war on drugs,represents big overgrown government at its worst.

[orphanedhawk]

Cory Booker Slams Drug War

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker took to Reddit Sunday to criticize the war on drugs, saying it was ineffective and "represents big overgrown government at its worst."

"The so called War on Drugs has not succeeded in making significant reductions in drug use, drug arrests or violence," the Democrat wrote during the Reddit "ask me anything" chat. "We are pouring huge amounts of our public resources into this current effort that are bleeding our public treasury and unnecessarily undermining human potential."

Booker then called drug arrests a "game."

"My police in Newark are involved in an almost ridiculous game of arresting the same people over and over again and when you talk to these men they have little belief that there is help or hope for them to break out of this cycle," he wrote.

Booker has said he supports medical marijuana, tweeting in May that "NJ should do more to make it real for those who need it."

Booker also used the Reddit discussion to outline programs he has implemented to lower drug arrests: reentry, court reform, jobs, treatment and legal aid.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/cory-booker-drug-war_n_1676008.html

[Vance2335]

Drug use is a legal issue to begin with, you stop the drug use you stop the addiction. That is like China saying that babies are the cause of over population so lets kill babies, not they regulate how many children families can have. Not agreeing with it, just making a point.

It doesn't matter what drug is used it's illegal, why don't people get that? Oh weed is so much better than coke?

Legalize, regulate and tax is what was done years and years ago and it was taxed into making it illegal. Do you really want people to go down to the corner store and buy meth, coke, crack, herion? I don't.

Mike who cares where prostitution is legal, it is illegal in most of the US.

[mikesimon]

I don't care much about it but  apparently you do since you mentioned it and said:

"Prostituation (sic) is illegal in most places and law enforcement is used to keep people away from that."

I thought your observation was not only irrelevant but it was also likely inaccurate when you opined that it is illegal in most places. It's legal in 50% of the countries of the world and quasi legal in more. So it's probably not illegal in "most places".

Mike

[Vance2335]

I was using prostitution as an example, no I don't care that it's legal in outher countries, when I said illegal in most places I was talking about here in America as I just said.

Your 2 comments to me have no point in the overall thread and what I was talking about. Are you that blind?

[orphanedhawk]

Weed is much better than many legal substances.
                        *******************

About 106,000 Americans died last year from pharmaceuticals. Zero died from marijuana.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/turning-pot-into-medicine/Content?oid=3245064&storyPage=4
                            **************************
Prescription drugs are now killing far more people than illegal drugs, and while most major causes of preventable deaths are declining, those from prescription drug use are increasing, an analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the Los Angeles Times revealed.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/26/prescription-drugs-number-one-cause-preventable-death-in-us.aspx
                               *****************************

A controversial new study by two economists indicates that medical marijuana legalization laws have resulted in a 9 percent drop in traffic deaths — and a 5 percent reduction in beer sales. The study reveals that driving in states that have legalized medical cannabis is safer than in those where medical pot remains unlawful.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/the-freakonomics-of-pot-and-duis/Content?oid=3061859

I could go on and on, digging up more articles and posting them but I think I made my point.
It may be illegal but the time has come to change that. Many states already have.

[Vance2335]

The Health Effects of Marijuana
Negative Health Effects Are Numerous
By Buddy T, About.com Guide
Updated March 05, 2011

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board

.See More About:marijuanahealth effects of drug abusecommonly abused drugs
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encyclopediafactica.com
Although legalization activists and many marijuana users believe smoking pot has no negative effects, scientific research indicates that marijuana use can cause many different health problems.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. When smoked, it begins to effect users almost immediately and can last for one to three hours. When it is eaten in food, such as baked in brownies and cookies, the effects take longer to begin, but usually last longer.

Has smoking weed become a problem for you?
Take the Marijuana Screening Quiz


Short-Term Effects
The short-term effects of marijuana include:
•Distorted perception (sights, sounds, time, touch)

•Problems with memory and learning

•Loss of coordination

•Trouble with thinking and problem-solving

•Increased heart rate, reduced blood pressure

Sometimes marijuana use can also produce anxiety, fear, distrust, or panic.

Effects on the Brain
The active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, acts on cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells and influences the activity of those cells. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors, but other areas of the brain have few or none at all. Many cannabinoid receptors are found in the parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.
When high doses of marijuana are used, usually when eaten in food rather than smoked, users can experience the following symptoms:


•Hallucinations

•Delusions

•Impaired memory

•Disorientation

Effects on the Heart
Within a few minutes after smoking marijuana, the heart begins beating more rapidly and the blood pressure drops. Marijuana can cause the heart beat to increase by 20 to 50 beats per minute, and can increase even more if other drugs are used at the same time.
Because of the lower blood pressure and higher heart rate, researchers found that users' risk for a heart attack is four times higher within the first hour after smoking marijuana, compared to their general risk of heart attack when not smoking.


Effects on the Lungs
Smoking marijuana, even infrequently, can cause burning and stinging of the mouth and throat, and cause heavy coughing. Scientists have found that regular marijuana smokers can experience the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers do, including:

•Daily cough and phlegm production
•More frequent acute chest illnesses
•Increased risk of lung infections
•Obstructed airways
Most marijuana smokers consume a lot less cannabis than cigarette smokers consume tobacco, however the harmful effects of smoking marijuana should not be ignored. Marijuana contains more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke and because marijuana smokers typically inhale deeper and hold the smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers, their lungs are exposed to those carcinogenic properties longer, when smoking.

