Alcohol can make people belligerent and extremely sloppy. I had the privelege to be invited by the VLA (Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts) to a lecture series here in New York hosted by the LMCC (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) the topic was "Rethinking America's Drug Policy"-(transcripts to that can be found online) John Donohue the 3rd was the speaker on the subject as he wrote "Rethinking America's Drug Policy" and is now a professor at Standford Law. It was highly informative and he showed by statistical studies the lack of progress on drug reform and how other countries have reduced crime by legalization and what affect it has on their society. Anyone can take a look at the lecture through this Vimeo clip link (click on the link) below:

http://vimeo.com/9912715

Its highly recommended learning and coming from a family of addicts myself. American culture produces the addictive trait in its consumerism control.

-MikeAlike (recording artist/writer)

also go to www.drugpolicy.org to become active and understanding on activism pertaining to drug laws.....

Obviously crime is going to be lower if they can no longer bust people for drugs.

Our son tried smoking pot one time from a friend and he said it calmed him down and helped him think clearly. A guy I worked with smoked it and it calmed him the same way. Both of these young adults had ADHD. Our son asked the Drs if it was legal yet in our state and the answer was no. Thus they put him on adderal (legal drug basically "speed amphetamine)"and its legal. Then they give him another one to calm him down from the adderal. Well as of 2 weeks ago the supposed one to calm him down took his life just like they say on the medications can cause thoughts of suicide well it did and we couldnt rescue him. So I am all for legalizing it. There will always be people who abuse any thing but their are those it can help.

Grown here, not flown here--it's what we say here in Hawaii. Seriously, the government is missing a load of taxes on a drug that doesn't harm anyone. With the current "war on drugs" the cartels are making a killing. LEGALIZE!

Ditto, having done both in the past (60's/70's in California, Southern and Northern) I have known and been around to numerous to count mean and violent drunks, however, I have never had a problem with any pot heads. They were usually to busy thinking of something to eat. That was when I was using and after I was no longer using I never had any issues with anyone smoking pot.

I'm so sorry to hear that Mary... My prayers for you and your family.

I was heating up something in the microwave tonight and I found myself thinking "I wonder if this machine is one of the causes of so much cancer in the world today"? My mother-in-law is very sick from chemo and I am totally depressed about it. I asked her tonight if she would like me to see if I could find her some pot as I think it would relieve some of her stress, pain and nausea.. At this point anything is worth the release of pains grip on her...

Same here brother. I have had 3 alcohloics in my family. That was a real problem. Pot has done nothing to harm my family.

so sorry for your loss

All that making pot illegal does is make the black market for it rich, fills our prisons with pot sellers and users, excess police and agents being paid to hunt it down and it is more prevalent than ever. I say legalize it, tax the heck out of it and regulate with similar regulations and laws like alcohol. Also, make both industries, pot and alcohol kick back money for education and treatment programs, like they made cigarette companies do. Then if people want to use it, our government and the tax payer can benefit instead of people that don't even pay tax on the billions made from the sale of it each year,

my problem with it if you drink alcohol you cant get some one drunk while in the same room but weed and tobacco you can just be around it and it affects you. so that is why i will always vote it down.

The amount of money saved (CUT) by not prosecuting and imprisoning users, coupled with the potential tax money, is nothing short of ridiculous. We are talking about BILLIONS of dollars that we are missing out on.

Anyone that is against raising taxes should support legalization.

Anyone that is against cutting government jobs should support legalization.

In fact, any law-abiding citizen with half a brain should support legalization. The only ones against making it legal are criminal cartels and the overly stupid.

You want to fix our deficit by cutting spending and raising revenue? Make it legal.

my problem with it if you drink alcohol you cant get some one drunk while in the same room but weed and tobacco you can just be around it and it affects you. so that is why i will always vote it down.

Regulated the same as tobacco... meaning most public places are "Smoke Free". So you will not be forced to be around it.

If you are at a friends house or private residence, you have a natural solution to second-hand smoke... they are called "legs", use them and walk away.

I am so sorry for your loss, Mary. My 23-year old nephew also took his own life this past January. He was not on any medication of any kind, but certainly needed to be. You point out the very real danger of some of the "legal" drugs. My heart is with you, Mary.

What many forget is the amount of money this country could make on the hemp, let alone the actual sale of the marijuana. Hemp can be used in so many different ways and it is sad that the country is throwing away the opportunity to earn a HUGE profit on the legalization of this natural product. Legalize and help the economy!

Until we can pay more to buy Congress it (legalization) will never happen. The other recreational drug companies, liquor and tobacco have more money to buy the whores in Congress. If we all paid in the cost of one quarter ounce we might have enough money to buy Congress away from the other drug dealers ( booze, tobacco and big pharma [ xanax, valium, the oxy drugs, clonazepam, etc.] and of course the caffeine dealers. How much do you pay for 7 grams ?? Let's buy congress!!! What do you say??? It IS for sale!!

I believe that alcohol should be ilegal because it ruins your liver and causes alot of deaths involving inoccent drivers to die in the process along with drunk drivers. Pot isnt like alcohol and besides there will be ground rules for the use of medical pot.Im bi polar and alcohol makes me angry medications make me have horrible withdrawls.I also have social anxiety and well pot helps because i have a hard time going to grocery stores and im only 24 and i dont wanna be like this forever.So trust me when i say pot is better i would rather be stoned than an alcoholic in the future.Of course it is very wise to have the same rules as they do with alcohol so in a way drug driving is no different then meds,alcohol,and pot because everyone's tolerance is different.

Oh God I hope it never becomes as used as tobacco. Tobacco is way bad enough as it is, only now is the situation with tobacco improving. Smokers often got violent as to their RIGHT to smoke in the presence of others, refusing to put it out, completely inconsiderate to others around them. I specifically have asthema, and have had to endure several attacks due to such inconsiderate people.

Marijuana on the other hand, I can't stand the horrid stench. I literally get sick and puke when I smell it.

I can already see it. Waiting at the bus stop, or trying to walk into a business, and having someone light up and smoke their weed, stenching up the whole place. Unable to enter into casinos and bars due to the horrid stench of weed. It's already taking place at Motel 6s around the country and other low class hotels.

I'm with you Colorado... I think it should be legal, but the stench is awful. I despise regular smokers enough and their BS that they're not bothering anyone. I can smell cigarette smoke 2 cars back with my windows up.

But pot is benign compared to Alcohol.

Finally the old farts who watched reefer madness are dying off, and the people of the 60's-90's who smoked it and know that pot is really harmless are being heard.

I'm all for legalization even though I never inhaled it....

I have never used pot or any other drugs and I don't drink but even I know that alcohol is much more dangerous than pot. The decision not to legalize pot is because of greed/corruption and not because they are doing the right thing. There are Billions at risk if they legalize pot and for that reason they will not legalize it.

Smoke is bad for your health, drug is bad for your health , drugs are related with crime , dope make people stupid, Americans want legalize drugs. Very soon crime will go high, people will get more sick and stupid. US will be a third world country.

The need for drugs from Americans represent a sick society uneble to get joy without getting high , enable to have sex without Viagra.

prohibition didn't work for alcohol and it hasn't worked for pot all you do is make criminals rich increase violence every year since the war on drugs started with Nixon and criminalize otherwise law abiding citizens

It's time for marijuana to be legalize as long as it's controlled and regulated.

For all the people that say they can't stand the stench, they do have marijuana oil, just a small amount in a glass of water, and it works just as well as smoking it. also, they do have "Alice B. Toklas" brownies. Just make sure to keep 'em away from the kids.

legalizing marijuana for people to use recreationally is not the way. I support medical applications that warrant use, but only in serious cases, such as AIDS, Chronic debilitating pain, etc. Including this article, arguments for legalization tend to always bring up alcohol in the debate, when alcohol isn't the issue, just goes to show there is a lack of evidence supporting the argument for legalizing marijuana, a drug that has little or no positive influences on our people or our Country. I will not support drug-addictions and therefore I will never vote to legalize marijuana.

I am all for legalizing pot. The benefits outway the costs and lets face it what someone does to their own body should be their business and not the moral dealings of others. JPSOTW- it takes no thught at all to make such comments and frankly just because you can hide behind a monitor is no reason to behave so uncivilized (fine you are angry and can insult people, good for you, now keep it to yourself). As for the comments about smoke (cig and weed) until people want to start calling for the repeal of the automobile, lets ease up on the smokers. If you have asthma, it's most likely due to the crap in the air that you can't smell let off by factories and cars. No one commits suicide by smoking a carton in their garage- they run their car- now tell me which is worse for your health? If you can smell the smoke from two cars back ignore it- it's the fumes coming from the road that are killing you. Why is it that common sense never comes into these discussions? One more time kids- there is not now nor ever has been ONE single, credible study that proves second hand smokes does anythng to you. All we know is that if you put a rat in a shoe box filled with smoke for six months they have an increased chance of developing cancer. However, if you put a rat in a shoe box filled with perfume for six months, the same thing occurs. This is not a cause/effect relationship, it is a symptom. I get you don't like the smell and you find it inconsiderate that you have to smell smoke, but hey, what about peopel who wear too much perfume, or don't use deoderant, or have babies with full diapers? The point is, the world is full of stuff that may displease you, but you are not that important. Ease up on your self esteem and get over yourself. Grown people can deal with unpleasant oders.

sun is bad for your health, water is bad for your health, don't drink milk...REALLY oskar-1391552.

what special did you watch? before you comment do your research! It takes people who are in so much pain and gives them relief. It does not affect your helath negatively and crime would actually go down because we wouldn't be wasting our money on stupid things like people that had a joint! Cops could go protect people who really need it. Every 10 seconds someone is being arrested for having pot, every 30 seconds someone got AWAY with sexually assaulting a child they know! Really, stupidity is the only thing that will stand between this. AND I DON'T EVEN SMOKE!

Mathmatical solution: statistics + weed - taxes = budget solution

Additionally: Problem with the housing market can be solved if the governement would turn their 800,000 + Fanny May and Freddie Mac forclosures into grow houses, we would now have a solution to health care, social security plus reducing the budget by reducing 80% of narcotics officers on needless pot arrests.

Do any of you against pot take any kind of prescriptions? Research those and then post a comment!

People are gonna smoke anyways, that's one statistic to go by!

As most of us I have my own story but rather than try to rattle off any one of a thousand reasons that marijuana SHOULD BE COMPLETELY LEGAL FOR ADULTS to possess, use, sell, and cultivate; within certain guidlines (laws)...What we really need to be talking about is how to make this happen??? As of today the government will never concede that they have wasted probably hundreds of billions of dollars TRYING to uphold a law on something they REALLY could care less about but are so far out on a limb claiming they've been RIGHT; they CAN'T ADMIT THEY'VE BEEN WRONG!!! It is great that we are getting closer but until they find some humility we've still got a long way to go...KEEPING THE FAITH/ I'm 43 and haven't smoked regularly in a long time, and have'nt smoked at all in a year. I was locked up in county jail for 6 months when I was 18 for possesion of class D (pot)...had a couple of offenses but the one that sent me away was a ROACH about 1/4 inch long in my cars ashtray! TAXPAYER $$ putting the kid away.

So very sorry for your family's loss. It is ashame that our society treat ADHD as a disease. I personally do not. Many people with ADHD has contributed greatly to our society. They learn differently, and they often operate outside the box. It is often ourselves who exclude others who we don't understand. Again, I wish your family the best...

The doctor and the clinic should think long and hard about their prescriptions and their responsibilities.

Pot Cannot be legalized because it will cause ALL of the south american countries to go broke and the US cannot come up with a good reason to continue to prop them up. That is the reason.

It's interesting how the people who post to in support of the legalization of marijuana often present a story or argument in order to persuade the other side; while those who oppose the legalization often make insulting remarks or unfounded accusations. Maybe people who are more open to marijuana are simply more open in general... more accepting of change.

I have always wondered how a natural growing plant could ever be illegal. I would bet that anyone who opposes legalization of pot will fit into one of the following categories:

misinformed

closed minded

face monetary loss if it is legalized

Most of them fit into the last category. After all the guy who made it illegal in the first place was in the timber industry and hemp was a huge threat to his business. So he fabricated lies like it makes white women crave black men. Now it is the pharmceutical and alcohol companies that have a threat to thier business. I think everyone should have the right to make thier own educated(based on truth of course) decision for themselves. The fed govt. was formed to protect the rights of individuals not companies pocket books.

really to tell you the truth they might as well legalize completely it too many ppl get some wasteful charges on it even if its under 4 grams its so pathetic

Right on vote them out. Congress works for us and we pay the bills. If they cannot listen to what the people want and vote for then they must be removed either side will be fine with me. Both sides are sellouts and have done nothing for its voters this is why we are having protests. It is nothing to do about anything that the elected officials have failed voters for and for many years. Tear down the walls if you like and make the govt listen but wall street is only a bought product of our sellout congress. Wallstreet is only the paid scapegoat and the white house is where the real problem starts then congress. Remember the sh1t rolls down hill.

texas sucks i live here and the way the law enforcement is down here they should be more worried about other drugs besides marijuana

The ONLY reason why Marijuana is not legal is because those who stand to lose money from legalization have political influence. The Black market, organized crime, the Mexican cartels, whether from direct or indirect pressure on congress dont want to see their billion dollar illegal drug trade end . This government is a joke. Just a bunch of Rich people trying to get richer and concerned only about their rich friends. I thought the constitution guaranteed us the right to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"

its really aggravating ppl need to realize you dont ever hear ppl dying from marijuana but you hear more alcohol related deaths then anything

dhallbooks

"what special did you watch? before you comment do your research! It takes people who are in so much pain and gives them relief"

I never give you my opinion about to legalize marijuana, you can smoke all you want , you can get high all you want if that help you fill better in your miserable life, I'm not against medical marijuana, Doctors prescript all kind of drugs to help people to go through their pains, marijuana , cocaine, opium shouldn't be an exception. However deny the factors that lead to the American society to use drugs is deny the existence of a social problems.

Willow-

I used to do the brownie thing back in 1970 or thereabouts.

It seemed to do the trick faster than inhaling it.

I am in a state that has a medical MJ law. It is relatively easy to get a prescription for it. There are many people that have gotten the prescription for it and passed along to others. There has not been a break down of social structure. If you have a legal prescription it does NOT exempt you from drug testing in the workplace.

Somehow I really think that use should be a choice. I was under the impression as a young student that freedom and America had something to do with tolerance and that hard work was going to get you ahead in life. As I grew up I found that hard work was not going to make you rich and that tolerance was limited commodity.

The choice should be on a state basis. This should allow you to choose what you can (or can't) tolerate. If you simply cannot deal with gays and the idea of marriage, prostitution, whatever religion you just can't stand, the color of other skin, the list is endless not to mention Illinois nazi's (if you don't get that see The Blues Brothers)

This should not be a tax issue (yeah let's grab some more money from the almost non-existent middle class not to mention the poor). Perhaps that may be better served by locating the thieves that manipulate the 1% and putting that back where it belongs (still breaks my heart thinking about the Enron employees not having a pension when the money went to a few to count their chips).

I never post anymore, but let's love one another and quit these unnecessary attempts at control of things that really don't matter. After all you are just a tiny speck in a ruthless universe.

Socrates2U

It's interesting how the people who post to in support of the legalization of marijuana often present a story or argument in order to persuade the other side; while those who oppose the legalization often make insulting remarks or unfounded accusations. Maybe people who are more open to marijuana are simply more open in general... more accepting of change.

Nicely put. That's one of the most objective things I've read on the Vine.

in my experience most people do something to take the edges off of life. sex, religion, drugs, alcohol, cigs, porn, sports, work, etc. We have an addictive society but its not all about drugs or alcohol.

support for the legalization of pot has been trending up for years.

and, once again, conservatives find themselves in the wrong side of history. for those keeping count: slavery, civil rights, voting rights, women's rights, gay rights. the list goes on, and this is just another one to add to it.

Didn't bush allow these states to have their own rights?? Now obama the king has taken them away. Who are you going to vote for the liberal repub or the Conservative dem??? Doesn't make any sense does it.

my problem with it if you drink alcohol you cant get some one drunk while in the same room but weed and tobacco you can just be around it and it affects you.

