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Marijuana is a terrific drug. It’s far better than alcohol and anything else ingested for “recreational” purposes. There’s no way it should be illegal. But it is. [Void where allowed by law.] So I don’t smoke it. For one thing, I value my gun rights far more than my right to put anything in my body I choose. If I got busted with dope, I’d lose both my livelihood and my ability to legally protect myself, my family and other innocent life. There’s another reason why gun owners should eschew whacky tobaccy, illustrated by the story below [via fox17online.com] . . .

A man and woman were assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by four suspects as they were letting the dog out early Tuesday morning.

According to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, it happened at around 4:20 a.m. at a home on Ave C in the city of Springfield.  The victims said that they opened their door to let the family dog out, and four male suspects rushed in and assaulted them.  They were all wearing hoods and masks, and were armed with handguns and shotguns.

The suspects stole money and medical marijuana before getting away.  The 57-year-old woman and 61-year-old man suffered minor injuries during the assault.

I think it’s safe to say that the burglary wasn’t random. The thieves knew the homeowner had something they wanted. How they gathered that intel is – and will probably remain – a mystery (if only because of the Fifth Amendment). That said, there are three things criminals want more than anything else: guns, cash and drugs. Not convinced? Try this story then [via desmoinesregister.com]:

A 15-year-old girl was struck in the head and face by a silver handgun when three men broke into her Des Moines home looking for marijuana Tuesday, police said.

At about 1:05 a.m., a 17-year-old boy was sitting in the apartment in the 900 block of 18th Street, where the 15-year-old girl also lives, when he heard pounding on the door, according to a Des Moines police report. He looked up from his computer to see a foot break through the door.

Three young men, between ages 17 and 20, stormed into the apartment, according to the police report. One was carrying a black handgun, and another had a silver handgun.

The suspects asked the 17-year-old boy “where the weed was” and told him to drop to the ground, police said. The man with the black handgun then held the gun to the boy’s head.

The man with the silver gun ran into a bedroom, where the 15-year-old girl was, according to the report. The man struck her with the gun on the side of her head and on her face.

When police arrived on scene, the girl had a cut on her head, a small cut on the inside of her left forearm and a chipped tooth, according to the report.

As the man was in the bedroom with the 15-year-old girl, a 40-year-old woman, who also lives in the apartment and later called police, came out of her bedroom, police said. The suspects told her to drop to the ground, but she refused. One of the suspects pushed her, according to the report.

Police said all three suspects soon ran out of the apartment saying “There is nothing here, let’s go!”

We’ve already warned gun owners to maintain OpSec (Operational Security) about their firearms. Don’t talk about your guns with all and sundry. Same goes for cash. But drugs – marijuana specifically – is the most problematic of the bad guys’ big three. Buying dope puts you in contact with some deeply unsavory people. Dispensaries aside (or not), the transaction tends to go down in some inherently dangerous places (it’s not like you can make the transfer in a police station parking lot).

If you smoke dope protecting yourself from thieves may simply mean upping your situation awareness. It should certainly mean home carry (recommended regardless). But if you want to lower your risk of a home invasion or mugging by [an undefined but not non-existent] amount, leave marijuana alone. At the very least, don’t advertise your habit. “Oh, Martha and I love a good joint.” Yes. You do. But not as much as dangerous criminals.

 

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153 COMMENTS

  1. Nobody wants to break in for my cannabis: it’s all cooked down and turned into pills.

    God said we can have every herb of the field for food. So I eat it. So long as I take my pill or two a day, I don’t get flashbacks or major anxiety attacks any more.

    • Strange how every marijuana user has one (or more) “good reasons” for their habit — once people start taking pot, they find all kinds of explanations for their addiction. Pot only makes peoples’ lives better, right?

      • I’m pistolerojesse and I’m a caffeine addict. I get headaches and am not very productive until 3 months after I stop taking in. I’ve only tried stopping 3 times since I started drinking coffee in college.

        Don’t do it kids. It turns your teeth yellow, disrupts your sleep cycle, and costs more than drinking water.

        • The OP mentioned pills – or are you suggesting he light them on fire?

          And there are plenty of marijuana edibles.

      • “Strange how every marijuana user has one (or more) “good reasons” for their habit — once people start taking pot, they find all kinds of explanations for their addiction.”

        I was dragged kicking and yelling to medical marijuana use by the research.

        See, there’s this thing called truth, and some of us are more interested in that than in chanting the government’s lies.

        • “Kicking and yelling”? Really? Why? Because it’s so unpleasant to use marijuana?

          If “medical marijuana” didn’t have “getting high” as a side effect, there would be almost no “medical marijuana”

        • You are such an ignorant bigot.

          I know about two dozen medical marijuana users. With a few exceptions, there are several things we all agree on:

          the smoke smell is disgusting
          the taste is revolting
          getting stoned is akin to torture

          Seriously, get Sullum’s _Saying Yes_, and lear something other than government propaganda.

        • Oh, Samuel?

          Something else you should learn: there are strains of marijuana bred for different medical purposes that are very, very difficult to get stoned from. They sell for more than typical marijuana, often by substantial margins. Now, if people only used marijuana to get stoned, those wouldn’t exist — that’s basic economics.

