Traffic stop leads to marijuana charges

It's pot. Don't we have bigger fish to fry?

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as "it's just pot". Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!

Would your opinion still be the same if someone under the influence hit and injured or worse you or one of your loved ones? Would your opinion still be that it was "just pot" and there are bigger and bader things to be out there after?

Well, not only do you make a good argument for making cannabis illegal, you make a *great argument* for making alcohol illegal. Let's throw in cigarettes too. I'm sure you don't know anyone who smokes cigarettes or drinks, and would be fine with putting them in jail too.

Militay Mom wrote:

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as "it's just pot". Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!
Would your opinion still be the same if someone under the influence hit and injured or worse you or one of your loved ones? Would your opinion still be that it was "just pot" and there are bigger and bader things to be out there after?

I know Someone who was President of this Country
Who said they smoke pot,but did not inheal.
Gee!! What can the difference be.
Must have altered the voters minds, he became President.
Wonder what it does for next door neightbors.
If they breather the air.

Militay Mom wrote:

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as "it's just pot". Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!
Would your opinion still be the same if someone under the influence hit and injured or worse you or one of your loved ones? Would your opinion still be that it was "just pot" and there are bigger and bader things to be out there after?

He was charged with possession, not driving under the influence. There's a difference. It needs to be legalized. There's no reason for alcohol (much worse in my opinion, and most agree with that) to be okay, but not pot. I don't smoke it because I don't care for it, but I don't understand why it's illegal.

Get in a room of pot smokers then go to a room of drunks and then tell me there is no differance, i will stick with pot smokers. Me i do neither, but i can not stand a big mouth drunk!!If the govt. could find a way to tax it and control the growth of pot it would be legal.

seer wrote:

Get in a room of pot smokers then go to a room of drunks and then tell me there is no differance, i will stick with pot smokers. Me i do neither, but i can not stand a big mouth drunk!!If the govt. could find a way to tax it and control the growth of pot it would be legal.

Agreed. Potheads = Incredibly annoying. Drunks = Incredibly DANGEROUS!

Green_Jen wrote:

It's pot. Don't we have bigger fish to fry?

Stats prove that kids who smoke pot are more likely to move on to something else. Meth addicts don't start with meth usually, they start with something else. Something easy to get. It is all bad and ruins lives.

I don't go for drinking and driving either, catch them, lock them up and throw away the key.

Posession of is still an implied intent be it to consume it yourself or sell it to someone else both of which are illegal.

You said the following below:

"Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!"

So what exactly gives alcohol a free pass? Are you for arresting people due to the possession of alcohol, or arresting them only if they're drunk when behind the wheel? Because if it's the second one, then that's what's called a double standard.

If you really care about drunk driving, you should be for making alcohol illegal as well.

By the way, "because it's the law!" isn't a credible defense. The laws that made cannabis illegal were superstitious laws created in the 1920s out of racism, and out of lobbying from the paper industry that couldn't compete with superior products like hemp. The laws also fly in the face of science by saying that far more addictive, lethal, and dangerous drugs like alcohol are far more safer than cannabis.

<< Stats prove that kids who smoke pot are more likely to move on to something else. Meth addicts don't start with meth usually, they start with something else. Something easy to get. It is all bad and ruins lives. >>

All rapists start off having sex. My conclusion? Make sex illegal! We have to be pragmatic here, and have a zero tolerance policy!

In all seriousness though, if alcohol or cigarettes were illegal (Unfortunately, science and reason don't dictate our laws), they'd be "gateway drugs" too. You know why? Because people would have to go through the criminal element that sells much harder drugs in order to obtain cigarettes or alcohol. Remove criminals and hard drug dealers out of the equation, and the "gateway drug" factor disappears into thin air.

Are you people for gun control too? If people can't be trusted to be responsible with cannabis, much less alcohol, how could they possibly be trusted with guns?

Militay Mom wrote:

I don't go for drinking and driving either, catch them, lock them up and throw away the key.
Posession of is still an implied intent be it to consume it yourself or sell it to someone else both of which are illegal.

I sat on a jury a few years ago and we convicted someone of drinking and driving. They did serve time.

militay mom must be excused. she suffers from "i think i know everything or must at least act like i do" syndrome. Paul, you made a very well stated post.

