how do you feel about the criminaliztion of pot? Do you think legislators should change its drug classification?

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decriminalized... yes
legal... no

something about someone getting caught with marijuana and spending more time in jail then a rapist..... RRRRRREALLY pisses me off... would piss me off if i was raped... drug laws need reform... i think most people you talk to... both on and off this board, will agree to that

Ok Im going to get the heat for this one. Im the one person who voted no. Because I don't think they have a proper way of controling it if it becomes legal. They can't even control Alchohol and Cigs. now they don't need another easly accessable (even more than it is now) drug on the market.

i don't see the point to having more regulation on something that is less dangerous and unhealthy than both alcohol and cigarettes

it should be moved to a lower class.

actually, if marijuana was made legal it could then be taxed and controlled, in turn making it more difficult for minors to get their hands on. think about it, how many people now grow their own tobacco or operate their own stills? i can't site any specific source, but studies have shown it is easier for kids to get marijuana now than it is for them to get cigs or alcohol (if my middle school was even remotely representative of the rest of america then i can attest to this).

i agree with what sean said. pot is less harmful all around, and by far, than cigarettes and alcohol. it's all a matter of stigma and propaganda the keeps people so against marijuana imo.

i think it should be legal with restrictions (like in amsterdam) and government controlled/standardized based on the fact that it wouldn't hurt anything (not even as close to as bad as alcohol or cigs to anyway, which is really all that matters), and it'd stimulate the economy.

andy

i hope when we grow up, the pragmatism sticks around and we're not so concerned with the status quo

from what i understand, the government makes more money with it being illegal.

i don't see how that could be possible, the drug war costs an insane ammount of money that could be better allocated to other causes and programs.... i'd be interested to see some real figures on the issue though.

there are many professionals the support it and thats what we need for a legalization movement.

i really dont have time to get in my legalization speech and thoughts , but i will try and post some up tonite when i get back home.

Well, I know for a fact that Bush proposed to spend $2.8 billion dollars on the war on drugs.

good ol' boy, isn't he..... :?

even many conservatice republicans are joining the decriminalization of marijuana

which is a good thing.... unfortunately, the move towards rehabilitation before incarceration and the general decriminalization of drugs has consistently taken steps backwards during republican administrations... reagan, the bushes, and the daddy of them all, nixon.

The reason that pot won't be legalized is that too many people make money off of not utilizing it to its full potential.

Lemme give you the rundown on everybody who makes money of off pot prohibition:

** PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES - are sheltered from competition with natural cannabis products that, frankly, tend to be a lot more medicinal than most of the crap you can get in a pharmacy

** PLASTICS AND PAPER INDUSTRY - it is a well-known fact that hemp contains sufficient amounts of cellulose to produce plastics and paper, generally stronger and much cheaper than it is to use the two current sources of starting material, oil and wood, which are ridiculously wasteful

** SPEAKING OF OIL AND WOOD - the oil and wood industries are heavily involved in cannabis prohibition. in fact, the original anti-pot laws in the U.S. were passed at the behest of America's most famous newspaper demagogue, W.R. Hearst, whose newspapers were very profitable only because he was using really cheap and poorly made wood paper, and his profit advantage over other papers would be wiped out if hemp paper was used.

** THE PRISON INDUSTRY - is a multibillion dollar industry in the United States. we spend more money on prisons than we do on schools, and most of that money is going to private prison-operating corporations, which is one of the most profitable businesses to be in. did i mention that a large percentage (if not the majority...i don't remember) of prisoners are there for drugs, mostly pot, and that numbers of incarcerated drug "offenders" rise every year...

**LAW ENFORCEMENT - police budgets and the DEA budget are massive compared to what they used to be... the DEA itself eats up tens of billions dollars a year, all to fight a losing war... because the point is not to "win" the drug war but rather to create a bureaucracy of law-enforcement that lives monetarily off of this continuous "conflict". Also, one of the other original reasons for pot prohibition had to do with the fact that the law was enacted directly after alcohol prohibition was lifted in the US... so as to provide job security for all of the extra prohibition-enforcing cops who would otherwise have been laid off

**DRUG TESTING INDUSTRY - believe it or not, this is a multi-multi billion dollar industry.
To make a long story short, pot prohibition is not in place because of actual concerns about people smoking pot, but rather because of the massive amounts of money to be made off of an expensive and unwinnable drug war.

Just my $0.02

Bob

the prison industry is a monstrosity, especially when they are beginning to be run by private corporations.....

http://www.nomoreprisons.net

I'll admit the prison system is really out of hand... my stance on the drug laws are i think the punishment for marijuana possesion should be reduced to a fine of sorts if they are gonna keep it illegal. I myself have a mixed stance on marijuana, i mean if they legalize it, that means more expensive but less stress of being pulled over or busted... Right now we can get it really cheap, but the fear of being caught with it kinda sux sometimes. Now in amsterdam and a few other european cities marijuana is much cheaper than we can get it, and much better quality. yeah we can get pretty good quality KB, but not as good as they have... And definatly not at the price they pay. I have been to curacao (a island in the carribean under hollands laws), and i bought a quarter ounce of some bomb ass bud for $50... a quarter here is like $110-$120. The US would tax the hell out of weed if it were legal... just like cigarettes.


p.s. don't you just love the new tv commercials... saying that purchasing bud and other drugs are supporting terrorist groups. I but all mine off a friend who grows it... all i am dong is supporting his lazy ass, so he doesn't have to get a fulltime job to afford the nice apartment he has...

i agree

I havn't seen the commercials. What drugs are a bunch of terorist selling??? OIL?? What the hell. Just another F-up way to make ignorant people feel bad for smoking pot once and awhile. I think they should legalize or at least stop making us pay to put a bunch of people in prison for pot when we think its wrong. I bet we pay for the commercials too!

60 an eighth is a crime that should be punishable by death.

we sure do.

If pot were legalized then we would no longer be supporting the terrorists, right?

i think you are missing the point.... buying pot does not support the terroists in the first place.