          One more thing: if anti-freedom jerks like you hadn’t hopped on the statist bandwagon all these years, there would be tens of thousands of people who wouldn’t have had to die from brain cancer. My sister is one of them. So take your small-minded ignorant prejudice and go move to a country that appreciates it, and stop getting in the way of liberty.

  2. Bah! This is a lesson about being careful about the company you keep and keeping your mouth shut, not about the dangers of weed.

    • Because “booze”, “Hooch”, “white lightning”, Moonshine”, and “Firewater” were already taken?

      I don’t have any illusions that marijuana is a cure all, but I am convinced it has medicinal purposes. Don’t partake myself,even in a state that has legalized it and has outlets on more street corners than 7-11. I have heard rumors that the prices are even coming down due to oversupply.

      Aside from that, good article. Keep your mouth shut, doors secure, and handgun on your person, unless showering or sleeping, and even then within easy arm’s reach, yeah?

      • I’m convinced that potheads have convinced themselves that pot has makes the sun shine out of their rearend, allows pigs to fly, etc etc etc. AND they will say/do anything they think somehow will convince normal people (not potheads) believe their BS.

        It’s similar to Obumer or Hillary talking/ lying. They lie, we know they lie, they tell us the lie anyhow hoping the audience will pretend to believe the lie. See also the current “Syrian” refugee” project.

        • Know anybody with MS? I do. A year after being diagnosed, she was at the point of being confined to a wheelchair, when she could get out of bed at all. Excellent insurance, top-notch doctors, plenty of big pharma – the slide continued.

          With no hope of anything getting any better at all, one of her docs subtly suggested that pot certainly couldn’t make things any worse. She reluctantly agreed, fearful that nothing was ever going to help her. Since it’s all illegal here, he husband had to hunt down some pot (ok, that’s almost as hard as finding a good burger, but still…),

          Couple of one hitters in the morning. Walking by noon that day. Has been basically functional ever since. This was someone who I know for a fact was on final descent. She could not get out of bed. She now generally walks unassisted and is able to function on her own. She smokes a tiny amount of pot every day.

          Placebo? Who knows? More importantly, who cares. It works, she has some semblance of quality of life. Which medical science, and a bunch of doctors were unable to deliver. Her doctors are aware of her usage, and don’t tell her to stop – it’s been the most effective medicine they’ve had her on.

    • This is important. I lived next to a biker who cast a smoky shroud upon our building. Within his home he had a small personal cache of weapons, drugs, and money. One bump in the night would place him outside his front door with his glock. I would smoke with him on occasion but I always wondered if the paranoia and anxiety was really worth it.

  3. I live in Washington, where marijuana use and possession is now allowed. I can buy a bag of pot as easily as I can buy a bottle of liquor. Marijuana-related burglarizes are pretty much unheard of – you need to be involved with narcotics before that becomes a threat.

    Do I smoke it? From time to time. Do I get the equivalent of black out drunk? Nope. I used to do that when I was younger, and absolutely nothing would wake me up at night if I went to bed stoned out of my mind. I would sleep through anything. Not the best idea when I have a wife and young son at home.

    That being said, I don’t tell people about my gun collection these days, either. You’d have to know me pretty well before you find out what’s in my safe, and I don’t plaster my vehicle with pro-2A stickers that advertise there may be a gun in the car.

    It also helps to live in an area that has virtually no property crime, because everybody is armed and thieves know it.

  4. This article would not be necessary if we knew the definition of the word infringed. But in the United States, we don’t know the definition of what the word is, is. Clinton and Monica taught us that.

  5. Welcome to the dumbing down of America’s future.
    Marijuana steals your ambitions, one day at a time.
    You get what you deserve.

    • I knew a woman who smoked pot pretty much all of the time from HS through a PhD in math. I can’t remember ever hearing of her not acing a test or making a serious mistake. I have also know people for whom smoking pot made them more ambitious and productive. These folks were exceptional, I suspect, but they do exist and are doing fine.

    • Oh yeah, that demon weed. Just like alcohol…..

      WHy do people hate freedom and liberty so much?

      Don’t want to do drugs? Fine, that’s your choice, carry on. Let other people make their decisions. If they do harm to others, punish them appropriately.

      • For the same reason they’d ban dancing if they could – someone just might have fun, which is only part of it. They’re also secretly afraid they’re missing out.

    • +1
      To many dope smokers flush their life away. Start at 15 and wake up 36 in their parents basement. Seen it in my extended family. On top of that if you think it’s not a gateway drug, come spend some time in the modern schools.

      • Marijuana is only a gateway drug because it introduces you to asshole criminal drug dealers, and asshole criminal drug users. If you could get it at Walmart, I suspect the gateway to the other drugs would be harder to open.

        • That’s what I suspect as well.

          In decades of observing all the gnashing of teeth over the “drug war,” I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no “gateway drugs that lead to harder drugs.” No, the “gateway drugs” destroy people by putting them in association with low life elements of society, who drag people down with them.

        • Aimed at DG. I am glad someone else agrees with me. I have Been saying that for years and it seems like no one can can come to the same rational conclusion that I do.

