Prince of Pot extradited

[DrGreenthumb]

I assume you are referring to Canadian society. A majority of Canadians support the legalization of marijuana:

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/canadian_majority_would_legalize_marijuana1/

Remarkably, the percentage of Albertans supporting legalization is even higher:

http://endprohibition.ca/group/endprohibition/reefer-madness-automatic-jail-six-pot-plants-too-harsh

On this issue, Harper is even out of step with his strongest supporters. No wonder, a Harper majority is a frightening prospect. If Harper can ignore the opinion of most Canadians while holding a minority in Parliament, what will he do with a majority?

Its because his missionary alliance church is very anti-pot. Harper's church has more influence over him than the opinion of a majority of Canadians. That's why we shouldn't let religious nutters infiltrate our government.

[Smallc]

A private business or club is not "public"

It is, in fact, a public space, even if it isn't publicly owned. A private club is a bit different though.

Smoke weed and tobacco all you want in your own home...away from your children. I don't want to see it or smell it. You don't have a right to pollute the air that I breath (although, you are doing it anyway, it's far less dangerous if it's not close by). The fact is, they are health hazards, scientifically proven. Kill yourself and leave me out of it.

Edited May 23, 2010 by Smallc

[DrGreenthumb]

A lot of people I know - all cocaine does is make them alert.

Me too. And our current marijuana laws serve that purpose.

No. But the fact that it was short-lived definitely does.

I don't. But you don't need to legalize marijuana to take advantage of them.

Generally I agree with you. You make a good point regarding sports, or cheeseburgers, etc. But what this whole discussion illustrates is how unbelievably liberty stealing socialized medicine is. We should definitely have the freedom to smoke tobacco, or smoke pot, or eat cheeseburgers, or play sports. And we should definitely have the freedom to face the consequences of our actions. We should be providing for our own healthcare and our own health insurance. That way your actions, or my actions don't become my business or yours. But unfortuantely, that isn't the case. And since everyone pays for everyone else, our lifestyles and health habits become everyone's business and/or concern.

That's fine but as I have to contribute to paying for people's sports injuries it is BS to use health costs as a reason to limit MY choices. Legalization and taxation would effectively pay for any future haelth costs. That IS taking responsibility for our actions. We pay taxes on unhealthy things when we buy them so that we have payed in advance for any possible negative effects.

[DrGreenthumb]

It is, in fact, a public space, even if it isn't publicly owned. A private club is a bit different though.

Smoke weed and tobacco all you want in your own home...away from your children. I don't want to see it or smell it. You don't have a right to pollute the air that I breath (although, you are doing it anyway, it's far less dangerous if it's not close by). The fact is, they are health hazards, scientifically proven. Kill yourself and leave me out of it.

So I assume you support banning automobiles, which belch out more posisons and smoke per second than a smoker does in a day?

[DrGreenthumb]

It is, in fact, a public space, even if it isn't publicly owned. A private club is a bit different though.

A private business is NOT a public space. A private business owner may allow the public inside, but that doesn't mean that the public should be able to dictate to that owner what he or she allows to take place inside. If you don't like the environment LEAVE. It really IS just that simple.

[normanchateau]

No. But the fact that it was short-lived definitely does.

Would you say the fact that a majority of Canadians support marijuana legalization indicates social acceptance of this substance?

[bush_cheney2004]

...Smoke weed and tobacco all you want in your own home...away from your children. I don't want to see it or smell it. You don't have a right to pollute the air that I breath (although, you are doing it anyway, it's far less dangerous if it's not close by). The fact is, they are health hazards, scientifically proven. Kill yourself and leave me out of it.

Well there is one downside to banning public smoking....it makes it harder to find the stress fractures and cracks on aircraft with pressurized cabins. Seems that the staining residue (you know, that urine color on a smoker's painted walls) helped to spot fuselage defects. Thirty-five years too late for me, the US Navy has finally gotten around to banning smoking on submarines...women are in...smoking is out:

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/us-navy-to-ban-smoking-on-submarines/19428651

[Smallc]

A private business is NOT a public space. A private business owner may allow the public inside, but that doesn't mean that the public should be able to dictate to that owner what he or she allows to take place inside. If you don't like the environment LEAVE. It really IS just that simple.

