Mainstream marijunna and minorities.

[The Wandering God]

So, CNN ran an opinion piece about marijunna becoming more mainstream. However, more arrests than ever are taking place.

In 2008, the police arrested 847,864 people nationwide for marijuana violations, according to the 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report. Pot arrests represent fully half of all drug arrests reported in the United States. The overwhelming majority -- a whopping 89 percent -- were charged with possession only.

Most striking, the marijuana arrest rate in the United States has nearly tripled since 1991.

And, surprise surprise, the arrests are mostly among blacks and Latinos.

In New York City, blacks and Latinos -- who represent about half the city's population -- accounted for 86 percent of everyone charged with pot possession in 2008. The NYCLU report says federal studies show young whites use marijuana at higher rates than blacks and Latinos.

I realize we've done this before, but I wanted to post it for a couple of reasons.

1. It was on the main page of CNN, and it is a anti-prohibition piece.

2. That is a pretty atrocious imbalance in arrests. I hate seeing cops live down to the stereotype of racist oppressors.

Lastly, I'll leave you with some words from Mr. Carl Sagan.

… the illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.

[Funka Genocide]

The fact that you misspelled marijuana leads me to believe you might very well be on it right now!

This is pretty sad and yet not surprising. Racial profiling has become sort of the unspoken standard operating procedure for most law enforcement agencies.

[Odjn]

See, people have been telling me it's decriminalized for small amounts here in NYC- guess they were wrong?

[Bells]

… the illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.

And this is enough for me to not want to touch this subject with a 10ft pole...

EDIT: Yeah, ok, just so it won't look like a spammy post... i said that because i honestly think that it was a very stupid bullshitty thing to say

[The Wandering God]

Originally Posted by Bells

And this is enough for me to not want to touch this subject with a 10ft pole...

EDIT: Yeah, ok, just so it won't look like a spammy post... i said that because i honestly think that it was a very stupid bullshitty thing to say

You mind explaining why you think that?

[Bells]

That would be a big, quite biased, rant... but the phrase itself is quite stupid, at least it sounds so to me.

I mean, if he wants to support legalization of a recreational drug for personal use, then do so. Come out and say that he wants this becase he believes he has the right and is willing to accept the negative effects of the use of such drug and that he ALSO believes that legalizing it won't warm in any shape or form the rights and freedoms of the people who don't want to use, don't care for it...

But c'mon, don't come out with this bullshit saying that the world is so cold and mean and we need a magical herb that will make everyone fart rainbows and be bestest friends evar...

You see, my main problem with this whole issue is that both sides aren't honest. And both sides of the argument are more than willing to sent flying bullshit torwards the other...

For me, you can do anything your want with your life and body, but if your habits and desires cause any sort of effect to other people... than it's no longer a "i can do because i can" deal, now we have to sit down and talk, and one of the sides needs to accept the idea that they might not get what the want and deal with it. Walk it off.

But with this subject, neither side is willing to do so. In a case like this, i feel better leaving things as they are than to risk a change fueled by personal interests of a minority (in both sides) that inflate and manipulate a larger mass to try and become a majority (in both sides).

[Meister]

Originally Posted by Bells

But c'mon, don't come out with this bullshit saying that the world is so cold and mean and we need a magical herb that will make everyone fart rainbows and be bestest friends evar...

I interpret the gist of the quote more as something like "so, if more of us treated weed like a normal drug, we'd probably be able to live together a lot more peacefully."

and that he ALSO believes that legalizing it won't warm in any shape or form the rights and freedoms of the people who don't want to use, don't care for it...

Well, how would it? Serious question, I've never seen the rights of anyone who didn't want to smoke harmed in any way.

[Bells]

Originally Posted by Meister

Well, how would it? Serious question, I've never seen the rights of anyone who didn't want to smoke harmed in any way.

That would be the point where things i said would start getting bloated and biased as all hell, but i'll try to keep it simple...

First of all, what Funka said was pretty much spot on...

But, just to draw a co-relation of things. Considering not the individual, but the full picture of the subject. Would you agree with me that people who don't smoke tobacco got harmed in some ways in the past few years? Don't thik of just the rights as they are printed on paper, Social and economic effects hardly can be predicted this away.

Now, i'm not talking about the relationship between smoker and non-smoker. But rather about the relationship with the industry built around it and the people it affects. And of course The people who actually profit from it.

I already saw people claiming that making pot legal could Save california from Bankrupcy... that the price would go down, that it would actually take money away from criminals and drug dealers... everything i saw, knew and reed about it made me think that the exact opposite of those things are WAY more likely and logical to happen (not to say that Pot would bankrupt California, just that it would barely help or not at all).

[Kim]

Originally Posted by Bells

that the price would go down, that it would actually take money away from criminals and drug dealers... everything i saw, knew and reed about it made me think that the exact opposite of those things are WAY more likely and logical to happen (not to say that Pot would bankrupt California, just that it would barely help or not at all).

I think one cigarette company, don't know which one, has already patented marijuana cigarettes in case they get legalized. Street sellers are not going to be able to compete with large companies. It just ain't happening. The money won't go to the drug venders of the streets, will instead go to companies, and those companies will be taxed on that money, thus money that wasn't going to the government now is. I'm not going to say it will save California, but explain to me how the opposite of this is going to happen, and why.

[Funka Genocide]

I kind of agree with Bells, not because I think it's some sort of indicator of a slippery slope towards pot fueled apocalypse, just because that statement is completely retarded.

I am reminded of a quote by Hunter S. Thompson in regards to the whole psychedelic movement of the 60's.

"We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled the 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously... All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel. "

Drugs are drugs, they're not pathways to universal truth or a gateway to enlightenment. They just work the sense in interesting ways, nothing more substantial than a delicious confection of empty calories.