First, the US has a bill before congress to federally legalize possesion of 100 grams or less of pot and non profit trade of up to an oz to adults. This would mean that states have control of their own laws. Go here and send something to your state rep if you've the courage.. Contact Officials - NORML

below is just a rant..

"Dividing Americans against themselves, making them mistrust, fear and wage war against their fellow citizens: This is what the so called "War on Drugs" was meant to do--and that is precisely what it has done and is doing." AGAINST THE "WAR ON DRUGS"

I myself believe that marijuana was made illegal to discredit the hippies that where against the veitnam war and to distract people from the war. I understand the advantages to legalization in taxes and saving trees and shit but thats not where my rant is going. Lets look at who wouldn't want pot legal. 1: pill companys. 2. elite bastards that have jobs based on some facet of drug use. 3. drug dealers 4. Govt(drug dealers..) has an income from all the repossesions they steal from folk charged with drug offenses and the power to control the black market. The last part of that may be me and my paranoia but I've seen cops let most every drug dealer walk that they have caught here that was willing to work with them which puts everyone working for the man and allows complete control of the black market. The ability to "hire" the stupid junkies that get caught gives them too much power. . fucking hypocrites. I believe that the law are responsable for the hard drugs in my area because they wanted a federal grant to fight a drug problem that didn't exist so they made a problem. The govt needs to be spending its money not on stopping drugs from getting into the US but on helping the people that want help to kick the habit but building govt funded rehab centers and doing rehab research isn't nearly as fun as building new fighter planes and gunships i guess.

Now to the advantages I believe would come directly from legalization. Alcoholism would drop. Teens can already get alcohol and any drug they want but I personally think that kids would stay away from drug dealers if they didn't have to go to the dealers to get pot. I believe that the number of teens that fall to hard drugs would decrease incredibly. With proper rehab services then the only "drug problem" that would exsist is the select crowd that actually wanted to be junkies.. which is fine imo. Pot is the gateway drug but only because they go to get pot and walk into a party of meth heads. I'd rather my kid get pot behind my back than alcohol but I'd rather the kid get alcohol than get pot and have the ability to get everything else from the same spot. Then ofc we could make better stronger paper out of hemp and reduce the cutting of trees down to what was needed for lumber. Prison population, taxes.. etc

While the above feels like fact to me, this is the reason closest to my own lil world so it matters most to me. I was a junkie myself but I quit everything because of all the hell of it and about 3 months later I met my xwife (before the marriage or divorce..) and she happened to be a smoker. I was trying to avoid the drug game myself and actually build a life but I had to always feel like a criminal anyway because I was still wrapped up with dealers to get my wife smoke or I had to deal with knowing she was in places like that and it caused unessisary strain on my relationship. Nothing about smoke or the effects warrents the law that makes anyone have to assosiate with drug dealers just because they love a smoker. This apparently goes double for former junkies... However I did manage to avoid getting back on anything hard (i admit a few minor slips) and I didn't even smoke then because I needed to keep my job because we all know that smokers have to flip burgers or sell drugs to make money... I can't blame the law against pot for my divorce but it is quite possible that I may not of ever got divorced if not for the added strain and temptations.

Let me drop a few stats.
-the population of marijuana offenders now behind bars is greater than the entire U.S. prison population in 1980.
-Someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 17 seconds.
-Police arrested an estimated 829,625 persons for cannabis violations in 2006, the highest annual total ever recorded in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of those charged with cannabis violations, approximately 89 percent, 738,915 Americans were charged with possession only.
-Overseas military efforts were the least effective way to decrease drug use
-Lee Brown was the only person to suggest fighting drugs by treating addicts. His study remains the standard on drug policy but still hasn't been tested. His request for 355 mil to do this was slashed by more than 80%
-Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.




I'm aware that my grammer and stuff sucks and that this forum didn't need the rant to agree with me.. but pfft.. product of bordem. I loved the above picture though. heh, salad dressing from hemp oil...
SAVE TREES. GROW POT!

first time in 24 years...thats awesome... sure hope it passes... + rep for this post...

Ya, and while I think obama is a dumbass with most of his policies.. Most of the democrats are for medical marijuana so I hope he gets in.

Another stat I didn't mention.. i think like 80% or so of americans are for medical marijuana.. seems odd we end up being treated as 2nd class citizens.

i know it man...if Mcain wins.. any legalization or decriminizing marijuana is out of the question....

don't count on it. there is a ton of money processed into the government via "the war on drugs." also, even if the fed decriminalizes pot, that doesn't mean most states will end their pursuit of revenues through prosecution. shit's fucked up in the U.S. regardless of who gets elected prez.

I agree that most states would do nothing for a while but I still hope a bunch of people send the state reps stuff to pass the bill and if they are willing to pass this bill, they are potentially in a place to matter for your specific state. Also I ponder if those on federal paychecks like forest rangers would be able to arrest you for doing woodsman stuff smoking a joint if this passed. This also would stop the feds from bothering people in medical marijuana states like they have some during the bush reign. The worse case I have read about was of an old ass woman with partial paralization or something getting handcuffed to her chair and wheeled outside.