What About Cancer?
Although one study found that marijuana smokers were three times more likely to develop cancer of the head or neck than non-smokers, that study could not be confirmed by further analysis.
Because marijuana smoke contains three times the amount of tar found in tobacco smoke and 50 percent more carcinogens, it would seem logical to deduce that there is an increased risk of lung cancer for marijuana smokers. However, researchers have not been able to definitively prove such a link because their studies have not been able to adjust for tobacco smoking and other factors that might also increase the risk.

Studies linking marijuana smoking to lung cancer have also been limited by selection bias and small sample size. For example, the participants in those studies may have been too young to have developed lung cancer yet. Even though researchers have yet to "prove" a link between smoking pot and lung cancer, regular smokers may want to consider the risk.


Other Health Effects
Research indicates that THC impairs the body's immune system from fighting disease, which can cause a wide variety of health problems. One study found that marijuana actually inhibited the disease-preventing actions of key immune cells. Another study found that THC increased the risk of developing bacterial infections and tumors.

Effects of Exposure During Pregnancy
Several studies have found that children born to mothers who used marijuana during pregnancy exhibit some problems with neurological development. According to those studies, prenatal marijuana exposure can cause:

•Altered responses to visual stimuli
•Increased tremulousness
•Problems with sustained attention and memory
•Poor problem-solving skills

As I could keep going on with link after link showing the opposite. But I think my point is made that it is illegal for a reason.

Prescription drugs are illegal unless someone has a prescription. Your links are about people abusing prescription drugs.

[orphanedhawk]

The article is about ending the drug war.

In my state medicinal marijuana is not illegal.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Current-Events---/Democrats-Mock-GOP-For-Protecting-Own-Health-Care-In-Repeal-Vote/show/1772479#post_8148694

June 20, 2012 News
Turning Pot into Medicine
Marijuana strains that provide medicinal relief without getting you stoned are rising in popularity, thanks to the groundbreaking work of cannabis testing labs.

Many of California's estimated one million qualified cannabis patients now refuse to buy untested weed. And in a stark rebuttal to prohibitionists who still claim that the medical cannabis industry is just a smokescreen for people who want to get high, patients are increasingly using lab results to find weed that will reduce pain, ease nausea, relieve anxiety, and counteract a host of other medical problems without causing euphoria.
               ***********************************
No, marijuana is not illegal for a good reason.

Since you chose to quote from about.com,I used the same resource to point out the fallacy of your statement

Why is Marijuana Illegal?
Top 7 Reasons

By Tom Head, About.com Guide
From a prohibition-based perspective, marijuana is illegal in the United States primarily for these seven reasons.
1. It is perceived as addictive.
Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug on the basis that is has "a high potential for abuse." What does this mean?

It means that the perception is that people get on marijuana, they get hooked and become "potheads," and it begins to dominate their lives. This unquestionably happens in some cases. But it also happens in the case of alcohol--and alcohol is perfectly legal.

In order to fight this argument for prohibition, legalization advocates need to make the argument that marijuana is not as addictive as government sources claim.

2. It has "no accepted medical use."
Marijuana seems to yield considerable medical benefits for many Americans with ailments ranging from glaucoma to cancer, but these benefits have not been accepted well enough, on a national level. Medical use of marijuana remains a serious national controversy.

In order to fight the argument that marijuana has no medical use, legalization advocates need to highlight the effects it has had on the lives of people who have used the drug for medical reasons.

3. It has been historically linked with narcotics, such as heroin.
Early antidrug laws were written to regulate narcotics--opium and its derivatives, such as heroin and morphine. Marijuana, though not a narcotic, was described as such--along with cocaine.

The association stuck, and there is now a vast gulf in the American consciousness between "normal" recreational drugs, such as alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine, and "abnormal" recreational drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Marijuana is generally associated with the latter category, which is why it can be convincingly portrayed as a "gateway drug."

4. It is associated with unfashionable lifestyles.
Marijuana is often thought of as a drug for hippies and losers. Since it's hard to feel enthusiastic about the prospects of enabling people to become hippies and losers, imposing criminal sanctions for marijuana possession functions as a form of communal "tough love."

5. It was once associated with oppressed ethnic groups.
The intense anti-marijuana movement of the 1930s dovetailed nicely with the intense anti-Chicano movement of the 1930s. Marijuana was associated with Mexican Americans, and a ban on marijuana was seen as a way of discouraging Mexican-American subcultures from developing.

Today, thanks in large part to the very public popularity of marijuana among whites during the 1960s and 1970s, marijuana is no longer seen as what one might call an ethnic drug--but the groundwork for the anti-marijuana movement was laid down at a time when marijuana was seen as an encroachment on the U.S. majority-white culture.

6. Inertia is a powerful force in public policy.
If something has been banned for only a short period of time, then the ban is seen as unstable. If something has been banned for a long time, however, then the ban--no matter how ill-conceived it might be--tends to go unenforced long before it is actually taken off the books.

Take the ban on sodomy, for example. It hasn't really been enforced in any serious way since the 18th century, but most states technically banned same-sex sexual intercourse until the Supreme Court ruled such bans unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas (2003).

People tend to be comfortable with the status quo--and the status quo, for nearly a century, has been a literal or de facto federal ban on marijuana.

7. Advocates for marijuana legalization rarely present an appealing case.
To hear some advocates of marijuana legalization say it, the drug cures diseases while it promotes creativity, open-mindedness, moral progression, and a closer relationship with God and/or the cosmos. That sounds incredibly foolish, particularly when the public image of a marijuana user is, again, that of a loser who risks arrest and imprisonment so that he or she can artificially invoke an endorphin release.

A much better argument for marijuana legalization, from my vantage point, would go more like this: "It makes some people happy, and it doesn't seem to be any more dangerous than alcohol. Do we really want to go around putting people in prison and destroying their lives over this?"