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Saturday, October 20

Stop the failed war on drugs: By Bill Steigerwald




October 16, 2007



Let's hear it for America's drug police.

Last year our drug warriors made 829,627 marijuana arrests.

That's the most ever, according to the FBI. Arrests for marijuana -- arguably the least dangerous drug ever declared illegal in America -- are up nearly threefold since 1990. Total arrests for all illegal drugs in 2006 hit 1.89 million, up from 1.08 million in 1990.



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What do you think? Do you agree with with the author or not?

56 comments:

Angelica D. said...

I understand that marijuana possession is illegal, but I think it is ridiculous that the "war on drugs" focus appears to be on those who possess marijuana??

Maybe because they are much easier arrests and make the numbers look good. At least go after the dealer or supplier...

This is just another example of our country's lack of focus...I love my country - but our focus is always where it shouldn't be, or we get so caught up in one thing, and totally ignore all the surrounding & prudent factors.

I think that we should legalize & regulate marijuana, then the government can collect tax dollars from the sales, and we wouldn't spend so much time and money arresting people for possession.

Our drug police should be able to focus on more threatening instances, like cocaine suppliers and drug trafficking.. and the violence that errupts from it. Or what about crystal meth? Isn't this our newest drug problem? Not to mention crystal meth causes violent, erratic behavior...

I know people see marijuana as a "gateway" drug and may worry if we legalize..then we are supporting drug use - but what about alcohol? Alcohol is legal, and is far more dangerous. And tobacco? Dangerous in the sense of lung cancer, and harder to kick than heroin.. Meaning - it is far more likely for people to smoke again than quit using heroin.

I think by legalizing & regulating marijuana it will free up our police, and not just our drug police, all police officers, to have more time to focus on real criminals, not petty & victemless crimes.

Neishia said...

I agree with the author not from a personal stnapoint or anything because I believe smoking is bad in all degrees. But if it was leagal than maybe police would crack down on some other crimes. They are so consumed with the lil things such as this that they are overlooking the larger things that are causing more damage to society.

Athena Smith said...

I myself thought the article was very interesting although there are parts I do not agree with. However the most interetsing statement to me was the following:
"the drug war, and the prohibitionist ideology which fuels it, is not about rational policy. It's not about science, compassion, health or human rights, it's a sort of dogma -- a secular fundamentalism that sees itself immune from critical examination."

kenny said...

I too understand why marijuana whould be legal in the first place but if thats the case why would Tobacco and alcohol be legal, if you look at the statistics of alcohol related deaths compared to marijuana related deaths the numbers would amaze you!! not only does alcohol dominate the charts but so does Tobacco with the highest rates on cancer and disease related deaths.

I personally think we should ban the sale of tobacco related products and leagalize marijuana.

Im not so sure about the whole political thing the author talks about because i think its irrelivant to what the sitiuation is, and thats the sale of tobacco.

kenny said...

i agree with Neishia, maybe if marijuana was legal then law enforcement might start concentrating on crimes that affect our society greatly.

Athena Smith said...

The author says it is political because prohibition policies are driven by politics. Take the prohibition of Marijuana. Prior to 1920's the plant was legal and was prescribed as medication. Moreover it was heavily used my Mexican immigrants.
In the 1930's Harry Anslinger became director of the Federal Bureau of narcotics and descided to expand the scope of his business because the Bureau was threatened with a budget cut. He saw a golden opportunity id the prohibition of marijuana. Some of his most known quotes are:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

Athena Smith said...

he also found lots of support from the publisher William Hearst who for various reasons despised Mexicans and also saw the ptential of rising sales if a new enemy were to be identified. Some excerpts from his publications:
"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES -- that is a matter of cold record."

Athena Smith said...

Also Hearst and Anslinger were supported by the Dupont chemical company that had patented nylon, and wanted hemp removed as competition.
Thus the stage for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was set which was passed after Anslinger gave a passionate testimony before Congress reading from a notebook filled with sensational Hearst editorials, stories of killers whom Anslinger described as MJ users and the ususal racial slurs.

This is why the author says that the decision to prohibit it was political.

Natalie said...