        • It’s actually a well known conclusion.

          There is one other well-known reason. You know those guys from DEA who come to schools to tell kids about how drugs are bad? They usually focus on weed, and describe its horrors vividly, then mention the other (actually nasty) stuff. So what happens when one of those kids actually goes ahead and tries weed? Why, they find out that it doesn’t actually get them insta-addicted, their brain doesn’t shrivel, and all those other horrible things are not happening, either. So what lesson do they learn? That DEA agents lie. And of course if they lie about weed, surely they have also lied about other stuff? And the dealers will be all too happy to provide a “sample” of something truly addictive…

      • If you think ” Dope” is the reason why they wake up in their parents basement then you aren’t seeing the reality of the caliber of people you are commenting on… Dope, booze, porn, their boyfriend/girlfriend, trans-cross,confused-bad-dresser of the day-r…. Basement dwellers, be Basement dwellers… they exist in spite of their vice, not because of their vice.

        • The people seriously referring to “weed” as “dope” are amusing, just for the Joe Friday quaintness of hearing it. Somebody cue up Reefer Madness

          The basement dweller thing has always been really silly bit of propaganda. The pot is an accessory, not a causality.

        • Disagree. As I stated earlier, I watched someone who had good grades, starting tennis player and relationship success get hooked on pot. Within two years, failed out of college, and begin a life of pot indulgence. He is now dependent on his parents, 37 years old and no ambition in life what so ever except to scrounge a little cash so he can hit his “medical” marijuana dispensary.

        • I would offer that *something* was gonna get this man, and provide him a motivation to be non-motivated. I’ve known waaaayyy too many folks over the decades who smoke weed every day (for whatever reason) and the ones I know, get up, go to work (in a very diverse variety of fields) and performs their jobs as well ,or better, than required. They’ve done it for decades.

          I’m not arguing that there’s not a tiny percentage who won’t become addicts to, well, whatever. Porn, candy, shopping, drugs, these people will always find something that could ruin them. But even when you drill down on the numbers of “amazingly addictive” drugs like meth and crack, over 90% of the use is recreational. Put a predisposed addict in a country where they hang you for drugs? They’ll still find them.

          Just evolution. Give 100 guys a 200 MPH car, and a few of them will stuff the thing within a very brief ownership window, because they just can’t stop pressing the go pedal; inappropriately. The other 90+% know where the line is, and know what they’re doing when they cross it.

  6. I spent years getting high-many years ago. It made me stupid,lazy and paranoid. And grew me man-boobs. I got bronchitis 7 years in a row too. Medicinal? Beats me-but I’m happy I don’t hang out with the idiots I did in my youth. And happy some cop didn’t didn’t bust me for NOTHING…so no I don’t recommend cannibis.

  7. Prohibition kills.
    But for prohibition, the break in might never have happened.
    Alcohol kills more people than pot, directly.
    Prohibition funnel hundrds of billions of dollars into organized crime every year and saps nearly as much from taxpayers every year in a failed ‘war on drugs.’

    • You’re not playing the argument out to the end in your head.

      Prohibition = the need for the fulfillment of basic human needs (food, water, clothing, shelter, fire, firearms) while using a substance that prevents you from caring about how to do that legally. “Illicit” substances are so, because they “tilt the playing field” towards “Ruin” [J.M. Thomas R., TERMS, 2012], and nothing much compounds itself better than Ruin.

      So yes, any substance that you put in your body, that tells your brain you have enough energy to plan and execute an un-armed or armed robbery (to obtain that substance, or the means to get that substance, or the means to provide your basic human needs so that you can otherwise use the substance uninterrupted) but not have the energy to get a job, start a business, earn a wage, barter, for your basic human needs. That substance should remain on the illicit list.

        • You know that’s all he ever quotes, without presenting any evidence except what’s probably way too long of a word document on his Dell

      • what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

      • An “illicit list” presumes (mistakenly, in my opinion) that government legitimately has the power to dictate what a free person can choose to willingly consume.

      • So let me get this straight… smoking a joint makes all it’s users simply want to do nothing in life, not get a job, and rob and steal?

        Completely nonsensical.

  8. I quit smoking that nasty stuff 40 years ago. Nothing but trouble and it stinks too! I’ve since discovered that for the most part, anyone who still smokes weed is probably a liberal and a gun grabber. At least that what it seems like from my Facebook friends from high school. There is one exception that I know of…just one, a good friend from college.

    • I’ve since discovered that for the most part, anyone who still smokes weed is probably a liberal and a gun grabber.

      That’s my bias, that many of those folk are more into hedonism than e.g. protecting the 2nd Amendment.

    • If they’re dumb enough to post about their illegal drug use on FB, then they are certainly dumb enough to be a liberal. You might be shocked at how many right thinking people smoke pot. They just don’t advertise it. Just like they don’t advertise their gun collection.

    • And so many “pro-Liberty” 2a supporters are perfectly fine with throwing people in prisons for smoking a non government approved plant. Do you see the disconnect?

      the truth is that many 2a supporters are statists and they only care about Liberty if their pet issue is in question.

    • It’s also mostly grown by liberals.

