mar1juana Arrests at All-Time High, Far Exceed Violent Crime Arrests

in countries that have legalized weed, the acutally use of "hard core" drugs have increasingly gone down. if you legalize it, people who buy it will not be in close contact with the other drugs. simply by taking away the association of weed with the other drugs will dramatically decrease its use. Im a neurobiology student, and weed has NOOOOOOOOOOOOO addictive properties...and all you idiots who think it does are r****ded and need to read up on it. Also, there has never been a single case where someone has died from the use of weed. NEVER. it is simply impossible to OD on it. but hey, u can die if u drink too much alcohol... this just doesnt make sense.

 

You know, statistics show that most violent crime is committed by African-Americans.

I guess I'm glad IROC it isn't in charge, or we'd just have to lock those African-Americans up, before they get violent.

 

How many of them drank alcohol?

 

So just to name a few, in your opinion all of these substances should be illegal?

Alcohol
Caffeine
Cough Syrup
Allergy Medicine
Tobacco
Sleeping Aids
Pain Killers

Not to mention the endless list of prescription medications which many people depend on, but are known to impair judgment?

 

There are a lot of stupid people in this country.

I'm not going to argue the public policy aspect as I feel you make good points, but this country is so not ready for the legalization. We're all sheep man.

Is the war on drugs morally inconsistent, full of propoganda, and a waste of money? Yes. Would a legitimate movement to educate people, decriminalize weed, and reform drug laws be better for the USA? Yes. But you're living in a fantasy world if you really believe this is going to happen. This is the USA: as great as it is... come on, seriously, we're a nation of ignorance. Might as well ask for politicians not to lie and people to stop being too greedy.

And so back to my original point. If you want to smoke weed in this country and not go to jail, just don't do anything stupid: don't beat your girlfriend and leave the weed on the table when the cops come, don't drive around with windows past the tint limit just because it looks cool, don't smoke weed at the park, don't carry weed when you're hangin' around outside.

For the 650,000 arrests made, I'm sure quite a few are repeat offenders. And I'm sure that millions of people smoke weed everyday and don't get arrested.

 

If you want to smake teh stuff do it at home (assuming you don't live in a drug house). THe police won't come to arrest you for being peaceful at home with MJ.

But like alcohol if you use it and drive well your @ss goes to jail. If you're using it in public (on the streets) you're asking for trouble.

So if 650,000 MJ users get arrested then let's be serious: There are 649,000 people doing something illegal and in a public (or at a privte party where teh calls were called for some reason) place or were in a house supplying alot of drugs.

Seriosuly I would be shocked if there were more than a 1,000 people who weren't wanted for an outstanding warrant who are peacefully sitting in their own house smoking a joint who gets arrested.

 

A lack of tolerance for illegal drug use does not equal racism. Why dog someone on a completely different topic without any proof of racism? I find it disturbing that in fact, you, bejezuz, brought up the race card. Perhaps you have the race problem? It looks in all reality that andymoon is very well informed, IROC it is opinionated and perhaps informed from other sources, but you are an inflammatory individual looking to detract from the quality of the discussion by comparing apples from this discussion to another topic's oranges which were not brought up until you brought it up. I find it highly ignorant and intolerant in this case. A total assumption on your part indeed. Add to the discussion or just stay out of it. I for one find both IROC it and andymoon's facts or stats or even opinions informative and thought provoking, but I find your comments to be very hateful in many ways. You show intolerance for any view other than your own, which it seems would support legalizing mar1juana, by bashing the first person to call it illegal, which it still currently is. Just say you disagree, but there was no need to indirectly claim racism.

 

Ummm, you obviously don't get it.

Linking mar1juana use and violent crime is non-sensical. IROC it argues it's okay to lock up pot-heads, because they're bound to be violent someday. I was trying to point out the absurdity of that argument by showing that the same arguments could be made linking crime to race.

I'm not calling anybody a racist, so you can climb off of your high horse now.

 

"I'm in love with mary jane she's my main thang."

 

Hey, if there's a proposition to vote for, I'll do the right thing man.
Otherwise, it's just not that important to me. I feel that my (future) kids exposure to drugs will be a lot more about how I raise them, not about the lies and laws of the government.

There's a lot of things wrong with this country, but it's unrealistic to think weed activism is A)going to work and B)high on most people's priority list.

