6 month madaTORY for 1 plant

[normanchateau]

OK....then decrim or legalize....but why worry so much about what the goddamn Americans are doing about it (unless the intent is to distribute acroos the border)?

Don't any potheads in Canada have any balls instead of whining about US policy?

The previous Liberal government introduced decriminalization legislation which was tabled before the anti-marijuana party of Stephen Harper was elected. It's not likely that we'll see new legislation as long as the anti-libertarian Harper remains in power.

[eyeball]

The previous Liberal government introduced decriminalization legislation which was tabled before the anti-marijuana party of Stephen Harper was elected. It's not likely that we'll see new legislation as long as the anti-libertarian Harper remains in power.

The Liberals have had several chances to change the marijuana laws for decades and still haven't. They've proven even worse than useless.

Its easy to imagine we'll still be yakking about this issue decades from now.

[mikedavid00]

I like the legalize movement because it's the last thing left citizens are getting together and doing to fight gov't interference in their lives. I dont think the gov't should be waging war on its own people.

The reason why the laws are so lax is because most people have done it. It's all over the campuses, politicians sons and daughters are smoking from time to time at school in private. I'd wager a third of the house of commons have smoked it.

That being said, people do like their sobriety so a 'nation on weed' will never be a problem. Some people are very gifted and can handle a life of weed. Others cannot.

Others get very addicted and it controls their life. The joint is their best friend and they cop out of life starting in the teen years.

Just go on any drug help forum and you'll see countless people with 30-40 year addictions that started in highschool and saying they can't quit.

Getting high becomes part of your life each night and if you aren't high, you get irretable, stare at the clock, and pace back and forth wondering how to get weed. During the day your more 'slow' in the head. You lose your wit and are nervous feeling. The closer to sundown, the more you crave.

Yes, some bright, gifted, high IQ lawyers, moms, and other energetic musicians can smoke to help the study, work, etc. It almost slows them down to being normal.

But most of us are average people and weed slows us down and doesn't bring out the best in us.

For that reason, I do not support open corner store selling and licenced farming of MJ. I do support complete decriminalization. Complete. No longer listed as a controlled substance.

Maybe we can reach a comprimise with delivery services like they have in New York therefore it always stays in the privacy of homes and not 'advertised' to teens (when they are the most vunerable).

However, I do support people doing whatever they want in their own home, but believe MJ is an adults game only. If you get hooked at 15-16 years old, you're a customer for life. The other sides to this argument are on the forums where there are people addicted and dropping out of school. Actually I know countless people that got into weed in late highschool years who got good grades, good kids, and really got into weed and ended up dropping out.

But see.. that's the parents issue to deal with their kids. It's NOT the nanny states job to parent the child. Canadians are going to have to learn to parent by themselves and decide by themselves what they are going to put into their body.

(also note that we are not in Europe or Japan. We drive cars here and people driving high is a disaster waiting to happen and political mess that we shouldn't get involved in so I also do not support cafe's either).

[guyser]

Others get very addicted ...

No they dont. Not to MJ at least.

[mikedavid00]

No they dont. Not to MJ at least.

Why not visit just one of the forums where smokers themselves are saying they are addicted:

http://www.addictionsearch.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8

I'm not saying that you can't smoke weed, that's up the user to decide for themselves. Or if they want to quit that's up to them also. Not the nanny state or our gov't.

We can't be throwing our own citizens in jail for what they are ingesting in their body unless it begins to infringe on my rights.

Decriminilization is good eough and delivery services to homes like in New York should be promoted in order to curb trafficking, undergound economies, and crime in regards to mj.

I was just throwing the addiction thing out there. It is certainly a vice and addictive just like me racing home after work to have my wine and drinks.

I personally don't like weed. Even when drinking i can conduct my thoughts and still feel 'sober' no matter how much I drink at the Christmas Party. But weed is too much... it makes me feel slow and out of it the next day and the high is paranoid and racy while everythings moving in slow motion and I can't conduct my thoughts - far cry from alchohol.

[guyser]

Why not visit just one of the forums where smokers themselves are saying they are addicted:

http://www.addictionsearch.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=8

What they feel and what is truth are not related. It is my understanding that weed is not a formal addiction.

I was just throwing the addiction thing out there. It is certainly a vice and addictive just like me racing home after work to have my wine and drinks.

It si not addictive like wine or other booze.

