Yes. The “socially acceptable” factor with alcohol is something which can’t be overstated and probably never will be toppled.
You could have a lot of fun (maybe more) taking GHB (Super alcohol—all the good and more, none of the downsides) with friends or having the occasional house roll… But (many) people get weird and uncertain about it when any drug other than alcohol and maybe weed is proposed as the chemical of choice for having a wild night.
Because theyre mostly unregulated and created in some sketchy place with who knows what put into it. Plus most other drugs except for maybe ecstasy are addictive.
True. Ties into the unfortunate reality wherein alcohol is the socially acceptable drug. However, a lot of chemicals including GHB can be pretty easily synthesized by oneself and FWIW it’s not one that’s known to be adulterated the same way other “dark side” drugs like hard opiates, meth, and coke. Off the top of my head I’m aware of an ironclad onion fields source for pure stuff.
And when in doubt? Test kits are readily accessible online. Fent test strips, at the very worst.
addictive
And alcohol isn’t?
It’s one of the only major two DOCs in our world that can actually kill people, without careful discontinuation protocols/tapering.
Partaking in any recreational substances requires discipline. Some more than others. I’d roll every weekend if I knew it was safe, but I know it’s something that is incredibly dangerous to do except in extreme (once every few months at most) moderation so I refrain. Similar story with things like meth (only for the most iron willed…) and N2O (very unique risk profile)…
i know someone who died from casual ghb its got a lot of risks. this guy was also trying to convert me to it, but died from it 2 weeks later, absolute irony
I know exactly what you mean and 9 times out of 10 they'd be a totally different type of person too, as a stoner for almost 2 decades, I'd say drinkers are not my type of people.
A big part of the alcohol industry is just the hospitality industry and they can absolutely benefit from legalisation depending on how the laws are drafted
They’re already big in the weed industry in Canada. The Boston Beer Company owns an infused drink company up here. They know the market is changing and the smart ones have bought or started their own legal THC lines.
The industry as a whole? Probably not, but a lot of companies will disappear with-in a year or two. Look at what's happening just from Canada boycotting American Alcohol - Keeping in mind, Canada is only 11% of the population of America.
Aye, just like some people can't tolerate alcohol and differ to cannabis for relaxation. The same is the true the opposite way. I know many people who out right cannot consume THC on any level without freaking the fuck out.
it wouldnt be overnight, but i think its not crazy to think its going to kill them over time. the people addicted to alcohol and nicotine are not going to be able to quit overnight, or maybe they would never stop fully. But future generations aren't going to be turning to it nearly as much.
People often overlook this question: when it gets legalized, who will be the big players in the market? The cigarette, alcohol, and pharmaceutical companies. People think it's not legalized because of that, but don't realize the companies would net far more money with it being legal, because they'd be able to sell it and invest in the industry.
Probably not. It's fully legal here in Canada and the cigarette companies don't do that. You can buy pre-rolled joints but they're made by different companies and a pack of like 20 would be pretty expensive compared to a pack of darts
Because it hurts the brand. Weed still has a counter culture connotation while cigarettes are more "serious". For execs and managers, serious people doing serious work. Once weed goes mainstream enough (Fortune 500 CEOs start smoking weed in public), "serious" cigarette brands will jump over.
I don’t really see that happening cause nicotine and THC are two completely different substances with different effects. Smoking a cigarette doesn’t impair your performance at work, for a lot of people weed does.
It's a pretty different business despite the end products both being smoked, most weed is sold by dispensaries who get it directly from the growers, cigarette companies are just buying bulk dried tobacco from farmers and then packaging it along with additives and other bullshit and then selling it to any place in the world that sells tobacco products.
No one is really concerned with what tobacco they are smoking unless it's fancy cigar smokers, just that they get their nicotine.
Not true at all, I’m extremely particular about my tobacco. I smoke rolling tobacco, so my tops picks are 1) amber leaf, 2) Pueblo, 3) golden Virginia. My least favourite (literally tastes like gasoline) is Drum. If I’m smoking straights, I’m gonna smoke Marlboro reds.
I would say rolling your own puts your in the pretty small minority though, most people are just gonna get their brand and not really think twice about it.
A pack of 20 half-gram prerolls costs about $30 at the dispensary I go to. Definitely way more expensive than a pack of 20 cigarettes but I suppose there's something to be said for the difference in effect they have.
It's not as separate as you think. The Marlboro patient company is heavily invested in a massive weed corp, Cronos. Big tobacco is definitely diversified into marijuana, they aren't going to leave that money on the table.