You may not be able to get someone drunk, but your nasty breath and "I love you man" or "I wanna hit someone" persona affects everyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.

You can go to another room if someone is smoking, but there is no escaping the party drunkard.

The prisons are full of 'victimless' criminals. Time to rethink the War on Drugs, time to reduce the massive drug police force, time to put the cartels out of business.

Why is it illegal in the first place? I've smoked pot and drank (although I've only smoked pot of a handful of occassions and drink socially). Anyway, I don't understand why marijuana is illegal and alcohol is legal. No one would be hurt from legalizing it, but plenty of people are hurt by criminalizing it. You cannot regulate morality and Prohibition showed us that people are going to find ways to experiencing pleasure regardless of the laws. The only ones who benefit from keeping pot illegal are the criminal organizations that control it now. Legalize it and the drug dealers will go the same way as the bootleggers. But we have a society founded upon puritanical values run by neo-puritans who believe anything pleasureable is evil. Get the government out of our personal lives. If all parties are consenting adults and no one is harmed by it, then it has no business being regulated by the government. This applies to drugs, alcohol, marijuana, sex, marriage, and anything else that falls with in the criteria that I just mentioned.

arguments for legalization tend to always bring up alcohol in the debate, when alcohol isn't the issue, just goes to show there is a lack of evidence supporting the argument for legalizing marijuana,

What is wrong with wanting to feel good?

What is wrong with changing your mood so long as your not hurting anyone?

Chris, if you look through the ones that are collapsed, none of them even made an actual factual statement, they're all mindless propaganda rhetoric and insults. These myths have been debunked thousands of times, and the insults are just plain unnecessary.

There is one candidate that listens to our voices! He wants to leave legalization as an option to the states, then let the people of each state vote on whether or not to legalize for it's citizens!!!

End The Fed! Ron Paul 2012!!!

Somebody help me here, I'm a little confused. I mean, why is smoking tobacco an evil thing, but smoking pot is a good thing?

PS I don't smoke either one.

Reply: Mass Graves; Chuck1968 >First Mass Graves, My father is totally against drugs and a very important man. Even he is able to see it is no different than the 'organized crime' which was a direct outcome of prohibition. Are so many idiots? Thanks 2)Chuck1968: For real friend!!!! Sincerely, Elizabeth Broun Garland D.J.P.

Anyone who still believes in this war on drugs needs to look up Portugal's legalization of drugs and see how much good it did there. People that want to do drugs are gonna do those, those that don't want to won't.

Also, just look at how making alcohol illegal during prohibition worked out and the problems that were alleviated after it was legalized again.

Chris from Yucaipa

What p*sses me off and hurts your own cause is the fact any comment that doesn't immediately show itself as pro-legalization gets collapsed. No none of them are my comments. But it's the same for every marijuana thread on these boards lately. You want the discussion but refuse to listen to dissenting opinions. Until YOU are willing to listen to both sides of a debate, don't expect others, ie those who make policy decisions, to listen to yours.

I'm not trying to be hard on you, but what's the argument? I'll be combative about many subjects but do respect the opinions of others. That's what makes us tribal by nature. I can't associate with anyone socially that is not a liberal. It's always the moral religious style to convert others to you way of thought in every way. You do harp on the "personal freedoms" crap, but want to deny others the same. I'm pro-choice, anti-capital punishment, a Navy Veteran, a husband of 35 years, father of 4 successful children, successful business person--sold it and retired and have a small organic farm. I have a medical card to smoke and grow in limited quantities. Leave others to make their decisions on whether they chose to smoke pot. I don't drink and I don't drive when I'm high

Sincerely, a 60 y/o pot smoker.

Another benefit to the legalization of pot is all the extra money stoned people will spend on munchies & useless toys... A boon for the economy!

Actually, if legalized, I don't think the number of pot users would significantly increase. Pot users will obtain their drug regardless of it's legal status. Might as well stop spending all those tax dollars on putting them in jail and get extra tax dollars from selling it legally. Also those who would be selling it legally would be legitimate business people as opposed to the scumbags who are currently profiting off of the illegal pot trade. Not to mention that legal sellers would be checking ID's making it more difficult for underage people to obtain pot.

mary i am so sorry for your loss and my heart goes out to you!!! i have my grandson with me now and he is 15 and thank god he is no longer on adderal. he flushed his one day as he did not like how he felt every night after taking it. i went from doc to doc as at the begining of this year he was just steps away from suicide. he has soft bipolar and now on lythem only and his adhd is coming under control as we are treating the bipolar. how can doc's push these children trough so fast on all this wonderful med's that killing our baby's. what happens to them when they turn 18 and nolonger on the parents insurance to pay for med's????????????????? again my heart goes out to you and if marijuana could be legalized how many lifes could be saved??? it works on asthma -copd-maybe people should stop comparing alchol and start pushing all the good it can do...........

Insist on American grown weed.

Good for you. Good for the economy.

I was going to make a joke out of this and had a good one but after reading the post by Mary-2178131 i won't. That's not funny. Sorry for the loss of your son. The side effects of most so called medications is ridiculous. Suppose to help one thing and cause 15 more.

I am a disabled veteran with psych and physical ailments from my military accomplishments between 1990-1993 I was on 7 psych medications and chose to stop taking them over a year ago. I have a service dog (MARLEY) she helps with my anxiety levels but without me using "Black-market" marijuana its harder for me to control, without marijuana the ARTHRITIS in my back would be more painful. I have a young friend of mine who is diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) he too benefits from effects. I say to you the readers KNOW-THE-FACTS.....If it's legalized it too would stimulate the economy by shutting down unneeded prisons and government spending on prison guards , low-level law officials and programs like" NARK" that eat at local community budgets. These are local programs formed by the government under the "war on Drugs" with money bribes to your local politicians to line their pockets why do you think we all want to know now "WHERE DID THE MONEY GO ?" The budgets are done every year the money is hidden in programs!!! Try sleeping at night know the country i was injured protecting is the same country I'm now fighting to legalize an" alleviation" from the symptoms.

Man makes whiskey

Nature makes pot

Nature is perfect

Man is not

The logic of Booze Dealers is if Pot is illegal - people wanting a buzz will turn to booze if they can't get weed. Sorry Booze Dealers - I have no desire for your crappy buzz - puking isn't cool at all. They give you pot in cancer treatment so you won't puke - go figure.

dont be too suprised if big pharma has a play in keeping the legal aspects of pot, illegal. being a smoker, and few drinks here and there, i can see pros and cons to legalisation. we can look at the benifits over drinking, over finding alternative methods of getting drunk or high. right now in some states its the fake weed. personally, its a damed if you do, damed if you dont. make it legal, i can see a bunch of pot heads running around. pot also acts faster than alchohol, and gives just as big of case of the dumba$$ if not more. another drawback to making it legal, the gov will be able to take more of our rights, with less of a fight.

Zarusky...

Watch out, there buddy...conservatives favor marijuana just like liberals. I believe this is one subject we can agree on! I even gave a couple thumbs up to Sandtrich. Don't find myself agreeing with him on too many political issues but this one, we have a common ground.

The only way Marijuana will have a chance of being legal is if you vote for Ron Paul he is the only one willing to take up this issue.

I will tell you my personal perspective:

I am 68 years old and live in Alabama where any and all fun is automatically and violently opposed, along with anyone who looks Latino.

I have a badly herniated disk and severe osteoarthritis. I have already had one knee replacement (which has been recalled) that was not entirely successful. As a result I am in nearlky constant pain. I can't take opiates because I have a pseudo-allergy to all opiates. (A pseudo-allergy means that you don't have to have a semnsitizing exposure.) This means that morphine, for example, binds to my mast cells instead of the opiate receptors in my brain. As a result I get only about 10% of the pain-killing effects of opiates (but only at higher doses --- none at low doses) but instead get hives, massive itching like my skin is coming off, sleeplessness, and puffy eyes, etc.

American physicians are considered the most poorly trained in the world in pain management. (This is because of the "system" approach to organizing the material --- pain does not fall into any anatomical system.) Despite the fact that 15% of patients have allergy to opiates, I have yet to find a single physician that has heard of it unless I supply him with the reading materials to inform him. Luckily the web, and especially Google Scholar, allow me easy access to the information and my wife is a well-known gerontologist.

But I do smoke marijuana to alleviate my pain. I generally smoke some just before bed so that I can get to sleep without dealing with the pain. Pot works vastly better than opiates. The synthetics are hit-and-miss --- some work and some don't --- and it is impossible to tell in advance which will and won't since you don't know the actual ingredients.

There is a place for medical marijuana. I would readily vote for a standardized, reliable product, especially if it were affordable, either because it was less expensive than street dope or because it was partially covered by insurance/Medicare. Everyone seems to think that the people using medical marijuana dispenseries currently are young slackers who have found an easy way to be 420-supplied. But if you look at the actual patients, you will see that the single most common complaint is osteoarthritis and that the patients are mostly older.

I agree with legalizing it but one issue they are finding is there is no Breathalyzer for weed. I know I know if someone smokes pot you can smell it on them but that isn't official proof that they smoked. They have no tests for drivers to prove they were smoking pot. I mean you can always find the most attentive slow driver on the road and most likely they smoked but that wont hold up in court. I think it is not only a financial benefit to America right now but a lot less kids that make minor mistakes will be sent to jail for a small reason and screw up the rest of there life. I don't smoke and I actually don't enjoy it but I do believe that it is safer than alcohol as well as cigarettes.

Frito Lay is pushing through an initiative to ban alcohol and legalize pot.

My ex-husband smoked weed and drank alcohol (actually, he was an alcoholic, not admitted by hom of course). When he smoked weed, he was fine but when he drank, he became verbally abusive, had black outs and was awful to live with. I actually taped him sometimes when he drank because he didn't believe me when I told him some of the things he would say. After he sobered up, I would play the tape back and he couldn't believe the things he was saying. Alcohol caused our divorce, not weed.

If alcohol is legal, pot needs to be.

Pot should be legal. When you factor in the results of this poll, the number of citizens who have tried pot, and the number of people who are in prison because of it, the nation wants pot legalized. Last I checked, government was supposed to represent the will of its citizens.

For those that want alcohol made illegal, ARE YOU CRAZY!

• Prohibition gave birth to organized crime as we know it. Organized crime started with people illegally importing and distributing alcohol. Does this sound familiar?
• It is a fact that once Prohibition was lifted, it actually became harder for people to get alcohol. They could only buy it at certain places, based on a specific criteria, and based on certain regulations. Why buy it on the street when you could get it cheaper at a store?
• If you make it illegal, the jails will be FILLED with inmates. You might as well lock up 50% of the population.
• People make their own choices in life. It is not my problem that they drink to much, get sick, and die. Every time they go to the store, they have a free choice to decide not to drink. Alcoholism is not a disease, it is the result of making the wrong decision. If you really don't want to be an alcoholic anymore, then DON'T BUY IT. If they make the wrong decision, then they get what they deserve.
• How many more hardworking Americans would be unemployed if alcohol was illegal. Are the self-righteous people lobbying for prohibition willing to pay their mortgages and feed their families? I bet not.

If you make alcohol illegal, why stop there.

• Beef, pork, and salt all cause deaths due to high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.
• Sugar leads to diabetes and kidney failure.
• Driving kills more people than alcohol.
• Frito Lay products kill people every day due to sugar and salt. Why don't we make their products illegal.
• All of these products are consumed BY CHOICE. If these people made better choices, they would not have gotten sick.

So the point of all of this. Legalizing pot would:

• Create more tax revenue that is fairly administered. Only those choosing to use pot would be taxed.
• Put more people to work in cultivation, distribution, and sales.
• Decrease the burden on America's penal system by significantly reducing the inmate population.
• Save the country billions of dollars due to the reduced inmate population.

An the really funny thing is, most of the politicians that lobby against legalizing pot used it themselves when they were younger. Didn't seem to ruin their lives, did it?

I must apologize. There was a formatting issue with my previous post. I promise that I am not screaming at anyone.

Not only should we legalize the strains of MJ that get smoked, but also hemp. Makes canvas, cloth, rope, fuel oil, paper, and much more. Hemp should never have been made illegal, since only a fool would try to smoke it. The wood based paper industry are culprits behind making it illegal.

what petition?

Yeah, what petition?

Obama just sent the Feds to shut down the dispensaries a couple weeks ago... a petition isn't going to matter to him.

Search for White House Petitions and you'll find them. Legalizing Marijuana has more votes than any other. The Attorney General could move Marijuana from classification as a Schedule 1 drug with the stroke of a pen. It's long overdue!

The petition is @ https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/legalize-and-regulate-marijuana-manner-similar-alcohol/y8l45gb1

Just like a pothead to ask everyone to sign a petition but not take the 10 seconds to put the link in his comment.

So funny.

(and no, I don't much care one way or the other about legalizing pot, this is just so stereotypical :P)

it's the white house's "we the people" website...come on now! nobody knows about it?? i signed it weeks ago...

Consider this, how many banks have been seized by homeowners? This is far from mission accomplished.

builder680

Just like a pothead to ask everyone to sign a petition but not take the 10 seconds to put the link in his comment.

So funny.

Some people are new to comments and are restricted from posting links.

builder680 - I am. And I think that is hilarious!

Yea I was about to point out that I am sure the link was there when he hit post comment, however he doesn't have enough "oomph" on Newsvine yet to post links.

I'll link it for ya.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/legalize-and-regulate-marijuana-manner-similar-alcohol/y8l45gb1

Needed 5K votes and it's almost at 60K.

That guy that forgot to post the link is probably still sitting at the stop sign waiting for it to turn green.

Yeah, I think the petition has enough votes :) Too bad, really, and too late for me. When I was younger I could smoke. Some sort of change in brain chemistry I had in my early 20s made it impossible for me to smoke it any more without extreme anxiety. Oh well, the rest of the country can have fun with it. It was always good during football games. Better then beer.

theCavalier 2.15

Sounds like you should have switched from Sativa to Indica. It's typical for your hormones to be changing at that age.

I was gonna say, especially the hot dogs..... them things is dangerous man, dangerous.

Ok, what would be the point in making pot legal, if you take away hot dogs. They kinda go together.

They are not even closely related. The sanctification of marriage is between a man and a woman. I don't see how a natural plant God created for medicinal and practical uses such as rope should be any more illegal than that of any other drug out there. Seems like they want to confuse the real issue here, prisons. It's a racket funded by drug offenders. If we get rid of all the laws that are ridiculous, our jails would empty out. They would be able to afford to take care of our citizens without farming the job out to a private company (which is unconstitutional also). Seems like they aren't working as they planned anyway. Stop all the criminal income from it and see what happens. I think if you research, you will find that Prohibition didn't work with alcohol. Yet, we still see people choose to drink responsibly and those who don't. The same would happen with pot as well. To be honest, I'd be willing to bet there would be less drinking. As far as the wrong and immoral act of homosexuality, it should be illegal not recognized as acceptable. It's unnatural and wrong! They don't deserve any rights. They deserve to live in a proverbial closet and stay there. I don't flaunt my sexuality and don't want to see or hear about theirs. What they do is their business. Our country is based on one woman and one man being husband and wife just as God called it. If they get their way, they will have marriages. Then they're will be polygamy.....etc. I say use the plants God gave us.

tried one once ... couldn't get it lit, it didn't draw well

You are absolutely correct. Brightfutures. Everything about the anti-marijuana thought process is a direct result of the nonsensical propaganda that was widespread in 1950s. "Reefer Madness", and so forth. Ridiculous, outdated, over-hyped silliness. Time for everyone to grow up and realize that marijuana isn't the gateway to insanity that it has been touted to be, without any factual basis, for so many decades.

I've been watching the wonderful PBS documentary 'Prohibition' by Ken Burns, and it has really struck me how utterly similar the effect has been concerning the illegalization of marijuana. I highly recommend that documentary to anyone that is interested in seeing how history is presently repeating itself in this sense.