What about healthcare, poverty, tort reform, campaign finance, the death penalty, abortion, racism, pollution, greed?

I consider it one of those inherent evils of living in this great country. The government has instilled upon this society much ignorance over weed matters through their lies. For that, any Christians among them know that unless they repent, they will be going to hell. Lying is just as much as a sin as all others, and so if the Christian version of things to happen is right, I'll be seeing a bunch of government officials in hell with me.

Hopefully you can take some satisfaction in that.

 

Studies show that 99% of all drug users have at one point attended church or school.

Something should be done. It is clear that educational institutions are responsible for people turning to drugs.

Gotta love IROC's logic.

 

No... that's TWISTING my logic.

My logic is that using pot is ALREADY a criminal act. So to prevent further crime, it makes sense to arrest those that ALREADY participate in CRIME.

Your TWIST of my logic is as dumb as saying "100% of all drug users were born, so we should just abort all unborn children to prevent further drug use"...

And that's as obsurd as the race card being thrown in here, too.

Get real people. Stop whining about how unfair it is for you to have to obey the LAW like everyone else.

Get some Kava tea, and have a "party in your heads" the legal way.

I love my logic... Arrest CRIMINALS before they commit MORE CRIME.

Makes perfect sense. I'm sure the law enforcement agencies agree.

 

I have smoked mar1juana for the past 5 years on a regular bases. I have never been arrested or ticketed for any drug related incident in my life. I understand a lot of andymoon's points, but I think a larger portion of the 650k were in posession of more than say, 1 oz. I have never in my five years had in my posession more than 1 oz of weed. I further think it is rediculous to carry more than that, unless for the intent to sale.

True story. I was on a road trip to Las Vegas with a friend. We were leaving a conveinence store in NW Pheonix and I got pulled over for doing an illegal U-turn. When the officer asked me to step out of the vehicle I was scared because I had infact had mar1juana in my posession. I had not been under the influence that day though. I also had mar1juana paraphenelia. I was hoping I had hide it good enough when another cop car pulled up, a K-9 unit. The officer took his dog out and proceeded to inspect my car. They found the "weed" and the "pipe" and but decided to only cite me for the illegal u-turn. The officer's explaination was this. We were on a stretch of road that ran from Pheonix to Las Vegas, one of the largest drug trafficking highways in the nation. They said they weren't worried about us small users that had under 1 oz of weed but were out for the real problem, the cartels that traffic in billions of dollars of mar1juana and hard drugs(cocaine, heroin, etc.) every year.

So inconclusion, I think there are a lot of problems with our drug policy today. But I think people need to be more educated and understand the laws until they are hopefully one day changed. Until then, smoke yo "shiznit" a little smarter folks.

 

And in related news, the Canadian government has reintroduced a bill to decriminalize mar1juana use and possession of small quantities while increasing penalties for possession of large amounts and for driving while impaired by THC …
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Grits revive mar1juana legislation
Killed by election: Bills would decriminalize pot, crack down on impaired drivers

Tuesday, November 02, 2004
OTTAWA - The Martin government embarked yesterday on its third attempt in the past year to decriminalize mar1juana, and its second try at a law to force drug-impaired driving suspects to surrender blood and saliva samples.
Irwin Cotler, the Justice Minister, revived the companion bills after they died when the federal election was called last summer.
The reincarnated versions are virtually identical to their predecessors, sparking the same criticism as the earlier efforts.
On the mar1juana front, Parliament will now start all over again on an issue that has been debated in the federal ranks for more than 30 years.
"We want to decriminalize mar1juana use for those who have small amounts, in order that young people, in particular, not have a criminal record with all the adverse fallout that that means," Mr. Cotler said.
The bill decriminalizes possession of less than 15 grams of pot or fewer than four plants, making the offences punishable with fines rather than criminal charges, while calling for harsher penalties against mar1juana grow-ops by doubling maximum prison terms to 14 years from the current seven.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8c9d395b-93ff-436e-9b33-56c3de0c9879

This is an interesting bill. It looks like bad news for the dealers and organised crime while leaving the moral or ethical decision about using up to the individual.

 

Laws of the land

Running a stop sign.
Entering an intersection after the light has turned yellow.
Walking across the street against a red light.
Tossing a gum rapper out your car while driving.


We are all criminals in some way.

 

My biggest problem with the drug laws is selective enforcement

Rocket River