Clinton and Sanders full of shit when it comes to Marijuana and prisons

[Wry Catcher]

From the OP: he strayed from the facts, repeating a long-debunked myth about prisons overflowing with marijuana offenders.

Well yeah, thats been debunked because no one on that stage or anywhere ever claimed prison was OVER FLOWING with weed offenders.

Thats how you take a fact and turn it into a lie. Just put words in that arent there

As constituents wake up to the benefits of marijuana, more and more state politicians are going to be emptying out their prison populations of non-violent marijuana (ehem!) "abusers".


Marijuana May Help Treat Opioid Addiction By Reducing Severity Of Withdrawal Symptoms

Jul 28, 2015
By Ali Venosa
New evidence has emerged supporting the idea that marijuana may help rehab patients recover from and kick their addictions to painkillers. The study, published by researchers at Columbia University earlier this month, showed that patients given a form of THC during their recovery experienced less severe withdrawal symptoms and were more likely to complete their treatment course.

<snip>

This study is not the first to explore the idea of medical marijuana as a treatment for painkiller addiction. Previous studies have highlighted the benefits of moderate marijuana use on retention during treatment, and states with medical marijuana laws see fewer deaths from opioid overdose.

<snip>

IOWs, while weed may be fun, relaxing... etc. for some, weed is a lifesaver, painkiller and medical wonder drug for others. Only people that like for people to suffer torturous pain would be in favor of not legalizing marijuana. The proof is in the pudding -so to speak-

.

Just how deadly a killer is marijuana?
Here's a GIF showing all of the people who have died after overdosing on pot:

Yeah, not a single person has ever died from a weed overdose.
We don't have numbers on pandas, but we're guessing it's about the same.​

Yeah yeah, this last couple years we've had one drug pushing articles after another. Any day now someone is going to come out with a study that claims pot is the secret to the universe.

I don't think there is a question when it comes to marijuana having some fairly decent use in the medical world, the question becomes, should it be legalized and regulated like alcohol currently is, or should it be regulated like other drugs.
which of the 5 classes would it best fit into?
right now its in schedule 1, I think that's a bit high, same category as LSD, Cocain and heroine.
a bit excessive and the reason for the steep legal repercussions if you are caught with it.
The classes are defined by the governments perspective of potential abuse.
Not sure why alcohol gets a free ride on this one, based on the criteria, alcohol should be a schedule 1 drug.

Request Rejected

We tried the prohibition of alcohol. If you have a chance watch "Prohibition" a three part history by Ken Burns. It's on Netflix.

 

[Wry Catcher]

They might be wrong, but the point is still, prohibition didn't work with alcohol, and that is a far more socially damaging drug, isn't it now?

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

The legality of Pot has very little to do with drugged driving. Driving under the influence of drugs isn't new, many accidents are the result of impaired drivers under the affect of legally prescribed meds.

 

[Care4all]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

 

[DigitalDrifter]

They might be wrong, but the point is still, prohibition didn't work with alcohol, and that is a far more socially damaging drug, isn't it now?

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

The legality of Pot has very little to do with drugged driving. Driving under the influence of drugs isn't new, many accidents are the result of impaired drivers under the affect of legally prescribed meds.

You can't tell me that legalizing it both medically and recreational isn't going to create more potheads. Before medical pot here, you rarely smelled it around town, now it's fucking everywhere !

 

[DigitalDrifter]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

Don't worry, ten years from now it's going to be legal every FUCKING where !

 

[Maryland Patriot]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

Don't worry, ten years from now it's going to be legal every FUCKING where !

