You just said that pot is more dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. You must be insane to even think that.

"Look at any country that has legalized it and ask the general public - the responsible members of it, anyway - if it's made society as a whole better or worse, whatever revenues may be drawn from it. They'll tell you the same thing: it was a mistake."

The Netherlands and Switzerland both enjoy lower rates of adolescent marijuana use than the U.S. Mistake? Apparently not.

Anyone who thinks marijuana is bad should read these studies: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/53

Be informed, not just another uneducated DARE puppet. Research marijuana. Take the time to understand the other side.

About marijuana: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7305

If people could actually back up what they're saying, that'd make them credible.

Prohibition of marijuana DOESN'T work. Just like with alcohol, it just doesn't work. We spend more money trying to control people who are hurting no one but themselves. Marijuana has NEVER and I'll repeat never caused the death of anyone in 5 thousand years. A recent report claims that the smoke from marijuana doesn't have cancer causing materials in it. You know what has killed people though, asprin along with numerous other drugs created in labs. No one smokes a joint and says, hey lets go murder someone, how about some armed robbery? Maybe, how bout some pizza? Now that I could see.

There are plenty of stupid people in the world and they will always be idiots. There are also some very influential people who smoke pot, doctors, lawyers, judges, former Presidents, our current President for crying out loud.

Let's put and end to these archaic laws along with the billions of dollars wasted on this flim flam "war". Let's prevent our youth from easy access through street dealers how don't check ID's.

How about a revival of common sense in America. The first copies of the Declaration were written on hemp paper. Let's get back to our roots.

Legalize it!

unless your part of the underworld

My concern with MJ is how long it remains active in the body tissue. Coke and alcohol are in-and-out; THC ( tetra-hydra-cannibanol, the active ingredient in pot)is fat-soluble and hangs out in the body fat for awhile. When I was in college in the 70's, I used to study it in the library when I was doing other research. I was an incredibly good pot baker because I'd saute' it in butter (fat) to draw out the THC. Wild high; haven't done the stuff for more than 20 years--alcohol's my drug of choice. However, after chemotherapy last year my brain is as foggy as a good pot high--should I not be allowed to drive? I work at being hyper-observant while I'm driving, but what's the difference, really? A hyper-observant pothead, cokehead, boozer or chemobrain--what's the difference, we're all impaired, just some stuff's legal--I rest my case.

C'mon, I can't believe none of you get the real answer.

1.) Where would all the BRIBE money go? Have none of you seen the repeat offenders go back on the street? That takes bags of cash, pure and simple. Split between Lawyers, Judges and DA's, it is a powerful lubricant.
2.) Probably more importantly, should the need arise ( and it looks like it more and more ), these very same Prisons, Law Enforcement officials, and Judges can be used to imprison those foolish enough to stage a Revolution, just as soon as they clear out all the non-violent "Druggies" to clear spaces for the enemies of the State.

You gotta think outside the box here people.

And to the poster that said it was illegal to grow your own Tobacco, better do a little research, no such law exists.

There is literally no reason in this day and age that marijuana should be illegal when alcohol and tobacco is legal. I find it hilarious that the biggest groups that are against legalization are the alcohol and tobacco companies. Entities tied to drug cartels also block legalization efforts. As long as it is illegal the Mexican drug lords can make a killing off of it. The only reason why legalization is so toxic in politics is because of the absurd anti-drug campaigns that have used the most incredible BS to misinform the public about marijuana. In a world where you can literally go to your doctor and complain about chronic pain and be prescribed synthetic cocaine and heroine it is crazy to think that a plant with literally zero negative side effects can be made illegal. I think Obama should have taken this much more seriously.

I am all for making it legal, provided getting a DUI is a felony, punishable with a 3-5 year sentance which is mandatory. Anyone who drives while intoxicated be it alcohol, drugs (even legalally prescribed ones) is putting not just their life at risk but anyone else on the road and cars are 3800+ pound lethal weapons.

take a seed, add water, sunshine, and some soil, and it grows. That is a plant folks! Not a drug. Drugs (like tylenol, which kills thousands every year) are made in labs, by processing things and adding things.

What is the difference between aloe and weed - both plants with tons of uses!

pass the fairtax and it takes the fun out of living the underground lifestyle.it literally smokes the fox outta his hole and brings to light how much they spend and also takes the fun outta making all that tax free income.

I hate when people say "Ohhh but we can't do that or x jobs will be lost"

What happened when we stopped using switchboard operators so much?

It was the same whinefest. There was an 80% job loss in that industry...do you really think all of those former switchboard operators starved to death? Nope. Most of them found new jobs or went back to school. New industries opened up and there they went.

As the CATO insitute themselves has said:

"Finding cheaper ways to produce goods and services frees up labor to produce other things. If productivity gains aren't made, where in the world would we find workers to produce all those goods that weren't even around in the 1970s?

"

You should NEVER sacrifice progress to "keep jobs".

See Article:

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2810


I've even heard politicians use as a COUNTER ARGUMENT when told that recycling plastic isn't that good "ohhh but it creates so many jobs..."

Who the heck wants to do a worthless job!? Not me.

The best chance to end this horrible war on drugs is to send true conservatives to Washington. I'm not talking about RINO's but the real deal. We call the fascist democrats "liberals" but that is a misnomer. Big government "liberals" gave us the war on drugs just like they gave us prohibition.
Our Founding Fathers believed that true personal liberty, combined with personal responsibility, was achieved by keeping government out of people's lives as much a possible. That's liberty. That's true liberalism. This is what frustrates me so much when I read comments from people like CopyLeft. Are these folks so blinded by their envy that they would give away their birthright. Read the story of Jacob and Esau for God's sake.