[normanchateau]

The Liberals have had several chances to change the marijuana laws for decades and still haven't. They've proven even worse than useless.

"If federal NDP MPs are interested in finding solutions, they will set themselves apart from the federal Conservatives and Liberals by pushing for a national debate on the prohibition of drugs.

The NDP has nothing to lose. With its current polling numbers, the party will be decimated in the next federal campaign. Taking a stand against drug prohibition could transform the next federal election because Layton would get lots of coverage from antiprohibitionist journalists, including Dan Gardner and Ian Mulgrew, just to name a couple. The news media employ scores of libertarian-minded commentators and reporters who will love this idea.

Often, the NDP and its precursor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, have been vindicated when they weren't afraid to speak the truth to the corporate media. Layton took a risk when he called for the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. He now reflects the dominant view within the country.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation wasn’t afraid to call for universal pensions, universal health care, and unemployment insurance—all of which are mainstream concepts today.

The NDP is at the crossroads in 2009. Does it back the status quo on illegal drugs—which amounts to a death sentence for scores of Canadians in the coming years—or will it take a risk by seeking longlasting solutions, even if those solutions rile our American neighbours? "

http://www.straight.com/article-206158/its...end-prohibition

[eyeball]

The supreme court is the only hope for forcing the issue of substance use and misuse to the forefront of politcal decision making. I'm pretty sure the SC will base a ruling on people's Section 15 rights to equality but its a toss up as to whether the court will force the state to consider legalizing everything or prohibiting everything.

I'd like to know whether a fetus has a right to protection (from substance poisoning in the womb) or if a person has a right to sue for damages suffered when they were a fetus. What about societal rights, do we have a stake in ensuring the health of a fetus or just the liabilities when they are poisoned?

When parties like the NDP and the Liberals shirk the issue of prohibition they are worse than useless because the issue only gets more complicated, it never goes away and only gets harder to resolve.

This is why I expect we'll still be batting this issue around for decades, unless the SC or a HRC takes action.

[normanchateau]

The supreme court is the only hope for forcing the issue of substance use and misuse to the forefront of politcal decision making.

This is why I expect we'll still be batting this issue around for decades, unless the SC or a HRC takes action.

There might be at least modest changes sooner than you think:

http://thefilter.ca/articles/indoctrinatio...lize-marijuana/

[eyeball]

I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm betting Harper will either make this a confidence motion or Ignatieff will squelch Martin.

[DrGreenthumb]

I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm betting Harper will either make this a confidence motion or Ignatieff will squelch Martin.

I think that the Liberals, NDP and the bloc should refuse to pass c-15 unless Kieth Martin's decrim bill is passed.

In commitee the decrim bill should be ammended to include an exemption from the 2 plant minimum maybe increased to a maximum of 20 for anyone who can prove medical use.

The fines for having below the maximum allowable should be very low, and the fine for being over the limit should be quite high, but not more than 1000 dollars per plant over the allowable maximum.

We could then scrap the MMAD department.

[eyeball]

I think pot advocates made a huge mistake when they hitched their horse to the medicinal use wagon and piled so many of their eggs into it. I imagine bureacrats and statists everywhere probably love the grist it provides them.

I fail to see how hitching a horse to the C-15 wagon is step forward. I'd just as soon leave everything in limbo.

Is anyone aware of any simple possession convictions having taken place these last few years? I can't recall seeing any mention of any in our local paper's reports on court cases for quite a long time now. I've seen lots of stories on cases involving liquor and other drugs but not for the possession of pot. Anyone else notice this where they live?

[DrGreenthumb]

I think pot advocates made a huge mistake when they hitched their horse to the medicinal use wagon and piled so many of their eggs into it. I imagine bureacrats and statists everywhere probably love the grist it provides them.

I fail to see how hitching a horse to the C-15 wagon is step forward. I'd just as soon leave everything in limbo.

Is anyone aware of any simple possession convictions having taken place these last few years? I can't recall seeing any mention of any in our local paper's reports on court cases for quite a long time now. I've seen lots of stories on cases involving liquor and other drugs but not for the possession of pot. Anyone else notice this where they live?

I know a few people who have been convicted of possession. One for 2 joints and half a roach.

[eyeball]

I know a few people who have been convicted of possession. One for 2 joints and half a roach.

What happened to them?

[DrGreenthumb]

What happened to them?

fines, criminal record and community service.

