Decriminalize Pot..... sez Pat Robertson.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Carter is a happy camper. He is on track to not be the worst president ever all time.

Bush Jr. has that award hands down. After LBJ you would have thought they would have given up on electing Texans.

[alienlovechild 75]

Bush Jr. has that award hands down. After LBJ you would have thought they would have given up on electing Texans.

Or these Texans

Lloyd Bentsen

Ross Perot

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Anyone with a brain can determine it is foolish to continue spending billions on trying to fight a war against a plant anyone can grow in their basement and is less harmful than beer.

Of course all those billions that get "spent" get paid to someone who benefits from marijuana being illegal. so far the people who benefit monetarily from it being illegal are winning over the people that benefit from it being legal.

I can hardly imagine that the real issue is money. Can you?

Edited December 25, 2010 by Gary and Alla

[james&olya 1,121]

Anyone with a brain can determine it is foolish to continue spending billions on trying to fight a war against a plant anyone can grow in their basement and is less harmful than beer.

Of course all those billions that get "spent" get paid to someone who benefits from marijuana being illegal. so far the people who benefit monetarily from it being illegal are winning over the people that benefit from it being legal.

I can hardly imagine that the real issue is money. Can you?

Of course it couldn't be money. No, corporations could not be that crass. Just because they cannot control production and profits has nothing to do with why marijuana is illegal and alcohol is legit. We know that alcohol isn't a 'drug' because it is legal. Marijuana of course is a drug, just ask our DEA. Besides, look at all the economic stimulus from alcohol! It keeps emergency rooms, orthopedic surgeons, and undertakers busy. Marijuana on the other hand keeps people out of the shrink's office and hurts sales of Prozac etc. Yes, marijuana is evil, horrible. Our government helps us all by spending billions of our tax dollars to protect us all from this scourge!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Of course it couldn't be money. No, corporations could not be that crass. Just because they cannot control production and profits has nothing to do with why marijuana is illegal and alcohol is legit. We know that alcohol isn't a 'drug' because it is legal. Marijuana of course is a drug, just ask our DEA. Besides, look at all the economic stimulus from alcohol! It keeps emergency rooms, orthopedic surgeons, and undertakers busy. Marijuana on the other hand keeps people out of the shrink's office and hurts sales of Prozac etc. Yes, marijuana is evil, horrible. Our government helps us all by spending billions of our tax dollars to protect us all from this scourge!

If they want to ban a plant, I have some other suggestions for which they could count on better cooperation...

1. Kudzu

2. Crabgrass

3. Brussels Sprouts

[james&olya 1,121]

If they want to ban a plant, I have some other suggestions for which they could count on better cooperation...

1. Kudzu

2. Crabgrass

3. Brussels Sprouts

[alienlovechild 75]

Marijuana on the other hand keeps people out of the shrink's office and hurts sales of Prozac etc.

If there's so much pot around, how come prescription drug abuse is soaring especially among the young?

The difference is about public perception and history with alcohol, marijuana and legal drugs. Alcohol in America goes back a long way and was widely used and many wanted to ban it and they were successful for a while. People were used to booze and what comes with it.

Pot's been used widely used since the 60s but people don't want their kids to smoke it so it's unlikely to be legalized after 50 years of public exposure. Has little to do with money because if that was the case, they're would be a far greater majority wanting to legalize it. I've never seen any study that claimed marijuana would seriously hurt the legal drug industry or brewers. It's a different buzz and people prefer their own poison.

[john & jean 37]

Gary, not sure 'bout crab grass and kudzu, Brussels Sprouts should be banned

[james&olya 1,121]

If there's so much pot around, how come prescription drug abuse is soaring especially among the young?

The difference is about public perception and history with alcohol, marijuana and legal drugs. Alcohol in America goes back a long way and was widely used and many wanted to ban it and they were successful for a while. People were used to booze and what comes with it.