And Stacy, gosh, what can I say. One second you're telling homosexuals that what they do is their business, and the next second you're telling them how they should conduct that business. It's a good thing this story has nothing to do with gay rights, because I might then bother to point out the other glaring inaccuracies of your illogical rant. You can't legislate morality. That goes for alcohol, weed AND sexuality.

how many people you know have died from alcohol abuse? millions, ok now how many people died from smoking pot, or even eating pot? none, im one person whom has died from someone driveing and drunk, hit me and i was dead for 14min. could not move from neck down, told i will never walk again. take the alcohol away!!!!!!!!! smoke pot people, so you gain weight, oooooo wellllll . thanks

what is being over looked is the fact that if you make it legal there will be more of it and it will be easy for kids to get their hands on it. like cigarettes and alcohol they will abuse it and more harm will come from then good. kids getting stoned and not doing their school work. people getting stoned on the job and production going down . how many will be smoking it around their kids, smoking while driving.

what is being over looked is the fact that if you make it legal there will be more of it and it will be easy for kids to get their hands on it. like cigarettes and alcohol they will abuse it and more harm will come from then good. kids getting stoned and not doing their school work. people getting stoned on the job and production going down . how many will be smoking it around their kids, smoking while driving.

How about you be a f***ing parent instead of relying on the government to do your damn job for you?

Why should we pay the government to babysit YOUR children because you don't want to do your job? Don't want kids to do it, BE A F***ING PARENT! Don't want that responsibility, DON'T HAVE KIDS!

I personally hate this excuse because all you are saying is that you want to force society to pay (with taxes) a government to babysit your kids, all because you are too lazy to do it yourself.

Have you ever seen someone drive stoned? I'm not advocating it but they are usually going 5 miles below the speed limit in a straight line. They may miss the turn off because there was a good song on the radio. In contrast, people high on doc prescribed medications are usually the ones running into bustops and flying through red lights like the alcoholics.

That is a separate issue. We have laws to deal with driving based on impairment from alcohol or other substances. Smoking weed does not = driving anymore than having alcohol beverages at your home = driving.

i smoke marijuana recreationally everyday. im a psych student i believe it expands the mind and alters perception. if done in the right circumstances it can allow for intense mind exploration and discovery. to me how can something as harmful as alcohol be legal when marijuana isn't. i think in a way it is a means to control the population from deviants who will wake up and see that the greed and excessive consumerism in america has gotten out of control. marijuana helps you to realize what is important. for those suffering from illnesses it can offer a natural and safer remedy for pain since the side affects aren't nearly as detrimental as most prescription drugs. Its time to legalize "give me liberty or give me death" i take that to heart and don't support anyone telling me what i can and can't do with my body as long as im not directly hurting anyone with my actions. forget the stereotypes, weed can be a wonderful drug but maybe not for everyone. still we should have the right to explore our inner mind without govt interference and most def. treat our illnesses without anybody telling us otherwise.

Cherrytom, you are mistaken. Currently, because it is illegal, kids are the ones with the best access to marijuana. By legalizing and regulating it like alcohol and cigarettes, it would be more difficult for kids to get.

oh boy...cherrytom, there's a study out there that shows that kids have better access here in america to marijuana than they do to alcohol...do you understand the ramifications of that? with legalization and regulation of marijuana, it makes it harder for kids to get it! just like it's harder for them to get alcohol thanks to regulation...by supporting legalization and regulation, you are making sure it stays away from your kids! by supporting prohibition, you are supporting criminals selling to your kids or their buddies...no store or market would sell any to any kids, same with alcohol. don't you comprehend? there's already a problem with kids and marijuana! regulate it, and kids will find access CUT OFF.

Right now, it is 10 times harder for your kids to get alcohol than pot, because alcohol is legal, therefore controlled. A kid at school who sells pot to your kid will not lose his pot license.

Cherrytom, I don't mean to rain on your parade here, but it is already so plentiful, that pretty much any Tom, Dick or Harry can buy a bag of pot without even looking for it. As for the kids who you say will be using it if it's legalized, what do you think they're doing right now? Did you read the article or just see the headline and decide you had to make a case for keeping it illegal? 16.7 million americans stated they had used Marijuana in the last month. And that's just the ones with nothing to lose. How many of the people surveyed have something to hide because of their job, or other reasons? I know of police officers who smoke it. They won't and can't say they do for fear of losing their jobs, but a lot of them are really against it being illegal, and feel our money is better spent on informing people of the dangers more than imprisoning Joe Blow because he smoked a joint rather than drink a six pack of beer. Alcohol causes more deaths per capita annually than Marijuana has caused in all of history. For that matter so has Tobacco. Yet both of these highly addictive drugs are legal. And you made a statement about people smoking Marijuana on the job? A lot of people already do that as well. Most don't, but I know a great deal of people who do. There are more people who drink on the job that I am worried about more than the guy who smokes a joint on his lunch break. And don't try to tell me people don't drink on the job. And the people who smoke it while driving don't worry me nearly as much as the guy drinking a beer does. Marijuana has never been proven to have caused a traffic fatality to my knowledge. Can't say the same for Alcohol though. But it's still legal. All of your reasons for keeping it illegal are really lame.

I don't think anyone is overlooking that, Cherrytom. We just recognize that it's a slippery slope fallacy that doesn't stand up to statistics and empirical evidence. Just because those are your assumptions or fears does not mean they are inevitable outcomes of legalization. Besides, it is way harder for kids to get cigarettes and alcohol than it is for them to get pot. The black market puts it at the kids' fingertips; not legal distributors. (As stated many times above, in case you need the reinforcement.)

@cherrytom I feel sorry for your kids. DB.

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/demand-amendment-us-constitution-end-marijuana-marihuana-cannabis-and-hemp-prohibition/PS60SlPF

Vote my post up so its in the top 3 ;)

i for one can't wait for the day that gays can get married. i am no one to judge anothers love or lifestyle. lets all step back and let god be the judge and live a peaceful coexistance. gays will not ruin marriage cus last time i checked we fu**d it up enough already with a 50 percent divorce rate. Slippery slope arguments need not apply as well such as; if gays get married then polygammy will be legal, then beastiality, then marriage within families blah blah blah. one doesn't necessarily follow another. please have hearts. watch movies about families struggling with loved ones homosexuality especially within religious communities. I believe in god and i believe he loves all gay straight transgender etc. he sees our hearts. the only thing he hates is evil and there is tons out there. check out the greed of coorporate presidents bleeding the life from american families it makes me want to cry. gays are not evil, deserve the same rights and respect we all deserve. let god be the judge because we all have plenty of sin. also, to say marriage should stay traditional so to speak also says that pre arranged marriages should also be acceptable and im willing to wager most think that is immoral but it occured for hundreds of years. i believe it is between 2 people that love and care for each other to commit their lives. lets step back and let love and freedom back into america

When I was younger I liked to smoke pot and have a few beers with my friends while we drove aroud and listened to some damn good tunes. There was three of us and we took turns driving. We used to do this all yr around, snow was even better for the high, everything was real nice and white from a fresh snow, really a pretty time to ride around and get stoned listening to maybe a little Pink Floyd, oh yeh those were the days. Anyhow none of us ever wrecked, we didn't get drunk but we had a few beers to cure the cotton mouth. Drove everywhere, all over, no wrecks, no tickets, no problems. I grew out of that and we all ended up with women that didn't want us doing that so we stopped. But I sure wouldn't mind smoking a nice big fat cigar of a joint with good friends and a lot of good tunes and some good conversation again one day. Legalize it already. What they waiting on, I don't get it, them all acting like we're millionaires. We don't have a pot to piss in right now, whats the worst that can happen if its legal. You might not be able to pull your son-in-law away from the table when they come and visit after they smoked a joint just so they can deal with you? This legalization might just be the going over the top with one of the cadidates pulling this issuse out right at election time. Oh yeah, maybe go after the pot smokers vote instead of trying to close the shops up in CA so he can try for some repubes votes? I think he'd get more hippy votes than repube votes by closing the shops. I bet old hippies that haven't voted in yrs would go vote again, Jerry Garcia would be dancing in his grave if it was legalized. So legalize it already, the country is losing money everyday til its legalized. Whats more to understand here? Someone dosen't like to be around smokers? Tell them people to stay home or pay the deficit off and we don't legalize it. This country will piss the drug cartel off real bad by doing this, would have to watch the president real good if it was legal, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't try to shoot whoever tries to pass this bill. Whew wee that will piss them off, they would take a big hit financially if it was legal. Don't go to Mexico ever again, they'll shoot you. Oh yeah, something to think about.

how easy is it for a kid to get his parents Alcohol or tobacco. yes more people may have died from Alcohol and tobacco then marijuana,but a lot more people has access to them because they are legal. most people dont drive while on marijuana because the are scared they will get busted. the top 9 abused drugs by teens in the USA 1.TABACCO 2.ALCOHOL 3.PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AND MARIJUANA 4.METHAMPHETAMINE 5. MDMA (ECSTASY) 6. Crack cocaine 7.HEROIN 8.STEROIDS 9. INHALANTS

enough said.

I used to think the same thing....marijuana was really bad for you and legalization would be a detriment for all of us. I've never smoked it but I have family, friends and co-workers that do. I'm also a nurse. A family member is bi-polar with ADHD and smokes pot daily. It calms him down where he can think. He is an owner of a large company that employees several people....he contributes to society!!!! Bi-polar meds are a lot worse than pot could ever be. I'm saying treat pot as a medication. What is the worse that could happen if marijuana was legalized???? We would need less cops, less judges, less prisons, less attorney's, and we'd have less crime!!!! I have seen people with cancer that bake it in cookies, brownies and what a dramatic difference it makes. Without pot they had nausea, loss weight, no appetite....and then after eating the pot, their appetite returns, the nausea disappears, the pain subsides and they have a better quality of life. If someone is terminally ill, this is the way to go. My father has cancer. With hydrocodone and xanax, he slept all the time and lost so much weight in such a short period of time. He isn't going to live much longer, but pot has helped make his final days bearable!

and why isn't alcohol on that list? regulation. enough said. regulate it. they won't be able to get it as much then.

Legalizing pot could start a war with the drug cartel, they might take offense to their pay cuts. They still would make a lot of money from coke and heroin but the pot business would be zilch for them now. So maybe they wouldn't start no @!$%# as long as they can still sell the other stuff. That will be interesting to see how that would develope, I don't think they would be a lot of trouble for our army, just go wipe them out real quick and then even Mexico might shape up from it. I don't know if I would ever go there for vacation after that but at least the boarders will be a little more secure.

Believe it or not, but I'm a conservative. I also believe it should be legal, as well as gay marriage and abortion...because it isn't MY place to tell other people how to live their lives. The country is about freedom; let people be free. Free to live and free to keep what they make.

Joe420er

look again aclohol is 2nd on the list

@cherrytom What Newly-Independent said!

whoops...my mistake...well, still, thanks to regulation and enforcement of the laws, the numbers are not higher...pretty sure the numbers would be more horrifying if it weren't regulated. like i said though, it's easier for kids to get marijuana than alcohol nowadays...how old is that list anyway?

My Friends I would like to know what petition you are talking about .

My name is Scot and my son when he was 5 years old had a brain tumor that was medulla blastoma the fastest spreading type of cancer there is . He was miss diagnosed by doctors telling my wife and I that the headaches were just growing pains and he would grow out of them . Well her and I had no reason not believe the Dr. and he gave our son Tylenol and sent us home. this happened over 10 times before I had too literally throw the Dr. up against the wall after this angelic woman and man showed up on my jobsite and started talking to me about my sons headaches. She said she was the owner of the building I was erecting and a neouroligist any way the couple told me to get my son a catscan as soon as I got home. I turned away for a split second and when I looked back they was gone. I refer to this couple as our little angels because they saved my sons life. When I got home there was a note on the door from my wife saying she had kyle at the hospital. So I jumped back in the car and went over to the hospital. when I got there they was releasing my son, but his eyes looked different empty and my wife told me she found him curled up in the fetal position unable to wake him up. I asked the doctor to order a cat scan he said there was no reason to run such an expensive test so I gave him one. I threw him against the wall and demanded the test I told him I talked to a neurologist he reluctantly ordered the test . Well the radiologist came running out and grabbed the Dr. 30minutes later we was on life flight headed to primary children's hospital. My son died on life flight two times and they revived him thank god. He made it to the hospital where they relieved the pressure from his brain . My son under went Ki mo and Radiation for a many weeks and was not eating. His blood count was -2- He had not eaten in several days and couldn't drink anything. He had hematomas from being stuck with so many IV's and needles no nutrition. He was dehyderated Kyle fought like a lion and had not givin up but now his Dr was giving up on him and told me and my wifewe needed to make funeral arrangements and that he had tried everything he could. I flipped my lid and told him he had not tried everything and if we had to bury our son then he needed to make funeral arrangements for his self the only reason our son was dying is because he was not eating or drinking and had not even showed the desire too eat. well long story short I recommended that we give him Marijuana his doctor said no if he did he would loose his medical license. I was shocked he would choose his license over a human life my son. I begged him too adminster pot too him and finally convinced him to allow me too so together his Doctor and myself gave my son marijuanna. Within in thirty minutes of his doctor putting that tube down his throat to administer the drug. My son honest too God opened his eyes and was trying to reach a cup. He was thirsty for the first time in a week, he drank some water not allot but 45 minutes later. I tried too feed him some jello and he sucked some in his mouth my son is 22 years old and cancer free and without marijuana he would have seized too exist at 52days before his sixth birthday I VOTE TOO LEGALIZE THE DRUG thanks for reading our story anyone against the legalisation of marijuana consider what your not thinking about God bless you all and I sure hope you care what this dum ass thinks because this is a very real subject thanks

cherrytom-

I don't know where you get the idea that marijuana is so horrible-

it's pretty benign stuff actually.

it's the white house's "we the people website"...

Prohibition did not work in the 30's of the last century. The same problems were created as what occurs in today's version It does not work. The expense in treasure and human life is so very much. The real crime is the Laws that cause so very much sorrow. Google Portugal and decriminalization, and look at was has been achieved. The model is there. The political will is not. Add this to the issues addressed by Occupy Wall Street. This is another war that needs to be stopped. In fact the war on drugs helps in a large extent to fund the Terrorist's who are waging war on us.

So many solid reasons to solve this problem and stop the government from this form of oppression....bc

bl4, so you really think that this is a liberal thing do ya? I am surprised you didn't blame marijuana's existence on Obama. You are so blinded by your own hang-ups and misinformation it is literally funny. Yep, no republicans ever smoked pot, as if George Bush didn't smoke pot while in college(and still most likely does) is a joke. Get over it man, and stop being such a hater because if you don't none of the rest of us will really care, we will just be grinning.

McDonalds should be illegal and pot legal. Who really thinks pot is worse for our nation's health than McDonald's?

On the other hand,our economy is tanking and we need a growth industry. Private prisons to incarcerate millions of otherwise productive pot smokers will give us the economic edge against China. We could be the wealthy envy of the world, incarcerating more of our own citizens than any other country.

Oh wait, we already do that. Well then I guess we are winning. Take that China, we incarcerate more of our people than you do, and you have 5 times the population we do, so we are totally kicking your butts on the moral front!

I'll bet if you checked, the people really blocking this are the alcohol and tobacco industry. This one hits them both, especially since smoking pot doesn't seem to cause lung cancer, and it doesn't kill brain cells. I'm not going to say that being a pot head is going to get you anywhere in life, but you'll be a live failure that isn't costing the heath-care system a mint. Occasional use won't seriously hurt anyone, but may cause weight gain. Bear in mind, though, that just because the Government makes it legal, and you can buy joints at 21 from your local 7-11, doesn't mean you won't get fired for popping positive on a test. Even perscription drugs that you are legally taking can cost you a job, because business doesn't need to conform to government policy on drug use.

we the people website, legalize marijuana petition:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/legalize-and-regulate-marijuana-manner-similar-alcohol/y8l45gb1

Medical maybe at limited cases but as a whole no, It will just create more uni-tended problems and I'll be abused just like Alcohol.I'll get into the school more readily allot Alcoholics used it when in there youth cause it was easier to get than Alcohol.

Pot is just another substance for people to Escape facing reality what be net Hash,Crack,Heroin,etc...

Heck you can smoke a joint and go Eat a Happy meal

cherrytom- Why do you want the federal government babysitting you and for you? It's the responsibility of adults that gets cigarettes and alcohol into the hands of minors. I would absolutely rather kids be using marijuana than drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes. Marijuana can only contribute to death in very rare cases. Alcohol kills tens of thousands per year. Tobacco kills hundreds of thousands per year. Even the medications that could be replaced by marijuana use kill thousands per year in side effects and over doses.

