Poll: Legalize Pot ?

[JimmyHAD]

Full disclosure, I smoked marijuana for twenty years. In 1983 I quit all mind and mood altering substances learning to prefer the natural high. If it was legalized tomorrow I wouldn't smoke it but I think it should be legalized, regulated and sold commercially in the same way that alcohol is.

The tax money taken in from the sales as well as the money saved on enforcement, prosecution, and incarceration would be enough to finance health care and who knows what else.

We wouldn't be locking people up with hardened criminals and risking they're coming out of prison having become criminals themselves. When I was a kid we copped pot from friends sometimes but also from guys who not only sold pot but harder drugs as well. The law enforcement resources would be freed up to tackle other more pressing matters.

Legalization would put a big dent in the income and power of the cocaine cowboy drug dealers here and abroad. Young people wouldn't be exposed to the guys selling the harder stuff when they went looking for weed. I see it as a total positive. In the 1960s I knew it would be made legal. I think it is bizarre that it is still a federal crime when alcohol abuse is way more hazardous to those who use it and the people that are affected by that use.

[gratewhitehuntr]

I think something should certainly be done about workers comp laws

to think that I can get my finger cut at work and not be compensated simply because they can prove I smoked a joint within the last 2 months

simply shameful

[Oglethorpe]

Absolutely. It is insane that this is still the case.

[JimmyHAD]

I think something should certainly be done about workers comp laws

to think that I can get my finger cut at work and not be compensated simply because they can prove I smoked a joint within the last 2 months

simply shameful

In '77 I was connecting red iron and came within a hair of losing four fingers on my left hand because I was smoking reefer and was zoning out instead of paying attention. As it was they were mashed pretty badly and I lost six weeks work.

I knew a guy who fell 200 feet for the same reason (speculating) and his brains were all over the sidewalk. I ain't saying it can't be abused and there is a time and a place for everything.

[welshwizard]

In the UK the major problem with drug use is the associated crime. Most folk that habitually use drugs tend not to be able to hold down a job for long. Especially as many large companies now routinely drug test their employees.
This means that have to steal other people's property for their drug money. I know cannabis is allegedly a 'soft' drug but in the UK we have a major problem with 'skunk' which is much more potent and can lead to paranoia and other mental problems.

If people want to take enough drugs or alcohol and fry their brains, that's fine with me, it's just another form of natural selection. The problem is the crime that goes with it and the effect it has on their nearest and dearest,or the lives of total strangers if they drive when drunk or drugged.

I don't think the powers that be will ever prevent the use of drugs or alcohol, the allure is too strong to resist for many people.

[singlewedge]

I could not agree more.

Prosecute people under the same laws as alcohol.

[0livia]

If the quality would be as it was when we were smoking, I'd love to legalize it yesterday, globally and tax free sold, while alcohol could be forbidden.

Unfortunately the weed nowadays is a real brain killer and not a soft drug anymore. I'd say its unsmokable, LOL
Its about 200 times as strong and when young kids get it, their brain will remain in lala stage. Can't be good.
Away with that stuff! Voted no.

[Leighton]

I don't smoke or use drugs, but I think a lot of problems could be solved by legalizing drugs.

Problems such as:
Crowded jails, judicial waste prosecuting drug users, more revenue for the government, less spread of disease, etc etc.

Drugs were perfectly legal up to the early 20th century. I never heard of any drug problems other than in China where the British literally forced opium down the throats of the Chinese. Of course, I also think these drugs should be heavily regulated and taxed to death.

[JimmyHAD]

If the quality would be as it was when we were smoking, I'd love to legalize it yesterday, globally and tax free sold, while alcohol could be forbidden.

Unfortunately the weed nowadays is a real brain killer and not a soft drug anymore. I'd say its unsmokable, LOL
Its about 200 times as strong and when young kids get it, their brain will remain in lala stage. Can't be good.
Away with that stuff! Voted no.

Good point Olivia. I have heard the kids in the tattoo shop talk about it. They can either get "crip" or "regs". The former being this super potent stuff you're referring to and the latter the more normal strength product. I can understand that causing a no vote but OTOH, if it were legalized and regulated then the potency could be regulated as well and this doctored up stuff could remain verboten.

[honedright]

Yes. Legalize pot. Legalize all controlled substances for that matter.

Consider this though, who stands to lose the most by the legalization of drugs? I can think of two entities: the black market drug suppliers and the drug war enforcers. Two very rich and powerful special interests.