Marijuana Tax Day Protest – TAX US!

If it is not habit forming then go find something else to put in your lungs.

By the way, when we get government funded health care, will you be requesting a lung transplant or anything? If you are, I just want to state for the record that I don’t think taxpayers should pay to support your habit and bail you out of a dumb choice to ingest smoke and carcinogens into your lungs.

Just a friendly reminder from all your friends who are sick and tired of forking out cash to support the habits of people who should know better, some who do, and some who just don’t get it because smoking a bowl is their main destination in life. In other words, get a life besides promoting your own selfish need to use drugs to feel important, loved, and/or to tolerate your own existence. You don’t need dope to have a good life, and I don’t want to support “dopes” who do!

Conservative estimates say that we will spend about $35 million (of the $196 million corrections budget) this year in Idaho to incarcerate pot smokers. Is that money well spent? I think not.

There are many other ways to ingest weed than just smoking it. There are a number of different water bongs that reduce the carcinogens as well as vaporizors and consuming it in any number of recipes. And for those people that do choose to smoke it, they aren’t inhaling a fraction of the carcinogens that are found in cigarettes or cigars. Marijauna these days is much more potent than it was back in the 60’s & 70’s, so much less is needed to be consumed in order to get the desired effects.

untwisted -

I am a business owner, a father of 2, and a contributor to many charitable organizations.
When I was a kid I smoked pot to deal with a lot of teenage issues, including and not limited to, depression, anxiety, anger, and hormones… And of course the social aspect.

I became a Christian, got married, had children.. Then after not smoking pot for about 7 years, I started getting cluster headaches. I tried Imitrex, midrine, and a variety of over the counter stuff. After those left me feeling like crap I got thinking about cannabis.

The same reason cannabis helps glaucoma patients, is the same reason it helps my cluster headaches. The marijuana takes the pressure off the blood vessels and relieves the pressure around it. Relieving the pressure, relieves the pain.

Since moving to Idaho, I have stopped consuming cannabis, because it is not legal here.

I am fighting for legalization because marijuana was the only medicine the relieved my pain fast, effectively, and with little side-effects.

Here is a video that I made about it last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfp25vJZ_5k

You don’t have to like my reasons, or accept them as valid.
The point is, if I am not infringing on someone’s life, liberty or property, then I am inline with the constitution. It’s a civil right.. Not something to be morally regulated by a church or a government. WE AREN’T IN CHINA HERE PEOPLE!

OPPS. I should have used spell/grammar check up there.. Lets try again.

Also untwisted..

As far as the “just wanting to get high”. SO WHAT?!

Some people just want to eat chocolate, which is much more dangerous and addicting than marijuana.

Don’t patronize me with your goodie-tooshooes crap, you aren’t going to get through to me by preaching from your high horse son.

I smoked cannabis every day for 5 years. Then, I gave my life to Jesus one day, and quit completely cold turkey. I didn’t smoke for 7 years. I started up again last year to combat my awful headaches. Then we bought a house in Idaho. I quit cold turkey again!

I know fat people who have a harder time going on a diet. I know smokers (tobacco) who simply can not quit smoking, drinkers that can’t quit drinking, and people who are on prescription medication who have a much harder time getting off their prescription.

Should we outlaw, chocolate, soda pop, food, and prescription medicine because they are more harmful, and more addicting? (than cannabis)

I mean, someone CAN eat themselves to death. But marijuana smokers have never yet been able to smoke themselves to death yet.

Just because you have a weak, addictive personality, doesn’t mean that you aren’t also some fat slob that can’t stop eating chocolate. Or some pill popper who can’t stop going to the doctor for another prescription of pain killers or sleeping pills.

Yes, some people are weak and have addictive personalities.

But out of all things to be “addicted” to. Marijuana is by far the least harmful of them all. And scientific studies show that marijuana is non-addictive.

That is, IF I was concerned about your moral high horse. But since you seem to be stuck way up there, I thought I’d give you something to think about.

Peace!

