Well, you'll never know which ones are in just for pot and which ones are doing time for pot because the prosecutor didn't have enough evidence to prosecute the criminal for raping the liquor store owner's retarded daughter after robbing the place.... It's a lot like the mortgages. We can tell the good guys from the bad guys.

But every day it feels like nothing is more important than sorting out our policy towards South America... We really, really need to get those people on the team.

I wish people didn't do illicit drugs: I think dope (even weed) can badly diminish a human being. But it might be worth having a few more blighted souls here in the States in order to approach the whole southern continent with some sanity

Typo, hopefully obvious: We can't tell the good guys from the bad guys.

I am all for the legalization of Pot. Tax the crap out of it and regulate it like we do Cigarettes and alcohol.
As for the harder drugs, I think they should still be illegal. No one has gone off and killed a bunch of people while high on pot, but they have done it while high on cocaine or some other hard drug. Or maybe we can regulate them like the Netherlands do and limit their use to a certain area.
Pot has certain medical benefits as well. It's been known to help cancer/aids patients with pain and it helps them keep food down.
Not to mention other chronic pain sufferers it can help.
The benefits of legalization far out weigh the costs of keeping it illegal.
I also think the use of pot among kids will go FAR down once it's legal. The appeal of doing an illegal drug among kids will go away.

Meh, I tried it once, and I was unimpressed. I think it ought to be legal. It smells nicer than alcohol. And that's all the reasoned argument I'm capable of, pre-coffee.

Oh, I'm a pothead from way back. I loved that shit! I've smoked all kinds, from Mexican rag weed to Panama Red to Columbian brown to Thai stick and skunk weed. Loved it all. Especially when I had cramps. Worked like a charm. Also, I used to love to get stoned and go to art class - did some really great stuff while stoned. You should see the ceramic chess set I made, it was awesome! It was poured into a mold of course, but I painted all the pieces myself, and it came out really cool - Roman soldiers for the pawns, and various gods and goddesses for the king, queen, bishops, etc. Gave it to a dear friend, who I saw not too long ago at a concert, who said he still has it, loves it, and still plays chess with it. He said he's gotten a lot of compliments on it. Made me feel pretty good!
Smoking before gigs helped me relax and get over my stage fright as well. I just like the weed. If you put a drink, a line of coke, and a joint in front of me, and told me I could have only one of them, I'm going for the joint every time. Alcohol and cocaine can change people in the blink of an eye, and sometimes not for the better. Pot just mellows you out, in my opinion. YMMV o.O

I dont drink, I dont smoke, I dont toke.

Too many addicts in the familly tree. I've always wondered what it would be like to be drunk or even slightly buzzed. My problem in addition to a familly history of alchol abuse is I know I'd make a very angry and ugly drunk.

If it werent for a familly history of addiction I wouldnt mind trying pot, though I'd have to get the good stuff as most pain killers dont work for me

I'm one who has never tried pot, but I know I'm in the minority. I also don't think it is a big deal, and I'm fine with it being legalized.

By the way, I like Kathleen Parker so much better since she's moved away from the far right.

Trish Reagan on CNBC just did a 1 hour special on the Pot Growers + Sellers in Northern California. I pay attention but I had no idea things were as "out in the open" as I saw on that special. I think the show is still running. Check it out if you can, it's a real eye opener.
As a libertarian at heart I voted for the decriminalization of Pot that was on the ballot and won in Mass. last nov. even though my pot smoking days are long over. My only issue is with access to pot by kids. It's easy for a kid to get lost in a Pot haze when he/she should be working towards college or something productive. I'm sure we all know people who could have done more with their lives if they hadn't spent so much time smoking dope in High School.

I only smoked it back in the late 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's...

I have smoked it, and I echo Amy's sentiments, I don't like the way it makes me feel.

The reason it probably won't be legalized in the near future is because it's called "weed" for a reason - anyone, even someone with a black thumb like myself that lives in the Plains of Texas where nothing grows save for prickly pear cacti - can grow it in the backyard. It will grow anywhere. Thus, taxing it is difficult.

The reason the hard drugs won't be legalized - although it would be much easier to tax them - is not because of the crimes people commit while high on them. If that was the case, alcohol would be prohibited again. However, the government can't justify legalizing these easily taxable substances without legalizing pot first.

Aside, I believe criminals should be penalized for their actions and thus should be unable to excuse or attribute those actions to ANY chemical substance. You choose to partake, you choose the potential for the subsequent actions.

And, if all of these things were legalized, DUIs would still apply - and I do not believe violent crime would go up. The same number of people would shoot heroin and snort cocaine, etc., and in fact, I think it would become less attractive to American teenagers.

Ending the war on drugs alone could revive our economy. We don't need no stinking stimulus package.

If the marijuana laws are repealed I’m buying a pizza franchaise.

Boy, do I miss Gina's Pizza in Corona Del Mar...

Yesterday you posted about how racial political correctness stops politicians from telling the truth about politicized mortgages. It's also stopping them from telling the truth anout the WoD. When Rev Wright wasn't shouting "God DAMN America!", he was preaching about how the CIA invented crack cocaine to addict & kill black people. Any pol with the balls to talk seriously about drug legalization will immediately be shouted down by black power quacks screaming "cultural genocide".

