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145 Comments
- drmobutu, on 02/26/2009, -2/+223The MONTANA State Senate, dumbasses...didn't the submitter even RTFA?
- mparker21311, on 02/26/2009, -6/+151Lets look at this honestly... what are the drawbacks of weed:
- if smoked, rather than vaporized or eaten, carcinogens can affect your cardiovascular health.
(tobacco smoke, and much of urban pollution can be worse for you in this regard)
- can exacerbate laziness, paranoia, and stupidity in lazy, paranoid, and stupid people.
And now let's look at the drawbacks of the prohibition of weed:
- thousands of people in jail.
- hundreds of millions if not billions wasted in law enforcement.
- thousands of people dead in Mexico and elsewhere because of the drug cartels.
- entire regions of Mexico now lawless and corrupt, all the way up to the highest echelons of politics and society, creating a national security threat south of the border.
- lost tax income.
- loss of personal freedoms.
- lack of research for potential medical benefits.
- waste of human resources.
- Phelps loses his Kellogg's endorsement.
- the list goes on, feel free to add to it.
Drug Use is a PUBLIC HEALTH issue.
By criminalizing a substance which will always remain a valuable commodity, we are ASKING criminals to control it.
The penalty for cultivation is a federal felony, partly because William Randolph Hearst and Dupont wanted to squash the competition of Hemp Fibers, so that their tree pulp and plastic products would retain and grow a monopoly on manufactured goods.
So, remember that kids, if you buy cannabis from somebody supplied by the murdering mexican mafia and get caught it's only a misdemeanor... but if you grow your own, it's a felony.
Who benefits in this equation?
What harm is reduced?
Are the current laws working to decrease drug use and crime? - DrummerAndrew, on 02/26/2009, -2/+49Please continue to discuss marijuana reform. If you support it, let everyone know that you do. You no longer have to be afraid to support marijuana, and if we keep talking about it, we may get to the greener pastures we seek.
- theremixtrack, on 02/26/2009, -9/+49i like weed.
- oldhick, on 02/26/2009, -0/+35"I've never been of the opinion that laws should be changed simply because people choose not to follow them."
Great. Well try this out. Simply because a law exists doesn't mean it's justified. It's existence is NOT proof of its validity. Why don't you justify the prohibition of weed.
Further, as a citizen our goal should always be to legislate LESS. We need less laws and more liberty. - castletech, on 02/26/2009, -2/+33Marijuana is a gateway drug. It will turn your daughter into a hooker and instantly be addicted to heroin. You don't even need to touch heroin to be addicted. You only need to smoke marijuana a few times. Marijuana also makes you have sex with random people and shoot children. I know of at least 100 people in prison for raping because of that horrible plant. The threshold for overdose is too close to the amount to get the effect. 1 joint too many will kill you it's a scientific fact!! I lost several family members to my cousin who went on a weed binge for a whole week. He chopped up his family and ate them while they were asleep because taco bell was closed at 5am. This should never be used a medicine!
- SpeedSteamBoat, on 02/26/2009, -2/+31Not everyone who smokes pot does it in excess. In fact, most don't.
Please shove your stereotypes. They've gone stale. - JerkNowitzki, on 02/26/2009, -1/+26Yes!! We need to stop those Jaywalkers too!!
- trixyfox, on 02/26/2009, -1/+24I like turtles
- ThePoofyChicken, on 02/26/2009, -5/+28Not the bill I was hoping to pass but it's something.
- zerohelix, on 02/26/2009, -6/+28Montana has enough people to make a state senate?
- jmkiii, on 02/26/2009, -0/+21alternative means?! If marijuana solves a problem, why not use it? It shouldn't even matter if there are other ways.
Grow your own medicine or spend a bunch of money on pills. That is not a tough decision. - Frankyfan3, on 02/26/2009, -0/+17The cartels are completely in favor of continued prohibition and the war on drugs.
The profits for them are incredible BECAUSE of the War on Drugs, not in spite of it.
So, if you support prohibition, you are aligning yourself with the interests of the people that are kidnapping and murdering people on our border and in mexico.
BTW: That comment looks awfully familiar. :) - seventhc, on 02/26/2009, -0/+15I would digg up you one million times if I could sir.
