[SUBMITTED] The Spice of Life

[Altmer Dominion]

If anyone can spot the reference this was inspired by, I will be very impressed. Tried to avoid overlap with existing issues about this topic, but let me know if there's any part that looks duplicated.

Draft 2:

[validity] Must have Cannabis Policy

[name] The Spice of Life

[description] The Minister of Agriculture’s affinity for a different kind of 'grass' is well-publicized. During an exchange at a @@CAPITAL@@ dispensary yesterday, he was prompted to try a newly-developed strain of spice called 'Fusaka'. Upon returning home, however, he found that the substance was literally nothing more than harmless Dàguó culinary spice. After publicizing this deception, a number of @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ have supported the Minister's experience by sharing similar dispensary incidents.

[option] "I was conned!'" hisses the Minister, appearing more stressed out than usual. "I was lucky this time around that only cooking spices were lit up, but what about the next time? From what it seems, other swindlers could be peddling substances of greater toxicity to unsuspecting customers. From farm to pipe, the government needs to keep a closer eye on the integrity of these goods. If they're not pure green, don’t consider them clean."
[effect] all cannabis grow operations have been forcibly nationalized

[option] "What a novel idea," ponders @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, the head of 'Mothers Against High Living'. "These underhanded dealers may be doing the sobriety movement a favor. Personally, I say let's take it a step further. First-time users may not know the difference between real herbs and spices. If the authorities slyly replace all legal grow stock in @@NAME@@ with innocuous spices, we may be able to slam the door shut on this gateway drug once and for all."
[effect] five-star restaurants and @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ basements have an identical smell

[option] "Why the duplicity?" questions spice merchant @@RANDOMNAME@@, carefully sculpting a line of cinnamon on your desk. "Why don’t we visibly encourage this as a new hobby? Heck, it would still be safer than some of the plants legally being thrown around @@NAME@@ right now. People might even find some of these common spices more delectable. If you ask me, the benefits of these foods definitely pass the sniff test."
[effect] frat houses know when it’s Thyme to party

[validity] Must have Cannabis Policy
[name] The Spice of Life

[description] The Minister of Agriculture’s affinity for a different kind of 'grass' is well-publicized. During an exchange at a dispensary yesterday, he was prompted to try a newly-developed strain of spice called 'Fusaka'. Upon returning home, however, he found that the substance was literally nothing more than harmless Dàguó culinary spice.

[option] "I was conned!' hisses the Minister, ragged and disheveled from acute withdrawal. "I was lucky this time around that only cooking spices were lit up, but what about the next time? For all we know, other swindlers could be peddling substances of greater toxicity to unsuspecting customers. From farm to pipe, the government needs to keep a closer eye on the integrity of these goods. If they're not pure green, don’t consider them clean."
[effect] all cannabis grow operations have been forcibly nationalized

[option] "What a novel idea," ponders @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@, the head of 'Mothers Against High Living'. "These underhanded dealers may be doing the sobriety movement a favor. Personally, I say let's take it a step further. On the sly, why don’t you mandate that all recreational drugs be jazzed up with something a bit stronger—cyanide, for example. If it doesn’t kill the user, it’ll scare 'em off for life. And if they do die? Well, that’s just one less lowlife in @@NAME@@."
[effect] The fall from a guaranteed high is usually fatal

[option] "What’s all the fuss about?" questions spice merchant @@RANDOMNAME@@, carefully placing a teabag in a pipe bowl. "Why don’t we encourage this as a new hobby? Heck, it would still be safer than some of the plants legally being thrown around @@NAME@@ right now. People might even find some of these common spices more delectable. Er, by the way…do you happen to have a light on you?"
[effect] bringing recreational cinnamon to a party can bring the house down

[Jutsa]

Oh, I do enjoy this issue...

To be honest, I'm not sure if, ahem, putting cyanide in weed is a good idea. It's creative, but honestly I think just cracking down on pot would be more realistic...

Just an observation. As for actual things to change, I think you mean "as a" instead of "a a" in option 3.

ed: Also, I should note you can have marijuana while also prohibiting smoking... at least, I'd think so. >.>
Regardless, you may wanna consider having actual tea or something as either a replacement to smoking or variant option... for both 1 and 3.
I'll let you iron that out.

[Altmer Dominion]

Oh, I do enjoy this issue...

Glad to hear it!

To be honest, I'm not sure if, ahem, putting cyanide in weed is a good idea. It's creative, but honestly I think just cracking down on pot would be more realistic...