If Uncle Sam locks black men up for using & dealing drugs, it's because he's racist. If Uncle Sam wants to legalize drugs, it's because he's racist and wants poor blacks to get addicted & die. You can't win.

it's called "weed" for a reason - anyone, even someone with a black thumb like myself that lives in the Plains of Texas where nothing grows save for prickly pear cacti - can grow it in the backyard.

Agreed it's easy to grow. But very quickly it would get to the same point as tobacco. Most people buy their cigarettes pre-done. But some buy the filter tubes and make their own.

You implement laws have a tax stamp to grow it. Then if you have loose leaf pot, you need proof that you bought it at the store or that have a tax stamp to grow it. Part of the grow your own tax stamp would be that you make reasonable efforts to secure your plants from theft and easy access of the produce from children.

It would then become a civil problem, that police can write a ticket on for not having a tax stamp, or as a civil nuisance complaint for those who want to grow it in the back yard unsecured.

"Legalization of drugs and government control of drug traffic ..." HA! The idea's finally going mainstream.

Since the Nixon administration, I've been floating the idea and singing its benefits (unburdening the legal system, deflating drug cartel profits) to anyone I could corner. It made perfect sense to me: take the profit out of a commodity and businesses trading in that commodity will go belly up, or find the next Big Thing.

Few people listened to my rants/harangues past "..legalize drugs ..." before launching into stern lectures on morals, evil example for our children, wrong message to the rest of the world, etc.

Interestingly, right after Nixon unveiled his War on Drugs, Wm. F. Buckley was one of the most vocal opoonents of the program and a vocal proponent of legalization and government control.

How exactly would one tax pot? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated.

"What prohibition did was criminalize what is essentially a health problem"

Gotta call bullshit on that one. Everything's a disease nowadays, even pedophilia. That's crap. If you drink/smoke/eat/whatever too much, it's your own damn fault for lacking self control. Period. Just because you want to do something doesn't mean you have to.

" No one has gone off and killed a bunch of people while high on pot,"

Wanna quote some stats on that? Because a remarkably high percentage of immediate-crime arrestees are high on pot
(http://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/nij/190310.txt) Now, that's quite possibly because productive drug users-all Amy's anecdotes aside- are rare. Crime's easier. But it still doesn't make pot smokers look great.

"I also think the use of pot among kids will go FAR down once it's legal. The appeal of doing an illegal drug among kids will go away."

I rather doubt that. Kids smoke and drink and cigarettes and alcohol are darn easy to access currently. It's not some lure of the forbidden, it's peer pressure and stupidity.

I've yet to see something someone did while high that I really thought was earth-shattering or profound, much less even good. I think the smoke that gets you felling all creative also puts talent-goggles on you.

All that said, I'm not a huge war on drugs fan either.

The "war" on drugs is much like the never-ending feminist/government crusade to root out "sexism" and "discrimination" against women: both will never cease because too many people in government and social agencies now depend on the ongoing conflict for their livelihoods. We can't put "misogynists" and druglords out of business because that would also put those who "protect" us from these villains out of business. Get it? Oh, and don't forget that our worthy protectors also don't want to give up any leverage when it comes to the ability to insinuate themselves into our personal lives in order to "solve" the problem they themselves have created.

How exactly would one tax potatos? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated

How exactly would one tax cabbage? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated

How exactly would one tax grapes? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated

How exactly would one tax corn? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated

How exactly would one tax watermelons? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated

How exactly would one tax apples? What company is going to grow/distribute it? Because if people grow their own, it's rather hard to tax. You could tax the seeds I guess, and hybridize it so it won't self-germinate. Seems complicated

Does it still seem complicated?

I've done pot and enjoyed it. (I prefer baking with a pot-infused cooking oil as opposed to smoking the stuff)

Now booze I can't stand. I don't like being drunk or even buzzed on alcohol. Not fond of the taste either.

Amy asked "How much does the WoD cost us each year?"

Since the year 2000, $40 billion a year and climbing, $600 per second just in Federal money ($19 billion per year)...
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/factsheets/economiccons/fact_economic.cfm

Like with alcohol prohibition, Organized Crime profits most from marijuana prohibition, as prohibition does almost nothing to curb demand. Also, it promotes corruption as mob members must bribe cops and judges to continue their trade. The WoD is an utter failure.

online.wsj.com/article/SB123535114271444981.html

BTW momof3, Netherlanders are about half as likely to have tried pot as Americans...
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1821697,00.html

Whoever said money doesn't grow on trees never had a closet full of marijuana. If it were legalized and there's a profit to be had, there'll be lots of companies lined up to grow it. Tobacco companies seem like they'd be well prepared to take over the market.

Clearly it gets easier the further south you go, but having had some cultivation experience, to actually grow decent stuff that doesn't give more of a headache than a buzz, you need to create the right conditions. Just 'cuz the plant will grow doesn't mean it will properly produce its cash crop without some skilled tending.

