Legalization? An Insult-Free Discussion

The National Association of Convenience Store Owners and the Fast Food Federation of America are 100 percent in support of this.

 

Yes - make it legal - and take the billiions spent on enforcement and likely tax revenues from sale and put it to more productive use.

Here is link to DEA budget - look how much it has grown with little impact on reducing use. All we have to show for it is a few good movies and tv shows .

 

If you owned a TV station for potheads (showing cartoons and movies like 'How High' and 'Half-Baked') and a couple of well-stocked convenience stores, you could make a mint if it were legalized.

 

Can't we just have decriminilization? At the very least, can't we say anyone caught with an ounce or less shouldn't be subject to criminal prosecution?

Isn't that the only reasonable thing to do, at least to start with?

Then, in 10 years when absolutely nothing's changed except that the jails aren't so freaking full of pot smokers, then maybe we'll get legalization.

 

I'm right down the line with 21 on this one.  

Growing up, we had a nice couple living next door to us.  They smoked pot occasionally.  The wife got pregnant and quit, the husband kept doing it.  Their baby was born with a learning disability.  This has stuck with me forever.

There are too many humans who will be human and can't handle it, so we need the safeguard of a law.

Solve drinking and driving - prove that we as a human race can kick that problem - then we'll talk about pot.

 

I sympathize with your neighbors, but with this kind of argument, we absolutely SHOULD make alcohol and tobacco illegal. The number of people who continue to smoke while pregnant (or while their spouse is pregnant) is astounding.

 

Luggie --
While I sympathize with your viewpoint, it's a straw-man argument.

Society will never rid itself of idiots, or crime, of any kind. The question becomes when it is simply foolish to continue putting people in jail for smoking weed A, but not weed B or drink C.
It's ludicrous.

Driving while under the influence of marijuana is currently against the law. That's just not part of the discussion.

 

The top gateway drugs are nicotine and alcohol. How many people go straight to pot, heroin or meth without first trying Marlboros or booze?

 

DING! DING! DING!

 

I'm all for legalization (or like one poster said, first we need decriminalization ... baby steps, people), but just to play Devil's Advocate ...

How do you prove a DUI for marijuana, especially if the person smokes at home and then gets into the car? Breathalyzer doesn't work. Motor skill tests probably won't work either. What are cops gonna do, prick you with a needle and take it down to the lab?

Of course, I'll also say that when you're driving while high, it's damn near impossible to go over the speed limit. You're quite content going 33 in a 35. Not that I would know :

And the next person to overdose from marijuana consumption will be the first.

 

How many people beat their kids because they're high?

How many people beat their kids because they're drunk?

Buck Weaver touched on this, but I don't know anyone who gets high and wants to pick a fight with someone for no reason.

 

Urinalysis is used, though a cheek swab test that detects marijunana use in the last 24-48 hours is becoming increasingly popular.
It happens all the time, with terrible consequences. Once the government seizes your urine through the implied consent clause, all hell can break loose.
I personally know people who have had to spend thousands of dollars on legal representation when caught with marijuana and UA'D, only to have thier urine come up with false positives for methamphetamine. (Prescription drugs such as Adderall will trigger false positives for meth, which even in trace amounts in the system carries draconian sentencing minimums)