Marijuana

[theeyesoftammyfaye]

No, the primary purpose is to make us safer.

Does anyone? feel safer knowing that every day our police are arresting 3000 smokers

..........instead of arresting murderers and rapists?

no. unless i'm running low on doritos and around those smokers, they pose no threat to me.

 

[susanann]

no. unless i'm running low on doritos and around those smokers, they pose no threat to me.

Tens of millions of police man hours are now being spent(WASTED) each year on enforcing marijuanna/smoking and other drug laws - that is a lot (HUGE!!) of police time taken away from protecting us, taken away from police capturing violent criminals.


If we legalized drugs which would force our police to now spend time going after murderers, robbers, rapists, etc. then we would have tens of millions of extra police hours being spent going after violent criminals.

Legalizing drugs effectively means that we would have millions more police now working for us and making us safer instead of going after smoking.


It also means that by releasing non violent marijuanna smokers from our jails and our prisons, we would have lots of jail and prison space, so we could keep violent criminals incarerated much longer than we do now since we would then have lots of room for murderers and rapists. We would no longer have to parole violent criminals in order to make space for nonviolent drug users.

If millions of new police on our streets cannot reduce our violent crime rate, then we dont need any police at all.

If keeping violent criminals in our prisons instead of nonviolent drug users in prison does not reduce crime, then we dont need prisons or jails either.

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

No, the primary purpose is to make us safer.

Does anyone? feel safer knowing that every day our police are arresting 3000 smokers

..........instead of arresting murderers and rapists?

Statements like this crack me up. There are units of police who focus on specific crimes. The drug guys busting users will never be looking for murderers adn rapists. If drugs become legal many would probably loose their job since most police forces run on shoestrings as it is. Not that drugs should be illegal simply to keep people employed. Just found this statement funny.

 

[susanann]

Quote Originally Posted by: susanann

No, the primary purpose is to make us safer.
Does anyone? feel safer knowing that every day our police are arresting 3000 smokers
..........instead of arresting murderers and rapists?

Statements like this crack me up. There are units of police who focus on specific crimes. The drug guys busting users will never be looking for murderers adn rapists. If drugs become legal many would probably loose their job since most police forces run on shoestrings as it is. Not that drugs should be illegal simply to keep people employed. Just found this statement funny.

It is not funny at all.

It is common sense.

YOu are wasting millions of police manhours on nonviolent crimes that hurt no one - time that could be better spent reducing violent crimes. If a policeperson is not wasting his time on drug violations, he instead could be doing something else.


YOu may as well have a hundred thousand police cutting everyones grass for free instead of arresting people who smoke grass, at least we wouldnt have to mow our own lawns anymore.

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

Quote Originally Posted by: susanann

No, the primary purpose is to make us safer.
Does anyone? feel safer knowing that every day our police are arresting 3000 smokers
..........instead of arresting murderers and rapists?






It is not funny at all.

It is common sense.

YOu are wasting millions of police manhours on nonviolent crimes that hurt no one - time that could be better spent reducing violent crimes. If a policeperson is not wasting his time on drug violations, he instead could be doing something else.


YOu may as well have a hundred thousand police cutting everyones grass for free instead of arresting people who smoke grass, at least we wouldnt have to mow our own lawns anymore.

I don't care if drugs are legal or not. You should know what your talking about first. If people want to burn themselves out let them. My only peeve is I will be paying for some to sit at home and do nothing but I already do that.

 

[variant]

the concept of "limited government" is a misunderstanding. There is a word that has been left out of that phrase - It should read Limited FEDERAL government.

Somehow I doubt that you support the repeal of all the federal statutes regarding marijuana and putting the issue under state control.

It would effectively lead toward legalization in several states I think.

 

[susanann]

Where we find this article: RAND FINDS IMPRISONED LOW-LEVEL DRUG OFFENDERS IN ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA TYPICALLY COULD HAVE FACED MORE SERIOUS CHARGES

What Br. Max seems to be arguing is that if we didn’t have criminalized pot, prosecutors would have to press the more serious charges, or let those charged go when there wasn’t enough evidence to convict. How horrible!

That is a horrendous statement.


In several different ways.


First, you are saying that people are in prison and jails for the wrong reasons.


Secondly, you are saying that police and prosecutors are putting people in jail or prison under any pretext because they "think" someone should be in jail, but they cant prove it.


