Curious what's folks thoughts on the potential change to how the federal government views pot.

Im fine with it be decriminalized at the fed level even though I dont partake.

Should be legal. Why have a law if its not enforced

It's De facto legal in most states now, so why not?....it's not like anyone that wants it couldn't get it..for years now.

I see it as midterms talk, big pharma will never allow it

it would depend on the details of it , the devil is always in the details.

I see keeping users in prison wasting my tax dollars

now the distributors of large amounts of it , they shouldn't get a pass as dealing tends to at minimum be fax fraud and generally is a lot worse than that.

my thinking is if you aren't going to enforce a law it needs to come off the books.

and they just have not been enforcing it from what I have seen.

with Delta 9 being legal in WI because the WI law written a long time ago calls out THC form the plant not artificial.

I do wish the Wisconsin crime lab would test for it , they will not test THC if they have any blood alcohol they see it as one OWI is the same as the other , I think it should be at least tested for so we can get a better understanding of how many accidents it is causing.

I'd be curious in the states that have legalize it if it's been a good thing for society or a negative

I agree.



Same concern. From the very little time I've spent in places where it is legal, I'd say its hasn't been a positive as a whole.

It should not have ever been illegal.

It is a plant. And, the government has no business telling people what they can and cannot do with their bodies.

Freedom, people. Freedom. It is a good thing.

It's been legal here in NY for a few years, other than I think I'm smelling skunk twice a day...and we don't have any, I haven't noticed anything too negative, other than the smoke shops at the rez is making a fortune...

Driving under the influence would seem to be the main issue, but the cops don't have an ez test for that...but I read that may be in the works.

That's a tough issue with THC. For example , a guy could partake on a Sunday but be involved in an accident on Monday. A blood draw would show in his system , but not the level of impairment ; which should be negligible . But the concentration would still read high . I don't know what the fix is for that.

Sounds like Trump's seeing the Libertarian light. Good for him.

This has always been my concern. Whether you drink or smoke....stay from behind the wheel.

I've never used marijuana. I believe around half of Americans have used marijuana. I don't feel strongly either way about legalization. I suspect marijuana will be legalized.

I think marijuana has some positive uses, but mostly makes people lazy, less motivated and less productive, but that's mostly their problem, not anyone else's.

Keith

To much money is made by D.A.s enoforceing small possession infractions of marijuana of a little or over 1 ounce at 100 to 500 dallors a pop. Even if not convicted most people just pay the fines instead of paying 300 per hour for a attorney.
Do that a few hundred times per county and that is a good chunk of revenue
Yet the dealers dont seem to get busted as much.....
The dealers and the law profit on it

I know you can't go to a city it is legal without smelling it every where.
Chicago is my primary experience with that , wife said it was bad in NYC when they visited in 2023

MKE is almost as bad in places and it isn't legal , just not enforced by MPD

...It sure does stink.

It would be ironic and a little funny if the Republicans did this considering it has been something the left-wingers have talked about for a long, long time.

Unfortunately with welfare in this country it's not mostly their problem.

Attach a law to the legalization of marijuana that drug and alcohol testing is mandatory for everyone on welfare and if u fail no welfare. If you need financial help from government u shouldn't be spending money on drugs and alcohol. I'd be for it then.

Excellent idea. Or just skip a step and eliminate welfare.

Either way, a non-deadbeat's freedom should not be restricted by the acts of the deadbeats.

Cigarettes stink too. And we let people smoke those indoors, even in restaurants while eating for a long time. And then a bunch of people complained when they couldn't smoke cigarettes indoors any more.

Just sayin.

People need to study the history of weed in the USA....Go back to the 1920's and read up on the Federal Bureau of Narcotics Harry Anslinger....The alcohol, textile, and tobacco companies lobbied the politicians and got some pretty ridiculous laws passed.

People were more naive then. The movie reefer madness had folks thinking it was the devils lettuce.

