Legalize, regulate, tax it.

pot is not like other drugs. so legalize it.
Meth labs can blow up- pot plants(or all plants) better the air quality.

I personally think it should be treated like other herb plants. Many people don't drink even though that's legal.

June 17th, 2009 12:59 pm ET
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“no ability to tax it” ?!?!?

There is an ABSOLUTE ability to tax it! Domestic growers have a divided philosophy. If legalized their revenue would drop substantially to make up for the high tax rate placed on the cannabis, and keep the street price basically the same as now. There would likely be increased competition as well. On the other side, growers are sympathetic to the cause of legalizing it because they see cannabis as the benign enlightening, healing substance that it is. One thing is certain, no domestic grower wants to get raided and face huge fines, court cases, and jail time, not to mention collateral damage of a potentially destroyed family life. If it was legalized and growers had to face a cut in value of their product regardless, I can tell you they would be lining up to get their permits to grow legally ASAP. They pay their tax to get the permit, they dispense only to dispensaries or face big penalties. The dispensaries do what they do with the appropriate tax levied, and regulate sales to legal adults only. If people have to pay the same price for legal weed from a dispensary as for illegal weed ( and face a penalty) virtually everyone will buy legally. Look at all the people obtaining medical cards fraudulently- they WANT to do it in a legal manner and follow the rules. To say you couldn’t tax it is ASININE! The masses don’t want to put in the energy or pay the start-up costs of growing their own, anyway. It is easier to make beer than to grow decent cannabis, yet how many people do you see substituting home brewing all their beer as opposed to hopping over to the liquor store to buy a six pack? Over 99% would just go to the store where the selection is way better, the quality is assured, and the ingestion methods are varied. Never forget, the masses are inherently lazy. Couldn’t tax it, HA!!!! I’ve just displayed not only how it can be taxed, but also how it could be regulated. I should add that this is also just for the direct cannabis consumption, not even including all the by-products of hemp! Entirely new kinds of industries, businesses, and products would explode onto the scene. Hemp has seemingly limitless uses! Think about all the job creation from these new industries, think of all the taxes paid by legitimate businesses. The tax revenue that would be collected from all aspects of business related to this plant, is simply mind-boggling. Mind-boggling to the tune of BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of Dollars! To keep this plant illegal is grossly negligent to the health of this country, particularly now. Its direct consumption is safer than alcohol, tobacco, aspirin, most pharmaceuticals, fast food, and is credited to many health benefits. Its indirect consumption is, I feel, the larger case for legalization. With a little research you will find that hemp is a wonder plant and I see so many jobs being created from industries that would spring up from its legalization. I see the revenue being immense, I see it being very environmentally responsible.
All this stigma… what a shame.

Of course, legalize it

Legalize it

Depression has always been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. I’m 50. My question is why was it the first time I got high I felt my depression melt away. I have quit several times any where from a few years to a few months and in between. My depression always comes back. Sometimes it takes longer sometimes not. Sometimes worse sometimes not. But as soon as it comes back to a point, I break down and take my life and future in my hands in hopes the law won’t catch me. This is the only way I’ve been able live a “productive” life. I don’t want the pharma depression pill. I had a certain instinct telling me to hold off on that. Boy, glad I listened. Side effects don’t look to good. The thing is, God provided a plant to help with this. Who are they to tell me, or worse yet tell God I can’t use this plant to help me and many many more. Legalize it!!!

Legalize it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Legalize it already. The government would save tons not fighting to eliminate it and make millions taxing and regulating it, like alcohol and tobacco.

Absolutely for medical use! I watched my mother slowly die of breast cancer, being unable to eat and sustain conversation because of the opiates. There is a better alternative. Cannabis as medicine has thousands of years of evidence for its medical efficacy. It's a compassion issue!

Decriminalize pot. Do not legalize it. I realize that there is a great prospect for gaining government revenue from such taxation; and I do not believe that smoking pot leads to "harder drug" use; but I believe that damage is done to families and it is a bad example for children. Again, it is not the only "legal" bad example, however, adding to the list is not the answer. I do not intend to stand on "moral high ground", but it is time not do this and cause issues that the court system has to analyze in endless battles such as abortion rights and freedom of religion. Leave this issue alone. Don't jail users and don't package pot with a tax stamp.

how can there even be a debate on this subject. it should of never ben made alligel in the first place, god put it here for us to enjoy and thrive off of, i mean look at all the uses we can get from the plant. how can the government be so ludacris as to think they can stop poeple from using marijuana. If it was legalized we as a country could nurish our economy back to where it should be and get the goverment to stop wasting our tax dollers trying to stop people from growing it, they\’ve spent billions of dollers, when is every one gonna say something about there money being wasted. I just have one question for you \’\'GOVERMENT\’\’ who are you to try to tell me I cant do some thing that makes me happy!!

