There is an ongoing trend today amongst legislators and politicians; they are now starting to look realistically at the idea of the legalization and taxation of marijuana. In Boulder, Colorado, because of the scarcity of tax funds and in an effort to save money, legislators there are playing with the idea of reducing the drinking age from 21. The article says that certain state officials wish to spend their budget funds more "productively"- like making sure that their police officers are more protected instead of using their funds on "keeping pot smokers in prison." According to the article, 2/3's of people imprisoned annually are there for either failing their drug test or missing a meeting with their parole officer.
1. Where would you rather have your tax dollars spent - building new roads and highways, or keeping harmless "pot heads" imprisoned?
2. Do you think that if marijuana did become legal in California - marijuana is Cali.'s largest cash crop - other states should/will follow?
*read the article and please post your opinions, it's a pretty interesting topic. also, just because this is my topic for my blog post please don't think that I'm a pot head. : )
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ReplyDeleteI could rant and rave for days on this topic because it just honestly pisses me off. I don't understand why society has built this mindset on weed that makes it seem like such a terrible issue. How often do you hear about someone dying because of weed? With so much crime and bigger issues to worry about, whats the point? So you lock some 18 y/o up for selling weed, what good does that do? I think a better approach would be to tax the marijuana rather than forcing families to pay thousands to bail there child out of jail.
ReplyDeleteI think if marijuana were to become legal in California it wouldn't take long for other states. Lowering the drinking age would only cause drunk driving to increase.
I thought this article was interesting. I personally think that the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is ok. But, I also think that if the government is going to allow alcohol and tobacco products to be sold in the US then why not legalize marijuana. I think that they are all equally as bad for people either way. As for lowering the drinking age, I do not agree with that. A lot of people of age do not drink responsibly. I can’t even imagine what would happen if there were teenagers drinking and not being responsible.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see a link to an article but I'd like to comment anyway.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that anyone would rather have their tax dollars spent on marijuana patrol versus building hospitals, schools, etc. And although the marijuana cultivating and use laws are lenient in some areas in California (Emerald Triangle)and may be legalized in the future, I don't think it will ever be legal on the Federal end. And even if California does legalize marijuana use, they may overturn the law in a few years (Prop. 8?). Regardless the state benefits from a great amount of tax dollars under the current laws and because of this fact only I can understand where other states would follow. As for lowering the drinking age...I'm not quite sure how to respond. Doing so would be irresponsible. Most 21 year-olds I know don't recognize their limits so I doubt 18 year-olds would do a better job. Just because things aren't so great economically for the country doesn't mean that we have to take desperate measures.
I think with our economy dwindling down we need to consider all options that could bring us back on top. Weed is considered a deviant act by most parts of society because it is illegal, so immediately it is considered dangerous or criminal when in reality alcohol use has shown to be far more dangerous. Legalize it, put an age on it and tax it. Instant satisfaction. It is kind of a hit or miss, if it doesn't help or starts to badly affect society than revoke it. If legalizing marijuana helps people, the economy and becomes a all around good move then yes i believe other states would be ignorant not to consider following California's lead.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is a waste of timing bothering with the imprisonment of people who smoke weed. More adults have tried weed than the ones who haven't, so if we were to imprison anyone who has ever attempted to try marijuana, there would not be enough space to do so. I'd rather see tax dollars go towards keeping our country beautiful rather than on people who are smoking pot. I also think that if this becomes legal in California, then maybe not soon after, but one day other states will follow. California is ahead of its time as far as trends go. So if they set the bar now with legalizing marijuana, we will probably catch wind of it in the future as well.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see a link to an article, but this is an interesting topic so I felt compelled to post about it. I agree with everyone about it being pretty ridiculous that our law enforcement, and our government put such an emphasis on the marijuana issue. Our drinking age is something that I completely disagree with, when it comes to the debate on whether or not the drinking age should be reduced. I think that we should take a look at Europe's statistics on this matter. If you look at Europe's statistics on the people killed drinking and driving, and then take a look at ours, you will be in shock. Our numbers are well above most European countries. The reason for that is because the drinking age in most of Europe is below the driving age. Kids in Europe learn to drink responsibly before they are of the age to even step in a vehicle. In our country it is the exact opposite. Teens learn how to drive, then instead of being tought how to drink responsibly they get behind the wheel of a vehicle drunk as can be and end up hurting themselves or someone else. This is an issue that I feel very passionate about, and a law that we should really take a look at whether we are struggeling financially as a country or not.
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