I'm afraid you are incorrect. If that were the case, there would be no reason for say...health inspectors. There are laws that are put in place to protect people.....from people like you who think they should be able to dictate the terms to the people that they're harming.

[Handsome Rob]

It is, in fact, a public space, even if it isn't publicly owned. A private club is a bit different though.

Smoke weed and tobacco all you want in your own home...away from your children. I don't want to see it or smell it. You don't have a right to pollute the air that I breath (although, you are doing it anyway, it's far less dangerous if it's not close by). The fact is, they are health hazards, scientifically proven. Kill yourself and leave me out of it.

I will, as soon as you (North Americans) stop:

-Driving your car.

-Filling our landfills with never ending refuse leaking hazardous chemicals.

-Using so much energy to end things like the proverbial environmental black hole of the tarsands.

-Conducting so much trade with overseas manufacturers and the endless amounts of pollution and hazardous chemicals their factories produce.

-Allowing people carrying airborne spread illnesses from showing themselves in public.

....

But the political football tumbles on. Look out fat people and fast food consumers, you're next. The campaign of banning is more intolerant than Radical Islam....."Forget all the things I'm doing that are 15 times worse, YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!!"

[Smallc]

You assume (wrongly) that I'm not in favour of tougher regulations on all types of pollution. It has to be done within reason (to not collapse the economy), and with smoking, that really isn't a problem.

[Handsome Rob]

You assume (wrongly) that I'm not in favour of tougher regulations on all types of pollution. It has to be done within reason (to not collapse the economy), and with smoking, that really isn't a problem.

So basically ban everything then?

[Smallc]

So basically ban everything then?

No. I'm not playing some kind of absolutist game here.

[wyly]

The minute amount of exposure outside isn't going to give anyone cancer. It is only a loud minority of whiners who don't like the smell, who want to force their will on others.

actually if someone is smoking on a patio next to me I have to leave, breathing becomes difficult it's not all about cancer...

[wyly]

I'm afraid you are incorrect. If that were the case, there would be no reason for say...health inspectors. There are laws that are put in place to protect people.....from people like you who think they should be able to dictate the terms to the people that they're harming.

yup...if you're working in one of these smoking establishments health inspectors have a say in it, if you were to end up with lung cancer there are issues with compensation...it's like working in a construction zone without a hardhat and safety gear...

[eyeball]

On this issue, Harper is even out of step with his strongest supporters. No wonder, a Harper majority is a frightening prospect. If Harper can ignore the opinion of most Canadians while holding a minority in Parliament, what will he do with a majority?

The scariest thing about this is how many f^*king Conservatives who advocate legalization can ignore their stated principles about getting the government of people's backs and still vote for a bastard who would cheerfully do the opposite. With people like this for fellow citizens who needs a tyrant to make Canada such a crappy little shit-hole?

It brings a really perverted meaning to "I get high with a little help with my friends" doesn't it? You Conservative supporters should be ashamed of yourselves. No tent in the world could ever be big enough to make me a supporter.

As for the goddamn Liberal Party...the spectacle of seeing these whoring cowards vote to crack down and get tough on people because they're quivering in fear they'll be branded as being soft is even more disgusting and depraved.

[DrGreenthumb]

actually if someone is smoking on a patio next to me I have to leave, breathing becomes difficult it's not all about cancer...

This is supposed to be a FREE country. You are free not to work in a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, just as you are free to move if smoke bothers you. If the demand is there there would be plenty of smoke-free establishments to cater to folks like you and give you a job. Just like I can choose not to be a welder, knowing how bad the welding fumes are for my lungs. The ridiculous thing is that such stupid lawsuits can even get to the courthouse to be heard. If you CHOSE to work in a smoky bar for 30 years and got cancer, boo frickin hoo, you made your choices in life, now F'n well live with them. (or die because of them) Just don't think you get to take those choices away from other people.

You damn smoke nazi's won't be happy til the smokers are not allowed anywhere to enjoy thier lives how they choose to. Before long you will just force tobacco underground like pot, and people will be growing it in their basements, gangsters will get rich selling it, and the profits are funding more nefarious criminal activity. Some people are just too stupid to understand how important freedom is. You don't deserve the sacrifices our grandfathers made to fight off the fascists so we could be free. You make me sick.

