With the economy the way it is, is it time to finally legalize marijuana for the first time in over 50 years? A report done a few years ago by Professor Jeffery Miron of Harvard says that legalizing marijuana, and taxing it similar to alcohol and tobacco would save $7.7 billion on state and federal expenditures due to enforcing prohibition laws, as well as generate around $6.2 billion in tax revenue annually.

http://economics.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=economics&cdn=education&tm=41&f=20&su=p649.3.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html

Add in the fact that many states have already legalized medicinal use of marijuana, and the fact that it has seemingly become more socially acceptable in the last 30 years, is it time to have weed join alcohol in getting rid of prohibition? If you don't believe so, do you at least think that marijuana should be decriminalized? Should people be incarcerated, not to mention should the state be wasting taxpayer dollars on incarcerating weed-smokers for this non-violent crime? Have at it...

It's no secret that politically I'm very conservative.

But when it comes to marijuana I think it's absurd that it is not regulated, packaged, distributed, taxed, and sold not unlike alcohol and tobacco. The billions of taxpayer dollars wasted each year in a clearly vain attempt to control the currently criminalized weed is an exercise in futility.

If it were legal I would gladly choose it as my adult "substance" of choice over alcohol hands down.

If I were forced (forced mind you) to choose getting into a moving vehicle driven by someone who has been drinking versus someone who has been smoking, I'd opt for the smoker every time.

There is no logical reason, only political, that it is illegal and alcohol is not.

i have to follow suit with the above posters. there is no reason why it should not be legalized.
the reasons why it were made illegal to begin with are laughable.

if i had enough money to join, i would of joined NORML years ago.

I'm more interested in legalizing the growing of hemp. It is cheaper then trees, grows every year, and has numerous uses. I think it is absurd to not allow it anymore. It is grown all over the World but the dumbass U.S. won't allow it because it is related to weed. Politics is getting old.

krazie45 wrote: Add in the fact that many states have already legalized medicinal use of marijuana, and the fact that it has seemingly become more socially acceptable in the last 30 years, is it time to have weed join alcohol in getting rid of prohibition? If you don't believe so, do you at least think that marijuana should be decriminalized? Should people be incarcerated, not to mention should the state be wasting taxpayer dollars on incarcerating weed-smokers for this non-violent crime? Have at it...

people arent incarcerated for weed.

^^^If you grow it and sell it you most certainly get incarcerated...users not so much!

Glory Days wrote:

krazie45 wrote: Add in the fact that many states have already legalized medicinal use of marijuana, and the fact that it has seemingly become more socially acceptable in the last 30 years, is it time to have weed join alcohol in getting rid of prohibition? If you don't believe so, do you at least think that marijuana should be decriminalized? Should people be incarcerated, not to mention should the state be wasting taxpayer dollars on incarcerating weed-smokers for this non-violent crime? Have at it...

people arent incarcerated for weed.

As has been the case throughout the 1990s, the overwhelming majority of those charged with marijuana violations in 2000-- 646,042 Americans (88 %) -- were for simple possession. The remaining 12% (88,456 Americans) were for "sale/manufacture", an FBI category which includes marijuana grown for personal use or purely medical purposes. These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 45 seconds in America. Taken together, the total number of marijuana arrests for 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.


http://legalizationofmarijuana.com/


Nearly 60,000 marijuana offenders are incarcerated in the United States at any given time, according to a study published in the Federation of American Scientists' "Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin." More than a quarter of marijuana offenders are incarcerated for personal possession, with no other drugs involved in the offense.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/095/marijuanaprisoners.shtml

It's stupid how much money we waste on the "drug war" that even the people in charge of it say hasn't done anything to stop drug use.

I agree. I think it is time to legalize it

believer wrote: ^^^If you grow it and sell it you most certainly get incarcerated...users not so much!

if you make anything the government controls you get incarcerated. and the original quote said weed smokers.

eersandbeers wrote:
Taken together, the total number of marijuana arrests for 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

http://legalizationofmarijuana.com/

Nearly 60,000 marijuana offenders are incarcerated in the United States at any given time, according to a study published in the Federation of American Scientists' "Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin." More than a quarter of marijuana offenders are incarcerated for personal possession, with no other drugs involved in the offense.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/095/marijuanaprisoners.shtml

wait your telling me you actually believe those numbers? did you forget a zero and mean 600,000?
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/tables/corrtyptab.cfm

Year 2000 State correctional population
Violent Crimes - 589,100
Drug crimes - 251,100
Property crimes - 238,500

As someone with strong libertarian leanings, I agree.

I'd also like to see the other vices that preoccupy police/court time legalized and regulated, such as prostitution and gambling.