Read Jack Herer's book "The emperor wears no clothes"

Pot being schedule 1, along with heroin and such is retarded....Reschedule it, adults only, and end this insanity...It's a heckuva lot less potent than whiskey or moon, and not half as bad on the body.

Smartphones are probably worse for society than weed.

It's 4:20 somewhere.

I go to Oklahoma alot, you can definitely see a difference there between before and after. Shops everywhere, people smoking, vaping, or eating the edibles everywhere. I see people driving all the time there high. Not saying drinking is any better because it’s not and I don’t do either. I don’t want Kansas to legalize it. Whatever the reason it was outlawed whether legitimate or not other than for actual medical purposes and not the 99% fake reasons people get their cards there’s no reason for it in my opinion. Alcohol is the same way. I just don’t understand why people want to alter their perception, reality, or whatever it is they are trying to do by doing those things because nothing changed after you sober up. I have friends that drink and smoke plenty, I just don’t get it. I wouldn’t vote for to legalize it, but I also wouldn’t vote for to criminalize it if it were legal because I don’t like taking away rights people have. I am all for freedom but why fight for something that really has no benefit to productive society when there are so many things more important to fight for that would improve society is my thought when this topic comes up. Maybe I see things differently and decriminalizing it would change everything for the better for mankind.

A fella told me when CO legalized it recreationally every shatbag in the country moved there.

I talked to a sheriff deputy right across the border from Colorado a few years after they legalized it. He wasn't impressed with the trouble it had caused in his county

Just what the world needs is another class of crap faced drivers on our roads!!!!! Grrr
AND, to those dope eaters that say it's no worse than alcohol, Well Is it any better??

Well, yes, actually it is better. A lot better. Like, by a huge margin.

178,000 alcohol related deaths per year. Basically zero marijuana related deaths per year.

(I'm not a marijuana user, btw. Tried it a couple times right out of highschool. Not for me).

Give the junkies time to catch up with the juicers, shouldn't take too long.

So, a MJ user causes a fatal accident under the influence, but there's no test other than a blood test and that only tells if there has been THC in the system, but not if you're high at the time of the accident....how do you categorize that?

They tried for medical here and recreational at the same time I just laughed because it’s all the same thing in the end. It just ticks me off that places just choose the laws they want to follow then don’t bend on other, laws I fail to see the justice in that.

If folks used it in their own homes, did not try to deal the stuff or drive around high nobody would care.

There is special drug impairment training out there to determine if a DUI is taking place, simply impaired is impaired the training helps to recognize if it’s the case.

So you’re all for people growing poppy plants?

Indeed.

P.S. People already grow poppy plants. The government just tells them what they cannot do with those poppy plants.

Should never have made illegal to begin with , just a political move at the time against Mexicans coming here

In Oregon organized crime associated with it went away. There is such a glut on the market that ounces of high octane stuff sell for what they did when I was in Junior HS. Or roughly about 10-20 times less than it used to.

If it became legal federally Oregon's growers could ship it out of state.

I don't really see many more people smoking it than what there used to be around here. The glamor is gone for sure.

What about the smell test?

Living in a state where it is legal, IMO it has had very negative effects. I feel the money has corrupted our state government, crime has increased and our roads are far less safe to drive on. Thats my 2 cents.

Your thoughts on peyote then?

Lmao is huge patches of poppys planted along I-81

People are already dumb and lazy. No need to add more. Opposed.

You can't go anywhere in Chicagoland now without smelling it. Everywhere in the city it reeks of it. It's taboo to smoke cigarettes in public now but nobody does anything about all the public pot-smoking.

The same in Vegas it’s on the street in the elevators stinks to high haven. I cherish my brain some folk must not care about that it’s their brain.

Why should the government dictate what you can and cannot do. Should we ban alcohol and guns because they also kill people? I mean let’s at least be consistent. Decisions and irresponsibility kill people, objects/drugs don’t.

