California Today: Legalization Is Here! Shrug.

I'm a jealous New Yorker. Good for you Cali.

Decriminalize all drugs, free all non violent drug prisoners, seal all criminal records. Put the cartels, street gangs and junkies stealing for a fix out of business. WOW, close half the jails, reduce our militarized police force How many homeless have been convicted of a crime, most i would say. Chinese saying, society prepares the crime.

I’m a high school counselor and parent of a 20 year old. Most of his friends parents purchased medical marijuana cards for their high school students so they wouldn’t get it “off the street”. I deal with many aniexty ridden youth, these students for the most part are upper class and they all smoke marijuana rather than take aniexty pills. And these are not low academic achieving kids they are getting into top UC and private colleges across the US. Gone are the days when you could tell who the stoners are. It’s all of them.

I would say the reaction has been more than a shrug! Lines for legal cannabis were long all day long at dispensaries here in San Jose. It’s worth mentioning that most parts of the state don’t have legal dispensaries yet and that consuming cannabis recreationally has been legal since Prop 64 was passed.

Is California really ready to expunge the criminal records of those convicted in the past for pot possession? I for one hope so. It’s time that people’s lives we made whole again by wiping the records of those prosecuted under absurd drug policies in this country.

It's not a shrug if you live here. From the moment it was announced that is was passed, not yet legal but just passed it went crazy. Everywhere you go people are smoking pot. On the street, on the train platform, outside buildings, in the car, in apartments. My apartment building is a nightmare with pot smoke which is coming from downstairs, outside, the parking lot an dit doesn't matter what time of day it is. No one is paying any attention to the restrictions like you must be 21, can't smoke in public, can't smoke anywhere you already aren't allowed to smoke cigarettes. It's really insane. On the train someone sits down next to you and reek of pot..their clothes, hair, etc.

The only big deal is that it is taking so long - step by step, state by state ..... I can not wait for cannabis cream to be made available at dispensaries in Mass. It helps my always aching shoulder. I wanted to bring a tube back after my last trip to CO, but could have been busted in federal airspace. Speaking of getting busted for weed- CA should send Sessions a big bag of edibles and tell him to lighten up.

Pot, like cigarettes, is still "smoking" and just like with cigarettes of tobacco, should still be illegal in public. I don't want smoke of any kind invading my space, and I shouldn't have to be physically attacked by someone else's smoke, pot or otherwise, when I'm walking down the sidewalk in my neighborhood. Hooray that it is now legal to purchase and consume, but keep it in your own space, not mine.

The weed industry has grown so much under the noses of LA law enforcement that all of this "weed is legal now" news is kinda passe. We've had marijuana laced candy, pastries and tinctures for decades now. When I got back from college, most of my friends were offering me free weed every time we hung out. I'd been smoking it with tabacco in the UK (that's how they roll) so I wasn't new to it, but California strains tend to be way more potent. Wax is the new thing now. If you want to get really high, get a vape pen and start dabbing that $25 dollar gram. I'm not sure if you'll be able to function correctly but it's the nicest high you can get this side of an LSD trip.

"But he also wondered why more people had not turned out." Uh, because they forgot?

As far as I’m concerned, as a Californian, annoying people only get more annoying when they’re stoned.

“Now what will the rebellious set do to feel rebellious?” Possibly they will a) be politically active b) engage in volunteer work c) practice yoga and qigong d) create new forms of art e) all of the above

I can understand why this is such a big deal. Many of us have been fighting for pot to be legalized for decades and now its time has finally arrived. Unfortunately, it will be taxed to the point of unaffordability. Luckily for me, I've been using medical cannabis and found a fantastic dispensary near my home. I can honestly say I don't know what I would do without this treatment option. When pain becomes so great that a patient must look for alternative sources of relief, I know our pharmaceutical industry has lost touch with the needs of the people. When profit is the one and only driving force of big pharma, how are they any different from black market drug dealers? I want and need choice, and I will get it, no matter where I have to go to find relief. Our politicians and the federal government need to know and understand this reality.

When Washington and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana there were long lines at the pot shops but that was because the cops were enforcing the old law up until the last minute. Between civil forfeiture and heavy fines law enforcement had become dependent, addicted if you would, to the marijuana cash cow. No more money for helicopters or cushy & safe task force jobs meant a lot of police just retired rather than actually becoming cops again. Also, a lot of the "potleggers" have been driven out of the business by low cost weed. The old anal-retentive plant groomers who got a premium for high potency bud cannot compete for the smoker's dollar when said user can get his or her buzz on with an extra puff or two or bite of brownie. Even the weed hostile Trump administration will have a hard time rolling back the green tide. Trump may be the last president who never smoked marijuana.

I work for a Defense Contractor, here in CA. I think I will ask my boss today (first day back), where the designated dope delivery and weed smoking area is located. We’ll have a good laugh. We still have to drug test, we still can't test dirty, for marijuana or anything else, because, well, Defense Contractor. I predict they'll have a hard time finding people that will test clean, since they could barely find them up til now. On the bright side, it is supposed to be 70 degrees here today (Santa Barbara County). I'll try not to gloat about it. Much.

The bigger issue is why have we allowed conservative and religious elites to ruin the lives of millions of Americans with idiotic laws? And when are we going to stop? Jefferson Davis Sessions is Attorney General. He should be in jail for crimes against humanity. I don't smoke pot, but the fact that the federal government still ruins lives by the thousand by classifying it, and conducting business, as if it was as bad as heroin is indefensible. When I was in high school the guys who beat up their girlfriends were always drunk. The guys who got stoned, their biggest crime was overeating. Nobody got stoned and beat up their GF.

Legalization Is Here!...'High Time We Went'