Legalize Marijuana?

[harpo]

Poll question: Legalize Marijuana?

[donco6]

1. Pot is illegal??

When did that happen?

[guinivere]

2. Dunno.

:smoke:

[donco6]

4. I have to tell all my friends.

ALL my friends. The ones who smoke pot. All of them.

It's ridiculous. Pot is available everywhere, anytime. And it's not even that expensive. Treating it like some major drug is stupid.

[azurnoir]

11. If legal

the government would have a really good source of revenue, it would be taxed like alcohol. As for safety I work with Md's and nurses and have asked them "which would you be more comfortable with your teen drinking or your teen smoking pot" the 100% of the time was pot, because it is safer in many ways and does not impair judgment to any where near the extent alcohol does.

[Arkansas Granny]

26. From my own personal observations of alcohol and marijuana

users over the last 40 years, I have always considered that alcohol has a much higher incidence of abuse and addiction than marijuana. I have no scientific evidence to support my opinion, this is just my personal experience.

[iamthebandfanman]

63. and ive had the same experiences! n/t

[The Flaming Red Head]

98. It works better on ADD than Ritalin and the kids don't snort weed

[misternormal]

3. I do not know if anyone has died...

... from THC poisoning... If not, it is safer than alcohol in many aspects...

On the other hand, if it were legalized, the DEA could spend it's cash on stopping drugs that really do kill people... and I don't mean nicotene... This is not a smoking stump here...

I am speaking about Meth, Heroin, Cocaine... The drugs that the rich really want.

[Warpy]

12. "Overdose" on pot and you'll just fall asleep

There have been no known deaths from a marijuana overdose, but I'm sure it's possible. You can overdose on water if you drink enough of it in a short enough period of time.

Heroin isn't that bad a drug. It's much kinder to body systems than either alcohol or tobacco. The same goes for cocaine, although the more it's refined, the worse it is. Coca leaves themselves aren't terribly toxic and the worst side effect is brown teeth from chewing them.

I want it all decriminalized, OTC at the local drug store, and taxed to fund rehab facilities for the people who do run into trouble with it.

Meth is a bad drug but it's self limiting. Meth heads tend to be walking advertisements to the rest of us on why NOT to use the stuff. In the 60s, when most drugs were cheap and plentiful, the "speed kills" campaign dropped meth use to practically nothing, although a few biker gangs still favored it.

The current policy of interdiction plus Draconian sentences for simple possession are simply not working, unless you think driving the price of the more benign drugs up and encouraging people who want to get high for a few hours to turn to meth is proof of their effectiveness, along with the highest percapita incarceration rate in the developed world.

The use of psychoactive chemicals is as old as the human race and probably predates it. Just check out cats and catnip. Trying to outlaw them is sheer lunacy. It doesn't work and it causes more problems than it solves.

[Acebass]

55. You can't overdose...trust me!...n/t

[VirtualChicano]

60. No, but you can overdose on Chips Ahoy!

hehehe

[Acebass]

62. Got Milk?... LOL...n/t

[VirtualChicano]

90. HA!

:)

[VirtualChicano]

5. Mexicas

Have been smoking Marijuana for 10 thousand years. Marijauna is only illegal because the capitalist cannot put it in a can and force you to buy it from him. The beer companies and trial attorneys would go bankrupt if marijuana were legal.

[misternormal]

8. Good point...

In 1970, a measure to legalize Marijuana was on the ballot in California, and it was soundly defeated... The Gov't can't regulate it, therefore they can't tax it, and the quality would be like 3.2 beer...

As a side note... Phillip-Morris was on the Pot legalization bandwagon back then, and they had already copyrighted the name "Acapulco-Gold" for their particular version of the weed.

[madokie]

15. The best I can remember was that most of the cig cos. had copyrighted

names for their blend or what ever you might call it. They were ready to go with it too.

[harpo]

10. at one point they actually created a stamp to allow growing...

but wouldn't issue the stamp to anyone...it was an effort to keep the mexicans out of the states at the time...of course the logic was flawed.

[Acebass]

70. something interesting

[Joe Fields]

91. Farmers were allowed to grow hemp for special production in WWII.

Marijuana had been outlawed in 1939, but because of a shortage of oil and fiber, hemp growing stamps were issued, to allow for production of hemp oil, which was used in lubricating engines in our fighter planes. Hemp fiber was also used in making rope and parachute riggings.

