Support for Pot to be Legalized Around the Country?

[stephendare]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112201986.html

The same day they rejected a gay marriage ballot measure, residents of Maine voted overwhelmingly to allow the sale of medical marijuana over the counter at state-licensed dispensaries.

Later in the month, the American Medical Association reversed a longtime position and urged the federal government to remove marijuana from Schedule One of the Controlled Substances Act, which equates it with heroin.

A few days later, advocates for easing marijuana laws left their biannual strategy conference with plans to press ahead on all fronts -- state law, ballot measures, and court -- in a movement that for the first time in decades appeared to be gaining ground.

"This issue is breaking out in a remarkably rapid way now," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Public opinion is changing very, very rapidly."

The shift is widely described as generational. A Gallup poll in October found 44 percent of Americans favor full legalization of marijuana -- a rise of 13 points since 2000. Gallup said that if public support continues growing at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year, "the majority of Americans could favor legalization of the drug in as little as four years."

A 53 percent majority already does so in the West, according to the survey. The finding heartens advocates collecting signatures to put the question of legalization before California voters in a 2010 initiative.
ad_icon

At last week's International Drug Reform Conference, activists gamed specific proposals for taxing and regulating pot along the lines of cigarettes and alcohol, as a bill pending in the California Legislature would do. The measure is not expected to pass, but in urging its serious debate, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) gave credence to a potential revenue source that the state's tax chief said could raise $1.3 billion in the recession, which advocates describe as a boon.

There were also tips on lobbying state legislatures, where measures decriminalizing possession of small amounts have passed in 14 states. Activists predict half of states will have laws allowing possession for medical purposes in the near future.

Interest in medical marijuana and easing other marijuana laws picked up markedly about 18 months ago, but advocates say the biggest surge came with the election of Barack Obama, the third straight president to acknowledge having smoked marijuana, and the first to regard it with anything like nonchalance.

"As a kid, I inhaled," Barack Obama famously said on the campaign. "That was the whole point."

In office, Obama made good on a promise to halt federal prosecutions of medical marijuana use where permitted by state law. That has recalibrated the federal attitude, which had been consistently hostile to marijuana since the early 1970s, when President Richard Nixon cast aside the recommendations of a presidential commission arguing against lumping pot with hard drugs.

Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he was astonished recently to be invited to contribute thoughts to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, was police chief in Seattle, where voters officially made enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority.

[JaxNative68]

smoke 'em if you got 'em boys

[Sportmotor]

What is your stance on it Stephen?

[buckethead]

I voted yes.

It is none of the government's business what a private citizen wishes to ingest recreationally.

Dope is for dopers.

Marijuana laws are for the oppression of free people.

[A-Finnius]

I'll vote yes for pot... Other drugs can stay illegal.

[Reaper man]

I support the legalization of pot and most other drugs, so of course I voted yes.

but shouldn't this be in the national politics forum?

[heights unknown]

To hell with everything.  The country's going down the tube anyway so why not legalize everything that's illegal.

Heights Unknown

[Reaper man]

WOOOOOOOOOO ANARCHY!

*humps the neighbor's dog*

[civil42806]

Sounds good to me, have glaucoma, would be the most popular person in the complex!

[Sportmotor]

WOOOOOOOOOO ANARCHY!

*humps the neighbor's dog*

*tapes and sells to the internet for alot of money* o-o

[Sportmotor]

Well like in the Netherlands there are many gray areas surrounding this there. Technically is is not legal although tolerated and for tax purposes the government turns a blind eye. Therefor provided a coffeeshop owner doesn't try and bend the rules and sticks to the strict guidelines set out by the government everything is alright.

As a consumer/smoker, you are legally allowed to have up to and including 5 grams of weed on you at any time. This may have changed recently although it used to be that a coffeeshop could not sell you more than this amount at one time. Although as there are no stop and search laws you could repeat this purchase in a number of coffeeshops.
Citizens are allowed to own a certain number of plants too. I believe that amount is 5.
Of course some of the rules and laws differ from city to city. Like where and when a coffeeshop can open etc.


The Netherlands is low in crime compared

[Reaper man]

*tapes and sells to the internet for alot of money* o-o

You better give me a cut of that. >:|

[Sportmotor]

*tapes and sells to the internet for alot of money* o-o

You better give me a cut of that. >:|

Nope

[Reaper man]

Nope

:<

[Ocklawaha]

Hell YES! For someone with xxx medical problems, this would be a Godsend for me. Get me off these damn adictive pain killers and on something that works with all natural reactions, and little to no side effects. YES YES YES! Maybe for once Faye and I will agree on something important?

Doesn't hurt that I'm an old hippie too! YEAH!

OCKLAWAHA (dancing on his head around the kitchen)