Posted on 12/10/2015 10:17:56 AM PST by ConservingFreedom
NAPLES, FL - They're normally the guys locking people up for marijuana possession, but a group of current and former law enforcement officers will meet in Naples to push for people's right to get high.
Not all law enforcement officers are on board, however. Legalizing marijuana, it's a hot-button issue in Florida.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition is pushing for the change to save taxpayer dollars and valuable resources.
"Sixty-thousand people get arrested every year for marijuana possession. That's a waste of law-enforcement resources," said Ray Strack of LEAP.
The group meets Thursday in Naples. The Florida Sheriff's Association is not on board with the plan or Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummel.
"No, I don't want to see that in Florida. We want to be known for our sunshine, our beaches, and Mickey Mouse. We don't want to be known for marijuana," said Sheriff Bill Prummell. "I'm just kind of surprised that fellow law enforcement are 'pro' this."
At the top of Thursday's agenda? Promoting initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana.
"We believe strongly in a regulated market. That's what we have [with] alcohol and tobacco," said Strack.
We found people Wednesday who said the current pot penalties are a waste of time.
"I think people would be surprised there's a lot of up-standing people that do it; they just haven't gotten caught," said Punta Gorda resident David Choken.
But Sheriff Prummel said catching pot smokers usually leads to other crimes.
"I don't see it as a waste of time because, like I stated before, they're likely involved in something else, or they're going to expand into something."
The meeting is free and open to the public Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Collier County Library Headquarters in Naples. If you plan on going, you can expect to learn about three amendments focused on the decriminalization of marijuana.
The only thing I really have against druggie is their unwillingness to admit that their addiction drives their words and deeds. That is the true analogy with alcohol; i.e. the refusal to admit they are addicted.
“Yes, we absolutely need one more source of drunk driving.”
What, you think just because marijuana is illegal nobody is smoking it and driving RIGHT NOW???
Yes, your question implicitly illustrates the addictive power of the drug. Peoples judgement is warped once the drug is ingested. Once again I admit that the druggie has won the battle. All that the sober have left is the rearguard action of attempting to prevent the infection of the healthy portion of our population. It will be hard as the schools are already being invaded by the druggie to raise money for their LEGAL purchases.
Should we ban alcohol if workers show up drunk?
the spike in accidents;
What spike?
the property crimes committed to get drug money
That happens now - and will happen less if market forces are allowed to drive pot prices down.
"Invaded" how? Are druggies having unauthorized bake sales?
I’m sure that you want to ban alcohol too, right?
Let’s put this in perspective:
Yeah I know the parents spending their money on booze are not really depriving their children. The drunk parent crashing their car are not really endangering their children. You people are so besotted that you have lost all judgement. You have to have your alcohol and God Help us your vice is winning. It is no improvement when a population becomes devoted to eating, drinking, drugging, copulating, evacuating the bowels and snoring. We all suffer fool! We are the victims.
Now go to a bar tonight and start breaking all the bottles - just like the feminist prohibitionists did back in the day.
Prohibition worked out so well, after all.
So, if you know people are already driving while intoxicated on marijuana, when it is illegal, there is no new source of intoxicated drivers...
People would just be driving while intoxicated on a legal substance, rather than driving while intoxicated on an illegal substance. Your argument doesn’t make any sense.
More than that, the illegality of marijuana may actually incentivize its users to use it before they drive home, so as to minimize the length of time they're in possession.
When a drunk driver approaches a stop sign they plow right through without stopping. The high driver stops and waits for it to turn green.
It did; while the data is sparse alcohol related disease declined in America as did intoxicated related crimes. Chicago’s crime problem which was corrupt before prohibition is no argument. It was and is the result of money with its massive propaganda that repealed prohibition. The politicians of those days(1930’s) wanted the massive dollars occasioned by the free flow of booze. By the way alcoholism in America was wide spread until the temperance movement started in the 1840’s. Even children drank. The temperance people reduced alcoholism. Now that we have added drugs to our arsenal of vice children will be drugging up-indeed it is already started.
many years ago in the early seventies I met a person who was a jockey and rode horses for Al capone..many wins..He has passed now..
we would sit and talk around a campfire on his florida property about many things, and said do you want to know the truth? I said sure, we went out to the edge of his property
and I saw many people with flashlights standing in a field in the shape of an arrow.. they were flashing on and off, a plane came and dropped some kind of bales all over the field, a few minutes later, a police evidence van and many cars came in the field, no lights, picked up the contraband and left...
My friend looked at me and said that’s the truth..
I am not sharing this to incriminate police , we need them, God Bless them..just that the war on marijuana is really a vicious cycle of folks making money dealing it, arresting folks, imprisoning and return to recycle..a money machine,,has nothing to do with morality..
It is not right to imprison folks for marijuana..
"America had experienced a gradual decline in the rate of serious crimes over much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. That trend was unintentionally reversed by the efforts of the Prohibition movement. The homicide rate in large cities increased from 5.6 per 100,000 population during the first decade of the century to 8.4 during the second decade when the Harrison Narcotics Act, a wave of state alcohol prohibitions, and World War I alcohol restrictions were enacted. The homicide rate increased to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period.
"The Volstead Act, passed to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, had an immediate impact on crime. According to a study of 30 major U.S. cities, the number of crimes increased 24 percent between 1920 and 1921. The study revealed that during that period more money was spent on police (11.4+ percent) and more people were arrested for violating Prohibition laws (102+ percent). But increased law enforcement efforts did not appear to reduce drinking: arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct increased 41 percent, and arrests of drunken drivers increased 81 percent. Among crimes with victims, thefts and burglaries increased 9 percent, while homicides and incidents of assault and battery increased 13 percent." - http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html
alcoholism in America was wide spread until the temperance movement started in the 1840's.
80 years before Prohibition.
Even children drank. The temperance people reduced alcoholism.
Temperance was a voluntary movement of social pressure and public awareness - that should be our approach to other drugs as well.
Evacuating the bowels?! Snoring?!
Oh the horror! I had no idea these things were going on! What has our country come to?
Oh the horror! I had no idea these things were going on! What has our country come to?
ROTFL! Perhaps AP has never evacuated his bowels ... that would explain a lot.
The last time I looked Criminal law is a form of social "pressure."
Which part of "voluntary" did you not understand?
The widespread legalization of drugs is merely a symptom of an on going degeneration of American morals.
Must everything immoral be illegal?
Should never have been criminalized in the 1st place.
Decriminalize cannabis asap, regulate it as Washington State or Oregon or Colorado has or better yet, legalize it as Washington DC did.
More freedom is always better. Prohibition & the infamous waste called the “War On Drugs” are epic fails.
“Ridiculous. You people are living proof of the effect of the need for drugs. A druggie will say anything and do anything”
The 1920’s are calling for you to return to your correct timeline. Thank you & good luck on your journey.
We need law to regulate individuals in society that do not have the intelligence or ability to regulate themselves. Laws deter people from behaving in a manner that negatively affects the quality of life of others. Therefore, we have laws to: protect people against themselves, enforce the rights of others and solve conflicts justly.
In Florida specifically, politicians and attorneys continue to place the legalization of pot on the ballot even though it voters have repeatedly rejected the proposition to legalize pot.
If medical marijuana is necessary,m pharmaceutical companies develop pills that administer exact dosages per pill.
Yes, prohibition did result in decreased consumption of alcohol.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.