Senate bill to decriminalize marijuana

He should have waited till after the election

 

yeah but wouldnt it be cool if it passed even tho you know it wont happen.

 

looks like a step in the right direction. honestly, i dont think legalization will happen anytime real soon, but i think it will happen sometime in my lifetime.

 

Typical election cycle politics! Introduce a bill that you dont want to pass at a time that you know it wont pass.

Politicians care about two things, money and votes.

Drug companies dont want MJ legalized because you cant profit from a drug that any moron can grow.

If MJ is legalized in any form, the drug companies flow of lobbying dollars stops.

By introducing the legislation at a time that you know it wont get passed accomplishes two things. 1) The MJ advocates vote for the democrat, because even though it didnt pass, they at least tried. 2) The drug companies are still pleased and keep the cash flowing. A win win situation for the slimy politicians.

Remember the republicans and the democrats did the same thing the last election cycle with the whole immigration/border fiasco.

Until MJ advocates organize better, or the politicians figure out how to line their pockets with the profits from MJ, IT WILL NEVER BE LEGAL!

Always remember: Most politicians could give a fuck less about your problems, needs, or wants, and the government fucks up all that it attempts to control

 

i think this is great. it is a definite step forward to the legalization. may not happen just yet but i sure do hope so.

 

Make room for serious criminals bill- lmao hahahahahaha

 

"make room for the serious criminals bill"

this guy owns

 

i kinda hope weed stays illegal.
everything our goverment touches seems to get tainted.
im pretty happy with the way my weed situation is.
its easy to avoid getting in trouble for weed.
jus dont be a idiot.

 

Although I appreciate the effort, I can't help but be pessimistic. For one thing, this bill was introduced to the House by Barney Frank in May 2005 (as well as 2003 and 2001) and it has received very little support. (And it's never made it to the Senate, by the way.) It failed to pass several times in the past and there's no reason to think that it will suddenly pass now.

But we seem to be forgetting that medical and recreational use are two entirely separate things. Don't get me wrong, I think marijuana has plenty of medical benefits, but it shouldn't be prescribed for just anything like many doctors in California are doing. How many people have a medical card who truly need the bud to ease their pain, and how many have a card simply because they like to get high? It's not that hard to get one.... all you have to do is find the right doctor.

Politicians who are against medical marijuana usually bring up a certain argument that I'm sure you're all familiar with... something along the lines of "Legalizing medical marijuana is basically a concealed attempt to legalize marijuana altogether." There's definitely some truth to this. Part of the reason the movement isn't working is because the real issue hardly ever gets addressed. Sure there are plenty of politicians who are pro-medical marijuana, but there are a lot less who are pro-recreational use. If smoking weed didn't make you feel fucking awesome, then there would be no problem with its medical use.

The country is now starting to get used to the idea of medical marijuana, but the average person is still blind to the true facts about the plant. Pretty much everyone on this message board smokes weed because we like to get stoned, and because we understand that marijuana's good qualities greatly outweigh its bad ones. It's all about responsible use, just like modern society's view of alcohol (which is legal). But then again consuming alcohol in moderation has proven to have medical benefits as well. So maybe if it were illegal we'd have a "Medical Alcohol" movement.

In order to decriminalize marijuana, we need to educate people. We don't need to disguise our true intentions with only legalizing it for medical purposes. We need to show that a person can smoke weed and still function in society, in fact they can still live completely successful lives. The message needs to be "I can responsibly smoke marijuana for fun and nothing bad will happen" instead of "Marijuana is a powerful and dangerous drug, therefore it should only be legal for medical purposes."

Once people understand the truth, and have unbiased opinions, they'll understand that if alcohol is legal, there's no reason why marijuana shouldn't be. Then we'll start electing lots of senators and representatives who are pro-pot and actually get something done. Introducing one little bill for medical pot isn't going to do much when it's a known fact that most of congress, as well as the current president, are against it. And that's because most of society is still against it.

Edit - Also there are far more important issues right now than legalizing weed. If the economy stays the way it is, then you won't have any money left to buy the weed regardless of its legal status.

 

I feel strong negativity...

 

Slight correction. Barney Frank is not a Senator; he is a member of the House of Representatives. As such he can not introduce a bill to the US Senate, but to the House of Reps. And I don't believe having a democrat or republican president or majority of either party in the congress will make a damn bit of difference. Both sides are completely bought and owned by the lobbyist interests. Both parties are actively working against YOU. Picking sides with the pathetic hope that one is better than the other suits them just fine.

 

I used to think that legalizing marijuana was one of the least important issues, in light of the economy, global warming, terrorism, and global poverty. I'm just now realizing that marijuana may be the most important issue of our time. First, it would heavily boost our economy because the government would be able to collect a lot of taxes from the sale of marijuana, and huge amounts of police resources would be freed up. A whole new industry would spring up, the hemp industry, which could produce fuel (completely replace fossil fuels and end global warming), food, cloth, homes, paper, plastics, and dozens of other products. Not to mention, in hemp oil form its been shown to cure a variety of diseases, including cancer. So legalization is more important than most people realize.

 

Against false promises from our fat, lifer, politicians? Fuckin Ay

 

Actually, legalizing and regulating weed in early 2009 might actually give us a surplus by 2012 if we keep the rest of things as they are now. Not to mention hemp for fiber and energy. haha Will it happen? Pessimism sure won't contribute to this bill being passed... Maybe it's just pessimism that really perpetuates the war on drug users.

There's that positive spirit emanating from you again. Thanks blazed and Enlightened one.

 

I have a question maybe someone a little older can answer. I'm still young and was not alive during the 60-70's. But I know there are people who wanted and advocated for legalization of marijuana back then... In my young life it seems like legalization has really been taking off and the idea seems like it's snowballing and slowly looking like it will happen. I guess my question is this... Is the process really starting to move faster or was it at this same pace back in the 60's and 70's? Because it seems like its really starting to take off imo. Just curious what some of you older (more wise) people thought about this.

 

My thoughts are that in the 60's and 70's arrest rates for drug offenses were low compared with the high current arrest rates. Since there was not much too worry about, there was probably less desire to change the laws, similar in effect to current decriminalization laws.

When Reagan shoved the war on drugs down the country's throat drug offenses suddenly became the most important focus of law enforcement. Like sheep people believe whatever the government will tell them, so we believed in such a war. After many years some of these people are realizing that the drug war is a failure, causing more harm than if it did not exist. As more and more people realize this, the activist movement continues to grow.

 

I think communication back then may have been slightly less informed.