I am 60 years old, and I have severe health issues that can cause great pain. About 10 years ago I was on so much pain medicine that made me so very very sick I just went from bed to chair. Finally my teenage children sat me down and had an intervention. They said I should try smoking pot. It changed my life. Last year I went to India for three glorious weeks. It took some pushing and pulling by the young people with me, but I went everywhere. The people we were staying with knew of my illness and my medicine choice and made sure I had a supply. It was glorious, since at one time I had given up all hope of even leaving the house except to go to doctors! Stop the insanity of prosecuting our citizens for a plant that never should have been made illegal in the first place. Legalize marijuana now.

It's Medicine. Marijuana helps people that have constant chronic pain!
Alcohol is legal. Driving under the influence is illegal. Legalize it!
Obama promised to help however when it's presented to him just to get his opinion on legalization he goes around the issue. I welcome
a discussion with Anderson to discuss how an educated fuctioning
mom uses pot on a regular basis just to function at her job! No I don't use it to get high! I use it to be pain free and to able to function daily.
Legalize,Legalize,Legalize and get California out of debt.

Legalize it !
Start growing hemp for many other uses. Food, clothes, hemp seeds can be made into a protein butter that could feed the world. Medicinal herb is what it really is. Let us make our own choices.
Stop spending our money to criminalize something that should be legal.
Letting the people in jail for it now out will save us a fortune.
Let them go home and get a job and pay taxes. Let the growers pay taxes too. See how quick we could pay off our national debt.

legalize it!!!!!!!!!!
happy people do not kill other people or themselves!

YES! we waste billions of dollars TRYING to fight a WEED and lose billions of dollars by not regulating, taxing and selling it to responsible adults who seek a non-lethal way to relax and inturn hand over money,power and guns to an illegal empire. the only lifes lost by weed are due to prohibition because it forces otherwise law abiding citizens into potentially violent situations and if theyre caught they get a criminal record and lose there chance at a decent life!

Legalize and tax it just like alcohol and cigarette products. 22 million Americans have admitted to using in it the past year. I'm sure each and everyone of them would be happy to pay a tax if it meant not having to live in fear of being arrested for consuming a non-toxic eco-friendly plant.

Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! Re-legalize it! ...and as Forest Gump would say, "that's all I've got to say about that".

Yes, it's time to legalize marijuana. Haven't we learned from alcohol prohibition that it simply does not work! even back then when alcohol was prohibited, people still used alcohol regardless of the laws against it. And like alcohol, people still use marijuana since it was declared illegal in 1937. Prohibition Just simply does not work!! It's time to legalize marijuana. Tax It, Regulate it, Put Age limits on it, Because enough is enough. Marijuana Prohibition has to end, like ex- President Jimmy Carter said: "Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual that the use of the drug itself" Not that marijuana is damaging at all, its actually far more safer than alcohol. Its impossible to overdose on, and dose not cause liver damage, or any adverse health effects associated with alcohol. So put and end to the reefer madness, and legalize marijuana ones and for all!

Now I just hope this nation will come to it's senses and legalize marijuana. Much like alcohol prohibition was repealed because of though economic times. Perhaps the same can happen with marijuana in this current economic recession. It would create a lot of tax revenue, and create millions of new jobs.

Legalize It!! Tax It!! Regulate It!! Put Age Limits On It!!
Just stop the nonsense prohibition

From Denver, Colorado
-Juan Ledezma

We've wasted billions of dollars on this drug war. I haven't smoked it in about 20 years but I still believe it could do so much good. Most police organizations oppose its legalization because they get alot of money from the federal government to keep fighting this losing battle. It's irrational.

Wake Up!!! and do the right thing.

Legalize it. Its been proven verly benine, it would pump billions in to the economy and the leglization of pot would be a major blow to organized crime networks. Besides even at its highest potency the stuff isn't even that impairing. I got a 26 on my a.c.t no prep and first time through stoned and hung onver.

