Interesting one is that in other articles it's been noted kids generally report they have an easier time getting marijuana than alcohol.
It's quite simple actually...it's easier for the doughnut munchers to arrest Joe-Pothead sitting on his couch getting high and eating a bag of chips than it is to go after real criminals.
I can picture it now.
Some sap standing up in a church basement saying "My name is Joe, and I'm a marijuana addict".
The crowd would be brought to it's knees.
San Franciso is a much better place now that marijuana has been legalized - sarcasm
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
This is in direct violation of Genesis, where God clearly says He put all seed-bearing plants on Earth for us to use.
Package the essential poison of marijuana - the THC that makes people high and stupid and prescribe that....for ??? - OK the high that drug legalizers are so intent on getting. Seagram's could market it.
http://www.marijuana-anonymous.org/
BUMP
My understanding is that marijuana isn't even addicting in the strictly chemical sense, the way even alcohol and tobacco actually make permanent changes in your brain that cause dependency. So it's really one of those things you can go through a phase in life experimenting with and then give up when you grow up. The main concern I have usually hear against it is that it is a "gateway drug" that will lead to trying scarier stuff, but it seems to me that making it illegal is counterproductive, then, because that puts it on the same slippery-slope for the experimenter as the harder drugs. It contributes to the counter-culture appeal for those at a teenage level of maturity going through a rebellion stage, while not appreciably cutting down on accessibility. The sharp decline in smoking over the last few decades obviously wasn't the result of throwing people in jail, but in smoking losing almost all of its coolness. (In America, anyway; Europe's way behind the curve there.)
Plus, one criminal conviction can ruin the career future of a promising college student, possibly turning them from productive contribution to less savory activities to make money.
With violent criminals getting frighteningly short sentences due to our overcrowded prisons, it seems to me to be a matter of priorities. Let states decide if that's really where they want to spend their prosecution and incarceration resources. I know if/when I become a prosecutor I don't want to spend my time dealing with people like my sister's lame friends.
I'm not sure what these statistics really mean. Although pot posession busts are up I seriously doubt that investigations for pot posession are up. I practiced criminal law during the first 15 of my career and I don't think I ever saw a police investigation of a mere posession charge. 98% of all Pot posession busts were cases where the defendant was being busted for something else (DUI, trespass, disorderlly conduct or more serious charges) and the cops happened to find some pot on the guy. Or the cops were investigaing a complaint (ie. noise, fighting, etc.) and the cop turns up some pot while investigating the original complaint. I don't believe cops devote any real resourses to investigating cases of possible marijuana posession. If anything, more posession busts probably means more people are smoking the stuff or fewer cops are looking the other way when some pot does turn up during an investigation or bust.
LOL! It's a success at providing paychecks for WOD bureaucrats and warm fuzzy feelings for big-government puritans.
Question: I was told recently that companies like Anheuser-Busch are lobbying against the legalisation of MJ because it would cut into their profits. I don't entirely believe this (the woman speaking was trying to support an obvious agenda). Just curious...what do you all think about this?