Comments on: Make Marijuana Legal

Guest Column: The Drug Policy Alliance's Founder On Why Marijuana Should Never Have Been Made Illegal In The First Place

[snowball77]

If more parents took matters into their own hands things would change. I for one will go after any kids that introduce and the dealer that sells my grandson or granddaughter a deadly drug. I think the war on drugs has gone on too long. Law enforcement coddles the user. I don't mind my grandchildren smoking alittle pot as I did that growing up. But I will go armed with the intent of settling the score if anyone gives my grandchildren deadly drugs. I will let the courts decide if my actions are justified.

[jscarson64]

LET YOUR VOICE HEARD CALL THIS NUMBER 973-409-3274. GET OUR RIGHTS BACK ONE VIOICE AT A TIME. DON'T DELAY. BE AN AMERICAN...VOTE!!!!!!!

[jscarson64]

CIVIL LIBERTIES, how many get taken away. You sell alcohol across a counter,across a bar, in public venues. NOT TO MENTION CIGERETTES! THEN you tell us we can't HAVE THE RIGHT to buy and enjoy a product that is about as natural as it gets. STOP being such a political hyerpacrit!!! Clear out the courts and jails (unless the big money from the pot smokers) is paying the bills. I was taught that jails were for REAL CRIMINALS. Hey lets try something, LETS LET THE PEOPLE VOTE ON WHAT WE WANT, ALL THE TIME !
Aren't the real people tired of having some money influenced stuffed suit, VOICE YOUR OPINION. It's time to make changes to the way things are done in government,in more ways than you can immagine. LEGALIZE FREEDOM...VOTE, GET YOUR LIFE BACK!!!
COME ON BE AN AMERICAN, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO ANY AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU WANT TOO DO, AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT PUTTING OTHER LIVES IN DANGER. IS'NT THAT WHY OUR ELDERS CAME TO THIS COUNTRY. We talk TAXES another time. BE AN AMERICAN, USE YOUR VOICE,LEGALIZE FREEDOM,VOTE!!!!!!!!
REMEMBER IT'S 4:20 SOMEWHERE!

[snowball77]

If you made possession any drug that causes death --a death penalty offense complete with public execution, things would change. We would protect our children and ourselves on the roads. This would include drunk drivers and FAS moms. Why stop there? If found in possession a deadly drug you would have three days before your public hanging or firing squad. If people want to alter their consciousness let them take antidepressants which are proven effective and non-lethal. Why wait for an addict to overdose and cause hell within our society. I for one would find a certain thrill with watching a drunk driver on their first offense be hanged in the town square. This is the Saudi model. Things would differently change in the US. Cannabis would be excluded since it doesn't cause death but the list would include, heroin, meth, speed, crack, or anything that can cause death. I would say things would change in a matter of months in the US.

[snowball77]

Finally, the fascist sadistic US state is tittering on the brink of a soviet style bankruptcy. I would assume the failed fascist state will be replaced by another more nationalistic fascist state if history is any indiction. it almost happen this last September and now markets seemed to be paused before going down again as businesses fail and unemployment rises. Legalizing pot seems like a funny side show. The fascist state allows FAS and alcoholism and doesn't blink an eye. Marijuana is a mild substance. Its criminalization only serves the obscenely rich and the police state who profit from it.

[snowball77]

Pot will never be legalized. The US is a fascist state protecting the wealth of a few citizens --if you can call them that. What is done about any problems in the US like Education or Jobs or the Border or healthcare. A few people need their money protected. It will never change. There is no sense to US policy. There is the illusion of democracy but that is all it is. People make a big show but nothing is ever done about the problems. The fascist state also supports the police state. They need each other to protect the wealth of a few people who make obscene amounts of money both legally and illegally. Drugs are needed to placate the masses. There is a huge stream of antidepressants that people **** off coming from major cities in the US into the rivers. That is part of the drug problem too. When they find a pill that lets people vent their frustration with the lack of democracy that will be illegal too. Obama just plays to the illusion. Nothing is getting done, there are no changes to the status quo. Granting the people the right to use marijuana makes too much sense for the police state that has a racket to protect. It would change the status quo perhaps and this threatens the fascist state and the obscenely wealthy that it protects.

[cougarwoman]

Jemes c2002. There is another aspect to succeeding in this america, succeeding in america can mean different things to different people. I had amazing experiences around people that made their own things and had get togethers to trade or sell their things and made their living that way. Then I saw a decline when bush took office of that grou0p of people, he made a public announcement that trade had to be taxed. I haven't been able to spend time finding people whom are nature lovers and believe in trade and not being of the corporate system. Some people can't be happy in the corporate system because the vibe is too selfish. So sometimes people don't succeed for different reasons and it isn't total reality to say it is because they are losers. WE live in an imperfect world that has become unbalanced with nature. Being a loving person is a success above being financially well off but not loving nature and destroying it. There is no black or white there is many mixes of grey in all people because our system affects us, our upbringing, and our unique beings combined. Freedom to enjoy medicinal herbs makes sense and will create more peace and it will take continued helping each other to understand balance with all nature and herbs and nutrition. Picture a man with a gun and a cage standingover a mind altering herb threatening to destroy your life if you partake. It is a sad reality that people have ignorantly allowed happen to us.

