more ganja questions lol

You already know the answer to your question. If you put yourself in the path of "danger" you can be hurt. (danger= trying to buy drugs in strange places) No place where drugs are common is safe. You will probably survive with no problem, but you are putting yourself "at risk".

I would hope the USVI police "enforce" anti drug laws to the maximum.

Don't become part of the problem on the Islands. Drugs are bad, but get mixed up with the wrong people and you might end up hurt or worse. Bad and stupid subject on a travel forum.

I respectfully disagree that this is a bad and stupid subject. I do think it would be stupid to go looking for "ganja," and if that's what you meant, I agree. But I think it is important to disabuse ny and any lurkers of the naiive notion that they will be safe seeking drugs.

I am not referring to the problems with the drugs themselves -- I am neutral on that. But the fact is it's illegal, and by definition, those who you can get it from are criminals. Whether you end up "scoring" from a petty criminal just trying to make a few bucks, or a hardened felon who protects his territory with a firearm, is probably a matter of the luck of the draw. You take your chances.

Confused! All I meant was it is a stupid and bad idea for someone to go to any new place and start the ganga search. No telling who you might find ,police, drug dealer, addict, whatever. And I think ny was trying to find out how to score weed. It is still considered illegal isn't it? That was my only point. Drugs are a bad deal on St. Croix and I know of other places, and mostly responsible for the crime. So I am a bit sensitive to the subject.

I highly doubt that anyone here could draw a concrete positive correlation between a recreational ganja smoker and the crime problem.

I also disagree with the statement that it is wrong just because it is illegal, and I am a police officer.

However, if you are not careful about your source, then yes, it could be bad news. Maybe the seller is looking to rip you off, maybe it's a police informant, or maybe it is an undercover cop him/herself.

I challenge any local to any of the islands to show that the ganja is anywhere near the cause of violence and crime that alcohol is. Statistics please!

Chris

Statistics? Not from me! 🙂

I like your style, ChrisAdelphia! You sound like a first class billy goat, speaking as one myself. We can't butt heads on this one -- we are too closely in agreement here.

Here, hear! Statistics!

-- SA

So you don't think the dealer who deals weed also deals or does crack? Good to know

As a police officer Chris needs to answer that one. I haven't been around that world in over 30 years and for all I know one or two things could have changed in that time.

But I know of a few things that haven't changed since 1973 --
(1) The laws.
(2) Their results.
(3) The number of studies proving conclusively that Marijuana causes violence or crime.
(4) The problems alcohol clearly does cause.
(5) What we've done about that last.

I've read that the definition of 'insanity' is repeatedly doing the same things and expecting a different result.

Actually, Katie, if the answer to your question is that he does, it would be in my mind one more reason to think about trying something different. Does the bartender who sells you legal alcohol also sell crack?

I don't know whether he or she does or not, but I do know that I lived inSTX for seven years and saw the drug problem up close. Cars stolen, raped, glassy eyed kids selling crack in C'sted at night. I will go with the statistics you wrote yourself. Thanks PS I feel the same way about alcohol as you do. It's a big problem.

"Does the bartender who sells you legal alcohol also sell crack?"
Some do, and if they don't, they are the first ones that are asked as to where you can get it and they usually know!
Ronnie

Sure, some people who sell weed will sell crack, heroin, meth, and whatever else there is a market for.

Nevertheless, that doesn't make weed the villain that you make it out to be.

Let's face it, the 'war on drugs' does not work. Sure, there are a lot of very sad cases of drug abusers and the effects they have on themselves, their families, and in society in general. But it is a money game, and there are always going to be sellers if there are buyers.

People make the choice to do drugs and drink. I would venture to say that alcohol and other 'legal' drugs cause many many times the death, disease, and crime than the 'illegal' drugs. Why is it that the government learned that prohibition didn't work but that they refuse to believe that drugs are any different, I wonder?

I didn't do drugs growing up, but the opportunities were certainly there. I never even smoked a joint. However, I'm now an adult and I would appreciate the freedom to be able to smoke one, in my home, if I feel like it. Would I try crack next? No, I would not, and that is because I have educated myself about the drugs, their 'positive' and 'negative' affects, etc.

Drugs are always going to be around. I have the strong belief that the illegality of the drug trade is what results in much of the violence and crime that is related to it. Look at the violence that erupted during prohibition...how many people are machine-gunning the K-Mart in Charlotte Amalie because it is selling alcohol on someone elses turf?

I think that a nice, small, isolated place like the islands would be a good place to do a legalization experiment...but I'm sure that won't go over well. How about Hawaii then, or somewhere else that would be easier to secure that the legal drugs weren't transported off-island.