The most bizare thing about this article is, that this author states how amoung the 829,627 people arrested, a third of those arrest were under 19! To me the numbers are too high! Young teens are thinkin its cool to try drugs but sometimes the media makes it look cool. How bout we try harder to teach young teens not to do drugs. I know in school they taught us about alcohol and tabacco but never weed. i had to learn bout that from friends. which is not a good thing.

Anyways, so this author is implying that it is costing us to keep marijuana illegal.... which sounds so crazy.Sounds like legalizing it would be more cheaper on our economy... so yeah make it easy on everyone and legalize it. No! just like drinkin alcohol and tobacco is extremely harmful to u... so are many other drugs. They all should be illegal.. yeah so weed dont have to many harmful affect but still is considered a drug. I believe the gov't has alot to do with this matter. its all about the money.

Natalie said...

It is so sad to state the facts! Legalizing marijuana will help us econimically and let our law enforcemenet focus on more important crimes. this is sad.

Unknown said...

I strongly agree with kenny!
I think marijuana is the least of our countries worries. Tobbaco is way more addictive and causes cancer and other diseases.I mean so much momney is being wasted on arresting that effort can go somewhere else. Its a shame!

mmedina10 said...

Relating to some of the quotes that Athena posted i do not agree with "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind." I have met many "pot heads" and all of them are in another world. They never think of violence when they are high. I also believe that this other quote is very stereotypical "...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." cause it goes back to where you stated that white women have sexual relations with black men. I do not think that all white girls that smoked marijuana had any sexual activity with black or any other heritage. It all depends on what "side of town" you are looking at. I think that the only reason all minorities have a higher numbers in being arrested is because most of them come from middle class family if not lower. All the other rich folks (mainly white)smoke it just as much and as well as many other more expensive drugs because they can afford it, yet you dont see their numbers go up. Reason why is because money talks. They need to have a reason why not to allow immagrents in this country as easy. They need to show that the country would be perfect if we would not have as many foreigners contaminating our "perfect" country.

mmedina10 said...

Now the article, i do not know why the polices spend so much time cracking down on the least addicting drug. When they can be using their time catching rappist, robbers, killers, and etc. I believe that marijuana should be legal reason are as follow taxe money collected, less money spent on prisoners, more space for real crimminals, and safer community. because they will spending more time catching other crimminals instead of spending their type catching 5g of weed.

Athena Smith said...

mmedina10
I am not sure how you read the quote... I was referring to the statements that Anslinger made in order to galvanize public opinion in the 1920 and succeed in criminalizing marijuana. Up to that point it was legal you see.
In no way do I credit him with the slightest shred of seriousness.

GatorGirl06 said...

I somewhat agree with the author, although I personally think smoking of any kind is bad for you. But the truth of the matter is, if marijuana is legal..then the police would focus on more serious crimes.

GatorGirl06 said...

I agree with angelica d's first comment. "by legalizing & regulating marijuana it will free up our police...to have more time to focus on real criminals, not petty & victimless crimes". Because really the only person marijuana can hurt is the person smoking it, the police should focus more on real criminals who plan on hurting other innocent people.

Danielle said...

Economically, the legalization of marijuana could be the smartest move the American government could make. Like kenny said, the deaths resulting from marijuana are quite minimal compared to the other factors or causes of death. But ban tobacco? That's crazy talk. Not that i am a smoker, but seriously kenny.
Our government needs to take a distal point of view and realize that marijuana is not going away, no matter how many arrests they make. I feel that legalizing this narcotic and taxing it could bring about a better change in America.
You never know, maybe the legal system might start focusing on more important issues instead of busting kids for pot possesion behind shopping plazas.
A few people might lose their jobs with the legalization, but just think of all the money that America will be aquiring.

bdraper said...

I think that the war on drugs, against weed is so ridiculous! For how many arrests that they make for people with possesion, it really does not slow down and distrabution for the communities. If the cops were catching people who were selling massive amounts then possibly it would slow the market down, but many law officials focus on pety crimes with marijuana. I think that if they US made marijuana legal not as many people would do it because it would take the fun out of "doing something that were not supposed to be doing." All the money that drug dealers make would actually benifit the US in making a profit from the taxed marijuana. I believe that many drugs should stay illegal, but for marijuana, it should be legalized.

bdraper said...