Third, if we should give the police and prosecutors a means to put people in prison for whoever they might suspect was guilty but couldnt prove it, then why not make a law that everyone violates so police could imprison anyone they suspected of committing a crime instead of just the people who smoke pot? The police are currently not able to put a suspected person in prison if they dont smoke pot - most people the police suspect of committing crimes are going free. Why not just get rid of trials altogether and let police imprison anyonte that they think are guilty?


Forth, the idea that police are prosecuting criminals who have committed more serious crimes, means that they are ignoring the serious crimes, with heavier penalties, and letting robbers, rapists, murderers, get off with lighter sentences.


Fifth, if police did not have to waste hundreds of millions of man hours on marijuanna arrests, then they would have the time to gather the evidence of the more serious crimes and then prosecute criminals for the appropriate crimes that were actually committed.

 

[xMinionX]

No one is forcing ANYONE to go into a bar where there is smoking. If you don't like the smoke in the bar - go to a different bar. Why force on others who WANT the smoke in the bar your adversion.

Different topic, different thread.

 

[Harlan Norris]

The laws of the land are disputeable. To some it seems unreasonable that pot is illegal. To me it seems likely, that those who consider it so,are probably users. Otherwise it would be a non issue. Pot is a crutch.Just as alchohol and the numerous other drugs one might use to separate one's self from life. What is clear to me as an ex user is that pot is not the key to happiness,insight,longevity or a cure for cancer. It is also clear to me that pot is a gateway drug.Once one finds ones self in the company of dopers,one will be tempted to try other more exotic offerings.Many such ones become statistics,with ruined lives and broken familys. So, I voted that it should remain illegal,with the full knowledge that it's illegal status does not of it'sself prevent use.Only an honest desire to remain clear of the trouble it brings can do that.

 

[cobweb]

The laws of the land are disputeable. To some it seems unreasonable that pot is illegal. To me it seems likely, that those who consider it so,are probably users. Otherwise it would be a non issue. Pot is a crutch.Just as alchohol and the numerous other drugs one might use to separate one's self from life. What is clear to me as an ex user is that pot is not the key to happiness,insight,longevity or a cure for cancer. It is also clear to me that pot is a gateway drug.Once one finds ones self in the company of dopers,one will be tempted to try other more exotic offerings.Many such ones become statistics,with ruined lives and broken familys. So, I voted that it should remain illegal,with the full knowledge that it's illegal status does not of it'sself prevent use.Only an honest desire to remain clear of the trouble it brings can do that.

I am not a user and I doubt that I ever will be. I would not smoke it unless I needed relief for some serious medicinal reason (God forbid). In some cases the side effects of cannabis usage would be much more tollerable that some more accepted medical alternatives.

IMO, if I am dying of bone cancer it should not matter to the US government if I am using cannabis.

I do believe that it should be legal.

 

[susanann]

To some it seems unreasonable that pot is illegal. To me it seems likely, that those who consider it so,are probably users. Otherwise it would be a non issue.

I am a nonuser, and I never will be a user.

It should be legal.

It is not a non-issue for nonusers - the Drug War, esp. marijuanna, is wasting tens of billions of our tax dollars, wasting millions of police manhours, and has accomplished nothing except to give huge sums of money to the mafia, to police, to attorneys, to prison service industries, and caused lots and lots of violent drug related crimes.

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

It is also clear to me that pot is a gateway drug

Eeek, this is a pet peeve of mine, and reality would seem to disagree with you.

That's just use by 12th graders, which is 50 percent. We can safely assume that people smoke pot after high school, who didn't in school, so we can up that number.

As soon as you can show me 50 percent... heck, make it 15 percent, of the US population has used harder drugs, then I'll believe your gateway scenerio.

 

[susanann]

Eeek, this is a pet peeve of mine, and reality would seem to disagree with you.



That's just use by 12th graders, which is 50 percent. We can safely assume that people smoke pot after high school, who didn't in school, so we can up that number.

As soon as you can show me 50 percent... heck, make it 15 percent, of the US population has used harder drugs, then I'll believe your gateway scenerio.

YOur point is very valid, but you are not going about it the right way.

It might even be easy to show 15 percent of adults use hard drugs after smoking marijuanna, but you will also find that most hard drug users also started out by consuming milk, coffee, and tobacco before going on hard drugs.

