Dutch01

I agree with this. We have done a good job discouraging smoking cigarettes in youth and our rates are at historic lows. Our pot use rate among youth is another story. We have the highest rate in the developed world, despite decades of prohibition. I see no reason we shouldn't try the same tactics with weed where youth are concerned. It might work, it might not. But it can't do worse than prohibition has. I'm a Dad. I would prefer my Son make the choice that you did and focus on his education. When he's 18 it will be his choice. Time will tell.

Define better. More effective than opiate pain killers? Sometimes yes, sometime no. Less addictive than all of them? Yes. I had a friend rupture his spleen in a car crash in the 80's. A month in the hospital on their painkillers turned him into a raging opiate addict. He was a competitive bodybuilder and Judoka. He ended up with AIDS from sharing a needle, and went for a long walk goodbye on the train tracks. Dead at 35. Opiates took him at 19 though, they just took a while to kill him.

Wow, where to begin with this one (I intend no offense if it seems like I'm singling you out here).... This is......I'm not even sure how to respond to this. I have advocated for a society that a. allows responsible adults freedom of choice, where that choice does not infringe on the rights of others and b. holds individual adults responsible for their decisions - as opposed to holding us collectively to the lowest standard of the least responsible among us. I'm not sure how you make the leap from that to a wild west anarchy with shootouts to solve disagreements. Maybe I'm missing something here.... Having said that, the status quo requires me to deal with criminals in order to obtain my marijuana, so it's much more likely I will be shot now under a prohibitionist regime, than under the society I envision and advocate for. What I propose is not only possible, but the minimum standard that we should all aspire to. I called them losers because it was expedient, which does not make it right. I am a Child and Youth Worker by training (though I do not work in that field any longer). I have education and experience in developmental psychology and addictions counselling, so I believe I am qualified to speak on this subject. I didn't intend to disparage people who are down on their luck, and to anyone offended I apologize unreservedly. I was illustrating the point that if marijuana didn't exist, it is likely these people would be in the exact same life situation, only with a different drug of choice. In any case, because the adults in this example act irresponsibly, why should I be included in a collective sanction? Can you please quantify and qualify the manner and degree to which you believe legalization will "damage society"? I'm looking for arguments with citations here, not anecdotes. Who best to determine need? Drug companies with profits to earn? No thank you. I am the best person to make decisions in my life that affect no one else. Thank you, I appreciate that (sincerely). If this place doesn't exist then I guess I will have to redouble my efforts to make it so! I am still struggling to understand why anyone believes they have the right to make my choices for me. I can argue relative harm all day (and cite sources too), and I can at least understand where people are coming from. But as soon as I move past relative harm to individual liberty (the more relevant argument in my mind), I'm suddenly trying to foment revolution and anarchy ?!?!? How many of you on this site like being told what to do and how to live? I'm guessing none. If I was a vegetarian and attempting to force the government to ban hunting and meat eating, I would be roundly vilified (and rightly so). I am not asking anyone to change their life in any way - I don't want anyone to take up smoking, I'm not asking to smoke in front of children at a park, I'm not even asking people to like weed. I am asking them to let me make my own choices, lest I get the idea I can start making theirs for them (t!t for tat!).

Awesome sentiment and I just might take you up on that one day

Cliff, I'm sure that took a long time to write, and I know it's your opinion so technically speaking I'm not telling you you're wrong...... First, no offense but these people you describe are losers. The world is full of them. But pot is not why they are losers. If it wasn't pot, it would be something else (another drug, food, sex, etc.). If they were fat and dying of heart disease, while still stuffing their faces with cheeseburgers, would you be blaming beef? Would you be saying beef should be banned for everyone because *some* people can't handle it? I seriously doubt that. I know you are just responding to a question, so I'm not singling you out specifically. I can't change attitudes by staying silence though. I want society to start holding individuals responsible for their failings. I want society to stop telling me that I have to live a certain way because someone else f*cked up. I often hear people from older generations than mine say that the problem with society is that no one is held responsible for their actions anymore. They may well be correct. In this case, those two parents are the problem, and I shouldn't be affected as a result of their failings.

Thank you!

Capitalism, especially in its advanced stages, is actually terrible for regular people. If you ran one million computer simulations of a capitalist system to completion, you would get the same result one million times. All money and power concentrated in just a few hands.

Guys, this has nothing to do with pot. Adults making bad choices are solely responsible for their own consequences. I have said it before and I'll say it again: If we hold the most responsible of us to only the freedoms that the least responsible among us can handle, then none of us will be free. I find it strange that so many people think their opinion on my choices matters. I am not trying to force a choice on anyone, and I won't accept anyone else thinking they have the right to force choices on me, no matter what their anecdotal experience leads them to believe. We all need to live and let live, let adults make their own choices, and hold them alone responsible for their actions.

Thanks for the tip!

Try that rum in coconut water, it's awesome.