So, the "legal" growing of hemp played an important part in our WWII effort.

[OutsidetheBox]

6. Tobacco, pharmies and alcohol much, much more dangerous drugs

[SalmonChantedEvening]

7. NOW.

Nuff said.

[bigwillq]

9. YES!

And treat it like alcohol, cigarettes.

[bee]

13. ROFLMAO. Reefer Madness rules. Propaganda at its finest. nt

[DanCa]

16. Well I liked the spoof they did on that 70's show.

Okay Play's times over. :D

[madokie]

19. reefer madnesss, couldn't keep from chuckling

They showed us that in bootcamp back in '67, made me curious enough to try it, been 38 years now

Now there is beauty

[mdmc]

22. nic pic

:kick:

[madokie]

27. I found it on the internets, I used it before and one of the posters

said that he/she posted that pic on another board several years before and didn't know if anyone still had one. I had no idea. Said they had no problems with using it. But yes it sure is a nice bud, sure would like to have that right about now.

[mdmc]

81. so it is an original DU bud?

:kick:.. nice kind in NY right now...

[madokie]

89. I'm heading that away, just kidding and wishing

If we could be so lucky, too far from our northern border

[bee]

104. ah the irony.

nothing like a little 'marihuana' to make someone play the piano really really fast while cackling like a psychotic fiend. Happens all the time. :rofl:

[VirtualChicano]

59. Is That With Sony Bono?

Where he sees monsters in the mirror and they compare tabacco to mota?

[bee]

103. hahaha! I havent seen that one!

Reefer Madness was put out, I think, in the 20's. Its a must-see.

[DanCa]

14. We should have a national bong hit day

If I ever run for president I think that would be part of my platform.

[Arkansas Granny]

28. You've got my vote.

:smoke:

[frylock]

37. april 20th is a day of observance..

and it's coming soon!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

69. 4/20!

damn straight, or not, whatever. Hey pass that thing! such a bogart.

[harpo]

109. everyday is bong hit day...don't need no occasion ;)

[boobooday]

17. It's a plant.

Mother Nature's gift to humankind.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. Fuck Yeah. Its Illegality Is A Huge Testament To Human Ignorace.

[bullimiami]

21. no the illegality and that of most drugs are a testament to racism.

opium was made illegal because whites had it in for the chinese.
cocaine was made illegal because whites had it in for the blacks.
marijuana was made illegal because whites had it in for mexicans.

its still illegal because our government is corrupt and controlling rather than benevolent.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

30. Oh For Christ's Sake. Please Tell Me You're Joking.

That's one of the absolute most ridiculous things I've ever heard in my life, and I can only hope that you're kidding and aren't really trying to convince me of that lunacy.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

31. Not that ridiculous when you ....

read about Harry J Anslinger:

"During the 1920s, an emerging movement of legislators, yellow journalists, and concerned citizens started pressing Washington for federal legislation against marijuana. Back then, the drug was even more misunderstood than it is today. A publication in the Montana Standard, on January 27, 1929, records progress on a bill in that state to amend the general narcotic law:

"There was fun in the House Health Committee during the week when the marijuana bill came up for consideration. Marijuana is Mexican opium, a plant used by Mexicans and cultivated for sale by Indians. 'When some beet field peon takes a few rares of this stuff,' explained Dr. Fred Fulsher of Mineral County, 'he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico so he starts to execute all his political enemies...' Everybody laughed and the bill was recommended for passage." (1)

Southern states were also pressing for a federal law against marijuana to persecute Mexicans that saturated the workforce with cheap labor during The Depression. The demands of this growing viewpoint were eventually adopted by Anslinger."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Anslinger#The_campaign_against_marijuana

[harpo]

32. the southern/mexican connection is true

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

39. Actually It Is. 100% On It's Face Utterly Ridiculous.

Ridiculous to the point that I'm actually cracking up at the concept.

Hey, did ya know those drugs are like illegal almost everywhere else in the world too? *GASP*! Oh No! The whole entire world is against mexicans, chinese and blacks! Oh my god, the racism is so much worse than I ever imagined. So much so that the China is actually racist against chinese, and Mexico is racist against mexicans!!! OMG This is HUGH!!!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[K-W]

41. You are quite wrong.

I suggest you do some reading on the history of prohibition. These laws werent passed yesterday and the global prohibition regime also has a dynamic and interesting history that defies your assumptions.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

56. Again,

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Sorry, I just find this too funny, that's all. I mean no harm.

