Do you think Marijuana should be Legalized?

Sure. Like others have said, "tax it, put it in the same catagory as alcohol and make it illegal to use in public."

Officers need to get their priorities straight and go after the meth and crack houses. In the area where I live, you are always reading about busting someone with marijuana, or if it is a meth house, it is usually a Mexican or woman they arrest. Meth and crack are the drugs our tax money should be focused toward, not someone who is growing a "plant".

Ya Killn Me wrote:

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Your theory about driving is rediculous - but without a doubt it DOES affect your ability to understand what is going on in the world (ROTFLMAO!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Ethan wrote:

A few studies have managed to show that cannabis impairment can be equated to a 0.05% blood alcohol level. Certainly cannabis will change your perception of events while you are behind the wheel. Whether or not that change in perception is significant or even a detrimental change is much more fodder for debate.
While I do not believe a responsible user of cannabis would get behind the wheel, I would worry far more about some one who has had a single alcoholic beverage than I would some one who has smoked his or her weight in weed.
While some studies have managed to show a slight level of impairment, many others have shown little or no impairment at all. I'm not going to bother citing all of these studies now but if you use google as your friend, i would look for the French traffic safety study in particular as a starting point.
I must confess to knowing a little bit about nascar but this is mainly because of a dear friend of mine that passed away due to a drunk driver. Drunk drivers I worry about constantly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

Driving stoned, carefree
Surveys show high school students are as likely to hit the road while high as they are while drunk. Experts say many teens never hear warnings about marijuana.
By John Keilman | Tribune staff reporter
September 18, 2006
Over the last eight years, high school students who have gotten in trouble for drugs and alcohol have told counselor Cathy Cratty the same alarming story about driving under the influence.

"It just kept coming up, left and right:`We know we shouldn't drive after drinking, but it's OK to drive after smoking pot,'" said Cratty, who works for Highland Park-based School District 113.

According to national surveys, high school students are as likely to drive high as they are to drive drunk. But experts say many of those teens never hear a warning about taking to the road while stoned and don't think they're doing anything dangerous.

"They perceive themselves as being less impaired when smoking marijuana," said Jocelyn Boudreau, a social worker at the Rosecrance adolescent treatment center in Rockford. "The overarching and clear message [to teens] has been:`You drink, you drive, you die.'

"There really hasn't been that same kind of consistent message for marijuana."

That's largely because pot's role in fatal crashes is far from clear. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which keeps statistics on wrecks involving alcohol, does not have enough data to generate similar numbers for marijuana.

Heidi Coleman, chief of the safety administration's impaired driving division, said many police officers likely never detect pot because they aren't trained to read physical cues--such as pupil size, body temperature and heart rate--that suggest the drug's presence.

"They may suspect that a driver is impaired, but if they don't test positive for alcohol,[officers] may let them go," she said.

Research into marijuana's impact on driving is similarly limited, she said. While state law treats measurable levels of pot or other drugs as evidence of DUI (similar to a blood-alcohol reading of 0.08 percent or higher), science is more nebulous.

Some studies have linked marijuana to decreased attentiveness, slower reactions, diminished motor skills and a worsened ability to estimate distance, but there is no consensus about how severe the effects are or how long they last.

The debate over what really constitutes impairment will likely play out in a Lake County courtroom later this year when Richard Wood, 17, faces trial in the deaths of two friends who were passengers in a car he wrecked Nov. 13.

Prosecutors, who say the Mundelein teen had used pot within 24 hours of the crash, have charged him with aggravated driving under the influence of drugs and reckless homicide. Wood's attorney, Robert Gevirtz, would not comment on his client's alleged marijuana use but said he would prove that his client was not impaired at the time of the crash.

Tabitha Fischer, 19, has no doubt that marijuana worsened her driving when she was growing up in Belleville, even though she saw nothing wrong with it at the time.

"When I was doing it, I thought I was a better driver," said Fischer, who recently completed a year of substance abuse treatment at Rosecrance. "As I look at it now ... I'd go through stop signs, stoplights, and I'd just laugh it off. I didn't focus on anyone else on the road, from what I can remember. It was like I was the only person there."