Here is another theory that I have toyed with.
One of the reasons its on the illicit drug list instead of the licit list like alcohol is that recent ( the last 40 years) studies have shown it to be a gateway drug.
This might be true to some extent. What I question is if marijuana is a gateway drug to the other CNS depressants like Heroin, then why isnt alcohol? alcohol is a CNS depressant also.
One of the reasons I think might be valid is that since marijuana is on the illicit drug list, it automatically forces the smoker into venues that are also likely to have people using the other drugs. At this point availability is possibly the key to the gateway.
Alcohol on the other hand is legal, so those that drink are able to do so without having to be in places where the drugs are being used in a covert fashion and there is not already the idea that one is doing something illegal, so in most instances the gateway is not there to entice one to try alternative drugs.
If Im correct, what you might see after legalizing marijuana is that the smokers move their use to a setting that does not involve those other drugs, and if you really watch you might see that alcohol or marijuana might become gateways to each other instead.
basically, the illegality of marijuana might be the reason that it is a gateway drug, not the drug itself.
Marijuana does not even affect the same neural transmitters that the CNS drugs do. Alcohol does.
Marijuana stimulates the appetite centers of the brain, and the pleasure centers, its more of an anti inflammatory drug than a true CNS depressant. Based on that, it stands to reason that the gateway effect is not caused by neural stimulation in a manner that would cause tolerance and searching for other drugs to compensate. Marijuana binds to endogenous cannabinoid receptors in the central nervous system, true CNS depressants do not.

 

[Care4all]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

Don't worry, ten years from now it's going to be legal every FUCKING where !

I don't know if making it legal is the right thing either....maybe just decriminalizing it for smaller amounts...I don't know the answer....but what I do know is Florida's law, making less than an ounce, (20GRAMS) to 25 POUNDS as a FELONY and as the same crime and same penalties and fines, IS INSANE and inherently UNJUST.

 

[Maryland Patriot]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

Don't worry, ten years from now it's going to be legal every FUCKING where !

I don't know if making it legal is the right thing either....maybe just decriminalizing it for smaller amounts...I don't know the answer....but what I do know is Florida's law, making less than an ounce, (20GRAMS) to 25 POUNDS as the same crime and same penalties and fines, IS INSANE and inherently UNJUST.

This is one of those things that you wont have the answer to until its tried. ( not to be confused with you have to pass it to know whats in it)
making it legal might bring it out in the open and actually reduce crime. It also might create less people driving while high than we currently have.
Im not against it being legal, I just want there to be someway to test for limits if pulled over, same as alcohol.

 

[Treeshepherd]

Anderson Cooper said to stay tuned thru commercials because marijuana was the next topic. That actually got me to keep watching. They came back from break and Cooper says something like, "most of you in the audience have tried marijuana". The air did look a bit hazy in the red and blue colored lights. Anyway, I thought Clinton waffled a bit. She didn't support legalization. She never has, for political reasons. She deferred to States rights and gave a wait and see answer. She did support medical marijuana, but seemed to indicate that government needs to insure that it's not abused.

And in fact it really is a States rights issue. Only someone like Chris Christie seems hell-bent on enforcing federal policy on marijuana. Otherwise, like many of the questions last night, marijuana is not a presidential issue.

Finally, the way it's being 'legalized' doesn't prevent incarceration. Pot is taxed, so black market vendors are still competitive. People under 21 can still be arrested, or drivers who smoked a joint yesterday and still have 5 microns in their blood stream, or people who go over the limit on plants, etc.. There's a lot of laws that piggyback on "legalization"

 

[Maryland Patriot]

From the OP: he strayed from the facts, repeating a long-debunked myth about prisons overflowing with marijuana offenders.

Well yeah, thats been debunked because no one on that stage or anywhere ever claimed prison was OVER FLOWING with weed offenders.

Thats how you take a fact and turn it into a lie. Just put words in that arent there

As constituents wake up to the benefits of marijuana, more and more state politicians are going to be emptying out their prison populations of non-violent marijuana (ehem!) "abusers".


Marijuana May Help Treat Opioid Addiction By Reducing Severity Of Withdrawal Symptoms

Jul 28, 2015
By Ali Venosa
New evidence has emerged supporting the idea that marijuana may help rehab patients recover from and kick their addictions to painkillers. The study, published by researchers at Columbia University earlier this month, showed that patients given a form of THC during their recovery experienced less severe withdrawal symptoms and were more likely to complete their treatment course.

