The Insanity of DUI with Marijuana

After passing through a narrow margin of votes in Colorado in 2013, recreational marijuana use was legalized after January first in 2014. Washington State also passed the same legislation by voting that year which was not as surprising but equally as infuriating for anyone who is concerned about the when and where of use and by whom. With stiff federal regulations still in effect one has to wonder how it could have passed. Nevertheless, it’s there and the general public will have to deal with it even though regulations are still in strict reinforcement along with taxation.

     Those regulations on who can sell, tax revenues and amounts that are dispensed are hardly assuaging to a public more concerned about what our safety will be on the roads, working around and with heavy machinery to say nothing of health- mental or physical. If you are not concerned about what someone else does to themselves or to others under the influence of marijuana then maybe I should introduce you to what it actually does to people who insist on smoking weed and driving. That’s hair-raising enough isn’t it? Considering the rise in fatalities on U.S. roadways and highways everyone should consider introducing a bill that makes it illegal for all purposes throughout the States.

     Ahem! Marijuana’s known effects include altered consciousness, perceptual distortions, drowsiness, impaired memory and impaired coordination. Those hallucinogenic effects would obviously seriously affect and impair your ability to drive correctly- and way off the charts!

     By Colorado law, drivers are assumed to be impaired if their blood test shows a level of THC- the active hallucinogenic constituent in marijuana- of 5 or more nanograms per milliliter. There is a great deal of debate on how much marijuana a person needs to inhale or ingest before he or she is impaired. There are many variables, including THC’s level of concentration as well as individual biological reactive and susceptible differences in the user which impact the drug’s effects. It will be different from one person to the next in the usual way- i.e. height, weight, age, allergies, etc. Research has been limited and development of impairment testing equipment is in infancy. As a result, at the present time there is no roadside device that law enforcement can use to measure marijuana impairment. However, one thing is certain. Driving under the influence of marijuana, much more than driving under the influence of alcohol, can be dangerous- to put it mildly.

     In the mean time, here is a run down on the regulations which remain in effect and should be duly noted. Here are five of which I know about and are important to keep in mind for everyone:

     1. Selling marijuana without a license remains illegal. Purchasing marijuana from someone who does not have license to sell it is also illegal.

     2. Selling or giving marijuana to someone under 21 is illegal and a serious crime with stiffer penalties than before it was passed.

     3. Marijuana cannot be smoked or consumed ‘openly and publicly’- on public streets, parks or buildings. Its use is limited to your home or privately owned and occupied buildings.

     4. Marijuana purchased in Colorado cannot legally be taken out-of-state to sell or for any other reason. 

     5. Operating a motor vehicle while impaired is illegal and prosecutable.

     The next time someone asks you to sign a petition to pass marijuana use in your state, keep all of what I’ve told you in mind. Do the responsible thing for all of us. Just say, “No.” 

Stay Safe,

Poetic to the Point of Being Psychic?

I have a bit of an odd tale about one of Seamus (pronounced, Shame-us) Heaney's poems, which is the first poem in his book titled Human Chain. My friend in Ireland sent me this book as a gift in November of 2013 and it arrived on November 26th- within the same month that an Aunt of mine-my favorite Aunt, no less!- passed away and a little more than a year after my Mum's passing. 
On the 25th of November, just the day before, I had a weird experience. I had walked into my mother's room at the same time that I suddenly heard what sounded like a waterfall against one of her windows and immediately thought that I was hearing a sudden violent rainstorm but as I looked out the other window I could see that the late afternoon was still sunny and no rain had hit that window. It was dry and clear. 

The sound was deafening for only a moment- like that of wind and rain- and it continued but I suddenly felt the urge to go out and investigate. 
As I came out the side door to my house I saw leaves violently hitting the bricks against the house and then they suddenly quit. I looked around and there were no leaves any where else. I neared the window to get a closer look and found that one leaf had lodged itself into a space between two bricks. I couldn't reconcile the sound I heard with what I saw but I was left to think about this for only a day.
When the book arrived from my friend the next day and I saw that it was poetry I opened it immediately and read the first poem. The following is the poem, titled, 'Had I not been awake'.

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

A wind that rose and whirled until the roof

Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore

And got me up, the whole of me a-patter,

Alive and ticking like an electric fence:

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

It came and went so unexpectedly

And almost it seemed dangerously,

Returning like an animal to the house,

A courier blast that there and then

Lapsed ordinary. But not ever

After. And not now.