BTW- This comment was out of line:

“That is, IF I was concerned about your moral high horse. But since you seem to be stuck way up there, I thought I’d give you something to think about.”

And Im sorry. I get a little edgy when I have so many Mormon friends and neighbors who give me these un-common anecdotes about how aweful marijuana was to someone that they know..

These un-common anecdotes are the same things that were displayed in the government propoganda film “Reefer Madness”.. And that show has been shown to be COMPLETELY dishonest scientifically and even anecdotally. The kinds of people you see on reefer madness, are fiends who will do ANYTHING to get their next fix…. Kind of like what untwisted is describing.

But I have NEVER EVER known a pot head to have done this “spent almost 15 years with my nose stuck half way up my connections butt so I’d be certain to be able to score another bag of reefer when the time came to replentish my supply”

I know some people who REALLY like marijuana. But never have I witnessed anyone completely sacrificing their dignity like that. What he is describing, is almost as bad as a crack head prostituting themself for crack!!!

My point is that ‘untwisted’ sounds almost identical to reefer madness. And honestly, you are the first person that I have ever met like that. Is this reality, or internet fiction? I don’t know.. All I know, is you are a rare breed. And I apologize for talking condensendingly like that to you.

Hope to see you on Tax Day my neighbors!!

BTW- See this link if you want to see the actual “reefer madness”.. It’s so wrong, it’s funny!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6696582420128930236

(1 hour)

You can see the problem:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090316001228AAzqpEx

And I believe the solution is 77 billion per year from legal cannabis in our economy.

But when YouTube limits videos to 10 minutes, that means I either have to cut it short, or post the video on a lesser viewed website like Daily Motion.

And you’re right, I get worked up about this subject.

I am risking a lot to see this agenda get some attention.

I am a successful business man, of a fairly young company that has been going strong since 2003.
I am a father of 2, and we just had our second baby 2 weeks ago.
I have a wife, a house, and a lot of family that I don’t want to let down. But this issue is very important to me.

So I got prepared. I got rid of all of my prohibition paraphernalia, I smoked the rest of my stash, and I have been staying away from my much needed medicine so that I can do what I am doing right now.

This is not some whim, or some regurgitation of someone elses ambitions and research. I have spent countless hours on this, and spent a small fortune on a website, hosting, and advertising. Meanwhile, I suffer with headaches with little relief.

So when you started asking me very condescending questions such as:
“Is all this promotion you’re doing really being done because you have a heartfelt cause you believe in, or are you, like like I was, just in the process of parroting other peoples words, and looking forward to your next bowl?

See, you don’t seem to be articulating your own thoughts in your last video. It’s just a regurgitation of the same old line NORML has been spouting for years.”
Maybe your intent wasn’t to offend. But I feel that I have given plenty, and will sacrifice more, and it’s not just because Im “parroting other people’s words” for sniffs and giggles.

My 16 year old brother died from prescription medication in 2002, which he was given to treat depression. Which is another thing that cannabis is good a treating without the common side-effect of death.

This was shortly after I found Christ as my personal savior, and I wanted to be a good little Christian, and a good example to my little brother. He asked me one day “hey man, do you want to smoke this with me”.
I took the nugget, I put it in my pocket, and I said. “You know I’d love to. Let me think about it bro”.

The next day I gave him back his pot. Told him “sorry”.
The next week, he got another prescription for anti-anxiety. (not sure which either drug was anymore, I just know they are bad voodoo).. And marijuana is very good at treating anxiety too.

A week after that, he was dead. He had taken the correct amount of both medications, and he had taken some cold medicine for some congestion at about midnight. By 5am he was dead, died in his sleep as a result of complications from his medicine.

With Utah leading the nation in prescription drug usage, 2 to 1 of the national average. And with Utah also having the highest teen suicide rates in the nation. I have given plenty of thought to how things could have been different.

If my brother could have got a prescription for a common herb called marijuana, one of the safest ‘drugs’ in the world. He would not be dead right now.

