Grateful Dead

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Yes, with respect to trainwrecked I have to agree with Charlie. Prohibition just doesn't work. I was a teenager in the 1970s, in England, and all sorts of drugs were easily obtainable. I knew very little about any of them, and learnt by trial and error. I am lucky to be alive-having a few close calls before I got to 20. I think that life would be so much safer for young people if recreational drugs could be legalized, and information was made available about safe use. In England a few years ago, because cannabis is still illegal here, a legal alternative was concocted called "spice". Its ingredients seemed to vary, but the overall effect was complete intoxication. It was a brain damaging mixture that led to addiction, seizures, violent behaviour, mental distress-in fact it seemed to induce most of the most unpleasant and dangerous effects often attributed to illegal drugs. It was made illegal about three years ago-but its still out there. Having said all that-I tried it. And it was very unpleasant-but none of the above happened. I didn't take it again. That's the other thing, all drug use is personal. It is ill advised to assume that your own experiences or those of your friends are necessarily typical. After using cannabis daily for a few years, I switched to weekend use without any problem at all. And stayed that way for about 15 years. And again, I found it easy to give up. I am not saying its like this for everyone-but it was for me.

i'm kinda with Trainwrecked. I don't want it legalized for recreational use. but I definitely want it utilized for cancer treatments. but I also think marijuana drug laws need to be changed. if you get busted for amount that's personal use just fine them. if more then probly more stricter measures should be taken as you are probly dealing making a nice chunk of change and not claiming taxes. now here comes the rocks being thrown at me lol.

Sorry to hear your tale, Trainwrecked.. I don't believe you are going to find anyone here who is not sympathetic to your situation. There is a lot to this debate. Strict marijuana laws also cause harm, and as Led stated.. I am not sure keeping it illegal is a very good way to restrict use. Our drug laws have created their share of unintended, bad consequences. They have created an entire criminal class of otherwise lawful people, our incarceration rates are higher than any other developed nation and drug related incarceration, including marijuana, is a significant contributing factor. We have created a global crime problem too, that includes trafficking, production, bribes, etc. There are other bad side effects of strict policing as well. Also, countries with relaxed marijuana (and alcohol) laws do not have higher usage rates than the US. Canada and Amsterdam are examples of this. Finally, criminalizing does not seem to go hand in hand with education, treatment efforts and the like. For example.. vaping, using a bong, edibles, addiction treatment, etc. seem to get replaced with incarceration. Jails are not the best way to educate. The quality of pot has also increased.. so you need less than you did 30 years ago to get high. You are correct that smoking anything creates health risks.. in all my years I have been on the lookout for cases such as yours and I have personally run across a surprisingly low number of people permanently harmed, just a few. Thanks for sharing your story it give some perspective, I don't think anyone here thinks less of you for your opinion. I hope you don't view my opinions as being argumentative or negative in any way. It's a complex subject. http://www.drugpolicy.org/blog/america-take-note-three-lessons-holland-… Edit: In the time I took to write this.. I see some redundancy in what is written below.. sorry.

Fillmore East Who April '68 - what a whoot!!! 33-minute My Generation. Great pic of the wily Moon in the gatefold! lol

While the goal of discouraging people from using harmful drugs may be admirable, it is clear that Prohibition has been an abject failure on nearly every level. After a half a century of fighting the drug war the U.S. has the highest per capita incarceration in the world, more than a trillion dollars spent, and countless harmless folks incarcerated. The achievements include opiate use and overdoses surging from coast to coast, heroin (with or without fentanyl) available in every little town from coast to coast, methamphetamine use widespread and the proliferation of designer drugs that are often more harmful than the illicit substance they mimic, with no indication that the prohibition model will bear fruit anytime soon. In contrast, Portugal which at the time had a fairly extreme "drug problem" went to the other extreme and legalized all types of drugs sometime around 2001. Last I checked, they had enjoyed a drop in hard drug use and only a minor increase in marijuana use by the 18-24 year old demographic. With regard to marijuana specifically, it seems hard to justify incarcerating someone for consuming marijuana, and it seems just as hard to justify incarcerating a person who sells marijuana to other consenting adults, but that is what prohibition requires. Personally, I have trouble with the idea that I am compelled to abide by laws that my conscience tells me are morally repugnant, and I really can't see how society can justify locking up individuals who are not a threat to other individuals through some form of violence or theft. As Credence so eloquently put it, Take you a glass of water make it against the law see how good the water taste when you can't have any at all

Definitely been waiting for this monster to get released. I believe Dave said that it is a multi-track as well. ;)

Rodrigodiaz, you are so right about '76! When I first started getting into the Dead (right before I metamorphosized), I thought '76 was a little different. Slow or lackluster. Boy was I wrong! Once I became a Dead Head, I realized how cool '76 really is! I like it better than '78 for sure. And 7/18/76 Orphium is probably one of thE Best GD shows from ANY year! I invite everyone to dig it out now, and give it a listen. You will be delighted! Peace, Chris

Sorry to hear about your experience. I started on weed as a teenager, and of course ended up doing everything under the sun, in excess, before settling down and starting a family. I just kind of grew out of all the partying. I like having my shit together, these days. As a runner and bicyclist, I don't smoke anything anymore. Living in a weed-legal state, I like to take a single edible dose and cut it into quarters, just a tiny little piece. The effect is mellow, manageable, like a valium or something. Helps me remain Zen and calm. That and a nice glass of good whisky or Scotch is about all I need these days, except for the annual ski trip bender with the lads. The thing about legalization, besides the decriminalization aspect, is so many millions of tax dollars are now being allocated to education, infrastructure and the like. I never had a problem, ever, finding a bag of good weed from the early 1980s onward. Legalization just brought it out into the light. I am not so sure kids are any more inclined to use it now that it's legal, in fact, a little bit of the romance is gone. Tell them they can't have it, they want it.

1984 Philadelphia Civic Center Convention Hall Philadelphia Pa Extremely clean sounding soundboards exist of this & the show on the 21st.

I know this statement will be unpopular here, but I don't believe weed should be legal anywhere in the U.S. except for medicinal purposes. I smoked every day for 35 years, and have emphysema now. Never smoked a cigarette in my life, never spent a lot of time around 2nd hand smoke. And I don't doubt that once they actully start doing a lot of longitudinal studies on it, they're going to find it causes cancer. It was also a gateway drug for me, as it completely lowered my inhibitions about doing hard stuff, like opioids and cocaine, which depleted my bank account. And it is addictive, both physically and psychologically, without question. I've had hundreds of friends and aquaintences over the years who smoked with me, and nobody did it on limited basis, except those who were in their first year of trying it out. There were no Sunday smokers, it was all or nothing. And we all had periods when we had to quit for short durations for drug tests, and it was not easy to stop, and not easy to stay off it after the drug test was over. I'm 2x as productive without pot in my life (it's been a year), and my blood pressure is normal again (it had been high for 10 years, and I'm not overweight). I think it's sad that generations of kids are going to have weed super easily available to them, as there will be a very high percentage who have my experience. I'm not saying it doesn't have it's benefits in moderation. It expanded my mind enormously, in directions I simply would not have considered without it. And I do not believe people should be doing jail time for personal possession. But there are really no benefits to society having it around and easily, legally available. Tax revenue, that's it. Not worth it. The long term ill health effects will chew away at it. I've read a lot on health implications, and it's clear that much more testing needs to be done. And when I think of all of the high drivers that will be on the road. Yeah we drive slow, but not always in the lane, and not always awake.