- Frankyfan3, on 02/26/2009, -0/+15I see you're making productive use of your extra free time. :)
- seventhc, on 02/26/2009, -2/+16"I've never been of the opinion that laws should be changed simply because people choose not to follow them."
But isn't the law 'for the people, by the people'? - inactive, on 02/26/2009, -1/+15I like money.
- sipsyrup, on 02/26/2009, -6/+18Now Alzheimer's patents have another reason to forget what they were doing.
- Twee, on 02/27/2009, -0/+11Link is broken.
- TheScogg, on 02/26/2009, -1/+12"Alternative means" being prescription medications in general? You can't possibly believe that this plant that's been smoked for thousands of years is more dangerous than the average pharmaceutical.
- Frankyfan3, on 02/26/2009, -1/+12You make a compelling argument, but I've never been of the opinion that laws should be changed simply because somebody doesn't like a particular plant.
Cannabis, along with coca & poppies are plants that will grow and thrive regardless of our interest in them. Outlawing their cultivation, distribution or possession makes about as much sense as outlawing dandelions, but that would probably be easier to enforce, since nobody really like dandelions as much as cannabis, coca & poppies.
From what we know of drugs infiltrating maximum security prisons, human beings will do what they can to get their hands on these valuable commodities even when every right as an individual is stripped away and no privacy exists at all.
As Mayor Laquardia and Albert Einstein have voiced, trying to enforce laws which are contrary to the public's feeling on the justice of those laws only serves to harm respect for the rule of law in general. Also, they offer the opportunity for corruption in both law enforcement and government that regulation would not encourage. Did you hear about that old woman that was shot to death and then the cops planted drugs to make it look like their drug bust wasn't for nothing?
I'm willing to bet that's not the first time, nor the last time the drug war has taken innocent lives (meaning, people who aren't even guilty of violating prohibition law) as well as ruined many non-violent, otherwise law abiding and productive citizen's lives for the mere possession of substance.
Even the Shafer Commission that Nixon asked for stated this plainly:
Our goals of lessening drug use and crime are only harmed by criminalizing adult use of cannabis.
There are significant advantages to using cannabis when other drugs cause painful and debilitating side effects in order to treat the same condition.
Obviously, it's not a panacea that can fix all of the problems for sick people everywhere. That is like saying aspirin should be given to everybody with a headache. 500 people die in the USA every year from aspirin related deaths, but we're not talking about banning it or putting it behind the counter.
It has it's place for people with conditions that are most optimally treated by it... just like cannabis. - EatUrKids, on 02/27/2009, -0/+11He did it because more people would look at the article, and digg it just because it had something to do with legalizing marijuana even before reading it first.
- inactive, on 02/26/2009, -2/+13Yes! don't be afraid, wear t-shirts! Tell your boss your stance and if he doesn't like it tell him to go to hell!!!
and hurry up, I need a job soon before my unemployment runs out :P - Thomaschaaf, on 02/26/2009, -0/+10Smoking the medicine just sounds funny
- zerohelix, on 02/26/2009, -1/+11You've obviously never smoked a bowl on 4/20 to know what the ***** you're talking about
- inactive, on 02/27/2009, -1/+11People from Montana don't get jokes.
- waffleninja, on 02/27/2009, -0/+9Agreed. Buried due to inaccuracy.
- Vaiper, on 02/26/2009, -0/+9Hey, I love a good bible thumper reference more than the next guy, but I'm lost in your comments relevance.
- dmherrer, on 02/26/2009, -0/+9Montana
- AZExile, on 02/26/2009, -0/+9I was wondering this as well. I've noticed it a lot on digg lately, but I'm wondering if that's an indication of progress, or just an indication that I'm on digg a whole lot more lately.
- sadisticmind, on 02/26/2009, -0/+9i like big boobs
- AndrewMoyer, on 02/26/2009, -0/+9Repeated for emphasis:
"if you buy cannabis from somebody supplied by the murdering mexican mafia and get caught it's only a misdemeanor... but if you grow your own, it's a felony." - Javy42, on 02/26/2009, -0/+9Videos like this are the reason reformers aren't taken seriously. First of all "The Reefer Report"... cmon... with a host who looks like she has the munchies 24/7... a story about a man who was asked politely to move away from the exit of a building just as a cigarette smoker would be, not to mention the guy is an obvious pothead. Alice in Chains to close it? very professional.