She said she never heard anything in class about the hazards of driving while high. That's something Cratty has tried to change in Highland Park by making marijuana, not alcohol, the culprit for the fatal wreck that the high schools simulate every year.

Though it's hard to gauge the presentation's impact, she said students have been glad to see the schools discuss the threat of the popular drug.

"I think they're somewhat surprised that we recognize that," she said.

Legalize marijuana wrote:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch...

*Sigh*

Yes yes...I am familiar with the speed tv video. It has been around for a number of years. It is entertaining and demonstrative of the fact that cannabis impairment is not at all like alcohol impairment but this is hardly a peer reviewed study. If this were acceptable material for debate, we would be talking about the "reefer madness" movie from the 60's.

Come come now. Drivers who are stoned are not something I would worry about day to day but you have to supply better material than that. It's entertaining and certainly interesting and does demonstrate a point but it's not useful for debate...but then this is topix so it's more unformulated argument here than anything else I guess.

Hmmmmmmmm!! I didn't know marijuana was illegal. Yall mean to tell me that this 40 acre field of high grade cambodian red hair is illegal?? naw, yall full of crap. How can anything as smooth as this be illegal!! Next your gunna try to tell me moonshines illegal to.. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! SMELL THE BUDS!!!

Are you all fried or what? Did ya read the whole thing? Are ya taking all this seriously?
oh well. you know what they say, "if you remember the sixties, ya probably weren't there. lol
Best question mike hunt has ever posed. lol wtg mike.

I think it should be legal to grow your own weed for your own use. It should be illegal for you to sell your produce. This way the government would not have any more involvement in one's weed garden than they do in your flower or vegetable garden.

Legalize marijuana wrote:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch...

It's like alcohol, if you smoke marijuana or drink 10 beers, sure you shouldn't drive.

But if it's legalized, what will we then do with all the extra cops, prosecutors and the jail guards we have working to battle it?

Save...money? No one ever talks about decreasing policing budgets.

That being said, it's not the only option of course. Even though drug enforcement officers like going after easy targets, maybe they could be better put to use going after murderers and rapists...but I doubt some of them would want to.

The Pundit wrote:

But if it's legalized, what will we then do with all the extra cops, prosecutors and the jail guards we have working to battle it?

O my goodness!!! You mean they might actually have to do something meaningful, like switch to arresting and prosecuting rapists and murderers?

Charlie 72 wrote:

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It's like alcohol, if you smoke marijuana or drink 10 beers, sure you shouldn't drive.

Apparantly you didn't watch the video, just running your mouth.

Ethan wrote:

Save...money? No one ever talks about decreasing policing budgets.
That being said, it's not the only option of course. Even though drug enforcement officers like going after easy targets, maybe they could be better put to use going after murderers and rapists...but I doubt some of them would want to.

They could concentrate on the meth and crack houses instead.

Smoke like ribbons, put it in the air!

McCain McBush wrote:

** No Copyright – OK to Repost Any or All **
Republicans aren’t doing so well lately. Gosh, what could it be? Besides:
The economy going in to the toilet...$3.70 for gasoline... TWO BOTCHED WARS, giving our troops tanks without proper armor, providing substandard treatment in VA hospitals, turning the U.S. in to the country that’s known around the world for TORTURING PRISONERS, then lying about it, doing NEARLY NOTHING ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION... gosh, if those aren’t what did it... what else could it be?
Maybe preaching to us about morals???
Note: Some of the cases below involve allegations but not convictions. All suspects are to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
RECENT (2007 and 2008 only) Republican Sex Scandals (partial listing)
2008:
Bruce Barclay (REPUBLICAN)- accused of using hidden cameras to secretly tape hundreds of sexual encounters, many with MALE “ESCORTS”
Matthew Joseph Elliott (REPUBLICAN)- convicted of Sexual Exploitation of a Child
Robert McKee (REPUBLICAN)- charged with Burglary After Alleged Unauthorized Videotaping
2007:
Robert "Bob" Allen (REPUBLICAN)- arrested for solicitation of prostitution from a male officer inside a restroom
John David Roy Atchison (REPUBLICAN)- arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL
John Bryan (REPUBLICAN)- allegations that he had molested three girls, two were 12 – 15
Larry Craig (REPUBLICAN SENATOR)- arrested after complaints of lewd behavior in an airport men's room
John R. Curtin (REPUBLICAN)- convicted of molesting an UNDERAGE TEENAGE BOY
Richard Curtis (REPUBLICAN)- resigned from the House after reports of his sexual encounter with a male escort became public
Donald Fleischman (REPUBLICAN)- charged with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of EXPOSING HIMSELF TO A CHILD
Larry Dale Floyd (REPUBLICAN)- arrested for allegedly crossing state lines to have sex with an 8-year old child and seven related offenses
Ted Klaudt (REPUBLICAN)- found guilty of four counts of second-degree rape of two teenage foster daughters
Ronald C. Kline (REPUBLICAN)- pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. In 2002, charged with child molestation and under house arrest on federal charges of possessing child pornography
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Jon Matthews (REPUBLICAN)- talk show host in Houston, was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17
Joseph Monteleone Jr.(REPUBLICAN)- city councilman, was found guilty of fondling underage girls and asking them, to have sex with him
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----------
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** No Copyright – OK to Repost Any or All **

LOL. You wouldn't be one of them thar democrats, now wouldja? Heh heh.

Legalize marijuana wrote:

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Apparantly you didn't watch the video, just running your mouth.

Apparently buddy, we should think the possibilities and the differences between marijuana and just drinking 2 cool beers!

It's the same thing? NO IT ISN'T!

Do you know when most vehicle accidents occur?

By the influence of just one joint or just 1 beer!

Do you know what % of deceased human-beings die every year?

I'm like you buddy, legalize it... but don't take it just because it's in the fashion biz!

LINK IT:

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S...

If you can't link it heres a paste

Drug-driving behaviour among out-of-treatment dependent drug users has not been investigated while a theoretical perspective on the propensity of certain drug users to drive while impaired has not been suggested. This paper examines illicit drugs and driving behaviour and accident involvement among out-of-treatment current drug users. Psychological evidence of belief-based mechanisms to account for the decision to drive while impaired by drugs are provided. A total of 210 out-of-treatment current drug users were interviewed in a non-clinical setting by privileged access interviewers. Questionnaire measures were: current illicit drug use, severity of dependence, illicit drugs and driving behaviour, impaired and unimpaired accident involvement and beliefs and perceptions about the impairing effects of a number of illicit drugs. Analyses are restricted to participants who reported driving during the previous 12 months (n=71). Fifty-eight participants (81.7%) reported driving immediately after consuming illicit drugs, primarily heroin and cannabis. Of these 41.4%(n=24) had at least one road accident as a driver, 15 of whom (62.4%) reported accident involvement following recent drug consumption. Belief-based results showed that participants who reported never driving after using illicit drugs perceived heroin, methadone and alcohol to be greater significance for accident risk and driving skills impairment than other drugs. Those drivers who reported drugs and driving behaviour believed only alcohol to be significantly more impairing than other drugs. Findings indicated that illicit drugs and driving behaviour is common among out-of-treatment drug users. Accident involvement among this cohort is characterised by the previous consumption of illicit substances. Differential beliefs about the effects of drugs on driving performance and accident risk were shown to be dependent upon frequency of drugs and driving behaviour. Results are discussed in terms of experiential factors and consistency theories of attitude formation and change.

Are drugs legal in the Netherlands?

No.

Contrary to what is commonly believed abroad, all drugs are forbidden in the Netherlands. Coffee shops may sell 5 grams of cannabis, under strict conditions, without facing prosecution and no legal action is taken for possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use.

It is an offence to:

produce
possess
sell
import or export
either hard drugs or cannabis. It is not an offence to use drugs.

Preventive strategies help to reduce the demand for drugs, while professional care limits the harm they cause to users and the people they associate with. To cut off supplies the authorities are cracking down on organised crime. Other aims are to maintain public order and prevent drug-related nuisance.