I've always told people that some of my poems are prophetic because my poems written as a teenager were actually outside my scope of experience, at times, and then I would experience what I'd written later. This episode with Seamus' poetry really grabbed my attention and I urge one and all to take a look at his poetry. He passed away in a Dublin hospital in August of that year himself at the age of 74 and is seriously missed as an international poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. Please give this man's poetry a look as we all need to listen to our prophets as much now as ever. 

Dihunamb,

The Castle Lady

 

Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle!

     What a year 2017 has been ! Mine has been up and down like a yo-yo but with victories being prevalent I’ve decided that this is life for now, not forever. If getting those victories means I have to deal with different problems for awhile then everything is working out for the better. Momentum might just get me a homer. Well, it’s easier to go with that rather than focus on bad stuff which will eventually just work itself out, anyway. My mother’s influence was always positive and she very seldom became unhinged over anything. Positive thinking and living is the better way. Also, Mom always said, “Whatever everyone else does- you do the right thing, anyway.”

     My greatest victory this year was defeating debt that looked impossible to surmount through 2015 and 2016. That is a big sigh of relief you just heard in the background. My rule of thumb has been never to get into more debt than you can pay off on any given month. It may sound strange to some but building credit is just as important as clearing the deck of finances. Having a good credit rating is akin to having those lines of credit with the bank. Those are good to have but generally a bit low especially for the needs of an average homeowner today. If you wanted to start a business, would you be able to finance it with the type of credit that is available to you?

     I have had clients tell me they have filed bankruptcies with a gleam in their eyes like they got away with something. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Just wait until they desperately need a loan or have to do something drastic like mortgage their house because of an emergency! The perceived risk factor by the potential creditor may put you into such a high interest rate that it could put you in the red for the rest of your life. And that’s if you get such a break because bankruptcies are usually anathema to creditors. Any credit counselor will tell you that because it’s true.

     There is no worse feeling than knowing that you worked as hard as you could only to find that because you made bad financial decisions there is no way out of a rut. I can certainly testify to that because I have spent most of my life literally working on clients hand and foot! The only creditor who will esteem your hard work is yourself- i.e. do you give yourself credit? - and maybe a friend or two. So your financial decisions are crucial to your life and livelihood in the long term. You may win the PCH sweepstakes but if you make financial decisions based on those suppositions you could really get yourself in a bind. You may as well gamble with loaded dice in Vegas!

      Being realistic, prioritizing the needs from the wants and plain old budgeting will back up your hard-earned cash. Being thrifty, couponing and going for the discounts on your i-phone also help but if you put too much or too little on your credit card you’re missing out on the best way to get control of your finances in a very real way. Only multimillionaires and billionaires can spend money like there’s no tomorrow. All those making $12,000 or less per year better learn their math and how to budget especially if you’ve started to spend money in an adult fashion. Your future financial status depends on it.

The Castle Lady

Captain Obvious Runs For President ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR7W__4bM-g  

      I don't know how many of you out there have seen the Hotels.com commercials but this unknown actor (Brandon Moynihan, he played Dick Zilla in Meet the Zillas) has turned himself into a star overnight with video vignettes- the longest commercial in the known world- just so we could get it in our heads that our choices are few for the next presidential election but not without some real and authentic choices. Do I need to say that Trump is not a choice but more of a 'if he was the last or only person left in the world to run for president I'd never' choice ? Meanwhile, Hillary is very unassumingly and with thoughtful deliberation going about the business of campaigning even though her contenders are an insult to her intelligence and wit. Whoever runs the GOP ought to be forced to wear an "I'm with stupid" T-shirt every time he has to shake The Donald's hand or stand in line with him at the Chase Manhattan Bank.

     When you get to the Colorado bit for Captain Obvious's presidential commercial you'll see him sitting in a cloud of smoke with a Labrador Retriever at his feet, giggling and saying he's never going to leave. I want you to know that this video is not in any way an exaggeration. That little scene is exactly what's going on here- particularly in Dogver. Dogver, you say? It's not a misspelling, it's my new name for the town I was born, raised and have lived most of my life in. There's a Denver in Illinois and even one in Norfolk, England but neither of those towns will ever be referred to as Dogver- I guarantee it. My proof? Come to Colorado whichever way you can and stand in any residential area of Denver for a few seconds and you will hear a chorus of barks that would contend with that dogbark version of Jingle Bells any day of the week. We have more than a few ongoing problems here and that's just one. Don't- I repeat- don't come here if you enjoy being mentally sane.

     My challenge to all women would be to put a petition together for only men to sign. This petition would basically be to find out how many men are going to vote a woman into the U.S. presidential office. Once the numbers are in on that, then we'll know if this country can be saved from doom. Are you holding your breath?  

      

The Castle Lady