Legalize,regulate and tax-NOW. Get Pres. Obama on CNN to discuss legalization.

Legalize it. Don't criticize it.
Sure, it makes some people lazy and they just don't give a damn, but does it make a difference to them whether it's legal? No. For many users of cannabis, myself included, it's an herb that enhances life. Legalizing could open the minds of thousands of people. It stops the waste of OUR tax money to stop people that aren't even criminals.

I am a US citizen from the state of NY. I want Pot TO BE LEGALIZED. there is a bill that i urge you too pass H.R. 5843 it is a bill which was introduced to congress on July 30th 2008.
Marijuana should be legalized, because it is asinine for it to be a federal crime. For men with their God given right to freedom, and their God given right to use any plant which grows in the soil on the whole face of the Earth.
From a spiritual point of view. I mean who do the people whom lobby against legalization of marijuana think they are? To go directly against God's perfect law.
Alas, spirituality is at a loss these days anyway, so i have to give you a reason worth its weight in salt. There are over 23 million American Citizens currently incarcerated in the federal correctional system, and yes that is a real statistic look it up, or watch the movie Felon. To put that number in perspective for you, there are only 303 million American Citizens as of 2008 census. So every 1 out of, say 15 American citizens are living in a cage. A great number of these people who are incarcerated, are non violent offenders. This figure only continues to grow larger with marijuana being a federal crime. The number is only growing, as well as the number of prisons in the US. One man is too many for such a HARMLESS OFFENSE. There is no American flag, that is large enough, to hide the shame of our men in cuffs.
Marijuana is harmless to others, and relatively harmless to the person doing it. It only effects you memory and mind when your under the influence of the active THC chemical. The legal consequences are EXTREMELY harmful to the person smoking it, and others around them. Instead the politicians insist on taking the providers of families away, so that their families may dry up, turn to dust, and blow away in the wind... Instead we have literally millions of single mothers trying to pay rent, and provide the necessities of their children. Reader, this i think, you may agree is unacceptable, under our form of government, a government for the people and by the people.
Please lets just pretend that people in this country still have the power, and its not starting to form into a dictatorship with multiple faces. The federal government has spent over a trillion dollars on the "war on weed". Whew, that is a big chunk of the national debt. isn't it?

QUOTE TIME:

"“To those who say that the government should not be encouraging the smoking of marijuana, my response is that I completely agree,” said Representative Barney Frank (D-MA). “But it is a great mistake to divide all human activity into two categories: those that are criminally prohibited, and those that are encouraged. In a free society, there must be a very considerable zone of activity between those two poles in which people are allowed to make their own choices as long as they are not impinging on the rights, freedom, or property of others. I believe … criminalizing choices that adults make because we think they are unwise ones, when the choices involved have no negative effect on the rights of others, is not appropriate in a free society.”"

Barney Frank was the man that tried to get H.R. 5843 passed though congress, however its just another bill hanging out over there on capital hill, probably all moldy by now. I mean its almost been a year since it was introduced. I'm going to Jail in three weeks people!!! Its time for the tree of life to heal the nations of the world.

Can you imagine the multi-billion dollar business that would start, right here, at home in America. High times has estimated that the money spent each year on marijuana by American citizens alone surpasses 38 billion a year. Think of the millions of jobs that would be created. I mean that could really help us out in this "recession" which looks like a depression. Sadly i don't think were gonna be able to world war our way out of this one. It would at least provide as many jobs for this country as alcohol, or tobacco products have in the past years.

Finally, keeping something illegal that so many Americans use is unconstitutional. When people are searched by the "drug dogs", or tricked out of their right to not be searched, by police officers who are trained by our government. These police officers are trained to force us out of our rights. I mean what if the dog just sniffs the car like he would a fire hydrant, or tree, should that give the state trooper, sheriff, or policeman the right to search our automobiles?

Just for a moment, think what would happen if everyone who smokes marijuana was suddenly arrested. It goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway, where would we put all those people. I mean basically everyone i know smokes it. When you have 10,000 American Middle Class young adults 18-23 getting arrested in the same city, in the same year. I think we have a bit of a PROBLEM, which we may have to treat with a little more time, and care.