<snip>

This study is not the first to explore the idea of medical marijuana as a treatment for painkiller addiction. Previous studies have highlighted the benefits of moderate marijuana use on retention during treatment, and states with medical marijuana laws see fewer deaths from opioid overdose.

<snip>

IOWs, while weed may be fun, relaxing... etc. for some, weed is a lifesaver, painkiller and medical wonder drug for others. Only people that like for people to suffer torturous pain would be in favor of not legalizing marijuana. The proof is in the pudding -so to speak-

.

Just how deadly a killer is marijuana?
Here's a GIF showing all of the people who have died after overdosing on pot:

Yeah, not a single person has ever died from a weed overdose.
We don't have numbers on pandas, but we're guessing it's about the same.​

Yeah yeah, this last couple years we've had one drug pushing articles after another. Any day now someone is going to come out with a study that claims pot is the secret to the universe.

I don't think there is a question when it comes to marijuana having some fairly decent use in the medical world, the question becomes, should it be legalized and regulated like alcohol currently is, or should it be regulated like other drugs.
which of the 5 classes would it best fit into?
right now its in schedule 1, I think that's a bit high, same category as LSD, Cocain and heroine.
a bit excessive and the reason for the steep legal repercussions if you are caught with it.
The classes are defined by the governments perspective of potential abuse.
Not sure why alcohol gets a free ride on this one, based on the criteria, alcohol should be a schedule 1 drug.

Request Rejected

We tried the prohibition of alcohol. If you have a chance watch "Prohibition" a three part history by Ken Burns. It's on Netflix.

I wasnt actually suggesting prohibition of alcohol, however I will take your suggestion and watch Prohibition. It sounds like it might be of interest.

 

[Wry Catcher]

They might be wrong, but the point is still, prohibition didn't work with alcohol, and that is a far more socially damaging drug, isn't it now?

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

The legality of Pot has very little to do with drugged driving. Driving under the influence of drugs isn't new, many accidents are the result of impaired drivers under the affect of legally prescribed meds.

You can't tell me that legalizing it both medically and recreational isn't going to create more potheads. Before medical pot here, you rarely smelled it around town, now it's fucking everywhere !

It is de facto legal in most states. A little history on the issue from my perspective as a LE Officer.

By 1972 the use of Pot was ubiquitous among college students, mostly white, usually upper middle class or wealthy young adults with bright futures and influential parents.

As more of them became entangled in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) their parents, and the attorney's who represented them, pushed hard on elected officials to mitigate the damage a criminal record for drug possession would have on their children/clients.

Thus 1000 PC was passed, diverting simple possession from the CJS and dismissing the charge if the offender successfully completed - under the supervision of a probation officer - a drug education program. Thus, the arrest record for those who went 6 months and were not arrested again and completed the classes was deemed a "detention only".

Keep in mind Pot is physically safer than tobacco and alcohol. It's use does not cause lung cancer, especially when eaten as opposed to smoking, and the liver is not damaged as is the case of alcohol.

I do agree it does stink as does tobacco smoke (pipe tobacco excepted) and many cities have made smoking in public places an infraction, much like a parking ticket.

 

[Wry Catcher]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

Don't worry, ten years from now it's going to be legal every FUCKING where !

Here is another theory that I have toyed with.
One of the reasons its on the illicit drug list instead of the licit list like alcohol is that recent ( the last 40 years) studies have shown it to be a gateway drug.
This might be true to some extent. What I question is if marijuana is a gateway drug to the other CNS depressants like Heroin, then why isnt alcohol? alcohol is a CNS depressant also.
One of the reasons I think might be valid is that since marijuana is on the illicit drug list, it automatically forces the smoker into venues that are also likely to have people using the other drugs. At this point availability is possibly the key to the gateway.
Alcohol on the other hand is legal, so those that drink are able to do so without having to be in places where the drugs are being used in a covert fashion and there is not already the idea that one is doing something illegal, so in most instances the gateway is not there to entice one to try alternative drugs.
If Im correct, what you might see after legalizing marijuana is that the smokers move their use to a setting that does not involve those other drugs, and if you really watch you might see that alcohol or marijuana might become gateways to each other instead.
basically, the illegality of marijuana might be the reason that it is a gateway drug, not the drug itself.
Marijuana does not even affect the same neural transmitters that the CNS drugs do. Alcohol does.
Marijuana stimulates the appetite centers of the brain, and the pleasure centers, its more of an anti inflammatory drug than a true CNS depressant. Based on that, it stands to reason that the gateway effect is not caused by neural stimulation in a manner that would cause tolerance and searching for other drugs to compensate. Marijuana binds to endogenous cannabinoid receptors in the central nervous system, true CNS depressants do not.

