Pot decriminalization bill

[Kire]

Yeah, I actually wrote my rep in support of it. It's dubbed the "make room for serious criminals" bill.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Congre...onal_0417.html

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

about ****ing time.

[Ωbright]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

GO BARNEY!

[gray]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

never happen



nice to think, but, no

[Dusk Raven]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

I did some research for a similar proposal (except for a school thing). It turned up a number of sites whose creators wanted to legalize pot (can't spell the real name) as well. They certainly convinced me.

If I had any power, I'd fully support this.

[The Toecutter]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

Unlikely to happen, but I support decriminalization(or better let, outright legalization).

There's too much money to be made by too few people keping it "illegal". That doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I'm going to write my congressman about this.

This could pave the way to getting an industrial hemp industry in the U.S. This will help to some extent our problem with oil dependancy and could cause change within five years after it is cultivated widely. We could perhaps get the equivalent of 1/5 of our current oil supply sustainably from hemp. Couple that with an extremely efficient diesel car(Loremo at 157 mpg, GM Precept at 80 mpg, Ford Prodigy at 72 mpg), and significant inroads to lessenging America's oil dependance could be made.

We'd end the $50 billion or so each year used to investigate, arrest and incarcerate non-violent potheads, roughly $300 per working American per year.

Employers would have less liability issues with regard to drug testing, saving them money.

Police would have more resources to go after real crimes conducted by white collar criminals. But those white collar sociopaths who support this drug war and make money in illicit distribution(eg. George H.W. Bush, CIA, ect. Google "Barry Seals") don't like that idea much


Uncle Scam wants his tribute. Is it still too early to shoot the bastards if they decide again that progess can't run its course?

[Jamos]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

I often imagine how you would react to long term periods being away from Mary Jane. It is a humorous image.

Anyway, I'm somewhat for the bill. I say look for the sellers not the buyers.

[gray]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

at first i thought you were saying google profited from marijuana being illeagal



i was worried about you for a second there

[orius]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

It's not going to pass. Too many representatives won't support it for fear of being seen as soft on drugs. I didn't read the whole article, but I'm not really surprised that Barney Frank introduced it. His district must be pretty liberal if they keep sending him back, and so he won't catch flak from them.

But for nearly everyone else, it's an election year! No way in hell they're going to support it right now, especially if it's a contested seat. Anyone who supports it will get bombarded from election ads from their opponent which say "Rep. Joe Blow voted to make drugs more easy for your children to get!". And given all the attention the presidential race has been attracting, they're not going to support it when voters are paying more attention. When there's a big presidential election, Congressional elections tend to get more votes than normal too. The only exceptions would be safe Democratic seats in heavily gerrymandered districts. Possibly Republican safe seats too assuming a more moderate libertarian, but I strongly suspect it'll break down along party lines.

[DK]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

Pot legallization aside calling it the "make room for serious criminals" bill is ignorant and kind of really offensive.

What is a serious criminal? I guess jail should be exclusively for rapists and murderers? Who cares about thieves, they're probably stealing from people who have a ton of money already! Launderers? They should get off scot-free too. Oh and drunk driving is okay if it's the only way you can get home at night I guess, we need to make room for THE SERIOUS CRIMINALS!!! Guess other drugs like heroin are okay, too, right?


Not to mention it's not like every single person that is in jail for marijuana is some saint that just happened to smoke a dutch one night and get caught, it's a pretty good chance they've done other worse, things.

[Armored]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

That's just silly.

[The Ice Cream Man]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

Pot legallization aside calling it the "make room for serious criminals" bill is ignorant and kind of really offensive.

What is a serious criminal? I guess jail should be exclusively for rapists and murderers? Who cares about thieves, they're probably stealing from people who have a ton of money already! Launderers? They should get off scot-free too. Oh and drunk driving is okay if it's the only way you can get home at night I guess, we need to make room for THE SERIOUS CRIMINALS!!! Guess other drugs like heroin are okay, too, right?


Not to mention it's not like every single person that is in jail for marijuana is some saint that just happened to smoke a dutch one night and get caught, it's a pretty good chance they've done other worse, things.

This post is extremely ignorant.

1) In response to Jamos, Marijuana is not addictive. Unlike nicotine and alcohol.

2) In 2001, over 3,500,000 were arrested for marijuana POSSESSION. Many of whom were sentenced to prison time.

3) Why Marijuana should not be a serious crime, if one at all:

-It is not addictive
-Being drunk makes you aggressive, getting high has a sedating effect
-It is no danger to anybody else but the user, at that, the occasional joint is not going to do any damage. If someone drives high, then they should get the same punishment as drunk drivers, as they are endangering others. If driving is your only way to get home, tough ****, you're a danger to others.
-You cannot overdose on Marijuana
-It will bring the arrest rate down, focus police on harder and actually dangerous drugs like heroin and meth, as well as violent crimes and thievery.

Honestly, how can the government justify what we can put into our own bodies, as long as it isn't hurting anybody else. Same thing with the assisted suicide debate, who is the gov't to say you have to live when you don't want to.

http://www.abovetheignorance.org/

4) The founding fathers smoked that stuff all the time.

You know what's funny? I've never even touched the stuff.

[DK]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

I did not say anything about being against the legalization of pot, which I am not. I don't need a laundry list about how it isn't dangerous.

If anything was uninformed it was my last sentence but it was a pretty unrelated thought to the rest of my post. I'm just saying I don't like the idea of having such a cut and dry definition of a "serious criminal".

[The Ice Cream Man]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

I did not say anything about being against the legalization of pot, which I am not. I don't need a laundry list about how it isn't dangerous.

If anything was uninformed it was my last sentence but it was a pretty unrelated thought to the rest of my post. I'm just saying I don't like the idea of having such a cut and dry definition of a "serious criminal".

And I gave you reasons why pot is not a serious crime.

[DK]

Re: Pot decriminalization bill

I understand that but the point I was trying to make which I probably wasn't very good at was along the lines like if you put the right person in the spot they can come up with reasons that a lot of crimes they might think are not serious aren't. I didn't mean for it to sound particularly vindictive towards marijuana, though.