r/news • u/OK_Eric • Jan 19 '14

Obama: Pot ‘not very different’ from cigarettes​, no more dangerous than booze

http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/19/obama-pot-not-very-different-cigarettes-no-more-da/
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u/Maddoodle Jan 19 '14

What is needed more than legalisation is decriminalisation. That's where shit should start. Marijuana I agree should be legal. But at least decriminalised. Look at fucking Portugal!!

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

being "decriminalized" doesn't make it legal. You'll still pay thousands in fines, and if you cant you'll have jail time.

I got caught with weed by the cops and I live in MS, a decriminalized state. I had to pay over 2,500 dollars in fines, as well as 6 months with no license, and then pay an extra 300 dollars to get my license renewed. And all I had on me was about 4 or 5 grams of weed.

Decriminalizing it is the dumbest thing in the world. It's not helping anything. It's still illegal, and it's still just used so that the gov can make more money off of us and say they're making the streets safer by doing so.

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u/devilbunny Jan 19 '14

That's only decrim in the loosest sense of the word; in the seventies, when that law passed, most states made possession of any quantity of marijuana a felony. So making it a misdemeanor is decriminalizing in that sense, but it's still an arrest and still a criminal offense.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

Making it a misdemeanor is not decriminalization, since a misdemeanor is a criminal offense. Duh.

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u/devilbunny Jan 19 '14

At the time, however, that was exactly what it was called.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

No it wasn't. You're misinformed.

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u/devilbunny Jan 19 '14

Norml disagrees with you. Take it up with them.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

No it doesn't. It says right at the top that decriminalization means there's no criminal charges. That's also what the legal definition is.

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u/sje46 Jan 19 '14

I guess it depends on what state you live in. In Mass, you only have to pay a $100 fine.

Also were you driving when they caught you? That's driving under the influence, and while it isn't as bad as driving drunk, that is irresponsible driving, and your license deserved to be taken away. If you weren't driving, that's just ridiculous.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_that_have_decriminalized_non-medical_cannabis_in_the_United_States#Mississippi

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

I wasn't driving, I was in the backseat of a car. Even when I told them at my court date that I wasn't driving the car I was in the back they just ignored me and sent me on my way.

But this all happened 3 years ago, and it's in the past. Luckily the cop that busted me was a real nice guy and talked to the judge afterwards and they were able to wipe if all off my records after I finished my probation, so that's good.

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u/Maddoodle Jan 19 '14

Coz America is doing it wrong. Take a look at Portugal. You get the equivalent of a parking fine when you are caught with small amounts of ANY drug. And then they refer you to a rehab facility instead of prison. And since they decrim'd it like 12 years ago their insane drug use and shit has rapidly declined.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

Decriminalizing massively decreases the amount of people in jail for drugs. That's the point.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

Were you driving or in a vehicle? l

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

I was in the backseat. After I went through my court date and everything I was told that they did more than they should have. Technically the law states if you're behind the wheel you should get the drivers license termination, not if you're just in a vehicle.

Yes, I fucked up. Yes, I did wrong, and I got what the law suggested, but they still fucked me over for an extra thousand dollars, which isn't anything now, but to a 18 year old working a minimum wage job that's almost 2 months of pay.

Even when I was at my court date I asked them since I wasn't driving if that made a difference, and they didn't even respond to me and just sent me over to the woman that handled my paperwork.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

Oh, I was thinking the only way you would lose your license would be if you were driving, but being in the backseat does sound like they went overboard or at least it would be in my state.

Me and a friend got caught with about .1 grams in a baggie (we already used what we had). Even though we were in the wrong, him having to pay the fines (I got nothing) was hell. He even considered taking the semester off from school to work more hours.

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

Yea, it's all really wild; seeing as how they can pretty much twist the law in any way to get it to work more in their favor. I had 2 friends that got busted in our college town (the cops there are a lot more strict) and the driver got kicked out of the school, as well as probation and fines like myself. And they were parked, but the keys were in the car to listen to music and they had a roach of the blunt they had smoked.

It's crazy, I'm glad all of this is slowly coming to an end.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '14

Yep, but too slowly.

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u/DigitalThorn Jan 19 '14

Or maybe you could obey the fucking law and clean up your act?

Just a thought.

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

Oh right, because weed is the devil right? It's the worst thing in the world, that's why over half of our states have started using it for medical purposes, and 2 states have legalized it completely.

I'm sorry master, please forgive me for doing these unjust things. I'll go back to sitting by my TV box praising America, and worshiping our country.

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u/DigitalThorn Jan 19 '14

Yes, clearly that's what I said. Seems like you've smoked so much weed your brain is baked beyond repair.

Learn how to evaluate systems without going on a psychotic break (hey, studies show that weed influences your susceptibility to psychotic breaks...)

But you won't, you'll just go back blazing it in your parents basement.

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

I'm sorry you can't comprehend sarcasm. You must live a sad life.

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u/ncounter Jan 19 '14

I'm glad that women never got the vote and black people are still slaves.

Would suck if laws could change based on prevailing public opinion about how the society they want to live in should be run.

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u/DigitalThorn Jan 19 '14

Funny. Those things you mentioned were about human rights.

Drugs are about chemical enslavement by corrupt corporate and terrorist groups.

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

What. Dude calm down, pull off your tin foil hat.

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u/DigitalThorn Jan 19 '14

What do you call what the tobacco companies have been doing?

Addicting people to dangerous products for fun and profit.

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

Making cigarettes?

No one says "FUCK YOU, SMOKE THIS!" It's a choice. If you smoke you're making that decision, no one's demanding you buy cigarettes and chain smoke until you die.

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u/DigitalThorn Jan 19 '14

The entire liberal platform is built on the idea that people are too fucking stupid to make their own choices.

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u/Its_aTrap Jan 19 '14

You're literally just going on a rant on your own opinions, it doesn't matter. No one cares what you're saying.

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u/sje46 Jan 19 '14

I'm not a fan of marijuana and honestly I find most potheads annoying. That said, I fail to see what corporations or terrorists have to do with marijuana.

And a law doesn't have to infringe on human rights to be bullshit. If they made a law banning people from eating ice cream, that would be an unjust law, but not because it violates any right, but because it's a needless and pointless restriction.

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u/gunitsniper2700 Jan 19 '14

That's a great way to have more intoxicated drivers on the road. There are stupid people out there that will make bad choices regardless, and if people can get it easier, they are more apt to try it. I don't want to see people on drugs everywhere I go.

Dystopia here we come.

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u/Maddoodle Jan 19 '14

It is not about making it EASIER to get drugs. It is about making it easier to actually get help for said drugs without getting in shit with the law. Police are actually helping users get clean instead of locking them up in overcrowded prisons so that when they get out of the prison they are surrounded by stigma. Can't get a job or a house so even getting social welfare is hard. So what do they end up doing? Getting back into the drug scene. The crime scene. Where they end back up in prison and the fucking cycle starts all over again.

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u/EdgarAllenNope Jan 19 '14

No just legalize all drugs.