None are more free than those who are willing to fight for their rights. For even if you lose the fight, you went down swinging! Dutch01, 2015

I recognize that we live in a social(ist) democracy. I grumble about high taxes (like everyone else), but I am generally happy that I live in a safe, kind and generous country (many caveats to that statement but that's not the rabbit hole I'm headed down here). Yes, the government creates laws, but they have limits. First, we have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms that limits the laws government can pass. We also have a Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of laws passed by parliament. So the notion that a law is just because it's a law is a logical fallacy. For example, you can do something legal that is immoral - ie. Bank CEO's getting bonuses after creating a global financial crash that hurt us all - and escape legal punishment. But you're still wrong. You can do the right thing, but still be breaking the law. I'm stretching for an example because I am pressed for time (BBQ is almost heated up!). I believe it was Peru that passed a law recently that said abortion is illegal under all circumstances, even a pregnancy that was caused by rape or threatens the mother's life. In this case, a women who chose to have an abortion rather than die is breaking the law, but in my opinion doing the right thing (who am I to judge her choice anyways?). At one time it was actually illegal to sleep with another man. Now that idea is anathema to current public opinion. The point I am making is that there are issues where the government has no business telling me what to do, and I believe personal use of marijuana is one of those areas. I refuse to be told what I can and can't do on this issue. If that means I have to go to jail, you can be sure I will be appealing to the SOC en route to the slammer! This is silly but what the heck: When the cops came for the stoners, I remained silent; I was not a stoner. When they locked up the drinkers and smokers, I remained silent; I was not a drinker or a smoker. When they came for the meat eaters, I did not speak out; I was not a meat eater. When they came for the hunters, I remained silent; I wasn't a a hunter. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out. We all have to speak out for each other. If one Canadian is not free, none of us are.

I think the government is happy to keep us arguing the relative harms of weed versus alcohol or tobacco, precisely because it misses the real issue. The real issue is one of liberty. If someone else can tell me I can't have weed because it's bad for me, then I can tell them that they can't have cheeseburgers for the same reason. Or they can't drive a car because emissions are bad for us (or any number of other examples). And we'd both be in the wrong. We live in a free society. I don't make your lifestyle choices for you, and you don't make mine for me. Further, while we elect government to govern, I don't concede to them the right to make this choice for me either. The choice is inherently mine, and mine alone.

I wish I could get up there tonight because I think you are right. I checked the forecast for a town near where I fish, and it shows barometric pressure dropping from 103 right now to 99.8 by tomorrow evening. Add in the full moon and I'm betting they're active tonight!

Your neighbour is a loser. He would still be a loser without pot. It would be booze or coke or meth instead if it wasn't pot. At any rate, some people can't handle a car, but that doesn't mean we should all have our cars taken way.

Truer words were never spoken!

Great idea! I'm going to have to get me one of those.

I believe wind was from the Southeast Saturday night but I can't quite recall.... Wind has an effect for sure, in this spot it also affects if you can cast to where the fish are. If there's a strong South wind, your cast is coming back on shore!

AKRISONER, don't get me wrong, I'm not judging. Each man has own tolerance for risk and you look a bit younger than me. I'm a little more risk averse now that I have a young Son who wants me to come at the end of the day! Because my boat is new (to me anyways), I don't have an established confidence in her yet. Add in no survival suit and I decided to winterize it already. Besides, I'm killing them from shore right now so it was as easy decision.

That makes more sense. MNR is saying they won't even look at cougar pics unless there is a definable landmark to place it's location....

I've always known there was a correlation, but I'm trying to nail it down and make it a science! There was an almost full moon, but that was also true Friday and Sunday. This also wasn't quite before the storm, more during. I think it is the barometric pressure drop that preceded the storm that triggers them. I'm going to start monitoring pressure more closely moving forward. I was supposed to be back up there Wednesday night, but it's supposed to rain much worse! I'm still drying out from Saturday, not sure I'm willing to brave it to test my theory....

Interesting weekend in the Kawarthas. Two of my buddies decided to jump the gun and head up on Friday instead of Saturday as we had planned. They got two walleye. These are good fishermen, skilled at catching walleye and very familiar with "our spot". I tend to think if the fish were there, they would have found them. We went Saturday, and braved the rain, because I had a hunch..... The weather was awful, with driving rain and gusty winds, but boy did it pay off!. We hammered them all night, 23 walleye in 4 hours. Largest was 5.5#, and most were over 3#. My Son caught the big girl, it was his personal best. It was a night to remember for sure. Same two guys, pissed that they missed out, headed up last night again. The only got one (albeit a 30" fish!). I'm curious if you guys have experienced this before. Do you think it was the rain, that it was warmer than other nights this week. Or maybe it was the barometric pressure (my theory). Let me know if you have any opinions one way or another. PS: pics are tough at night, but we got a few. I can't upload from my phone because I have to remove EXIF data first. Does anyone know a good app for this?

This time of year a pfd is not enough in my opinion. I'd only be in big water this time of year with a survival suit.

Are those Cougars? How can MNR all but deny they exist with pics like this?

Exactly