Thanks for a very thoughtful post.

 

[MisterBeale]

They might be wrong, but the point is still, prohibition didn't work with alcohol, and that is a far more socially damaging drug, isn't it now?

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

I know. . . GD, Freedom SUCKS! Those Chicoms sure know how to rock the governments, don't they?

My favorite part of that movie, "Seven years in Tibet," is when the military comes in and wipes out the peaceful folks, isn't that great.? We should just put a bullet into all those peaceful folks heads, shouldn't we? Dirty smelling folks. Enjoying their life, fuck them.

(btw, you do know that folks that aren't high kill pedestrians as well? Just this year some ditzy bitch that was texting broadsided my car. So what of it? Being irresponsible has nothing to do with the drug, it has to do with the person. By your logic, we should ban guns. Wise up and keep your views consistent. Hypocrites are intolerable.)

 

[MisterBeale]

They might be wrong, but the point is still, prohibition didn't work with alcohol, and that is a far more socially damaging drug, isn't it now?

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

The legality of Pot has very little to do with drugged driving. Driving under the influence of drugs isn't new, many accidents are the result of impaired drivers under the affect of legally prescribed meds.

You can't tell me that legalizing it both medically and recreational isn't going to create more potheads. Before medical pot here, you rarely smelled it around town, now it's fucking everywhere !

Oh hell, they were smoking it before, they just couldn't smoke it in the sunshine.

Even Bob would rather smoke outside in the sun with three little birds than in some dark room.

 

[Maryland Patriot]

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

The legality of Pot has very little to do with drugged driving. Driving under the influence of drugs isn't new, many accidents are the result of impaired drivers under the affect of legally prescribed meds.

You can't tell me that legalizing it both medically and recreational isn't going to create more potheads. Before medical pot here, you rarely smelled it around town, now it's fucking everywhere !

Oh hell, they were smoking it before, they just couldn't smoke it in the sunshine.

Even Bob would rather smoke outside in the sun with three little birds than in some dark room.

Do birds get high?

 

[Arizona Willie]

Lol they want to legalize weed but don't want us to eat junk food or fast food.

Get high as shit but eat healthy. Lol

Category: Things You Will Never Hear A Pothead Say

"I have the munchies for some kale..."

========
My munchie just ordered me to eat a Tillamook Chocolate Rasberry Ice Cream Bar and it was goooodddd.

Mmmm I didn't know tillamook made ice cream.

================
Oh yeah ... best stuff on the market but don't tell anyone or the shelves will be empty when people in your area discover it. BTW I have no financial interest in Tillamook --- damn it.

 

[Arizona Willie]

In another thread this past week where this was brought up, people in jail for possession topic, which forced me to do some googling, to get down to the truth....

And what I learned was disheartening...

one, it's only a handful of States that account for the majority of those actual possession imprisonments....

so, although the numbers seem like very few, when divided by 50 states, when you divide them by 5 states, it becomes more concerning.

The other thing that bothered me about the statistics, is how many people are arrested for it,

YET NOT IMPRISONED

WHY, I asked myself? Why have a law, and NOT enforce it all the time?

Doesn't this just give law enforcement the liberty to search you or get in your face, yet, the crime is not bad enough, to send you to jail for it....

Possession, it turns out, is simply a means for cops to stop and search you, FOR OTHER CRIMES they figure you have done.

