Is it time to rethink national policy on marijuana?
According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 56 percent of Americans would support legalizing marijuana and regulating it much as alcohol and tobacco are regulated, while just 36 percent say they’re opposed.
Those are pretty strong numbers, suggesting that criminal law in this country is strongly out of line with public sentiment. We’re sending people to jail — most of them basically kids — and in some cases sticking them with felony criminal records for involvement with a substance that a majority of Americans don’t believe such be criminalized, at least if you believe Rasmussen.
Of course, some people DON’T believe Rasmussen. As the Christian Science Monitor reports, critics of the Rasmussen results argue that the wording of the question skewed the final results. However, I’m not sure that the substitute wording that they suggest would pass muster as unbiased or balanced:
“If they had asked, ‘If you knew that a majority of homicide convicts in New York had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of their convictions, would you be in favor of legalizing it?’ they would have gotten a far different answer,” says David Evans, special adviser to the Drug Free America Foundation. “These questions are so biased and leading, it’s embarrassing.”
If that’s the kind of question that you have to ask to get the poll results you want, you’ve already lost the debate. I imagine that a majority of those New York homicide convicts had also eaten meat within 24 hours of their crime, but I wouldn’t necessarily draw the conclusion that meat had driven them to commit that crime.
And then there’s this, from Gallup:
In addition, marijuana has become Mexico’s leading agricultural export, and all of those “exports” are conducted through smuggling, most of it to the United States. Marijuana “generates billions of dollars in revenues each year for the brutal narcotics cartels,” NPR reports. “By some estimates, it is the most profitable product for the Mexican drug gangs.”
Given those numbers, it’s pretty clear that U.S. drug policy plays some role in the brutal carnage being wreaked in Mexico, where mass slayings occur with tragic regularity.
– Jay Bookman
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660 comments Add your comment
Frito-Lay
May 24th, 2012
10:08 am
Keep Smoking Your Dope.
We’ll Keep Making More Doritos.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:10 am
Doggone – That is going to upset a lot of rich kid’s parents around the country. You know, Little Johnny or Little Suzy weren’t doing anything wrong. See, you changed the law. Now you expunge their records! (S)He is going to go on to do great things one day! Meanwhile the kid is sitting in their room rolling a blunt or eating a special brownie.
Jm
May 24th, 2012
10:10 am
I think it’s a tough call
Super heavily regulated I guess ok
Amsterdam is rewinding their legalization because it has caused such a mess there
It needs to be regulated more than alcohol
Government dispensary only. No public smoking; smoke up at your house all you want though. No driving high. Employers can still fire people who use it. Etc etc
It comes with a host of complications
But the incarcerations and Mexican drug trafficking is insane
BlahBlahBlah
May 24th, 2012
10:11 am
Agree with Generation$crewed. I’ve seen way more angry drunks than angry stoners in my lifetime.
BlahBlahBlah
May 24th, 2012
10:12 am
Jm, I would have no problem with private businesses choosing to test for weed and use that in their decisions to hire/fire people.
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
10:12 am
“That is going to upset a lot of rich kid’s parents around the country.”
Yeah, well…cry me a river!
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:13 am
Jm – Amsterdam is just shooting their tourism trade in the proverbial foot. They’re only taking away your right as a foreigner to smoke it there legally. Its all good for their citizens. Other than that, I can’t think of any reason to go to Amsterdam.
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2012
10:13 am
Just think of all the new businesses that would pop up along the roadsides. Signs reading “Last chance for munchies for 100 miles,” would be commonplace.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:14 am
Doggone – Only if I can then build a bridge to get over it.
East Cobb RINO
May 24th, 2012
10:14 am
Wonder what the co-pay is for the weed prescription? Is that elgible for FSA ?
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
10:15 am
BTW – someone mentioned something about the liquor industry not wanting marijuana legalize. Well, maybe the INDUSTRY won’t like it, but the local liquor stores will just add it to their stock for sale.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:15 am
TaxPayer – I would bet, that if legalized and taxed, we could probably pay off a large chunk of the deficit through pot. Especially if we started taxing the imports from Mexico.
Frito-Lay
May 24th, 2012
10:16 am
Cheetos with a Pepsi > Brownies with a Pepsi
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
May 24th, 2012
10:16 am
Ivan et al
Did you see the presricption meds Zimmerman was on?
