Should Marijuana Be Legal?

[kpete]

http://people-press.org/files/2011/03/711.pdf
In a poll released Tuesday by CNN, 41 percent of American adults said they favored legalizing marijuana, while 56 percent opposed. Another poll, conducted early last month by the Pew Research Center, found 45 percent of adults supporting legalization and 50 percent against it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/marijuana-legalization-public-support-growing_n_851238.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378859/420-day-Pot-smokers-celebrate-marijuana-world.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-papa/420-national-pot-smokers_b_187905.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)

420
The term 420 has its roots in another California city, San Rafael, circa 1971. That year, a group of teenagers enrolled at San Rafael High School mounted a search for a legendary abandoned cannabis crop they had heard about. The group agreed to meet at 4:20 p.m. at a statue of Louis Pasteur on the school’s campus to head out on the search.
The abandoned crop was never found,
but the term 420 stuck.
http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-national/crowds-gather-nationwide-for-420-aka-weed-day

http://abcnews.go.com/US/420-pot-holiday-myths-truths-marijuana-celebration/story?id=13417738


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ziggy-marley-pens-420-letter-180720
http://www.billboard.com/#/features/ziggy-marley-letter-why-4-20-matters-1005144872.story

[virgogal]

1. Yes.

[haikugal]

2. Absolutely

and hemp growing would be a huge benefit to our nation and ecology.

[crickets]

21. ^This.

Legalize it, tax it, and be done. I can't agree loudly enough with hemp growing. Our abandonment of hemp as an ecologically sound resource is colossal stupidity.

[MrMickeysMom]

3. Definitely...

I think this chart is awful, too.

[devilgrrl]

4. Yes.

eom

[tritsofme]

5. I have yet to hear a reasonable argument for making criminals out of stoners. nt

[Sonoman]

6. Who cares?

Shit, reefer is everywhere.

I think its illegality should be used to enhance other charges, much as firearms or other weapons can be used for same.

In my town, no-one gets busted for simple possession.

Sonoman

[Terra Alta]

7. yes it should be. nt

[roody]

8. Of course.

[blondeatlast]

9. I've never partaken, but I vote yes. nt

[kentauros]

10. HEMP should be legal.

I truly don't care what anyone wants to smoke, though it should be legal, too :)

I'd just like to be able to buy hemp shoes, shirts and pants without having to get them from Canada and made in Hungary (and costing an additional arm and leg...)

[Codeine]

11. I hate weed with a passion, and being around stoners

makes me want to put a bullet in my head, but I still don't think it should be illegal.

[99th_Monkey]

15. Why is your name Codeine, yet you hate weed so passionately? Interesting juxtoposition. ~nt

[JonLP24]

19. Name of a band

[Fumesucker]

20. Funny, I feel the same way about alcohol and being around boozers..

[sharesunited]

12. Cannabis, si. Guns and ammo, no.

[LetTimmySmoke]

13. Happy 4/20!

[DirkGently]

14. None of the arguments for making it illegal hold water. None.

[99th_Monkey]

16. Of course. Decades overdue. ~nt

[KurtNYC]

17. It was legal - so the question is really 'should prohibition be repealed?'

Yes but not the way it is done in California.

Cultivation should be legal with no quantity limits. Take all the money out of it -- no $1200/oz dispensaries with bogus doctor 'scrips. Let Americans grow their own for their own use. No sales. The way it was 100 years ago.

[RegieRocker]

18. E-Joints now!

[Le Taz Hot]

22. But of course.

The legalization issue will be on the California ballot again and SB676 (legalize hemp) is about 18 months away from a vote in the state legislature where it's passed twice already. It was vetoed by two Republican presidents. We'll see what Brown does with it -- if he plays the Good Little Party Boy or chooses to do the right thing and sign it.