[K-W]

58. If you ever educate yourself on the subject.

I hope you have another good laugh at the mistake youve made.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

61. So You Are Still Pushing That China Is Racist Against The Chinese, And

that mexico is racist against mexicans, and Africa is racist against africans.

You have one hell of a bar to overcome if you want to convince me of that! :rofl:

[K-W]

76. Please point to the post where I said that.

You are the only one drawing the rediculous conclusion that prohibition in all countries was caused in the same way.

The fact that you have the confidence to laugh at people who are obviously vastly more informed than you on the history of prohibition is the real joke here.

Heres a link, you can find plenty more through google, there are also some good books on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_legalization#Twentieth_century

The first law outright prohibiting the use of a specific drug was a San Francisco, California ordinance which banned the smoking of opium in opium dens in 1875. The inspiration was "many women and young girls, as well as young men of respectable family, were being induced to visit the Chinese opium-smoking dens, where they were ruined morally and otherwise," though there is no evidence to suggest this ever happened. The primary cause of the movement for the law was a moral panic based on a fear of Chinese immigrants and other railroad workers seducing white women with the drug. This was followed by other laws throughout the country, and federal laws which barred Chinese people from trafficking in opium. Though the laws affected the use and distribution of opium by Chinese immigrants, no action was taken against the producers of such products as laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol, commonly taken as a panacea by white Americans. The dividing line was usually the manner in which the drug was ingested. Chinese immigrants smoked it, while it was included in various kinds of (generally liquid) medicines for people of European descent. The laws were aimed at smoking opium, but not otherwise ingesting it. 1 As a result of this discrepancy, modern commentators believe that these laws were racist in origin and intent.

Cocaine was prohibited in the first part of the 20th century. Newspapers used terms like "Negro Cocaine Fiends" and "Cocainized Niggers" to drive up sales, causing a nationwide panic about the rape of white women by black men, high on cocaine. Many police forces changed from a .32 caliber to a .38 caliber pistol because the smaller gun was supposedly unable to kill black men when they were high on cocaine.<4>

...

1937 saw the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act. Harry J. Anslinger (Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner) testified in hearings on the subject that the hemp plant needed to be banned because it had a violent "effect on the degenerate races". This specifically referred to Mexican immigrants who had entered the country, seeking jobs during the Great Depression. The law passed quickly and with little debate. The American Medical Association (AMA) protested the law soon after, both on the grounds of actual disagreement with the law and the supporters' lies on the subject; Anslinger and others had claimed the AMA had vocalized support when, in fact, the opposite was true.

[Acebass]

57. Emperor Wears No Cloths...

Get educated!...

[DemInDistress]

110. WEED HAD LESS TO DO WITH MEXICANS AND

Everything to do with
William R. Hearst
JP. Morgan
The DuPonts
these rich business people saw HEMP as a threat to their lively hood. Twas Corporate Greed and Congressional
larceny that doomed the HEMP plant.

[harpo]

113. I would disagree with that...there was a huge worry at the time about...

the mexicans coming in.

[K-W]

34. Racism played a huge role in the temperance movement.

How is that rediculous exactly?



Remember, the temperance movement and prohibition are very old. It would be suprising if racism hadnt been involved really.

[Warren DeMontague]

95. No, he's right. The demonization of cocaine- started by the U.S.-

was highly charged with racism; cocaine made black men 'go crazy and rape white women'..

Marijuana prohibition was the brainchild of folks like W.R. Hearst and the DuPont Corporation, who wanted to put the kabosh on cheap, easy hemp pulp into paper processes, aligned with forces driven by anti-Mexican immigrant sentiments, Mexicans being more culturally familiar with marijuana.

You are correct; drugs are illegal most places in the world. But you should ask yourself if that is how things have always been, and where (and when) the trends of prohibition started?

[haydukelives]

117. one more vote

for it being true. whats so hard to belive about it?

[Coastie for Truth]

20. Criminalizing Marijuana

has created 100 years of crooked cops, crooked prosecutors, crooked defense attorneys, crooked judges, crooked corrections officials, and crooked politicians.

I have always believed that marijuana is only criminalized to provide a very very very large source of income for the very very very small fraction of rotten apples in the criminal justice system.