Adderall and Temazepam
Look up the side effects.
mm
May 24th, 2012
10:16 am
“The idea that “users” of small amounts of marijuana are imprisoned is incorrect. The people in prison as a result of criminal marijuana laws are dealers and felons.”
Guess again. Anything over an ounce is a felony. Pot smokers don’t buy joints.
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
10:17 am
Not going to happen this
decade or maybe this
century.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:17 am
A couple of weeks ago, there was a discussion of marijuana (I don’t think it started out that way) over on Kyle’s blog. That Tiberius fellow, who styles himself as some sort of Authority on Everything, commented to the effect of ‘people who claim to need medical marijuana just need to find some OTHER weight-loss method.’
I almost peed my pants laughing.
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
10:18 am
“I would bet, that if legalized and taxed, we could probably pay off a large chunk of the deficit through pot”
According to a series they have on PBS recently about the amendment banning liquor – If I remember correctly, the US government was taking in something like 70% of it’s revenue from liquor taxes. BIG drop in those tax revenues when selling liquor was made unconstitutional.
Frito-Lay
May 24th, 2012
10:18 am
Doesn’t Michael Vick smoke marijuana for his Herpes?
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:19 am
JHM – I don’t know how you stand it over there. I’m more closely aligned ideologically there than here, but can’t stand it there.
TRUTH
May 24th, 2012
10:19 am
Legalize the ganja, mon… Seriously, you get stoned and you pretty much stay in place and enjoy the 20-30 mins of euphoria and then you go about your day. That’s just from ganja. When you start mixing it with other chemicals then you’re talking crazy. (Note: its no different than mixing your alcohol, never a good idea…). Lastly, has anyone ever thought how many public officials, corporate leaders, and everyday citizens, smoke ganja? Almost all of them (and some categories I did not list), smoked in high school, college, and during post graduate studies. And somehow, when presented with a survey to report their use, people really think they are going to admit it. Yeah, wait for that. There have been MANY times I’ve attended a function and the weed was passed. Heck, I can buy it on the corner in Dunwoody (and its a better grade than in South Dekalb..)
LEGALIZE IT!! (and stop wasting money and arresting folks who WANT to get stoned…)
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:19 am
Doggone – People seem to enjoy shooting themselves in the foot.
Jm
May 24th, 2012
10:20 am
Blahblahblah
Yeah. I think it’s complicated though because you’re firing people for using a legal product
But pot and the workplace have no business interacting
So you may have to tweak some workplace discrimination laws
Darwin
May 24th, 2012
10:20 am
Not sure about legalization. However, criminal prosecutions of minor possessions are a continued waste of government resources. Not to mention the destruction of lives by creating a criminal record that affects future employment. This should have been addressed decades ago.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:20 am
Cranky — “I’m an MP in the National Guard, so I know a lot of cops. The consensus among them is that they’d much rather deal with a stoner on pot than a drunk. As long as they have access to their bag of Doritos, they’re pretty docile.”
Agree. My wife went to a West Coast hippie university, and she says you only need to be afraid of a stoner high on weed if you’re a bag a Cheetos, a box of Pop-Tarts or a combination pizza.
skipper
May 24th, 2012
10:20 am
Jay,
You did it again….it does not happen too often, but many folks of different backgrounds, party affiliations, etc. did the toke-toke in college; so you have introduced an idea that many can agree on……some of the hardest working and most successful folks I know fired up the bong many times in college. Rich, poor, black, white etc…..were blazin’ away!
mm
May 24th, 2012
10:21 am
THC stays in your blood for thirty days or more depending on your body mass”
“According to the news report when the results of the test were announce, trace amounts can stay in your body for up to 90 days. And that is what they found – trace amount.”
Current drug tests look for THC. There is a new test that looks for a different chemical to prove how long ago the weed was smoked and how much. This test would put the alcohol vs weed testing on equal ground.
TRUTH
May 24th, 2012
10:21 am
Oh, (cough)…always remember..(cough),….puff, puff, (cough)….pass!!!
Jm
May 24th, 2012
10:22 am
“BIG drop in those tax revenues when selling liquor was made unconstitutional.”
So now we can blame prohibition for the birth of the income tax?
(joke)
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
10:22 am
With all the anti-smoking laws, even if it were legal, you might find it difficult to light up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/nyregion/for-smokers-apartment-hunting-is-even-tougher.html
http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/21/half-of-u-s-states-have-enacted-indoor-smoking-bans-since-2000/
So while people might be all for marijuana laws being relaxed, they aren’t too keen on actually letting anyone smoke it near them.