BL4- You should really try using facts or gain a basic knowledge of what you attempt to discuss. Marijuana doesn't cause aggressive or dangerous behavior. You're post can be considered irrational because it is illogical, you don't even need the help of marijuana to make you irrational. Laughable that you even mention fact when you fail to use such things.

Go4Broke- Fighting marijuana use and possession causes more problems than would exist if it were legalized. People are dieing because of the war on drugs. Money and, more importantly, lives are being wasted. You're using a good reason to legalize in your defense of keeping it legal. If it's easier to get for kids than alcohol, should that not tell you something? Alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana and it's also far more addictive. Alcohol is the ultimate substance for escape. Legalizing marijuana will save lives while alcohol has no real benefit to... anyone.

While I'm all for legalizing pot, every one of you proponents that try to claim driving stoned is any safer than driving drunk are either kidding yourselves are actively lying to try and further the legalization cause. And no, the "learn to handle your s__t" sentiment is not an effective argument for operating a vehicle while under the influence. Seriously, how can anyone honestly post things like "i've never heard of a traffic fatality involving marijuana" when they have to know it affects motor control and decision making--which most would find helpful when driving a car. To try and site the number of times someone hasn't gotten in an accident while high is no more effective than the countless drunk drivers out there that have been able to make it home from the bars over and over again. It's called muscle memory and it works super well right up until something changes in the prescribed pattern, like a pedestrian crossing the street.

Go ahead and legalize it, decriminalize it at least, but you damn well better find a nice place to chill before you use it.

I used to work in a famous night club.

When people get to about 50, all the pot smokers really aged poorly and were just plain stupid. I mean really dumb. The club did not try to stop them from smoking pot there. I worked at this place for years. I didn't drink or smoke pot.

I can't say that about alcoholics. The alcoholics retained more of their brain cells.

Kato

re: post 3.42

Those pot smokers in the bar were most likely stupid to begin with. Just because a bar is famous it doesn't mean that they have an intelligent clientele. Clubs become famous for being fun places to party- not discuss nuclear physics. Like any other large group of people, there is a wide range of intelligence among pot smokers. You may have to face the fact that your bar was where the dumb ones congregated Also, if you noticed this at that bar, how do you know that it wasn't the alchohol that made them dumb. I don't suppose they went there to smoke their weed and ignored the booze (cottonmouth). Your evaluation is strictly a personal observation that has lots and lots of holes pre-poked in it, not the least of which is the lack of proof.

lol, look at this...the pro-pot folks aren't screaming obscenities at others, but the anti-pot folks just got their asses handed to them after one day. right, potheads are so destructive and obviously agents of chaos...

oh yeah and 1 Opinion, this one's for you...stoners are not killing anyone on our freeways. it is just as dangerous to drive sober...sober drivers have the same levels of fatal car accidents as the stoners. yet look at the alkieholics...:

"[In] cases in which THC was the only drug present were analyzed, the culpability ratio was found to be not significantly different from the no-drug group."

REFERENCE: G. Chesher and M. Longo. 2002. Cannabis and alcohol in motor vehicle accidents. In: F. Grotenhermen and E. Russo (Eds.) Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutic Potential. New York: Haworth Press. Pp. 313-323.

"Cannabis leads to a more cautious style of driving, [but] it has a negative impact on decision time and trajectory. [However,] this in itself does not mean that drivers under the influence of cannabis represent a traffic safety risk. … Cannabis alone, particularly in low doses, has little effect on the skills involved in automobile driving."

REFERENCE: Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs. 2002. Cannabis: Summary Report: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy. Ottawa. Chapter 8: Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis.

"This report has summarized available research on cannabis and driving.
… Evidence of impairment from the consumption of cannabis has been reported by studies using laboratory tests, driving simulators and on-road observation. ... Both simulation and road trials generally find that driving behavior shortly after consumption of larger doses of cannabis results in (i) a more cautious driving style; (ii) increased variability in lane position (and headway); and (iii) longer decision times. Whereas these results indicate a 'change' from normal conditions, they do not necessarily reflect 'impairment' in terms of performance effectiveness since few studies report increased accident risk."

REFERENCE: UK Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (Road Safety Division). 2000. Cannabis and Driving: A Review of the Literature and Commentary. Crowthorne, Berks: TRL Limited.

"Overall, we conclude that the weight of the evidence indicates that:
1) There is no evidence that consumption of cannabis alone increases the risk of culpability for traffic crash fatalities or injuries for which hospitalization occurs, and may reduce those risks.
2) The evidence concerning the combined effect of cannabis and alcohol on the risk of traffic fatalities and injuries, relative to the risk of alcohol alone, is unclear.
3) It is not possible to exclude the possibility that the use of cannabis (with or without alcohol) leads to an increased risk of road traffic crashes causing less serious injuries and vehicle damage."

REFERENCE: M. Bates and T. Blakely. 1999. "Role of cannabis in motor vehicle crashes." Epidemiologic Reviews 21: 222-232.

"In conclusion, marijuana impairs driving behavior. However, this impairment is mitigated in that subjects under marijuana treatment appear to perceive that they are indeed impaired. Where they can compensate, they do, for example by not overtaking, by slowing down and by focusing their attention when they know a response will be required. … Effects on driving behavior are present up to an hour after smoking but do not continue for extended periods.
With respect to comparisons between alcohol and marijuana effects, these substances tend to differ in their effects. In contrast to the compensatory behavior exhibited by subjects under marijuana treatment, subjects who have received alcohol tend to drive in a more risky manner. Both substances impair performance; however, the more cautious behavior of subjects who have received marijuana decreases the impact of the drug on performance, whereas the opposite holds true for alcohol."

REFERENCE: A. Smiley. 1999. Marijuana: On-Road and Driving-Simulator Studies. In: H. Kalant et al. (Eds) The Health Effects of Cannabis. Toronto: Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Pp. 173-191.

CRASH CULPABILITY STUDIES

“For each of 2,500 injured drivers presenting to a hospital, a blood sample was collected for later analysis.

There was a clear relationship between alcohol and culpability. … In contrast, there was no significant increase in culpability for cannabinoids alone. While a relatively large number of injured drivers tested positive for cannabinoids, culpability rates were no higher than those for the drug free group. This is consistent with other findings.”

REFERENCE: Logan, M.C., Hunter, C.E., Lokan, R.J., White, J.M., & White, M.A. (2000). The Prevalence of Alcohol, Cannabinoids, Benzodiazepines and Stimulants Amongst Injured Drivers and Their Role in Driver Culpability: Part II: The Relationship Between Drug Prevalence and Drug Concentration, and Driver Culpability. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 32, 623-32.

“Blood samples from 894 patients presenting to two Emergency Departments for treatment of motor vehicle injur[ies] … were tested for alcohol and other drugs.

… Based on alcohol and drug testing of the full range of patients … alcohol is clearly the major drug associated with serious crashes and greater injury. Patients testing positive for illicit drugs (marijuana, opiates, and cocaine), in the absence of alcohol, were in crashes very similar to those of patients with neither alcohol nor drugs. When other relevant variables were considered, these drugs were not associated with more severe crashes or greater injury.”

REFERENCE: P. Waller et al. 1997. Crash characteristics and injuries of victims impaired by alcohol versus illicit drugs. Accident Analysis and Prevention 29: 817-827.

“Blood specimens were collected from a sample of 1,882 drivers from 7 states, during 14 months in the years 1990 and 1991. The sample comprised operators of passenger cars, trucks, and motorcycles who died within 4 hours of their crash.

… While cannabinoids were detected in 7 percent of the drivers, the psychoactive agent THC was found in only 4 percent. … The THC-only drivers had a responsibility rate below that of the drugfree drivers. … While the difference was not statistically significant, there was no indication that cannabis by itself was a cause of fatal crashes.”

REFERENCE: K. Terhune. 1992. The incidence and role of drugs in fatally injured drivers. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Report No. DOT HS 808 065.

ON-ROAD PERFORMANCE STUDIES

“Marijuana's effects on actual driving performance were assessed in a series of three studies wherein dose-effect relationships were measured in actual driving situations that progressively approached reality.

… THC's effects on road-tracking after doses up to 300 µg/kg never exceeded alcohol's at bacs of 0.08%; and, were in no way unusual compared to many medicinal drugs. Yet, THC's effects differ qualitatively from many other drugs, especially alcohol. Evidence from the present and previous studies strongly suggests that alcohol encourages risky driving whereas THC encourages greater caution, at least in experiments. Another way THC seems to differ qualitatively from many other drugs is that the formers users seem better able to compensate for its adverse effects while driving under the influence.”

REFERENCE: H. Robbe. 1995. Marijuana’s effects on actual driving performance. In: C. Kloeden and A. McLean (Eds) Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety T-95. Adelaide: Australia: HHMRC Road Research Unit, University of Adelaide. Pp. 11-20.

“This report concerns the effects of marijuana smoking on actual driving performance. … This program of research has shown that marijuana, when taken alone, produces a moderate degree of driving impairment which is related to consumed THC dose. The impairment manifests itself mainly in the ability to maintain a lateral position on the road, but its magnitude is not exceptional in comparison with changes produced by many medicinal drugs and alcohol. Drivers under the influence of marijuana retain insight in their performance and will compensate when they can, for example, by slowing down or increasing effort. As a consequence, THC’s adverse effects on driving performance appear relatively small.”

REFERENCE: W. Hindrik and J. Robbe and J. O’Hanlon. 1993. Marijuana and actual driving performance. Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Report No. DOT HS 808 078.

TABULATED SUMMARY OF ROAD TRIALS OF CANNABIS AND DRIVING
Table compiled by the UK Department of Transport (2000)

DRIVING SIMULATOR STUDIES

“Overall, it is possible to conclude that cannabis has a measurable effect on psychomotor performance, particularly tracking ability. Its effect on higher cognitive functions, for example divided attention tasks associated with driving, appear not to be as critical. Drivers under the influence of cannabis seem aware that they are impaired, and attempt to compensate for this impairment by reducing the difficulty of the driving task, for example by driving more slowly.

In terms of road safety, it cannot be concluded that driving under the influence of cannabis is not a hazard, as the effects of various aspects of driver performance are unpredictable. However, in comparison with alcohol, the severe effects of alcohol on the higher cognitive processes of driving are likely to make this more of a hazard, particularly at higher blood alcohol levels.”

REFERENCE: B. Sexton et al. 2000. The influence of cannabis on driving: A report prepared for the UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Road Safety Division). Crowthorne, Berks: TRL Limited.

1Opinion: the department of transportation disagrees:

U.S. Department of Transportation,
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(DOT HS 808 078), Final Report, November 1993

CONCLUSIONS

The major conclusions from the present program are summarized as follows:

* Current users of marijuana prefer THC doses of about 300 ug/kg to achieve their desired "high".

* It is possible to safely study the effects of marijuana on driving on highways or city streets in the presence of other traffic.

* Marijuana smoking impairs fundamental road tracking ability with the degree if impairment increasing as a function of the consumed THC dose.

* Marijuana smoking which delivers THC up to a 300 ug/kg dose slightly impairs the ability to maintain a constant headway while following another car.

* A low THC dose (100 ug/kg) does not impair driving ability in urban traffic to the same extent as a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.04g%.

* Drivers under the influence of marijuana tend to over-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and compensate when they can; e.g. by increasing effort to accomplish the task, increasing headway or slowing down, or a combination of these.

* Drivers under the influence of alcohol tend to under-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and do not invest compensatory effort.

* The maximum road tracking impairment after the highest THC dose (300 ug/kg) was within a range of effects produced by many commonly used medicinal drugs and less than that associated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08g% in previous studies employing the same test.

* It is not possible to conclude anything about a driver's impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.

Just some food for thought. Apparently it is no more dangerous than common over-the-counter medications (think allergy meds) and is not analogue to alcohol in terms of the user's control while under the influence of the substance. They considered it so safe, in fact, that they authorized the study in the presence of other traffic

Gunnut, are we to take your feeble attempt at a comment seriously? I don't know what you have smoked but I have never smoked anything that had me hallucinating. Too much gun powder fumes in your brain?

WTF?

G-nut.... you are probably wearing womens' u-wear outside yer clothes with a pig nose because you are an over-zealous, inebriated football fan!!! (See Washington Redskins!)

gunnut, don't know about the gun, but definatly a nut.

glad to see the number of people who actually believe the governments propaganda are dying off leaving a higher percentage of the population that are capable of thinking for themselves . Someday it will finally be legalized and if the Feds try pushing too hard it may turn out to be sooner than later .

I bet there are still people that believe that it makes black men rape white women (one of the governments claims at one point in time) or that you'll cut someone up so you can watch the blood (retarded claim at best , has never happened in history and is not likely to ever happen in the future) , only a supreme idiot would make some of the claims made by our own government about it . Who knows maybe some day the government will want to regain some kind of credibility and admit to all the lies they have spread over the years , not just about pot but other things as well (lol as if !) .

As for the gateway drug BS , I have news and its all bad , the true gateway drug is alcohol since it is by a vast majority most peoples first experience with an altered state . Either from cough syrup or beer/wine , not one person I know had their first altered state experience from pot . The concept of gateway drug has been shoved down people's throat for a long time and I believe it to be one of the last shreds of propaganda left still preventing people from seeing it for what it really is .

The gateway myth is a post-hoc fallacy. No credible study ever supported it and many well constructed studied have debunked it. Take any "offender" of any product or service, and you will find many, many things they all have in common. I would bet ALL of them started on ice cream, and look where they are and what they are doing NOW! Ergo: Outlaw Ice Cream!

Just remember, there is a very large and profitable group of industries benefiting from this nonsense War on Drugs: The prison-industrial complex, Drug testing companies and their Big Pharma enablers, the Rehab industry, and let's not forget law enforcement itself. Billions are made, off the books, through drug related property seizures every year, which directly benefits law enforcement, and with almost zero accountability. Even organizations like the BAA strenuously lobby against legalization; pot as competition, what a scam!

Pot will be legalized eventually. I hope the new generation has more sense than every generation since the 1930's.

It seems to me that pot and growing hemp (a very useful fiber) became demonized somewhere in the 30's or 40's. Hell, before that they put cocaine in coca cola!

My generation (the 1960's) liked to smoke it but didn't do a whole lot when we got into a position to legalize it. We sold out!

Our drug policy and the DARE program has tried to make pot into a gateway drug. Policemen come into elementary schools and tell kids that pot is just as bad as cocaine, meth and heroin. The DARE people are fully aware that most of these children will eventually try pot and this drug "prevention" is doing great harm too our kids. Don't get me wrong, hard drugs are bad and no child should use any bad drugs, including pot, cigarettes, or alcohol. Comparing pot to much harder drugs is dangerous policy made by our anti drug czars and, I believe, led to many kids trying drugs that they thought were no worse than pot, and would not have tried if it wasn't for this policy.

@Mr. X-Ray - Well said. Perfectly said. That philosophy actually applies across the board to adults as well.....

Mr.X Ray,

I smoked a big bongload before going to my son's Dare graduation. It was awesome. He's 22 now. Recently I told him about it. He fell down laughing.

During his naughty teen age years, he rarely got busted for pot. Most of the time it was alcohol, including his DUI which cost him dearly.

CherryTom, you really need to be worrying about the booze. Pot is the least of your worries. Either way, teenage kids are going to decend on your refrigerator and clean it out like a bunch of locusts. Put a big pot of pasta on the stove and make your house the house to hang out at after school. You don't have to allow potsmoking in the house but just allow a fun, safe atmosphere for kids to gather after school. Focusing on pot usage is kinda like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Keep your kids busy, happy and safe and they will be okay.

By the way, my oldest has two bachelors and a masters degree so don't go thinking I raised some losers.

marijuana is not really a gateway drug its the individual thats decides to do other drugs you make your own choices

If you've got an addictive personality, life itself is the biggest gateway drug. Smoking pot only made me realize that I didn't like pot, but who knows, if I ever have chronic pain, it may become my best friend in the world.

Food is the gateway drug that will kill more Americans than any other. We are a nation of wealthy, fat, unhealthy people...even the 99%. We are so wealthy, we have a multi-billion dollar a year industry dedicated to helping people eat a lot less food than biology actually requires.

