Legalizing Marijuana

07.29.09

I’m really busy hanging out with my kids, so I’m going to talk about drugs from a Mom’s perspective.

Your kids are going to try pot. Would you like them to buy it from a drug dealer or a dispensary? I’m all about the dispensary. California is broke and our prisons are overcrowded. How many of three strikes candidates are there because they smoked a little weed?

Can we stop pretending that cannabis is a problem? I’m infinitely more concerned that partially hydrogenated oils will give Jane and Alexander cancer.
Just keeping it in perspective. Discuss.

  • http://www.realprincessdiaries.com Alexa

    All for it. Can you imagine how much jail space would be freed up if we released all those who’re there just for smoking or selling a little weed? Asinine.

    Absolutely no reason it should be illegal.

  • http://www.missdisgrace.com Miss Grace

    Here, here. And tax the bejeezus out of it, solve some financial problems.

  • http://momandmama.wordpress.com Googie Baba

    We have decriminalized it in Massachusetts. It’s not legal, but if you are under an ounce, you just get a civil fine.

  • http://www.happilyblended.com Brandy

    I hear you … and have to say I agree with you. I see in my town so many being busted for Marijuana yet heroine addicts running around free. I would prefer to see the heroine addicts behind bars and a little lead way on Marijuana. More people than you would think smoke it, and yet it’s a huge crime. I have read various research that it’s safer for you than cigarettes too!

  • Susan

    And it’s got to be way safer than drinking and driving because at least those that smoke pot aren’t leaving their couch and bowl of munchies and getting behind the wheel.

  • http://beyondmom.com jennydecki

    I’m sorry, was I supposed to be thinking? I was busy fantasizing about moving to Massachusetts …

    I, too am far more worried about the cartoon character riddled crap out of boxes my kids beg for (and I don’t buy) than I am about weed.

  • Kris Garvey

    Funny…I was just with a friend in LA who has a brain injury from an accident years ago and her prescription marijuana has been her lifesaver. And, I love that the name on the bottle is “Green Beans.” SOOOO ODD!

  • http://anniegirl1138.wordpress.com annie

    Okay, but then does pot become like cigarettes? Because I have trouble enough dodging the people who smoke in doorways without adding pot smokers. Or do we let the ads people promote it like alcohol? And then have the idiots we elect decide that kids should smoke until they are 21 and add that to the mess we have with the so-called “under age” drinkers between 18 and 20?

    I worry that in handing this industry to the government it ends up being like casinos and lotteries – something that is pushed at the lower strata without regard to any consequences.

  • http://meandtheblueskies.com Preston

    As an ex-smoker, I would have to say the worst it ever did to me was make me tired and demotivated. It should have been decriminalized years ago.

  • CTR1

    I would rather be caught with the possesion of weed; maximum fine being only $100 AND first time offenders can ask for recovery assistance. Once the assistance course is successfully completed the conviction is erased from your record.

    I’m more afraid of my children’s toys exiting the window and being tagged as a litter bug. The fine is $1000, and repeated offenses can be a loss of driving privi’s plus more hefty fees.

    Or how about being caught in the carpool lane by yourself; $380 for the first time and up to $1000 plus a loss for driving privi’s for repeat offenders.

    If it was really that bad, don’t you think officials would make the penalty a little more steep?

    Just food for thought.

  • http://formerlyaprildawn.blogspot.com April

    I’m cynical enough to believe that the resistance to legalizing mj isn’t about morals at all, but about the people who would lose their kickbacks.

  • http://www.notjustaworkingmom.com Nicole

    I’m cynical like April…the government makes $ from the criminalization, is that a word?

    For those worried about people standing around smoking it like cigarettes? How many smokers do you see? I rarely see people smoke, besides in the little bus stop thingies at work. They are treated like pariahs and I’m sure public pot smokers would be treated the same way.

    I’m all for legalizing it, treating it like cigarettes and allowing the sick to easily obtain it without feeling like a criminal.