      But the way you sound, it’s like you’re afraid to get liberal cooties from a joint or something.

  9. The worst part is if you have been smoking it and are involved in a DGU, your chances of convincing police that it was self defense are nil to zero. Your judgment was impaired. How do you know the attack was really an attack?

  10. Just my opinion after working narcotics for years. If you have enough that someone is breaking in to steal it your a dealer.
    Firearms do not mix with drugs, alcohol or anything else legal or illegal that affects your ability to think clearly. BTW some states may have decriminalized marijuana but its still against federal law. You also falsify a 4473 by addiction to weed, Do drugs or drink if you want but I sure don’t want you to be around me with ANY weapon or vehicle.

    AIDS & cancer use is different from use because of poor self image (it is 1of the conditions it can be prescribed for).

    • >telling others how much weed they need

      You sound just like a gun grabber. Didn’t Obama’s DOJ just introduce new rules saying that anyone selling more than 50 guns a year is automatically a dealer?

      • Do you want to be on a range next to someone drunk or stoned that has a deadly weapon? They should not be behind the wheel of a car, have a gun or even be in public. Sounds more like you are afraid someone’s going to mess with your high. Pick one or the other, either guns or drugs. Help the government keep the citizens stupid & cartels rich buy dope. Got cancer or AIDS fine otherwise there are better legal medicines for mental illness and other conditions. I.had a Dr. from CA suggest I smoke weed for psoriasis.

        • By your logic, alcohol ought to be banned, unless I misunderstand you.

          Now I would certainly agree that only a fool shoots while intoxicated (regardless of the intoxicant). And many states don’t allow whatever mode of carry (if any) requires a license, while in such a state.

        • Missing the point you do one or the other. How many drunks have you seen all over the road, do you think they should be drunk & carrying a pistol? Anything including cold medicine that affects your ability to think or physical abilities should not be used while you have a firearm, auto or machines. Read the label on Nyquil. If your under the influence of anything leave things alone that can kill simple.

        • >Pick one or the other, either guns or drugs

          Since when were you or the government in a position to dictate false choices to people?

          >Help the government keep the citizens stupid & cartels rich buy dope

          I guess it’s expected for a cop to be ignorant on the economics of government-mandated black markets.

        • Yes if your stoned or drunk makes you so much smarter. You’re right to get stoned or drunk does not Trump my right to be protected from any stupidity on your part. BTW where does your dope come from not from a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Who controls the drugs coming into this country. The cartels & Opium comes from Afghanistan, Pakistan etc…

        • Pro-tip: The US does not get marijuana from Pakistan or Afghanistan, genius. Are you drunk or do you spew falsehoods even when sober?

          >You’re right to get stoned or drunk does not Trump my right to be protected from any stupidity on your part

          Heh. Your right to feel safe based on government propaganda on drug use now trumps the right of people to smoke a harmless plant. Spoken like a true statist/jack-booted thug.

        • Better tip its all smuggled into this country.
          Go smoke a bowl and clean your Glock.

          Opium base legally imported has a legal medical use. The illegal comes in smuggled same as all dope.

        • Maybe you can explain how you can prevent being next to someone stoned, or drunk at the range?… stoners get stoned, drinkers drink…you cant stop them, you are retired, and they still show up at the range don’t they? ..

        • Also read Radley Balko’s “Rise of the Warrior Cop” for the origins of the drug war. To summarize, it was a cynical ploy by the Nixon White House to win elections by promising to assault, imprison and murder hippies.

    • >> You also falsify a 4473 by addiction to weed

      Except that weed does not cause addiction. I dare you to reference a clinical study that demonstrates otherwise.

  11. ‘Marijuana is a terrific drug. It’s far better than alcohol and anything else ingested for “recreational” purposes.’

    Alcohol is NOT a drug. Every gram of alcohol contains 7 calories, making alcohol a food with intoxicating effects. Drugs have zero calories. You metabolize alcohol. You don’t metabolize THC.

      • Also, the bacteria in your own intestines produce about an ounce of alcohol every day, and even your own cells produce small amounts of alcohol. It is physically impossible to abstain from alcohol, short of killing yourself. If we couldn’t metabolize alcohol we would have gone extinct before we could even walk upright.

      • Thanks for pointing out the scientific errors in my analysis. Oh wait. You didn’t point out any errors. So I guess you’re just a douche bag.

        • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol

          “alcohol is the principal type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts. It is a neurotoxic[14][15] psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs used by humans.”

          Please find a source that mentions anything about drugs having zero calories. That really is one of the strangest claims I’ve heard. I can’t even find a source refuting it because it’s just not something anyone has ever professed to believe.

        • And whoever wrote that wikipedia page doesn’t know the difference between ‘drug’ and ‘intoxicant’.

        • Rather than using an oversimplified definition from a dictionary, I’d rather trust researchers who actually understand the distinction: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181622/

          “Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are the most widely consumed psychotropic drugs worldwide. ”

          Food is generally loosely excluded from the definition of a drug, simply because food will also have an effect on the body (aside from the energy increase, there can be hormonal and other effects). However, the main point of food consumption is gaining energy and nutrients to live rather than the possible minor mental effects, while few would claim they are drinking alcohol in order to gain enough calories to live, rather than for the major (relative to food) mental effects.