During Prohibition in the 1920s-30s, the United States government still produced cleaning-strength alcohol for other uses. This legal version of pure alcohol was used by bootleggers to produce drinkable liquor. After catching on to the practice, the government passed regulations "that required the industrial manufacturers to add a lot of poisonous things into their alcohol knowing that this stuff was going to get stolen by bootleggers and people were going to drink it. " While this was the height of the draconian response, the article I linked also indicates that an accidental analogue happened to pot in the 1970s. While this issue uses cyanide to draw an extreme, it's making a commentary on a practice that the United States actually engaged in for a short while.

As for actual things to change, I think you mean "as a" instead of "a a" in option 3.

Will fix!

ed: Also, I should note you can have marijuana while also prohibiting smoking... at least, I'd think so. >.>
Regardless, you may wanna consider having actual tea or something as either a replacement to smoking or variant option... for both 1 and 3.
I'll let you iron that out.

Eh, I intended for option 3's "do you have a light?" to be a symbolic backdoor to re-legalizing smoking, but I see what you're saying. I'll see if I could make allusions to tea or edibles, but that just doesn't have the same connotation to frequent drug use in the same way that smoking or injections have.

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Half-philosophical, half-medical question: Do you think you could get intoxicated as a placebo effect if you smoked a harmless kind of spice, falsely believing that it was marijuana?

If the answer to that is yes, the speaker in 2 can just suggest that. Not putting cyanide in weed, but selling non-psychoactive stuff as weed, in a duplicitous manner. The speaker could say that young people who will use marijuana for the first time have no idea what "getting high" feels like and could therefore be duped into thinking they were getting high even if they just used another harmless herb. "Protecting the youth" could thus be the argument presented to replace all marijuana with fake spice.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

If anyone can spot the reference this was inspired by, I will be very impressed. Tried to avoid overlap with existing issues about this topic, but let me know if there's any part that looks duplicated.

Spaced, clearly. You have good taste in comedy.

[Altmer Dominion]

Based on the feedback received, a new draft is up.

[Australian rePublic]

Wait, if you smoked these "drugs" in Dagou, if you purchased them in Dagou, then why would examining @@NAME@@'s supply lines have any impact whatsoever upon what happens inside Dagou?

[USS Monitor]

Option 2: I don't think coming down from weed will send you to the hospital with withdrawal symptoms. That's why it's so popular with casual drug users.

Issues do sometimes exaggerate things, but where there is already so much misinformation out there demonizing marijuana, I find the exaggeration more irksome than amusing.

Wait, if you smoked these "drugs" in Dagou, if you purchased them in Dagou, then why would examining @@NAME@@'s supply lines have any impact whatsoever upon what happens inside Dagou?

It doesn't say he smoked it in Daguo. It says he got it from a dispensary. It never says where the dispensary was.

[Altmer Dominion]

Option 2: I don't think coming down from weed will send you to the hospital with withdrawal symptoms. That's why it's so popular with casual drug users.

Issues do sometimes exaggerate things, but where there is already so much misinformation out there demonizing marijuana, I find the exaggeration more irksome than amusing.

That's a valid point. I'll try to brainstorm an alternative line.

Wait, if you smoked these "drugs" in Dagou, if you purchased them in Dagou, then why would examining @@NAME@@'s supply lines have any impact whatsoever upon what happens inside Dagou?

If it's confusing, I can throw in that the dispensary was in @@CAPITAL@@. The conman's bait-and-switch used imported Dagou spices, which I though was well-implied due to the RL history behind the spice trade.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

[description] The Minister of Agriculture’s affinity for a different kind of 'grass' is well-publicized. During an exchange at a @@CAPITAL@@ dispensary yesterday, he was prompted to try a newly-developed strain of spice called 'Fusaka'. Upon returning home, however, he found that the substance was literally nothing more than harmless Dàguó culinary spice.

This is a funny story, but it feels like the story has ended as the paragraph ends.

Can you reframe it so that the description makes it clear what the ensuing dilemma is?

[Altmer Dominion]

I've expanded on the description, along with editing out the offending effect line. The problem with the effect was also present in the first option, so the Minister's characterization has also been tweaked.

[Altmer Dominion]

Feeling good at how this draft has turned out so far.

[Sacara]

I was going to go through and give little edits here and there as I usually do, but upon reading, it looks really good. Although I am opposition to my political views on the subject, this is a very well-written draft. Nice job, Altmer.

[Altmer Dominion]

I was going to go through and give little edits here and there as I usually do, but upon reading, it looks really good. Although I am opposition to my political views on the subject, this is a very well-written draft. Nice job, Altmer.

Lol. I'm kinda in the same boat, but since I'm from Colorado I felt contractually obligated to tackle to the subject eventually.

Unless there's any last-minute commentary, I'll probably submit this soon.

[Altmer Dominion]

And submitted.

[Jutsa]

Good luck. Glad to see you again.

[Sacara]

Good luck!

[Krogon]

Good luck!

[Australian rePublic]

Good luck