- thefarouk, on 02/26/2009, -0/+8actually, how about an average of 750,000 arrests every year for the past 24 years (so not just thousands of people in jail, how about millions of people in jail)
And lets add the restoration of sentences for individuals out on parole or early release, which more often than not is caused by a failed drug test (not actual posession, just the failed test - oh, and would you like to know how much we spend administering those to the nearly 7 million Americans who are out on parole or early release?)
And lets add the hundreds of law enforcement officers who have needlessly been killed, maimed, and/or handicapped due to this stupid war
And lets add a completely uncalculable number (just due to lack of data) on how many domestic pets have been needlessly executed due to these stupid warrants
And lets add the corruption done to, and by, our elected representatives, because of the benefits they receive from the incarseration, medical, pharmacutical, and law enforcement lobbies
And lets add the (on average) 21 new prisons built in this country every year, for the past 20+ years, to house all of these wacky weed offenders
And lets add the terrorism factor that our law enforcement persons exhibit on people who choose to consume a weed in the privacy of their own home, and the destructive effect that has on our individual and social relationships (read as respect of) with law enforcement, the judiciary, and our elected representatives
... - Rikushix, on 02/26/2009, -1/+8I like all three of those things.
- inactive, on 02/26/2009, -1/+8I like big butts and I cannot lie.
- gModo, on 02/26/2009, -0/+7I'm all for legalizing ect, ect, but could they have written any more annoying cliches phrases in this article?
- owlsley, on 02/26/2009, -1/+8Ha Ha! Yeah, no one should get in the way of a high cousin who has a murderous case of the munchies. Priceless!
- imzesuit, on 02/26/2009, -2/+9I lol'd.
Next time, though, don't forget the /s. - Nephrastar, on 02/26/2009, -0/+6Depending on where you go, if you carry less than a certain amount, you get a misdemeanor, otherwise you get arrested for "intent to sell". Over here in Arkansas it's 1 ounce or less.
- ThugThrasher, on 02/26/2009, -0/+6leodamascus,
Can't reply directly to your last comment, so I'm adding to the thread.
I didn't digg you down.
I'm also not a pothead (don't smoke it at all).
I AM for the legalization of marijuana.
Your question seemed loaded. Whether you meant it that way or not, it seemed loaded. It seemed like you were implying that if you could accomplish something using means other than marijuana, then marijuana should be illegal. Again, that's what i seemed like, regardless of your intentions (which I can't judge from just one statement, obviously)
Your question is not really an appropriate one because the reasons for the illegality of a substance should not be "there are alternative methods." It should be "this substance being legal will cause more harm to society than making it illegal." (At the very LEAST...that's FAR less than the requirements I would have for making a substance illegal, but at the very least that's what it should be)
By the logic of "there are alternative methods" then many of the OTC NSAIDS & the like should be illegal because they are all alternative methods of treating mild pain. Also, either dimenhydrinate or meclizine (brand names: dramamine and bonine, respectively) should be illegal because they are both just alternative treatments for the same things (and both actually have some small potential for abuse, actually). - Manther, on 02/26/2009, -0/+6Heed your own advice... If you don't want to see us root for reform, don't look. Unless of course there's a gun to your head right now and you can't look away, in which case, I'll pray for you.
- RealmDown, on 02/26/2009, -1/+7Meaningful ones anyway.
- holotone, on 02/26/2009, -1/+7Booo for you, *****. Montana is rockin' it!
- Frankyfan3, on 02/27/2009, -0/+6It's not about smoking the chronic, it's about the destruction and waste created by criminalizing the chronic.
Drug Abuse is a PUBLIC HEALTH issue, and by making it a CRIMINAL JUSTICE issue we are only increasing the harms to society. - inactive, on 02/26/2009, -3/+8And im gonna beeeeeeeee..........hiiiiiigh.
- deviouskoopa, on 02/27/2009, -0/+5YOU GET SPRUNG!
- itsLadam, on 02/27/2009, -0/+5wanna pull up tough
- mikexr, on 02/26/2009, -0/+5for the record, I'm a huge advocate for pot. I'm just wondering if there are more of these stories hittin' the wire lately, or if it just seems like that because of Digg.
- dizmoz, on 02/27/2009, -0/+5Yes, they grow it on sheep's backs and when midnight strikes, they harvest...
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