Residents in These 8 States Are Set to Vote on Marijuana This November

I predict by the end of this decade, marijuana will be legal in America? Current laws on the use and possession of marijuana are archaic and outdated? Sending a casual user to jail or prison, is a waste of taxpayers money, not to mention ruining the lives of users too?

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Big deal.

Go smoke another joint why don't ya.

 

Why should it be legalized?

Tax revenue from it is almost nothing. Raising state taxes $.25 a month would more than make up for not having it. You'd be lucky if state tax revenue represents more than 1/3000th of your states tax income.

So that's a total farce.

They haven't done much of anything for studies in how legalizing it impacts communities, crime, education, hard drug use, welfare, etc in the United States. Maybe it doesn't change anything, maybe it changes a lot. That's an answer that will probably take decades to learn though.

Right now the self proclaimed "benefit" of legalization is little to nothing with a high risk of being an enourmous mistake.

 

We've enjoyed noble ganja for 2 years up here in Wash state. And happier for it.

 

By "we've" you really mean "I've"... Unless somehow you speak for everyone in the state of Washington.

 

It will be an uphill struggle considering how much money the pharmaceutical companies stand to lose if people can self medicate.

"The top twenty pharmaceutical companies and their two trade groups, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Biotechnology Industry Organization, lobbied on at least 1,600 pieces of legislation between 1998 and 2004. According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, pharmaceutical companies spent $900 million on lobbying between 1998 and 2005, more than any other industry. During the same period, they donated $89.9 million to federal candidates and political parties, giving approximately three times as much to Republicans as to Democrats. According to the Center for Public Integrity, from January 2005 through June 2006 alone, the pharmaceutical industry spent approximately $182 million on Federal lobbying. The industry has 1,274 registered lobbyists in Washington D.C."

Then there is always the underlying question, are any politicians in the pockets of organized crime?, because they stand to lose lots of money if it's legalized.

 

You think that only one person in Washington smokes weed?

 

I'd like to see pot totally legal and appropriately regulated. What is almost never discussed, is the number of people in government that will lose their jobs if legalization happens. Never known anyone willing to give up their job ... especially a government job.

Trump wins this election and the DOJ will return to enforcing laws against pot. Non-conforming states (hopefully) will put up a fight and the courts will ultimately decide who has rights and who has power. It will be interesting. IMO, it will be fun to watch the battle with Obama continue long after he's gone.

 

Are you telling me everyone in Washington agrees with you?

Or do you mean people in Washington who smoke pot enjoy pot being legal?

 

Because it's a consumable good, with far less dangerous strings attached to it then Alcohol, cigarettes or sugar, yet demagogues argued we should not regulate the consumption of soft drinks.

Also, because prior restrictions of "drugs" like alcohol required a constitutional amendment and a batch of colorful language to implement.

In this case it is simply judeo Christian morals being forced on the nation.

The drug war is an abject failure. Legalize pot and millions less criminals.

 

A simple grasp of the English language is all one needs to understand what the poster meant. He used the term "we've" properly. It obviously refers to the many that do enjoy indulging and the many that financially benefit.

 

oh ok... Because people who use a drug likes that drug being legal is something that really adds to the conversation, as if there might be some confusion there.

In other news Washington State is in the USA and the sky is blue.

 

And your above post makes sense to who and in which universe?

 

So you're saying the standard we should have for something being legal in the US is "well... It's safer than alcohol and cigarettes"? Because in that case almost everything should be legal...

It sounds like you're discarding it's importanence in our constitution because it's an amendment. Is that fair?

Please explain why Judeo Christian morals have anything to do with this... As if the only people against it are Christian... God forbid there is actual reasons for having it illegal.

Millions of less people with a criminal record who knowingly broke the law? According to the DOJ 7/1000 people in state prison are there for marijuana possession, almost all of which pleaded down from more serious crimes.

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Someone saying "People who smoke pot like pot being legal" adds what value to the conversation? That's self explanatory and meaningless.

 

More drugs!!!!

And people say our society doesn't mirror the fall of Rome.

 

Liberty aint for everyone, i guess.

 

Where did Trump come out as anti-420?

 

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I am 100% behind the complete decriminalization and legal use of marijuana.

 

Because you and others should never have been allowed to take away a basic right. The right to own one's own body. If you take away personal sovereignty, it is easier to take away other rights.

At one time this nation did not have illegal drugs, because of the principle of freedom and personal liberty over one's own body, which earlier americans saw as common sense and in line with freedom and liberty. And when drugs were legal, American society did not IMPLODE.

Then the moral activists got busy and were able to get Prohibition of booze. This was a tremendous boom to organized crime, and corruption within police forces and even the justice system, for it injected bribery. It created problems of corruption, which will always happen when you legislate against human nature. It is also a cash cow, and no different than legislating against having sex. People are gonna indulge in sex, and people are gonna indulge in drugs, including booze. And then taxpayers spend trillions in wars against drugs, and at the end of the day, drug use and sales are not affected.

