I agree with you.

I am just sick of the worthless war on pot. Not to mention all the negative publicity that has no truth, or founding. I have never tried it but know plenty who have/do use it and I can't say I've ever seen any negative effects. All I know who use it only do so for fun or to relax, and if they have other things to worry about like bills, its no problem for them to just wait until they can afford it. Unlike meth or some other drugs out there that should be illegal because of how they affect not only you, but others around you.

It wastes tons of money. Not just the search, seizure, arrest, and prosecution, but the burden it puts on our broken prison system as well.

Personally, I think they should reduce the penalties for possession of recreational amounts of all drugs and get rid of mandatory minimum sentencing so that judges can remand people with repeated drug charges to the care of a psychiatric facility for addiction counseling instead of sending them to prison for 10 years. Prison isn't a place to get clean; more people get hooked on meth and coke in prison than anywhere else! They should put the focus on dealers, manufacturers, and smugglers instead of damning the end user for their addiction disease.

I agree with you 100% Of course if I had a say over where my tax dollars go, I would put an end to that, and all the money we send to these other country's. Billions of dollars sent off to other country's, and yet we cant afford to take care of our own people. That pisses me off more than anything. Especially these other country's that hate our guts. 1.5 Billion a year to Egypt = Benghazi 68.7 Million to Russia = Still complain about us 96 Million to Pakistan= Wait weren't they knowingly harboring Osama, not to mention the current BS.

Meanwhile supposedly we can't afford to take care of our own veterans, elderly, and mentally/physically handicapped. I really hate our current government, but still love my country. It's just Frustrating. that's kinda why I am happy to see a lot of different stated telling the fed to Fuck off when it comes to management of state laws. Weed Legal....Firearms freedom act........amendments to state constitutions keeping out certain federal laws etc.

Honestly, I think we have NO BUSINESS helping ANYONE ELSE while half of our country still believes that the Devil made up Evolution. :/ We need to fix our schools, fix our healthcare, fix the prison system, repair our budget, treat vets better, and come up with ways to help the homeless and socially disadvantaged get education, health care, EMPLOYMENT, and housing. We need to work on our society to help educate the general population about how the prison system, legal system, and US government legislation works, and educate peoples about the realities of drug addiction and mental illness to reduce the shaming and stigmatizing of the people suffering in those situations.

THEN the FIRST country we OUGHT to be helping is Mexico, since most of their problems are OUR FAULT. We should send THEM troops to fight the cartels smuggling drugs to US and stop US companies from supplying the Mexican cartels with drugs. We should help them build schools, hospitals, and industries to provide labor and THAT will fix our illegal immigration problem. They're our neighbor and we completely ignore the problems they have that we caused and then bitch when people flee the country and come here.

Unfortunately we have been doing just the opposite on all of that.

As far as Mexico goes, we have been sending the cartels weapons, and money for quite some time. Those are just return investments for the already rich and powerful. That needs to stop, but as with many issues that have come up involving those in power, they often get swept under the rug.

So long as this does not create a road for way harder drugs to start being legalized I could care less if they legalized the stuff. I don't plan on using the stuff myself though, I saw an acquaintance of mine use the stuff and it pretty much drove him to ruin.

It's like all powerful things: if you don't treat it with respect, it will bite you hard. For one thing, anything that acts on the mind (including prescription drugs, alcohol, and even large doses of caffeine) can cause psych problems in people who are predisposed.

But if you treat it with respect it can be very rewarding on journeys of self-discovery and healing. For some, the risk really is worth it.

Quite. He didn't respect it and I don't trust many to be responsible.

It remains to be seen how much more dangerous than alcohol it is. A lot of people will say it's less dangerous owing to the relatively low risk of dependence/addiction, and the fact that it's much less likely to cause violent behavior.

Still, one of the things I've noticed in people who develop problems is a tendency to mix their bud with tobacco or alcohol. Adding alcohol or nicotine on top of it is a VERY bad idea, as both chemicals seem to amplify the psychological dependence and add an element of chemical addiction to it.

And we have to consider that if people consider it less dangerous it means they'll be willing to do riskier things with it then they would with alcohol. Like say driving while high or utilizing dangerous machines.

I think a surgeon general's warning would be a smart idea if it's ever legalized at the federal level.

Heh well even if they do put one on (which I hope they do) people are stupid. No amount of warning is going to stop an idiot from killing some innocent person by accident just because he "thought" he could handle it. But eh we are just merely theorizing. Maybe my doubt in humanity is unfounded, maybe we won't have any trouble whatsoever with the legalization. And I really hope we do, but I'll have to see it to believe it.

*shrug* To give people freedom is to give them the freedom to make mistakes, I suppose.

But a look at the underground culture that's already there is very reassuring. It's borderline legal where I am; people use it in public places and nobody seems to mind, and I'm happy to say that driving here isn't that scary at all (at least not compared to some cities I've lived in). The people here tend to be ambitious but compassionate and violent crime is some of the lowest in the country.

Then I'd say that's somewhat reassuring. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject.

Sadly there will always be people who use and abuse. I think the real question is, if it were made legal, and readily available would it create more problems? That remains to be seen I suppose, but if somebody wants something illegal or not, there going to be able to get it one way or another.
It would seem that in other countries where it has been made legal that use has dropped, as well as crime associated with it.

We shall see what the future brings. Im just sick of my money being used to fight what is in my opinion a losing battle on a drug that is in my opinion better than alcohol, or tobacco. Again I don't smoke it and not sure I would even if made legal. Might try it in a sucker or something some day. But again who knows what the future has in store?

I was happy to see the results of the vote, though our own Measure 80 failed. Something like 2 out of 5 adults nationwide have either tried or are currently using weed. It's definitely not hurting the industriousness of Northwesterners though. I think Portland has one of the highest rates of self-employment in the country.

I don't see it becoming a huge issue if it were made legal countrywide. I'm curious to see what the Supreme Court says about Colorado and Washington's ruling.

Of course under the 10th Amendment the state has the right to make their own laws and regulations, so it will be interesting to see that that battle. might end up like Wyoming, Florida, and which ever other state/ states where we basically added to our state Constitution an amendment bypassing the new healthcare reform act AKA Obama care. Or the firearms freedom act basicly telling the federal government to kindly piss off when it comes to regulating Wyoming's firearms manufacturing. That one has yet to be tested, and will also be interesting to see where it leads.