  • Jillian

    California is broke and our prisons are overcrowded, and one more thing, more than 6,000 people were murdered by the drug cartels last year to protect their incomes from selling marijuana in the U.S.

    Legalizing the production and sale of marijuana to adults with prices set too low for the cartels to match will eliminate two-thirds of the cartels’ incomes and will decimate them.

    This is the ONLY thing that can end the cartel murders, and we should be doing all we can to make it happen.

  • http://deskfullofclutter.blogspot.com sam

    I’ve long felt that marijuana should be completely legal. I should be able to grow it. Anyone with the desire and motivation should be able to grow it on a farm and market it in a reasonable way.

    I think the problem with most drugs is not so much the damage they do as are the lies we are told to steer us away from drug use and the lack of trust that stems from that when we realize how many people have been dishonest with us. For example, smoking pot doesn’t actually make me run over girls on bikes no matter how often that commercial airs.

    Following that the next major problem is that we as a nation continue to view drug use as evil (sin) and fail to work toward an understanding of addiction and what we can actually do to help those people addicted to drugs.

    Stop worrying about people getting high, and start focusing on helping people when they lose control to addiction.

    Also, tax the bejeezus out of it? That’s not helpful at all. Tax it as we do other intoxicating substances. The revenue we recapture by finally ending the failed “war on drugs” would be enough along with the added taxes to fun basic health care for everyone in the country. Maybe then we can start to treat people before their drug addiction takes over their lives.

    Also, stop letting the pharmaceutical companies dump drug after drug on us without any real testing or understanding of the true side affects. Can someone explain how Ambien is still legal? How about the drugs we push onto our children so that they will sit still in school for a couple more hours than is natural for a child?

    Okay, I’m a little wound up about this, so I’m going to slowly and quietly step away for a moment, though I have to imagine you knew I was going to show up with too much comment when you asked about pot.

  • Wendy

    My thoughts: The crime that is created by the illegal drug trade is out of control. Whether I think pot is a good or bad decision is irrelevant. To me, what is most relevant is the cost to society and the cost we are paying now is not acceptable.

    As a mom, it is my job to teach my children to make good decisions. They’re going to have to face these choices whether pot is legal or illegal. I believe that victimless crimes should not be government regulated. (Doesn’t the gov’t have enough to do?) But I also believe that crimes committed such as driving under the influence (of pot or alcohol or whatever) should be enforced.

  • Jillian

    I totally agree with you Wendy. We should be marching in the streets demanding an end to the prohibition and an end to the cartel murders!

    And even when marijuana is legal it’s not like it’s going to be compulsory, people like you and I will still be able to say no.

  • http://secondhandkarl.com/ Karl

    OK, I think I love you.

    That is all.

  • http://www.grownupandsurviving.blogspot.com/ fromwithin

    Amen. I agree. I’ve been meaning to write a post about this one… maybe I will tomorrow :)

  • http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com olivier blanchard

    Not to mention that by taxing the stuff, the state could actually generate billions in revenue instead of spending billions to uselessly “fight” its illegal sale.

    I’m not a user, but I agree with your point completely.

  • Janice

    I really enjoyed this article. Here’s another one you might enjoy: http://www.mindreign.com/en/mindshare/Health-and-Science/Mom-2c-Let-s-Try-Some-Pot/sl36962307bp407cpp5pn1.html. Talks a lot about some of the same things – would legalization of drugs like marijuana take some of the thrill out of the situation and therefore curb the use of the drug?

  • http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com Tom Degan

    Here’s an argument I’ve made so many times I’m getting bored with it:

    By the time one reaches my age (I’ll be fifty-one in ten days) one has known – at the very least – fifty people who have died on lung cancer and another fifty who have died of cirrhosis of the liver. Now ask yourself the following question:

    How many people have I personally known who have died as the result of consuming too much grass?

    ANSWER:
    Not only have I never known anyone to die in that matter, I am not aware of it happening in all recorded human history.

    I cannot believe that seventy-two years after pot was made illegal, we are still having this same stupid argument.

    I need a drink….On second thought….

    http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

    Tom Degan
    Goshen, NY