The "I smell pot" line has been used by countless cops to perform unconstitutional searches when they couldn't otherwise obtain probable cause. No doubt that if that were the standard for DUIs it would be the same.

I realize that there's no good test for cannabis intoxication, but there's just no good test YET.

How about make it legal to grow and use but keep it illegal to sell.

Seems like it is anyone elses problem when they take my tax money to provide welfare money to lazy, less motivated, and less productive people as you call them.

I don't think that people using marijuana should be supported by the American tax payer either.

Keith

Since there is no good test, your previous statistic is meaningless.

Drugs do eventually lead to physical addiction, though, which makes it very difficult for people to voluntarily quit. Some drugs lead to awful and, in the case of alcohol (one of the WORST drugs in this respect), potentially lethal withdrawal symptoms. And when people reach this point, there is always collateral damage to other people around them.

States like Washington and California thought they were going to make a killing off the taxes that the sale of legal pot would bring in. It worked at first, but now the competition in the market is causing the price to collapse and the tax revenue to shrink substantially. The pot industry in CA is asking for bailouts as it is becoming impossible for many to produce at a profit.

Pot sales in the first quarter of 2025 in Washington was $277 million, in 2021 it was $377 million. it has been decreasing for the past five years, not because there is less demand, but because it is getting cheaper.

In Washington there are three tiers in the industry; (1) Grower, (2) Processor/Wholesaler, (3) Retailer. License holders can only be involved one of the three businesses. Each business pays the State a 25% tax on their sales, This means the pot is taxed at 25% three separate times, plus the consumer pays a 10% sales tax. The State is now worried about the declining revenue. Kind of humorous imo.

They shouldn't be bailed out. CA should let the market correct and proceed to stabilize.

I wish everytime I had to go to waldo world I didn't have to smell half arsed skunk smell. I always tell my daughter we should show them what good skunk smells like.

I wonder what choices folks would make if those choices voided the health or financial services it takes to counter their bad choices in life. So they have the right to keep making poor choices then expect the same as that of a better lifestyle person has available or better take that service away from a person that choose a healthy lifestyle.

So it’s all about doing what you want without the responsibility of those choices how fair is that?

careful, it might make your kids chubby thank you folks would have something to complain about again.

What?

What? What?

Lmao is huge patches of poppys planted along I-81[/quote]

Not all Poppy's can produce opiates

Here is what I found for some stats.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8672945/

All these

….. a period after “that” would have helped him understand.

Then you and your libertarian fruits should be screaming to legalize meth, heroin and cocaine.

I wonder if you draw the freedom line at these drugs? If you do, you a hypocrite. If you don't, you're an idiot. You talk about making society better in one breath by getting rid of welfare and making people work then in another breath you talk about the benefits of adding drug use to an already doped up society. SMH!!!

But because you're a lawyer you will never be wrong in your own mind.

Did you seriously just type that drugs don't kill people?

Ever heard of narcan?

He’s right, though. If you want to be a meth head, go for it. The fact that it’s illegal stops no one. The war on drugs is a waste of resources.
Do whatever drugs you want, just don’t bill me for your behavior.

….. I knew a guy that liked the way that Chrystal meth smelled

… coon huntin son of a gun lol

Someone made the conscious decision to take the drug that may or may not kill them. Who is forcing someone to shoot up and OD? It was their own choice. Addictions start with a choice in the beginning, no excuses.

Guns kill people every day too, because someone made a decision to use them in that manner. Should we make them illegal? That is the individuals poor choice and irresponsibility.

Alcohol kills people daily. Because someone made the decision to be irresponsible. Should we make alcohol illegal?

Please explain the differences. It’s two sides of the same tree. People make bad decisions and act irresponsibly every day with all sorts of things. Does that mean they should ruin it for those that make good decisions and act responsibly? Why does big brother get to decide what is and what is not acceptable?