[bush_cheney2004]

This is supposed to be a FREE country. You are free not to work in a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, just as you are free to move if smoke bothers you. If the demand is there there would be plenty of smoke-free establishments to cater to folks like you and give you a job. Just like I can choose not to be a welder, knowing how bad the welding fumes are for my lungs.

Nope...that's not how it works in employment law or occupational health / safety. That's like saying anybody who doesn't want to be exposed to asbestos (and mesothelioma) shouldn't work in a shipyard. Not going to fly in court....

[normanchateau]

The scariest thing about this is how many f^*king Conservatives who advocate legalization can ignore their stated principles about getting the government of people's backs and still vote for a bastard who would cheerfully do the opposite.

Those principles have been ignored numerous times in the past both by the Harper government and by Harper supporters. Even in his first year as Prime Minister, Harper attempted to take away previously legislated human rights under the bogus guise of a "free vote":

http://www.samesexmarriage.ca/advocacy/mot061206.htm

[GostHacked]

This is how effective the war on drugs can be.

http://www.kristv.com/news/marijuana-seizure-turns-into-yardwork/

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0522/largest-marijuana-plant-seizure-police-departments-history-turns-mere-yard-work/

Texas officers ultimately spent hours laboring to tag and remove up to 400 plants from a city park, discovering only after a battery of tests that they had been sweating over mere Horse Mint, a member of the mint family -- effectively turning their ambitious drug bust into mere yard work.

You'd think at least if they are fighting a war on drugs they at least know what 'drugs' look like.

Laughable.

[wyly]

This is supposed to be a FREE country. You are free not to work in a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, just as you are free to move if smoke bothers you.

you should look up what freedom in a democracy means...one person's freedom ends when it infringes upon anothers...my freedom to a healthy enviroment trumps another persons freedom to a behaviour that threatens mine...that's why we're not "free" to hunt within cities...

If the demand is there there would be plenty of smoke-free establishments to cater to folks like you and give you a job. Just like I can choose not to be a welder, knowing how bad the welding fumes are for my lungs. The ridiculous thing is that such stupid lawsuits can even get to the courthouse to be heard. If you CHOSE to work in a smoky bar for 30 years and got cancer, boo frickin hoo, you made your choices in life, now F'n well live with them. (or die because of them) Just don't think you get to take those choices away from other people.

sorry dude workman's comp which we pay into pay's for illnesses incurred on the job, those are the rules someone gets injured on the job they get compensated, deliberate unhealthy choices are not allowed and our society hasn't de-evolved to the point where you want us to let people die on the streets...

You damn smoke nazi's won't be happy til the smokers are not allowed anywhere to enjoy thier lives how they choose to. Before long you will just force tobacco underground like pot, and people will be growing it in their basements, gangsters will get rich selling it, and the profits are funding more nefarious criminal activity. Some people are just too stupid to understand how important freedom is. You don't deserve the sacrifices our grandfathers made to fight off the fascists so we could be free. You make me sick.

you're a fuckin'tard...and on ignore forever...

[GostHacked]

you should look up what freedom in a democracy means...one person's freedom ends when it infringes upon anothers...my freedom to a healthy enviroment trumps another persons freedom to a behaviour that threatens mine...that's why we're not "free" to hunt within cities...

If you even try to prevent me from smoking a cigarette in my back yard because you get a smell of it now and then, and say it's because you got some condition that is aggravated by smoke, then you might want to stay inside where your nice hepa filter HVAC system will give you nice clean air. Then again the stench of your smugness might not to be my suiting either.

Not to mention there is no wildlife in the city, this is why hunting is near impossible in cities let alone illegal in cities.

[dre]

Doesnt matter what anyones opinion on Marc Emery or Marijuana laws is, this is a terrible decision and it treads on a very slippery slope.

[DrGreenthumb]

you should look up what freedom in a democracy means...one person's freedom ends when it infringes upon anothers...my freedom to a healthy enviroment trumps another persons freedom to a behaviour that threatens mine...that's why we're not "free" to hunt within cities...

you're a fuckin'tard...and on ignore forever...

You can have a healthy environment , there are plenty of smoke-free options available, that doesn't mean every-frigging-place has to cater to you. You are so god damn selfish, and think the world owes you special consideration.

