How much money would this save the government in the end? Of course, the cost of providing care for drug addicts would almost certainly rise through less regulation.

Go smoke some weed "taxman"

Other than parents who force teenage children to go due to the parent's own ignorance, who checks into rehab for marijuana? The chart in the article is really amazing.

who checks into rehab for marijuana

Have you ever sucked a dick for weed?

That is the question that should be asked when people decide marijuana policy.

I have a friend who went to NA meetings for pot. I couldn't believe he felt so powerless over it.

Me, I never liked being thought of as a criminal, but the idea that I will now be thought of as a sick addict is even more offensive to me.

I have a friend who went to NA meetings for pot.

Boo this man!

Excellent. Now this is change you can get high on.

"Boo this man!"

boooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Obama administration is likely to deal with drugs as a matter of public health rather than criminal justice alone, with treatment's role growing relative to incarceration, Mr. Kerlikowske said.

What? Someone who uses their brain as opposed to dealing solely in hysterical propagandistic outbursts?

A lot of addicts (including alcoholics) would benefit from more health care, because they are sick, and not necessarily criminals.

Under the status quo, it's not uncommon for nonviolent drug offenders to reemerge from the prison as system hardened criminals with connections to more dangerous drugs, and more dangerous people.

*...from the prison system as hardened criminals...

#10 | Posted by Zarathustra

That's been the main problem with the so called "War on Drugs" all along.

The psychiatrists love having all these people that can classify as abnormal. If you smoke cigarettes, you have a nicotine addiction disorder. If you drink just a little bit they call you as having alcohol dependence. If you smoke a ciggy, drink a beer, and hit the bong you have polysubstance abuse. The only thing normal to the shrinks is to be totally "free" of anything. Then you are a good customer for their dizzying array of legal psychoactive drugs.

"Then you are a good customer for their dizzying array of legal psychoactive drugs."

Get ready for some major pushback from several industries:

Pharmaceuticals
Tobacco
Liquor
Trucking

The psychiatrists love having all these people that can classify as abnormal. If you smoke cigarettes, you have a nicotine addiction disorder. If you drink just a little bit they call you as having alcohol dependence. If you smoke a ciggy, drink a beer, and hit the bong you have polysubstance abuse. The only thing normal to the shrinks is to be totally "free" of anything. Then you are a good customer for their dizzying array of legal psychoactive drugs.

#13 | Posted by grumpy_too at 2009-05-14 01:24 PM | Reply | Flag: Strawman

Bullshit.

There are very specific criteria for determining when someone is addicted to a substance.

Most people who drink beer, smoke weed, or cigarettes would not meet even half these criteria. There are plenty of normal people who can control themselves and would only be classified as "abnormal" in this regard by hacks, or by "moral crusaders" who think taking a single puff of "the devil's weed" damns one to hell.

but re: pharmaceuticals, it's become easy for lazy doctors to overprescribe meds when the burgeoning big pharma industry is pushing them 24/7, backed by billions of dollars in an effort to see their drugs more widely distributed.

There's a serious conflict of interest here, but it's simply fallacious and intellectually lazy to believe that psychiatrists think everyone who's had a bong-rip is disordered.

I have a friend who went to NA meetings for pot.

#6 | Posted by Hagbard_Celine

about 12 years ago, I failed a drug test. At that time, I was stationed overseas for 1 1/2 years and I didn't have any weed at all during that time. So I came home and my wife had a big party for me and invited some folks I work with. Someone had one joint and we went out back and smoked it.

One of those assholes from work ratted me out and I got a random test and of course failed it.

Part of keeping your job was to go to NA meetings.

So when the sessions were goin on, some guy would stand and say, hi my name is jack and I'm a heroin addict and I killed my whole family. Next guy, hi my name is bob and I am a crack addict and a pedophile in between prison terms. Then me, 'hi my name is lipzoidial and i smoked one joint in one year and i have to come to this fucking place'.

The counselor would say, 'umm, sir, could I speak to you in my office'? So we go in and she says, 'do you believe this program is any good'? I said, 'yes, absolutely, you people do some of the best work in the world'. She said, 'why don't you participate'? I said, 'I am participating, I told the exact truth and bared my soul'.

She said, 'how can i keep you from ruining what we are doing'? I said, 'Sign my release papers and declare me cured'. She did and I went back to work and my boss, who was like Cookfish and 101 without the soft gentle side, was pissed off.

"Obama administration is set to follow a more moderate -- and likely more controversial -- stance on the nation's drug problems."

How could it possibly be more controversial than the horrible drug policies we've had for the past 30 years?

Weed should be legal and sold the same as and taxed like alcohol. All the rest should incur heaving criminal penalties.

"heaving criminal"

The images abound.

ok heavy

ooppsss sorry

"All the rest should incur heaving criminal penalties."

That is surprisingly progressive of your Chicken. Why just weed? How about other soft drugs such as peyote and derivatives, psychedelic mushrooms and LSD.

ANY and ALL narcotics should be legal for ADULTS who chose to imbibe. If they commit a real crime their use of drugs should NOT be considered in sentencing. The only people who benefit from substance abuse counseling are those who WANT it for themselves without any prodding. If this causes joblessness for the folks who make their living "counseling" they can always shill for Scientology or some other scam akin to their former "profession".

