Posted on 03/25/2010 3:21:41 PM PDT by Zakeet
Supporters of the initiative collected well more than the 433,971 signatures needed for it to go before voters in the fall, again putting the state at the forefront of the nation's drug debate.
An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, state election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will probably be a much-watched campaign that once again puts California on the forefront of the nation's debate over whether to soften drug laws.
[Snip]
With polls showing that a slim majority of voters support legalization, the legalization campaign will be trying to appeal to a slice of undecided voters who are mostly mothers. "It's always easier for people to say no than to say yes for an initiative," said Mark Baldassare, the pollster for the Public Policy Institute of California.
[Oakland marijuana entrepreneur] Lee hopes to raise as much as $20 million. He will probably be able to tap a handful of wealthy advocates who have supported efforts to relax drug laws, including multibillionaire investor George Soros and George Zimmer, founder of the Men's Wearhouse. Zimmer has donated at least $20,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
You’re right. NO ONE has ever been under the influence of pot and injured themselves or driven themselves into a tree. Just like second hand smoke. Not ONE casse of harm has ever been proven. That’s why smoking is illegal in California. Pot is a magical drug that has no negative side effects, unlike every other drug in existence.
Read post #39, please.
Pot isn’t physically addictive. I just thought you might want to know. :-)
Yeah, and it makes white women have sex with negro jazz musicians!
It seems to me YOU would be right at home at Daily Kos. They too want to regulate every aspect of our lives.
If you expect others to respect the way you live, then you must respect the way they live. What others do in private is THEIR business, not yours or mine.
Invading peoples homes, destroying & confiscating their property, terrorizing their family, & jailing them for benign, private behavior are NOT hallmarks of a free society, but rather that of a fascist, nanny state. This is what YOU support!
Drug ABUSE is not a criminal problem, it is a health problem. Prison solves few health problems. Casual & responsible recreational drug use harms no one, as is witnessed by the millions of people who take a drink (alcohol IS a drug, you know) or pop a prescription pill daily, purely for pleasure.
Finally, I leave you with words from the Bible, King James version, Genesis 29-31:
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
God thinks this is very good, yet you & our gov't think differently! Who is wrong?
Can we kick CA out of the country please? PLEASE?!!?
Go to your nearest high school and ask around.
Or go to a tavern and ask around.
But the main problem with making anything illegal is..
.....YOU ARE MAKING THE CRIMINAL GANGS RICH.....
Get it?
Garbage. Amsterdam had a murder rate of about 3.6/100,000 in 2007.¹ San Jose, one of the safest cities in the US with a population over 500,000, had a murder rate of 3.5 in 2007². Overall, the murder rate in the US is nearly 4X the Dutch rate.³
¹http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Record-low-murder-rate-once-again.html
²http://city-data.com
³http:/nationmaster.com
Go eat some poison ivy if the bible says it’s ok to eat anything.
There are a heck of a lot more conservatives who enjoy smoking marijuana than you may be willing to admit, including yours truly.
I’ve seen your ugly mug rant and rave about pot on here a lot. You do not impress anyone with this crap.
I love that trend! I hope it continues 'til November.
Guess we better legalize anything that can be profitable when illegal. Lets start with murder. Hitmen make money now, lets take that away.
Just what we need, more self induced retards walking the streets of Calif.
That’s why re-legalization will help everyone. The $ being spent of pot (the small part that goes to the gangs, like you say) will instead be transferred to legitimate businesses, or if adults could grow their own, wouldn’t be spent in the 1st place.
Everyone (EXCEPT the drug gangs) would benefit from it...& BTW, personally, I DO advocate the use pf marijuana. I think it would help w/ the problem of anger management & reduce violence.
“It’s STUPID idea that will increase the number of losers smoking pot..”
So you place little value on personal freedom, a cornerstone of our country’s founding?
I have always thought my freedom was supposed to go as far as impacting the freedom of the next person. I was taught that by my Western US type conservative parents. Think Barry Goldwater and Milton Friedman; both of whom inspired Ronald Reagan.
One man sits home, and has a couple of whiskeys.
Next man has few beers, or wine.
Yet their neighbor might toke half a joint.
All doze off in their easy chairs, with the TV playing.
Harm to society? Societal justification to regulate, criminalize, tax, etc?
In this case, shut it down. I’m not a libertarian, I believe in drug laws.
Why stop at pot? Answer, they won’t. They’ll push for more and more like all liberals do.
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