Militay Mom wrote:

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as "it's just pot". Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!
Would your opinion still be the same if someone under the influence hit and injured or worse you or one of your loved ones? Would your opinion still be that it was "just pot" and there are bigger and bader things to be out there after?

I am more worried about being hit by someone who is driving while using a cell phone, personally.

So let's just make cell phones illegal too while we are at it.

Militay Mom wrote:

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as "it's just pot". Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!
Would your opinion still be the same if someone under the influence hit and injured or worse you or one of your loved ones? Would your opinion still be that it was "just pot" and there are bigger and bader things to be out there after?

Do you have any idea WHY it is illegal? No, it isn't the reason you thought. You can read the history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/white...

I bet that you thought that the marijuana laws were there to protect public health and safety. If so, you have been fooled. Not true at all.

If you find any point in history when the marijuana laws actually made sense, let me know.

As for the auto accidents, the US Government's own research shows that marijuana is not a significant hazard on the road. If you want hazards, then alcohol is the king. It accounts for half of all road deaths -- far more than all the illegal drugs combined.

Does that mean that we ought to try to arrest all the beer drinkers and ban booze to solve the problem? Just FYI, we tried it once and it was a major disaster.

The best way to control behavior is to legalize and tax, BTW. Just like government does with alcohol, gambling, etc.

Stinky Internet wrote:

<quoted text>Stats prove that kids who smoke pot are more likely to move on to something else. Meth addicts don't start with meth usually, they start with something else. Something easy to get. It is all bad and ruins lives.

Go try that line in any college class on statistics or logic. See how fast you fail.

Just FYI, the "gateway" myth arose on a single day in 1951. The head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (Harry Anslinger) was up before Congress asking for more money for enforcing the marijuana laws.

(Mind you, this is the same guy who declared in 1937 that the marijuana laws were, and always would be, completely unenforceable. He knew then that there wasn't enough money in the Federal budget to make the law effective.)

Unfortunately for him, just before he testified the head of the Federal addiction research program testified that they knew for certain that all the reasons that had been previously given to outlaw marijuana were completely wrong. It didn't do any of the things the Federal Government said it did.

Anslinger had the rug pulled out from under his request for more money. In response, he made up the idea that marijuana is the certain stepping stone to heroin. In doing so, he contradicted all the known research at the time, as well as his own testimony from 1937.

There has never been a shred of truth to it. All the arguments offered for the idea would get you an immediate failing grade in any class on logic or statistics.

If you believed that nonsense, then you got fooled. It is as simple as that.

If you want more information on the topic, with references to original sources, see http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/gatew...

Paul wrote:

The laws that made cannabis illegal were superstitious laws created in the 1920s out of racism, and out of lobbying from the paper industry that couldn't compete with superior products like hemp.

Just a note here. While you were on the mark with everything else, the part about lobbying from the paper industry is not correct.

That idea arose with the Emperor Wears No Clothes written by Jack Herer (a long-term friend of mine). While Jack is a great guy, he got it wrong on that point. There just isn't any real evidence to support the idea and there are a lot of good reasons why it would not be correct.

You can find a detailed discussion of the subject at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/hemp_...

You can find a good short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/white...

You can find lots more histories and hundreds of original historical documents at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/histo...

Militay Mom wrote:

I'm sorry but there is no such thing as "it's just pot". Pot is illegal and it is also a mind altering drug, a person under the influence of or in posession of it deserves to be arrested, especially if they are behind the wheel of a car where they can wipe out innocent people!
Would your opinion still be the same if someone under the influence hit and injured or worse you or one of your loved ones? Would your opinion still be that it was "just pot" and there are bigger and bader things to be out there after?

DEPORT ILLEGALS.

sorry to pop your midwest bubble, but since the 80's all studies have shown that experienced pot drivers reaction times are actually improved!

Militay Mom wrote:

I don't go for drinking and driving either, catch them, lock them up and throw away the key.
Posession of is still an implied intent be it to consume it yourself or sell it to someone else both of which are illegal.

Well, considering you couldn't even spell 'military' properly when registering your name, I'm not ever going to take you seriously.

I think others on here have defended my position fairly well. You, however, have failed to make a strong standing for your position, using emotions and preconceived notions instead of hard facts.

Funny how potheads, drunks and other drug users always have some method to defend their usage. All forms of drugs impair a persons ability to do a task. Driving or making decisions are such tasks. I am so for making cell phones illegal. What a pain!