Pot's been used widely used since the 60s but people don't want their kids to smoke it so it's unlikely to be legalized after 50 years of public exposure. Has little to do with money because if that was the case, they're would be a far greater majority wanting to legalize it. I've never seen any study that claimed marijuana would seriously hurt the legal drug industry or brewers. It's a different buzz and people prefer their own poison.

You are taking my tongue-in-cheek comments way too seriously! I agree with much of what you say. While I don't want my kids smoking pot I think that it is a far less destructive drug than alcohol! And my reference to money was not from the perspective of the potential users but from the people that really influence our politicians, the corporate lobbyists that finance campaigns. Majority does not rule with our representatives, I'm afraid, unless you are referring to the green-backs! And relative to prescription drug abuse vs marijuana and alcohol, it all has to do with availability. If you choke off the supply of one mind altering substance, the substance abuser switches to another. And alcohol is almost always available!

[alienlovechild 75]

And my reference to money was not from the perspective of the potential users but from the people that really influence our politicians, the corporate lobbyists that finance campaigns. Majority does not rule with our representatives, I'm afraid, unless you are referring to the green-backs! And relative to prescription drug abuse vs marijuana and alcohol, it all has to do with availability. If you choke off the supply of one mind altering substance, the substance abuser switches to another. And alcohol is almost always available!

Nonsense, marijuana legalization campaigns don't lose because of slick well-funded campaigns but by the simple fact that most voters don't like pot themselves and don't want kids to smoke it. If you can find evidence to the contrary let me know as I've heard it all for least 30 years on this issue.

Availability means nothing as marijuana, booze and pills are available if you ask around. I've never seen anything that claims all of these intoxications have the same effects and product substitution is seamless for users. If booze is legal why would anyone smoke pot? A lot of people abuse multiple substances and there are those that have preferences. I've got my own experiences in these matters and knew people in the same boat. It's not a zero sum game where marijuana legalization would seriously harm the legal substances industry.

[james&olya 1,121]

Nonsense, marijuana legalization campaigns don't lose because of slick well-funded campaigns but by the simple fact that most voters don't like pot themselves and don't want kids to smoke it. If you can find evidence to the contrary let me know as I've heard it all for least 30 years on this issue.

Availability means nothing as marijuana, booze and pills are available if you ask around. I've never seen anything that claims all of these intoxications have the same effects and product substitution is seamless for users. If booze is legal why would anyone smoke pot? A lot of people abuse multiple substances and there are those that have preferences. I've got my own experiences in these matters and knew people in the same boat. It's not a zero sum game where marijuana legalization would seriously harm the legal substances industry.

I agree with most of what you say. I think you miss my point here. I am not in favor of legalizing pot! And I never said that people don't have preferences! Even among alcoholics they usually prefer a specific thing, beer, wine, vodka, etc. And they even have specific brands and even type of container!! You very well may have more experience than I do with the use end of these things. I work in the medical field so I see it from that perspective. As well as a parent that lost a son to a drunk driver!

You seriously think availability means nothing? Seems like you are all over the place on this issue! I think availability is very significant but perhaps not so much that the intensity of our so-called war on drugs has any significant benefit as long as alcohol remains a legal back-up 'drug' if all else is not available. Not preferred perhaps, but something to get 'high' on. (High is a ridiculous term BTW). And alcohol is one of the most destructive 'drugs' out there. My point is that marijuana is probably one of the least dangerous (note I don't say no danger) and it is precisely because of what you acknowledge, that substitution is not seamless, as you put it. It is mind-altering, but in a way that differs greatly from alcohol and narcotics, as well as stimulants. I think that our tax dollars would do far more good if we tried a different approach. Now all we do by trying to choke off supply is to raise the price and profit potential for those who want to sell it to our children! Maybe we should try reducing the demand instead, through prevention and treatment programs.

Recognizing that something is bad does not have to equal a call for it to be illegal with draconian penalties and have a 'war' on its availability and sale. We need to think rationally about what we are doing. The war on drugs has failed miserably. Maybe it is time to try a different approach. I don't agree with Huckabee on a lot of things but I think he is right on this.