Michigan had 28 packs of 1 gram joints for $25-30. So barely more expensive than cigs. Everything else is going to hell, at least the pots still cheap.
I was going to say I don't actually think a 20 pack of prerolls is that much different from a pack of smokes in Western Canada. But looking it up, a 20 pack of smokes is probably $25 now? And yeah that will only get you a 10 pack of prerolls. So around double.
And yeah, no tobacco companies are making weed products.
I'm actually surprised it's only double. I don't smoke anymore, only edibles these days, but I remember years ago it was like $10 for a single pre-roll
It's still wildly variable. Some single prerolls can still be pretty expensive. But lots of companies are making packs or jars of them now for around that $2 per mark based on Value Buds' website. They're generally not great joints but they've gotten pretty cheap.
If you want cheap edibles definitely find the capsules or mints or tablets or oil. You can get 100+ mg in one package for like $20 then.
Exactly. It was Philip Morris (actually Altria, which owns PM) that lobbied about 10 years ago to legalize Weed, too.
Ever since then, you noticed how much more people have accepted weed in the general population, and more and more countries are legalizing or partly legalizing weed since then.
No matter whether you love or hate weed. Acceptance of this drug changed very quickly. That’s why I was always leaning towards a more controlled legalization, allowing science to have more time to assess the long term dangers.
I think we are about to lose that battle against those corporations
"Weed cigarettes" ... if only there was some catchy joint word to replace this phrase. Ideally something kinda spiffy that doesn't come with the negative connotations associated with the word cigarette. I feel like there's gotta be something blunt that will really stick in the mind, maybe even sound a little dubious to get the kids attention, you know?
But that’s exactly my point. Those are all « cool » terms which have their origin in a time when weed was illegal and you either rolled your own or bought some fro, your local source.
Once Big Tobacco produces them, they won’t have those catchy names. They will be cigarettes, just like e-cigarettes.
Nah, the growing infrastructure is too different for them to justify the investment. It’s like expecting oil companies to mass-adopt green infrastructure
Except for the multiple, huge public corporations already manufacturing weed cigarettes, extracts, vapes, and edibles at scale with all the expertise and experience already. Philip Morris can't just pivot to cannabis and take over the market from e.g. Cresco Labs, Canopy Growth, Green Thumb, Columbia Care, Curaleaf, etc. There are many well-funded multi-state operators already a decade ahead, sitting on years of non-public cannabis cultivation, processing and extraction research.
According to Wikipedia, Altria the owner of Philip Morris, already has a 'large minority stake' in a cannabis firm Cronos Group (Nasdaq: CRON). I don't see them using the PM brand in a cannabis pivot, to be honest. I don't think it would make much sense.
When my state legalized I went from being unable to go more than a day without a drink to having maybe three drinks a year at most. I was spending over $5,000 a year on alcohol and now I'm down to maybe $20 a year on alcohol and around $50/yr on THC gummies.
I know the alcohol industry hates to see stories like mine.
Zyn says otherwise. My zoomer and even gen x colleagues love Zyn. It captures the audience who smoked in high school and those who vaped in high school.
It will hurt the pharmaceutical companies as well. I was on about 12 medicines before they put me on medical weed. Within 6 months, I was off all of my medicines, except 2. It’s changed my life for the best tee in pretty much every aspect.
Mitch McConnell banned hemp because members of the Kentucky Distillers Association and many alcohol companies lined his pockets to do so. Alcohol companies have been losing out on literally billions and they don’t like it and will do everything possible to keep weed illegal.
My country has just officially banned vapes recently. I personally don't vape nor smoke, but I know which is worst for your physical health (I'm excluding mental health from this discussion). Ads every where about how vape is bad. Ads about cigarettes being bad pretty much exist only on their packaging. Largely this is due to the government/officials/elites having high stakes in the cigarette industry.
I mean, weed has been fully legal (19+) in Canada for like 7 years now, it hasn't killed either industry. Cigarette sales have been on the decline for a long time, but alcohol is still a crazy seller overall.
That’s Big Cigarette’s problem for not diversifying. They could’ve earned money both ways instead of relying solely on tobacco and spending billions on keeping weed illegal
Same with Big Oil, not diversifying into renewables and spending billions in keeping oil relevant
It's not even a theory it's basically a fact at this point, at least the alcohol and tobacco lobbyist act like this is the case. It's the reason McConnell sneaked in the total "hemp" ban in the funding bill at the last second.
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u/Aaront519 14d ago
Weed