So if you want to talk about pot being a gateway drug, then yes, it's a gateway to even more overheating. So if you want to jail people for smoking pot, you should also jail people for eating Cheetos and McDonalds and greasy potato chips, and most restaurant meals which are 200% larger than they need to be.

If pot is a social and health care issue, it's because it contributes to the much larger social and healthcare issue of obesity and unhealthy diet.

Imprison all the fat people, then go after the pot smokers who are somehow still at a healthy weight.

Just imagine how much more moral and self-righteous we would all feel, and how much better our economy would be, if we imprisoned all the tens of millions of fat people, rather than the tens of millions of pot smokers?

Of course, if you're a fat pot smoker, you go to jail too. The moral imperative is healthy living. The criminal act is unhealthy living...which has more to do with junk food than with some plant that millions of people choose to smoke.

smith100, your statement, in it's entirety is full of ignorance. Your issue seems to be illegal immigration. Did you read this article at all? Jack Daniels is a more powerful drug.

smith100, you are obviously uneducated on this subject. Nobody is going to "walk around in a daze and graduate to a more powerful drug." Your statement is based on myths, stereotypes, and misinformation. Cheech and Chong were characters in a comedy, not a documentary. Please use the following links to help you understand the facts behind cannabis use.

http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/
http://www.cannabiscollege.com/
http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.shtml
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7305

Uh, what does that middle paragraph have to do with this subject? Nothing. I'll tie the two together for you in one aspect, though. Legalize and you kill a major part of the Mexican drug cartel business.

As far as your "yeh, let everyone get stoned. way to go" statement. I can easily say "yeah, let everyone get drunk, way to go". Alcohol is legal, but it everybody drunk? Nope. You're entitled to your opinion, it's all good. Just know that just because you feel this way many don't. My prediction is that CA voters will approve legalization in 2012 and that will begin a process of State vs Fed battle that will either lead to legalization nationwide or to full State rights on the issue.

smith, duh.

Legalize, legalize, legalize, legalize. It's thinking like Smith100 that has caused so many problems in our society. Legalize. What else is there to say?

smith100: you should learn to keep your trap shut before you show how ignorant you are.

Smith100- You are a fool. The feds cashed every check that the pot dispensaries sent to them. And now they want to take out the billion dollars in taxes from the California economy. It has been proven it would work. You are stuck in the stone age with your thinking. Alcohol is way more dangerous than weed. People on pot want brownies and milk. This country should actually loosen up and realize the millions that are being wasted by putting innocent people in jail for nothing. I am sure the private prisons will say other wise. Since they do not care if the person is a killer or busted for a small amount of weed. They just want prisoners. The DEA will lose money so of course they do not want it passed. The truth and fact is, it will be legalized sooner or later. So pass it already.

Ok, ya smoke pot, you crash out after the munchies. Who gets in a car, stoned... and kills a family of 6? Not a pot smoker, no, a friggin booze drinker....Put that in your pipe!!!1

Ask most cops what they rather see legalized?

You clearly have no empathy for those who are suffering. Aside from the fact that it is first choice for alleviation of pain and nausea for many cancer victims struggling with the side effects of chemotherapy... it also provides relief for many others suffering from numerous other afflictions. To assume that everyone who would use marijuana will get "stoned" is ignorant in the extreme. Does everyone that consumes alcohol ALWAYS get drunk? Do you? In addition, legalizing marijuana would allow its production to be controlled and regulated (no fear of the substance being laced with other, more heinous chemicals), it could be taxed (thus helping the economy), and would open the door for MANY more jobs (also helping the economy.) Wake up and get off your moral "high horse" (pun intended.)

My brother was on drugs for a long time. I doubt he would have tried harder drugs if it had not been for the weed. Each time you smoke weed, you need a stronger and stronger dose to get the same effect. Yes, it might be better for the economy if marijuana wasn't outlawed, but is that really what we want? It didn't do Mexico any good. Their people still try and cross the border and the drug cartels get away with a lot of it. Violence is high in Mexico as it is in the US. Do you think that it may have something to do with increased drug use? I sure do.

The Mexican economy is so bad that people see crime as a valid career choice. Many gang members were educated as doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. but simply couldn't find a job. It's got nothing to do with drug use in Mexico. In fact, it has a lot to do with prohibition in the United States.

Ya'll people just been trolled.

Smith, sound's like you need a attitude adjustment, make an appointment with a medical Dr., get a med. Marijuana card, and do something for that nagging headache, light'in up, jeeesh.

smith100 - please stop buying all the bullcrap the federal government is handing out about marijuana. Very few people who smoke marijuana move on to harder drugs. Also, marijuana is a God given plant and the other drugs on the list with it are man made. I will take God given over man made any day!

You know how entirely idiotic you sound right now? Did you even bother to read any information about the drug? Or are you still preaching Reagan's "gospel"? How about you go and watch "The Union" which is a highly informative documentary about weed. You might be shocked to find out how many Americans have died from alcohol in contrast to marijuana. If you stopped being so ignorant, America might see the value to make profit instead of spending billions and billions to fight something that really isn't as bad as you seem to think.

It's not legal in Mexico and they have murdering drug gangs and a population that wants to be in the U.S.. It is in Canada and they have a very low crime rate and very polite citizens who are not sneaking across the border.. So much for the {if you make pot legal crime will rise} argument.. Voters should rethink gambling because anywhere they open casinos crime goes up and so does poverty..

Sorry to hear that about your brother unhappy. Are you sure he didnt try drinking before anything else? And if pot wasnt there I'm sure it would have been something else. Do you think if we legalize pot that the drug cartels would still have a market for pot. NO, and they would not have the same violent affect in the US as in mexico. Why not? Same reason our country has never been invaded since the British. We have guns. As for the economy, ask the states that have medical use how mush revinue has actually been made.

Post 5.9 Each time you smoke weed, you need a stronger and stronger dose to get the same effect.

ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gawd, I hope you're kidding. I dunno where your bro got his stuff from, but he was definitely being ripped off.

@ "unhappy"...i'll bet u are...smoked alot of weed in my life...always caught a buzz...never hurt anyone...ate lotsa munchies...the drug you're thinking of is cocaine...and weed's legal in mexico? since when? sorry about your brother, but i've known lots of drug users and addicts in my life, and was one for lotsa years...my gateway drug was a narcotic, didn't actually smoke weed for several years after that...what i've found in drug users is that it depends on the person, as do most things...weed is just weed...rather be home stoned with some good friends than out and about stumblin', fumblin', crazy talkin'/ actin' like fool...moderation in everything, and you'll do just fine

smitty-greensmile

smith100, you are obviously uneducated on this subject. Nobody is going to "walk around in a daze and graduate to a more powerful drug." Your statement is based on myths, stereotypes, and misinformation. Cheech and Chong were characters in a comedy, not a documentary. Please use the following links to help you understand the facts behind cannabis use.

http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/
http://www.cannabiscollege.com/
http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis.shtml
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7305

I went from my mother's milk straight to harder stuff--milkshakes. Seriously, good and valid post.

smith100 I realy hate to be negative, although you should not comment!!! on probibly anything at all, sometimes the smarter person is the one that keeps their mouth shut, in your case leave the keyboard alone.

Im sorry that your brother was on drugs. I know first hand how hard that can be on a family. However drug addiction is a seperate issue. Sure weed might have been the first but that doesnt mean it was the cause. You are blaming a plant for human behavior. It was that very same behavior that compelled him to use pot in the first place. If weed never existed, chances are that people would blame alchohol as the "gateway". Secondly weed can be abused, but so can alchohol, caffine, nicotine, sugar, food, otc drugs, prescriptions, and on and on. Blaming weed for addictive behavior is like blaming hotdogs for fat people. Yeah eating too many is bad, you will eventually get fat, but that doesnt mean that everyone that eats them will automatically become obese. Part of being an adult is knowing when enough is enough. As a final point, I am pro-pot simply because I don't think the govt. should have the right to tell us what we can or cannot consume in the privacy of our own homes, as long as what we are consuming does not (a) interfere with the rights of privacy of others (b) has not been scientifically determined to cause irrational or uncontrollable behavior, including chemical, physical, or pychological dependancies, or dangerous or illegal behavior that would endanger the lives or property of the consumer or others and (c) is not being used to promote illegal or destructive behavior or as a mind altering substance. It should be legally available exclusively to adult users, that are not currently probated for any criminal activities, and are legal registered users possesing either a license to consume or a prescription. We the people have determined that the govt does not have the right to tell us how much alchohol a person can consume or how often and that has not led every person that enjoys the drink for whatever reason they have to become and alchoholic. Allowing adults to consume pot will not turn everyone into stoners.

Here we are again... thank you to all the level headed masses out there speaking the voice of reason. Thank you all who are capable of forming informed opinions and coherent thoughts for themselves. Thank you to all the pot smokers!! Sadly, as is the case with the vast majority, most people are more than happy to wear the clothes they're told to, drive the cars they're told to, do EVERYTHING big brother tells them to do! Whatever it takes to make them feel like they're above their neighbor.

The biggest fear the feds have about weed is the reality that they may soon have a country full of people not satisfied with being told how to live... yes people not willing to suck up the fear mongering propoganda and god forbid.... they may even question paying taxes!!

I am the bill paying, college educated, career passionate, neigbor helping, gun loving downright honest guy and I'm here to tell you Regan preachers...... Weed is a godsend... and it's comming.

It has to be true! Reefer Madness said so!

Now that the sarcasm is out of the way would you say the same about our past three presidents? All three of them smoked pot. Even if President Clinton says he didn't inhale he still smoked it and well look at that. Three presidents that all smoked the wacky tobaccy and made it to the top job in the country. If that doesn't show you that all the stuff you have been fed about marijuana has been out and out lies from the government then I don't know what else to tell you.

Unhappy...I bet your brother drank alcohol before he ever got addicted to drugs too. Using pot as an excuse for an addiction to illicit drugs is a cop out. Also, does anyone else have a problem with marijuana being villianized when people are prescribed extremely addictive substances that are responsible for more deaths in a day than marijuana has caused in all of recorded history.....

Fact: Alcohol is far more dangerous than cannabis.

Secondly, big drug corporations will lose astronomical profits if people can grow there own medicine that causes no side affects.

Yet,Tylenol and Advil kills millions of people each year

• Racism
• Fear
• Protection of Corporate Profits
• Yellow Journalism
• Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
• Personal Career Advancement and Greed

These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.

.

to smith and everyone who thinks like you:

Go light up a big fat one and chill the hell out.

WTF are you afraid of?

Gateway drug, schmateway drug.

Give me a break...

Fact: Racisim and fear tatics were use to scare people into believing cannabis is wrong and evil.

“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”

@ Unhappy-1583758 - I'm sorry to hear your brother was a drug addict, but to blame pot for his other substance abuse is wrong imo. If he became hooked on other drugs, it's most likely that he was persuaded to try something else stronger. And I know you're wrong when you say "Each time you smoke weed, you need a stronger and stronger dose to get the same effect." You must have never smoked weed. (We're not talking about prescription drugs, pills, morphine or other yada yada... it's just weed.) Weed only gets so strong... (unless you add another substance to it, then it's no longer a "natural" drug and is just stupin!) You can only get so high smoking pot even smoking the "good" stuff and you're still fully capable of functioning and doing every day activities... and the human body doesn't need a stronger and stronger dose to get the same effect... that would be beer/liquor!

My niece is 26 and currently wheelchair bound... had no brain activity and damn near died due to a heroin overdose in 2010. I understand how upset you are about your brother's condition. My niece started using heroin when she was introduced to a different crowd of people!!! Even her little "pot head" friends quit talking to her when she started using other drugs. I understand that when a relative becomes addicted to hard drugs like heroin, people tend to blame it on the little guy... weed. I think that's just a cop-out and the easiest thing to do is to blame weed because that's usually the first drug ANYONE tries for the first time! Weed is not a gateway drug. Your gateway is mixing with the wrong friends.

smith 100

you mentioned that let everyone get stoned and they will graduate to harder drugs.

but its ok for a doctor to write a presciption for ridalen for children that have ADD. well i read years ago that hospitals classify this drug as a class B drug.

guess what other drugs hospital's classify as a class B drug. heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and I believe there were 2 more.

and your worried about pot. its a natural plant. it doesn't need to be processed besides letting it dry.

Unhappy,

re: post 5.9

Your assessment of people needing more and more pot is, to put it nicely, ridiculous. The pattern for abusers of narcotics, however, does fit that model. Narcotics = drugs derived from opium (poppy plant derivatives). Marijuana is NOT a narcotic even if the government falsely classifies it in that category for persecution purposes.

I speak from the authority of personal experience. I take morphine, an opiate, twice a day in the prescribed doses. I've been at the same doses (different doses AM & PM) for several years now for severe chronic pain. Abusers of narcotics (often lying patients) request dose adjustments upwards roughly every 2 months on average, according to my doctor. I've never found taking morphine to be pleasurable in any way For people who need it for pain, it gets rid of the pain and might make one sleepy or drowsy. Apparently abusers get a buzz from it- I do not. In fact I would stop taking it if I didn't need it just to live a semi-normal life. Morphine also upsets my stomach. That was quite severe when I first started taking it so I tried smoking a couple of hits of weed after taking my dose. Usually 2-4 puffs make the upset go away. It isn't necesary to smoke a full bowl or entire joint. Since I don't drink because of the morphine when I want a little buzz I'll take a couple of extra puffs of weed and it relaxes me pleasantly. When I was a kid in high school we'd pass around bowl after bowl and joint after joint to get blitzed before , during, and after school. As I got older I smoked less and less and often went a year or two without touching it. I did drink heavily though, trying to medicate myself against pain that gradually worsened. FINALLY, I got a doctor who was willing to give me an effective pain treatment (the morphine) and I dropped the booze like a hot potato. Now I drink maybe 2-3 beers a year- IF that. Pot has turned from being an overdone buzz of my youth to being a plant that helps me medically and affords me an enjoyable light buzz every so often.

So Unhappy, as you can see, your model of more and more pot fails the test of reality. Neither is it the "gateway drug". That term is merely the latest scare tactic meant to buy the government more time in their unsupportable position. People with addictive personalities will always find something to abuse- legal and illegal. Just because the government points it's finger at pot and says "dangerous" or "enemy" doesn't necessarily make it so. Taking the government's word for something can often make one dead. Like I told the judge when I was busted for possession of pot- there is nothing she could do to me that would be worse than what would happen to me if I didn't smoke pot.

I call BS on pot being a gateway drug. Most people try cigarettes and drink alcohol way before they are ever exposed to pot. Also, if pot was legal people would be less exposed to hard drugs because unlike the dealer on the corner trying to make more money by pushing other drugs; the pot store would only sell pot, like the liquor stores only sell booze, and people would be asked for id, so kids would not have access. The dealer on the corner does not care how old you are.

@Unhappy, you are making me unhappy again. Your post shows total ignorance of the topic at hand. Please refrain from posts that harm people and our country. Here's how it is, Unhappy:

1. Alcohol is a terrible drug, though legal.

2. Countless people dead of alcohol; none from marijuana.

3. The "War on Drugs" is so ridiculous I have to put it in quotes.

4. Your brother would have "tried" harder drugs without the marijuana.

5. People are not trying to get into the US because marijuana is legal in Mexico.

6. Alcohol plays a huge part in child abuse, both physical and sexual.

7. Oh, what's the use......................??

I consider your post unpatriotic as the legal status of marijuana in this country causes the crime rate to sky rocket, has people turning to harder drugs (think prescription pain killers), and puts no $$ into our govt. coffers. I could continue the list of harms the status of marijuana does to this country and its citizens, but what's the use?