Then when you are prosecuted or plea bargaining, they can keep you in prison LONGER by adding the possession charge.... it honestly is scam....yes, by law enforcement....

They would call it a valuable ''tool'' that they use...but honestly, it's just not right....

NOTE that all the stats on this MAKE CLEAR that this is for possession alone for how many are in jail....what they don't tell you is how many in prison ALSO have a possession charge against them, which makes their prison term harsher.

So then the debate lead me to looking up Florida marijuana laws, because it was 1 of these 5 states that send people to jail for possession....

if you are in possession of less than 3/4's of an ounce,(20 grams) in Florida it is a FELONY.... not even an ounce.... AND this less than 1 ounce to 25 lbs is the same sentence and penalty....

A person having 20 grams is the same as a person having 25lbs??????????

HUH? SERIOUSLY? is what my mind was shouting when I read this... actually, my mind really said, WTF???

THE people buying it, are buying it by the ounce, no? So this means ANYONE buying it, is pretty much, committing a FELONY....

THEY PURPOSELY chose 20 grams, so it would get all those people buying an ounce... calling them SELLERS, not users, by using over 20 grams, 0.70 of an ounce as their cut off for misdemeanor....

what made them use this obscure GRAM weight, instead of ounces, how it is actually sold?

The whole Florida law on this was sickening....

And then when you get in to who gets these possession charges out of who are originally caught, it becomes even more questionable.... yes, you got it...and they are not white folks.

Like I said, it's disheartening....

Don't worry, ten years from now it's going to be legal every FUCKING where !

Here is another theory that I have toyed with.
One of the reasons its on the illicit drug list instead of the licit list like alcohol is that recent ( the last 40 years) studies have shown it to be a gateway drug.
This might be true to some extent. What I question is if marijuana is a gateway drug to the other CNS depressants like Heroin, then why isnt alcohol? alcohol is a CNS depressant also.
One of the reasons I think might be valid is that since marijuana is on the illicit drug list, it automatically forces the smoker into venues that are also likely to have people using the other drugs. At this point availability is possibly the key to the gateway.
Alcohol on the other hand is legal, so those that drink are able to do so without having to be in places where the drugs are being used in a covert fashion and there is not already the idea that one is doing something illegal, so in most instances the gateway is not there to entice one to try alternative drugs.
If Im correct, what you might see after legalizing marijuana is that the smokers move their use to a setting that does not involve those other drugs, and if you really watch you might see that alcohol or marijuana might become gateways to each other instead.
basically, the illegality of marijuana might be the reason that it is a gateway drug, not the drug itself.
Marijuana does not even affect the same neural transmitters that the CNS drugs do. Alcohol does.
Marijuana stimulates the appetite centers of the brain, and the pleasure centers, its more of an anti inflammatory drug than a true CNS depressant. Based on that, it stands to reason that the gateway effect is not caused by neural stimulation in a manner that would cause tolerance and searching for other drugs to compensate. Marijuana binds to endogenous cannabinoid receptors in the central nervous system, true CNS depressants do not.

========
Marijuana is a gateway drug like boob milk / formula is a gateway to using drugs.

I've smoked pot since 1963 and NEVER used any other drug. Never. Meaning heroin, crack, etc. etc.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

They might be wrong, but the point is still, prohibition didn't work with alcohol, and that is a far more socially damaging drug, isn't it now?

Probably the single most used cliche in America right now.

Not true. A "cliche" is a phrase or opinion that is over used. This is neither. This is a fact.

I probably come across the "pot-isn't-as-bad-as-alcohol" or a close facsimile argument a half dozen times a week now.
I live in Oregon, we've had medical marijuana for several years, and now recreational pot is legal. The stink is everywhere now, you can't walk down a city street, or into a neighborhood without smelling that rotten stink !!!
Two weeks ago a stoned driver in Portland killed a pedestrian, so now not only do we have drunk drivers, we're going to be seeing stoned drivers as well !
It took decades to finally be free of smokers ruining the air everywhere you went, I feel like I've been transported back in time, only now instead of cigarette smoke everywhere, it's becoming the stink of pot !
I swear I could kick the mother fuckers here in the face that have passed these new laws !!