And with the growing knowledge of cannabis’ cancer fighting properties, and ability to relieve the symptoms caused by chemo. And with it’s awesome ability to take care of my headaches.. Etc etc etc…

Well yes, this is a very sensitive issue for me.

I have more reasons for legalizing marijuana than I can count. And if this was entirely a selfish thing, than I would do as about 40 million other Americans do. I would keep it quite, and I would keep using it without any protest.

But I quit using it, to be able to live in Idaho, and to be able to protest these silly and unjust laws.

And sorry for jumping all over you. I am just tired of these same old, un-scientific, and realistic anecdotes of people losing everything because of pot. Or some how having pot screw everything up. Blah blah blah.

Tell that to Michael Phelps. 15 gold metals, and a pot smoking bong ripper!!!

Untwisted,

I chuckled when you mentioned you still talk to your father so many years after his passing. I too, talk to my dad when driving, shoveling snow, etc. and he’s been gone for more than 29 years.

Like slu2, I probably had ADHD, although not clinically diagnosed, in the days before it was defined as such…I was just the hyperactive kid who couldn’t sit still in class and was easily bored. I suppose that’s why pot and I got along so well together later on, it slowed me down to the point that I could focus on a task without going in several directions at once (the same reason that cocaine never interested me, it just made things worse).

After coming home from Viet Nam, I found myself drinking more than I needed to and out of necessity I had to cut down or risk my marriage and any future I had. Pot came to the rescue. While I used alcohol to mask inner turmoil, I found that pot helped me confront those feelings and work them out. I can honestly say that pot saved my marriage and probably my sanity in those post war years.

Should pot be legalized? Certainly…and I wish slu2, and his cause, much success.

This is a video memory I made for my dad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGSsZKa5yxk

He was one of the bravest, smartest, strongest men I ever knew at one time. I still talk to him too. Probably always will.

Thanks everyone for your insight, and anecdotes (pro and con).

My dad taught me one thing. Don’t start something that you don’t intend on finishing to the end.

This has been something that has strengthened my marriage, and my relationship with my kids, and even my business.

I will see marijuana legalized, and I won’t stop until I die.

Marijuana legalization will save our country. For that I have no doubt. That 77 Billion per year in our economy will fund future generation (my children, and their children, etc)..

And us holding close to our constitution, and the promise of LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

We are like leaves in the wind, blowing to and fro. But if we stop, and think about the wonderful gift our forefathers gave us. I think it would help us to see that when we take the rights away from one group or another. We are taking the rights away from everyone in some way.

If pot smokers are not hurting anyone. If marijuana is not killing anyone. And if legalization could save our economy. What more is there to think about??????

And my4sons. I see your sincerity. But think about it. Prohibition didn’t work in the 1920’s and 1930’s. So no matter how wonderful you think life would be when everything is prohibited. Think about the gangs, the black market, the mexican cartels. And compare that to alcohol prohibition.

People don’t stop using the illicit substance because it’s illegal. It seems that they use MORE. And as a result the black market grows stronger and stronger.

ANYONE who supports prohibition. Supports.

1. A black market in our society
2. Gangs and gang violence
3. millions of people being locked up in prison for possessing a plant. (20 million marijuana arrests)
4. Mexican cartels making billions, and bringing violence into our country.

And the list of negatives goes on and on.

Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol. And it is destroying our country now with marijuana being the target..

Thanks for engaging me in this conversation. See ya Wednesday at the post office!

“There are many other ways to ingest weed than just smoking it. There are a number of different water bongs that reduce the carcinogens as well as vaporizors and consuming it in any number of recipes”

This is one of the funniest gems this site has ever produced. Reminds me of that line from Pineapple Express.

untwisted, I have to agree with guest, and this isn’t a personal attack. I can sincerely say that I have never smoked as much as 5 joints a day, or 1/8th.. Not to myself. I mean a few times I smoked an 1/8 with a few friends at a party. But I’m a WAY light weight. And that is truth.. And I feel no need to compete in that area either. The less I have to smoke, the less I have to spend. And I like to get irie, but it has never taken more than a half a joint for me to get lit. Anymore than ‘lit’ is too much for me.

