These are my thoughts on Pot. I have known many people who smoke pot on a regular basis and to be truthful I prefer to be around someone who is under the influence of pot then a alcohol drinker. I don't really see any problems with the physical act of smoking pot.

Having said that I do have a big problem with people who smoke pot. Since pot is illegal then the only way to get it is to buy it from street level pushers. Now the question is where does that money go? It goes to buying weapons used by violent gangs to fight rivals over turf. It goes to buy off politicians judges, police and who knows who else. So the innocent pot smoker is actually the person who finances the violence and corruption that is rampant in society nowadays.

Now you might get the impression that I'm some jerk who hates to see people enjoying themselves. No that wouldn't be true at all in fact I think you'd be surprised at what I think should be done. I believe all drugs should be made legal. Now if this happened then people could buy the stuff in stores and if they are stupid enough to overdose on heroin and die then fine with me. I see it as nature thining out the herds so the weak DNA lines do not reproduce. We could tax the stuff, and not have to spend the enormous amount of money to fight the war on drugs. We could empty out the jails. The streets would be safe once again since drug addicts could buy the stuff cheaply whenever they wanted it.

Make strick laws that if someone gets caught on drugs driving or committing a serious crime then send them to jail. Anyway that's my opinion.

No different than booze as far as I'm concerned. One is no more evil or sinful than the other as I see them. I don't drink to excess and I don't use drugs... well, when my back goes out, I get some truly killer pills, but only then. I like my mind to be fully awake & aware - though in college, I drained a keg or ten.

But the way I see it, what other people do with their bodies, and what they put in them, is totally their business. If you work for me, I might bounce you if your "recreational activities" affect your job performance - but I don't really care. In fact, I don't think pot should be treated any differently than alcohol. Coke, meth and heroin are a different story. Need for that poison drives people to do whatever is necessary to get more. One of my former tenants got hooked on heroin. When I evicted her, I didn't even recognize her face. A frat bro of mine got hooked on coke during 3rd year. He became a total waste case. I've known a lot of potheads. Just like with booze, some take it too far. But I've never heard of a coke or heroin user that kept it together without damaging others... if not himself.

See, my definition of terrorism includes the narco-kingpins, street gangs and bankers who push that poison. There aren't many people here who agree with that... especially the neocons. While the neocons are hiding under their beds, afraid of some guy with a towel on his head, turning over their phone records to some spook in a trench coat, they get jacked and killed by some coke head walking out of the 7-11. He pawns their watch, buys some more coke and the money goes to buy a machine gun for FARC. Give me a few minutes online and I promise you I can come up with a LOT more than 3,000 names of people who've been mowed down in drug related violence. And especially when to comes to opium based drugs, wonder where that money goes? It's bad enough that we give them enough money for oil to develop nuclear weapons... do we have to let our young die miserable deaths and give them money to boot?!

Cheech & Chongers don't bother me. But that other stuff... I just can't understand why people go that route.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

I support legalizing medical marijuana (though I'd leave the issue to the states), but otherwise I oppose all drug legalization or decriminalization. My approach to the war on drugs would be threefold. First, I would spread dragnets with narcotics police dogs where drug dealing was common. Second, I would imprison all dealers of hard drugs for life and marijuana dealers for 10 to 20 years. Third, I would fund private, high-quality rehabilitation for all substance abusers (including alcoholics), but I would give them one chance and only one chance to reform. After that, they would be on their own. This, along with requiring employers to provide day care for poor single parents, is how I would eliminate welfare.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

I've known many people who've smoked ganja for almost their entire lives. Some of the smartest people I know are chronic pot smokers. What it comes down to is the choices you make as a pot smoker. You can succumb to apathy... waist away playing video games and watching TV, or you can stimulate your mind... Being productive, learning to play an instrument, reading things that interest you, keeping up with your schoolwork. I think that of any drug (including cigarettes and alcohol) weed is the best, most logical choice if you want to remain both consciencely aware and feel good. If you have the initiative to overcome the lazyness, marijuana will only enhance your life (unless you tend to wig out).

LOL. Maybe in some places its like that but I know for a fact that most people who only sell pot are usually not the 'violent criminal' type. Pot really isn't a big deal in our society, its illegal but its tolerable. Weed isn't where the money is for gun toting gangs. Dirty drugs like cocaine, heroin, and meth are the real money makers. I think its inaccurate to state that marijuana has direct links to crime (other then the sale and use of it ) because in my experience weed comes from small timers (in terms of criminal activity), mom'n'pop hippies, and entrepeneuring high school kids.

People who deal with crack and that kind of crap are the ones who tend to take things more seriously. A dealer of weed has a different mind-set than someone who sells crack or something. Mr. Weed-dealer is dealing with perfectly normal, average people. The smack dealer's got junkies to worry about.