I know. . . GD, Freedom SUCKS! Those Chicoms sure know how to rock the governments, don't they?

My favorite part of that movie, "Seven years in Tibet," is when the military comes in and wipes out the peaceful folks, isn't that great.? We should just put a bullet into all those peaceful folks heads, shouldn't we? Dirty smelling folks. Enjoying their life, fuck them.

(btw, you do know that folks that aren't high kill pedestrians as well? Just this year some ditzy bitch that was texting broadsided my car. So what of it? Being irresponsible has nothing to do with the drug, it has to do with the person. By your logic, we should ban guns. Wise up and keep your views consistent. Hypocrites are intolerable.)

Then keep your fucking pot stink out of my air !!

 

[rightwinger]

In fact the entire left has lied for years about this issue, and they have always gotten away with it.

Clinton and Sanders are wrong when it comes to pot and prison

Marijuana had a major moment at the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders coming close to endorsing legalization, which is something no major candidate has so far been willing to do.

But as he explained his position – which drew multiple rounds of applause – he strayed from the facts, repeating a long-debunked myth about prisons overflowing with marijuana offenders. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stayed neutral on legalization, but made the same mistake as Sanders as she tried to connect marijuana legalization to prison reform.

CNN’s Juan Carlos Lopez set up the exchange by referencing the legalization movement in Nevada, one of at least a half dozen states that could follow Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska in creating a regulated marijuana market.

“Sen. Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot,” said Cooper. “If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote?”

“I suspect I would vote yes,” Sanders said.

Clinton and Sanders are wrong when it comes to pot and prison

Your link says 700,000 in jail for possession of marijuana

It doesn't go into how many for sale of marijuana or for three strikes involving marijuana

Why are we tying up our courts and prisons with this nonsense?

 

[Star]

In fact the entire left has lied for years about this issue, and they have always gotten away with it.

Clinton and Sanders are wrong when it comes to pot and prison

Marijuana had a major moment at the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday night, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders coming close to endorsing legalization, which is something no major candidate has so far been willing to do.

But as he explained his position – which drew multiple rounds of applause – he strayed from the facts, repeating a long-debunked myth about prisons overflowing with marijuana offenders. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stayed neutral on legalization, but made the same mistake as Sanders as she tried to connect marijuana legalization to prison reform.

CNN’s Juan Carlos Lopez set up the exchange by referencing the legalization movement in Nevada, one of at least a half dozen states that could follow Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska in creating a regulated marijuana market.

“Sen. Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot,” said Cooper. “If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote?”

“I suspect I would vote yes,” Sanders said.

Clinton and Sanders are wrong when it comes to pot and prison

Your link says 700,000 in jail for possession of marijuana

It doesn't go into how many for sale of marijuana or for three strikes involving marijuana

Why are we tying up our courts and prisons with this nonsense?

Drug related offenses constitute over 50% of all US incarcerations, marijuana offenses constitute more than 1⁄4 of all drug related incarcerations.

Just How Much The War On Drugs Impacts Our Overcrowded Prisons, In One Chart
By Kathleen Miles
03/10/2014

America's prisons are dangerously overcrowded, and the war on drugs is mainly to blame.

Over 50 percent of inmates currently in federal prison are there for drug offenses, according to an infographic recently released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (see chart below). That percentage has risen fairly consistently over decades, all the way from 16 percent in 1970.

The second-largest category, immigration-related crimes, accounts for 10.6 percent of inmates. This means that people convicted of two broad categories of nonviolent crimes -- drugs and immigration -- make up over 60 percent of the U.S. prison population.

U.S. Prison Population As Of Jan. 25, 2014

Data is limited due to the availability of offense-specific information.​

And what was the drug of choice for those convicted of drug offenses? Marijuana, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission (see chart below).

​