weerd

This is a complicated problem and I admit that I don't have a good understanding of law or social studies... so take this with a grain of salt.

I sometimes wonder if we have a little too much freedom in this country. Heroine/meth/alcohol mixed with mental issues have demolished the lives of many people. They turn bitter and blue. Life becomes a loop of temporary satisfaction through chemical escape.

The ones that end on the streets are often not violent, and I don't believe they belong in prison. But defiling public spaces with needles and shit is not acceptable. Fines and nights in jail don't matter to them, but freedom on the other hand...

I imagine a state institution somewhere between jail and trade school. Drug use would be tolerated to some extent. Food, shelter, and hopefully some sense of community are provided, along with opportunities to learn useful skills.

I realize this is idealistic and that the monetary cost would probably be immense. I'm just sick of all the biohazards strewn across the city and felt like wondering out loud.

There are definitely people who choose to be homeless! This is not the same as saying that people in poverty want to remain that way, or the nasty ideologies that say the poor deserve to be poor.

For various reasons a small amount of the population does seek out the vagrant lifestyle. Check out https://squattheplanet.com

He just couldn't help himself. Just had to throw that in, even after acknowledging he is not familiar with it.

It's an appropriately weak start to a bland document.

Revelation Space is excellent! I came here to recommend it.

Chasm City is good but it almost felt like a mediocre action movie. The hero wielding the big guns, flat dialog, an obligatory and passionless sex scene... but the environment and society really make it interesting.

> ...long term mental impact on regular users...regularly lose focus and zone out when I talked to them

This is the number one stereotype of marijuana users, but I implore you to not lump all of us into that group. There exists a large portion of users that respect intelligence and try to lead interesting lives.

A big problem is that cannabis can make you feel totally OK with whatever you are currently doing, when otherwise you may feel bored and become motivated to do something else. Mix this with the fact that regular marijuana use probably won't destroy your life (it's simply not a hard drug), and you get people that float through existence feeling fine but then one day realize years have gone by and they forgot to develop unique skills or an interesting personality.

However, many people figure this out before it's too late and make sure that getting high goes hand-in-hand with doing something interesting. i.e. smoke and then create art, music, or software. For the people who don't realize this, well... the cold truth is that many people aren't smart or talented to begin with and maybe need some alleviation from the more painful aspects of the human condition. I believe weed is a better solution for this than hard drugs, Rx pills, or everyone's favorite toxin: alcohol.

Last of all I want to say that smoke is clearly carcinogenic, but there have been recent studies suggesting things that people would have thought crazy only 10-20 years ago:

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis...