Legal Status of Marijuana

[Nym90]

Mostly good points, Beef. There is going to be a line drawn somewhere, it's just a matter of what the specific criteria is.

Marijuana is not a very strong or potent drug when compared to most others that are illegal. It is not, overall, worse than alcohol in my opinion.

The government should have no right to intrude on one's personal affairs when it comes to drugs. Marijuana should be legal as long as people are using them RESPONSIBLY and not going out and driving or doing other activities dangerous to others while high. Make marijuana legal but strongly regulated; it should still be illegal for minors and strongly illegal to drive while under the influence.

[gumbiegirl007]

Marijuana ought to be legal.

Why is Ritalin legal, while marijuana isn't?

Ritalin is meant to be used with a perscription for medical problems such as ADD, and has been effective in helping control the symptoms for years.  It's just like any other Rx....there is going to be a market for anything that has ANY kind of psychological effect, which is unfortunate, but a reality just the same.

And as far as weed...yeah it's a pretty "tame" drug as far as drugs go, but where do we draw the line?  What are the guidelines going to be for deciding what's "ok" vs. what is still considered criminal?  

Let me turn that around.  Why is marijuana illegal, and not alcohol?  Why do we draw the line there?   Why not make all recreational drugs illegal?  Surely, alcohol is the cause of grave social ills - much moreso than pot.  Nobody smokes pot and then beats up their spouse.  Fights and riots don't break out because a bunch of people get stoned.  And there certainly is no legitimate medical use for alcohol.  At least not in the age of modern anesthesia.

And why stop at alcohol?  Caffiene causes a national epidemic of anxiety and insomnia.  Insomnia leads to people driving to work in the morning unrested - putting other drivers at risk!  Anxiety costs our businesses millions of dollars in lost productivity, and raises the costs of health insurance to pay for Paxil and Prozac.

My point is, you do have to draw the line somewhere, but illegal marijuana and legal alcohol makes no sense whatsoever.  Pot should be treated exactly the same as alcohol.

well while you're at it don't stop with caffeine and alcohol.
you really ought to throw nicotine, sugar, and oils/fats into the mix as well.  i mean after all these do not only effect the users but others around them.  
look at second hand smoke, and it's carcinogenic effects, and what about the distraction of smoking while driving, looking for/lighting those little cancer sticks while you should be driving, is unsafe.
also look at the obesity epidemic, and what about heart disease.  maybe we ought to throw in red meat too because of KJD.  i mean afterall, obesity and heart disease alone cost the tax payers millions of dollars, and contribute to the rising costs of healthcare r/t the use of medicaid/medicare.  oh and might as well throw diabetes into the mix too, seeing as it's a secondary complication to obesity in many cases.  
what it comes down to is this:  alcohol is unsafe, yes, caffeine is addictive, yes,  Rx meds can be a source of addiction, yes.  but here's the facts:  no one is going to go for making alcohol illegal, again.  while i believe in free choice and all that good stuff, there has to be some regulation.  i see no benefit to making the possession of mj legal.  there should be some sort of punishment for using a substance like that.  just like the tax on cigarettes, or BAL's and DUI's for alcohol.  there are enough issues with trying to keep control of the substances that are legal without throwing in more.  it's an unnecessary change.  people who want to do it, do it.  and if you get caught, be prepared to take responsibility....same as DUI's or lung CA or being fat or having a massive MI.

[specific_name]

hemp has been used to make clothes, paper and all kinds of useful things for thousands of years. At least it could be grown on an industrial basis. I know that its more durable than cotton in clothing. Of course the problem with that is the stigmatizim canabis has. I think that's pretty unfair, aside from smoking it... the industrial applications are still very real.

btw I don't even use marijuana, I'm just very familiar with psychoactive drugs.

[John Dibble]

btw I don't even use marijuana, I'm just very familiar with psychoactive drugs.

You'll find most libertarians don't do drugs either. Most of us think it's a poor choice. We just believe that freedom requires letting people make their own bad choices.

[specific_name]

btw I don't even use marijuana, I'm just very familiar with psychoactive drugs.

You'll find most libertarians don't do drugs either. Most of us think it's a poor choice. We just believe that freedom requires letting people make their own bad choices.

I totally agree with you there, I'm starting to think I'm a libertarian. Most of my views are not purely left or right.

[John Dibble]

btw I don't even use marijuana, I'm just very familiar with psychoactive drugs.

You'll find most libertarians don't do drugs either. Most of us think it's a poor choice. We just believe that freedom requires letting people make their own bad choices.