Tom I agree. I think that a pot high is a very conscious and in control feeling, just relaxed a bit. I’ve never felt the urge to fight or get pissed off at someone while I’ve been stoned.

And although I see your logic about paying taxes on recreational expenses. I for one will fight like hell before I ever consider government help, or parental help, or whatever.. I know you were making a philosophical point, but some nosy people would assume that means you are a welfare case or something.

On the contrary, pot smokers are often the hardest working people that I know.

There will be people who are lazy people before they smoke pot, and there will be the same lazy people who are lazy after smoking pot. But it’s not the pot’s fault that they are lazy, or crazy, or whatever. People have problems without medication, or illicit substances all of the time.
It’s often that the medication, or like in meso’s case, and my own case, the pot (or whatever medication) is the balancing factor in our lives.

What meso said about his life is very similar to my own. I am a better man when Im relaxed, and focused on my family. Not when Im going in 20 different directions because of ADHD symptoms. The pot really helps my ADHD..

I wish I could get Marinol for ADHD until we make pot legal here!!

:c)

Either side should see that legalization is the key to their goals. Those who want it legalized will have it so. Those who want people to not smoke it will have it so as the state and national governments raise the taxes on it until no one can afford it anymore just like cigarettes. If you can’t outlaw it, tax it into oblivion.

Untwisted,

Most of the reading I do is of a scientific nature and a few of my favorite scientists have been cannibis users, ie., Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan and Stephen J. Gould. Sagan, an avid marijuana smoker, credited pot with much of the scientific insight that inspired his work. Stephen J. Gould, a prolific scientific writer and the originator of “punctuated equilibrium”, wrote his most detailed work, “The Structure of Evolutionary Theory”, while using pot to alleviate the nausea produced by his chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Pot certainly didn’t impair those guy’s cognitive abilities. On the contrary, perhaps we’d have more Nobel laureate scientists, yes, even more gold medal olympic swimmers if we ended the prohibition.

Pot mimics the brain’s own endogenous cannabinoid, anadamide. Anandamide was isolated by an Israeli scientist, I think around 1993 or so. This brain chemical aids in sorting out and prioritizing the signals the brain receives from the senses. It, in effect, deletes the information that’s of little import to one’s consciousness, meaning you don’t need to remember the color of the dress that the waitress was wearing yesterday or the name on the tag of the UPS delivery man this morning. So yes, pot does effect short term memory, but many users I’ve read about and known, have reported increased creativity and focus while using pot.

I’m still having trouble with accepting you as a bona fide pot smoker. I’ve been around a long time and I never recall anyone, and I mean anyone, who claimed to smoke 4 or 5 joints a day for 15 years. I am beginning to suspect, especially from your last post, that you are pulling our leg here. That’s a shame because you came across as legitimate up until the last post with those studies that reeked of distortions. You made smoking pot sound like a bad acid trip.

Remember, 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot–Sorry ’bout that–I couldn’t resist a little humor.

Okay Marcus, maybe he is legit, but it seems to this observer that he threw the baby out with the bath water when he (and I’m assuming, here) quit pot (alcohol and other drugs?), 30 years ago. And my gawd, as he says, ONLY 4 or 5 joints a day…Was he a walking zombie for 15 years? He just needed to limit his high times to special occasions and that should not have included the sun rising in the sky every day.

Marcus, legalization and criminalization don’t change a users inclination to abuse pot or any other substance and there will always be folks who will smoke four or five joints a day or consume a quart of vodka a day or wolf down a quart of ice cream at a sitting. In a free society we allow for failure just as we reward for success. Sometimes it’s a roll of the dice as to the choices that folks make but they are choices we all have a right to make on our own, with or without, big brother’s approval.