Drugs or no drugs, I still look forward to my retirement and eventual move to the USVI, and I'll be asking the bartender for some ganj when I get there.

Good day,

Chris

chris, just want to let you know about an experiment that is going on right now. i have lived in alaska for the last two years. marijuana was legal there until like 1989 when the federal goverment stepped in. this year it was finally legaized again, up to 4oz. for personal use at a residence, which means you could smoke weed at home but cant go out slinging it out on the stree, aout 70% of the people i met in alaska smoked herb. i have never felt that i was in a more safe environment than i did when i was in alaska, i knew so many people that smoked weed but would never touch crack, meth, etc. what im saying is that it has worked out well for years there and i think there is something to it. i see far more dangers come from tobacco and alcohol, legal or not i thinkits up to the individual to study about a substance and find out how it works for them, if i cant handle my liquor and start pissing myself then i shouldnt drink. if weed makes me spend $50.00 on munchie food, i shouldnt smoke, everything in moderation.

Had a feeling Chris would say pretty much what he did -- I've spoken with a number of people from his profession who have told me they feel that after a certain number of years fighting Marijuana use they feel their time could be better used. He's right. If this is a war we should raise the white flag. We did better in Vietnam.

Where Chris and I differ is that I have no desire to use ganja if it becomes legal and I really don't want my son to use it when he gets to high school, either. But I don't have any delusions that the war is going to turn around in 5 and a half years. (I don't have any delusions that my thoughts will be listened to, either, but that's a different matter.) I have absolutely no question in my mind that before he is a sophomore he will have had plenty of opportunities to try pot, beer and possibly a number of far more dangerous things.

It will be up to me to encourage him to find his "highs" in other places. It will be up to me to help him learn how to choose his friends carefully. It will be up to me to make sure he knows the risks of whatever is out there. But it will be up to him to make the final choice. Hopefully, if he does try ganja he will quickly come to the realization I did -- that it won't help you get anywhere and it isn't worth the costs, legal or otherwise.

But what I would find tragic is if he does try pot and, before he has the opportunity to decide for himself how bad it is, he gets caught. His entire future could go up in one very odiferous puff of smoke. The worst thing I saw in high school wasn't the Marijuana smoking and what it did to kids. It was what happened to the (very small) handful that got caught and went into the legal system. None of them that I knew ever really came out again. Their abilities to get jobs were affected. The culture they learned in the juvenile system stayed with them long after they were out. And the drugs they eventually ended up on DO have plenty of conclusive studies linking them to crime, violence, overdose, addiction and death.

I'm actually glad that only a fraction of one percent of the kids that smoked pot in my high school were ever caught and that in that sense the millions spent by law enforcement to "catch 'em" were wasted. Gun lobbyists use the line 'if guns are illegal only criminals will own guns'. These kids weren't really criminals at heart. And the only kids that became that way were the ones the system supposedly 'worked' for -- the ones that went to Durango Juvenile Center.

For 40 years that I've been able to watch, we've dealt with Marijuana the same way. For that same 40 years we haven't made one inch of real progress. And for that same 40 years there's been another idea on the table. To most of the 'drugs are bad' law abiding community, that other idea is too radical -- it makes them feel like they are saying drugs are okay and they don't want to say that. But I think they say those things without really thinking it for themselves, not very far anyway. Instead they hear the message of the politicians. Better, tougher, stronger law enforcement is the PC answer. Only the same party that wants all of that is the party that wants to reduce taxes and cut government spending. It is a recipe that dooms itself to failure.

If we do try an experiment -- in the islands or anywhere else -- it will still be an experiment and experiments can very easily fail. We would need to think carefully about how we would do things differently. Making pot legal and handing it like a gift-wrapped package to the tobacco industry would guarantee disaster -- no business or revenue based model will help control drugs in the long run. Perhaps a government run organization whose function is to produce quality product at prices well below the street price (decimating demand for a black market), and whose goals and bonus structure were based on using whatever revenue is received to REDUCE their own product's demand through inner city programs, education programs and radical new experimental ideas for getting kids away from or off of drugs... I don't know.

But the experiment of the past 40 years has clearly failed. It's goal -- put as many of the pot-smoking b------ds in jail as we can. Give 'em police records. Lock 'em into the bottom rungs of society for the rest of their lives. If we have to build tent city prisons to hold them, do it. If we have to spend more in tax dollars, take it out of education and assistance programs. And when we have to return them to society, hope they don't return to crime. And hope it isn't any worse crime than what we put them in for.

Well said.