I'm well aware of lazy jerk pot dealers who won't get off their fat butts and work for a living. I had one living across the street from me. He never worked a real job in his entire life. All day long scum would come and go from his house buying pot. Many times 6 or 7 dirt bags would hang around drinking, screaming and yelling like loonitics. The neighbors got fed up with him and moved out and the neighborhood turned into a scumbag hangout.

Later it was found out he was a pedophile luring young kids over there giving them free pot while he had sex with them. He was convicted in 2000 to ten years in jail.

And for that reason, I don't smoke it anymore.

But that being said, I believe that (generally speaking) it's a lot more benign than alcohol or nicotine.

I don't drink anymore either (although I had a stellar career in that regard).

Once in a while I smoke a cig, usually when I have a bad headache and I feel like my brain is going to explode if I don't get some nicotine. That happens maybe once a month or something like that.

The perils of alcohol are pretty obvious, vis-a-vis drunk driving and all that stuff - and if you're a "real" alcoholic, you might pass out in the middle of the checkout aisle at the grocery store, or start talking to the little furry creatures in your house that aren't really there.

Nicotine is pretty bad for you medically, especially if you're in the process of healing - it prevents new blood vessels from forming, and contributes to sclerosis of the ones that are already there.

But pot does none of those things. The worst thing that happens if you smoke too much pot, is you fall asleep (after raiding the fridge).

Our drug laws are very bizarre, and entirely schizophrenic. Alcohol and tobacco are legal because big public businesses revolve around them. Pot is illegal because you can't buy stock in it. It's pretty simple really. If we legalized pot and taxed it (like liquor or cigarettes), we'd probably put a pretty big dent into the drug-kingpin-thing.

Other drugs - well, some of them are truly dangerous. Things like coke, heroin, meth, and so on, represent very significant dangers not only to the individual, but also to society as a whole. I wouldn't put pot in that class though.

Just my two cents....

I habitually smoke Marijuana and maintain a 3.5 GPA at a tope 40 school. I'd say its quite fine. Marijuana should be legalized just as cigarettes and alcohol are. Only there should be strict limits on it.

By hard drugs being illegal do you seriously think it keeps the stuff off the streets? No, it can be had anywhere very easily. So what good does it do?

I would say that the only people who are getting busted are the street dealers and they can be replaced as soon as they are gone. Where are all the drug busts for the people at the top that finance the trade? Lawyers politicians, mafia etc? The only people at the top that get busted are the ones that are not paying their cuts to the cartels, whoever they are, probably the CIA. Tell me when you expect to stamp drugs out, when is this war going to be won? Hell drug useage is as bad as ever. The war on drugs is a dismal failure which has ruined many lives while enriching many scumbags.

Since the war on drugs has been going on for decades I wish someone could point out what good the billions of dollars of taxpayers money spent on it has done for the average citizen.

I was reading a story the other day about how legal drugs kill more people than illegal drugs. So what does it matter if we just make all drugs legal? Doctors don't heal anything anymore. pharmaceutical companies donate so much money to medical schools and put strings on how the students are taught. They teach most doctors how to prescribe their drugs. They even push the drugs in schools, making any kid that acts like a kid get on pharmaceutical anti-depressants.

I suppose everyone has their ideas about what would happen if all drugs were legalized and no one knows for sure. I think the only place you could look to see is Amsterdam I believe. If I'm not mistaken drugs are legal there and I don't know exactly whats the results are.

I could be wrong but as of now I feel if the government and corporations became the dealers it would run all the street dealers out of business freeing up resources to help the users of drugs. I guess there is no perfect solution but what is going on right now is a disaster and I'd be willing to gamble and try anything to make things better at least for the average people who have the sense to stay away from that poison but still have to live in fear of crime because drugs are illegal.

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There was a story about the U.S. government tracing the purchase of a $50 money order to an Al Qaeda sympathizer a couple of years ago. So... they can trace a $50 money order, but not a $100 million electronic funds transfer?

I applaud the U.S. for having a hand in Pablo Escobar's "unfortunate" demise. But if they want to have some lasting effect, they should fry a few bankers, politicians and dirty DEA agents. Let a few mafia lawyers wind up mysteriously floating in the Hudson and I believe the message will get to the bone. And answer me this, why aren't the Crips and the Bloods classified as terrorists? Where is it written that a terrorist has to be spouting a political message???

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

This has been suggested time and time again

The Pro's and Con's are huge each way but there is one simple principal that can not be ignored

Legalized pot smoking would inflict a heavy price on the national medical cost - and someone would have to pay it

Since right now that cost is not forced onto the average tax payer that is a good arguement against making it legal

other than that, its not the issue some people make it out to be

Making pot legal would do little to improve prisons because only a very small percentage of people in prison are there for pot alone

The tax benefit would help a great deal and if done correctly could offset the medical cost

So, on an so on