[sweetheart]

38. no the criminalization is religio-political

It was a middle ages pope that first banned cannabis,
believing it to cause people waver in their faith.
It has been, ever since, waged war upon by the european
christians as the influence of the turks, the far east,
the heathens, etc... and this legacy is passed across
the pond in the form of an embedded social judgement to
look down on pot smokers. In the middle ages, cannabis
persons were often burned at teh stake as witches, often
as knowledge of "plants", was deemed witchcraft, much as
how a yaqui indian with knowledge of "plants" is a brujo.

There is a strong prodestant judgement endemic to our
media culture that seeks to transmit this british-initiated
social engineering ethic to keep the working class on a
permanent slippery treadmill, oiled by alcohol to keep
them pacified... but cannabis is a threat to the social
engineering scheme, if nothing else, as people just snap
out of it and opt out of the scam.

It is criminalized for a thousand years because people
are scared of witches.

[Coastie for Truth]

47. Not what I saw providing logistic support to DEA.

Crooked officials.

[sweetheart]

54. current indeed

I'm really going on about origins, and the social
roots that give nourishment to such a failed war...

Corrupt officials, indeed, the side effect of so much money,
so many property.

What can we expect from an organization nixon created to
criminalize "jews" , hippies and all that.

[Zinfandel]

23. But legalizing in will take away all the profits and make it cheaper for

:smoke:
everyone, and the jails won't be so packed and the guards will lose overtime...
:smoke: :smoke:
Since it's the only physically non-addictive drug...we can't let the public know this or everyone will want it illegal...Although it will bring in a lot of tax revenue!!!:smoke:

:smoke:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

24. Of course.......

And it continues to amaze me that folks are still ignoring the parallels of the war on pot to prohibition of alcohol in the 30's. I was watching an interesting documentary from Australia the other night that profiled the pot "problem" in the Pac NW. The cops in BC said that the pot smokers were not the problem, the main danger was that Vietnamese and Chinese gangs were getting involved in huge grow-ops.

Once again we ignore history. Wanna take the criminal element out of the industry? Legalize, not criminalize.

[harpo]

25. If you could grow aspirin it would be illegal...if they can't profit then

it ain't legal.

[Betsy Ross]

29. So there are four DUers who have never smoked pot.

Must be so if they think MJ is more inhibiting than alcohol.

[tridim]

33. Should be legal, but not like Alcohol and Tobacco

People should be able to grow it in their yards and basements for personal consumption. I never liked the "make it legal and tax the hell out of it" solution. People can and will make money selling it commercially. Tax those sales, but let the gardeners grow it too.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

36. I agree....

I think it could be managed like home-brewing. A grower should be allowed to grow a reasonable amount for personal use without penalty. However, sale should be strictly regulated and taxed.

[Telly Savalas]

65. People can brew their own beer or make their own wine...

for personal consumption.

I don't see what the problem is.

[hamerfan]

79. Gawd!

Check out the trichromes on that baby! Yummy....
dumpbush

[Occulus]

94. Shake THAT over your shredded wheat n/t

[Joey Liberal]

35. Marijuana is far less dangerous than booze

Has anyone ever over-dosed on pot? I don't think it's even possible. Legalize it. Control it like booze.

[hollowdweller]

44. Keep it with the People

No commercial growing. You pay the gov't like 300 bucks a year and you are allowed to have a closet or X by X size patch outdoors as long as it is hidden from public view. You can either smoke it all or sell it all or part to anyone but the size patch would limit it to where it would provide the most money to the individual, not big companies. Once during the growing season the pot inspector(former narcs) come and make sure your patch is within limit and that's it.

Public consumption would be same as alcohol.

[jzodda]

40. Pot=less harmful then Alcohol

Sure it can be used as a mental crutch, and the delivery system is not perfect (smoking, for the most part) but all in all its far less of a societal problem then alcohol. First off the alcohol can become physically addicting, unlike Pot. Next pot makes people peaceful and want to laugh, eat and watch a movie. Alcohol makes people way way way over the top in aggressiveness, and the potential for criminal behavior under the influence goes way way up.

[SeattleGirl]

42. Some folks get mellow or sleepy with alcohol.

Not all people get "way way way over the top in aggresiveness". However, having said that, I don't give a fig if people want to smoke pot. I just don't want to be anywhere around them when they do as I cannot stand the smell. And, there should be laws against driving/piloting/etc. under the influence of it, just as there are where alcohol is concerned. I don't want someone so mellow that they're reflexes are too slow to respond when operating a car or plane.