If I WERE a cigarette smoker which I havn't been for about 3 years, I should be free to gather with other people like myself in an area clearly marked as likely to contain smoke. If you don't want to breath it in keep your stupid frail ass out. Worker's comp is supposed to be for accidents that occur on the job, that is not the same as recognized hazards of a particular job. Welders breath in harmful fumes all the time, far more harmful than cig smoke. Mechanics handle carcinogenic used oil all the time. Miners work in hazardous environments. Any of these people can choose NOT to work at those jobs. Non-smokers can just as easily choose not to work where smoking is allowed instead of bitching about how private business owners and their customers CHOOSE to enjoy THEIR space. People use cars that puke out exhaust in a lot more quantity and more poisonous than cig smoke. I could sit in my garage with 4 friends and chain smoke away 4 packs of smokes with all the windows closed while we sat and played cards for three hours, and none of us would die from it. If I ran my truck in there for 20 minutes with us inside we would all be dead. Spare me the "my rights end where they affect the health of others BS" until cars are not allowed to run in any public area where people might inhale a miniscule ammount wafting by.

You are dishonest as to your motivations and your arguments are are see through and knocked over more easily than the first little piggy's straw house.

When your stupid arguments are shown to be as hollow as your head all you can do is revert to name calling and tell me I'm a "fuckin 'tard"? Great debate tactic that, a real Rhodes Scholar you must be.

[Smallc]

Not to mention there is no wildlife in the city, this is why hunting is near impossible in cities let alone illegal in cities.

That is completely false. There are over 1200 white tailed deer in Winnipeg....On Oasis HD, there was a program that stated that there are more animals within Toronto now than there were 500 years ago. Hunting isn't allowed in cities because it's dangerous.

[dre]

You can have a healthy environment , there are plenty of smoke-free options available, that doesn't mean every-frigging-place has to cater to you. You are so god damn selfish, and think the world owes you special consideration.

If I WERE a cigarette smoker which I havn't been for about 3 years, I should be free to gather with other people like myself in an area clearly marked as likely to contain smoke. If you don't want to breath it in keep your stupid frail ass out. Worker's comp is supposed to be for accidents that occur on the job, that is not the same as recognized hazards of a particular job. Welders breath in harmful fumes all the time, far more harmful than cig smoke. Mechanics handle carcinogenic used oil all the time. Miners work in hazardous environments. Any of these people can choose NOT to work at those jobs. Non-smokers can just as easily choose not to work where smoking is allowed instead of bitching about how private business owners and their customers CHOOSE to enjoy THEIR space. People use cars that puke out exhaust in a lot more quantity and more poisonous than cig smoke. I could sit in my garage with 4 friends and chain smoke away 4 packs of smokes with all the windows closed while we sat and played cards for three hours, and none of us would die from it. If I ran my truck in there for 20 minutes with us inside we would all be dead. Spare me the "my rights end where they affect the health of others BS" until cars are not allowed to run in any public area where people might inhale a miniscule ammount wafting by.

You are dishonest as to your motivations and your arguments are are see through and knocked over more easily than the first little piggy's straw house.

When your stupid arguments are shown to be as hollow as your head all you can do is revert to name calling and tell me I'm a "fuckin 'tard"? Great debate tactic that, a real Rhodes Scholar you must be.

In all your examples (welding, mining, etc) the risks should be carefully weighed and reduced whenever possible. Also, youre missing a point with some of your examples. The risks in welding and mining are inherent risks that are central to those activities. You cant weld without some of these fumes being produced. You cant mine without the risk of collapses and injuries. You CAN however serve food or alcohol without cigarette smoke, and the thousands of carcingenic compounds found in it. People in any workplace have at least some baseline standard of air quality.

Also Im not buying your "People can just CHOOSE not to work there" argument at all. No matter how much unneccesary danger an employee inflicted on its workforce they will always be able to find staff... often by drawing from people who arent aware of the risks, or are too desperate to turn down the paycheck. The reality is that when we allow employers to poison their workers in large numbers, joe tax payer is the one thats left to pick up the tab, so we absolutely do have standing in that question, and an interest in enforcing air quality and safety standards in the workplace whenever its possible.

In any case this seems off topic, and unrelated to the terrible precident set by our own government persecuting Canadian citizens on Canadian soil for laws in foreign countries (many of which border on obsene by our standards).

I wonder what people here think that chances would be of the US government extraditing an arms dealer who had shipped a handgun to Canada to serve a five year prison term? About... zero?