Could you please decriminalize marijuana already?

[Toucano]

Tax it like tobacco and alcohol to raise revenue.

Halt the violence.

Reduce prison population and state expenditures.


Could it be any more obvious?

[ixion]

1. No, it could not be any more obvious...

but the idiots running the show never let that stop them from not doing it, unfortunately.

[immoderate]

2. The people in charge don't see it that way.

They thrive on the violence and expenditures.

--imm

[Taverner]

3. Although - Eric Holder, AG, just said he would let states set their own 420 policy

:bounce:

[immoderate]

8. But he didn't change federal laws...

Here in Florida, it's still a felony, so it's little comfort. Wish I could afford to move back to California...

--imm

[tridim]

12. That's because FL is a fucked up state.

No offense. ;)

If you want things changed, start screaming about it. Unlike Jeb, Crist might actually listen.

[immoderate]

20. Yes Crist seems to be an improvement.

I am currently screaming about keeping Intelligent Design out of science curricula, and turning down abstinence education money. I'll try to fit this one in.

BTW, I lived in Arizona before this and Janet Napolitano was no help on this matter.

--imm

[Taverner]

30. Move to Oregon - its cheap and they have Med Marijuana

Or WA

[paulsby]

24. to be more precise

i believe he meant in regards to medical mj.

i support legalization/decrim across the board, but i am not at all convinced obama/holder support that, and will if a state decides to go that way.

i'd be happy to be wrong about holder's comment.

i've been in law enforcement a long time, and the war on drugs is lame, but the war on MJ is INSANE.

many of my coworkers feel likewise.

i think it's (MJ) lame. but as i have said before, fat people in spandex are lame. hairy backs are lame. doesn't mean it should be criminal

[leftchick]

4. and let hemp farming begin as well

hemp is a wonder crop.

[Terry in Austin]

27. 5 tons per acre, two crops per year

Good for the soil, too.

More wood (lignin) in it than wood, makes great charcoal. Fuel of the future.

[tridim]

5. Obama and Holder have already taken the first giant step

We're much closer today than we have been since Refer Madness began.

I'm willing to give them a bit more time to ease into full decrim or legalization.

[FudaFuda]

11. Wasn't McGovern at least a pragmatist on pot?

I was only 5 yrs old during the 72 election, but I believe McGovern was 'open to' the idea of legalizing pot and regulating as is done with alcohol.

[iamthebandfanman]

6. to me it might be now or never

with the economy(democrats care about that) in the shape it is and now the increasing violence on the border(republicans love border issues)... to me its a perfect storm for indroducing marijuana legislation...

[county worker]

7. I would like to ask this question of someone.

So if you could buy marijuana like alcohol, would it be consumed like alcohol. I mean in bars or at home but not during work or driving?

My worry is that the guy next to me on the milling machine or the guy driving next to me is stoned. Are we going to have more people stoned during the work day than we do now if it were legal?

[immoderate]

9. The people who are going to be stoned are already stoned.

My opinion is that it doesn't hamper driving. It does affect finding your destination though.

--imm

[eridani]

35. You'd see a lot more people arrested for driving too far under the speed limits n/t

[Fireweed247]

13. i question people driving on prescription meds

and there are a lot of people not on drugs who are just plain stupid. I think stoners would be the least of your problems....might just be some happier, slower drivers out there...just taking their time enjoying the journey...

[Webster Green]

14. Stoned drivers are safer drivers..

Seriously. There have been studies done.

I have no problem with power tools either...big or little, but that's me. I smoke like a Rasta. There's nothing that I can't do stoned that I can do when I'm straight. :hippie:

[Fireweed247]

17. makes people more focused, more creative

It might just lead to a new American Renaissance...and a subsequent boost to the economy...

[Occam Bandage]

19. It makes people euphoric.

That is about it. It certainly makes you feel more focused and more creative, but saying it actually makes you more focused and more creative is like saying that cocaine makes you a totally fucking invincible god. There's no evidence of increased concentration and attention span in marijuana users.

[Fireweed247]

23. I would be willing to bet that many of the musicians you enjoy

much of the art you enjoy, many of the inventions we all enjoy (including the internet and technological revolution) were made possible by this wonder herb.

[Occam Bandage]

25. I have seen many preposterous arguments by marijuana advocates.

This is always strange to me, because marijuana legalization should not need preposterous arguments. It only needs a scant few: there is no significant public health risk, there is no significant public safety risk, and therefore the market should be allowed to decide the extent to which it is a public good. But let's leave that aside for the moment.

