1) Decriminalization will only mean that certain activities that are illegal now will not be charged. It won’t “lower” crime any more than abandoning speed limits would reduce speeding.

2) Marijuana ISN’T harmless. At best it is a self-medicating/emotionally numbing coping mechanism that keeps people from maturing to the point where they can cope with reality. That’s why pot smokers you know that are 50 behaving similarly to ones you know that are 20.

But the story itself shows that pot smoking is no different than any other drug using activity. Blevins the dealer was “hooked” on a non-addictive drug to the extent that he couldn’t pay his bills. You yourself have a series of problems that will clear up if you ever got sober. And like an addict that last comment will make you angry. You should ask yourself why?

3) I don’t drink as a matter of fact.

4) Here’s information from the Harvard Medical School on pot’s ill effects, as well as a handy .PDF abstract of the 30 years of research that show Marijuana’s relationship to mental illness. I assume you’ll provide me the link to the study you’re claiming shows pot is “good” for you.

5) Our jails aren’t full of harmless pot smokers. No state throws people with recreational amounts of pot in prison. Dealers and people who commit other crimes (like rape, robbery and murder) are also slapped with possession charges often enough. A recent study found that half of all criminals, violent or not, tested positive for drugs at the time of their arrests for non-drug related offenses.

6) My Victimless Crime Files category is anecdotal proof that this idea of pot smokers doing crazy things being the exception and not the rule is bullshit.

As I’ve said before, I’m neither for nor against legalization. What I’m for is honesty in dealing with drug use.

Why don’t you look at the positive things that marijuana could give. A study at Harvard University found that THC cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread. Also, our jails wouldn’t be full of harmless pot smokers if it were decriminalized. Now, I understand that this guy is an idiot for forcing the child to smoke pot, but that doesn’t mean that you should blame it on the pot or try to pin pot as a bad thing. He could have just as easily been giving her alcohol or tobacco, or any other kind of substance, so don’t make pot the scapegoat.

Joey. Only the most immature scumbag would suggest it was OK to get a baby high under any circumstances.

If you spend your life drinking and drugging, even if it’s only pot and beer, this is what you become, those are the people who you will be associating with until you’re sober.

I don’t put these stories up to support prohibition, but realism about drug use..