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DaveC

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i figured we could use a catchall thread for discussion and content that doesn't really merit an entire thread. maybe we'll get some more debate about global (read: non presidential/brexitential) issues with a place for whatever interesting thing we come across. or maybe not, let's see.
 
i'll start things off. canada is legalizing cannabis for recreational use country-wide next year. there is hot debate over whether it should be sold in province-run liquor stores, or whether private enterprise should be able to set up storefronts to sell it. since the liberals were elected in october, about 150 dispensaries sprung up in toronto, selling openly to anyone over 19, with nobody really knowing where all the supply came from. last month, they were all raided and shut down by toronto police. about a dozen opened back up, were raided again two weeks ago, and are back open again and have vowed to stay open under the reasoning that they are providing medical cannabis patients with access to their medicine, a principle that the supreme court of canada confirmed was a right for patients last year.

however, the majority of these places just check id, or simply require you to show any old pill bottle and declare that you would benefit from medical cannabis, then you go in the back and buy however much you want from various strains, as well as hash, oils, and pills. it's obvious the medical aspect is just a wink wink kinda thing. the city doesn't seem to have any idea what to do other than raid them every few weeks, and they keep opening right back up and making a ton of cash because all the street dealers went out of business as soon as 100+ stores openly selling it opened. it should be noted that none of these stores were selling anything other than various forms of cannabis (there was a tiny amount of cocaine found in one of the raids but it was a personal baggie on an employee) and there haven't been any disturbances reported publicly in the areas around them.

the government announced today that they will start public consultation on the bill: Anne McLellan named to head legalized marijuana task force | CTV News

if weed were being legalized where you live, how would you like to see it implemented?
 
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If Victoria legalised weed, I would expect it to be implemented on the same regulatory regime as either alcohol or cigarettes.

And speaking of Australia, tomorrow is federal election day and if anybody out there wants to know anything about the mind-boggling number of micro-parties, I've reviewed all 53, plus Victoria's 16 independent Senate candidates: Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews, Index to the Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews,...
 
does that mean the same thing though? alcohol and cigarettes are treated very differently here.

Cigarettes in Victoria can be sold in supermarkets - behind the counter in plain packaging. Alcohol must be sold from a separate shop, though most bottle-os are owned by the major supermarkets and they've blurred the lines of what exactly constitutes a separate shop by locating outlets next door to supermarkets with a shared entrance. The taxation regime is also different, with cigarettes taxed higher. Beyond that I'm unfamiliar with the details. But it seems to me that weed should probably be sold through separate outlets like alcohol, but with the regulatory regime of cigarettes to watch the tax dollars pour in.
 
What do you call this
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I've never yet in my life actually bought a sausage at the sausage sizzle on election day, because

a. by the time I've dealt with the queue to vote, I'm so angry I can't be arsed joining the queue for sausages
b. they ought to be free and they never are
c. time to get home and get my election night drink on.
 
I'll be fucking outraged if they're not free. This is my first democracy snag.

They're never free where I am. I guess they're raising money for that new school hall, oops I forgot, we already vote in that new school hall, the one that the Rudd Government funded.
 
ax, is it all alcohol that's separate? even beer? i remember in nz wine and beer was sold in grocery stores (being from tennessee that blew my mind since wine isn't sold in grocery stores here, although that's changing this week after a near decade-long battle, but i remember wine being sold in grocery stores in florida). the two times i was in oz (not counting layovers) i never went to a grocery store.

personally i find the varying laws from state to state so frustrating — i was just in missouri recently and you can buy even hard liquor in gas stations, yet in alabama you can't buy 40s anywhere. but they sell wine in grocery stores there. then there's dry counties...

anyway, it sounds like your idea of how weed should be handled if it were to be legalised is spot on and makes the most sense.

every time cobbler brings up this issue, i'm glad i live in a country where we actually have bread especially made for our sausages (or hot dogs and brats) so there's no debate over what to call it. here, if you're served a hot dog in a piece of bread, it's just sad.
 
I'll be fucking outraged if they're not free. This is my first democracy snag.

You're going to be outraged then. They're always the school raising money for this or that thing.

