A serious blow to Canadian audiophiles, must read

1) Pot is a stimulant, alcohol is a depressant
2) While I wouldn't choose to get in a vehicle operated by, or be operated on by a surgeon who was under the influence of either, if I was forced to, I'd take my chances with the one under the influence of THC every time
3) I don't know how old you are Lugnut, but I'd agree with Swampwalker that current pot is much more potent than the stuff from 20-30 years ago-simply a matter of improving technology and agriculture
4) North American governments waste hideous amounts of money needlessly incarcerating people with small amounts of pot for personal use; they should legalize or at least decriminalize possession of small amounts for such purpose but enforce laws similar to those relating to alcohol with respect to operating machinery
5) Tax it and improve the economy
6) Governments should not be involved in growing; the Canadian government has already proven how hopeless this concept is-medicinal users have returned government pot because of its poor quality!

It is simply absurd that alcohol and tobacco are legal and that pot is not.

Macmimir:

Perhaps I was not clear enough in my statement above, so here goes.

Pot is indeed a stimulant; it is somewhat unique in that it is also a depressant. Your point about how it affects different users is well taken, though. As to its classification as a hallucigen, my thought on that is that it is a little off base. Your point on the driving study illustrates that perfectly and gets to what I was trying to say-we are more in agreement than disagreement here. Would you rather get in a car with a pot smoker or an LSD (a true hallucigen) user?

As to your point on concentration of THC, your analogy of good and bad may be correct, but there was a lot of "bad" pot in the 70's. I was there too. I think we're splitting hairs on this one if we agree that there is uniformly better (or worse depending on which side of the argument you're on) pot out there. And there is no doubt in my mind that growers in the past 20-30 years have worked on improving the product-hence the consistent availability of "better" pot.

As to legalization-taxation, the Netherlands is clearly reaping some economic reward with its system. And although I've never been there, I found it interesting when an acquaintance told me of the strong popularity and esteem in which Canadian marijuana is held in the Netherlands. So there are obviously differences based on growing techniques, breeding, etc. My feeling is that's not much different than the respect that certain single malt scotches deserve, but that's a matter open to debate I suppose.