I'm happy, happy, happy we don't run into each other very often because your posts are unpleasant to read. I think I'll change my screen name to HAPPY.

unhappy...seriously, you don't need to increase the amount of bud to get the same high each time...when smokers don't get as high sometimes, that's because their tolerance levels are higher than those who don't smoke it up as often. i been smoking it up for 20 years now, and i'm perfectly fine with the high i get from bud...i don't do other drugs unless you consider tobacco and alcohol. tobacco daily, i'll run anyone over for a pack of smokes...alcohol about a couple times a month, sometimes only once...don't care for it but well, it's there...and i smoke bud everyday. EVERYDAY. morning to night. but when i run out, i say, "meh. get some later." there are times when i don't get more for months...it's just a fact of life and easy to deal with cuz it's just not that addictive. coffee is more addictive than marijuana...seriously, you need to educate yourself. some people just naturally gravitate to harder drugs because they like the high better, cuz there are definitely some doozies out there, lemme tell ya...my bro did the same things, he's a total junkie who's been in and out of jail over meth, crack, coke, etc...he's stolen hundreds from me, stole my kids social security cards, and broke into my house a few times. he just can't handle it, he needs the stronger high, and it's not because of marijuana. it's their personality. i can't explain it better than that, i just don't understand him any more and i don't even talk to the @!$%# anymore...been 6 years since i saw him last and it's not long enough. point is, it's not marijuana. i been smoking for 20 years. of course i've dabbled in hard drugs, but that was back in high school and i haven't done @!$%# like that for about 15 yrs now...don't need to, don't want to. already know what it is, and it ain't good enough for me.

I hate to tell you this, good portion of our food is imported. The next time you buy fresh fruit and vegetables read the label, there is not not grown in USA.

Can't tax something you can grow in closet.

@Marvin - Being in CA I get produce from local growers myself, but I understand your point. Though I don't know if fruits and veggies are the choice cure for the munchies. As far as "good portion" of all our food, I don't think that's true. So, I'll take my side of the argument with what is grown and produced here, especially combined with the need for people to prepare, cook, serve, market, package and sell that food.

@Pragmatic - True, and people will grown their own if they have the ability to do so. I'm sure there will be an allotted number of plants people are allowed to grown, just like someone can make beer in their kitchen. They will be taxed on the supplies they need to support their growing. The majority of people won't have the resources and skills to grow, however. It's apparently quite difficult.

Pragmatic, remember alcohol. You can make wine in your closet too, but it's messy and not as good as what you can buy at the store. So why bother?

haha ya thats true i can attest to that. i went to san fran for 420, everyone was so high it was sooo beautiful and peaceful and those mcdonalds were crackin!! lol

That is not true as far as fruits and veggies. Yes most are imported, but there are a few that are grown here in the good ole USA. The still grow potatoes in idaho and the have peaches from georgia, what about the oranges from florida and the avocado from california plus many many others. I worked in a grogery store running the produce.

Marvin most weed is also imported by drug cartels big money for them none for our farmers! Pragmatic, beer and wine can also be produced in a "closet" yet the majority of it available to the general public is taxed! Think before you post something that has no value if you really have a point to make!

Really Seriously,

What supplies would that be? I suppose the seeds, if you don't get them from a friend. Most pot growing supplies have uses other than growing pot. This is different than brewing supplies which, while having other uses, are rarely if ever used for something other than brewing.

Greg,

Maybe it is just the region I am in, but I'm not joking when I say approximately 75% of my colleagues brew their own beer. The other 25% get it from the 75%. The only exception I've seen is when we go out to lunch. And they make a really tasty beer, let me tell you.

The "gateway drug" myth comes from the fact that your pot supplier likely sells real drugs too. Every time you buy weed, he asks you if you want to try some crack. In extreme cases you might get a drug dealer who laces your weed with various drugs so that you become addicted without even knowing it. It's not entirely BS, but it's certainly got nothing to do with the leaf itself.

Which is all the more reason to legalize it--at least you know there won't be anything other than weed in your pack of joints.

Well said Stack. I think its pretty funny when people lable it a gateway drug, remember that pot is a higher schedule drug than cocain... so what exactly is it a gateway to?

Naw, I disagree. I am an ex stoner who watched a lot of them go down the tubes. You get together for a social doobie and I guarentee that someone will drag out something white or rock whether you want them to or not. It opens the door for more chemical experimentation.

And I have had way more experience with crybaby gottahaveit justify my behavior and loan me 20 bucks, wontcha stoners than I want. Legalization is gonna have to have some caveats before I will vote for it. No public assistance, no driving for 72 hours, and no public transit jobs to begin with...

I gotta tell ya sparty, that was some hilarious propaganda going on there man. I have never had my connection(not a dealer, that is so 80's) ask me if I wanted to buy some crack. You have been watching to much hollywood or listening to DARE's propaganda. And I guarantee that a guy selling pot is not going to lace it with another drug just to get you hooked. He would end up in a ditch with his head blown off real quick like. That is not to say that it has never happened, I am sure that it has, but that would be the exception. Pot needs to be legalized.

I stand corrected then. I was for legalization in any case though.

Henry, if i can slap you, i would. I've been to a ton of parties with 30+ people and not once did anything harder than herb ever come out of anyone's pocket. In fact, we often times made fun of heroin or oxy users for being mindless fiends. I also have a friend who will tell you that herb saved his life because before he smoked, he was addicted to oxy and would often steal or pawn his own belongings just to have his temporary fix.

Im reading through these and it seems to me that most of the people who are for pot come off as educated, well rounded, and rational. Most of the people against however, ummmm not so much.

i am so happy to hear so many people in support of what should be within our natural rights already. i believe god put this drug on earth for a reason and that no one should have the power to take that right away. it grows naturally in many areas of ca and the southwest. also weed isn't a gateway drug i would argue rather that alcohol is because it is the first experience of being "out of control" to some degree that gives you a taste for what some drugs offer. Alcohol tends to, with exceptions i understand, make people more volatile and beligerant. Pot makes you kinda dazy and laughy and you generally feel a sense of greater humanity for those who share in the experience. like the beatles tried to do we need to come together and take back our rights, this being just one. I do however get hungry off it which i don't like lol! im so happy we are finally moving forward as a country and comming together on something. maybe if we all smoke a lil more, we wouldn't quarrle so much amongst ourselves

My only experience with someone who smokes was a friend of a friend. We were having a small get together. He insisted he needed to smoke. I told him not to in my home. He did anyway. So I threw him out. Anybody care to enlighten me on this behavior?

he was being a self-righteous prick. what, you never met anyone like that before?

I have but I've never had one in my home before. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Pragmatic....not sure what enlightenment you are seeking....the issue appears to be with someone unwilling to respect your right of what should take place in your home and your response was appropriate....but really has nothing to do with whether pot should be legalized. Pot can lower aggression...but I'm still trying to find something that can turn an @!$%# into a saint.

when you smoke weed your not in the mode to go rob someone get in a car and drive it doesnt make you roudy and want to fight like booze does take it off the market and put weed on your in less danger cause you just want to sit back and relax not play king of the world that you can take any thing on you can sit back and focus on whats going on and realize what the drunk dumbass is doing driving a car kill someone people who smoke weed are to parranoid to do @!$%#

And to some of the above comments was anybody drinking ALCOHOL or smoking CIGARETTES?

i think the legalization would help get this country out of debt..... i was an active user i'd smoke it before work and after im bipolar manic it helps better then the celexa they put me on i didn't have many bad days ive never gone through withdrawl i can drive while using my reactions are just as normal. when im home i smoked a little it was great in a relationship when your bipolar and ocd arguments are almost always every day but not when i was smoking i quit 2 years ago since then im supposed to be taking 1 celexa once a day and i have been taking 2 i was fired from my employer bc of my bad days with bipolar its a hard to keep a calm head when something has you upset they used my bipolar against me and since then ive been unemployed for 1 1/2 years bc i get bad references from that one employer my husband and my 56 y/o mother both have told me to go back to smoking pot but i have a son now and i don't want someone taking my child away for trying to keep my bipolar under control its rediculous it was put on this planet for a reason its a natural relaxant it may only cause obesity but if you exercise daily im sure you keep the weight off i run 3 miles mod weds and fri if its raining i use my eliptical even when i was using i still ran i'd run through town smokin from my zeplin and no one knew or cared for that matter

I drive around all day saying, "And I'm the one who's stoned?" I have a perfectly clean driving record. Everyone else drives like a bunch of morons. Most accidents around here are alcohol related. Occasionally pot gets blamed usually because the person was drunk also.

I want to make it clear that I am against legalizing any other substance like cocaine or heroin. People die from that sh**.

Legalized marijuana could completely fund Universal Healthcare. Isn't that alone worth it?

Pot profits and taxes will not pay for universal health care, that's ridiculous. It will however, help the states with their budgets by saving billions for incarceration, policing, court cost, medical expenses, etc. It is time to simply be realistic, we cannot afford to support the prison guards' unions and the DEA freeloaders forever.

Legalizing marijuana will reduce the health care costs and reduce deaths directly caused by side effects and overdoses from prescription drugs that could alternatively be treated with marijuana. It certainly won't pay the healthcare costs, they're simply too immense. Personally I think there should be base costs everyone, if they can afford to, should have to pay while being covered on the types of medical conditions that bankrupts families and leaves people homeless without the medications they need to live and function.

Hugo B,

Your comments are hysterical, inaccurate, intellectually dishonest, and they rely on fear as cheap trick to sway peoples opinions. Why don't you try including some real facts in your arguments, like this?

"Marijuana does not cause people to use hard drugs. Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States today. Therefore, people who have used less popular drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, are likely to have also used marijuana. Most marijuana users never use any other illegal drug and the vast majority of those who do try another drug never become addicted or go on to have associated problems. Indeed, for the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a so-called gateway drug." source: http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-facts/marijuana-facts

If you believe in God, and you know that cannabis is a natural, God created plant, who are you to pray to the same God to keep it illegal? Do kids drink themselves retarded? No, because most of them don't drink. EDUCATION is the hope of Americas future, Hugo B, and perhaps you should EDUCATE YOURSELF on the subject.

I believe in God HugoB and I think God put it here for a reason. This country suffers far greater from alcohol, tobacco, sugar, overeating, short tempered drivers and I could go on and on. I am guessing your education on pot consisted of watching a 50 year old documentary that made it seem like a pot smoker was just around the corner from being a heroin addict. Go read some unbiased information about pot and I bet if your an open minded person your opinion will change.

Really? Seriously? - Well, you know you can't trust God. Look how many times he has told people to do extremely stupid things, just to watch them get into trouble. When they say "God told me to do it", does he come out and own up to it? NO! He hides behind a cloud, giggling, while some poor idiot gets punished for their actions.

That's why it's very important, when God tells you to do something, to ask if he really needs you to do it or if he's just trying to get you into trouble.

@Hugo B, good lord, man. It's hard to believe people like you are still around, singin' the same old song.

How much longer is this idiotic "War on Drugs" going to go on?

The movie, for all you young'uns, was Reefer Madness. I think it was made in the '50s and calling it a documentary would be a stretch. Everyone should see that movie, or at least 5 minutes of it, to see why the sheeple think the way they do.

Hugo, if you believe in God, open your f'n bible to the very first page. Check right around Genesis 1:13. Keep your alcohol, doc prescribed heroin, and cigs.. All of these kill. How many have people have died directly from cannabis consumption? 0. Prove me wrong. Cannabis was on this planet long before the power hungry sluts came up with the concept of God to control, torture and kill other men. In fact more people have been killed in the name of God than anything else. Do a little reasearch instead of preaching someone else's rhetoric and you may not have to use God as crutch to justify your existence. If a kid has MS or any other nuerological disorder, then that child has my blessing to seek all natural relief and hit a big fat one. Oh, and how do 55 million Americans just come out of the woodwork? See what I mean?

Hey Hugo, you just don't get it. Like alcohol and tobacco, parents aren't going to support their kid smoking pot. Are you serious? You think if pot is legal that everyone will just let their kids run around smoking weed? As far as rehab goes, families have spend billions on alcoholics. I can't remember ever hearing about somebody seeking treatment for marijuana. And what does crack have to do with it? Nobody is talking about legalizing crack.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Cannabis is not a drug. It is a plant. How can you regulate, or outlaw, something that was here before we were, and will be here after we are gone?

Yeah...people could turn to much harder drugs.....like alcohol!

Hugo-

did you type all of that out with a beer in one hand?

Really Hugo B? Did you even read the article?

You keep making the whole, "If we legalize pot then our kids will all start smoking pot," arguement. But if you would have actually read the article you would see that if marijuana were to be legalized then it would have "similar regulations to alcohol and tabacco," thus you would have to be 21 to buy it. So tell me, how would all of our kids start smoking it if they couldn't buy it? I am not 21 so I cannot get alcohol, but I can buy weed because it is not regulated by the government and drug dealers do not care about your age. A freaking toddler could buy weed if they wanted to. If you truely were worried about your kids smoking pot, then you would want it to be legalized.

let me breakdown every part of your idiotic, propaganda bs..........

"I can see now that despite all evidense to the contrary, this country will drug abuse it self to nothing, sure the stuff will make lots of people lots of money"

theres no such thing as abusing pot, and wouldnt you rather us taxpayers make that money instead of funding drug cartels that are killing innocent people?

"at the expense of our children that's what, our kids will smoke themselves retarded because it will be legal and that last barrier will be brought down for the hundred of thousands of kids who will become hooked on it, and then they'll slowly progress into harder drugs to struggle as hell with their lives while trying to rehabilitate or deal with the legal system."

pot is easier to get than alchohol.... im 4 yrs removed from high school.... i could get weed from 4 different people ON CAMPUS.... if weed was regulated and restricted to 21 year olds....... it would be harder to get hence there would be less teen smokers... weed DOES NOT kill brain cell..... if weed is a gateway drug to coke, meth, heroine.... then milk is a gateway to vodka... do u realize how retarded that is? if your kid cant mentally rehab himself from weed which is weaker than chemicalized.... THEN YOUR KID IS A EFFING P*SSY and you need to reevaluate your parenting skills

Is this what we're willing to risk in order to improve the economy ? are we that blind? the only ones who will bank on legalizing Pot ,will be the taxing goverment, the pot head despenseries, the rehabs, and ofcourse our jails and institutions....If you belive in God now is the time to pray, Marijuana must never become legal to consume, we'll be opening the flood gates wide open to our own self destruction
there are more deaths by alchohol and tobacco combined than ANY other drug..... THERES NEVER BEEN A DEATH WITH CANNABIS..... NEVER...... again.............. NEVER.. if we legalize it, not only are we receiving tax money from sales, we save taxpayer money from not putting nonviolent offenders in jail.... there are so many other arguments that i can come up with.... but im afraid you dont have the mental capacity to understand my friend

LOL...Reefer Madness.

I still see that phantom car coming at me!

Henry, I thought the verse went like this:

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and Adam brought forth a bong and fired up the grass, and God saw that it was good.

Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong... :)

@Hugo. Ugh. Why does it always have to be about the fn kids? You know what, I am an adult. For once I would like to be taken into account. You can't child proof the world man. I say what about the grown ups? Remember us? Sick of it. Everybody is so concerned about the kids. It's adult time sir. Put the kids to bed. Kids get enough attention and pampering. I know they are the future blah blah blah. Sad.

I'm 37. Not a burn out "pothead" but a pro active productive home owning tax paying adult that smokes pot and I can make decisions for myself. Don't need you "god people" making my "moral "decisions for me. Spare me. I live in a neighborhood surrounded by "potheads". One is a retired woman who owns property and who rents to low income families. Another is a member of the state legislature. Another is a salesman at a local electronics store, him and his wife. All outstanding pillars of our community. Fine people too. Very nice and would do anything for me and our neighbors. But I'm sure you think they are "evil" and are trying to ruin the country and our kids. So sad sir. So sad.

As far as your "god" and "morality" is concerned, think about this. How many deaths have been in the name of god? Hmmm. And, really, if it's "morality you represent then how is it that you can claim to have real morality when you are promissed eternal life or eternal damnation for sins and not be motivated by personal gain hmm? Thats a thought huh? I know this hurts. Real truth and common sense isn't churchy peoples cup of tea. Anyway, I don't mean to go on and on. But I am tired of peoples primative intellect and beliefs influencing and manipulating real positive progress by smearing crap all over it with "what about the kids" and "god doesn't approve" and the rest. Give it a rest. Please. You are, and I am sorry for this, but, you are the types of ignorant biased uneducated people that are holding good, real moral people back in hateful, smothering and oppressive times.

Oh, and marijuana has 9, count em now, 9 proven medical uses. It feels good. Great stress reliever too. Take care and good luck with your struggles with learning truth!! LOL

Good lord, Hugo - stop being so hysterical. You sound like a prohibitionist from the 20's.

