I Love Weed': Blaze Readers React to Recreational Marijuana Sales Now Legal in Colorado

(Image source: AP/Brennan Linsley)

TheBlaze posted a story earlier this week about the first day of legal recreational marijuana sales in Colorado on January 1, 2014.

Here's what some readers of TheBlaze had to say about the topic:

MastrSGT

I suppose making Pot legal is the right thing, but damn I’m tired of dope heads and all the propaganda that goes with this movement. These dopes make me sick. I’m so sick of lazy, immature pot-smoking idiots who think they’re smarter and better than all those who don’t like pot. Just because I don’t think it should be illegal doesn’t mean I like or agree with the idiot smoking it.

And no I don’t like drunks either, but I can have a drink, a beer, or glass of wine and not be stoned, buzzed or stupid. If you consume pot, you’re stoned, slow and stupid.

Honestly, I’m really sick to death of tolerance equaling agreement or condoning that behavior.

Izzyit

I support legal marijuana. If you wanna sit in you basement and get high all day go for it. BUT!!!!!!!! I should not be forced to support you when you can’t find a job. I should not be forced to pay for your health care when you are high and you hurt yourself. I should not be forced to pay for your rehab center when your life starts to spiral out of your control. I should not be forced to pay for you when you end up in jail, and I should be able to pull the trigger in a firing line when your addiction takes you over and you kill someone just so you can have your drug. I support maximum freedom, with maximum responsibility. If you can smoke pot while still being useful to society and not just a parasitic leech, then sure smoke away.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

I voted against the legalizing pot initiative. But it still passed. This year we voted to tax the crap out of it, and that passed. But the potheads were screaming about that, and from what I read, pot will be available, but much more expensive than the potheads expected. So they wanted their right, but now they are mad because they have to pay “taxes” for their stash. And of course the counties voted on whether sales would be allowed in their county. El Paso voted it down, while Pueblo voted for it. So potheads for the Springs have to drive to Denver or Pueblo if they want their stuff. And of course they are mad about that.

I guess what they thought is they can now pick up a phone and order a joint and a pizza and never leave their mom's basement.

Cemartin2014

You know what is so funny? All you people who think stoners are just lazy, bums and stupid blah blah. Well, I have been a stoner since I was 14. That makes 10 years strong for me now. And in the last couple of years I’ve blazed up literally every single day and loved it. Even got past a border checkpoint down by South Padre (Island) with some on me. :) Anyway, my point being: I work a full-time job as a personal banker and a mortgage loan originator as well as go to school full time maintaining a 4.0 average (always have since high school). I always dress to the nines and live a normal life. You wouldn’t have a clue I get high every single night if you didn’t do it with me. And I could be your financial advisor :) Haha. I love weed and it hasn’t stopped me from accomplishing any of my dreams and I’m more successful than many people I know who “wouldn’t dare touch the stuff.” Funny how that works.

Everthink83

Growing up as a teen in a beach community, it was unavoidable to come into contact with weed. I was mainly a straight-edge in high school and my early 20s abstaining from both alcohol and drugs. In my mid-20s I started to encounter health issues related to a multitude of concussions. I always played contact sports, including training as an MMA fighter, that led to the concussions. Vomiting from nausea, constant loss of balance and a seemingly neverending string of debilitating cluster headaches ruined my prime years until I was convinced to smoke. It has alleviated most of my symptoms and I was able to get back to the shape I was in before my 5 year collapse. I am not a “loser” as I work as an engineer for a large company. I pay my taxes, take care of my family, donate to charity and remain a productive member of society. Had it not been for the advent of my introduction to pot, I almost assuredly could have been another disability number. Also, I had major reconstructive surgery in my foot, screws and partial fusions, worst pain imaginable. Instead of opting for the prescription narcotics, I used the pot to alleviate the pain. I can’t for certain say that it will be beneficial for all, but in my personal experiences it most likely saved me from heading down a path of moral and fiscal destruction.

Lewcypher

Apparently there are quite a few misconceptions about marijuana that commenters are displaying. Weed is impossible to get addicted to. The typical stereotypes are also completely false. Not everyone who smokes it is a “lazy stoner pothead.” It has also, over the years, been bundled up with other drugs like heroine and crack, which both are actual life-destroying drugs. I’ve smoked it for years, and yet I still have a decent job, education, and boast an IQ of 135. If you met me, you would guess that I smoked. I’m just tired of people stereotyping about this when they themselves have never tried it. You want to make your opinion valid? Try it out before you spew crap about it without any type of experience on the matter. That’s just common sense.

Dave0626

While I don’t agree with many of the laws jailing people long-term for small bags of weed, I think over the long haul this legalization will have negative fallout, on many levels. I know, for many yrs while living in Ca. I had a lid of weed delivered to my house twice a month. I spent around $120 a mth. or more for the stuff for about 20 yrs.. I could never really advance my life, cuz I was constantly lethargic, fuzzy headed and broke most of the time. Plus, most jobs that paid well required drug tests. I had lots of pothead friends, one of whom was at my house smoking my stuff daily. When I became homeless and asked him for a little help, he turned me out. Nor would any others help me. That was a wake up call for me! I quit the stuff in 2000, moved out of stinkhole Ca., and turned my life around for the better. Now, any friends I meet who smoke weed, I tell em to take a hike, loser!

wendyhurts

Well, I’m a conservative joining the number of those who favor the decriminalization of pot. My reasons are different than the recreational smoker, but I’m going to explain why as a Christian and a Conservative, I don’t think pot should be illegal.

I am a chronic pain sufferer and have been for the past almost 14 years. Let me tell you, that is a LONG time to live with pain that has no known cause or cure. There is significant research that shows MJ helps with the type of pain I have, probably more so than the current crowd of pharmaceuticals I am taking. Right now in the state of Florida, pain medication is VERY difficult to find, especially Oxycodone or Oxycontin because Florida had been the ridicule of the country with its infamous "pill mills." As far as I know, the only people having a hard time finding these pain medications are those who truly need them. The criminals will always have a source, legal or illegal, when it comes to the Oxys. And right now, those legitimate prescription medications have as bad a stigma (if not worse) as pot.

Now, I won’t even attempt to get my hands on MJ, even if it was legal because of the stigma attached to it. But many people I know with chronic pain are treated worse than folks who smoke pot. But I resent the government telling me what I can and cannot take, which doctor I can and cannot see, and what insurance I have to purchase. Stay the H out of it and leave us be!! We can do just fine without them.

dttomatoes

40 years a smoker, own my own business, manage a business for someone else, raised my child on my own (who will retire from the Army in 3 years) with NO help from our government (no food stamps, no medical, no schooling or any other program the government offers). I volunteer at animal rescue groups, paid for my own schooling to obtain a bachelors degree in business while working full time. There are great medical uses for it! BTW . . I am in my 60s and have not seen a doctor for any ailments for at least 20 years! No colds, no flu (I do not get flu shots) nothing wrong internally or externally! I attribute my good health to the pot smoking! My siblings (who do not smoke) have had all kinds of medical problems and operations. They get their flu shots every year and get sick afterward every year. I am glad this law went into effect!

JQuentinEvermann

Why not tax all plants at a higher rate? Or anything with sugar? How about salt and high-fat content foods? You don’t want less government, you want more government that makes behavior other than your own illegal. You don’t stand on principles, just a soap box.

What happened in CO today is a good thing for freedom and liberty. If you don’t like something, you don’t need to outlaw it, just don’t do it and let others make their own decisions.

Nabind34

I’m sure sales will be very “high” this week.

--

[related]