[rrozsa]

All my life I heard the argument that pot is a "gateway drug" to harder drugs, implying that most people who do hard drugs started out with marijuana. I say that pot is only apt to lead to harder drugs IF you are forced to purchase it from a "pusher" who also sells the hard stuff. Let people grow it in their own yards, and most people I know would not even make the ACQUAINTANCE of those low-lifes who sell the hard stuff. Take the money out of the pushers' pockets and tax the product. Legalization would also quality regulation. Buying it on the street is so risky in terms of not knowing what you are getting.

[cougarwoman]

People can learn to utilize all medicinal herbs including the mind altering ones to enhance ones life. We can learn balance with nature as well as mind altering herbs. Governments use the fact that people can be irresponsible as an excuse to say we can't be mature or nurture our communities. WEll we can't if we try to learn how to nurture our environment, each other, and our communities by the people that run the Governments. Over the century during marijuana illegalization, our government has gotten worse in many areas and our country. People need to drive cars less and walk or ride horses or bikes anyways. People need to be in nature to be ultimately happy and relaxed and learn how to care for themselves utilizing herbs, nutritional foods, while taking care of nature.

[rsmik]

You need to show your ID to buy cigarettes and alcohol but minors can buy pot on any street corner without showing ID!
Posted by dfnj2009 at 6:45 PM : May 14, 2009

Can you provide exact street addresses of those corners? I want to do some comparison shopping.

[rsmik]

If pot was legal everyone would driving in the right lane doing 30 looking for the nearest rest stop to buy Twinkies.

[democracy1]

i think the people recognize that not all use is abuse, but policy does not recognize that. the prohibitionist rhetoric says that all use of illegal substances is abuse, whereas with the governmentally blessed drugs, abuse is far more obvious. that inflexibility of their policy makes them look foolish.no one believes what they have to say. it is 2009, not 1937 and obvious that the government is just holding on to it as a cash cow. it has nothing to do with health and safety of the . it's all about the money. we do not have leaders, we have testicularly challenged vote seeking harlots. the tide is changing, albeit at geological pace.the bullsquat policy is in the last throes of life. is there a more failed domestic policy than prohibition? if so, probably not many.
Posted by honestabe8 at 6:56 PM : May 14, 2009

EXACTLY!

It is much less harmful than alcohol and has essentially been demonized, relative to alcohol, for purely political reasons.

[adcrac]

A project is needed where two groups are tested: one with people drinking alcohol, and one with people smoking marijuana. Potential guinea pigs would sign up for sessions. At these sessions, one for alchohol and one for marijuana, test would need to be performed as users used. The test would show that alcohol is far more dangerous and detrimental to society. Car crashes, family abuse, fights, killings etc. all connected with alcohol consumption. No such things with marijuana. Filming these sessions, and then showing them to those who oppose legalization and those who can pass bills to legalize would go a long way to strengthen the cause.

[dfnj2009]

You need to show your ID to buy cigarettes and alcohol but minors can buy pot on any street corner without showing ID!

[democracy1]

democracy1: i agree. sometimes people achieve fame and fortune despite their addictions. But. that is not the common path
Posted by honestabe8 at 6:31 PM : May 14, 2009

My point was that pot is much less addictive than alcohol, and yet alcohol is legal because we recognize that not everyone who "uses" it "abuses" it.

[cattlekate1]

Legalize it. Tax it. Enjoy it in moderation. Keep Big Pharma outa it.

[democracy1]

Most of the pot-heads I knew in the past went absolutely NOWHERE with their careers
or lives .... your "too good for its own good" line is N-U-T-S.
Posted by JAMESC2002 at 3:42 PM : May 14, 2009

There may also have been many people who did smoke it and DID go very far in life, but you wouldn't have known because they weren't extreme and obvious about it.

The same could be said about alcohol; the abusers are rather obvious and don't get far in life, while people who can drink moderately don't necessarily stand out as "drinkers" and can become quite successful.

Moderation in all things...

[displeased]

Most of the pot-heads I knew in the past went absolutely NOWHERE with their careers
or lives .... your "too good for its own good" line is N-U-T-S.
Posted by JAMESC2002

I know people who don't smoke who also went absolutely NOWHERE with their careers or lives.

[biggcheese1]

I would go many steps further. The biggest problem with drug use is not the drug use, it's the criminal element involved with supplying drugs. When people buy drugs they are supporting murderers, con artists and a cauldron of other nefarious characters that should be eliminated from society. So, here's my plan. The government grows, makes and distributes all the drugs people want for free except for weed. It would be made legal and sold at a reasonable price to those who could afford it. This will immediately get the crooks out of the drug business. All a person would have to do is register (name, address, etc.) and take home his/her drugs. Then, in a few years, after new products are developed to painlessly aid users off the drugs, they can be weened. Because of the registration, the Department of Weening would know every user's identity and could, humanely, help them stop using...which is what they really want to do anyway. Let's face it, living a happy, productive life really is better than sleeping in one's own urine and going through life in a daze. isn't it?

[ryannumber9]

Weed is a plant. No one has ever overdosed on marijuana. Cannabis has so many positive properties it is too good for its own good. I smoke pot, I'm not a criminal.

Legalize it.