I agree with Kenny, tabacco and alcohol all have more negative affects on people, from what you hear, than marijuana. I mean the best anti-marijuana commercials they can come up with is a human talking to a dog. Last time I checked Marijuana was not a hallusigenic-(sp?). I also do not understand much of the political refrences but politics seem to over look many of the tabacco deaths, and do not promote tabacco awarness, unless your county is one of the lucky ones that offers this to children. All the TRUTH and Watthefuxup tabacco ads that are on TV are all owned by the Big Tabacco themselves, so really, the government does not care about those deaths either!

jeje 21 said...

If alcohol and tobacco are already legalized and dangerous why put another legal. How can u make weed legal when weed makes you more stupid, suppressing the immune system, damaging the brain cells and decreasing short-term memory. Not even that is the fact that after u smoke it more likely your body will get used to it and will ask for something more stronger. That’s when people start using cocaine and other types of drugs.

jeje 21 said...

I disagree with angelica because if you support the war on drugs, you must want yet another generation of our inner city youth to grow up fast and die young in an atmosphere of crime and fear. The only reason why u see more cases of tobacco and alcohol is because is legal. Even though marijuana makes you more relax and happy, its use of 1 to 3 marijuana joints can produce the same lung damage and potential cancer risk as smoking five times as many cigarettes.

Crimsonzero said...

Honestly I disagree with the majority of you and I think that marijuana should still be an illegal drug. My brother actually used to be a marijuana addict, and he used to do all sorts of really crazy things, including stealing my parents car, plus the belief that everyone wanted to kick him when he's down and well, in the end he ended up hurting everyone. When you're really addicted to marijuana, you will hurt your friends, your family, and everyone else that's close to you. I'd like to ask all of you this question. Does any one of you have a relative that was a drug addict, and if you do, try asking their/your parents about what happened and how they felt about it. You may get a completely different response than what your opinion is. Also, for any of you planning to have children, would you want your child to be a marijuana addict in the near future? It may be expensive law but I think that that it is a necessary law to be in effect in the United States

Crimsonzero said...

Bdraper said

"I agree with Kenny, tabacco and alcohol all have more negative affects on people, from what you "Hear", than marijuana. I mean the best anti-marijuana commercials they can come up with is a human talking to a dog. Last time I checked Marijuana was not a hallusigenic-(sp?). I also do not understand much of the political refrences but politics seem to over look many of the tabacco deaths, and do not promote tabacco awarness, unless your county is one of the lucky ones that offers this to children. All the TRUTH and Watthefuxup tabacco ads that are on TV are all owned by the Big Tabacco themselves, so really, the government does not care about those deaths either!"

There are less reports of damage caused by marijuana because of the fact that it's illegal, so of course you're not going to hear much about them. It might change however if it's legalized. However I do agree that it is silly about how companies such as truth and watthefuxup are owned by tobacco companies. How can they tell people to stop smoking when they're the ones giving out the stuff? o_0

Athena Smith said...

Since the other side is being argued, it is useful to go back to John Stuart Mill’s famous essay on Liberty: “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of the community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.”

According to this individualism we have come to define victimless crimes. A victim does exist, but he is the same person as the victimizer. Or in other words we have come to agree that we should not interfere with one another as we seek to entertain ourselves.

But in reality another dimension props up. Is the victim/victimizer (the drug user in our case) the only recipient of the consequences? Yes, if he is a hermit. But as Crimsonzero pointed out, he is not. Therefore, how useful is this principle in forming policy?

Many will point out that since we have legalized certain dangerous drugs, we have also answered the previous question.
Others will emphasize the existing societal indifference that is demonstrated through the lack of detoxification facilities.
And others will consider the current state of affairs as convenient symbolic witch-hunt that demonstrates a commitment to "righteousness" while it shifts attention away from our low violent crime solution rates.

HoneySweet G. said...

The only reason Marijuana is illegal is because the US government doesn't know how to control the manufacturing to make the biggest profit from it. So hence the Illegalization of Weed.

Plus Weed is an herbal drug not a chemical like cocaine. It won't immediately destroy braincells (it will in long term usage, but that's beside the point.) But who are we? Just 35% of weed's consumers. (not me personally.)

HoneySweet G. said...

