Is run by fools. Thanks to some weird, misguided biblical bullshit, as well as some archaic laws, weed is absolutely illegal here, to the point where you could get arrested for as little as a seed. Of course, that never happens, and it's actually pretty fucking easy to never get busted for anything here (I'm a prime example of this), if you're not stupid about it. But I feel like we're sitting on a goldmine here that nobody will fucking take a crack at.

The island is already flooded with weed, you can get it anywhere, and tourists are constantly buying shit. I mean who the fuck doesn't want to get blazed on the beach in the fuckin' Caribbean?

Tourism is dwindling due to the worldwide economic downturn. Encouraging people to come here is a good thing.

So why the fuck don't we just legalize weed? Can you imagine an Amsterdam-type environment in Caribbean country? Who the fuck would go to Amsterdam?

The counter-argument is usually that the kind of people who would come here for that type of deal aren't necessarily the type of people we want to attract. But that's bullshit. Legalizing weed and becoming a ganja smoker's haven would probably increase the island's tourism by 500%, and with that money we could hire three times the police force we currently have, and crack the fuck down on any hard drugs or violence or anything else undesirable.

I really don't see a downside.

Chemical waste issues.

Unless you have enough land to spare..... But then you still have chem issues with crop fertilizer. Do you use well water ? hmmm...do you have any real croping over there that has needed laws about clean water.

We hardly grow any here now anyway. Don't see why we couldn't just continue importing the stuff.

I was meaning other crops, like a banana or two. I imagine those light breezes you get every now and then would put a stop so must crops anyway.

Legal importation would drive the price up. (?) Like, umm.. Import duty and bigger cuts to the distributors.

You might be happier with decrim.

Cook meth.

You might be happier with decrim.

Yeah but this isn't about me. Weed prices would definitely go up, and I actually think I'd enjoy the island a lot less with a bunch more asshole tourists around. I'm looking at this from the country's perspective.

So was I. Decrim would still attract more tourists. Yet avoiding all the hassle of debating new laws and regs.  A very liberal decrim I mean, no fines for any amount a tourist might get caught with. They should have a need to be carrying more and a quater at a time.

I'm torn on this issue. On one hand, I don't care what others put into their bodies. On the other, I grew up a teachers kid and heard enough stories about idiot kids throwing away their future because they had no idea what they were putting into their bodies

Fucking look at Amsterdam. Do you honestly want your country overrun with dirty hippies, sleeping in your parks and running naked through your streets? I'm totally all for decrim but Antigua is a shitpot closer than Amsterdam, and probably has a lower cost of living. They'll be all over your island with money for nothing but a little pot, then busking in the streets with their dready heads and their dirty drums.

Fuck that.

I hereby rename you Frank Zoompa.

And, I'm not sure they be actual hippies any more. We have a better name for that class of people, Ferals.

Because that's exactly what they are.

The reason weed is illegal on your island is because they've signed the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

si: i really like your perspective on this issue, and i think antigua could be beautiful weed heaven. with proper policing, it could become an ideal (not to mention magical and tropical) vacation destination for people like me. which obviously, i like. keeping things like standards of advertising and hospitality very high could help prevent a scummy amsterdam-like underbelly of douchebags. like this little english vagrant i encountered there one night who asked me for change, and when i said i had none he said he could sell me viagra. i told him i wasn't interested, so he chased me down an alley throwing rocks at me and calling me a nazi. fucking weirdo.

but alas, i'm now exiting this thread before i say any more, due to the high illiteracy levels. i'm terrified it's going to rub off on me each time i'm deciphering nonsensical strings of words (or non-words, even).

and probably has a lower cost of living

Quite a bit higher, actually.

The reason weed is illegal on your island is because they've signed the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Yeah, true, but we're already fighting the US through the WTO on other issues, and have already won cases against them. If we're gonna be a somewhat rogue nation (from a US perspective), why not go whole hog and make some fuckin' money?

keeping things like standards of advertising and hospitality very high could help prevent a scummy amsterdam-like underbelly of douchebags.

I'm sayin'.

I think you should be a somewhat rouge nation.

Ladies pinch, whores use rouge.

Listen, if we're already talking about legalizing marijuana...

Whores are all but legal here anyway. I mean, no they're not legal. But nobody ever gets busted.

I think that's the foundation of this thread, isn't it?

Of course, that never happens, and it's actually pretty fucking easy to never get busted for anything here (I'm a prime example of this), if you're not stupid about it.

Yeah but we can't really advertise that. "Come to Antigua! Don't act like an idiot with weed and you can smoke all you like!"

Listen - you went left when I went right.

I was saying that the founding principle of this thread was "[___] is fundamentally illegal in Antigua, but why not legalize it and make it an industry?"

Your idea was weed, my idea is prostitution.

Listen - you went left when I went right.

My background is British-BBC-type-family-raised-all-over-abroad/WASPy-Massachussets-Mayflower-set-"old-money"-Quaker-draft-dodging/born-English/grew-up-in-teeny-little-rural-area-of-Cornwall-and-on-small-laid-back-Caribbean-island-and-in-mountains-of-anarchist-ass-Spain/making-a-good-living-in-a-business-that's-not-exactly-viewed-as-typical-or-even-legal-a-lot-of-places/tattooed-hardly-wears-shoes/ratty-laid-back-attired/facial-haired/freak-hippie-punk-stoner.

And you're from Texas.

Suffice to say I think I'm hard-wired to go left, especially compared to anything to do with Texas. Not that this means I'm right, mind you. No pun intended. Really.

I was saying that the founding principle of this thread was "[___] is fundamentally illegal in Antigua, but why not legalize it and make it an industry?"

Your idea was weed, my idea is prostitution.

Both would be nice. You should see the whores here. Yech. All late-30's Santo Domingan or Jamaican or Guyanese used-up no-teeth-having gross bitches who look like they're 20 years older than they are. If shit were legal we might get some better looking bitches. Then maybe they wouldn't be so fucking hostile when they come in to Irie Ink.

Listen - you went left when I went right.

I think he meant you're both talking about different things. Everybody knows Lucas is as hippie as they come

its that beard

Whoring is legal here, and very tightly controlled. As much I I'd like to see weed legalised, it'll never happen, here. The nanny state is too deeply ingrained.

Listen - you went left when I went right.

I think he meant you're both talking about different things. Everybody knows Lucas is as hippie as they come

I'm pretty sure he was making a joke.  And I'm pretty sure you're making a joke.
At least, I hope he was (and you are), because the setup of me going right & being from Texas was supposed to trigger some kind of joke, from someone.

Albuquerque !!

*sigh*

Yes, the joke was meant to be that Texas typically gets written off by liberal types not from Texas as being one giant non-liberal zone. And Lucas ain't your stereotypical Texan. And left/right... eh, trust me, it was much, much funnier when I was wasted. You had to be there.

i totally got it, man!  it was awesome! 

HE'S A BUSH LOVAH!!!!

Where's her boob going?