Don't Forget
May 24th, 2012
10:22 am
Maybe we should force the terrorists at Gitmo to smoke it, then offer cheetoh’s for actionable intelligence.
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
10:24 am
Distribute it throgh the
methadone clinics.
Generation$crewed
May 24th, 2012
10:24 am
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
10:15 am
Yeah but most liquor stores don’t have enough money for lobbyist as many of the large scale alcohol distribution companies do. They have bought democrats and republicans alike all in the effort of the alcohol companies hoping for a little higher profit by eliminating competition.
Especially when that particular competition does not offer the negative side effects of alcohol, such as hangovers, not to mention death!
Who you ever heard of dying from an overdose of weed? How about alcohol poisoning?
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
10:24 am
I kinda agree with Jm on this one, though I wouldn’t encourage my children to smoke the stuff, It could bring in revenue and free up the court system for real criminals, especially the violent ones….
Conservative Christian
May 24th, 2012
10:24 am
Jesus said to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. None of us would want our child thrown in jail with the sexual predators over a little marijuana. None of us would want our aging parents’ home confiscated and sold by the police for growing a couple of marijuana plants to ease the aches and pains of getting older. It’s time to let ordinary Americans grow a little marijuana in their own back yards.
JKL2
May 24th, 2012
10:24 am
Another fine lesson to teach our children. First we had Clinton telling them oral sex isn’t really sex. Now we have obama preaching smoking dope and doing cocaine in high school is cool. Can’t wait to see what the next Democrat president can do to “help” America.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:25 am
E. C. Rino — “Wonder what the co-pay is for the weed prescription? Is that elgible for FSA ?”
If you can get your doctor to write you a prescription of a Letter of Medical Necessity, then yes, it would be eligible. However, you’d need a receipt, so I suspect that your streetcorner pharmacologist wouldn’t wanna help with that. You’d probably have to get it from a Federal government dispensary in order to be able to claim it and get reimbursement.
doh!
May 24th, 2012
10:25 am
“If they had asked, ‘If you knew that a majority of homicide convicts in New York had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of their convictions, would you be in favor of legalizing it?’ they would have gotten a far different answer,” says David Evans, special adviser to the Drug Free America Foundation. “These questions are so biased and leading, it’s embarrassing.”
So if the majority of homicide victims in New York had alcohol within 24-hours of their conviction would you legalize it?
Please David Evans… talk about a biased and leading question. Get over yourself.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:26 am
Jm – I would say that there would actually be an argument there. But obviously, we’re both joking since income taxes came first. It would be very fitting if the income tax was the 19th or 20th Amendment instead of the 16th though.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:26 am
(ir)Rational — “JHM – I don’t know how you stand it over there. I’m more closely aligned ideologically there than here, but can’t stand it there.”
Dude, haven’t you ever been to the zoo?
Bernalillo
May 24th, 2012
10:27 am
The anti-weed crusaders (including the Christian Science Monitor) can get as hysterical as they want, but it won’t change the facts. Eventually reason and logic shall prevail:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
10:28 am
Amsterdam is restricting
use to citizens but
prostitution will be
available to tourists.
The dutch are not stupid.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
10:29 am
Brosephus™
I beilieve you are an expert on this subject. My question to you is, how many crimes are committed by people needing money to support either their own habit or because there is high profit in buying and selling marijuana?
Son of the South
May 24th, 2012
10:29 am
Hey JKL2
Who said anything about legalizing cocaine? If you don’t know the difference between pot and cocaine, then you do not need to participate in the conversation.
East Cobb RINO
May 24th, 2012
10:30 am
doh!, see my comment on the 1st page. They are so stupid they do not even know how to phrase a question. “24 hours within conviction”! Who cares what someone did 24 hours before the trial conviction. If they wanted a biased question it should have been “24 hours within commiting the crime”.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:30 am
JHM – I’m not a big fan of that either honestly. But I get your point.
Producer
May 24th, 2012
10:31 am
Legalize and tax it all. Pot, cocaine, heroine…all of it. It’s all about freedom, folks! Prohibition didn’t work in the 20’s and this onerous and stupid War on Drugs doesn’t work either!