        • ‘…while few would claim they are drinking alcohol in order to gain enough calories to live…’

          Yet many people obtain a large portion of their caloric intake from alcohol. To put it in perspective, carbs and sugars have about 4 calories per gram and fat has about 9, making alcohol one of the more concentrated sources of food.

          Yes, many people fail to understand the distinction, even in academic articles, but there is no other definition of the words. Not all drugs are intoxicants and some foods are intoxicants. The intoxicating effects of alcohol do not make it not food. Neither does the potential for addiction. Drugs aren’t the only things that are addictive. Many people are addicted to gambling or porn, but gambling and porn are neither drugs nor food. Addiction is an element of human psychology, not a physical attribute. Granted, some people are capable of exchanging one addiction for another but that doesn’t make alcohol a drug anymore than it makes gambling a drug.

  12. “Buying dope puts you in contact with some deeply unsavory people. Dispensaries aside (or not), the transaction tends to go down in some inherently dangerous places” Doesn’t sound like you know much about it. Not enough to write about anyway. Say “This is good stuff. I got it from a Negro. You’re probably high already and you don’t even know it.”

  13. It needs to be legalized nationwide. It’s a damned plant. It’s better for you than the majority of big pharma drugs out there. Here in Colorado people don’t go robbing houses for pot, although they do target a dispensary here and there but most dispensaries have security, including some with armed security. If it’s legalized then that gets rid of your drug dealers for the most part.

    • Dispensaries get robbed because they deal in cash. That’s because banks, being federally regulated, have to refuse to do business with them, because it’s “drug money”

      Another problem that might just go away if the feds would quit banning the stuff.

    • Bullshit. Here in Colorado we have a dispensary on every block. The total stereotypes about pot smokers describes the people who enter those places. I know of one place that used a stolen pit-bull as collateral for payment. Sound classy??
      Its coming to town near you ideally right next to the wal-mart. What a joke. Don’t believe the hype! I did and now regret voting for it based on libertarian principles.

      • Maybe it’s not the weed that exposes the people you describe… because here in Washington state, you cant tell the smokers from the nonsmokers.. SW SW SW…… some will, some wont.. so what…

  14. Seriously? Is that why the TTAG article below was posted then quickly deleted last month, you know, the article proudly announcing the creation of the new pro-weed website http://mjnewsfeed.com/ by Farago and crew? Cop haters and stoners, made perfect sense to me as soon as I read it (before you wiped it from the TTAG website), apparently I’m not the only one who had that reaction. The attempt by Mr. TTAG to treat the self inflicted shot to the foot and put that problematic marijuana genie back in the bottle in one fell swoop is completely understandable, damage control to do whatever it takes to win back sponsors and supporters who dropped TTAG like a hot potato after the mjnewsfeed announcement. How exactly can someone who’s not intimately familiar with weed launch a pro cannabis website? Who but a fellow stoner would hemp heads trust as a source with the street creds and expertise to successfully curate a marijuana news website. How exactly can a person develop an expertise for firearms or marijuana if they don’t have a working knowledge of the product. Problematic indeed!

    Housekeeping: The TTAG Team Creates Marijuana Website

    http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/10/robert-farago/housekeeping-the-ttag-team-creates-marijuana-website/

    The people who bring you The Truth About Guns have launched a new website dedicated to marijuana news: mjnewsfeed.com It’s not a blog. It’s a news aggregator – with a difference. The software contains a proprietary algorithm (thank you, Nick) that automatically personalizes the content you see based on your reading preferences. (Provided you sign in with a Facebook account. If not, the site remains anonymous.) Click on the leaf to see a blurb, then decide whether or not you want to eat some more chocolate chip cookies. I mean, read the full story. Better yet, mjnewsfeed.com’s

    • ” How exactly can someone who’s not intimately familiar with weed launch a pro cannabis website?”

      Just try thinking that one through.

      I know you can, if you just *try*…

      Cripes. What a moron.

    • Ted Unlis,
      “How exactly can someone who’s not intimately familiar with weed launch a pro cannabis website? ”
      They hire someone. RF and the TTAG crew are good a news and reviews. It wouldn’t matter if they were reviewing cars, boats, guns, shower curtains, weed, or raccoon skin caps. They would just hire whoever they need to assist with the aggregation of the news and comment on it. There aren’t a whole lot of PhD’s as CEOs and yet they still run the major pharma companies. The CEO of S&W, the guy that came up with the new M&P strategy, is a Brit with no idea at all how to make a gun. The person running a successful business as the technical expert is the exception, not the rule.

      • Oh I see, hire someone else to smoke the weed for them, thanks for clearing that up J Dub. That ought to allay the fear any firearms manufacturer might have about providing a T&E firearm to a crew of stoners who simultaneously run gun and marijuana websites. Too funny!

  15. I gave up smoking weed so I wouldn’t infringe on my own 2A rights. If and when it ever becomes legal in my state, it’d be an at home on the weekend kind of thing. In a DGU at home, it doesn’t matter how thrashed on any legal substance you are, if some one forces their way in to your castle, you have the right to end the threat through any means necessary. I gave away all my paraphernalia until such a day comes. If it doesn’t, no biggie, I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would, if at all.

