DUDE
The voters of Denver have spoken.
56% of Denver's voters said "yes" to legalizing marijuana.
It is now legal in the city of Denver for adults over 21 years to carry up to an ounce of the happy grass...
... sort of.
It's still illegal as a state and federal law... so the police say they'd still have to bust you for that.
...?
How does something like that even get on the ballot if the state and national laws forbid it?
The Boulder radio station (97.3 KBCO) sure was having a lot of fun with it though.
-------------------------------------------------------
For some reason this seems like a good time to let you know that that's just a piece of rolled up paper in my profile pic.
Yeah, I'm a poser.
posted by shad @ 9:22 PM
23 comments
23 Comments:
Now, that's funny. Is this true?
If it is, that's just another example of this crazy world we live in.
Well, whatever's in that paper, I'm definitely not smokin' it.
I thought that was cool and witty bryan. Keep it up.
Oh, and yeah Daryel, it's absolutely true. The guy behind the campaign was just hoping to make a start so that responsible adults could retain their freedoms. He says people under the influence of alcohol are a greater danger to others than people under the influence of... what do you call it...? Oh yeah, cannabis, marijuana, pot, reefer, bud, grass, weed, dope, ganja, herb, boom, gangster, Mary Jane, sinsemilla, joint, hash, hash oil, blow, blunt, green, kilobricks, roach, Thai sticks, Marinol®... or something.
Seems like a silly waste of time, energy, and money to me but... whatever, I guess some people might argue the same about blogging.
i'm so reminded of the amsterdam dialog from pulp fiction...pots legal but it aint 100% legal.
jb - are you saying that because you only use mind-altering substance for 'fun,' that it is okay? Interesting. Surprised you trust yourself so much.
Well, to say that a nice high is good and being drunk is ok is ludicrous. Lets all face it, the bible is strict when it comes to, oh whats the word they use..."Excess". Then again, most of us don't practice what the bible says to a 'T' so I figure most of us should just CONTINUE to make the Word of God conform to how we want to live our own lives...its all ok right? I mean, do we like to feel convicted? Do we like the challenge of following an invisible God? We've all done it right? Bent the scripture to justify our own actions. "Jesus drank wine, so its ok!" Well, we always forget the Bible says that, to lose control over a substance is sin. So no, being high is not ok and neither is being drunk. Then again, if we tried to live like the Bible says we should we would have to excercise a great deal of self control, and thats something a lot of us don't have.
Wall below a fly - I myself am in the mix of needing to practice more self-control. Thank you for saying what you did - it is like a breath of fresh air.
Wall Below a Fly has some nice points although a bit strong. I suppose we all have problems of some sort. I figure I will always be working on my life in some aspect.
Yea, for my blog's first official can of worms.
This is a milestone.
As for my opinion on the subject (since I know everybody is wondering):
JB... thanks for your input on the subject. I specifically asked about how this got on the ballot and you offered interesting insight. I also respect you for expressing your thoughts. Obviously most of my readership "leans to the right" and I think you know that and went through with it anyway. Not that anything is really at stake here, but still... cool.
ANONYMOUS... Thanks for commenting; great point, totally agree that "just for fun" will pretty much never be a justification or guage for wrongdoing. But I think the other half of your comment is worth addressing as well:
"Surprised you trust yourself..."
To be honest, I believe that attitude is the root of religion. I understand that I'm missing the point of what you were saying, but I'm going to ramble a little about it anyway.
We HAVE to trust ourselves. That is the whole point of God giving us free will. To not trust ourselves and to allow outside dictation of how to use that free-will is giving it up as sure as... drinking strong drink, or using mind altering drugs. God's purpose for mankind has always been for them to find their answers in Him. Even to the point of not wanting the Children of Israel to have a king. God knew that it was within each of them to follow his leading for direction for themselves, they didn't need a king. But when they cried out anyway:
1 Samuel 8:6-7 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
==I think I'm going to leave that thought open right there. I was about to go into a long-winded, boring, typing in circles essay... and I changed my mind. Suffice it to say, these are things we have to take up personally with the Father, which is harder than simply letting someone tell us what the rules are.
