Ron Paul, others to introduce marijuana bill

Ron Paul, others to introduce marijuana bill - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

"In early June, a 19-member international panel of luminaries called the so-called "war on drugs" a failure, and recommended the United States consider legalizing marijuana in order to better undermine criminal organizations and stop punishing those who "do no harm to others."

"While it is very likely the current piece of marijuana legislation will end up in the same place as Frank's previous two efforts, it is still part of a growing chorus of voices seeking to alter the debate on the war on drugs. With the U.S. spending $15 billion per year on the war on drugs, and with little to no apparent gains made in the last 40 years since it started, theirs will surely not be the last prominent voices to question why marijuana is illegal."


Thoughts?

Thumbs up. Doubt it will ever pass, but it's a superb idea compared to the shitty war on drugs that never accomplished anything.

I don't find marijuana any more harmful than vodka or cigarettes, and I don't see why it shouldn't be sold and taxed just like booze and nicotine. I think it's really silly that so much effort and money goes into stopping people who use and distribute weed.

They're flat out retarded if they don't see the potential for the government to make an enormous amount of money off of good, legal weed sold in appropriate establishments and taxed like alcohol or cigarettes are.

It won't pass, there's still too much misinformation believed as common fact for it to do so. It's not without its flaws, but no more so than alcohol or tobacco.

I'm always very mixed on legalising any drugs.

Because, alcohol and tobacco are definitely the biggest killers and lead to the biggest social problems BECAUSE they are legal.

I believe also that it is up to the individual what they put inside their own body, until it begins to impact on those around them, or themselves (ie, causing psychosis etc). Which is why I am not against recreational drug use (including alcohol).

It's not USE that is dangerous, it's MISUSE.

It VERY much depends on how it was regulated as a legal drug. I would NEVER want to see it go the same way alcohol has.

I also do not smoke cannabis because of the effect it has on me (paranoia for one, lack of drive, fluffy feeling for weeks, memory loss).

It is not without it's negatives and it stays in your system MUCH longer.

If you're ok with the above, then smoke it I'm not. Most people are ignorant to the effects and either blindly shout - IT'S HARMLESS!!! Or IT'S TERRIBLE!!!

There's never a realistic unbiased and balanced view.

Denver has pretty much made it ok to smoke pot here and so far, the city hasn't crashed and burned. A TON of revenue is being brought in by it too; dispensaries are popping up like Starbucks.

I say go for it. Free up the jail space for people who should actually be behind bars, not TimmyTom Bombawitz who got caught with a baggie and pipe.

So Denver is the new Amsterdam?

Technically you still need some sort of medical prescription to partake but I'm sure we can all figure out how well that's working.

There's a ton of dispensaries here too. If you don't wave at the guy advertising the one near my house he flips you off..... :rofl1::rofl1:

For me, the issue is not whether or not it is harmless . . . its not significantly more harmful that things that are already legal. For me its the expense of enforcing the laws against it, the incredible damage that has been done to our rights in the process of policing it (the war on drugs has been worse than the war on terror), and the violence caused by prohibiting a substance that does not cause that much harm and only very, very rarely causes violent behavior.

In other words, its not worth it to ban it. That and its none of my godd*mned business if you want to smoke weed.

i'm not so concerned about the "harm" either. It's been proven for thousands of years, all throughout history, in all parts of the world......That people love to alter their moods. Thru drugs, alcohol, whatever. It's not going to change, it hasn't changed, it never changes.

Most people can use or do any number of things, legal or not and not cause harm to themesleves or anyone around them. Their lives aren't falling apart, they aren't crashing cars, stealing, raping or murdering anyone, they aren't jumping out windows, starting fights or riots. They are just normal people that take an escape once and a while.

They still get up and go to work, they still take care of themselves and families, they are still pretty much like everyone else.

The amount of resources we use towards enforcement of ridiculous pot laws is just ridiculous to me. and it's funny how people view it, at least to me it is. In our church, that I rarely go to, but anyway, one woman is very vocal about pot. hates it, I think she was actually a driving force behind making those "devil" movies about pot before sound was added . This same woman hasn't faced a day without Xanax coursing thru her system so she can cope with the stress of life.

Don't use drugs......unless you have a prescription to buy our's

i have never once met a person who got high (on JUST weed) & got violent. i know several mean drunks that are super mellow on weed. i've also never seen or heard of anyone smoking up crossing the centerline, running head on into a minivan & killing a family of nuns. if i HAD to ban on and legalize the other it would be prohibition & phillip morris selling blunts in every convenience store. the great thing about legalizing weed is how it would open up so many other industrial opportunities.

ETA
i don't think it'll pass just yet, too many politicians & their financiers making too much money supplying the war on drugs.

i saw a commercial once, and the guys were smoking weed in a drivethru and then they kit a little kid on her bike. I'm sure it happens all the time. I also saw a movie where the reefer cigarettes made them go mad and jump out windows and stuff after killing people

I completely agree. IMO, alcohol and cigarettes are way more dangerous/deadly than weed. At least weed is completely natural and makes you feel good... cigarettes are chock full of tar and nasty chemicals.

You drink too much alcohol and could end up in the hospital with your stomach pumped... smoke too much weed and you'll be passed out on the couch.

Not to mention... you don't even need to SMOKE weed... they have vaporizers, and you can also cook with it.

Ever see Harold and Kumar go to White Castle? There was a commercial where a kid took one hit and ended up getting his dad's gun and killing himself.

Weed kills. Don't forget it. Just one hit and you're a crazy maniac out to kill.

I said very, very rarely because I am certain that, with millions of people smoking weed, there has been a case where someone got violent. It's pretty much a statistical certainty . . so to be accurate, I said it happened very, very rarely, and not "never."

Well, in the United States, they did already TRY making alcohol illegal. It was called "Prohibition" and it basically created organized crime. Great idea, wasn't it?

Just to get this in perspective you're talking to someone who has used drugs recreationally.

And worked with drug users. And know drug users (recreational and otherwise).

Its not that we don't recognize that drugs are a major problem. Even though MJ is one of the least of them, it still hardly good for you under most circumstances. Its just that banning them, at least commonly used, relatively low harm drugs like alcohol and MJ have been pretty much unmitigated disasters. So we aren't hating on you.

I think people need to reread my original post about being on the fence.... unfortunately until social problems are solved, drugs will be misused. Drugs aren't an issue, society is. I know people who function fantastically on drugs (alcohol is a drug) and I know plenty where it becomes a problem.

We aren't denying (at least I am not) that drugs can be a huge problem. Alcohol is a serious problem. Its just that stopping the problem creates bigger, more serious problems . . . and doesn't solve the original problem. Banning marijuana has had almost no effect on the USE of marijuana. So if it doesn't solve the problem and creates new problems, why the heck do we spend a fortune trying to ban it, especially when it doesn't do all that much harm to most people who use it?

My point was if it becomes as available as alcohol it will be misused. In the UK anyway. I also don't disagree with recreational and responsible use. Alcohol is easily the most misused drug in the UK.