[K-W]

45. Once it is legal studies can easily be done to determine

its impairing effects and we can have clear guidelines on when it is unsafe. Prohibition has severely limited the ability of scientists to study it.

[SeattleGirl]

52. I think there is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that it slows

reflexes and reaction times. I know it sure as hell did with me, and with every other person I know who ever used it. Again, I am not arguing against the legalization of marijuana, but the fact is, it is a mind altering drug, and thus can and does affect our physical responses to things, as well as our ability to think clearly. I'm saying that I don't want someone under the influence of marijuana to be out driving or piloting the plane I'm on, or taking care of a loved one in the hospital, or doing anything else that requires our full faculties.

I am also solidly behind the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes. In the '70's, when my father was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, he would get so nauseated from the treatments. I tried and tried to get him to try smoking a joint, to see if it would help him, but he refused. "I don't want to be a dope head" was what he said. Okay, dad.... (He was, however, an alcoholic.)

[Zookeeper]

71. I completely agree with you, SeattleGirl....

We don't need more people driving under the influence of any drug (including alcohol). I don't really care what folks do in the privacy of their homes, but when they leave and get behind the wheel of a car, I care very much.

No one is going to want to hear this, but I do think driving while stoned is even worse than driving after light or moderate drinking. Most people can have one or two drinks and still be capable of driving. I think the effect of one or two drinks is far less than smoking even half of a joint, in part because one or two drinks is usually consumed over a longer period of time.

But, marijuana wouldn't be out of place in culture that didn't require operating heavy machinery. :+

[K-W]

75. I think anecdotal evidence is unreliable but we largely agree.

There are lots of mind altering drugs that people drive on. I understand what you are saying I dont disagree, but theres simply no reason to jump to conclusions. Our understanding and policy must be based on science, not assumptions. I realize in this case you want to err on the side of saftey and again I agree, im not suggesting everyone drive around high until we finish a series of studies just that we make law based on science.

[Occulus]

97. As far as the nausea goes:

pot does make you hungry, and it's had that one effect on everyone I've ever seen smoke it. That much, at least, isn't anecdotal; pot does indeed make you want to eat. This could reasonably help control nausea associated with Chemo or perhaps some HIV treatments, and in fact Big Pharm has created derivitive drugs, some of which (as I understand it) do the same thing... although, according to some who take them, not as well as the plant itself.

[SeattleGirl]

106. It is kind of odd that I developed the "nausea" reaction, when

I know that pot can and does help reduce nausea in people who are undergoing chemo. I'm just weird, I guess! :D

[Ariana Celeste]

80. Absolutely

You're right. Which is why if it were legal it shold have the same kind of laws alcohol does- you get caught driving under the influence, at best you get a ticket but more likely you get jail time. Responsibility is the issue. :thumbsup:

[SeattleGirl]

107. Exactly, Ariana

I do drink, but I don't drink and drive, even after one drink.

[Bridget Burke]

85. The problem with drug tests for marijuana....

Is that they find traces of MJ smoked weeks ago. Or traces of MJ smoked by someone in the same room as the testee. Too bad the tests don't tell whether someone is currently "under the influence." Of course, if we just tested on the ability to "think clearly"--some straight & sober folks would fail.

As someone who approves of smoke-free environments, I assure you that all types of smoke should be included. (Including clove cigarettes, please!)

[Zookeeper]

101. I didn't know people still smoke clove cigarettes.

Tobacco smoke is horrible, but the smoke from clove cigs is nauseating.

MJ smells better, but I'm not convinced that it's healthy to inhale anything, besides fresh air.

[jzodda]

46. I agree with that of course!

I didnt mean to state that it should be unregulated. No driving or flying under the influence. I would use the same laws they have today or similar ones in place for DWAI.

[SeattleGirl]

49. I had a feeling you did, but thanks for clarifying.

:hi:

[Tyler Durden]

43. Yes! Now! And Tax the SHIT out of it.

$10 bucks a pack of which $5 is tax, say 2 million packs of 20 per week, makes $100 million a year, and I think that could be low by a factor of 2 or 3. National Healthcare, here we come!

[Acebass]

64. Packaging it...

Would put it in the hands of big tobacco...it needs to be a cottage industry where you go into a store and buy by weight.
Then it's up to you how you smoke it. There needs to be that connection with rolling or smoking in a pipe, otherwise it's too easy and will have a tendency to be misused.