Looj, people can grow those themselves and pay no tax whatsoever. They can grow and sell them, and pay no tax whatsoever if they're clever and not a huge attention-attracting conglomerate. So I suppose no, it doesn't seem complicated, but then it's sure not fixing the budget deficit either, is it?

The tabacco companies may well be out of business soon from lawsuits from knowing users who came to well-known predictable harm from their product. Think that would not happen with pot? Liability's a bitch, and really detracts from profit.

Netherlanders are rather different from Americans in many ways, I don't think they're a great predictive model. We are not homogenous.

I've never tried marijuana - not once. But I don't look down upon friends who use it because I drink alcohol and so a 'tude about pot would thus make me a hypocrite.

Here in British Columbia, where I live, marijuana is essentially legal, even if not formally. A lot of people smoke it in public and nothing is ever done to them. Plus, "BC Bud" is reportedly the #1 Crop in the province.

One very glaring downside of the drug is that a huge crime industry has been built up to support local consumption and foreign export (to America mostly). Recently a violent drug war has sprung up in Metro Vancouver, with automatic gunfire shootings occurring almost daily. Perhaps that's the norm in some cities but not here. And law-abiding citizens are frightened and absolutely fed up.

Would an end to prohibition in the U.S. end this violence? Some say yes but I wonder.

Tried it for the first time not too long ago. I felt the urge to eat. Alot. Honestly, not all that turned on by it. Should it be illegal? No. It's about as bad for you as eating mcdonald's on a regular basis, and apparently doing that is legal, so...

Hey Bernie,

Nice comment.

Also, who did your blog layout?

I have never tried pot or any other illicit drug, although I did a lid of nutmeg once.

'Bout time someone suggested a rational marijuana policy.

Amy, you should put "Budding Prospects" by T. Coraghessan Boyle on your Amazon list. His writing gets into my head like no-one else's.

"Looj, people can grow those themselves and pay no tax whatsoever. They can grow and sell them, and pay no tax whatsoever if they're clever and not a huge attention-attracting conglomerate."

Momof3, that's the point. People CAN grow and sell tomatoes if they want, but hardly anyone does. It's easier to buy it. And um, high people, are more likely to buy it.

Pot isn't as bad for you as tobacco is. Nor is it as bad for you as hard liquor or beer. Like someone mentioned above, DUIs would still be in place, and if anything people would be driving waaaayy tooo slooooowwwwly than speedy. Anyway, if pot became legal, the growing/selling corporation(s) that would appear would already know a ton about their product, as does the general public. So it wouldn't be like the cigarette companies at all.

Oh goody Jessica, since slow drivers cause more accidents. Contrary to popular belief maybe, but true (www.sense.bc.ca/research.html)

Cigarette companies already know "a ton" about their product, as does the public. That's been the case for decades. They were called coffin nails in the 20's for a reason. But long-standing common knowledge of the dangers hasn't protected the companies selling it.

I'd love to see your studies that inhaling one kind of smoke is so much better than another, healthwise. There's virtually no chance that a compound with as many different chemicals in it as pot (420, right, isn't that the rumor?) doesn't contain a carcinogen. And alcohol does seem to be good for you in moderation. (hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/.../alcohol-full-story/index.htm)
(ww.mayoclinic.com/health/alcohol/SC00024)

Again, I said I"m not a WoD fan. And I think the therapeutic uses of pot should be investigated. I am just very leery of people who just think it's A-Ok and there's no downfalls whatsoever, just legalize it up, it's so easy!

Wow... it just occurred to me that Southern politicians REALLY ought to be campaigning for pot legalization. Our states would become economic powerhouses once more if the stuff could be grown legally.

"Again, I said I"m not a WoD fan. And I think the therapeutic uses of pot should be investigated. I am just very leery of people who just think it's A-Ok and there's no downfalls whatsoever, just legalize it up, it's so easy!"

You're just argumentative.

MelissaG, yeah, what's the south even doing anyway?

Amy, I didn't know about nicotine having benefits. Very interesting!

"You're just argumentative."

My bad, I forgot this was Obamanation now. I am to capitulate to what I'm told with no thought process of my own. Pot good. Yes sir. Pass the bong, the kids are napping!

Brilliant comeback, Jess, really brilliant. Sure makes me see the light of your position.

I believe that people should be allowed to smoke, drink, pop, inject and imbibe whatever they want, from pot to prescription drugs to crack cocaine. I realize that more people would ruin their lives (at first anyway), but people have the right to ruin their lives if they so choose. Just because it's wrong doesn't mean government should prohibit it; just because it's dangerous doesn't mean government should protect us from it. When we do hurt ourselves through our own stupidity we shouldn't ask the government to kiss it and make it better again.

The government is not my mommy. Adults are responsible for our actions, whether we think so or not.

"I also think that people would see that it's not a sensible choice,"

You are optimistic. I don't see many people realizing having daddyless kids they can't support is not a sensible choice, and it's legal.

Pseu, the government does have the right/duty to protect me from your stupidity, if not yourself. That's why they can require drivers tests, make reckless driving a crime, outlaw shooting a gun at anything within cities, etc etc. Some things are just going to end in people getting hurt, and should not be allowed. Would legal pot? I don't know, but probably, based on our ability to be idiotic.