WALL BELOW A FLY-- I think you may be over-generalizing. I absolutely agree that our Will is the single most precious and powerful quality that God gave mankind. And to consciously do anything that sacrifices or weakens that Will is to show great irreverance to that gift and the Giver of it.
But I don't think that JB was saying it's okay to give up your will, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't saying it's okay to lose control. Your comment suggests drinking or smoking at all is losing control. Is it possible to drink or smoke but not "in excess"? Or is that conforming your words to justify sin?
I don't know if smoking pot, in itself, is a sin or not. I've never tried it. It's illegal and that's enough for me right now. I do think it's a sin to act outside of wisdom, and that includes getting busted for something stupid like smoking dope. And I believe we are called to be a light to this world and it seems like that might be difficult if your sitting on your couch contemplating the meaning of a lampshade indefinitely... but that's propaganda talking again-- and seems uncomfortably close to sitting on your couch watching a movie (which I definitely partake of frequently).
WP--Well said. When we get the logs out of our own eyes we'll be in a much better place to stand up as a light in this world.
We are responsible for our own convictions and I don't think anyone here has acted outside of that. I'm impressed and grateful for the quality and integrity of each you and each of your comments. You're welcome here anytime.
Shad- I feel as if you've misinterpreted what I was saying. I myself like to have an occasional drink and don't think that it is wrong in any means. What I was talking about before when I said 'excess' is simple the non-ability to make sound decisions. Why is being drunk wrong? Because you are absolutly not in control, and that in itself is no generalization. There is no 'sin' in the amount of drug or alchol consumed because we can all hold more or less then the next guy right? Why is drunk driving a leading cause of death in our nation? Because those drivers are not able to make a sound decision to NOT DRIVE. So now were faced with the aspect of getting drunk in your own house. You may be so drunk you don't realize your in your own house and you decide to go run an errand. Being high or drunk lends us to absolutly no control most of the time. Not only that, in my experience drunk people make us that choose to stay cognant very un-comfortable. This is why people at a party hate to see that 'one' person not drink at all. They don't want to do something stupid that one person might remember. I'm all for a casual drink, but I just see no need for excess even if you leave the Word of God out of it. I like your blog, I might keep this in my favorites. My goal is not to be controversal with everything, but rather just provoke thought that will help us become better people. Myself included.
When I accused you of over-generalizing I undertand that I was the guiltiest party of it myself.
Thank you for clarifying, I think the difference between drinking and getting drunk is pretty relevant to where we're all trying to take this.
"My goal is not to be controversal with everything, but rather just provoke thought that will help us become better people. Myself included."
I appreciate that, and like to think I shared a similar purpose.
Only people with mutual respect can have interactions that shake the beliefs we've taken for granted... hopefully to the point where, ultimately, the truth is the only thing left standing.
Right now I'm thinking the order is: Love, then respect, and then truth, after that "right" can't help but line up with that.
Again, thanks for your comments.
(Oh, and I'm thinking you should definitely keep this blog in your favorites)(but I'm pretty biased).
shad - Allow me to explain. I did not mean that in "not trusting ourselves," we should blindly follow those around us. What I was saying, was that I believe it is wisdom to submit our will to God. Why? Because our own ways are faulty, corrupt at times, because we only "see in part, and know in part," whereas God sees and knows all. That being said, when God gives clear commands in His Word, I do not think it wise to put our ways above His....in essence, trusting our own human ways of thinking rather than His all-knowing ways. I think it is dangerous ground to walk on....this being the very reason God gives us boundaries - for our own safety. I hope that clears things up. I was not talking about trusting others in place of ourselves, rather trusting God in place of ourselves.
As for the rest of the commentaries, I don't necessarily agree with it all, but it is too lengthy too write and I think there is too much room for misunderstanding.
Great blog and nice can of worms!
i was looking at the blog, and wow.... looks like this can-o-worms has tied or just beat the record for most comments.
way cool blog. def enjoy it.
Thanks Different Anon: I'm enjoying it too.