As regards marijuana users 'smoking themselves retarded' (a rather offensive remark, btw), not everyone who smokes pot - medically OR recreationally - abuses it, any more than everyone who drinks liquor drinks themselves into a stupor. One thing does not necessarily follow the other.

And no one is suggesting that marijuana be legalized for children, you doof. Legalization would have to come with responsible regulation, just like our other favourite recreational drug, booze. You should not legally possess it unless you are 21 (or 18 - pick a state), or have a doctor's prescription. There's no saying that those underage still couldn't get their hands on it (because we know they'll always try), but the same laws that protect children from alcohol consumption could be seamlessly applied to marijuana.

Medically speaking, many, many doctors prescribe marijuana to treat pain, stress, cancer-treatment-induced nausea, insomnia and depression. It provides muscle-relaxant and anti-spasmodic properties for those with MS and spinal cord injuries. In all there are over 25 ailments - including Parkinsons, arthritis and even asthma - that studies have shown to be equally or more effectively treated by cannabis than by pharmaceuticals prescribed for the same, and far more safely. From January 1997 to June 2005, the FDA reported zero deaths caused by the primary use of marijuana, though during that same time period FDA-approved drugs which are often prescribed in lieu of marijuana (such as anti-emetics and anti-psychotics), were the primary cause of 10,008 deaths.

Now, we all know that not all users are medical patients. Nor need they be. I personally have no problem with someone sitting down to smoke a small bud of weed after work, any more than I'd have with them popping a beer - so long as they subsequently stayed away from their vehicles so my grandchildren are safe on the streets. So legalize it already, and stop wasting my tax dollars tracking down 'potheads' whose biggest threat to society is a shortage of Oreos. Let's save the hysteria for when we really need it.

And no, btw, I am NOT a smoker myself. I don't like the smell of smoke on my clothes - tobacco, marijuana or otherwise. I do just fine with a glass of wine. ;-)

Hugo B, I see your point, but I have to say I think in a lot of cases it comes down to the individual. Now I've never smoked it myself but a lof of my friends have. So those that want to separate themselves from reality are going to do it through one means or another, through legal means or illegal ones. You have young kids who don't have pot or alcohol and they end up looking for thing in the house to get high on, like prescription drugs or household paint. The person who is too fearful to do such things won't, and the person who is adventurous will do such things with no thought as to the legal ramifications. I went to a Black Sabbath concert once and there was actually a cloud of pot above all the arena-floor seats. I could barely breathe. So there had to be an awful lot of people there smoking the stuff. Legalize it, tax it, and hopefully those that use it will be too hungry to go and do other more dangerous stuff.

o and although i firmly believe in the legalization for adults, i do believe it must have limitations like alcohol or tabacco. Weed isn't good for teens because their minds haven't matured yet enough to understand what is really going on.we all know however that of course teens will get a hold of it just as we KNOW they will have sex despite all of our best efforts lol. So saying that teens will get a hold of it, although that is undesirable, they already do that enough already so its a very weak argument. and teens are only a segment of the population and sometimes it is right to consider what would be good for society as a whole.

Hugo B-

I try very hard not to call fellow posters morons, but in this case...I..can't...help...myself...

seriously hugo by legalizing pot it would be harder for kids to get it, it would be like when you wanna buy cigarettes or alcohol you get carded im so sure its easier right now for all you know your kids are already smoking it prolly buying it from someone down the street OMG your neighbor is prolly selling it bc mine does my best friend is a pot head just cause i don't do it doesnt make it ok from me to not get to know him your prolly just one of them old bitter people change is bad change is the devil get over it change is GOOD this country needs change or this country will be on commercials about those kids who don't eat or go to school you know the ones you prolly change i think it would help this country and im prowd of all theis people standing up for something they believe in.... im off gotta get a joint

Psst... Hugo... Don't go Biblical on us, because religion is the scariest drug of them all.

When I was a kid, and long before then, kids could buy pot at school from other kids, because it was an illegal, uncontrolled underground market. (You could buy more or less any drug you wanted, if this was your mission in life.) Buying beer or other alcohol required involved fake IDs, bribing 21-year-olds, or stealing from parental liquor supplies. You had to WORK for alcohol.

You don't like pot? Don't smoke it. It's never given me anything but a headache, but if it makes so many people happier or relieves their pain, that's all that matters. It seems like the majority here also resents paying for a no-win drug war that gave us nothing but more organized crime and bloodshed... though some of you religiosos like that, don't you?

Hugo must be a Christian. He is accustomed to be frightened by teachers, preachers, and the like to be fearful of whatever they are teaching about. Facts do come into play with these poor people.

What galls me is that they are tax free liars for profit. They should at least pay taxes on their ill gotten money.

Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana are supporting the drug cartels of Mexico. Way to go!

Cris, the reason is that new users are not permitted to post links. I'm here with you. I don't know when we are not "new users" any longer. Thanks. I hope everyone catches it.

Save your insults for somewhere else. I know of quite a few church going folk who smoke pot. I know lots of hypocrites who never go to church yet seem to think they know what is and isn't talked about in church...

Yeah, get it right, they don't talk about pot in church. They talk about a woman's right to choose and gay rights and how they're both are wrong. What they should be talking about his how politicians use religion to gain votes, chastising liberals and their abortions and gay marriages, then turn around and cheat on their wives. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but don't call someone a hypocrite to support your beliefs. At the end of the day you're likely as big a hypocrite and the person you're pointing at.

No one did moron, learn to read and comprehend.

No need for calling someone a moron either. But hey, I've seen your comments in other spots, I think we're on the same team more or less. I just have a raw spot for people bringing God and church into every argument. My bad if I misinterpreted.

I will tell you what the talk about in church, Money, Money, Money. And how much money can you give, give, give.....

bryan, for all I know, you are a nice person, but perhaps a little sharp-tongued for my taste. You certainly must go to a different church than I do. Mine just tries to help people. And just so you don't assume a believer is against legalization, I happen to be in favor of it. I am raising 3 young adults who sometimes smoke; and I don't see ill effects from it. However, the 20yo neighbor who gets drunk off his a** and threatens all kinds of things seems to be more of a problem. Why is it so many people seem to "know" what everyone they haven't met are thinking? It is a mistake to generalize, for crying out loud! I don't care what group of people you are drawing a circle around, they are not going to all think the same. Quit picking on the Christians to make your point. You can obviously find some of them who prove your point, but I bet you don't look as closely at other groups to criticize. The issue ought to be legalization, not sneering. My kids don't treat me like that, and they didn't always know me. They did, however, get to know me before they decided on opinions about what I think!

really?seriously?

have you looked into the mirror because if you did the reflection looking back would be a hypocrit.

@nonparted, you feel better now? I can look in the mirror and be very comfortable with what I see. And I'm very comfortable with people of different opinions than mine and discussing issues with them. But I don't see what you contributed to the debate other than "look in the mirror". Carry on.

Well Onewhohopes, I am a "believer" my self. But after growing up listening to bozo's like Oral Roberts, the idiots that went to jail(the one with all the nasty make up) Pat Robertson or what ever his name is, and after I was married, me and my wife tried at least 10 different churches, only to be hammered with how much money it cost to run the church, and how much money am I going to "donate" ad nauseum. Modern day religion is sadly nothing more than big business and like any business to keep the doors open, they need money. I like to look to the ways of the American Indians beliefs that the earth is alive, the trees, the water, the ground. My point here is that God is all around us, the trees, the water, the ground etc. etc. Churches should be taxed like any other business out there, and Marijuana should most definitely be LEGALIZED. (on a side note, it was not my intention to offend you by my remarks about my experiences with modern day churches, I just do not believe that care as much as they say they do. I am sure that there are some that truly do, but I have never been to one since I was under 10 years of age.)

bryan, as usual, you are right on the money. (Not to be confused with Bryanb who is never on the money).

I am also getting pretty sick of what churches are getting away with these days. Just big money laundering welfare and tax shelters.

Not all churchgoers are mean-spirited, judgmental, and given to insulting people aren't in lockstep with their beliefs. It's just that so many are.

please refrain from blanket statements about religion and church. i love my god i KNOW he exists because it is simply indescribable. iv considered many avenues of existance and realized, why cant he exist? i FEEL him. he is loving caring and nonpartisan. he believes we all are equal. he calls us to embrace each other, not police each other. he wants freedom for us hence free will. i would agree many churches have lost their way because we are all men (animals) and we can spin things in ways not intended. god is not a god of wrath and punishment god is grace and peace. he made a perfect world and gave us free will because we are the logical animal. of course we were realized as sinners because by nature we have tendencies of selfishness and god wants us to be selfless. i dont limit my way of life to one particular religion because i hate to stereotype and i don't necessarily believe with many conservative ideals in the christian faith. Im liberal myself but i KNOW god i have felt his presence. i died giving birth to my beautiful daughter ella for 1 minute in which i saw the beginning of what it is to die. THere is a force unrecognizable on the other side. God calls us to love each other and help each other and give a sh** about the world we live in

Oh brother.

Religion was created by men to explain the unexplainable and to control women.

No more. No less. Men who get involved in religion want to control women. Hence the anti-abortion stance. They want the woman to be defenseless, barefoot and pregnant. If you are a woman and have not figured that out, shame on you!!! Go to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia until you figure it out.

that is a bit radical of an idea don't you think? maybe it does apply to some women who are active in church etc. in fact maybe my mother in law. im not anti abortion. that is why i said im not affiliated with church. im affiliated with god. i don't support any way of life that makes women subservient in ANY way. that is y i have a prob with Islam. it is the only religion i can't tolerate. they treat women like @!$%# if you listen to the conservative take on it. Also im very liberal, so i believe women are absolutely equals and progression is the way to bring about a better system and world. I dnt claim anything other than that God is Real and God is love and peace. and i would never visit the middle east not my thinglol. i am also not anywhere close to being barefoot and pregnant im a psych major in CA. i also smoke marijuana because god gave it to us to smoke. ask yourself, does everyone fit your mold? shame on me lol

In reply to all that bring religion into this blog I thought the question was do you believe in legalizing Marijuana. God did create all the earth and all that grows, BUT he gave us a mind to decide what we wanted to do with it. So this is our choice. I do believe in God not in any one religion but my own to decide what he would want me to do with my own beliefs. So we must all get back to the subject at hand. (sorry I too brought it in) but to make the point.....should it be legalized....YES

xrayspex, you can make tons more stuff than just rope and cloth. Hemp makes a great hard resin that could be used in all sorts of stuff. Visit a Hemp store and see for yourself. Why big businesses and the Gov't does not use it for their paper needs alone is completely beyond me.

In my opinion it all boils down to the allmighty dallar and who gets it. the people running the government arent the ones making the laws. big corp. is paying our government officials to pass the laws they want to keep the money flowing to them and the top 1%. that is why we have no middle class anymore. when the rich figure out how they can make all the money and keep the poor poor and in control it will be leagal.

Just remember George Washington was the original American Dude.

Maybe it made having wooden teeth more bearable.

Back in the 19th Century, my mother's ancestors in Connecticut had a large hemp farm... I wonder what happened to it? The irony is that that particular side of the family also produced a bumper crop of drunks.

You've had a bad experience and I don't think legalization will include children. It will probably be 21 just like alcohol and cigarettes.

So using your logic Hugo, we should ban all soft drinks as well and cookies and candy. Pretty soon everything will be banned because someone will have an issue with it. Well Hugo, if YOU have an issue with pot, DONT SMOKE IT. Using the tired old phrase "are we willing to risk our childresn future" is getting stale. Kids grow up watching people drink, smoke and over eat, should we pass legislation making all those people criminals??

How exactly did you move on to hard drugs? Did your drug dealer recommend it? Was your weed laced with other things? These are questions you need to ask yourself. If your answer isn't a solid "no" for either of them, legalization is undoubtedly the way to go.

i think if it's legal it will stop a lot of the "gateway" drug thing. i know i got involved in harder stuff for a while because the people i got from sold harder stuff. at least if it's legal, you won't have to go to the black market for it and you will know it's good and there is way less of a chance that you will be exposed to a harder drug.

and people that want to legalize it want it to be for adults only like cigs and alcohol. both of those will kill you faster than weed, imo.

That is sad that happened to you. The same goes for alcohol most majority can have a drink or two, even go through a drink phase in college and be not effected in the long run. There is a small percentage of a population that it becomes harmful to. The same could be said for cheeseburgers, sugar, extreme sports ......

Alcohol and cigarettes are legal. Many people become addicted and they have negative effects on their lives. But most do not become addicted. Personal responsibility is the key to every ones life. Temptation is always there, it's just a matter of personal responsibility. Liberty over repression.

You must be on the stuff already or simply delusional if you belive that my friend, kids will find a way to get the good stuff and the so called dispenseries will be more than happy to look the other way, I suppose you never heard of an adult buying alchohol for the bunch of teens right ?

There's no such thing as personal responsibility once your addicted , that logic does not work for an addict, sure there's a lot of harmful crap out there, like a lot of you geniuses say, does that justify adding more ??????
Go ahead and drink your Red Bull while you think about it....lol POT HEADs.......

if YOU have an issue with pot, DONT SMOKE IT

I also have an issue with being around stoned people.

red bull has part of the cocaine plant in it, that is why its actually outlawed in Germany and other European nations... fyi

human crap, like filling jails and prisons with potheads. I the local newspaper we had a middle class couple in there mid 60's go to jail for 10 years a piece for growing there own for personal use in that same paper on the same day was a article about a guy who was convicted of molesting two little girls and got two years that is crap.

Sounds to me like you have a proclivity for addiction. As evidenced by your own testimony. You apparently have no self-control. This is not the fault of marijuana. It is yours. Own it. Don't make others suffer for your inability to stop at one joint/drink...

Hugo, I think that last of your initial post is made up b.s. to try to support your point. First God, then the sob story. Give it up. You're in the minority and you won't convince the masses of people who do smoke and have very successful careers, families and overall great lives otherwise.

Hugo, you could have blamed your weakness on anything. If you were addicted to cannabis, sorry buddy but it was psychological. You have other issues. We have cannabinoids already running around in our heads naturally. Thats why our brains responds so well to the effects. Thats also why there is no physical withdrawl like herion, cocaine, or anything a chemist conjours up in a lab for a "doctor" to hook you on. I suspect you were trying to control depression. I'm glad you brought up Red Bull. If you want to talk about harmful gateway drugs, then there are none greater than Caffine and Sugar. Prove me wrong.

Coming to think of it, sugar could cause lots of problems, which in turn could cause depression, which in turn can lead to drug addiction. Why not ban sugar too?

Folks, I'm a retired cop, spent 22 yrs on the streets.

In all those years, I've had to physically fight untold numbers of drunken a--holes. I've had to tell several families that their kids/spouse/parents were killed by a drunk driver. And I've done CPR and compressions to no avail on more than one accident victim in a crash caused by someone drinking and driving.

Never have I had so much as a threat from someone high on weed, much less a fight.

If I absolutely had to arrest them, I'd just throw a bag of Cheetohs in my back seat.

Seriously, it's time to stop criminalizing marijuana. Legalize the stuff, tax it like alcohol...that alone will put a major dent on organized crime and especially the Mexican drug cartels.

Many experienced cops support the legalization of weed. After personally participating in lots of crackdowns, they finally realize why it's not such a good idea after all. Check out LEAP for more details.

This is why it should be legal. Take money out of this @!$%#s hands.

I think that 99% of us were actually born as hairless monkeys..... If you have never hiked in the great outdoors and come across a most spectacular view(a cliff, a lake, an arch, etc. etc.) and then lit one up and just admired the beauty of this planet, I guess it really sucks to be you. Just saying..... But, we should ban all the fillers they put in hot dogs, oh wait, that was for a different post...haha.

Fire up another one bryan...lol

What I find funny is that right now the only difference between legalized and not legalized is whether the government gets a cut or not . Anyone that wants it can get it no matter where you are in the states , so if the guy next to you on the freeway wanted to smoke a blunt an hour ago , he did (legal or not) ! I really doubt that even if it went full legal nationwide there would be much difference in the number of people smoking pot from now . For some it might actually lose its appeal and as for the cartels , I'm certain they would be against legalization since it would halt a lot of their business . So I guess if we want to use the logic of the people that don't want it legalized then that means they also support cartels .

