35-year-old gets life for pot

[Herbert Anchovy]

I have not smoked in a few years. Too afraid of getting busted. And I like having a job and a clean record.

But the incongruities at play with the cabal that trumpets individual freedom at every turn must be pointed out.

 

[verbalkint]

Why would there be lower productivity?

Because of this:

Potheads are about the last people I'd expect to get into a gunfight. They just wanna sit at home and eat Doritos. Or bad wings.

I've seen what marijuana smoking does to people's initiative and productivity.

You'd likely see lost productivity, increased absenteeism, increased unemployment, and increased on-the-job usage.

You're assuming that decriminalizing pot leads to increased usage, and on a grand scale -- that the only thing that's stopping doctors, diplomats and scientists from laying around with a bong all day is the fear of being arrested. There's no evidence that this is the case. Consider Portugal.

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html#ixzz1LnD6y4q8

What you have now is a drug that is largely without stigma: each of the last three presidents has admitted getting high. But it's still illegal, and some seem to think harsher and harsher punishment is the answer. Our punishments for marijuana are rough, and our arrest numbers are high.

Drug convictions alone account for more than 80 percent of the total increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995. In 2008, four of five drug arrests were for possession, and only one in five was for distribution; fully half of all drug arrests were for marijuana offenses.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/nov/19/can-our-shameful-prisons-be-reformed/

It's not working, is it?

 

[NickMordo]

Quit breaking the law, asshole.

OK. And if you're a Louisiana taxpayer, you'd be paying for him now where you shouldn't have to be.

Exactly. The Drug War is working, guys!

 

[wicked]

But the incongruities at play with the cabal that trumpets individual freedom at every turn must be pointed out.

That's where I am with it.

I've been around weed a handful of times in my life. I'm a relative stick in the mud. And I think the policy is stupid.

 

[BTExpress]

Seen this script before.

BENDER
(loudly)
Eat my shorts!

VERNON
You just bought yourself another
Saturday, mister!

BENDER
Oh, Christ...

VERNON
You just bought one more right
there!

BENDER
Well, I'm free the Saturday after
that...beyond that, I'm gonna have
to check my calendar!

VERNON
Good! 'Cause it's gonna be filled,
we'll keep goin'! You want another
one? Say the word, just say the
word! Instead of going to prison,
you'll come here! Are you through.

BENDER
No!

VERNON
I'm doing society a favor!

BENDER
So?

VERNON
That's another one, right now! I've
got you for the rest of your natural
born life if you don't watch your
step! You want another one?

BENDER
Yes!

VERNON
You got it! You got another one,
right there! That's another one
pal!

VERNON
You through?

BENDER
Not even close, bud!

VERNON
Good! You got one more, right
there!

BENDER
Do you really think I give a shirt?

VERNON
Another...

Bender glares at him.

VERNON
You through?

BENDER
How many is that?

BRIAN
That's seven including the one when
we first came in and you asked Mr.
Vernon here whether Barry Manilow
knew that he raided his closet.

VERNON
(to Bender)
Now it's eight...
(to Brian)
You stay out of it!

BRIAN
Excuse me, sir, it's seven!

VERNON
Shut up, Peewee!
(to Bender)
You're mine Bender...for two months
I gotcha! I gotcha!

BENDER
What can I say? I'm thrilled!

 

[Iron_chet]

The arguement against weed lowering productivity is wrong IMO. I find that the people who come out strongest against weed are people who have not had much exposure to it.

The stoners I know whould be lazy, unambitious shirts whether or not they were serious smokers. I know a lot of people who are users who suffer no productivity decline due to the fact that they smoke. Paramedics, Firemen, lawyers and middle managers are amongst many of the users I know. I know one former Olympic boxer who told me he would have been a better boxer as pot calmed his nerves and relaxed him.

I realize that this is all anecdotal but I have never seen weed as a gateway drug or have seen it destroy someone's life. If you can buy Everclear and get forked up you should be able to get your smoke on.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Remember ... mother's milk is the gateway drug for everything.

 

[three_bags_full]

They arrested him after finding about two pounds of marijuana in the house. He deserved to go away for a while.

How do you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning? Seriously.

I'm sorry, but I'm not following you on this one.

Munlin found nearly two pounds of pot throughout the house, according to court records. He alerted Sheriff's Office deputies.

2.2 pounds is trafficking in most states, a Class A felony punishable from three years and $25K to life without parole.

 

[JR]

Hardly anyone up here gets busted for simple possession anymore

I suspect if some cop charged someone with having a few grams and smoking up in a park, the judge would give that cop a tongue-lashing for wasting the court's time.

Possession with intent to trafficking is a another issue. However, a life sentence is draconian to say the least.

 

[wicked]

Look, the gateway argument is true to some extent, but in a society based on free will and such, it doesn't hold much water with me. People always will make bad choices, whether it's legal to make that choice or not.

It isn't true to any extent.

I don't know anyone who has ever gone right from doing nothing to doing, I don't know, heroin. I also don't know a ton of druggies, to be fair.

Personally, I don't care. Let 'em smoke their weed, gateway or no.

 

[YGBFKM]

This is an interesting debate on the effects of drugs by people who don't do drugs.

 

[wicked]

Wayyyyyyy too many cases clogging up our courts.

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/marijuana/marijuana_ff.html

Arrests & Sentencing
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, there were an estimated 1,663,582 state and local arrests for drug abuse violations in the United States during 2009. Of these drug abuse violation arrests, 6.0% were for the sale/manufacture of marijuana and 45.6% were for marijuana possession.17

According to a 2004 Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of state and Federal prisoners, approximately 12.7% of state prisoners and 12.4% of Federal prisoners were serving time for a marijuana-related offense. This is a decrease from 1997 when the figures were 12.9% and 18.9%, respectively.18

During FY 2009, there were 6,166 Federal offenders sentenced for marijuana-related charges in U.S. Courts. Approximately 97.5% of these cases involved trafficking and 1.7% of cases involved simple possession.19

The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) II program is designed to gather information on drug use and related matters from adult male offenders within 48 hours of arrest. ADAM II serves as a critical source of data for estimating trends in drug use in local areas, understanding the relationship between drugs and crime, and describing drug market activity in the adult male arrestee population in 10 U.S. sites during 2008. In 2009, marijuana continued to be the most commonly used illegal substance among booked arrestees in all sites but Atlanta, where the same percentage of arrestees tested positive for cocaine.20

More than 800K weed-related cases on the books each year. I want my judges, prosecutors and cops worrying about more important stuff, like killing people and, you know, DUI.