I wonder how many bank robbers, murderers and molesters are raoming the street because the police are scoping the "Tree Smokers". Is it 10, 100, or maybe even 1,000,000. Who knows, but 45% of the jail inhabitants are in there for possession, or intent to sell. Big whoop. Is that worth the time money and effort? Or should it be used to the REAL crimes that are happening, instead of the police just listening and not writing it down. How many more people have to die? Why can't we use our forces to help them/us live?

brooke said...

I think that marijuana should be legalized. All we are doing is wasting our time arresting people for possession. Really, if they were soing something bad and selling it to young kids that reasonable but i defianetly believe we should legalize it. We are taking up room in jails that could be for CRIMINALS that are actually doing something to harm us. Think about we are paying taxes for people to sit in jail for possession of marijuana?? It doesnt make since at all.

brooke said...

I agree with angelica d and neishia we could make so much money off of taxing marijuana it is unreal. Also the police really need to be cracking down on harmful people like duis and rapist and people that ara ctually harming our country not smoking a joint or having possession of marijuana. If we legalized weed and made the same laws for it as alcohol ot would be much better. Hopefully they could then stop bigger crimes and not arrest people over something so petty.

peachykeach said...

I do not agree with the author. Does everything in the world have to focus on fiancial benefits? A drug addict doesn't start with heroine or crack. They typically start off small with marijuana and when that isn't enough they go for more, harder drugs that give a stronger high. Dont get me wrong I know that there are lot's of people who use marijuana occasionally and can handle it but it is playing with fire and can lead to an inferno.

peachykeach said...

I diagree with brooke. If we eliminate the demand for marijuane than we will put the suppliers out as well.

E said...

I think that Marijuana should be legalized but it also needs to be regulated. In the article it says about one-third of the arrests were for people under the age of 19, drugs should be discussed at a young age from parents and in the classroom. Imagine what could be done with the 31.1 billion dollars that taxes from marijuana sales produced. More funding for schools or really use the money to catch people selling heroin or other serious drugs. The "war on drugs" seems to only be able to catch the people who are using the drug, the "drug warriors" aren't catching the sellers or the people who are growing it. What good is it to continue to arrest the people who have it in their possesion and not the growers?

MeXIII said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
E said...

I agree with Brooke, if the US legalized marijuana and then regulated it like alcohol, then we could free-up space in the prison system for more serious offenders. Marijuana should have strict rules just like alcohol and I think a limit of how much you should have at one time.

ssnipes said...

I think america should focus more on getting child molestors, rapists, and murderers in jail and off the streets more than "potheads." Marijuana isnt even that big of a deal compared to other drugs and alcohol! If it were legalized the government would make a lot of money and everyone would be in a good mood! its a win win situation!

JeanK23 said...

I agree with the author in that legalizing marijuana would probably help our ecomony financial wise but I also incorporate what Neishia had to say about how it would help our law enforcement focus more on harsher crimes. If there is a possible way to regulate the sale from a safe and affordable source and it would no long be an issue of smuggling it and taxing it through our ports, then I think legalizing it would have alot more advantages then people think.

chronos said...

I agree even though I personally have no intrest in any drug. What we really need to look at as how much money this can make for our government. This could even provide more money for our school systems. I also feel that the police can be quite harsh on teenagers when enforcing the law. As a result just like the author said many even get killed over something that could have been avoided.

chronos said...

I agree with you ssnipes there are many other serious crimes that the police should be concetraiting on. It seems to me that a lot of police officers tend to abuse their power and over use the law. I recently talked to one at a party and he told me that if he is having a bad day more than likely he is going to give more tickets to everyone. Hearing this kind of stuff scares me.

bigbuddy said...

I think that marijuana should not be legal. Marijuana is considered a gateway drug. Many marijuana users end up doing other lethal drugs like crack,cocaine and heroine. Being from the inner city of New York i can tell you that marijuana has devastating effects. You should see the number of teenagers just standing on street corners smoking weed all day. From the time that they get up to the time that they go to bed. It makes our youth lazy and non productive. What law enforcement needs to do is target the drug dealers and enforce harsher penalties. People abuse alcohol everyday. What makes you think that they wont abuse marijuana.

bigbuddy said...