There could be some connection of increased use of hard drugs with marijuanna smokers - but that reason would be because those people were forced to seek out and form partnerships with drug dealers who supply them with marijuanna. Ther very fact that they are being forced to go to a drug dealer ( who sells many products) in order to get something to smoke, puts him in contact with a supplier of hard drugs. Obviously, a nonsmoker never ever has any contact with a drug supplier.

It is like going to a grocery store. IF you have to go to a grocery store in order to buy milk, then you might find other things to buy while you are there. People who would never have to go to a grocery store just dont have the opportunity to buy other things.

 

[xMinionX]

I smoked marijuana before I started drinking coffee. Is ganja a gateway drug to Starbucks? Conspiracy!

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

I smoked marijuana before I started drinking coffee. Is ganja a gateway drug to Starbucks? Conspiracy!

Seriously, me too.

 

[nvxplorer]

The laws of the land are disputeable. To some it seems unreasonable that pot is illegal. To me it seems likely, that those who consider it so,are probably users.

What is your opinion based on? To me, it seems likely that your opinion is nothing but biased speculation.

Pot is a crutch.

To some, yes. To some, skiing is a crutch. So are soap operas. NASCAR. American Idol. Arguing. You name it; anything can become a crutch. So what?

Just as alchohol and the numerous other drugs one might use to separate one's self from life.

Or perhaps, people use these substances to celebrate life, not run from it. It's called "recreational use" for a reason.

What is clear to me as an ex user is that pot is not the key to happiness,insight,longevity or a cure for cancer.

It's clear to me as a casual user that your experience does not relate to everyone.

It is also clear to me that pot is a gateway drug.

Are you familiar with post hoc fallacy?

Once one finds ones self in the company of dopers,one will be tempted to try other more exotic offerings.

Is this based on personal experience? If not, what evidence can you offer in support of these claims?

Many such ones become statistics,with ruined lives and broken familys. So, I voted that it should remain illegal,with the full knowledge that it's illegal status does not of it'sself prevent use.Only an honest desire to remain clear of the trouble it brings can do that.

I didn't know that Reefer Madness was still available for rental.

 

[susanann]

Quote

Just as alchohol and the numerous other drugs one might use to separate one's self from life.

Forget about policing marijuanna - not many people use it.



Alcohol, nicotine, and caffiene are the most widely used/abused drugs in our society.



If any drugs are illegal, we should outlaw these drugs first, and imprison anyone using caffiene, alcohol, or tobacco.

 

[Peacebestill]

The laws of the land are disputeable. To some it seems unreasonable that pot is illegal. To me it seems likely, that those who consider it so,are probably users. Otherwise it would be a non issue. Pot is a crutch.Just as alchohol and the numerous other drugs one might use to separate one's self from life. What is clear to me as an ex user is that pot is not the key to happiness,insight,longevity or a cure for cancer. It is also clear to me that pot is a gateway drug.Once one finds ones self in the company of dopers,one will be tempted to try other more exotic offerings.Many such ones become statistics,with ruined lives and broken familys. So, I voted that it should remain illegal,with the full knowledge that it's illegal status does not of it'sself prevent use.Only an honest desire to remain clear of the trouble it brings can do that.

I find your comments to be insightful, based on direct experience, and I am in full agreement on every point.

My personal experience tells me the exact same things.

Nonetheless it is not the governments job to save us from ourselves, especially from a backyard weed.

 

[susanann]

Pot is a crutch.Just as alchohol and the numerous other drugs one might use to separate one's self from life.

Anyone in a hospital can tell you that alcohol is the more dangerous drug.


Drunk driving, liver and other health problems, abusive behavior by drunks, unemployment or underperformance of alcoholics, etc.


Nutitionally, alcohol is a "poison".


If you were sincere, you would want alcohol outlawed, and you would want our police spending time preventing people from using alcohol instead of marijuanna.

 

[nvxplorer]

I find your comments to be insightful, based on direct experience, and I am in full agreement on every point.

My personal experience tells me the exact same things.

This may be true, Peacebestill, but experiences differ among people. What is bad for one is not necessarily bad for all. Discounting physically addicting substances (opiates, alcohol, barbiturates), addiction is particular to the individual, not the activity. People can and do become addicted to many things, drug use being only one such activity. Combating addictive personalities with incarceration is, frankly, boneheaded and unproductive.