I pre-apologize for being brash, but reader there is something wrong with you, if you can't see the problem which i have presented to you this day.

To those who have ears let them hear.
Minor drug offenders fill your prisons
You don't even flinch,
All our taxes paying for your wars
Against the new non-rich.
All research and successful drug policy
show That treatment should be increased,
And law enforcement decreased,
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences.
Drug money is used to rig elections
And train brutal corporate sponsored dictators
Around the world.

Respectfully,
Mark Seasigh

Legalize it. I am curious to hear the opposing arguments... actually any of the LOGICAL opposing arguments. All the arguments I have heard against cannabis legalization boils down to people personally just not wanting it to be legal because their parents told them it was bad.

Listen, alcohol and tabacco kills more people a year than pot. Mexico is at war with the drug cartel. The cartels make a tremendous amount of profit from pot. Take that away from them and cash in ourselves. Police need to stop dangerous drug use not pot crimes.

The only people who say no to legalization are those who also believe the government was honest about the war in Iraq. These may be the same people who actually think that alcohol is safer than marijuana. These same people would probably stop eating food if the government told them not to. I have never witnessed any one under the influence of marijuana beat their wife, or kill someone while driving under the influence like so many do while under the influence of alcohol. Use your minds people! The government has been feeding you lies so they do not have to admit the war on marijuana has failed miserably. As a military policeman I have been witness to horrific events ALL due to alcohol. We even use to joke about if marijuana was legal, that it sure would make our weekends easier. Broken families, broken noses, over doses of hard alcohol, that is our better option? Time to grow up and look at the proof. Marijuana is safer that alcohol. Ask any policman, and Im sure as long as they aren't from some red state, they will tell you the same thing I am saying right now. Legalize it, tax it, and lets move on.

Legalize it, control it, sell it and tax it.

I think legalizing pot should be put to a vote and anyone who has'nt tried it don't get to vote.

Yes, legalize it. Its harmless, escpecially compared to alcohol and tobacco! Other countries have done it and don't have a problem with it, people are going to use it no matter what, so why not get that money into our sinking economy? If everyone smoked pot, the world would be a much more peaceful place, that's for sure.

Re-Legalize Cannabis in the United States of America! Regulation is always better than Prohibition!

Legalize marijuana, please. I have titanium in my wrist and this is the only thing that kills the pain yet still alows me to function.

LEGALIZE IT. Use the money being thrown away trying to fight it somewhere else that desperately needs the money.

Yes, marijuana prohibition should be lifted.

There are absolutely no benefits from prohibition over regulation.

If you are worried about the safety of the product:
Prohibition is not preventing people from using the drug, but it is making the drug more dangerous because no health and safety standards are enforced. Therefore when considering health and safety, one must support regulation over prohibition.

If you are concerned about deaths and ruined lives:
Marijuana causes 0 deaths annually. It has no risk of overdose, nor has it been linked to cancer (studies that have hypothesized that it would have been unable to support that hypothesis). It is also not physiologically addictive. However, the drug war results in at least 6,000 deaths annually, and around 800,000 arrests (most of them for simple possession). Many of those people arrested will be charged and will lose student loans, jobs, ability to travel, and possibly custody of their children, potentially ruining their lives. It's obvious that the drug war is more harmful than the drug by orders of magnitude. Therefore when it comes to deaths and ruined lives, one must support regulation over prohibition.

If you are worried about people driving high:
Under prohibition, many people have to pretend they don't use Marijuana, and are forced to drive high because of this fact. If it were legal, they could call home and say "I'm high, so I'm going to sleep over/call a cab." Some of the billions of dollars saved could help fund sobriety tests designed to detect impairment from Marijuana that are not currently available. Therefore when considering the issue of high driving, one must support regulation over prohibition.

If you are worried about teens using it:
Prohibition enables easy access by teens because drug dealers do not card. It is easier to obtain than alcohol because of the black market created by prohibition. Therefore when considering teen usage, one must support regulation over prohibition.

If you are worried about the economy:
The latest estimates show a net annual benefit (including both added revenue and reduced costs) for regulation over prohibition to be $77 billion. Therefore when considering the economy, one must support regulation over prohibition.

If you support the free market:
The market has spoken. Marijuana is the #1 cash crop in the United States. One of the main reasons why it became illegal in the first place is because a pulp and paper mogul did not want free market competition with industrial hemp, so he campaigned to make both industrial hemp and the related plant people use as marijuana illegal. (the other main reason was racism, btw)
Therefore when considering a free market economy, one must support regulation over prohibition.

