reading/watching rare of men was before smart phones and fast speed internet access. I imagine it wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now. There were barriers to entry. They had to go to some seedy part of town or endure the glance of others in grabbing a magazine from the rack. Now we have 13 year old porn addicts with unlimited free access to internet porn at the touch of a few buttons. With only gambling it’s even worse as all the ads imply you’ll somehow have even more guaranteed money by putting a small bet or even losing somehow on your first round(s). It needs to be banned and quickly.
Yes, there must be barriers to entry to vice. Porn is an excellent example. It’s been around in one form or another forever, and a little indulgence is preferable to repression. Anyone who isn’t honest about the problems of young men being able to access it any time and any place, however, just isn’t trustworthy.
I’m skeptical of “addiction” when it comes to most vices and believe that people are simply forming bad habits in their youth because of the deconstruction of barriers to entry.
I would literally give up all of those things if it would make weed go away
What did I think of this one?
In late stage Rome, money became God and morals got thrown out the window (at least for the elite.)
Same thing happening now in the new Rome (America.)
Conservatives don’t conserve anything because it’s not profitable for them to conserve it, they would much rather promote degeneracy and get rich than stick to tradition.
Trump is part of clown world, not hard to see that although I believe he has some good people in his administration but the Trump and Kushner family that run the White House will always put profits over morals… always.
What's still more infuriating is how pot smokers act as if they're above laws against smoking in public places or driving under the influence. To be fair, they act this way because they're treated this way. The public and even the authorities are much more passive towards confronting pot smoke than they ever were towards tobacco smoke. Half the time people mistake the smell of pot for the smell of juices emitted from skunk ass, which says a lot.
The other day, as I was walking back to my car from the gym, I caught a whiff of pot. The car parked next to mine was full of broccoli-haired Zoomer bros, heads hunched before their phones, passing around a joint. I called the non-emergency police line (everyone should have that number stored on their phone) and went on my merry way. People smoking pot while driving are no different than those drinking while driving.
Thanks for the link to send a message. I gladly did so. The decriminalization of marijuana in Missouri has been a huge disaster unfolding in front of my eyes. I cannot even drive down the street without smelling weed from the car next to me in traffic, to say nothing of other public places, all of which reek now.
I am hoping that marijuana will gradually become increasingly unpopular, especially as growing scientific evidence points to its being far from as harmless as advertised.
It’s over…
I will do this. Texas was poised to completely ban THC products in 2025. This measure was vetoed by Greg Abbot.
I love Greg Abbot. I think he’s done so much for Texas. I just am seriously reconsidering voting for him in the next election cycle because of this veto.
Hopefully Trump’s confidants give him good advice on this topic.
I'm grateful to Greg Abbott for using his state's unique position on the border to fight the Feds' anarcho-tyranny from 2021-25, but didn't he pay homage at George Floyd's casket?
And by the way, libertarians are never ever going to support Trump. They’re too good for that. Too principled. Too intelligent.
Trump could abolish the entire federal government and make libertarians the kings of their homesteads and they still would hate him.
The far-right libertarian remnants from the Nineties excepted, most libertarians crave social status, and Trump/MAGA is low-status and socially downwardly mobile.