ANONYMOUS (the one who refered to "not trusting ourselves")--Yes, I know I totally took what you said out of context, I just saw a soap box and hopped on it, I apologize for making it look like personal criticism, it wasn't.
Though it looks like a lot of us have conflicting ideas, I love that we all seem to be saying the same thing: We must get our answers from God. Right now it just looks like our perspectives on how to get that are different.
So, it has been mentioned at least a couple times within all of these comments that God's commands are clear in his Word. But the real issue is, how clear it is on this subject? We have been discussing drinking and drugs so I'd like to know scriptures that have to do with that specifically.
Wall...Fly already made reference to Ephesians 5:18 so we'll start with that:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Excess seems to imply that moderation is okay.
Others?
Yeah, my sister said that last one would be a comment killer... well that as much as the fact we've probably exhausted the subject. Oh well. We'll talk scriptures another time.
well if that didn't kill it(cuz nobody kills comments or beats dead horse better than me. whew now the heats off you)...
on a similar note i was reading how san francisco passed Measure H which prohibits San Franciscans from owning handguns and bans the sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city!!! um, isn't their still a constitutional ammendment allowing it or can cities just violate those now?
also they passed Measure I, a symbolic "declaration of policy that the people of San Francisco oppose the federal government's use of public schools to recruit students for service in the military". of course recruiters are still allowed on school grounds under federal law.
so i summise that really denver was just passing a symbolic "declaration of policy that roaching a fat spliff ain't no big deal"
so next november i think those that are oppossed should symbolically declare so. ah democracy.
is it just me or is freedom wasted on the free...(only mildly serious please don't flame me)
***the second and third paragraphs are largely plagerized from reuters because ctrl-c + ctrl-v is largely easier than typing***
i was being ironic in making a point that now that all the big battles for the ideals of freedom are fought and won (slavery abolished, women's suffrage, civil rights, etc) all we are left with is...right to toke up? i appreciate freedom of speech and i love america and the democratic republic. but if all the great battles of freedom are going to be this dull from here on out i think maybe we have hit all the major beats. maybe now it's time to safeguard all that freedom and democracy have accomplished over the last 230 years. not just make freedoms for freedom sake.
i'm only speaking of the pot thing and not in generalities (there may still be some big battles left). i trivialize because it seems so trivial. maybe i should have said freedom is wasted on those with too much free time. let's go like find some people who are truly oppressed and un-oppress them. (in humanitarian ways not militarily speaking)
but then again the majority has spoken. i just wish it sounded like they had something more important to say.
on a side note I totally see the double standard between alcohol and pot. of course making alcohol illegal really didn't change much either.
maybe tho, just maybe, i thought i could get a few more comments out of this old clunker... :)
shad & jb -
1 Corinthians 10:31-32 - So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God -
If what we are doing is glorifying and pleasing to God, then our hearts won't condemn us. I think the safeguard here is asking God - not just trying to think through it ourselves. For some, moderation may be ok. For others, not.
coy - well said.
I was going to comment... but it's 4:20. I'll be back later to finish my thought.
shad & jb & whoever else is reading this -
I wasn't trying to sound super spiritual in my last comment..."hey, here's a verse you two heathens should read:)"......not at all. I was just sharing the criteria I try to use for determining what I should and should not do. Hope I didn't come off haughty.
That's a great one. You're right Courtney.
I think that's what makes all of these things seem to me like silly distractions.
I agree with you and believe we know when we aren't pleasing God.
So how do these trivial things come up?
Well, sin or not... what's the point of spending our time trying to justify or condemn something... when that time could have been spent pursuing the Father and/or ways to love each other? To me that's the bigger waste.
I have complete confidence in the power of light to dispel/destroy darkness. We can spend our time trying to define something as right or wrong, light or dark; or even neutral...
... or we can just get into the light.
Bloggers of everywhere.....how do I start a blog? We had a stray cat run into our church this morning...very entertaining! Thought about posting a comment on Shad's blog except it would actually be an entry...hehe...didn't know if that was proper blogging etiquette (I'm guessing not). Needless to say, I think I need my own blog.
Thanks brack! I'm on it.
Post a Comment
<< Home