Tundra Dude
May 24th, 2012
10:31 am
My wife went to a West Coast hippie university, and she says you only need to be afraid of a stoner high on weed if you’re a bag a Cheetos, a box of Pop-Tarts or a combination pizza.
LOL!!! Good Wun!
As a (well-traveled) merchant mariner, I’ve been involved in bar brawls…but never a pot brawl.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
10:31 am
Why is a plant illegal ?
mark
May 24th, 2012
10:32 am
For 72 years the “War On Drugs/People” has been a failure. We waste billions on fighting a war, we have yet to make any difference. I think the DEA should show Yearly Progress. If not, then their funding should be pulled, just like schools.
It is illegal for our govt to tell us the truth about drugs. Yes that is correct, illegal to tell us the truth. So, please do not cite any info about the harms of drugs from a govt site.
stevie ray....Clowns to the Left of me Jokers to the Right...here I am...
May 24th, 2012
10:32 am
I’m in weed recovery, having a significant resume of weed experience I can say that attention to detail is an issue while when driving…ie overlooking red lights, changing tunes, giggling, noshing and the like are distractions….good news is that weaving and hitting stationary objects not so much a problem…
As long as private prison contractors at getting 50K for each head in bed, nothing will change despite what we may want…no lobbyists with significant monetary influence will touch this thus, no extortion cash to fuel our corrupt system…..so I reckon this will have to be a grass-roots project…tee hee.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:33 am
barking frog – I realize it could have just been the street I walked down (which I suspect was intentional by the teacher that was leading the trip), but I would not touch one of the prostitutes they have there with a 10 foot pole. Talk about UGLY. You know that ugly tree people talk about, yeah, I’m pretty sure that they’re referring to those prostitutes. They had enough to spare.
Leeroy
May 24th, 2012
10:33 am
Peadawg
May 24th, 2012
9:31 am
“I would feel safer with a stoner behind the wheel than a drunk. The stoner would only be driving 10MPH”
If that’s 10 mph in a 25 mph zone or higher, they’re more dangerous for going too slow and getting run over by those of us who have more important things to do than get stoned and ride around derping it up.
This isn’t a feature exclusive to stoners, mind you.
Generation$crewed
May 24th, 2012
10:34 am
Don’t Forget
May 24th, 2012
10:22 am
That’s just mean!
Now if you did it with cereal??? That’s just torture, and we as a country don’t stand for that.!
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
10:34 am
Mighty Righty,
“how many crimes are committed by people needing money to support either their own habit or because there is high profit in buying and selling marijuana?”
How many crimes are committed by people needing money to support either their own habit or because there is high profit in buying and selling OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet, Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet, Valium, Xanax, Halcion, KLonopin, Ativan, Librium, Ambien, Sonata, Lunesta, Ritalin, Concerta, Dexedrine or any of the other myriad of legal prescription and otc drugs?
http://headaches.about.com/cs/druginfo/a/oxy_saga.htm
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
10:34 am
sorry to be off topic but I read this in Jay’s blog yesterday and a few ( I assume left leaning in political thought) individuals got pretty upset with this statement from mr. I want my wealth redistribution check. The either mocked him, wished he lost his job, or slammed him and his pride….here is what he wrote.
I was asked in an earlier blog if I was joking or being satirical about a net worth tax on billionaires and those who made a 100 million or more and no I’m not. I used to be very conservative in thought until one day I was really pondering the political landscape and the political realities and I discovered that if I choose to be a liberal, I have more to gain. See, I am a person in a family with 6 people and I make less than 29,000 dollars a year, that places me well under the poverty rate, because of that I am able to get a rather large tax return check every year, has been 4000 dollars should be more now that I have 4 children, I get over 400 in food stamps and when Obama care is found constitutional, there is no fine for those under 150% of the poverty level, I can get enrolled in Medicaid and pay very little or nothing for my health care, now I pay over 100 every two weeks for excellent care but wheter my company drops insurance (due to the fact the fine is less than what it cost them to ensure my and my fam) or I choose not to continue I can just enroll in medicaid off of people who work really, really hard. I make good choices in spending, have no vices like smoking or excessive drinking so I don’t have to work hard and I can have a good middle class lifestyle with out the middle class income or paying middle class or higher taxes. So go ahead, raise taxes on the rich, I don’t give a flying flip. I make off better and I don’t have to work hard to provide for my family, instead, I take money from someone else…..
my question is, what make y’all so angry at him and his honesty, isn’t this what you want the gov’t to do, help those who make less, this is what a liberals fight for, income equality, the guy is only doing what you advocate? where am I wrong in interpreting this in that way?