Not all decisions are legal, nor should they be.

I understand what you are saying but it is myself or my family or yours that will suffer from the actions done in a drug induced state by choice. Then there will be a lawyer that will take up his case and plead his tough life and broken family and blah blah blah while you or I mourn the death of family.

I get the alcohol thing but just like the 2A, are you willing to give up a little bit and hope the slippery slope doesn't start? I am not.

Freedom comes with a cost. If it means ensuring people are not more intoxicated that they already are with legal and illegal drugs, so be it.

For the life of me I don't understand drug legalization. It benefits no society. EVER!!

Pretty easy to test is somone is drunk (aka currently on alcohol)
No way yo know if THC is active in the system.
That makes the statistics hard to figure out, but I agree alcohol abuse is more evil than pot but also I don't want to pick between a lesser of two evils.





There is a reason they call it "dope", and its not because ot makes you smart.

It's infuriating than taking the time to explain something to someone and looking at their eyes to see the glazed over almost blank stare of them trying to hide that they are stoned.

I used to smoke but since quitting, a little over a decade ago, I've become against its use and legalization.

So you are willing to allow someone to make those decisions at your or my peril in the name of freedom?

There are limits for a civil society. We are not becoming more civil by allowing more free intoxication.

Now if there were extremely harsh penalties, ok. Example, if you kill my daughter in a vehicle accident running from satan because you are high enough to think that, then your daughter is to be given the death penalty, not you.

Responsibilities, right?

Wait....did I really just see someone argue that people shouldn't be be allowed to have legal representation? Yikes

Thanks

Harsh choices require immense responsibility. And never forget, you will probably be paying for the piece of craps public defender. And when that happens they delay and delay for more money while you pay for their incarceration, medical and dental care.

Anyone who thinks increase drug use doesn't affect anyone but the user should probably not ever complain about society problems that abundance drug abuse brings with it. Legalizing will make it's use more accepted and will increase the users and usage.

So legalize them all?

Well, the alternative is to legislate what people can and can't put in their own bodies.

If you support drug criminalization, then you support the govt telling people what they can't put into their own bodies, and I ain't about that sort of tyranny. Simple as that.

Freedom is messy.

Then are you for the harsh penalties I suggest? If a person decides to put something in their body that endangers me or my family, penalties should be more dangerous.

Or is the freedom to get stoned more important?

And speaking of tyranny.

Will guns keep us from tyranny or allow it's fruition?

Same question for drugs.

Well of course I'm for punishment of crime against other people. If someone hurts you or your family either intentionally or through negligence, then they should be punished. The simple act of using, selling, purchasing a plant or chemical doesn't harm anyone though. (Unless you're the tax man and don't get your cut, of course).

But I'm also in support of legal representation and the concept of innocent until proven guilty.

The criminalization of either is tyranny.

The criminalization of guns is tyranny because it prevents one from being able to defend oneself against violence.

The criminalization of drugs is tyranny because it is govt control over another person's bodily autonomy.

What was the beneficial purpose of the 2A?

What would be the beneficial purpose of legalizing meth?

We have the 2nd Amendment for guns. There is no such thing for drugs. I'd prefer to leave it up to the individual states where the citizens themselves can vote on their drug policy.

I am and it is legal

making a tea of the blossoms is also legal

refining it is not

Decades ago if it were up to me I would have made pot legal IF , you grew it yourself and kept it on your own property and made it have zero commercial value make the act of selling it illegal , give the seeds to be transported in quantities of 50 or less but no transporting it.

the issue is in super concentration and making it for others consumption not at your home.

Of course selling someone something doesn't harm anyone. That is only a business transaction. But the consumption of said product has the potential to cause death.

How should all of these hallucinogens and narcotics be taxed? Who is gonna regulate the potency and production? Where will the Coca and marijuana be farmed? In order to be safe we should also make all the products used to make meth legal. Will we need to offer even more free detox facilities and free methadone clinics?