#15 - Not a strawman. I transcribe reports for psychiatrists every day. If someone smokes weed they include that in their diagnosis of the person as a "substance abuser." I did not say that the shrinks come down on somebody who took one hit one time, though they would mention it in their discussion of the patient. So come off your harsh attitude, Big Z, and accept the fact that the psychiatrists are USING WEED to their own benefit to further their agenda, which is to be the final arbiters of how people are medicated, as opposed to self-medication.

Get ready for some major pushback from several industries:

Pharmaceuticals
Tobacco
Liquor
Trucking

#14 | Posted by Danforth

Trucking,I don't get the connection?

The ONLY thing I can think of Bruce is it takes Trucks to ship the other 3 around the Country. Just a turd guess is all.

Larry

It's a good thing to. We need all available resources for the war on Christmas.

Another bang up idea!

I can't wait to ride light rail to work in the morning after this, going through downtown SanJose we already have daily stabbings, and robberies, nothin wrong with climbing over more drug addicts to get to my seat. The kids will be fine I am sure. I feel thier pain, I can pay for thier rehabilitation.

Economic justice is what I call it.

Change I can believe.

'Trucking,I don't get the connection?'

Liquor is transported by weight.

Liquor is transported by weight.

Pretty much everything from toilet paper to car parts are transported by weight.

Hell I thought Liquor was transported by volume and then gravity feeded into every bars/tavern's sewage systems and then recycled.

Larry

In my business I ship my product.The shippers have some strange formula that figures in both weight and volume.Toilet paper doesn't weigh much but it does take alot of space.

I think they should legalize everything. Don't care what you want to put in your body in the privacy of your own house, as long as you are not harming anyone else.

That said, you should get very harsh punishment for driving under the influence of either drugs or booze. Maybe 20 lashes on the first occasion?

Oh, and if you decide to use something (from coke to viagra) you should not be allowed to sue if you have an adverse reaction.

"I can't wait to ride light rail to work in the morning after this, going through downtown SanJose we already have daily stabbings, and robberies, nothin wrong with climbing over more drug addicts to get to my seat. The kids will be fine I am sure. I feel thier pain, I can pay for thier rehabilitation. "

You're going to pay one way or the other. Maybe you just prefer your taxes going to the prison industry.

That's the same kind of retarded thinking that produced both alcohol and marijuana prohibition in the first place. Some people have figured out by now that prohibition creates more problems than it solves.

I would declare that if they abolished drug laws that would actually reduce the number of druggies in the United States. After all drugs are the "forbidden fruit". If the forbidden fruit isn't forbidden any longer it takes the "Sweetness" away from it.

Larry

Nullifidian,

This might surprise you, but I am all for making marijuana legal.

But my support for legalization ends there.

Pot is no worse than alcohol and in many cases better. The only thing alcohol has it is favor ties into why I don't support legalization of any other drugs.

The other drugs basically come down to one thing: the only reason to use them is to get high, and doing so with the other drugs has an adverse effect on society as a whole. The high level of addictiveness virtually guarantees a rise in crime and violence.

Take the crack addict. If crack were legal, would that reduce the crime? Only in some categories. In others it would rise. It would still cost money to get your fix. Money that would be in small and erratic supply to an addict. Where do you think they would get it? Never mind that cocaine, PCP, and certain other drugs also have the side effect of increasing the aggressiveness of the user.

If other drugs are legal, what do you think the effect on children of users will be? Simply arresting the parents for use or possession is no longer an option. At that point you are stuck waiting for something bad to happen with the children before you can lift a finger.

Alcohol, while having many of the negative properties of these drugs IS different in one major respect: You can drink for reasons other than to impair yourself.

I rarely ever drink anymore, and I haven't smoked weed in many years. However I do still have the occasional beer or other drink. I don't do this to get drunk anymore... I do it because I like the taste. I don't usually even get a buzz (unless my brother is visiting which hasn't happened in a couple of years).

For the reason that you can have alcohol and NOT get "high" is the only reason I don't see alcohol in the same class as the harder drugs. With those there is one reason and one reason alone to do them, and the consequences are HIGHLY destructive to more than just the user.

So... legalize marijuana. I am beside you on that one. But leave the others right where they are. There is a good reason the are illegal.

"Pretty much everything from toilet paper to car parts are transported by weight."

Yes, and liquor is relatively heavy. Get it now?

"...my boss, who was like Cookfish and 101 without the soft gentle side, was pissed off."

LIPPY YOU POOR THING!

I would have to smoke a shitload of pot everyday just o tolerate even being in the same room with those DICKS!

Your story illustrates the bullshit surrounding marijuana use. There is no addiction. And so there is no cure.

Marijuana is so much safer than alcohol or tobacco or even most prescription drugs. Hell, it is even safer than aspirin!

The War on Drugs was lost before it began. Drug use is a health and educational issue not a criminal issue. We have just made criminals out of our own citizens because they have "issues" they tried to solve with drugs.

There are many legal issues to solve before making drugs legal though so it will take a while. But, we need to dothat hard work instead of just making criminals of our own citizens and creating a penal society and filling our prisons with innocent citizens.

Marijuana will be legal soon...I really beleive this now...just like the end of prohibition of alcohol the time has finally come to end the prohibition of marijuana.

Just give me one more year though please! I haven't paid off my mortgage yet!

thx

Donner...from Humboldt County, CA!