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:35 am
I don’t think there’s anything special about weed that leads dealers to shoot people over it. I suspect anything that sells that readily and for that good a price — and which can be subdivided into small, easily transportable units of sale) could have people willing to shoot other people over it. Hell, gold coins are small, valuable, easy to carry around, and I bet there are people downtown who would shoot you for your gold coins if they knew you were carrying any — but it’s not the gold’s fault and we don’t prohibit gold coins because of it.
Let’s legalize weed and focus our drug control efforts on more harmful and dangerous substances.
stevie ray....Clowns to the Left of me Jokers to the Right...here I am...
May 24th, 2012
10:35 am
Also, the quality of today’s blends are astoundingly more powerful than in daze past…regardless, so most will be too paranoid to drive.
I think we should legalize all recreational drugs mainly to free up prisons thus reducing taxpayer spend, and to marginalize gangsta’s here and in Mexico…no profit, no shooting.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 24th, 2012
10:36 am
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
10:31 am
Why is a plant illegal ?
Here’s why…compliments of the alcohol industry (they knew who the competition was)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FATzmzxJ-84
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
10:36 am
Brosephus
I may be wrong but I believe you are a police officer and therefore an expert on how our legal sustem handles the marijuana question. Question: what do you the police do when you encounter some one who possess a small amount of marijuana for personal use.
JKL2
May 24th, 2012
10:36 am
son of the south- Who said anything about legalizing cocaine? If you don’t know the difference between pot and cocaine, then you do not need to participate in the conversation
Reading is fundamental. I guess you’re now going to call me a racist because I said something about obama. You can make fun of Clinton all day long, but don’t dare mention the big eared clown acting as our president.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:36 am
M. Calvinist — “my question is, what make y’all so angry at him and his honesty?”
Because he wasn’t being honest. He’s what’s called a concern troll.
Ivan
May 24th, 2012
10:38 am
(ir) – Ivan – OMG! No! A kid that was suspended from school in Miami for possession of marijuana, and sent to Orlando to stay with his father for a while to try and get cleaned up had marijuana in his system?!?!?! Say it ain’t so! ”
You’re right (ir)! A black teenage kid with irresponsible parenting, school troubles, drug abuse, and violent tendancies shouldn’t surprise me at all! Thanks!
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
10:38 am
Joe, truthfully, I’m new to the blogging world, what is a concern troll?
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 24th, 2012
10:39 am
Try this one…better sound…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2FZgErvNTE
Oscar
May 24th, 2012
10:40 am
You’re right (ir)! A black teenage kid with irresponsible parenting, school troubles, drug abuse, and violent tendancies shouldn’t surprise me at all! Thanks!
________
He also had stolen merchandise and burglary tools in his backpack, and was in an area off limits to students when caught.
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
10:41 am
ha, just noticed I should have asked what made y’all so angry…… I also would like to hear from PJ, soothsayer, and Kamchak, if y’all don’t mind….Joe, not trying to be snarky, but what if he was being honest?
JKL2
May 24th, 2012
10:41 am
The way I see this playing out is marijuana will be legal, but not to grow. That way they can tax the crap out of it like cigarettes. If they just legalize it, people will grow their own and it won’t have the cha-ching they’re looking for.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
10:41 am
Joe Hussein Mama,
“I bet there are people downtown who would shoot you for your gold coins if they knew you were carrying any”
Someone better be careful: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B1LlYh6iKqs/Sr1iO-8NWJI/AAAAAAAAAzo/zhwVFVCbjow/s400/lil-wayne-grill.jpg
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:41 am
M. Calvinist — See here. There is a key distinction between an ordinary, garden-variety troll and a concern troll.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concern_troll#Concern_troll
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:42 am
Ivan – Yeah, cause that was my point.