And the most important question. Who pays the taxes for all of this? The bureaucracy will be immense.

And to be guarded with zeal and the harshest of penalties. I could not agree more.

At minimum, marijuana should be reclassified. The very definition of a Schedule I narcotic is that it has no currently accepted medical use and lack of accepted safety under medical supervision. This is pretty bogus considering how many states have legalized it for medical use, and the proven medical benefits.

Personal example: I had a significant shoulder surgery when I was 19. Instead of taking the doctor-prescribed heavy duty opiates (which are proven to be seriously addictive) I just used marijuana instead. It worked just as well as the opiates, but also allowed me to have an appetite and sleep like a baby.

100% in favor of medical use. Wish my mom would have tried medical marijuana or THC of some kind. She was addicted to oxy and it was brutal. Still alive and sober now.

Bingo!!!

The sky did not fall with legalized weed here.

I coon hunted with a guy like that once….we treed on the side of a corn field and when I shined the tree, he said look at em all…there’s hundreds of em. He thought every star in the sky was coon eyes!

Not from my experience. A couple of months back, I took a single hit and could barely function. It reminded me why I never liked weed. The stuff they produce now is nothing like what they produced back in the day, which for me was in the 70s. I'll stick with beer and scotch.

When the government can tell you what you can put in your body you loose freedom and it has creap. I can't butcher a cow on my farm and sell a lb of meat to a neighbor legally becuse I'm not a licensed processing facility. Same goes for selling a quart of goat milk.

O but it's for safety. People are to dumb to be able to.chose what they deam safe for their family. I'm sure the Mexicans in the processing plant care about sanitation and quality far less than I do considering I'm feeding myself and family out of the same freezer.

But what can you say some people need to feel like the government keeps them safe and won't take responsibility to do that for themselves.

Ha! Similar. I took a hit from a friend a few months ago and it ruined me for the night and into the next day. I hit it hard though like it was 1999 all over again.

I do feel like a hypocrite though because I drink which I feel is more destructive.

Same here, but like it was 1979 all over again.

Make it federally legal than let the states decide then tax it Federally and lower our income tax. Right now its a joke that it is federally banned but all but six states make it legal. The feds found out long ago with booze you cant stop people from drinking, or gambling just as well stop the nonsense and tax it. I have never used it most likely because it was not around when I was a kid and never needed it in Nam the beer was enough.

If only there was a better way to have accountability for peoples bad choices the ones abusing themselves the most are supported by the folks making better choices. I see the handicapped van going down the road and they are smoking a cigarette and see zero accountability there and nothing will be done about it they don’t care!

No shortage of pearl clutching up in here. Lol

… one hand in here even seen somebody smoking a cigarette while driving

… must be a rough area lol

… I was hunting with wild ol hand from Crockett one time

.. I was tired and he said he had some truck driver pills …. I took one of those and you talk about being alert now lol

… I have no idea what that was but it definitely wasn’t caffeine lol

That sounds like either some laced weed, or you smoked the best ganja ever...Got a challenge for you...Haven't smoked in years, but bring the best weed you can find, and I will take 3 hits, talk a bit and walk off the porch with no problem.

Then, I'll pour you a glass of moon...You won't finish it....And I'll pack you off the porch, Lol

You can have the stuff. I also could not move when I tried it in the past. Stuck in a chair outside listening to INXS just blown away with the music.
Ate a whole bag of radishes and texted everyone I knew about radishes insisting that they try them.

While that is funny, I was really worried because I could not function whatsoever. If someone needed help I couldn’t do anything.

Do guns kill people or the person using the gun?

Weed, meth, booze, Tylenol, candy, all the same.

People make choices and the outcome is the result of the person’s choice(s).

People don't get physically addicted to guns.