I totally agree with you there, I'm starting to think I'm a libertarian. Most of my views are not purely left or right.

Perhaps you're a little 'l' libertarian. I'm a Big 'L' cuz I'm a party member. Hey, the party can always use intelligent people to run for office - if you feel up to it run for a local office under the LP ticket.

[specific_name]

btw I don't even use marijuana, I'm just very familiar with psychoactive drugs.

You'll find most libertarians don't do drugs either. Most of us think it's a poor choice. We just believe that freedom requires letting people make their own bad choices.

I totally agree with you there, I'm starting to think I'm a libertarian. Most of my views are not purely left or right.

Perhaps you're a little 'l' libertarian. I'm a Big 'L' cuz I'm a party member. Hey, the party can always use intelligent people to run for office - if you feel up to it run for a local office under the LP ticket.

I'm considering voting for Badnarik in november, so far I like the LP the best of the third parties. Especially since many of them are either socialist (workers world, etc) or religious right (constitution, america first).

[John Dibble]

btw I don't even use marijuana, I'm just very familiar with psychoactive drugs.

You'll find most libertarians don't do drugs either. Most of us think it's a poor choice. We just believe that freedom requires letting people make their own bad choices.

I totally agree with you there, I'm starting to think I'm a libertarian. Most of my views are not purely left or right.

Perhaps you're a little 'l' libertarian. I'm a Big 'L' cuz I'm a party member. Hey, the party can always use intelligent people to run for office - if you feel up to it run for a local office under the LP ticket.

I'm considering voting for Badnarik in november, so far I like the LP the best of the third parties. Especially since many of them are either socialist (workers world, etc) or religious right (constitution, america first).

I hate to toot my own horn, but yeah. I think the Libertarians are really the only ones with actual alternative ideas.

[CARLHAYDEN]

I know that this can be more of a state and municipal issue rather than a federal one.

Sadly, it is a federal issue, whether we like it or not.  Your state could make the hippie lettuce completely legal, and your municipality could then set up a community hemp farm and hash bar...

...and the FBI/DEA/ATF would swoop in, automatic weapons a-blazin', and take everyone into federal custody.  And probably have the state and municipal goverments executed for treason.

Hooray for states' rights!

You are quite correct.

The voters in my state TWICE voted to reduce penalties on possession of small amounts of marijuana, and voted for medical marijuana, but the feds are blocking the will of the people.

Dumb question: How is this Constitutional?  I mean, I know a lot of the Federal drug laws were derived from the Commerce Clause, but how can Jimmy Stoner growing ditchweed for himself on his back porch have anything to do with interstate commerce?  What gives the federal government the power to make and enforce drug laws?

For more on Commerce Clause abuse: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20031105.shtml

You're right.

The 'commerce clause' has been referred to as the 'elastic clause' as it has been abused as the pretext for federal intervention in areas where the feds have no legitimate standing.

[minionofmidas]

It should be made legal and taxed and sold much like liquor. DUI laws would still apply and other such laws.

I must say I agree.  It's a shame most governments have failed to realize the revenue potential PLUS the lower expenses for law enforcement with regards to legal marijuana.

If people want to smoke that crap and kill themselves it's up to them. Same with tobacco and alcohol. Making drugs illegal was the worst mistake this nation ever made. Thanks Democrats.

1. I agree - let people make their own bad decisions. So long as they don't hurt people or put people at risk unnecessarily(DUI) while in their intoxicated state, let'm have it. Marijuana is probably the least dangerous illegal drug there is, I can hardly see a good reason to keep it illegal. Drug prohibition drives up crime by inflating the cost of drugs, and people are going to buy drugs whether they are legal or not. If drugs are legalized, jails will be less overcrowded(more room for violent, dangerous people, less early releases for them). Will use rates go up? Yes, it's simple economics - but we could counter the increase somewhat by transfering some of the funds used to fight drugs to drug education programs(which deter use). Also, if drugs are legal we can put those nifty little surgeon's general warnings on them, like with cigarretes. We can also regulate(this is a card carrying Libertarian suggesting this, and we're against regulation, lol) the amount of a substance drugs could have in them(for instance, we could have a limit to how much THC pot has) if they were legal.

Plus we must remember that marijuana sold on the streets has been enhanced with other drugs or extra THC is added (I believe).

That's basically a myth (although most people would prefer to buy from somebody they know and trust.) However, there's been a lot of breeding going on in the last twenty years and the stuff is now way more potent than it was in the 60's. We're talking 4-fold increases of THC content here.

Lewis,

I've known drug users, pushers and abusers. Believe me they do (but not so much anymore) lace marijuana with Angel Dust or various other drugs.

So have I. I know stories of the stuff laced with dog doo - even of people being sold chocolate as hashish although that's no doubt an urban myth.

[??????????]

OK you believe marijuana being laced is a urban legend. I've known people that have used laced marijuana. Believe me, it's true.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

what it comes down to is this:  alcohol is unsafe, yes, caffeine is addictive, yes,  Rx meds can be a source of addiction, yes.  but here's the facts:  no one is going to go for making alcohol illegal, again.  while i believe in free choice and all that good stuff, there has to be some regulation.  i see no benefit to making the possession of mj legal.  

I see plenty of benefits:
1. We can use our limited law-enforcement resources to combat real crime.
2. We can save taxpayer money by not having to keep non-violent perpetrators of victimless, imaginary crimes locked up in our penal system.
3. We can focus our efforts on actually treating people with drug problems (although, in the case of MJ, very few users have a "problem"), rather than stygmitizing and criminalizing them.
4. We can eleminate the crime associated with trafficking illegal substances (we should have learned that lesson from prohibition).
5. We can regulate MJ so that the product people use is completely safe. (people are going to use pot whether it's illegal or not, so we might as well make sure that the pot they are using is safe.)

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I believe, absolutely, that there should be strict laws against driving under the influence of any impairing substance.  Because you are putting others at risk.  But why should we have laws against doing things that don't put anyone else at risk?

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There are lots more issues in criminalizing a substance than there are in regulating it.  Imagine if we brought back prohibition.  It would be a law enforcement nightmare.  Criminalizing a substance as abundant as MJ is also a law enforcement nightmare.  It is unnecessary.

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Your argument is that we should stay with the status quo because it's the status quo.  Well, the status quo is criminalizing millions of Americans unnecessarily, costing us a ton of money, expanding the power of the Federal government beyond its Constitutional limits, and causing the government to intrude into our lives in ways it has no business doing.

I don't like the status quo.

[John Dibble]

You'd make a good libertarian, Beef.

Responding to your 'undecided' sig, I'd recommend Badnarik. I've got him linked in my sig. If you're looking for other people to vote for in other offices, here's Libertarians running in your state: http://www.lpwi.org/candidates.html

[ilikeverin]

OK you believe marijuana being laced is a urban legend. I've known people that have used laced marijuana. Believe me, it's true.

Yeah, it's true; I learned it in health

(Can you tell that's my anti-marijuana warrior cry?)

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

You'd make a good libertarian, Beef.

Responding to your 'undecided' sig, I'd recommend Badnarik. I've got him linked in my sig. If you're looking for other people to vote for in other offices, here's Libertarians running in your state: http://www.lpwi.org/candidates.html

The thought had crossed my mind.  My (extreme right-wing) grandmother votes LP from time to time.  I myself voted for Ed Thompson for governor in 2002 (>10% LP vote got them on the state canvassing board).

The problem I have with the LP is they go too far to the extreme.  I don't think totally open borders is a good idea, I don't think completely unrestricted foreign trade is a good idea.  I do think the state does have an important role to play in promoting the general welfare, ensuring a level playing field for business, safeguarding our natural resources, etc.  A lot of the LP platform is at odds with these principles.

[Redefeatbush04]

It should be made legal and taxed and sold much like liquor. DUI laws would still apply and other such laws.

I must say I agree.  It's a shame most governments have failed to realize the revenue potential PLUS the lower expenses for law enforcement with regards to legal marijuana.

If people want to smoke that crap and kill themselves it's up to them. Same with tobacco and alcohol. Making drugs illegal was the worst mistake this nation ever made. Thanks Democrats.

I fully agree with your position StatesRights, but please, do not try to blame this on any one party

[A18]

WHY is it that whenever an issue comes up, people say stuff like "it's a state issue."

No duh it's a state issue. Everything you can possibly debate is not a federal issue.

Yes, legalize it. And no, no federal involvement.

[opebo]

The fact that marijuana, among other such things, is illegal reminds us that the US is much less free than many other countries.  It also reminds us that our democracy is dominated by voters and groups who's primary agenda is social control.

[John Dibble]

WHY is it that whenever an issue comes up, people say stuff like "it's a state issue."

Because the federal government sticks it's nose in it anyways. The tenth amendment is the most often ignored.

[Donovan]

We should not be spending billions of dollars on MJ enforcement. We should leave it up to the states to decide the fine.

[Redefeatbush04]

We lose money by enforcing marijuana laws, we make money by taxing marijuana......