"Marijuana gives us good music" is possibly true, possibly untrue, but either way is a reasonable assertion. Many musicians use and have used all sorts of drugs, and it's impossible to say for sure that their music would have been as good had they remained sober.

However, "Marijuana gave us the internet" is probably the most bizarre argument I have ever seen advanced by anyone.

[Fireweed247]

26. I didn't say that was a reason to legalize

just some of the benefits.

[Occam Bandage]

18. Do you have any links for that?

I can find plenty of people saying that the studies don't prove that mild cannabis intake impairs drivers to the extent that they suffer a statistically-significant increased risk of serious injury while driving, but that's hardly the same as "stoned drivers are safer drivers." Rather, that's "stoned drivers might be a little more dangerous than sober drivers but probably not to the extent that it poses a public-safety risk comparable to drunk drivers."

[county worker]

21. In the 80's I rode my motorcycle to Leo Carrillo beach. A bunch of us were drinking bears and

smoking weed. I remember that after a few hours I could not come down! I had to ride back to the Glendale area and I stopped at every McDonald's on the way to get a cup of coffee. I don't think I would ever try that again. I wasn't safe.

[Politicalboi]

28. Pot was better then

And it's the "bears" you drank that may have made the difference. My first experience with pot was we lit the joint and I had resin on my mouth before it even became a roach. I have not to this day smoked anything like that. I was blazing for hours and it scared me and I didn't smoke for over a year after that. Now I smoke everyday if I can.

[county worker]

29. I mean beers not bears but there were a lot of bares there that day

[tridim]

15. I don't drive or work while stoned.

Never have, never will.

But what I do after work is my own business. ;)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. Well, if you use the Netherlands as a model...

marijuana, which is decriminalized, is consumed both at home and in cafes.

Traffic safety is markedly better.

[eridani]

36. They did make it illegal for "coffee shops" to sell both brownies and the straight dope

Seems that a lot of tourists would ingest the brownies, wonder why they weren't getting high, and then take a few tokes of the regular stuff. When both highs then hit at the same time, they tended to wander in front of streetcars.

So it's either be a bakery or a smokery, but not both. And if you want to buy it by the joint, ask for an "American" joint so you don't get tobacco in it too.

[Toucano]

33. I really agree with others that those who are going to smoke already smoke.

[DefenseLawyer]

34. Uh, legalizing marijuana wouldn't legalize impaired driving.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but drinking is legal for adults but that isn't a defense for drunk driving. As for the guy on the machine, if he was too stoned to work he would get fired, just as if he came to work drunk or came to work sleepy and fell asleep at the switch. Legalization wouldn't alleviate the need to act responsibly.

[anigbrowl]

10. Yes and no

It's happening in California (as in, there's a bill to do exactly that coming before the legislature, and given the economic situation it's actually being given serious thought rather than dismissed as a political sideshow. This is a Good Thing. Additionally, the Obama administration, while not endorsing legalization, is certainly taking a much more hands-off approach to medical marijuana and saying publicly that it intends to give states wide latitude in how they approach the issue.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_11816324
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/03/02/holder-signals-shift-on-federal-drug-enforcement-policy/

The downside is that drug prohibition has a long and complex history, and rightly or wrongly we are partly bound by international treaties which were put in place a long time ago, with sincerely good intentions in many cases. Certainly a conservative backlash to the drug experimentalism of the 1960s was a major factor, but there were also legitimate and honest public health concerns founded on genuine epidemics of drug abuse with substances like amphetamines or heroin.

So it wasn't just a bunch of authoritarian assholes who were in bed with booze and tobacco interests - that was certainly a factor, but drug prohibition is rooted in a misguided but sincere approach to a crisis of deregulation driven by an increase in global trade. Many Asian countries have ultra-strict policies on drugs because they were used by western powers as a tool of economic warfare; many people would say the epidemic of crack cocaine abuse that beset the US in the 80s and 90s was also engineered by the CIA - I don't exactly believe this, but don't want to go off into a side argument.

My point is that a lot of people tend to interpret US drug policy solely in terms of US politics, when in fact it's more complex than that and not amenable to good-guy and bad-guy caricatures - on either side of the debate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs

[Occam Bandage]

16. Sure, I'll get right on that. nt

[Toucano]

32. Thank you! n-t

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

22. Legalization, not decriminalization.