The article was an editorial and made a whole lot of really good points. Do you have anything to say about the substance or will you simply continue being so punny that you should be sent to a punitentiary to be punished (puns intended)? So far, there has been a LOT of progress on this issue. More than a quarter of the states have medical mar1juana laws on the books, at least one (Alaska) has seen it decriminalized as a result of court action, and there are at least two ballot measures up for decriminalization in the next two years. The last decrim measure that went up for a vote (in Nevada) lost a fairly close vote (56-44), which saw the measure gain 5% support in the two years since it lost 39-61. Colorado's ballot measure saw 40% approval the first time on the ballot in the state where two cities (Denver and Colorado Springs) have already decriminalized mar1juana. IMO, "progress" is politicians talking about and debating the issue. The more than happens, the more it will be shown that prohibition is a policy that causes harm and does not help anyone except the prison guard unions and the for-profit prison industry. Do you read? From the original post... "The politicians are still very slow on picking up on the desires of citizens no matter how high the polling numbers go, especially on decriminalization and medical mar1juana," said St. Pierre. "The polling numbers are over 70% for those, and support for legalization nationwide is now at about 42%, depending on which data set you use. Everything seems to be breaking for reform in these past few weeks, and I expect those numbers to only go up." "It feels like we're reaching the tipping point," said Amber Langston, eastern region outreach director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "I've been feeling that for a couple of months now. The Michael Phelps incident sent a clear message that you can be successful and still have used mar1juana. He's still a hero to lots of people," she said. More than a majority support decrim (which I believe is a mistake) and medical mar1juana, while legalization only needs to make up 8 percentage points.
Not in his first term, to be sure. I wouldn't expect him to. If he wins reelection, that might be a different story.
Other than the Netherlands, are there other countries that have decriminalized mar1juana, and what have been the results?
Spain for one. There haven't really been any negative effects from it's legalization there. It is legal to grow and use it, but not buy and sell it.
That's not what Andy is advocating, though, is it? I think he wants to make it legal to buy and sell.
I'm also curious as to why it is illegal in so many countries. In fact, places like China and Singapore use capital punishment in many mar1juana trafficking cases
In addition to the others mentioned, Great Britain reclassified it a few years ago to a lower level, allowing infractions to be treated as a civil offense with a nominal fine. No societal degradation so far!
I would prefer a regulated market that controlled manufacturing, distribution, and sales, yes. I would accept decriminalization as a stopgap measure to keep from arresting nearly 800,000 people per year, but we won't be able to fully regulate and tax until pot is legal.
It is illegal because of the UN Convention on Drugs, which the US pushed down the throats of the rest of the world.
I grew up and live in a fairly conservative household with a fairly conservative family. I don't know one person that is terribly anti-mar1juana. I think if they legalized, or at least decriminilzed it, nobody would really care.
I have been studying this issue and talking to people about it for over two decades. So far, exactly one person has been against regulating the market: a politician (a liberal Democrat at that). The stupidity on this issue is bipartisan.
I don't understand this point of view at all. Pot has a robust black market where farmers and dealers have relationships, with really informed consumers. (In other words, most potheads know their pot.) Pot is more expensive than it would be if it were legal, but it has all the other advantages of a very free market. If you implemented central controls on pot farming, distribution, and sales, pot would be like tobacco in no time. 90% of it would be bland, weak, government-approved, filtered stuff. Were I a pothead, I'd rather pot be illegal with lax enforcement than fully regulated. As it is, I don't much care either way.
I don't participate in drug legalization debates, but why would it be that any argument against drug reform has to first prove mar1juana is more dangerous than alcohol? Couldn't mar1juana be banned for something besides danger?
I enjoy reading your opinions on the mar1juana issue. A couple weeks ago we had an impromptu debate in one of my classes about the War on Drugs, and I was on the side of "against." It was surprising how many people on the "for" side said things like, "Well, if we legalize weed, I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I wouldn't want to be on the road with a bunch of hallucinating potheads" or "The problem with letting druggies out of prison is that you will also be letting out the rapists and child molesters." Using a lot of andymoon's points that I've read in this forum, I was easily able to dismantle the other sides' arguments and provide rebuttals. It was a nice feeling watching peoples' perceptions change slowly.
Alcohol does lead to a lot of danger. But so does tobacco ? Tobacco kills more than alcohol. Yes I understand that tobacco cant affect your driving like alcohol can. But still, if its soooo life threatening, why not ban it? As far as pot, its proving it can lead into heavier drugs. If your going to make pot legal, why not make coke legal as well? What will happen? Nothing, it's too late to legalize pot, b/c the gov't would have a hard time taxing it. And what if people drive high? The point is not that alcohol is more dangerous then pot. Both alcohol and pot are dangerous. So if alcohol is already legal, why make pot legal? Why make a bad situation worse?
In Amsterdam it is not bland, weak, govt approved filtered. I think it would be a lot more like beer. There is a huge diversity of microbrews and local beers around America.
Exactly, I can't see how all the folks that are great at growing it now, wouldn't open legitimate businesses to grow it on a larger scale. Isn't alcohol a lot better now than the moonshine prohibition days? I'm thinking it is...