Marcus,

My point was that, yes, weed is not always harmless, nor are many of life’s indulgences. I wouldn’t compare it to guns, although. Guns really do kill people. And, yes, I am fighting for legalization in the full knowledge that there will always be those who will be irresponsible in their use of it. That was my point…sorry if it sounded redundant to your own comment.

No, you misunderstood that I am for taxation. I am not. Certainly not on plants you can grow and process from your own garden. Processed joints akin to a pack of cigarettes at the local pharmacy? Yeah tax the hell out of ‘em.

Marcus,

I own my share of guns and use them frequently, so don’t try to make me sound like someone opposed to them.

“Weed is dangerous in the same way that guns are dangerous, let’s at least agree on that”.

Those were your words, not mine.

“But you and I had this discussion going, and it was apparent to me that you were emotionally unstable and therefore unable to continue it without popping that mass of
blood vessels that creates the headaches that you say you have to use medicinal marijuana for.

So now you’re the worlds light weight pot smoker extraordinaire, one who doesn’t smoke more than half a joint at a time. You’ve alternated between attack mode and
passive do gooder so many times that I can’t believe it. You’re just a chameleon with a cause and you’ll agree with anyone who waves your flag even a little. ”

Yeah, I get passionate about marijuana legalization. That’s no secret. And when a “troll” as you call them, start spouting of anecdotes that are not scientifically valid, and not anything that any other pot smoker on this site has experienced, then I go on as you call it “attack mode”, I call it “setting the record straight”. Im not going to let your completely unique experience sway me is all.

And as far as being the “worlds light weight pot smoker extraordinaire”. It’s all about control. Using in moderation. You obviously didn’t have this ability, and like I said you are one of few.

Marijuana doesn’t cause this craze of having people glued to their dealers butt’s like you so eloquently painted a picture of what I consider a crack head addicted to their crack habit…. But again, you are one of few.. Which is why I set the record straight.

If setting the record straight about something that I am passionate about, is “being unstable”, so be it!
I’ve witnessed people often get WAY more passionate about throwing a pig skin around, and getting muddy….

And saving our economy and releasing millions from an un-constitutional incarceration is WAY more important than some dumb game on TV.

And again, as for you anecdotal information that you provide. If it’s all this bad, then we are really in trouble. Bill Clinton, George W., and Barack Obama have ALL admitted to smoking marijuana. Obama claims he smoked it “frequently”. And then there is the GREATEST Olympian of all times who is a pot smoker. So go give your anecdotes to Michael Phelps, or our last 3 presidents. Because I have already shot these anecdotes down with modern science.

Peace!

It’s one thing to post your opinions on this topic but lets not turn this site into a pro marijuana blog. It seems like that’s what you’re trying to do here slu. You have your own blog to promote your wacky weed and your views towards it. I’m amazed Joe has let you advertise your site here as much as you have. You’ve posted a link to it more than a half a dozen times and that’s not including all of your videos. Give it a rest man.

Knowing Obama smoked sure makes me wanna be a pothead.
Some of these comments are pretty comical. Not to take away from Slu’s cause but some of these so called “statistics” are quite amusing.
Ah well….I’ll stick to my coffee habit.

Untwisted,

It seems that you are equating the high from pot to alcohol inebriation. They are two distinctly different realms of mind alterations. Alcohol tends to anesthetize the spatial reasoning side of the brain before doing likewise to the rest of the brain. That’s why you can still talk a good story about your prowess in bed to a potential mate, but fail to live up to your claims. Marijuana has the opposite effect. You may not be nearly as charming to a potential mate and you may even forget her name, but unless you’ve smoked yourself into complete oblivion, you should have no problem completing the task at hand.

I knew two guys who won the Utah state doubles racquetball championship, stoned. That’s how they trained…stoned. I’ve experienced the same thing on a pair of skis. If anything, pot (in the right amount), tends to “free up” the spatial reasoning side of the brain from the cognative side, thus allowing a more natural expression of physical prowess.

I remember some studies done at the University of North Carolina and at UCLA years ago that can substantiate these claims. I’ll try to dig them up.