From a personal stand point it wouldn't change anything (yes I smoke sometimes) being legal or not , what I buy is locally grown so I'm not supporting any cartels . I suppose if it were legal I would consider buying from a store just for the variety but I know I wouldn't have to .

hugo please read up on marijuana before you post. it isn NOT in any way chemically addictive. Although the feeling may be ;P... pot is 100x less lethal than alcohol and can only imagine because i don't know for sure, how much less harmful it is than the cigarettes they are loading full of carcinogens and addictive properties. Alcohol and tabacco are the real killers here. they kill more people every year by cancers, car accidents, altercations etc, than pot ever ever ever could. smoke yourself and see ;)

tnicole1976 - you made a GREAT point that I think ought to be highlighted further. You mentioned that in circumstances when it might be correct to consider pot a gateway drug, it is usually because the person you're buying it from is also selling a variety of other drugs. This is absolutely true, and it is absolutely what would NOT happen if pot were legalized.

If pot was being sold over the counter in a legal, controlled fashion, you are not also going to be given the opportunity to buy meth, coke, or heroin at the same time. Part of the advantage of legalization is to undermine the illegal dealers, which would, in fact, drastically curtail the pot/gateway drug effect, if any exists. In order to get heroin and coke, you'd have to go out seeking it specifically, which, depending on your particular social circle, would most probably become a difficult prospect for most casual pot smokers/people in general.

The way I see it, any way you look at the issue, legalization seems to be brimming with advantages, not perils. Legalization is the only thing that makes sense - economically, criminally, socially, and morally.

HUGOOOO shut the helllll up. pot is NOT a gateway drug. i smoked it for 3 years and one day april 16th i up and quit and havent smoked since, and i have not done any other illegal drugs. so please tell me how this is a gateway drug? its peoples decisions. if you wanna do some crack your gunna do some crack but its not cause you started smoking you, you're ignorant. maybe you should smoke some weed and see. i'm sure you'll realize its not a horrible drug. i smoked weed to make me sleep and to take care of my anxiety until my doctor could find medication that would actually help me. myn dads an alcoholic and hes a crazy @!$%#. BECAUSE OF ALCOHOL WHICH IS LEGAL. but i know PLENTY of pot heads who are the calmest people youll ever meet. i dont smoke weed nor do i plan to. but i will say its not a bad drug and it does NOT lead you to other drugs. i know people who smoke it so they can sleep to get rid of migraines and nausea. since i quit smoking weed i lost 30 pounds. now please, tell me why pot is so bad? i now have to take vitamins because i dont eat as much as i used to because i dont have the munchies. so suck a nut. pots not bad, your just stupid. doing drugs are peoples decision, most people who smoke weed are too lazy to go find other drugs theyd rather chill out and relax. stupid ass. thanks (:

if one of your kids get cigarettes or alcohol from adults thats called bad parenting you know when i was younger i had several chances to smoke cigarettes and i know damn well that if my mother found out i would be grounded for ever lose the tv in my room yes she would carry it out not have a car and i had to stay in my room only to leave to eat go to the bathroom and school and get drinks i didn't smoke till i was 19 bc my parents were strict not because i didn't wanna do it or it was being pushed

My parents weren't strict and I chose not to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol until at least of age. My brother made different decisions and started smoking at 15 and was drinking alcohol well before 21. It's all about individual choices. The government making things illegal isn't going to change that.

GuessWhat54- I wish more people would realize that the majority of law enforcement officers are for legalization. That simple message does a good job stifling a good bit of the argument against it.

Hugo B... it seems to me that you create your own problems as it is becoming ever more apparent in your posts. Create a blog or something so that you can complain about your life there. Im not going to argue with you... everyone else had made valid points that you continue to disregard. Read and take seriously what other people tell you. Question yourself more. Is it the human population that can't handle smoking responsibly? Or is it you?

I agree completely that it should be legalized and everyone that has been convicted should be allowed to get there rights back, (voting,etc...) think of how many new voter's that could be put into the country. There has been a great disservice to our country because it was criminalized and our government decided to make our citizen's criminals. Just because it is legal doesn't mean everyone has to smoke it. Why are there people that want to tell everyone else how to live their lives. That is bad for everyone.

GuessWhat54,

Thank You so much for your post, it also made me laugh and oh so true!

Alcoholism is prevelant in our society. I had an alcoholic parent who destabilized our family! I would have much rather them smoke weed than drink! It also ended with kidney cancer (due to alcohol abuse) which took their life.

I would like to hear more opinins from police regarding thier personal feelings.

Lealize it! period!

If pot is made legal, my guess is we will need a lot more pizza drivers.

Dude, I know Ph.D's that toke and work. I have a college degree, graduated with a GPA of 3.88, worked at the same professional job for 23 years and have been smoking for 34 years. Don't give me that sh*t about pot making people lazy or stupid.

I'd be mad too if I was this ignorant.

I agree cybertoe. I know a lot of very hard working people, including business owners and professionals who smoke at least once a week. But I also know of many more people who drink every day/night and take all sorts of pills who act like smoking weed once a week is evil. It's the better than thou crowd that really scares me. Just legalize it already.

I just finished an article about Steve Jobs and how he used to smoke a ton of pot. Sheesh, what a lazy looser.

"yeah, legalize it. not like we don't already have a bunch of lazy idiots who don't wanna work for a living. gosh, how many pizza drivers do we really need?", says @I'm mad! as he/she gets ready to go to the bar from which he/she will drive home drunk from.

Seriously, get off whatever pedestal you put yourself on. You're surrounded by people that smoke on a daily basis and don't even know it. Doctors, dentists, accountants, inventors, educators, heck, even politicians. Oh, wait, I'd rather have more pizza drivers than politicians though. By the way, most lazy people that don't want to work aren't smokers simply because they can't afford it.

lol... my wife is a Jew, and she would cut someone if they tried to take her bacon. Who can deny bacon?!

First it was hot dogs, now it's bacon, where's it gonna stop..... the madness I tell you.....

bryan 2876208, you got a good sense of humor. We need more of that in this world.

I'm down with Bryan too.

But, for people who do not wish to imbibe, I have always had kind of a "More for Me" kind of a policy. I really just feel sorry for you for missing out. Hope you don't drink and beat your kids too much.

In my family, one person's alcohol use (my grandmother) ruined 3 generations.

My kids are great. How are yours?

Ignorance is usually why people are against legalizing weed. It's about time we let scientists and sociologists run the country, rather than a bunch of lawyers.

Agreed, Spartan. I'll just add that we need politicians will some balls. They don't want to lose votes, thus they don't support it. They also get pressure from big pharmaceutical because those companies know marijuana will reduce the need for their symptom relieving drugs. The interesting thing now will be to see how they react to polls like this, where the majority support legalization. Even though Prop 19 didn't pass in 2010, 46.5% voted yes. If it weren't for the medical marijuana industry standing against it, it just may have passed. When it comes up again in 2012 there will likely be more support for it. So, we'll see what the politicians desperate for votes do to get those voters.

All the people in jail for weed even small ammounts now you telling me about some legal stuff medical WHAT!!!!!its a drug and its big business. So call a spade a spade and stop double talking, first you put people in jail for it now you want to legal the stuff I say burn it all and get rid of all this stuff that makes people want more of it lets concentrate on living not making excuses .

Ron Paul is the only national candidate with the courage to tell the truth about pot.

Sadly he's also unlikely to win at this point.

I am all for the use of punctuation, proper sentence structure and our rights to use a spell checker or dictionary. Some of you speak of the "dumbing down of society with drugs and alcohol" and yet you can't even type out a proper sentence without misspellings and a lack of punctuation! You may have something worth sharing, so take the time to gather your thoughts and grab a dictionary. Let us give this subject a fighting chance by showing the politicians and naysayers that we are an intelligent group of educated supporters, for the legalization of marijuana.

Well spelt perfesker!

hey joe fon, marijuana is unique in that we can smoke it up to chill just like people like to crack open a beer to chill, and at the same time, marijuana gives us all these medicinal benefits, while beer mostly does not. it is a medicine. it is also a substance we can use like alcohol. we get the best of both worlds. quit whining, you had your chance with beer....

You say pot is like cigarettes, yet it's not legal... why is that? What sense does it make? And don't you think having organized crime is a far greater evil than people smoking?

Please, you have no clue what your talking about. I have smoked pot for over 35 years and I have not moved on to cocaine or heroin. I did try alcohol but didn't like having hangovers and an empty wallet. By the way, I had my IQ tested a year ago and I scored a 130 which is only 5 pts lower than what it was 30 years ago. I didn't state that to brag but to make a point. You need to get better information on this issue instead of relying on the garbage the government spews out to the public.

By the way, what you propose is unconstitutional. Now have a glass of Florida sunshine and get reading!

well, I don't drink and I don't smoke... anything. But I really think alcohol is worse than pot. Alcohol killed my dad and wrecked more than one relationship. What is the issue preventing prescribing pot for medical reasons? A lot of people suffer unnecessarily. In the history of mankind, you could basically get most painkillers until the beginning of the last century, and then suddenly everything was taboo except getting drunk. Now you can't even get a script for tooth extraction... but I could go out and get drunk!

Bull. I'm a retired Alabamian and, apparently unlike yourself, literate and critical. Ignorance is bad but willful ignorance is abysmal and your post is a classic display. You can ignore the facts all you want but you can't ignore the consequence of ignoring the facts. Mexico is on the verge of becoming a failed state because of a drug trade that grew out of the criminalization of marijuana. Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon pandered to your ignorance and started the war on drugs. The war on drugs drove prices up and created a market for harder drugs because kids had been lied to about marijuana being a "killer weed" and they figured they'd been lied to about the other stuff too. Now we have "designer drugs" that are cheap to make and terribly destructive to the very brain pathways that allow human beings to understand the consequences of their actions. All that harm just because of ignorance and fearmongering. Be ashamed!

Retired Floridian, prove your statements. Don't just regurgitate rhetoric. By the way have you been paying attention to all the death and crime in your state due to Oxycontin abuse? Are you aware of how much the "doctors" in your state are prescribing this poison? 75% of the drug related deaths in your state are caused by Oxycontin. If you prefer legal heroin addicts over potheads then your priorites are should be reevaluated. Stop spreading lies and do a little research. Its only illegal because it is more profitable that way. If you think the government gives a crap about you then you probably voted for Nixon. Do you know why there is a shift in the polls? Because people like you are dying off. It is no longer your country. Its ours.

a 100% drug trestying protocol needs to be mandated by law ASAP for all jobs, public benefirs, enrollment or continued enrollment in insurance programs (medical, cars, life-all of them), admission to public universities, gun ownership-EVERYTHING to prevent these losers and dopers of hurting innocent others with their selfish, suicidal, half-ass drug use, period.

Retired Floridian: I thought Nazi's retired in Brazil!

Anyone who has never smoked cannabis has no right to ridicule those who have or do. I smoke EVERY DAY. I have a job. I go to school. I take care of my family. I pay my taxes. I VOTE. Smoking cannabis, a PLANT put here by Mother Nature and God above, is my right as a HUMAN BEING. Who are you, or anyone else, to tell me otherwise?

there are other ways of ingesting other than smoking...personally, I prefer baked brownies, but you go ahead and have that afternoon martini that you think is "harmless" ...until your liver explodes...OK? then call me out about my brownies...

I have to respond to your comment I'd like those to know that there is some sort of delusion that those who smoke pot are dumb lazy and unintelligent, There may be a portion of the populas that is like that but for the most part untrue. I have used pot in the past' when I got sick they gave me phenegren but it made so tired I was unable to function so instead I used pot after 2 weeks I got better no longer needed it so used it no more a few years later went through a rough time and had alot of anxiety tried 4 different prescription had a list of reactions my doc suggested it might help off the record of course so for a few weeks used pot, when I had back surgery I used pot to help with pain so I wouln't have to take so much pain medicine opiats are highly addictive. I'm employed, graduated from collegde, have a family and a grat job I'm also a grandma and I live in Utah where it will never be legal and I completely support legalizing it.

Ya pot is such a hard drug so many people die from it... oh wait no one has ever died from it. Do you ever hear about people smoking too much pot at parties and dying? Nope! But if you drink too much alcohol you can easily die from it and thats legal! Retired Floridian what was the last documentary you watched, or article you read about pot and its affects on the human body? From your arguement it seems like the only thing you have seen to teach you about pot if Reefer Madness, a movie from the 30's that claimed that people who smoked pot would go on killing rampages, which was clearly propaganda. Times have changed old man, maybe if you pulled your head out of your ass you would realize how dated and miss-informed your arguement is.

people like this are the reason we had people like george bush in office...enough said!

Yeah, we sure need more drug testing...like we need more angry, misinformed, retirees in Florida.

Friend of mine had a job driving a forklift. I know him; he was diligent and conscientious and NEVER went to work under the influence of anything. One day, random drug test time on about 25 employees. Friend tested positive for pot (though he hadn't smoked in a week or two. Yes, that can happen.) Fired on the spot.

The week before, another guy came to work under the influence; he caught the supervisor's eye, and made the guy blow into a Breathalyzer. Blew over a .05...not legally too drunk to drive, but way over the company's guidelines of .02. Fellow received three days off and mandatory counseling.

Okay, first, why is ANY blood alcohol content OK to operate heavy machinery...and second, if it is, why does an alcohol positive warrant days off while a pot positive warrants firing?

Retired Floridian...now that you are retired you have time to go back to school. I would suggest a course in spelling as well as social studies and history. Why would you assume that everyone who uses Marijuana a) does so to get stoned, and b) smokes it. You are right that smoking it can make someone more likely to get lung cancer. However, Marijuana can be taken in a number of ways: pill form, in a vaporizor, eaten, and of course, smoked. Medical Marijuana is like many medications: dangerous if used incorrectly. This is why we require prescriptions for so many of our "drugs." No one is suggesting that we (I am assuming you mean the "taxpayers") should pay for anyone's use of the drug. If it becomes legal, and insurance companies are willing to cover it in a prescription drug plan, then it is theoretically covered by the insured/premium payments.

I truly hope that you are never ill, and that you never need to take any kind of medication/drug. But if that should ever happen, I hope someone will be more understanding of your need to take your prescription drugs - so that you can feel better without fear of being arrested. And I dearly hope that no one you love is dying from starvation because he or she cannot keep food down due to the nausea induced by Chemotherapy.

just curious - I totally agree with you... of course oatmeal chocolate chip is my choice!!!

To the deluded, it's the same reason why opium is illegal. To the rest of us, legalization is a far better alternative to what we have right now.

Yet opium was not illegal for centuries. Until the early 20th century. What was the turning point?

Isn't it silly when a cop pulls a plant out of the ground for evidence? I say outlaw poison oak. That stuff is harmful. Put me in the hospital once.

Opium is very harmful, so legalization of that will come later if necessary.

opium is used in numerous pharmaceuticals

Used recreationally, I mean. Then again, I've tried a couple of opiate painkillers that my friend got for her toothache, and nothing happened to me, so go figure. The War on Drugs needs to end if we want a peaceful society, but there are cases in history where people got addicted to opium and the whole country got screwed over, so it's hard to say what should be done in the short term.

I think narcotics when used AS DIRECTED for short periods of time are LESS harmful than NSAIDs (heart attacks, bleeding, etc). The trouble is that you will always have a select few that will abuse them, take too many and croak. Or become increasingly tolerant to the point where they od without realizing it.

Unfortunately, opiate type drugs are better for you than the non-addictive type. I feel that if you are going to be an addict, you will find a way to abuse anything.

and while we are at it lets get some hemp in this country that would be a great way to get foreign oil off or backs and revitalize this economy

Legalization would also hurt our private prison industry as well. I think you can put a patent on a plant however. Each plant has its own DNA that can can be tracked. Each strain is unique to itself. Glaxo can make some proprietary Bubba Kush and Pfizer can make some Skywalker, just like the companies do that have competing weenie hardening pills.

Legalization would hurt a number of industries, but it would also create new ones that aren't ruining lives or killing people. The US government just doesn't seem interested in production nearly as much as destruction.