    • ^^ This.
      I had a misdemeanor possession charge from ’73 that I had to get “sealed” through the court in order to obtain my CHL.

      If I have to choose either guns or weed….it’ll be guns every time.

  16. I don’t smoke weed, and probably never will. Just not my thing, but what gives me a moral superiority to dictate what you can do with your body?

  17. Hmm, how curious that the Des Moines Register article tells us what color handguns these “young men” were carrying, yet gives no description of the perpetrators’ bodily features. Strange, isn’t it…? :3

  18. I don’t do weed, tobacco, booze or any other drug not prescribed by a DR. Too many security clearances, background checks and random drug tests to make it sensible for me.

    I do support, and vote for the legalization of drugs. We’ve spent billions, if not trillions on a drug war that has done nothing but make cartels and crooked pols richer.

    We’d probably save money just giving the drugs for free to the addicts.

    • You give people drugs “for free” and pretty soon you’ll have to provide them with “free” food, clothing, housing, medical care, etc. There’s a non-trvial percentage of people in this country who work (legally) or commit crimes for the sole purpose of staying alive long enough to get high again. Pot and many other drugs are the raison d’ĂŞtre for too many people already, and it will get much worse if pot is legalized nationwide

        • Spoken like a true pothead — don’t bother with facts or logic, just claim that people who disagree with you are living a fantasy life – ironic when you’re the one who has to take drugs to deal with the real world.

        • Spoken like a true pothead — don’t bother with facts or logic, just claim that people who disagree with you are living a fantasy life – ironic when you’re the one who has to take drugs to deal with the real world.

          Thanks, MJ doesn’t do much for me, even the bred-to-a-fare-thee-well current varieties. Makes me sleepy is about it. The human body naturally produces cannabinoids….

          http://phys.org/news/2007-06-cannabinoids-human-body-anti-inflammatory-effect.html

          That some folks need a bit more is hardly surprising if you understand the science of the bell-curve. That one has an indictment of people for wanting/needing some extra naturally-occurring chems to keep them balanced proves how little you know about the human body and brain-chemistry. It’s ok to provide lithium to a bi-polar person, which is just altering their brain-chems. Somehow, your fantasy makes it “wrong” for a sufferer of chronic pain to turn to heroin opiates when their doctor can’t prescribe enough “legal” opioids to quell their pain due to FDA ‘regulations’.

          You are free to object on some “moral” grounds, but you have not a leg to stand on in scientific terms.

      • And would that make more sense and save more money than the useless war on drugs we have going on now.

        My wife is a right wing church going woman that believes women should not be allowed to vote. Even she says legalize drugs.

      • Samuel, you really ought to look into this thing called reality.

        There have been experimental programs where people were given free housing and food. One constant result was that criminal behavior decreased, another was that drug use decreased. Now the programs are no longer experimental, because their effects were beneficial enough that the cities doing them are saving money by giving it away.

        Another result is that after a year, those programs have shown that roughly two-thirds of the people involved have gotten jobs, even started businesses, and gotten off food stamps and even started paying rent.

        • It’s both funny and sad when people who take mind-altering substances tell other people about “reality” .

          I’m not that old, but I remember when people who took drugs (including alcohol) were seen as “weak” . Now people seem proud of the fact that they can’t deal with life without a chemical pacifier

        • Nice way to change the subject, Sam.

          Try responding to a post when you “answer” it.

          BTW, I bet you use at least one of these mind-altering substances:

          caffeine
          sugar
          chocolate
          any pain medication

          Personally, my favorite mind-altering item is sunshine.

        • >> I’m not that old, but I remember when people who took drugs (including alcohol) were seen as “weak”

          Was it back when “real men” would slap their women if she complained about being stuck in the kitchen all the time?

  19. I prefer my reality straight but do support organic drug legalization because they are an integral part of our culture and legalization well help keep them away from children.

    Legalize drugs and watch Chirag disappear.

  20. Despite my views on drugs, not just marijuana, I think if you are gonna use it your situational awareness needs to be much higher than you are when you do use.

  21. Making pot legal will never reduce crime. You are a liar or a fool if you say otherwise. Only the type of crime may change. Or the traditional location of crime will change. I can’t wait for all these legal drug dealers to be arrested by the IRS for not paying their fare share.

    That is why many of them left high tax cali for the mile high city.

    • If it doesn’t reduce crime it’s only because the government is rigging the system to keep prices high.

      But with high prices, many people are going to find it worthwhile to grow their own. Here in Oregon people are already networking to design grow systems that cut the cost significantly — and people with back yards not visible from the street or other buildings are looking at their seclusion as an investment opportunity.

    • You really should look into the documented drop in crime in communities that decided to decriminalize drug use instead of spewing tired old government tropes that stopped scaring anyone besides gullible fools long ago.

      • Funny how the only people who make that claim are pot smokers. The scariest thing about pot smokers is that they never have anything bad to say about it — unlike chronic drinkers who generally have no illusions regarding their addictions.

