Support for Pot to be Legalized Around the Country?

[sandyshoes]

There are pros and cons to everything, but I tend to agree with Jason.  I don't want to breathe in anybody's smoke of any kind, anywhere. Also, I would not want the pilot of any aircraft which I happen to board to be stoned, nor a train engineer, surgeon, etc.  But it would raise a lot of tax revenue.  And piss off our neighborhood drug dealers.  heehee....

[JaxNative68]

What is stopping any of the people you don't want handling your life in their hands not tending to you drunk or looped on pills  . . . Probably the same thing that will keep them from showing up stoned.  An addiction is an Addiction no matter the root.

[north miami]

 

                          Give us legal Pot and we will grant to you fullauthority (big new word) to the beltway proceedings.

This action(ze) will then render us as  Northern Californians ll which will create averting end of America.(Even though we lost Orange Park and Clay County-good trade!)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

[JaxNative68]

?

[north miami]

"?".....just like a jax native...........

[JaxNative68]

 

[Reaper man]

"?".....just like a jax native...........

No, he was throwing a question mark at you because you were incoherent and not making any fucking sense.

[urbanlibertarian]

Excerpted from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/03/national/main5515569.shtml

Portugal: A Case Study

In 2001, Portugal decriminalized not just marijuana but all drugs - heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine. Drug use has held steady overall, but declined in several key demographics, including teenagers. Drug-related crime plummeted. So did overdoses and HIV from needle use.

Last year, the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute sent the writer Glenn Greenwald to Portugal to report on the country's experience in the nearly eight years since decriminalization.

Greenwald, a former attorney who blogs at Salon.com, is best known for his liberal positions on civil liberties, torture, and the Bush administration. He said he has never written about drug policy before and went to gather empirical evidence on Portugal's outcomes. (Greenwald lives in Brazil and speaks fluent Portuguese.) The result was a strongly positive 30-page report published by Cato in April.

"In the 1990s they probably had the single worst problem with drug abuse and related pathologies of any country in Europe. Crime was through the roof," Greenwald said in an interview in September. "They felt like they had a huge crisis on their hands … The more they criminalized the worse it got."

Since decriminalization, lifetime prevalence rates (which measure how many people have consumed a particular drug or drugs over the course of their lifetime) in Portugal have decreased for various age groups. For students in the 7th-9th grades (13-15 years old), the rate decreased from 14.1 percent in 2001 to 10.6 percent in 2006. For those in the 10th-12th grades (16-18 years old), the lifetime prevalence rate, which increased from 14.1 percent in 1995 to 27.6 percent in 2001, the year of decriminalization, has decreased subsequent to decriminalization, to 21.6 percent in 2006.

Other age groups saw increases: lifetime prevalence among 20- to 24-year olds rose about 9 percent.

[JaxNative68]

"?".....just like a jax native...........

No, he was throwing a question mark at you because you were incoherent and not making any fucking sense.

North Miami was probably just hitin' the pipe 

[Charles Hunter]

Meanwhile, back in Florida, 2 legislators - including Sen. Steve Wise from this area - are proposing a 25% tax on the sale of bongs.

Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, and Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, have both filed legislation that would subject a range of pipes often used to smoke crack or marijuana to a 25 percent tax.

The charge would come regardless of whether the pipes are to be used for legal purposes or not â€" a way to get at so-called “head shops” that often sell the instruments while claiming they don’t know whether the pipes are going to be used for tobacco or something else.

“What we hope to do is get rid of the charade, the hypocrisy,” Rouson said.

From jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-11-25/story/two_florida_lawmakers_propose_25_percent_bong_tax%E2%80%99

[Dog Walker]

Steve Wise and Darryl Rouson talking about getting rid of charade and hypocrisy?? Best and quickest way for either of them to do that would be to resign and go home.  That would make a measurable difference in the level of hypocrisy in the Legislature for sure!

Look to the beam in your own eye, guys!

[Jason]

With all of the push around the country to essentially ban cigarettes I really don't see this happening.  The problem with pot is that there are those that may be exposed to its affects unwillingly, the same with cigs.  Personally I don't have a problem with pot itself but I don't want my kids exposed to a pass-by buzz because someone is toking nearby.

IMO, keep it behind closed doors at home and all is good.  Assuming you aren't exposing your own children to it as well.

My vote therefore is to keep it illegal unless there are some strict regulations set with regards to the amount allowed and where it can be smoked.

@Jason

I am for the legalization of pot - mostly because the reasons it is illegal are laughable. However, I agree with what you are saying where kids are concerned...but, what is to prevent your kids from getting a contact high now?

People smoke pot all the time. It's extremely popular and it's all over the place. Sure, you're not going to get exposed to it while eating out at Olive Garden but you might while walking through the parking lot.

My point is that people are going to use it regardless. You have almost as much risk as exposing your kids to it - illegal or not.  Should they legalize it, people will use it in inappropriate places...just like alcohol. That's human nature. DUI is  illegal, yet millions of people do it.

It's not OK to smoke in most places these days anyway so I fail to see how pot would be any different. That doesn't mean that people will follow the rules though.

The pros outweigh the cons.

My being a responsible parent prevents my children from exposure, legal or not.  I simply move on.  And I really do see your points, the fact that it is illegal desn't make me or my family and safer.  I get it.  I've had my own fare share of experiences with the stuff and chose to leave it alone for my own reasons. 

Again, if the legalization is done so with some stipulations on how and where it is consumed I have no problems whatsoever.  No driving while under the influence, keep the smoke away from others, and have all the fun you want in liscensed establishments or at home.  Easy.

[Ocklawaha]

I have a friend that got busted once in San Luis Obispo, CA, she tried to drive from LA to SF on highway 101, at 6 miles per hour!

OCKLAWAHA

[Dog Walker]

You mean she made it that far??!  Must have started at rush hour (ooo! bad pun!)  in L.A.

[Timkin]

Im for it.
Tax the hell out of it!

+1,000,000,000   The tax-revenue would be awesome , and compared to most other Illegal drugs and those that are legal, such as Alcohol ... It seems pretty ridiculous that it is still illegal.  That said , I concur with Jason in that it should have some regulation as to amounts, should not be used to the point that it impairs ,just as alcohol does, coupled with operating an Automobile, and should not be sold to minors, just as with Alcohol.