Legalize Marijuana

Pot Arrests Up: 1 Every 45 Seconds Last Year - US News

The new 2014 FBI Crime Report states that marijuana arrests are up nationally, counting an arrest every 45 seconds. 90% are for simple possession. This needs to stop immediately. This is a waste of resources, and there is a large consensus that legalization has worked very well in Colorado and a few other states.

Let's stop this travesty of justice and legalize nationally. What say you?

Decriminalize federally (except for foreign importation) and let the states choose the rest.

clownboy said:

Decriminalize federally (except for foreign importation) and let the states choose the rest.

Click to expand...

agreed^

I am just curious, what makes you say no foreign importation?

Shadowless said:

Pot Arrests Up: 1 Every 45 Seconds Last Year - US News

The new 2014 FBI Crime Report states that marijuana arrests are up nationally, counting an arrest every 45 seconds. 90% are for simple possession. This needs to stop immediately. This is a waste of resources, and there is a large consensus that legalization has worked very well in Colorado and a few other states.

Let's stop this travesty of justice and legalize nationally. What say you?

Click to expand...

I say that arresting people for marijuana possession is much like arresting people for sneezing in the street because they might scare horses: pointless and a relic from an earlier time that is no longer relevant to us.

Legalise

However, I did this in mind with this being a question aimed at the US.

Back here in The Netherlands it is not legal, unlike most people seem to think. We tolerate it. This is of course an other option, but I do not think that this is the way the US works or can work. The good thing about doing it this way is that people can buy, sell and smoke as they please as long as they do not bother other people. When they do become disturbing in anyway, you can always pick them up because after all it is still illegal. I love it and think it is a great way of dealing with the issue. This is not the reason why we tolerate it though. The reason why we tolerate it is because countries like the US, Germany and Britain objected a bit too much when we wanted to legalise it.

Come to think of it, we should do the same thing with alcohol. Make it illegal and tolerate it. When you cause trouble (and drinkers tend to cause a lot more trouble then smokers do...) you can always pick them up.


Joey

I don't think the federal government should legalize pot...I think they should remove any law they have that deals with the drug.

Leave the legalization or criminalization of pot up to the States.

Legalize all drugs.

I've studied the drug policies and issues for several years now. Every single argument in favor of keeping the manufacture, sale, and use of drugs illegal is easily shot down by one single, irrefutable fact: No matter how dangerous a drug is, when you make that drug illegal you make it more dangerous, not less. In other words, prohibition causes more problems than it solves.

- Until it's legal to manufacture and sell drugs, the black market will continue to own the industry and will continue to make violent criminals filthy rich and ultra powerful. So decriminalization is a half-assed approach that should be stricken from the whole discussion.

- Until we recognize that drug addiction is a medical problem, instead of artificially labeling it a criminal problem and waging a war on drug users, we will continue to fail in the War on Drugs. We need to completely change the way we've been waging this "war".

- The U.S. federal government does not have the Constitutional authority to legislate what The People can and cannot do to their own bodies. So the federal laws prohibiting the possession of drugs are unconstitutional and should be repealed. Not to mention state-sanctioned theft by way of Civil Asset Forfeiture laws.

Legalize ALL drugs, not just marijuana. Minimize demand for drugs via education and addiction treatment. Stop trying to screw with the supply; all that does is increase street prices and the use of cheap/dangerous ingredients.

10 years ago, most people thought I was insane for believing that MJ should be legalized. Today, most people agree, but now they think I'm insane for believing that ALL drugs should be legalized. I think within 20 years the majority will once again again agree with me. In the meantime, they will mindlessly point to all the problems caused by prohibition (cartels, bath salts, synthetic MJ, etc.) as reasons to keep prohibition going.

Joey said:

Legalise

However, I did this in mind with this being a question aimed at the US.

Back here in The Netherlands it is not legal, unlike most people seem to think. We tolerate it. This is of course an other option, but I do not think that this is the way the US works or can work. The good thing about doing it this way is that people can buy, sell and smoke as they please as long as they do not bother other people. When they do become disturbing in anyway, you can always pick them up because after all it is still illegal. I love it and think it is a great way of dealing with the issue. This is not the reason why we tolerate it though. The reason why we tolerate it is because countries like the US, Germany and Britain objected a bit too much when we wanted to legalise it.

Come to think of it, we should do the same thing with alcohol. Make it illegal and tolerate it. When you cause trouble (and drinkers tend to cause a lot more trouble then smokers do...) you can always pick them up.


Joey

Click to expand...

I have always said that the Dutch model is the best in the world. However, when the US Federal government finally acts and either reschedules cannabis or legalizes it outright, we will have the best model.

Shadowless said:

Pot Arrests Up: 1 Every 45 Seconds Last Year - US News

The new 2014 FBI Crime Report states that marijuana arrests are up nationally, counting an arrest every 45 seconds. 90% are for simple possession. This needs to stop immediately. This is a waste of resources, and there is a large consensus that legalization has worked very well in Colorado and a few other states.

Let's stop this travesty of justice and legalize nationally. What say you?

Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better myself. These arrests are just another revenue scheme and we need to move on like other adults have.

I'm a pretty conservative, right-wing kind of person -- especially on anything involving the economy, and would you believe that I voted enthusiastically FOR legalization of marijuana in Colorado? Of course I did!

I'm smoked a couple of bowls since it became legal, but nothing of consequence. And in spite of some of what hysterical anti-pot propaganda says, we do NOT have roving bands of incoherent stoners littering the streets, we don't have a big increase in traffic crashes, or clouds of MJ smoke all over the place. BUT, we do have a very nice (and growing) contribution toward satisfying our state tax burden!

As a right-wing conservative, I believe strongly in a person's individual right to do whatever he/she pleases, so long as it doesn't bother other people or keep them from doing what they want to do. That is a powerful motivation! And then, there's the windfall taxes.

My only complaint is that we restrict MJ sales to small amounts and blow a lot of the tax income on "prevention" and "MJ abuse" programs. What a pant-load! Especially now, while only four states have legalized recreational use of MJ, we ought to be allowing everybody who is duly licensed to sell the damn stuff by the trainload if they can! Soon it will be legal all over the U. S., and then Colorado will have lost its edge and thrown away the possibility to bring in many extra millions in taxes. The school districts suck up property tax money like a monster vacuum cleaner on overdrive -- hell, if we would quit being so stupid, we could probably satisfy the rapacious appetite of even the Colorado Education Industry, and that is saying a LOT!