The recreational use of marijuana has been glamorized over the years by such on-screen duos as Cheech & Chong and Harold & Kumar, but is the drug everything that Hollywood makes it out to be? Then again, are we being hypocritical by allowing alcohol consumption but not cannabis usage? With passionate believers on both sides of the argument, it will be interesting to see what happens when the smoke clears.
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I first tried MJ in 1971 I am now retired I am not a criminal!! But my country says I am. Time to shift gears and elect someone that will tell the truth.
- Cherokee Fred hussein August 17, 2008 7:40PM
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I just read where McCain voted to give Exxon/Mobile 13.5 billion dollars of our money! Can you not see how blatant this is? In the same article it shows where he had accepted almost 1.5 million from Exxon/Mobile for his campaign, am I the only person that gets the connection? Our so called leaders are out of control this just further proves my theory corporations run our country. This is the only reason weed is a crime today pure greed by our representatives. Help stop them from putting more good Americans in jail
- Cherokee Fred hussein August 23, 2008 8:47AM
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and ruining there lives to preserve corporate profits. Become active contribute to one or all the major MJ reform organizations. I contribute to Norml, Marijuana Policy Project, The ACLU, November Coalition, LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) and others if you only send a dollar, times the estimated people that use and enjoy MJ it would make a difference! We must fight fire with fire. Write or call your representative sign petitions on line at the above sites. I feel we should pursue prosecution of our leaders for stripping our rights and putting us in jail for nothing more than money and power this must stop!!
- Cherokee Fred hussein August 23, 2008 8:50AM
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people who use canncis ARE criminals. It says it LEADS to criminal activity.
- frostidew
October 14, 2009 4:16PM
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Marijuana Use Contributes to Crime
- From David Evans
By David Evans - Drug Free Schools Coalition
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marijuana is safer than alcohol
Substitute the word alcohol for marijuana and the paragraph reads the same. Is Mr. Evans then in favor of criminalizing alcohol users?
Words like "linked" and "associated" often fail to show cause. Would you advocate outlawing aspirin because it is "linked" to headaches?
Many people with genetically caused aggressive behavior may use marijuana to relax. http://www.iol.co.zaindex.php?click_id=31&art_id=nw20080714201050231C816374
The Netherlands study http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/188/2/148 referred to in the Scottsman.com article, referenced aggression in children. That's not valid in a discussion of adult marijuana legalization. However, the same study did state, "It is notable that regular tobacco smoking, which may be considered less non-normative behaviour than cannabis use, explained a substantial part of the association between cannabis and delinquent and aggressive behaviour." There is a study linking marijuana intoxication with homicide?
- deep thought July 24, 2008 6:23PM
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I beg to differ.
How many of these criminals were taking other drugs, or how many had mental disorders such as depression etc? Smoking pot does not make you a criminal. I was arrested for simple poss. a few weeks back and that has been my only arrest. Now my life has to be put on hold so I can take care of pointless program that isn't gonna stop my use, just slow put it on hold till the program is over. Like a shirt once said " God made weed, man made beer. Who do you trust?"
- TheTimeLord August 2, 2008 7:10PM
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NO CRIME
the only reason marijuana causes any sort of gang violence or crime, is because it is illegal. The fact it's illegal GIVES people a reason to fight over it. If the government were to legalize it & monitor it's sale, people like me wouldn't have to go to a dangerous "drug lord" to get it. We wouldn't have to endanger our lives trying to get something that helps our medical conditons.
The fact of the matter is: what you're spreading is pure propaganda. Just like the movie that has made millions of "stoners" laugh their butts off - Reefer Madness.
- meeshell420
August 3, 2008 9:51AM
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Drug related crimes
Consider this - it's already a crime to smoke pot, so any measurable increase in drug-related crime would have to balance against the associated decrease.
Notwithstanding that, organized crime would take a big hit. That's the BIGGEST concern, as organized crime is far more dangerous than someone driving a car under the influence of pot.
There are opposing views on "drugged driving" as well. Drivers under the influence of Marijuana tend to compensate for their lower response time by driving LESS aggressively. Drivers under the influence of alchohol drive MORE aggressively.
Regarding Marijuana being a "major factor in fatal accidents", bear in mind, that data comes from drivers being drug tested after the accident, and if they had smoked even a single joint in the last 30 days, they probably will be positive. Thus, little to no data exists on drivers who are actually under the influence at the time of the accident.
- Asemili
August 4, 2008 3:55PM
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When it is a crime?
The only crimes I see Marijuana users committing are possessing, smoking, eating, growing or selling the substance. Therefore I can see how Marijuana can contribute to crime. I can imagine that some have a hard time dealing with Marijuana charges and may be prone to committing other crimes. Consider this: treat them like criminals and that is what they become.
- NotAlone August 6, 2008 12:37PM
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You Forgot Reefer Madness...
David,
You forgot to cite Reefer Madness as your number one source of honest and unbiased information for this truly astounding claim.
How about this... From the White House.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/crime/index.html
Percentage of drug related homicides in 1991 - 6.2%
Percentage of drug related homicides in 1998 - 4.8%
Percentage of 18-25 year olds using marijuana in 1991 - 12.9%
Percentage of 18-25 year olds using marijuana in 1998 - 13.8%
Marijuana use increased by nearly 1% while drug related homicides decreased by 1.4%.
David, I don't think you now what you're talking about. You are certainly not an expert on this subject.
- csmith
January 28, 2009 1:51PM
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Only because it remains a crime to use.
Even Bill Buckley came around to the view that the only real damage marijuana use caused the country resulted from the efforts to enforce prohibition. Lots of money spent and lives disrupted or destroyed by drug enforcement kept the smugglers and dealers laughing all the way to the money laundry.
Statements like the ones in this side of the argument are so completely at odds with the real world experience of former and current users, that they completely discredit the intellectual honesty of the expert.
Legalize marijuana and a large portion of the income of the Mexican drug smugglers would be cut off. One predictable result would be that given legal availability to pot, users wouldn't be so eager to engage is the far riskier behavior of purchasing and using coke and meth. Therefor, crime would decrease and fewer Americans would be incarcerated.
The anti-pot hysterics are the problem, not the solution.
- Stark Raving Sane
March 15, 2009 12:28PM
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Doesn't alcohol contribute to much more crime?
If we were to list the percentage of crimes that were alcohol induced and compare it to the percentage of crimes that were marijuana induced, what would we find?
- quantummechanik
April 1, 2009 3:58PM
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alcohol versus marijuana and petty crime
Before making any comparisons you would have to ensure that you
also looked at how many people use alcohol compared to how many use
marijuana . It is not always possible to make direct comparisons like this.
- AdaptableAnn
October 30, 2009 12:50PM
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FACT
They only way this is possible is from keeping marijuana illegal . How is this? Easy the drug cartel makes an annual amount of money the annual is over 60% of their total earnings. What this does is the cartel takes the money from the illegalized marijuana that they just made money from and uses the money to get opium and heroin from Afghanistan - the Taliban hience more stronger drugs come into the USA which is more violent crime . Now say if wanted to end that then we need to legalize and tax marijuana this will surve a saver blow to the cartels over 60% annual profit prety much like cutting the cartels and Talibans legs out from with under them which in the long run can lead to less crime as well as means to help our troups battle terorism . In other words about marijuana use contributes to crime then yes it will if kept illegal yet if legalized and taxed will reduce the crime rate.
- jeremy
May 31, 2009 12:37PM
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