It's ridiculous that we spend valuable law enforcement hours on such nonsense.

Plus, if we can somehow take the profit out of the street drug industry, we will see a dramatic drop in related crimes that support use, such as break-ins and robberies.

Writerbuckeye wrote:
Plus, if we can somehow take the profit out of the street drug industry, we will see a dramatic drop in related crimes that support use, such as break-ins and robberies.

or a dramatic increase because they will do whatever they have to do to make a living. do you think drug dealers will all of a sudden go on the straight and narrow?

Glory Days wrote:

Writerbuckeye wrote:
Plus, if we can somehow take the profit out of the street drug industry, we will see a dramatic drop in related crimes that support use, such as break-ins and robberies.

or a dramatic increase because they will do whatever they have to do to make a living. do you think drug dealers will all of a sudden go on the straight and narrow?

I think I'd like to see for myself and not speculate.

We KNOW right now there are millions of dollars in thefts and thousands of homicides directly related to drug trafficking now. Not to mention the billions we spend trying to stop/control all of it.

For all you know, drug dealers will go "legit" and become licensed growers or sellers, since it's what they know, anyway.

Writerbuckeye wrote:For all you know, drug dealers will go "legit" and become licensed growers or sellers, since it's what they know, anyway.

Some may but if it is legalized most "commercial-grade" pot would be grown - well - commercially.

I think one of the reasons pot isn't legalized is because the authorities know it is very, very easy to home grow the stuff. In my earlier "screw the law" days I did it myself. It was fun and quite frankly pretty good.

If you grow it yourself it's tough to regulate it and TAX it.

Writerbuckeye wrote: As someone with strong libertarian leanings, I agree.

I'd also like to see the other vices that preoccupy police/court time legalized and regulated, such as prostitution and gambling.

It's ridiculous that we spend valuable law enforcement hours on such nonsense.

Plus, if we can somehow take the profit out of the street drug industry, we will see a dramatic drop in related crimes that support use, such as break-ins and robberies.

+1

You do not need to eliminate the profit you just change the market from a black market to a legal market and presto magico crime is reduced tremendously.

believer wrote:

Writerbuckeye wrote:For all you know, drug dealers will go "legit" and become licensed growers or sellers, since it's what they know, anyway.

Some may but if it is legalized most "commercial-grade" pot would be grown - well - commercially.

I think one of the reasons pot isn't legalized is because the authorities know it is very, very easy to home grow the stuff. In my earlier "screw the law" days I did it myself. It was fun and quite frankly pretty good.

If you grow it yourself it's tough to regulate it and TAX it.

You can grow your own tobacco too and even roll your own cigarettes but most people find it easier to just go buy a pack at the gas station. I think marijuana would be the same way. I mean sure some people might grow their own, but the majority of people would probably just buy it.

It would be the same as tobacco and alcohol: sure you can make your own, but who's going to bother?

It's much easier to grow marijuana than make your own alcohol or cigarettes. There is much more into the manufacturing of cigs and alcohol than marijuana.

^^^^^^Very true. If pot was legalized, I'd would rather smoke pot than drink alcohol.

dwccrew wrote: It's much easier to grow marijuana than make your own alcohol or cigarettes. There is much more into the manufacturing of cigs and alcohol than marijuana.

This is very true and could drown the market, leading to low prices without taxes.

I'm for it, like most on here.

I'm not against it. I'm more indifferent than anything.

CenterBHSFan wrote: I'm not against it. I'm more indifferent than anything.

So you find it acceptable that we waste so much money and so many resources combating (ineffectively mind you) marijuana use?

I Wear Pants wrote:

CenterBHSFan wrote: I'm not against it. I'm more indifferent than anything.

So you find it acceptable that we waste so much money and so many resources combating (ineffectively mind you) marijuana use?

LOL! Sorry, but that's kind of a stupid question haha

P.S.
I think the money of which you speak of is the laaaaassssstttttttttt of our financial woes that we need to concern ourselves at the moment.
What I was meaning, by the way, was that I don't care if people can smoke it legally or not. I don't care if they smoke it or not.
But.... your question is still making me snicker!

P.S.S.
I changed my mind. Your question wasn't stupid. I think it was nonsensical. Because I just don't know how you got that idea from my response of indifference. It's kind of like if you had asked this:

So you find it acceptable that we waste so much money and so many resources combating (ineffectively mind you) marijuana use?

And then I asked this:

Did you know that KISS got alot of inspiration for their songs from classical music?

See... it is impossible to connect the dots here. And I guess when you posed that question to me, I found it goofy in a funny and nonsensical way.