        • Case studies in Canada, Portugal, and some US states disagree.

          I realize the drug warriors have everything to lose with decriminalization but at least try to get the facts straight.

        • So you expect us to believe that the coalition of sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors and judges in Oregon who fought to get marijuana legalization passed were all pot smokers?

          You’ve been brainwashed. You really ought to read Jacob Sullum’s book _Saying Yes_ — he uses the government’s own figures to show that all the anti-drug hype about gateway drugs and addiction and the rest is false (surprise — the government has been lying to us).

        • Funny how the only people making argument in favor of gun rights are those who own guns…

          Actually, what’s really funny is how everyone who disagrees with you is “pot smoker”, and therefore their opinion is not valid. Circular reasoning and stereotyping is a powerful combo indeed.

    • >> I can’t wait for all these legal drug dealers to be arrested by the IRS for not paying their fare share.

      Just FYI, everyone in the legal business of manufacturing and selling drugs in states where it’s legal does pay taxes to IRS. In fact, they pay more than most everybody else, because they can’t claim many expenses that a normal business would.

    • I agree. And I think nationwide marijuana legalization will be the straw that breaks the back of American society. Why? Because regular pot smokers don’t realize that, unlike alcohol, pot changes the way you think even when you’re not high. Long term pot smokers are easy to recognize, even the “successful” ones – they slowly fall into a state where they believe themselves to be the most profund, mature, and rational people around them, and no one can tell them they’re wrong, especially when it comes to pot.

      Plenty of heavy drinkers / alcoholics say things like “I shouldn’t drink so much”, especially when they sober up. But pot smokers seem to rarely have an issue with their habit and go to great (and even illogical) lengths to claim it’s actually good for them. THAT is what makes pot scary in a way that alcohol is not.

  22. Just because you’re pro gun doesn’t mean your incapable of being an ignorant fool. Look up CBD, you don’t have to smoke cannabis to get the medicinal benefit or even get “high”. Look up juicing raw cannabis. Google something useful instead of posting the same old tired dribble your father used to spew about marijuana.

  23. While I certainly do believe medical marijuana can be safer and work better than some prescription drugs, I agree there are MANY more reasons to stay away, some of the most important mentioned here by the author. Regardless of if people think it lowers IQ, one thing for sure is that it affects the speech center of the brain. Also, when planning for SHTF or even everyday readiness situations, it’s best not to be drunk or high. It definitely does put you at a disadvantage.

  24. I think it’s Unwise to not use any individual on a case by case basis on the ability to use or be around firearms and possible drug use or mental issues.
    You may not “feel” safe next to a guy smoking a joint while he’s hitting canter mass on targets, but doesn’t mean you actually are any less safe.
    I generally wouldn’t want to be around a drunk stranger while shooting at the range, but I don’t feel my safety is threatened until I see the unsafe actions.
    Yes, I will keep an eye out for sure.

    Honestly, I feel more unsafe being near someone’s girlfriend making her AK go pew pew pew, then sweep the muzzle across the whole firing line with her finger on the trigger than some dude smoking a joint and forgetting to take the safety off before he fires.

    I like to make small holes in my targets, so I don’t want anything to mess up how I hold or feel the trigger or view in the scope. Some people don’t even drink coffee before a match to help keep heart rate and shakes down.

    One could just as easily say they don’t “feel” safe to be around anyone with firearms that has PTSD, but it doesn’t mean they are actually any less safe.
    It should be a judgement call based on your current actions as to how safe anyone Is rather than Feels. That’s my only point.
    Some people can drink a pint or smoke a bag of dope and still outshoot me.
    However, I also have been around completely sober people with firearms that I’ve honestly questioned how they are still alive.
    I personally try to use my best judgement of the actual threat level instead of how safe it seams or feels.
    I’ve had people at the range give me the stink eye and mention how they do not “feel” safe for me letting my 12 year old daughter sit at her own bench and shoot without me hovering over her. But when she brings her “smiley face” groups back from down range, all of a sudden they feel safe again.
    I dont recommend using drugs and shooting, just saying “feeling” safe and “being” safe are different things..
    Just because someone didn’t Feel safe is what brought us gun free zones.

  25. I love the “potheads wasting their lives” concern so many have.
    What do you care if somebody wastes their life? Oh, I know. Thanks to our overcumbersome government structure their problem is now your problem in various forms of extorted monies to support their wasted lives.

    Like I tell everyone up here with our absurd opium “epidemic”: stop enabling them, stop running to rescue them, stop supporting them and they’ll die off. Consider it a no-cost junkie vaccine.
    The only stake anyone has in what others do with their lives is government mandated. Much like this government sanctioned relationship marriage nonsense. The only real reason anyone cares is because Uncle Sam sticks his hand in your pocket to grab a handful of cash every time a person or persons make what should be a private life choice.

    Legalize it all and let the people do what they want with their lives. If that means being unproductive and starving under a bridge or just giggling like a fool on a Saturday night while eating Doritos so be it. These are nobodys decisions to make but the individuals own.

    • This is by far the best statement here in the comments.

      People are arguing about marijuana use – how it should continued to be regulated or how nobody should take it.