My point was, you seemed surprised, or think it should have some bearing on what happened that night, that a kid who had just gotten kicked out of school for having pot, had smoked pot at some point in the past 30-90 days.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
10:43 am
jewcowboy – I don’t think the people in Atlanta want to start a gang war with the Bloods, so he is probably fairly safe.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
10:44 am
jewcowboy
I guess you missed my statement that I think marijuana should be legal. My question to Brosephus, because he is a police officer and as such knows, has to do with how many violent crimes are committed by marijuana users and dealers If there aren’t any viloent crimes committed by marijuana users and dealers then I fail to see to see a benefit to making the drug legal.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:44 am
M. Calvinist — “….Joe, not trying to be snarky, but what if he was being honest?”
IMO, there was more than enough sarcasm and snark in his posts to make it obvious. That’s why people were attacking him.
Concern trollery *can* be done succcessfully, but it has to be done subtly, so as not to attract suspicion. That guy was WAY too over-the-top to be taken seriously IMO.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
10:45 am
You can grow and smoke your own tobacco.
St Simons - we're on Island time
May 24th, 2012
10:45 am
dude – those flying monkeys in the wizard of oz freaked me out
for like 2 months, man
Thomas
May 24th, 2012
10:46 am
It is second to none as a pain medication for cancer or chronic digestive issues. The far right will always say but percocets, oxy, morphine- all of which are far more addictive and impacting to the body in a negative way. One of the greatest issues in chronic disease is managing the pain meds.
Thomas
May 24th, 2012
10:46 am
It is second to none as a pain medication for cancer or chronic digestive issues. The far right will always say but percocets, oxy, morphine- all of which are far more addictive and impacting to the body in a negative way. One of the greatest issues in chronic disease is managing the pain meds.
Tundra Dude
May 24th, 2012
10:46 am
. As the Christian Science Monitor reports, critics of the Rasmussen results argue that the wording of the question skewed the final results.
It’s not just the wording of the questions, it’s how peeps are contacted.
In live interviews peeps are less likely to support legalization. Peeps called on landline phones in Calif (for Prop 19) were opposed by a 10% margin, peeps called on cellphones supported the measure, 54-29%
Oscar
May 24th, 2012
10:46 am
We should send violent offenders to prison. Find some other way to deal with non-violent behavior. People arrested for possession of weed without intent to distribute do not belong in prison.
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
10:47 am
I get it Joe, according to the definition (enlightening btw) he really isn’t a believer in what he wrote. let me ask you this, what if that scenario was true, and would you have issues that what “Mr. I want my check” said?
Common Sense isn't very Common
May 24th, 2012
10:47 am
Jay should have put this subject up Friday night (after FNM) so that we might have a few stoners add their 2 tokes worth
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
10:50 am
good one Common! :0)
number of people to die form a MJ overdose - ZERO
May 24th, 2012
10:50 am
millions of people already smoke weed all the time, why do some people think the masses are just waiting for some law to pass in DC beofre they try the devil weed? They already are smoking, driving, working, playing, ect. You want to know what else people are taking leagally? Booze, anxiety pills, pain pills, sleeping pills and they all drive on the same roads you do, so the whole argument about our roads becoming unsafe overnight is sooooo bogus. Where’s your concern with people driving while on pills? Huh?
Another Day
May 24th, 2012
10:51 am
Another boring bunch of blogs.
bookman parrot
May 24th, 2012
10:52 am
to Brosephus™
May 24th, 2012
9:07 am
See you are choosing what is wrong and right based on your “morals/ethics” …
As for legalizing marijuana, then you people who support this legalization pay for all the lazy burnouts created that will be sitting around that will want to live off the government programs.
Although maybe that $$$ will be offset by the savings of not having to enforce.
But let’s not just include marijuana, let’s legalize all the drugs so you can have “freedom”.
But it will come at a price.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
10:53 am
martin the calvinist,
“what if he was being honest?”
I didn’t read the exchange yesterday, just what you’ve posted, but someone who is making $29,000 a year is not getting $4,000 back on their taxes unless they indicated on their w2 to withhold more than than the maximum amount, which if the case makes them incredibly stupid.
Furthermore, if you add in the net $300 (Food stamp benefit – health insurance) then this person is making gross $32,600 per year for a family of 6. The average 2-br apartment in Atl goes for $835 or $10000 a year. So now you have $22,600 per year. The average cost to raise a child in GA for someone making under $57,000 a year is $5500 per child. $5500 x 4 = $22,000.
The numbers simply do not add up and this statement, “I make off better and I don’t have to work hard to provide for my family, instead, I take money from someone else” is a complete fabrication. It is meant to incite an emotional response rather than an honest discussion.
GT
May 24th, 2012
10:53 am
Why would we want to do this, it makes too much sense?
