Quote from Mom0/pH0x:
rearden, have you considered relocating to a more reasonably regulated area?
for example, i'm now in montreal. marijuanna is more or less legal, police may confiscate it on occasion. if they really want to be assholes they can ticket you. peyote is legal, you can get it in stores. people caught with personal quantities of hard drugs rarely do actual jail time after going in and bonding out. also, the authorities are more focused on violent crime and thefts so they rarely engage in the sort of "sting" that nailed you. all that and it's a much safer and cleaner place over all. many places in europe offer similar conditions. unless you have kids in IL that you can't relocate or something, why wouldn't you move?
People ask me that all the time, and this is obviously a matter I've given plenty of thought. I'll just post my comprehensive multi-faceted answer here for once and for all, and then just copy and paste this post the next 20 times I'm asked:.
Ok, so there's one main reason and many nagging side-issues why I don't just get up and cross the border for good when I get off paper in 6 months:
*The main thing is the massive pain-in-the-ass factor involved in relocating. I have my home the way I like it, and I shudder at the thought of having to deal with all these new (and probably incompetent, as most people are) home theater guys, cable/satellite guys, ISP guys, electricians, plumbers, painters, home inspectors, realtors, real estate lawyers, immigration lawyers, and 10 other things that'll come up... all this to just recreate a home like one I already have somewhere else. People annoy me.
The other reasons:
*At this moment in time the gov't in Canada is far less oppressive than here in the U.S. But wherever you go, the place is still run by <b>people</b> with <b>power</b>. Power corrupts, and human nature being what it is, the political climate in Canada could easily turn on a dime and deteriorate rapidly as has happened here. Then I'll have seriously inconvenienced myself for nothing.
*Money. I'm not nearly as rich as I used to be- especially overseas with the USD's decline and all.
*I don't like being a foreigner- being an outsider, not understanding any of the local ways. This is especially harsh if you have to switch languages. Remember 'Polish jokes'? When Polish immigrants came to the U.S. en masse in the early 20th century, everyone just assumed they were 'stupid', which was hardly the case at all. They merely appeared stupid by not knowing/understanding the language or customs of their new homeland. This issue wouldn't be as bad if I were to move to Canada, but it would still be there to a degree.
*I realize now that I can be a U.S. resident or I can be a junkie, but I certainly don't have the option of being both. At this point I'm still trying not to be a junkie, hoping I won't have to resort to that again. Even without prohibition, opiate addiction has plenty of nasty side effects.
*Pertaining specifically to Canada, I can't forget my bad experience 6 years ago driving from the U.S. into Toronto. The Canadian customs guys had me pull my car aside and the first thing they did was swab the steering wheel for cocaine. When it tested positive I was interrogated and harassed by impotent little Canadian men for 3 or 4 hours, purely for their own power-trip enjoyment. They could tell in under 5 minutes that I wasn't actually smuggling anything (not even for personal use), but continued to fuck with me for hours just to entertain themselves. Like I said, people are people. Laws change, the oppressed minority group du jour is always in flux, but there will <b>always</b> be something wrong with human nature- no matter where you go to escape it.