      Who cares?? It’s not my business if some guy is baked on his couch snacking out or having a seizure on the bathroom floor because someone laced his joint with something odd. They rolled the dice and get to live (or not) through their consequences. I could care less. The real issue here is the government wasting my tax dollars on regulating their choice and paying for their consequences.

      Its funny to listen to the anti-potheads here praise “personal responsibility” when it comes to guns but let out the “it should be illegal – it ruins lives” when it comes to marijuana some guy grows in his back field.

      • Marijuana isn’t an amendment to the constitution last I checked.
        Look I live in Colorado and voted for the damn stuff based on the lies the pro-pot crowd pushed. (and libertarian principles) That being said it has been an unmitigated disaster that the marijuana industrial complex (it really has become a big business here legally pushing it’s tainted candy on the public) refuses to acknowledge. Crime in my own neighborhood went through the roof right after 4 pot dispensaries went in within a 2 mile radius. Come live in Colorado for awhile and tell me how great it is.

        • An amendment to the constitution (or original text) is necessary for the feds to be granted the authority to do something. For example, back during Prohibition, an amendment was adopted to grant Congress the ability to ban alcohol. In the absence of such a grant of power, it’s the absence of the mention of marijuana (or other drugs) in the constitution that makes any federal laws regulating it unconstitutional.

  26. This is extremely anecdotal. Same could be said about buying home furnishings form Ikea. Ikea bandits may want your sh*t, so don’t buy it!

    lulz

  27. And we wonder why we can’t get the general populous to see that were are not a bunch of OFWG? Jeez, we can’t even get along about a simple subject such a MJ legalization. I hear in many of these comments the same attitude as the anti’s, using bs propaganda to further assure that our beliefs “sound” right to ourselves. When someone uses propaganda “you are supporting terrorists”, etc., you sound just as dumb as Shannon Watts. I could care less what other people do to themselves, even if it does have a small impact on me. That is the price to pay for freedom. The logic that some of you are using is the same slippery slope that liberal idiots use to take away gun rights and other freedoms.

  28. Pot isn’t for me, and I used to have a “Zero Fux” attitude about it’s legalization. Just didn’t effect me one way or the other so it was pretty low on my priority to care about list. Then I saw what it did for so many of my brothers and sisters in arms that were coming home from long combat tours. These folks are smoking before bed, after they put their kids to sleep, and that’s it. They chill out, sleep normally, and wake rested. They get off the polypharmacopia nightmare that the VA puts them on, they quit drinking, become less agitated and are able to spend time with their families and are able to hold down jobs. Exactly the opposite of what so many people claim to be the evils of marijuana. So now, even beyond the simple liberty argument (which ought to be enough), I’m in favor of the legal use of marijuana. I’ve seen the ills of it’s overuse, which is pretty much just chronic laziness, but I’ve seen the huge benefits of it as well. Put simply, I’ve seen weed save families, so I’m supportive of it’s legalization.
    I am not, of course, for carrying while high. Hallucinagenics and guns together are a bad enough idea as to be considered negligence.

    • “I saw what it did for so many of my brothers and sisters in arms that were coming home from long combat tours. These folks are smoking before bed, after they put their kids to sleep, and that’s it. They chill out, sleep normally, and wake rested. They get off the polypharmacopia nightmare that the VA puts them on, they quit drinking, become less agitated and are able to spend time with their families and are able to hold down jobs.”

      This.

      I spend maybe sixty bucks a month on my pills. Thanks to that, I am NOT spending $110 a month on prescription medications I no longer need — and my insurance company is saving $980 a month because I don’t need them.

  29. I don’t smoke it either, But I can’t stand the self righteous fools who want to prohibit something so harmless, especially coming from gun owners, who use the same type of arguments anti gunners use on them..Ban guns/magazines because someone might go on a mag dump tantrum and kill a bunch of people…. Ban weed because someone might show up at the range stoned and kill someone…It’s just the same POV using another tool..

  30. fun is not allowed.
    some stuff makes fun stuff even funnerer.
    various combinations of women, guns, moto- cycles, music, beer, convertibles, pot brownies and hash oil vapes are all possible.
    of these and many others (if you’re on cough syrup or tareytons don’t concern yourself. you’ve got the toughest road ahead), beer is the only one a body might physically crave.
    that being said…

  31. The fact that Kazillionaire George Soros funds millions into political action groups that promote: marijuana use, gun control, socialism/communism, open borders, climate change carbon scams, and global governance – is proof enough that widespread use of weed must have a negative influence on American society.

  32. I smoke marijuana and I continue to be a productive citizen by taking care of my family and doing my job. I get more benefits from it more than harm because it is a TOTALLY harmless drug. Poor government. Instead of solving more serious crimes, they focus all of their energy, money and effort on marijuana growers and users.

  33. In the 60-70s, it was peace, love, groovy, smoke weed. It was cheap. When people started packing heat over $10 worth, that was enough – end of the party. I did not want any part of that, I drank for 30 years. When the doctors put my on BP meds, the booze wasn’t fun anymore and weed is not the fun it was.
    I have been sober for 8 years and started shooting, I enjoy it and the collecting. The wife said that it was about time.

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