I think you are missing the point. I'm saying there should be an "instant weed test" if it is made LEGAL. As long as it is illegal, yes, the distinct smell of pot smoke is cause for search. But if it is made LEGAL to smoke but ILLEGAL to drive high, smell and bloodshot eyes alone do not indicate guilt.

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Originally Posted by jillianleab

Think about it. The drugs you mention are only available by prescription (well......) so that makes them "safer" to the prohibitionists as you call them. If pot were legalized for medical use and given only under prescription I wouldn't care as much about a quick test because the market wouldn't be flooded with it.

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Hello again, jillian:

The drugs I mentioned aren't anything close to safer than pot. What I did say, is that they're LEGAL and pot is not. You really don't think morphine is safer than pot, do you?? I don't know how much you know, or how much you believe your government. Maybe you DO think that. Certainly, government propaganda would have you believe it...

My position is to legalize it, at least to the extent that morphine is legal, so that sick people ALL over this country can get it prescribed by their physician. And then tax it.

excon

PS> My position also includes emptying out the jails of the non-violent pot users, leaving plenty of room (as bushq suggests) for the REAL bad guys. Plus, it would save us about $2 billion a year - that's billion with a "B".

Excon I am with you 100 percent ! And no I don't smoke,eat, distribute, or grow it. However, I had some family members that made a living from it before they found God, but that is another story. :)peace

I'm tired of the marijuana debate. Those who are for it to be legal will never change their minds and those who want it to stay illegal will never change their minds either. I think making cigarettes illegal is a much more important issue. I'm sure there is maybe one person who might have died from smoking pot in every million who have died from smoking cigarettes.

Stone I agree it makes me sick that the government allows them to continue be legal. :(

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I think making cigarettes illegal is a much more important issue.

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Don't even go there, because you can't take my choice in what I smoke because you don't, If you let the yahoos do their thing, then let me do mine. Why does anything that folks do, have to be illegal if they assume responsibility for it?

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stone I agree it makes me sick that the government allows them to continue be legal. :(

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Outlaw anything in your own home, but please leave mine alone.

Tal you know they are so ( cigs )are so bad for you... Honey I used to love them 1 1/2 packs a day for 24 years. What makes me so angry are the tactics that they have employed to get people and make them stay addicted, and their adds targeted at kids. Is what pees me off. But like you I would have fought a lion over them so I do understand where you are coming from. I started my affair with cigs when I was 12 years old. :)peace

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Originally Posted by stonewilder

I'm tired of the marijuana debate. Those who are for it to be legal will never change their minds and those who want it to stay illegal will never change their minds either. I think making cigarettes illegal is a much more important issue.

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Hello stone:

For the most part, what you say is true. However, if my argument convinced jillian today - and my argument convinces somebody next week, then I'm knocking 'em off one at a time. Look, maybe I'm just whistling Dixie here, but I like the tune.

It IS interesting that you bring up cigarettes. Instead of making them illegal however, we should consider our anti-smoking campaigns over the last 25 years a raging success. In fact we should duplicate that success with pot.

25 years ago about HALF of Americans smoked. Then we found out it was poison and we began a no smoking campaign. Today about a QUARTER of Americans smoke. That's about 50 MILLION less smokers today than there was when we began. To me, that's a raging success. Is there more to do? Of course.

And, we did all that without putting a single person in jail.

excon

PS> By the way, are there less pot smokers now than when we started putting them in jail?? No, dude, not even close.

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And their adds targeted at kids.

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We agree on one thing, their marketing tactics suck big time, and as with alcohols ads they should be banned from TV and print. Anywhere that young folks have access to.

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And, we did all that without putting a single person in jail.

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What does that say about the greedy bas... I mean our government.

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Originally Posted by Jason604

I've smoked pot now for 10 years, and for me, its the hardest thing to quit. I've tried other drugs as well in my life, but never have I had this much trouble stopping. I've been reading different posts on this site, and many people seem to think that there is one broad brush that all pot smokers can be painted with- there isnt.

Some people can lead very productive lives while smoking everyday. For others, such as myself, it can send u on a downward spiral that can ruin your life. I don't believe that it should be illegal. Like most drugs, prohibition doesn't work, it just costs taxpayers money, while doing nothing to alleviate the problem. I do think that ALL addicitions should be treated as medical conditions, like diabetes.

It's not as bad as cocaine or heroin, and I don't mean to imply that it is. There is, however, a misconception that there are minimal side effects to smoking pot. I just want to say that it's not the same for everyone. For some of us there are serious and long lasting affects, and it can be extremeley hard to quit smoking

I dont' mean to get poitical here, I'm just wondering if anyone else is having this problem. I'm not really sure how this site works, because I just signed up, but any response will be appreciated

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I have to say this. My client who is legally taking marijuana for his pain just got a new plant and its on his sundeck. I said, my that's a lovely fica tree you have there, and it just broke him up. I had forgotten what marijauna looked like growing. He was trying to think of where to keep it and his wife said, well keep it right out in the open. So that's why its on his sundeck. I hope someone else gets a kick out of this story.

Sorry, I meant hog weeds

excon, please note I said those drugs are "safer" according to the "prohibitionists" (the quotation marks are a clue!). I don't put any trust into the govt giving me an unbiased report if the "safety" of pot vs "drug X" is ever studied. My point is the govt has led the public to believe the drugs you mention are "safe" and pot is "unsafe". Independent study would confirm or oppose that, which I'm sure is out there, but frankly, I don't care to look it up because it's not important to this conversation. I'm OK with the legalization of marijuana. I'm not going to campaign for it because it's not an important issue to me, but if you want to march on The Hill and hold up signs, go right ahead. I will not stand in your way. I will not vote against a politician who wishes to legalize marijuana (provided I agree with his other politics, anyway). Just because I wish for an "instant weed test" doesn't mean I'm anti-legalization.

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However, if my argument convinced jillian today

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What exactly are you convincing me of? I agree with you. Legalize it, took all you want. It's the gubment who has made claims about the "safety" of one narcotic versus another, and unless I'm mistaken, I'm not agreeing with the gubment.

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Originally Posted by talaniman

Don't even go there, because you can't take my choice in what i smoke because you don't, If you let the yahoos do their thing, then let me do mine. Why does anything that folks do, have to be illegal if they assume responsibility for it??

Outlaw anything in your own home, but please leave mine alone.

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Sorry to tell you, I am a pack a day smoker and have been for 21 years. Yahoos? Is that pot smokers? I'm not for that either.

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talaniman agrees: Gubment?? I love it. Consider it stolen. Ya got to be from west Texas!!

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Steal away! Not from West Texas... from the home of the Gubment: Warshington DC.