You see one picture in the news and you think he’s a pro? Like Guest said in comment 105, there’s no arguing with a stoner so I won’t bother. You can’t stand it when somebody doesn’t believe everything you say or has an opinion that differs from yours. You’re showing your true age Slu. Don’t feel bad though, I was the same way when I was your age, I thought I knew everything too. You’ve got a lot to learn little buddy.

I think slu is a passionate young man who merely wants to be able to smoke his dope legally. The previous poster made a valid point.. A lot of us smoked it when we were younger but then we grew up and got real jobs, some of us got married, had children and became responsible citizens of our community. And some took the other path and did just enough to get by in life, not making much of themselves and were content with that as long as they could still smoke their dope. I’m sure their are successful potheads out there and Slu says he has a wife and children, but I don’t think you can be a responsible parent and smoke dope too. Maybe I’m just old fashioned in my beliefs.

I think you need to review previous comments 85 & 86 slu. You say you dont want to be a criminal but you are being a criminal by smoking dope and that in turn is being an irresponsible parent. I’m sure you’ll go off on 3 or 4 more tangents and explain why your different. Don’t bother though because like AppleJack I really don’t care to argue with you either. Everybody has given their opinion on this issue and even if they’ve semi-agreed with you you’ve found a way to discredit them or talk down to them. Your an immature kid slu and you’ve got a lot to learn about life. The laws may be stupid to you but their laws nonetheless and you’re not above them.

Marcus, I can some up all of these emotional, and insulting attacks to me from some of the posters here: “troll”

“An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.”

Instead of having a conversation, 3 of the last responders to me make a lot of insults, and challenges. Yet when I respond, I only get more insults. That’s the definition of an internet troll.

I have been very accommodating and I will continue to be so. But what is childish, is when some of you people offer NOTHING to the conversation but insults.

Here is another very credible professor on drug policy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNS6U6oVBjk

As for any trolls who have nothing but insults. John P. Morgan blows your insults, un-factual claims out of the water!

He was a professor of pharmacology for 26 years.

Here are more experts on the subject. These people are former police officers, including the former police chief of Seattle. There are over 500 members of L.E.A.P (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH8OW7mw8IM

Oh wait, this all was found on the internet. THROW IT OUT!!

If that’s your philosophy, you’re hopeless.

Here is another interview that was found on the internet. (OMG Not the internet!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6UpqmGC2dM

I haven’t bothered with this topic because it doesn’t interest me, but I’m beginning to side with the others. I don’t think you understand what people are saying Slu. Nobody wants to censor you, this site is all about free speech. But it appears that you’ve taken over this community website and turned it into your own personal marijuana spambot. Who wants to hear about marijuana every single day? Your using this site to push you pot message down everyones throat because you know that there’s a lot more traffic here than what you get on your site and you can reach a larger audience. Like Untwisted said in the chatbox, it’s become hyper-redundant. If you don’t know what that means, look it up. It seems like we can’t come onto this site anymore without you shoving more statistics, links and videos into our face every single day since you’ve joined. We get your point. We understand what you want. That’s great that you love you pot. That’s your perogative and nobody here is trying to take that away from you. Just take a break for a couple of days.. We’ve got tons of other topics to talk about, why not do what others have suggested and expand your mind a bit & talk about something other than pot for just one day?

Sorry Slu but marijuana alone is not going to fix our economy. Are you that naive? Legalizing marijuana is not going to put millions of people back to work, it’s not going to fix the stock market and the banking system, it’s not going to provide jobs for the millions of people who have been laid off over the past year and half. You’re just doing a search of marijuana on youtube and using all those videos as your answer to everything and that’s not going to happen.
Marijuana isn’t going to keep GM from going bankrupt, it’s not going to give back all those people laid off from IBM, Micron, Catapillar and thousands of other large buisinesses work again. Start using your head slu and stop believing everything you read and hear on the internet.