[Telly Savalas]

66. Just to be a pedantic prick

a) $100 million a year would translate into less than a dollar a year per American for health care.

b) Finding the funding for a single-payer universal health care system is a non-issue. On a per captia basis the U.S. is the richest country in the world. Every other Western democracy has found the cash for such a system, so there's no good reason we can't do the same. Raise taxes on the top 10% to the level they were under JFK and Eisenhower, and one can easily afford a health care system.

[Tyler Durden]

92. Well, YEAH...

...But I figure every little bit helps.

[Blue_Tires]

48. roger that

[K-W]

50. Part of the democracy deficit in this country.

There is strong public support of ending prohibition that has next to no representation in government.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

53. That's putting it lightly.......

Congressfolks see this issue as re-election kryptonite.

[Telly Savalas]

67. Which is really weird given that the enforcement of pot laws

consume a fair share of resources, even though the laws themselves have pretty much no redeeming qualities.

[Acebass]

51. Hemp, Hemp Hurray!

Legalize!
POT BILL GOES UP IN SMOKE...Why?
http://www.dailykos.com/user/Acebass

[kestrel91316]

68. Tax it and limit it to adults, and prosecute its misuse. Very simple,

just like alcohol. Oh, and LET PEOPLE GROW THEIR OWN, TOO.

And while we're at it, bring back industrial hemp, you IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Warren DeMontague]

72. Abso-Fucking-lutely. Legalize, Regulate, and Tax it. By All means.

A larger philosophical question is how any magician of the mindfuck was ever able to put such a whammy onto large masses of people to get them to accept-- with little or no questioning-- the incredibly bizarre concept that it is ANY of The Government's fucking business, under any circumstance, what consenting adults choose to do with their own bodies and bloodstreams.

I suspect it was thousands of years of Western Religions convincing folks that their bodies belong not to them, but to "God"- which is, of course, only a short jump away from "the State".

[LSdemocrat]

73. Other: Get caught, pay a fine, with rehab for repeat offenders

[Occulus]

99. Because it's worked so well so far, I suppose? n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

121. Why?

What is inherently so much more dangerous about pot than, say, alcohol, that we need to punish people who aren't harming anyone-- or breaking any other laws-- while using it?

[Oeditpus Rex]

74. This *should* be one of the biggest no-brainer

pieces of legislation in history. Legalize, regulate, sell, tax — same as alcohol. But I don't see it happening for at least 10 years, simply because it's the rare politician who'll be the first to really shake that tree.

[Acebass]

124. If they did though they'd be surprised...

I don't think there would be a big back lash. To many people know the truth...and for those that don't. The Gobberment lied...

[Behind the Aegis]

77. A pot joke for you all!

A monkey is sitting in a tree smoking a joint, when a lizard walks past,
looks up,and says to the monkey "Hey, what're you doing?" The monkey
replies, "Smoking a joint, come up and have some." So the lizard climbs
up the tree, sits next to the monkey, and they smoke a few joints.

After a while the lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and he's going to the
river to get a drink. The lizard climbs down the tree and staggers over to
the river to get a drink of water, but he is so stoned, he leans over too
far and falls into the river.

A crocodile sees this, swims over to the lizard and helps him to the
side. Then he asks the lizard, "What's the matter with you?" The lizard
explains to the crocodile that he was sitting up in a tree with a monkey smoking
pot, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.

The crocodile says he has to check this out, and wanders off into the
jungle. He finds the tree where the monkey is sitting finishing up a
joint. The crocodile yells up to the monkey and says "Hey!"

The monkey looks down and says, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck........Dude! How much
water did you drink?!"

[The Flaming Red Head]

100. stoner joke if I ever heard one

[cboy4]

78. I don't smoke, but I say legalize it, absolutely.

I can't think of many news stories (in fact, I can't think of any) where I read about a violent crime suspect being accused of doing something terrible because they were high on pot.

And imagine the mini-mart sales increase due to the munchies!! LOL

[Random_Australian]

82. Wow! 191 votes for, 7 against! Still, you won't convince me it's a good

idea. Lost a fair bit to it, you could say.

Wait: If you restricted the concentration to more natural levels, perhaps.

[K-W]

108. If the pointless destruction caused by prohibition doesnt convince you,

I doubt anything will.