And how have you never had a democrasausage before?!

ax, is it all alcohol that's separate? even beer? i remember in nz wine and beer was sold in grocery stores

Yeah New Zealand's different to Australia in that regard. I think the different states vary a little too. I recall in Queensland that bottle-os were never located immediately adjacent to supermarkets like they are in Victoria, but I don't know if that was just a quirk of my local shopping centres or a requirement.

every time cobbler brings up this issue, i'm glad i live in a country where we actually have bread especially made for our sausages (or hot dogs and brats) so there's no debate over what to call it. here, if you're served a hot dog in a piece of bread, it's just sad.

What you're missing is that a hot dog and a sausage in bread are two completely different meals!

It's like you're criticising noodles for not being spaghetti.
 
I'm against motion sensor lights in bathrooms. It may be environmentally friendly, but when I'm sitting down a two minute delay is not going to cut it. Leads to inconvenient darkness. This needs to change!


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
Breaking News: Bicyclist steps on something in Central Park. Has leg blown off. Explosion source unknown.

(I'm not riding a bike in Central Park)


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
Breaking News: Bicyclist steps on something in Central Park. Has leg blown off. Explosion source unknown.

(I'm not riding a bike in Central Park)


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
Explosion source a firework, and has been reported as such for about 2 hours now.

Not to mention he wasn't on a bike and it was just his foot.

But hey, accuracy!
 
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we haven't, yet. the legal limbo since the election is what's caused all the chaos.

We're actually not in legal limbo - it is still illegal until the new legislation is passed which will contain regulations for sale, resale, etc. It's akin to the euthanasia legislation which was being debated and passed in recent weeks - until it the bill is enacted into law it is not law.

With respect to how it should be carried out, I'm not really sure. I don't even understand why we have the LCBO selling booze (well, I understand the government's motivations, rationale, I just think that's it's paternalistic and backwards in a free market). On a personal level I find the proposal to sell weed there to be kind of weird...mostly because I am thinking of my local LCBO which is just north of us in a crazy wealthy area full of old people with old money. I just cannot fathom them walking in to buy their $80 bottles of wine in the same store as the college kids buying pot. So I guess that either leaves convenience stores, but I know nothing about how good they are at enforcing the tobacco sales regulations so I can't support or oppose this. Or specific dispensaries which I imagine would be run similarly to independent pharmacies. Of course you'd need to fit these into neighbourhoods, I think probably some areas would have no issue with them moving in but there are a LOT of "not on my street!" folks around as well.

Generally speaking this has never been a topic of any real meaning or interest to me when it comes to voting time so I've not delved deeper into it. Maybe back when I was a young'in at school I'd have felt differently but now I am old and weathered.
 
Confirmed rumour: Central Park bombed with fireworks; Songs of Experience delayed another year.
 
Is anyone else out there concerned with the PokeMan GO game and the implications of a virtual world being overlapped with the real world. The reason I bring this up, is a rare PokeMan lives in the woods on my property. I have not authorized my property to be used in a virtual world, yet someone three times now, has opened the gate, come into the yard, and then left without closing the gate. My dog escaped one time because of this. We have air space rights legally in the world of law, but I am now wondering if this game is going to result in virtual space rights......hmmmmm
 
Is anyone else out there concerned with the PokeMan GO game and the implications of a virtual world being overlapped with the real world. The reason I bring this up, is a rare PokeMan lives in the woods on my property. I have not authorized my property to be used in a virtual world, yet someone three times now, has opened the gate, come into the yard, and then left without closing the gate. My dog escaped one time because of this. We have air space rights legally in the world of law, but I am now wondering if this game is going to result in virtual space rights......hmmmmm

In college I knew people who walked around the woods at night and saw things; they didn't need an app for that...




But seriously, there is a neighborhood here in town that apparently has so many that it's causing traffic issues and the police have been called out so often they now have a regular patrol route there. I really know very little about it, but I find it interesting.
 
I think that's a real concern. I saw a note from someone online that he lived in a converted church ... well, Google didn't know it was a private home, so all these people re showing up.

I'm mostly just making amused snark about the phenomenon, but I'd be concerned as well.
 
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