I used to think legalizing drugs was a bad idea. I'm still not 100% sold, but at least 85%. I don't smoke, never have. It is, as Neal has repeated, stupid. But for the life of me I can't think of a better way to save billions in taxpayer dollars.

I think it depends on the type of drug though. The effects of meth or cocain are much more of a concern than pot. And any law legalizing 'drugs' would have to be very specific and need to include that you couldn't do it on the job or while driving.

I support legalizing marijuana as well, having an elder family member who could benefit from using it medicinally. If anything, I'm ticked off by Obama's laughter, and I know I am not alone.

Try not to let copy get to you. That person is just an antogonist that obviously hasn't a clue and gets jollies this way. I actually like reading the drivel for a good laugh!

You are absolutely correct sir!

I have never touched the stuff, nor do i intend to do so.

But if people want to smoke weed, then why not take that money out of the drug dealers? Let the states tax it!

When i suggest this, people think im crazy, or the world's biggest pothead.

People need to wake up!

Wouldn't growing marijuana be considered a green job? It is green and absorbs CO2 while growing. Obama could increase the number of green jobs that he says he is creating by legalizing pot.

Let me first say that I completely support the legalization of marijuana.

It would show economic growth only because it would legitimize a segment of the underground economy. The money we spend on enforcement would continue to be spent unless we legalize all drugs (cocaine, heroin, opium, etc). More people would not have jobs because of it, it would just appear that way because a lot of the drug-related jobs would be realized. Smugglers who run marijuana between the states would be replaced by truckers. Illegal marijuana farms would be replaced by legal farms, but the enforcement (DEA and other agencies) would still raid illegal marijuana farms (think about tobacco. You can smoke it, but can't grow your own. Legal marijuana would be the same). The most significant difference from the legalization of marijuana would be the incredible increase in tax revenue the government receives.

Being from Canada, I know MANY pot smokers(at least 5 of whom are dead as a result)... Pot smoking makes people MORE STUPID(more murders - for example, killing a girl because she does not like you but it was okay because you were high????? -, drunk driving, ect). The last thing we need is MORE STUPID People. ANOTHER HUGE MISCONCEPTION: Medical Pot is used to help people eat, NOT CURE Cancer. Quite the opposite as it has been linked to causing cancer.
Also, Drug dealers want money. Legalize one drug, they will market new and more dangerous drugs which will NOT solve money spent on the drug war.
Do the research on the countries that have legalized. Not a good outcome. Money will get diverted to healthcare, crimes committed while high, dui's, and so on... Then there is the second hand smoke which will suck for those of us that do not like it and do NOT want people to have an excuse to be more STUPID!!

Copyleft: "Times like these I wish we'd been able to elect an actual liberal, instead of a plain ol' moderate Democrat like Obama".

You mean an outright communist? Oh you are such a worthless excuse for a human being. I don't like to make such direct attacks on people but you really are disgusting. And you love it.

I heard mark Levin say yesterday on his radio show that "I'm sick of seeing the guy everywhere I look. He's like Mao Tse Tung! He's everywhere you look!" I couldn't agree more. The sight of the guy makes my blood pressure go up. I expect to start seeing posters with his picture on it on billboards at the side of the road soon" Oh Great Leader!

Spooner, I mean Obama is a token Marxist, obviously.

Bill, I'm sure with all the additional government jobs our socialist president is going to be creating, the DEA won't have to worry about jobs. Personally, I'd prefer they just get fired and send me back my tax dollars, but if you must find something might I suggest they become drug treatment counselors?

As for your comment on prisons, might I suggest that this would allow them to hold more actual criminals rather than letting them out early due to overcrowding? What good does it do to house perpetrators of a non-violent, victimless crime with psychopaths anyway?

In 1980 the DEA had run out of storage space for seized pot in the Tampa area. After drawn out negogiations with the electric utility it was agreed that the pot would be burned in a generator operation, with the DEA paying for the extra oil it took to burn the pot, and maintainence to clean the burner. On the day of the operation the utility workers kept decreasing the oil feed to the burner as it was not needed, untill the oil feed was cut off, and the pot feeded in burnt and generated electricity for over 10 hours. It was determined that no extra maintainence was needed on the burner. Could there be a lesson here ?

Man, that's some good lookin' smoke!
Yeah, don't know if the lawmakers are ever going to realize that prohibition is a losing battle. As evidenced by the most recent events

DEA agents will tell you they can't keep up as it is now. If we took pot out of the mix, then they could concentrate on more serious issues.

If they would legalize marijuana and have farms (guarded of course) to grow it they could make marijuana cigaretts and sell them in packs and charge the crap out of the stupid smokers with high taxes on the product. You would still have to be over 21 to purchase them. This would probably take care of the national deficit in a year or two.

If someone could guarantee all pot smokers would stay the hell in their houses and not drive or operate machinery while stoned - which, if legal, would be more often than not - I'd be all for legalization. Until then, cram it.

One problem with legalizing drugs is that we would have hundreds of DEA goons out of work. What are they gonna do for a living? Another problem is that many prisons would have to close for lack of inmates. They would have to do what colleges have done to increase enrollment: reduce the requirements for getting in.