The drug program is the right’s welfare program to the cops on the beat, the preacher, prison employees, and every other weekend warrior who loves to smash in doors and stand in a mirror admiring himself in full uniform and weapons.
This program puts Mexico out of the sway of drug cartels and employs the American drug dealer as a tax payer, takes them off the welfare line, out of prison, and raising now fatherless kids.
The people legalization hurts are the ones that vote and depend on the GOP welfare for jobs, the ones it helps are probably going to vote Democrats and it helps the nation as a whole. Who do you think will win this in our current political world?
How will they win it? By huge money going to super packs that fabricate uncontested lies. Fox will get rich carrying the lies and eventually CNN will have to cave to the propaganda because it is a big pay day for the liars. Honesty is a low paying job on a bus instead of a limousine.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
10:55 am
Thomas brings up a good point.
The hugely powerful, monied and corrupt BIG Pharma industry does not want any competition.
Especially if it is just a weed that can be grown anywhere (i.e. for free) and works infinitely better than their chemical concoctions at controlling pain.
Better to let the terminally ill suffer horrifically while taking their often completely ineffective and gargantuanly expensive drugs…
Peadawg
May 24th, 2012
10:55 am
“Another boring bunch of blogs.”
This is the happiest blog in a while though.
Twinkie!!!
number of people to die from a MJ overdose - ZERO
May 24th, 2012
10:56 am
How many violent criminals (rapist, murderers, armed robbers) need to get early release from jail to make room for someone selling a small part of the billions of dollars worth of the MJ crop that is consumed in this country, before it makes you uncomfortable?
Keep your bible, keep your morals, keep your worn out reefer madness hysteria, but give me your common sense.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
10:56 am
M. Calvinist — Folks can say what they want, but I’d remain suspicious of the guy even if he wasn’t being snarky. Saying ‘I voted Democratic so I can get more public benefits’ is kind of silly because most public benefits are administered and disbursed at the *state* level, not Federal. Besides, the notion of multigenerational welfare dependence isn’t something you see liberals championing; that’s why there are fixed time limits on most kinds of public assistance. The poster seemed to be under the impression that all the benefits he was talking about were *unlimited* in terms of time, so if he *wasn’t* concern trolling, he’d have to be really clueless and misinformed.
I’ve only been on public assistance once in my life (drew unemployment for about two months back in the 90s) and they are EMPHATIC about the limits on the program. So I can’t believe that other benefit administrators don’t clue you in when you go to apply.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
10:57 am
Mighty Righty,
“I guess you missed my statement that I think marijuana should be legal.”
My point was it doesn’t matter if something is legal or not…if there is a demand for it even the most stringent regulations won’t stop an illegal market for the product.
Matti
May 24th, 2012
10:57 am
Yes.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
10:57 am
Yep, Oscar, I agree.
Empty the jails and prisons of small time weed offenders and replace them with Republican bankers.
Now that is killing two injustice birds with one stone!
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:01 am
JamVet,
“Empty the jails and prisons of small time weed offenders and replace them with Republican bankers”
Corporate welfare queens.
number of people to die from a MJ overdose - ZERO
May 24th, 2012
11:01 am
and those of you who dont smoke, thats fine. But how do you feel about your democratically elected government trampling on your personal freedoms? Letting other industries that sell ‘drugs’ prosper, while criminalizing the consumers of their competitors?
With the gay marrige thing in the news lately, a lot has been said about being on the right side of history on this issue. Do you really think an enlightened nation will keep a weed illeagal forever.
And for all the stoner jokes implying tokers are all dumb idiots. I laugh at you. For you my friend are the real idiot b/c you have no grip on the reality of the situation.
Now go beat your wife, drink too much and cheat on your taxes on your way to church, as you tell us what’s right and wrong.
Finn McCool (The System Isn't Broken; It's Fixed ~ from an Occupy sign)
May 24th, 2012
11:02 am
Good article on alternative banking:
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/cooperative_banking_has_arrived/
the cat
May 24th, 2012
11:02 am
OT-did anyone see the parishioner from Worley’s “church” on Anderson Cooper last night??? OMG-there are some dense, hate filled people in NC. And clueless.
Peter
May 24th, 2012
11:02 am
kayaker 71
May 24th, 2012
9:13 am
It sure is better than growing tomato plants.
No I love my tomatoes !