The issue of potency is a bullshit propaganda line from the war on drugs. There has always been potent weed and less potent weed and as anyone whos ever really used it knows it just means you get high off less of it. It doesnt change anything about the drug or make it any more risky.

[Warren DeMontague]

120. I lost a good chunk of my life to alcohol, but it should still be legal.

Making it illegal wouldn't have solved jack diddly shit with that.

[-..__...]

83. Legalize, yes.

Unfortunately, there's very few politicians out there that would even dare suggest
legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

[TahitiNut]

84. ATF = Alcohol, Tobacco, and Fireweed.

:silly: :smoke:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

86. Two words: "Hell" and "yes."

The tax windfall and jobs created as a result alone are worth legalizing it.

[Arkansas Granny]

87. Now, there's a job working in the fields that people would be

fighting to get.

:silly: :party: :silly: :party: :silly:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

88. Hell, I'd do it for free!

:evilgrin:

[jmowreader]

93. We need our greatest scientists on this...

I've said it before. It's time to say it again.

Do NOT legalize marijuana until there's a test that can determine actual intoxication vice the presence of cannabinoid metabolites.

The current test looks for metabolites--smoke a joint now, piss tomorrow, you show positive. You're not stoned...but you show positive.

If weed was legal and we were testing for Driving Stoned using the same tests we've got right now, Driving Stoned would be just as big a racket for the cops as Simple Possession is now. Most pot smokers would have a joint on the weekend, or maybe a joint while watching television at night. No big deal. But the cops could buy latrine screens and TestStrips, set 'em up beside the roads, run Driving Stoned checkpoints and make their departments rich beyond their wildest fantasies busting people who were driving perfectly sober but who smoked pot a week ago.

No one would ever get a job with legal weed and the tests we have now.

I quite often look for worst-case scenarios and in this case the worst case is there being legal marijuana you can't have any of because you'll lose your job and your driver's license thanks to the wonderful "cannabis makes you high for ten whole days" piss tests we've got now.

Let's go to a different scenario--a happier one. Let's pretend, just because it's fun, that someone did invent a test for marijuana that proved intoxication and ignored metabolites. Let's also pretend that because the inventor likes marijuana and hates it being illegal, he made the machine so inexpensive any police department could buy one and so easy to use even Barney Fife could run it. With that pot could be completely legal...

* Many people would grow their own pot. Regulate pot growing like beer brewing or winemaking: if you're growing for personal use, no license; if you're growing for retail sale regulate it like a brewpub; if you're growing for wholesale regulate it like a winery.

* Many people would not. It's been legal to grow tomatoes forever; the number of people who grow their own isn't large. The same thing would happen with marijuana, and the weed market would shake out like the coffee market. There would be mass producers--probably Altria (formerly Philip Morris), RJReynolds and Lorillard. Cigarette companies. A cigarette manufacturer would be most suited for mass-market pot sales because they already make cigarettes, and the mass-market pot market would be prerolled marijuana cigarettes--joints and blunts. (I know this because the mass-market for tobacco is prerolled cigarettes; very few people hand-roll tobacco cigarettes. If they're not rolling tobacco, they won't hand-roll marijuana either.) I think you'd also see something like "coffee pods" for bongs--a little pressed cannabis biscuit with holes in it so the smoke could go through. All this trade would be of decent-quality but generic marijuana, probably imported from Colombia because someone who'd buy a pack of "20 Class H Joints--H is for high, which these will get you" also thinks Colombia is the only place that grows good-quality pot. The other end of the scale is gourmet cannabis. It's varietal--labeled with producer's name, country of origin, year grown, and percentage of buds--and it's all loose marijuana. (Why producer's name? Let's drift over to the cigar market...there are leaf growers that are known for superior quality, like Frank Llaneza. If a cigar maker buys his leaf from Frank and employs good torcedores to roll the cigars, you know those cigars are going to be good. The same thing would happen in the marijuana business.)

* Even home growers would buy pot. If you're going to throw a pot party on Saturday and you've got two foot-high plants because you threw a party last Saturday, the fifty people you invited to come over and get fucked up will not be pleased to find out the evening's entertainment will consist of passing around one joint. So yeah, even if you are a serious dope grower who wins blue ribbons at the county fair for the excellence of your marijuana, you'll buy pot occasionally.

County fair? Why not? It's not like people haven't been entering tobacco in county fairs for the last 150 years.

