In one of the stranger developments in the battle to legalize marijuana, comes a new ally from an unexpected source…
Right-wing televangelist Pat Robertson has called for the “drug” to be legalized and regulated like alcohol.
In a New York Times interview last week, Mr. Robertson correctly points out how being tough on pot has led to massive overcrowding in prisons, excessive penalties for possession and billions of dollars being wasted on law enforcement.
The statistics back him up.
In 2010, According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there were over 850,000 arrests for marijuana with 88% of those for simple possession. In fact, there are more people arrested for marijuana related offenses than all violent crimes combined.
That make anybody feel safer?
Total drug arrests are a whopping 1.6 million a year-which works out to three Americans beingg arrested a minute for drug violations. Though Mr. Robertson’s remarks are only directed at legalizing pot, the entire drug war is a massive drain on state resources, not to mention a colossal failure.
Mr. Robertson’s voice for legalization is an important one.
His television show, the 700 Club, has millions of viewers who respect what he has to say. He’s the kind of advocate for marijuana legalization that can penetrate the right-wing supporters of the drug war and who can change hearts and minds.
The time has come to legalize and tax marijuana like alcohol and tobacco.
With Federal, State and Municipal budgets hemorrhaging red ink, we can no longer afford to keep pot illegal and continue to waste dwindling public resources on the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of pot smokers. Not when governments desperately need the new revenue streams that legalizing marijuana could provide.
Pat Robertson, being the Evangelist he is, is preaching the Word of G-d by advocating the legalization of marijuana.
As it’s written in the Bible, Genesis 1, Verse 29: “See, I give you every seed bearing plant that is upon the Earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours.”
Christians, Jews and Muslims who support keeping marijuana illegal need to check the scriptures and re-evaluate your positions.
I’ll support the legalization of marijuana just as soon as you tell me how the government is going to control potency and test for intoxication. I’ve got friends in California with medical marijuana cards. Most of them were given the cards based on a diagnosis of stress or anxiety. Some of the “herb” they can buy is so potent it might as well be morphine. It’s literally, toke-toke-boom-boom-pow, I hope I hear the alarm at six.
Let’s just retroactively adopt Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act and see if that doesn’t solve the problem first. I’d also expand the law to include Big Pharma since no one is putting more “shit” in our bodies than Merck, Pfizer, Bayer, Roche, Glaxo Smith Kline, Novartis, Sanofi, Astra Zeneca, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Bristol Meyers Squibb, etc. Any drug that has more than one side effect should be banned.
Most of the active ingredients in many drugs come from herbs, plants or substances found in nature……God put them here just like marijuana, coca leaves and poppies. But, since you can’t patent those, you’ve got to come up with patentable synthetic formulations that don’t work nearly as well. Try cinnamon to regulate your blood sugar, or better yet interval exercise. Oil of Oregano and Olive Leaf Extract are POWERFUL anti-virals.
So, if we’re going to legalize marijuana let’s kick the AMA and Big Pharma in the ass and avail ourselves to all of uthe natural cures and remedies available to us.
I say make it legal.
Smartman in a nut shell says it all.
Lets make it legal but how is going to be the real important question and he does have a good idea.
The herb that some get he is right about and will knock you on your ass.
smartman makes great points-
but the War on Drugs is killing us.
Putting Pot Heads in jail is a loser, start to finish.
Wish I liked the stuff, it would mellow me out.
None of us will ever live to see, Cheech smoke too much pot, and kick Chong’s ass.
yet another fascist
smartman is an idiot. wait, that
Smartman,
The problem you have questioned already has solutions. Potency of cannabinoids can be determined by gas chromatography (GC), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Both methods are currently used by cannabis potency testing labs all over the U.S.
As for driving while intoxicated, KCMO and most suburbs already have Drug Recognition Experts. It is already illegal to drive under the influence of pot. Detection is from field sobriety tests to detect Nystygmus, which is involuntary movement of the eyes.
What’s happened to our good Brother Pat?
The Haiti earthquake came and he said it was because that Country sold their soul to Satan in the 40’s.
The blizzard on the East coast, a few years back, was sent by God to keep people from being able to “drive and go to gay things”.
Then, last week, all in one week, he says God doesnt send tornadoes and we should legalize pot!! Maybe its an age affecting disorder bringing him back to reality!!
I have no big problem with it as long as it doesn’t affect others. Don’t drive while high. Be able to hold a job. Don’t expect to live off of the taxpayers. As long as you take responsibility for your choices and they are not a burden to others, It should not be anyone else’s business.
Stoners and Boners
With very few exceptions, heavy pot users are non-hackers. Most don’t work at real jobs and always have big idea and dreams about changing the world, but it’s always tommorow that the plan is going into effect! For now, they’ll just inhabit the couch and have a bowl of cheerios. I know, I know there are a few exceptions, but for the most part they are genuine addicted losers.
There is way too much energy spent on trying to apprehend pot “criminals”. The Netherlands has the right idea, but even if our country isn’t ready to take it that far, at least legalize pot for personal use. I was watching a travel program on PBS last night, and it seems like Spain has a good idea. It is illegal to distribute pot, but it is ok to grow it for your own consumption. They even have stores that sell the seeds, soil, fertilizer, etc. Pot is well established in our culture, people are going to use it, and it is a losing battle to try to stop it, much like prohibition was in the 20’s. Free up our prisons and law enforcement officers for the real criminals… murderers, rapist, thieves, and the like.
dead on the money mary
.