[alienlovechild 75]

Maybe we should try reducing the demand instead, through prevention and treatment programs.

Ww've had prevention programs for decades and only consumption that's be curbed significantly is on the legal product of tobacco. Most of the current treatment programs have a pretty spotty record of success. You should know more about it in the medical field as that's not my field. When you talk about a profit motive, the spa type rehab centers are a big business.

"Every year, state and federal governments spend more than $15 billion, and insurers at least $5 billion more, on substance-abuse treatment services for some four million people. That amount may soon increase sharply: last year, Congress passed the mental health parity law, which for the first time includes addiction treatment under a federal law requiring that insurers cover mental and physical ailments at equal levels."

"Yet very few rehabilitation programs have the evidence to show that they are effective. The resort-and-spa private clinics generally do not allow outside researchers to verify their published success rates. The publicly supported programs spend their scarce resources on patient care, not costly studies.

And the field has no standard guidelines. Each program has its own philosophy; so, for that matter, do individual counselors. No one knows which approach is best for which patient, because these programs rarely if ever track clients closely after they graduate. Even Alcoholics Anonymous, the best known of all the substance-abuse programs, does not publish data on its participants’ success rate."

"For some addicts, a standard program may not help at all, according to Anne Fletcher, who for her book “Sober For Good” interviewed 222 men and women who had been clean for at least five years. “A lot of these people overcame an alcohol problem on their own, or with the help of an individual therapist,” Ms. Fletcher said."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/health/23reha.html

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Nonsense, marijuana legalization campaigns don't lose because of slick well-funded campaigns but by the simple fact that most voters don't like pot themselves and don't want kids to smoke it. If you can find evidence to the contrary let me know as I've heard it all for least 30 years on this issue.

Availability means nothing as marijuana, booze and pills are available if you ask around. I've never seen anything that claims all of these intoxications have the same effects and product substitution is seamless for users. If booze is legal why would anyone smoke pot? A lot of people abuse multiple substances and there are those that have preferences. I've got my own experiences in these matters and knew people in the same boat. It's not a zero sum game where marijuana legalization would seriously harm the legal substances industry.

If your kids want to smoke pot, they can get it easier than they can get beer. Because it is illegal it is completely unregulated.

Of course I do not want my kids smoking pot, drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes for that matter but I am not depending on LAWS to stop them.

Keeping marijuana illegal only obligates a lot of OUR money being spent to try to curtail something that is already abundant everywhere. It is a natural product, does not require a lab or chemicals to produce, you don't even need a still. If you COULD stop all of it being imported, it would be grown in people's basements and backyards. City workers report they find it growing in wooded areas in city parks all over the country. Who do arrest for cultivating?

It is the most astounding waste of tax dollars ever conceived, does nothing to reduce the use of a drug that has less health concerns, far less, than alcohol

[james&olya 1,121]

If your kids want to smoke pot, they can get it easier than they can get beer. Because it is illegal it is completely unregulated.

Of course I do not want my kids smoking pot, drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes for that matter but I am not depending on LAWS to stop them.

Keeping marijuana illegal only obligates a lot of OUR money being spent to try to curtail something that is already abundant everywhere. It is a natural product, does not require a lab or chemicals to produce, you don't even need a still. If you COULD stop all of it being imported, it would be grown in people's basements and backyards. City workers report they find it growing in wooded areas in city parks all over the country. Who do arrest for cultivating?

It is the most astounding waste of tax dollars ever conceived, does nothing to reduce the use of a drug that has less health concerns, far less, than alcohol

[Amby 490]

I can find studies in the morning but the use of marijuana is said to cause problems down the road, not when the person is using it. Also there's been studies to show that it may calm anxiety and help schizophrenIcs for the fIrst 30 or so minutes after smoking, but then makes the symptoms worse.