I think we're just kidding ourselves, though. There's more financial incentive to keep marijuana illegal than there is to legalize it. A very large amount of economic crime is traceable to marijuana--from selling pot to breaking and entering because your pot habit made you unable to seek legitimate employment. This economic crime causes insurance rates to go up. It also causes the sale of security doors, window bars, Rottweilers and shotguns to go up. And let's not forget the prison industry--prison construction, equipment for prisons, personnel to operate them, all that. A very substantial part of the economy is traceable to illegal pot, and all of it would disappear overnight if it was legal.

[The Flaming Red Head]

96. I can buy alcohol and cigs but not pot

it doesn't make sense.

[willows]

102. Meh, why not

I'd legalize it and allow states to regulate it. That way the money can go to state education, roads, etc, instead of directly to the govt.
Sure, there are ways for the govt. to subvert it, but it seems nice.

Plus, if alcohol is legal, seeing the things people blame on intoxication (while under even legal limits if driving, or while intoxicated an not driving) from fights, battering, accidents etc, then I don't see why marijuana, shouldn't be.

[DemInDistress]

105. "Abso-fucking-lutely" !! finally a thread where I can relate to..

Its my lifelong dream, "legal weed" commercialized and sold over the counter in all 50 states. I'll agree some restrictions could be placed, ie.,not while driving,in public places,near schools,. I been in the game for 44 years now. I ran the gamut of drugs in my life time yet, today all I enjoy is my daily joint. Never O'D'ed! Never had withdrawals. One joint always got me buzzed!!
In addition, legal weed would create one million jobs over night, free up law enforcement to track down "REAL CRIME", and entrepreneurs would create more wonderful accessories.
YES ABSOLUTELY LEGALIZE HEMP...

[harpo]

118. glad I could help you find a good thread :)

[stop the bleeding]

111. "No. Its much worse than alcohol and affects motor skills." LOL!!!

that is the funniest joke I have heard yet, if you believe this then you believe that B*sh can do no harm.


Wait, wait, wait......."No. Its much worse than alcohol and affects motor skills."


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


Go use google if you disagree

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[harpo]

115. I pick phrases I have heard people use...scary isn't it

[martymar64]

112. I'd vote but . . .

I'm sooooooooo baked right now! My vote's for a pizza!

[harpo]

114. lmao

[Catchawave]

116. Think of how much tax revenue this would generate

if legal, controlled and taxed ? No brainer, like ciggies and booze. Cha-ching for the state rehab/DUI/law enforcement programs too :D

[VOX]

119. Funny, I can't can't remember remember how to use use my keyboard board.

But, yeah, yeah, heck yeah, legalize it. Why why not not?

Huh? :evilgrin: :smoke:

[mconvente]

122. I would lean toward legalize it and tax it to get some revenue, but...

All the anti-drug people say that legalized marijuana would lead to more hardcore drug use (like crack, LSD, etc.) and more crime. What do the stats say for The Netherlands after they legalized marijuana? I would just like to know this. I agree it's completely egregious to incarcerate people for some weed - it's a major drain on our taxes for something that pretty much affects only that person, unlike drinking and driving, which can cause innocent people's lives.

[YouthInAsia]

123. pot should ABSOLUTELY be legalized. I havent heard one

good reson why it shouldnt be. If alcohol is legal than marijuana should absolutely be legal

[porphyrian]

125. Looks like "Fuck Yeah" is a mandate. - n/t

[Acebass]

126. and just in time for my retirment party...

[porphyrian]

127. Cool. I hope that's voluntary retirement... - n/t

[Acebass]

128. The only way to fly...but like legalization , it's not here yet...

but closer every day...

[NashVegas]

129. NO! - Other

It gives subversives something illegal, but relatively harmless, to do. Decriminalize it, at most.


Secondly: there's no way on god's green earth that corporations will keep their hands out of the cookie jar.

I do not want to open a magazine and see ads for marijuana. I do not want to turn on my TV and see ads for marijuana. I do not want to turn on my radio and hear ads for marijuana. What pharmacuticals are doing now is bad enough.

Seriously: unrestricted marijuana use (even for adults only) will never be legal in the US unless the capitalists are allowed to write the rules. And if they do, it will not be for the public good.

[porphyrian]

130. That's not a good enough reason.

For me, anyway. Who cares if corporations try to profit from it? It's easier to grow than potatoes. The only people who would be hurt by the legalization of marijuana are those who are profiting from it being illegal, and I'm OK with them seeking alternate sources of profit.