To clarify, it isn't really that I want to smoke mj or hope it becomes legal so that I can 'legally' smoke it.

Just as I was legally 'allowed' to taste alcohol when I turned 21, and did, I choose now to rarely taste it. Would I give on a smoke out of curiosity's sake if it became legal...?

Yes, I do believe I would.

But you covered my sentiments regarding children perfectly. It is our job as adults to teach the children and flat out ORDER the children not to get involved in such things. It is also our job to educate them in order that they will be able to stand up to whatever peer pressure will most certainly exist. Once my children are grown and have established themselves, if they want to try something out after some reasoned thought, then so be it.

Also, as you noted that a business or revenue based model for the distribution of any drug would be bad, I believe that you are exactly right. But I also believe that it doesn't do to well when it comes to alcohol.

I think that instread of arresting someone for...say DUI, fining them, and suspending their driving privileges, there should be some way to suspend their alcohol or drug privilege. I see people with no real drinking problem get arrested for DUI, lose their license, lose their jobs because of it, and go right into a downward spiral after that.

Here in Pennsylvania, we still have 'state stores,' which are the only places you can go and buy liquor (other than beer, etc.) or at restaurants/bars. But even those other avenues are supposed to check identiifcation on anyone who looks under 35 or something ridiculous. Check their alcohol ID card instead...

DUI ? Alcohol privilege suspended...but you can still drive to work. (still fined for the DUI of course)

Disorderly conduct because you're acting like a drunk ass? Alcohol privilege suspended... (in addition to being cited for the original D.C. of course)

Smoke some M.J. and eat 5 bags of potato chips? You're okay until you get caught vomiting your Doritos out in the street. Then you lose your MJ privilege for a little while...

I dislike big government as much as many others do, but some things would work smoother if the government did regulate it. After all, this war on drugs starts at the federal level anyway, so it wouldn't actually change much in that respect. I do know that the 'war' is a joke and that more small time, 'innocently' involved users end up having their lives ruined than the people the war is supposed to be going after anyway.

Oh well, I have a sneaking suspicion that the war on drugs will still be in full force when my retirement comes ten years from now.

Again, nice post Sailaway.

Thanks. And ditto, ChrisAdelphia.

-- SA

GANJA GANJA GANJA GANJA...........Ganja is good...Ganja is great....i wish i had nuggets on my plate!!!

Kentucky Matt wants everyone to know that there is nothing wrong with smoking ganj...just be responsible with it and dont do a bunch of other nonsense stuff. Ganja and mushrooms are natural and from the earth...so they should be legal!!! thats what i have to say about that

Kentucky Matt

Uhh, Matt... Have you got the munchies? I think you might be chewing on your keyboard...

im sorry if i sparked controversy among the people who do no believe in smoking the herb. but many people do and I just wanted to know if buying it in STT has the same dangers of buying "hard drugs"

ny:

I doubt anyone took your post in any other way than it was meant, and I apologize if we got a little off your question to use this forum to share ideas as we sometimes do -- one of the things I really love about it. My own answer to your specific question would parrot that of most other posters: as long as ganja is illegal the risks involved in purchasing are ALWAYS there. But as I've mentioned I'm not an expert. Seeing a few poorly covered transactions on the beaches in STX (all of them from a comfortable distance) is the limit of my experience.

In fact that last point may be relevant. I'm sure there are people who know how to conduct a transaction in the middle of a crowded street without making it look suspicious. The ones I notice are the clowns who jerk their heads, dart their eyes, hunch their shoulders, cup their hands and do everything short of carry a billboard saying, "I'VE GOT THE BRAINS OF A TOAD AND I'M SELLING DRUGS HERE...."

Both Chris and Sailaway have good points. Although i must admit I lean more towards Chris's opinion. As a nurse working in the ER I see more damage done by alcohol than I do by ganja. Go figure! I guess they are too stoned to do any crime or they have a severe case of the munchies such that all they want to do it eat.

If the feds legalize ganja, they can profit from it through taxation just like alcohol and tobacco. They also get to cut down expenses on the war on drugs by focusing on destructive non-ganja related stuff like cocaine, heroin and others.

One thing about this country is that you have to be 21 to consume alcohol but only 18 to enlist in the armed forces and put your life at stake in a foreign country.

But as Sailaway points out, it boils down to good parenting. The future of this country rests on our children. The sad thing is, nowadays most of them grow up in daycare centers. Scary but true.

God bless America. (Even that may be politically incorrect one day.) Go figure!

Peruse this link on the effects the massive cigarette tax increase in New York is having:

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/13073.htm

Chris