...and I could easily continue with every other issue surrounding Marijuana. The argument for regulation is overwhelming. The argument for prohibition is non-existent.

Legalize.

First off, I don't even smoke normal cigarettes.

Second, I first smelled marijuana at my first rock concert (KISS), and I couldn't stand the smell...it made me nausea so I can just imagine how sick it would make me if I actually smoked a joint!

I get high enough from lemon poppy-seed muffins, thank you very much.

BTW-growing regular plain ole tobacco should be banned as well! Then there would be no smoking anything except meat.

If anyone if for keeping it illegal. shout out. I would like to hear any argument. Almost all can be proven false. Way to costly for any state or government to control. The only reason Its illegal is for profit. To give someone something to do to spend OUR taxes.. Legalize IT..

Legalize it.

The History Channel did an excellent program that chonicles the story of how it became illegal. It exposed the disinformation campaign that lead to it becoming illegal. It would be good if CNN could tie that into the story you're trying to present. Disinformation is a huge part of the marijuana story.

People can use it responsibly, and in a free society, they should have that right.

The modern marijuana industry is in its infancy. Legalize it.

Set up licensing committees to oversee grower licenses. Do the same for sellers.

Drive illegal suppliers out of the market by setting the after-tax price of legal marijuana at a level too low for them to match. Result: no dealers, no access to marijuana by children, an end to the cartel murders.

End the 2,000 daily arrests for possession, end the 6,000 yearly cartel murders. Allow marijuana to be sold in bars under the same laws as alcohol.

This whole subject is a no brainer " legalize it "
I wonder how many of the people who don't want it legalized smoke tobacco or drink alcohol ?

Legalize it NOW NOW NOW!!!! This has gone on far too long. Just do it.

If we look at the cold logic of numbers and the market, the conclusion is that are spends billions of dollars a year, there are many kills and arrests, but the traffic is sophisticated, creating parallel powers and seeps in the police and politics . Consumption increases in all social classes.

A greater realism in the fight against drugs, without bias or ideological views, would help to reduce damage to persons, companies and institutions.

its about time that people start engaging in a dialouge about weed. ive been smoking for 15 years . i goto work on time , i pay my bills and i obey all laws execpt when i smoke. ive never been in a fight over weed , ive never had a weed hang over and never over dosed. people that dont smoke dont have to.

One must first ask why pot is illegal in the first place?? It was made illegal at the time of Prohibition for religious and political purposes – definitely not for medical reasons. How could they have even known its effects on the body at that time when the structure of DNA had not even been elucidated? Since then, our government has fed the public propaganda against it. Maybe that is why the DEA still stands by these lies (they probably would lose some jobs if it were legal). The truth is that it binds to 2 receptors in the body – CB1 and CB2. CB2 is on lymphocytes in the body, and by THC binding to it, it reduces inflammation in the body....good for autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases but bad for those with acute infection. CB1 is in the brain, and THC binding to this receptor induces an intracellular cascade of events that results in the production of euphoric chemicals. People make a protein called anandamide that binds these same receptors, for these same reasons. We would not make something that will bind to our own cells and kill them. Weed does not kill neurons in the brain – do not believe the government lies! There are valid medical reasons for THC usage. Marinol does not work as well as Nature's version. I am glad to see the significant financial and medicinal benefits are finally being discussed here!

legalize it!!!!!! prohibition dosent work

Legalize it, don't critisize it.

Legalize it . Free the people in jail for it. I haven't smoked a j in 20yrs. It opened doors for me spiritually that have expanded now without the use of pot. But I don't know if those doors would have opened without pot to show me the way.

Prohibition on anything doesn’t work. It didn’t work on alcohol, It wont work on guns or abortion. and it certainly doesn’t work on pot. Ask any teenager what is easer to get, cigarettes, alcohol, or pot. What works is education. The decline in cigarette use is a great example. We need to legalize, tax, regulate marijuana, and above all educate the public on the benefits and risks of consuming it.

Legalize it and stop arresting people for it!

Marijuana should be legalized

Legalize it!!!!!!

ITS TIME TO WAKE UP AND SMELL THE BUD AMERICA