Oh not to mention all the days of missed work for court appearances. Each of the people I know that have been charged have had their cases remanded at least 10 times before they were dealt with.

Edited April 12, 2009 by DrGreenthumb

[MysTerri]

1-200 plants nets a mandatory 6 month sentence under the new bill. Seems like if I'm going to grow 1 plant for my own use I might as well grow 200 as the penalty willll be the same.

1-200 plants yields 6 months in prison = tax payers fork out more than $6,000 just in room & board; + court costs; + police costs; + upkeep of evidence costs = too much money$ $pent CONTROLLING the growing, $elling and u$ing a medicinal/recreational plant?

When what we could be doing is:

1-200 plant% = $1000-$200,000 into our economy instead what we spend to house prisoners. The ONLY thing dangerous about marijuana is the gang activity that leaving it unregulated brings about.

Politicians are always going on about the economy, well what sense does it make to spend what we spend housing prisoners, instead of allowing an industry to flourish into the public purse? It makes no common sense what so ever to make pot a crime. The ONLY sense it makes is for those who profit from G.O.D (Gold Oil Drugs) money. Criminalizing drugs 0nly makes $en$e for a wealthy few, while doing little for the public good.

We have spent countless dollars on the Drug War over the decades, yet our prisons continue to get cram packed with people who are guilty of marijuana related charges. The public foots this bill, naively believing it is for the their own good. When in reality, all it is doing is perpetuating a problem (prisoners rarely come out reformed), turning a blind eye to the drugs that do flow through our borders anyway allowing bad drugs to cause untold health costs and providing a very few with a big fat paycheck. It isn't John Q Public whose name is on the check either.

Edited April 20, 2010 by MysTerri

[Shady]

Personally, 6 months sounds about right. We need to discourage drug use.

[Oleg Bach]

There is a pot supplies store on my street - they have a sign on the door..saying you have to lift and pull and give the bottom a little kick to enter...to damned stupid to fix the door..Makes me wonder if all the reefer madness propoganda out of the 50s might have carried some weight..none of the successful kids I know smoke pot - the loser gamers and procrastinators all smoke dope...

I smoked pot between the age of 17 and 45...I hate the stuff...it is to strong and now has become a religion...of weakness...BUT give me enough gin to buffer the side effects and I have been known to take a puff - but on the over all..it is an insidious chemical that everyone calls "natural" The new hybred is NOT natural - it boarders on a hard drug...bad enough we promoted booze - If I were dictator of the nation - I would get rid of all that crap - including violence, perversion and guns shown in media and so called art--------------It will be funny to see our white trash kids clean the toilets of Asian math students who do not smoke dope..give it time - pot will bring down our proud nation ----what the heck - why not get elected and have a whore wife and snort coke - forget the pot - get to the point and be a cabinet stripper sucking coke fiend.

[M.Dancer]

Smoking weed has made me totally apathetic about threads like this....I mean, I know I should care but....hey look at all the buttons!

[Oleg Bach]

Smoking weed has made me totally apathetic about threads like this....I mean, I know I should care but....hey look at all the buttons!

Not to mention that melted letter U from the lost roach.

[Oleg Bach]

Here is what I really believe about the substance..It is a medicine..it should be used if you are sick - If you are NOT sick and you use it then you develope a chronic sickness called stupidity...nothing sadder than seeing my stupid son of wife get manipulated by some jerk that walks in - sticks a joint in their mouth then borrows some expensive musical equipment..

[g_bambino]

Personally, 6 months sounds about right. We need to discourage drug use.

You'd enjoy prohibition, then?

[Sir Bandelot]

You'd enjoy prohibition, then?

Yeah he's ok with it, as long as he gets his cherry coolers

[wyly]

LOL, I live a sheltered life, don't know a soul who uses that crap.

So it's against the law, suck it up, you want to be a doper, pay the price.

unless you're 80 years old you know many that use it, it's use is not something that comes up in conversation...I have no idea who of my friends even drink or what they drink it's not something I care to know or info they to care share... Edited April 21, 2010 by wyly

[wyly]

It will be funny to see our white trash kids clean the toilets of Asian math students who do not smoke dope..

hmm it seems to me your out of touch, my kids asian friends do drugs, the major gangs in our province are Asian cocaine and pot are drugs of choice...the major buyers of cocaine? wealthy, educated upper management types, the white trash can't afford it...