I would say the least contributing member of society is the drug addict they are a drain on every resource and person they come in contact with while addicted. If the truth would set them free they would continue to lie out of habit it’s just the way it is. Never seen or heard anyone ever say anything positive about an addict that was real or that lasted very long.

A local addict just passed early on I knew her as a kid before she went over to the dark side then I had to deal with her professionally for many years. Drugs and only drugs was the only priority in her life, zero empathy for the rest of the world while demanding everything she wanted be given to her. Every word out of her was a manipulative action to get what she wanted. She would destroy your life for not giving her a second cigarette when the deal was only one and that was a high risk ordeal giving the one smoke.

I quit doing part time transports because I would not take her to a doctor appointment by myself that they screwed up on. I can cover my time on a transport by checking in every 15 minutes and the time traveled to do the next place but a Dr. appointment you can’t do it it’s a huge risk. For what they paid me it’s not worth the hassle playing the reindeer games. Get me a matron or have a female take her but I’m not going alone with her.

I’m not saying people cannot overcome addictions but I do not deal with those folks much if they got it together in life unless in some random run in. I don’t think more drugs are a good thing. The people that are shouting freedom don’t shout much about responsibility and expect you to be responsible for their bad choices if things go south that becomes their right then.

I don’t know about that you have never been to a gun shop with me I start to twitch a bit.

If they were withdrawal symptoms from a physical addiction, wouldn't you twitch after leaving the gun shop and not from entering?

Where has anyone in this entire thread said that anybody but the drug addict should be responsible for the drug addicts bad choices?

All I've seen out of the pro-legalization side is a desire to also end the welfare state.

Of course, that includes ending medicare and disability. All the folks, young and old, who have health problems from a lifetime of smoking, drinking, or poor eating habits should also be responsible for themselves and not rely on the public dole.

Just read where some age groups have seen a 90% reduction in alcohol use.
Maybe they enjoy no hangovers ?
Haven't looked into it.
But it did say mostly the younger crowd.
I do have a card and I use when needed.
Alcohol doesn't fit well beyond the occasional cold beers.
When offered.

So you end up in the hospital by your choice who’s paying for that bad choice it’s not rocket science is it are you selling your house to make it right?

Me personally? I have insurance.

In the case of the drug addict (or the old guy who are garbage their whole life)? If they have insurance, good for them. Their insurance company can decide whether to pay for it. That a contractual relationship between those two parties. If they don't have insurance? Too bad, should have made better life choices.

So if legalized will insurance companies be expected to pay for overdose and reaction issues? Is that now a healthcare issue it goes on and on.

You have dangerous drug insurance that must be comforting.

Only if they choose to. Ending the welfare state, as I see it, includes ending forcing insurance companies to cover things (Obamacare nonsense).

If an insurance company wants to sell a plan that covers drug problems, then that's their business. If not, then that's also their business. (Of course, if a person purchases insurance that covers drug problems, then the insurance company needs to honor their contract).

So......if a drug addict ends up in the hospital but has no insurance........how does the hospital get reimbursed ?

Same situation with illegal aliens.

Those unpaid costs affect all of society in higher costs for hospital services........except to the freeloader.

IMO the hospital has a valid expectation of getting paid............and not by the tax payer

Ending the welfare state would mean that they get kicked to the curb. Can't pay? Get out.

The folks that don't like that plan are free to donate to the medical charity of their choosing.

I'm ok with that !!

Leaving addicts to die on the streets would be a bit of an eyesore, I would think, and not something I would want children to see on a regular basis.

Even if his insurance would cover it who’s paying the lions share of that hospital bill and it impacts more than just him but I don’t think that little light ever going to shine. If they don’t cover it then will it be more rights or responsibility we know the answer.

"Leaving addicts to die on the streets would be a bit of an eyesore, I would think, and not something I would want children to see on a regular basis."

Parents used to take their kids to public hangings, kids in third world cesspools see horrible stuff every day, might be a lesson in there somewhere...