I apologize Untwisted. I shouldnt have fallen for slus propoganda by replying to his comments. It’s clear that none of our comments & opinions mean anything as he stated in comment 140. Hes not interested in anybodys opinion but his own and hes made that clear by degrading & dismissing everyone on this site that doesnt agree with him. I gave him a perfect example in comment 138 how marijuana will not fix our current economy but he continues to throw out crazy statements from some dope smoking professor. There are hundreds of professors in this country that are idiots, but if someone has never been to college they wouldnt know this.

This will be my last comment to this propoganda campaign. For arguments sake your right and I’m wrong slu, lets leave it at that.

I forget which one of the regulars posted a funny special olympics pic in the past that would be perfect for this post.
Have a nice day everybody.

You don’t seem to want to point out all the information on anything. You pick and choose what you want people to know and the fact is, people aren’t going to prison for petty marijuana possesion. The people that are going to prison are those growing it, transporting it, smuggling it and selling it. As well they should because after all, it’s still agaisn’t the law last time I checked.
Even if it’s legalized they won’t do away with DEA, border patrol and whatnot, so you won’t be saving as much money as you think there. They will still be patrolling and out their fighting the war on drugs for cocaine, meth, exctasy, etc.

Amen

Simple possesion would be anything under a quarter of a ounce which is 7 1/2 grams. Most people in prison for pot are there for 10 ounces or more, which in turn results in a distributing charge. people busted for qty’s of an ounce or less will only get a slap on the wrist. If you’e got more than an ounce on you at a time, you’re more than likely selling it too.
Look it up.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, referring to an April 2006 statement released by the FDA say “There are more teens in drug treatment for marijuana dependence than for alcohol or any other drug,”
Wonder why slu fails to point out these statistics.
They also note that recreational use can lead to addiction, and inhaling marijuana smoke is unhealthful for the lungs. Some researchers argue that marijuana may predispose heavy users to mental illnesses such as psychosis and depression.

Anonymouse,

Since when is a year in jail for misdemeanor pot possession not considered incarceration? Those are exactly what the F.B.I. stats were talking about.

We will spend around $36 million of Idaho’s 2009 corrections budget ($196 million) to jail and supervise pot offenses at the state level and that does not take into account the city and county jails. That’s a hell of a drain on resources that would be better used for schools, drug rehab, or maintaining roads and infrastructure. All because we didn’t learn our lesson from the 13 years of Prohibition (alcohol) and the destructive effect it had on this nation.

People like yourself who don’t find the penalties too harsh have your heads buried too deeply in the sand to understand what the ramifications are for a country that has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prison population. Shame on you.

And slu I’ve heard your gateway theory before so theres no need to repeat it. The fact is people who smoke weed also abuse alcohol and other drugs. Thats a fact. Look it up.

gateway drug theory and prohibition have nothing to do with each other. The fact is, people who smoke weed also pop pills, get drunk on the weekends, do a little blow and whatever else they can use to get high with.
Down with dope you dope!
My work here is done.

For the record I do drink coffee so according to you guys I’m an addict to it’s all good. You guys smoke your weed, I’ll drink my coffee.
Later

Anonymouse, you don’t know as much about drug penalties as you think you do. What about people who go to prison for using marijuana one time?

That’s right, it happens. People who are on probation or parole and flunk a urinalysis for marijuana use can and do get sent to prison all the time. For nothing more than a dirty u/a.

Look it up.

Don’t know if anyone is following what’s going on in Hailey but here are a few links. Legalization of marijuana has been one of the hot topics over there the last 6 mos or so.

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005116994 http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005125932

Speaking as someone who has been on the wrong end of a governmental sting operation (a totally useless one, but a sting nonetheless) I can almost guarantee that the DEA is already watching people in Denver who think they are doing nothing wrong.

They may have passed a law in their city, but Untwisted is 100% correct. Whenever someone on a state or federal level decides that it will be in their best interest, they will crack down and heads will roll.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/pipedreams.html

No one is really safe with these laws till there is legalization on the federal level.