We have illustrations of what happens when you decriminalize drugs, and Portugal supplies all of the data needed. But the drug warriors, the people who will not accept reality, continue on, but humans are stupid. Especially when they demand to control the other person's behavior, to suit their own hypocrisy.

I know that some americans want to get into the bedrooms of other people, and I know that some of us want to own the bodies of others, to dictate what they can or cannot put into those bodies. But these are sick (*)(*)(*)(*)s, and much worse than any drug user. For they demand tyranny over another person, what he eats, drinks, smokes, consumes. And in the process they destroy the primary principle that underlies all freedom, and they feel rather gratified about it. So, if you do not like drugs, then do not use them. But to insist upon owning the other person's body and consciousness is much worse than anyone who wants to escape reality for a little while, and the reality that these "do gooders" have created in their own ignorance and stupidity.

In the future, the do gooders will be seen for what they are, little petty tyrants who in their arrogance tried to stop what humanity has done since we dropped down from the trees. By throwing them in prison, by ruining their lives, just so you could get gratified by being able to own the other person's body. It is simply wrong to do what has been done, and these wrong doers really do not give a (*)(*)(*)(*). The sooner these jerks die off the better for humanity and civilization. The do not solve problems, their mentality creates more.

 

http://newsok.com/colorado-teens-ar...nce-legalization-survey-shows/article/5508326

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/10/marijuana-revenue-colorado-taxes/6261131/

http://time.com/4003262/colorado-pot-revenue/

http://naturalsociety.com/colorado-crime-rates-14-6-since-legalizing-marijuana/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...lities-in-colorado-are-at-near-historic-lows/

No studies huh? Seems my state is doing alright.

 

And apparently you think everyone does?
I can tell you that's not true and I can tell you that "we've" or we have is all inclusive unless it's qualified, which it wasn't.

 

And yet another poster that cannot comprehend what the poster stated...

If I said " I live in NYC and we've been enjoying the renovation of the MOMA"...does that mean that every (*)(*)(*)(*)ing New Yorker frequents the Museum of Modern Art? Jeez, get an education or at least take an English class.

 

One poll of 17,000 kids is not much research. Direct quote from your first link.

"The lack of data from these three legalized states calls into question the relevance of the CDC results in studying the effects of legalization on youth," the organization published on its website.

From your second link

"The governor predicted sales and excise taxes next fiscal year would produce about $98 million in revenue for the state"

Ok, sure, 98 million dollars a year. That doesn't include overhead and administrative cost that come out of that 98 million, which is a lot. At worst, even if there was 0% overhead that's 98,000,000 / 4,070,000 tax payers in Colorado = $24.07 a year or $2 a month per tax payer. The Colorado 2015 state budget is $33,000,000,000... Pot tax revenue represents far far less than 1/3 of 1% of the state budget.

That's the difference between a guy who makes $60,000 a year and a guy that makes $60,180 a year. If the tax money is needed so badly I'm sure there are thousands of other ways the government could not waste 98 million dollars.

The third link just talks more about what's above.

The fourth link discussing crime is somewhat interesting, but then again it doesn't discuss what else has been done to change crime rates. Is legalization the only factor in a 2.4% decrease in violent crime? I don't know but I'm fairly certain it isn't he only variable. Oregon & Washington I don't believe has done any studies in this regard.

The 5th link is sorta like the 4th one. In states drinking and driving accidents have taken significant reductions since Uber was introduced. That has no connection to marijuana being legalized or not. If this person graphed the same information for each state than how many would show better, equal, or worse results? I don't know. But the author didn't chose to look at those data sets either. What if you looked at those graphs and Colorado has the highest rate of driving while high?

So ultimately what your links proved is a 1/3000th of a change in state income, one actual state study that other experts say is inconclusive, and journalist posting numbers and jumping to wild conclusions about the causality and cooration of those numbers.

Congrats in proving my point. We don't know (*)(*)(*)(*) and the money doesn't matter.

 

In the end none of this matters because people are seeing now that this state isn't falling apart like anti legalization people swore would happen. We aren't a bunch of drug induced zombies dragging people down. The economy is booming here. Jobs are being created. Real estate is skyrocketing. I am in the construction business and we can't keep up. Are crime rates directly related to legalization? Probably not, but it would be hard to believe police not focusing on pot and on more pressing issues doesn't help. There are still issues to sort out, and who knows, in 5 years it may all crash down and voters might vote to make it illegal again, but other states are seeing that the sky isn't falling and will put the issue up for their voters.

 

Also I will add that I live very close to many dispensaries, and it isn't just dirty hippies and losers going into these places.