I agree with kenny to a certain extent. Yes, alcohol and tobacco are extremely harmful. But banning cigarrettes and legalizing marijuana is not better. Cigarrettes do not make you high but Marijuana does. With all the alcohol related accidents in the US its a bad idea to legalize marijuana. The amount of DUI's in america would probably increase.

Sierrablue said...

For most of human history, marijuana has been legal. It's a very old plant. Its known uses go back further than 7,000 B.C. The plant has an number of uses. Besides smoking the leaves, the earliest known woven fabric was made of hemp, and over the centuries the plant was used for medicine, food, incense, cloth, rope, and more. Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it's been in use, plus it has not been illegal that long. There has been so much propaganda over the years about marijuana. Some of it is very comical now. Just watch 1938 documentary called “ Reefer Madness ” made to show the evils of smoking marijuana. It is no more a “gateway drug” than alcohol. Having witnessed the effects both have on people, and long term use of both, the damage done by alcohol is far more worse. I think marijuana should be legal, however there should be restriction as there are with any drug. This will free up money, and the judicial system to deal with more serious crime.

Sierrablue said...

I agree with Kenny when he says,

“if you look at the statistics of alcohol related deaths compared to marijuana related deaths the numbers would amaze you!! not only does alcohol dominate the charts but so does Tobacco with the highest rates on cancer and disease related deaths.”

Alcohol affects a different part of the brain. It can bring out violence and false feelings of invincibility. Quiet people turn into reckless daredevils. There were 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 – 39 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year. Some of these numbers are innocent victims of drunk drivers. There are also many other alcohol related deaths such as alcohol poison or cirrhosis of the liver. There is very little evidence of marijuana being linked to any deaths, instead evidence supports it actually has medicinal uses. So why is so much money being spent to fight the its use. Legalizing it and regulating it makes more sense.

Anonymous said...

Marijuana is illegal. end of story. whether we should or should not regualte it doesn't matter. regulating marijuana might make the country money for a while on taxation, but then people will get tired of "the gateway drug". because that's what they teach us right? rememebr that program d.a.r.e.? yeahh they teach us no tot smoke because its the gateway drug. so now you want to legalize it for taxation? that is rediculous. maybe i would have a better understanding if i actually smoked it, but from my stand point its crazy. they should lower the drinking age before considering legalizing marijuana. and in some citys in america it is legal to carry a certain amount. i remember doing a report on in about 2 years ago. it is a VERY small amount however.

Anonymous said...

with what kenny is saying... tobacco doesnt alter your thoughts or judgement. yes it may lead to cancer but tobacco isn't what kills you. its the cancer you can get that kills you. also, marijuana might not "cause cancer", but it could contribte to it. and it does kill your brain cells.

the other point i have is that most people can tell when others are drunk. there are ways to disguise being high.

Anonymous said...

I have heard a lot about the taxation that would take place if the prohibition would be lifted from marijuana. I believe that in the long run, it would be a safer route to just legalize and properly distribute marijuana than have people fighting and running from the cops all the time. I think that activity promotes the violent thoughts that make this whole enterprise messy. I know that there would still be illegal distribution of the substance with a decent amount of the drug dealers having to move on to selling harder drugs to help keep a steady income coming in. To me, that is the only problem with the legalization of marijuana. Besides, it would help clear out some of the jails to make more room for the people with more serious crimes.

Anonymous said...

I agree greatly with what athena-smith had said about that interesting quote within the article. It does really seem that as soon as people hear anything about this subject the automatically let their biases cloud anytype of open-minded ideas that they should be trying to have. It's kinda like how it was for homosexuals about 50 years ago; if you were homosexual you were considered mental ill. People completely closed off thier ideas about the issues and just completely chalked it up to "oh, their just crazy." This seems to be whats really going on here. People hear anything about this subject and they automatically go, "oh, that jsut a crazy idea that the potheads are coming up with." Well, I personally don't smoke pot and on top of that I hardly ever even imbibe alcohol yet I am a person that thinks that we should seriously consider the pros and cons of what may happen here, not just shut the door on this idea. arn't we always trying to improve our economy? well this is one way to build jobs.

Jondeflorence said...

Now here's a topic I can sink my teeth into. I have been preaching about how inefficient and asinine the "war on drugs" is for god knows how long. If anything, I wish the government would make up its mind on the matter. To allow marijuana use in some states while still incarcerating mostly "innocent" people in others is absurd and downright insulting. I know a few people who's lives have been forever marred because of a little bit of a harmless substance. The fact that so much space in our prisons and so much money is wasted on this failed war is blasphemy. We should be putting that money into research and development of new ways to use this plant. Hemp is one of the most versatile materials out there, and last a ridiculously long time. it can be used for rope, clothing materials, and many other purposes. New research on the main active ingredient in marijuana THC has shown that it has quite a few positive medicinal qualities, and has been shown to help those who have chronic pain, poor appetites, and anxiety disorders. The governtment is losing so much money on trying to stop this that it has become blind to how much potential this has as a cash crop. Prohibition didn't work before, what makes them think it will work now? By making it illegal, it allows dealers to stay on the streets, and keeps the demand high, therefore making the war on drugs the biggest oxymoron in history.

Monica Rivera Agard said...

I read all the comments for this article and I agree there are a lot of good uses for this drug. I also agree that it was not illegal for most of it's lifetime. I agree with Sierrablue the medical purpose are good and the clothing manufactoring is good and I think the economy would thrive off the sale and taxes. However< i do not think this drug should be legalize. Yes, it is a stupid war for us, but not for all. Just like achocol is stupid for most people there are people out there that struggle with it and it is legal. I agree Athena Smith if we legalize it it would just bring about more problems. Some of the crime would go away as we create new ones. No there would not be drug bust, but there would be acidents or break ins or deaths because it is a drug that stimulates your mind and not in good ways. To legalize this drug would cause more problems then good. Lets not forget we would have to add robberies because this drug would be a trade of value and people would then hijack the trucks used to transport it. I am a firm believer that if you help one person then it is not a failed war.

Angelica D. said...

Response to jeje 21:

I understand your point, but I believe that there are more severe crimes than smoking marijuana... like kidnapping, rape & murder...
It would be nice if our police can free themselves from crimes like smoking pot and focus on children that go missing, are sexually assaulted & murdered...Just my opinion.

dfrank22 said...

I agree with angelica d. it is a very useless waste of time considering that most of the people arrested are user's and if the amount they have is under a certain limit they are relased any ways. Our nation I guess never learns from it's mistakes, because I remember a similar situation involving alcohol whcih built up some of the greatest criminals.. until it was legalized.

dfrank22 said...

I agree with the aurthor but I think to just up and legalize it would be some what of a shock to the more conserative people of this nation. Some people are so caught up in their morals that their more conserned with keeping their conscience clean than realizing that these morals are causing a bigger problem, and costing more money.

Kung fu Hustla said...

I think marijuana would be ok to legalize, and the only drug they should legalize. Why spend money aresting and proscuting will you can be taxing and make money just like alcohol and tobacco. Which alcohol and tobacco would probably do more damage in the long run than marijuana.

Kung fu Hustla said...

I personaly do agree with the author. This person is making a good point on his article. There are so many people now that carry marijuana on them like its cigerettes. And most Law Enforcement officers arent really making an effort anymore to arest people who do have possession. They'll just take it from you and say go home. I've read in a study that a student from UCLA did that tobacco and alcohol are more harmful than marijuana in the long run. In my opinion the government can be making alot of money from this new tax if they pass it.

anthony kolodziej said...

I am totally against the usage of marijuana but to go ahead and legalize it i think would put it in perspective relating it to alchohal usage. It has the same side affects that alchohal has while driving impaired if not less. Both slow reaction time but be drunk gives the driver more of a chance to swerve into something or fall asleep at the wheel. Legalizing it would also take the high warrant off of arresting people on possession.

anthony kolodziej said...

I agree with what kenny has to say about legalizing it as well. Because with the way police arrest and release people is the same as arresting for being intoxicated and being released. Also how it would direct the cops attention more on bigger unsolved crimes.

irishbabe said...

yes i do agree with the author. only because there sre so many other things that need to be cracked down on.besides people are just going to do it anyway legal or not.

irishbabe said...

i agree with angelica d when she says that the dealer needs to be found. get the dealer it gets taken of the streets and then everybody is happy.