Law enforcement officials criticize Question 2

Here we go again with the relentless FALSE propaganda of the DAs, Police and law enforcement.
Prohibition is what brings about the guns, violence and extreme amounts of money, Prohibition.
The present Cannabis possesion laws for under an ounce are way too severe.
The punishment should fit the crime and that is what this referendum will do. Plain and simple make it a civil not a criminal offense
Please folks don't let the some old tired scare tactics stop you from voting Yes on 2

Get ready for all the hippies posting talking about " pot dosnt make you violent" and "alchohol is worst, more people die from drunk driving....blah blah blah."

What part of the word ILLEGAL don't these people understand....It is a stepping stone drug, all you have to do is ask the millions of drug addicts in this country . Hands down each and everyone of them will say it started with Marijuana. Don't let your child get caught up in drugs

I cannot believe what I am hearing. The question is directly pretaining to personal use. The pot dealers that are harmed with guns are harboring more than one ounce of marijuana at a time which, would still be a federal offense. Side note the average alcoholic has a 1 in 3 chance of domestic violence, the average pothead has a 1 in 3 chance of falling asleep before an argument even breaks out.

legalize it!!!!!!!

"But law enforcement officials say no amount of marijuana is insignificant, considering the violence and potential for drug abuse that comes with it"

VIOLENCE?? first off it's not legalizing it.second i've been to amsterdam for work several times and there is no violence. more violence happens there over religion!! i saw 3 bar fights last weekend alone. lets outlaw alcohol and religion!!

Thank you for posting this article, it clarified the issue for me and I will vote "No" on Question # 2.

What part of REFERENDUM do you not understand? The people decide what is and what is not illegal; the law against marijuana is not written on stone tablets handed down from heaven.

Gateway drug, schmateway drug. It's un-American to force your values onto other people unless they're harming you. Let's have our police go after real criminals.

I feel that by decriminalizing any illegal drug use we are being like parents who tell their kids to stop a bad behavior, but never follow through with a punishment if it continues. What is the point of saying pot is illegal if there is no consequence for having or using it? Either make it legal (pot is no more dangerous than alcohol) or illegal (it IS a mind altering substance) and stand by the decision. We can not trust a wishy-washy legal system.

Here are some indisputable facts from the Journal of the American Medical association:
Annual deaths by catagory:
Tobacco: 435,000
Poor diet and physical inactivity: 365,000
Alcohol: 85,000
Reactions to perscription drugs: 32,000
Non-steroid drugs (like Asprin): 7,600
marijuana: 0
I'll say that again, marijuana= 0, zero, none.
And for all you people still stuck in the fear mongering from the 1930's, pot is not a "gateway" drug anymore than asprin or booze. How do i know? Because i have been smoking pot for 15 years, and still am not a violent crack head. Do your own research and find out the facts before you shoot your mouth off.

nobody goes out and commits violent acts off a joint
but a bottle of 10 dollar vodka and people get killed every day
what do you think should be illegal?????

do not listen to these people they simply dont want this law to pass because they will actually have to work to find real criminals and not make simple little arrests that have no impact on the community.Lets see here would you personally want to see them arrest the kid witha dime bag or find the kid who just shot your neighbor. these cops want the easy way out . They are lazy,also i think it would be a great thing for people who have made MISTAKES to get jobs,student loans,etc because of this law passing

Calling marijuana a "stepping stone" drug in this day and age is simply ignorant. Instead of asking a million drug abusers, ask a million drug abuse counselors with a proper education. Serious addictions do not start with pot, they start with a psychological need to escape reality. If it wasn't pot, it would certainly be something else. Why do you think future addicts with little-or-no money start with something truly foolish like sniffing glue, paint, or puffing Redi-Whip?

Making marijuana possesion in small quantities a civil, rather than criminal, offense makes sense. I've known a few people who use it to self-medicate (both cancer and glaucoma), and to accuse them of a criminal offense is absured.

Theres nothing wrong with a little marijuana, its fanatastic for you. I do agree that an ounce is pushing it thats a hell of a lot of pot, I would of been a lil more conservative and asked for anything under 1/4, hell im not walkin around with more then that. But hopefully this will pass, its about time we stop ruiening the lives of otherwise innocent people, and attain some revenue as well.

Well, if it taints there careers, then they deserve it. The point is to NOT DO DRUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get ready for all the hippies posting talking about " pot dosnt make you violent" and "alchohol is worst, more people die from drunk driving....blah blah blah."
Yeah blah blah blah, just drink booze, don't question the government, and beat your wife, Peter! Funny I'm not violent or a hippie but if Peter wants to call me a hippie to my face, you know what's going to happen. He's going to run away.
Peter, so are we violent or are we hippies?
I'm neither but I'd stop a fool that denies me a job because I smoke cannabis for medicine. No joke. Yeah denying one his livlihood that makes one violent. I don't sell drugs, just want the right to work.

I'

Hpw

"What part of the word ILLEGAL don't these people understand"

What part of changing the law don't you understand. It used to be illegal for blacks and white to eat together. Would you have supported that because it was ILLEGAL as well?

What part of logical thinking are you afraid of?

I do not see the problem with having an oz of pot in ones posestion. I personnal don't smoke it or never have. its a man made substance that multiple cultures have it legalized. the only reason the the law enforcement officals are against it is because there is so much money and jobs made from the "war on drugs" DEA agents, courts, jail/prison systems. its just to hard for them to let go of the control they have. most people drink way before that have smoked. so why is it that alcohol is legal, something that man has created, and pot, something that is naturaly grown so bad? if your talking about a gateway thing, most people smoke ciggarettes before they smoke pot, and the fact that ciggarettes are highly addictive. Pot is definitly not addictive... Vote YES on Question 2. make the punishment equal to the crime..

Anyone calling marijuana a gateway drug is talking from ignorance of the weed and not from real knowledge or experience of it.The amount of people that have gone to jail and financially hurt over this is ridiculous.No wonder the DA's,politicians,and law enforcement don't want it decrimimnalized,their the one's making the money of of it.They would have to turn their attention to real crime like heroin,cocaine,crack,etc.If anyone knows the true history of marijuana they will know this all started in 1937 by POLITICIANS lieing to get their way.Continuing to the Richard Nixon years who lied and hid information on the subject.What a surprise! The DA's and law enforcement spend all this
money on question #2,is there nothing better to put the money on like global warming,energy,gangs,guns,political corruption,hard drugs,law enforcement corruption,etc. than arresting common people who smoke a little marijuana at the end of the day or on weekends to relax some from this stressful world.The
DA's,politicians,judges,and law enforcement, should take lie detector tests so the truth will finally come out! Stop the nonsense and vote YES on question #2 and put the DA's,politicians and law enforcement back to real work.A pot smoker for over 40 years.

Let's let doctor's precribe it, not drug dealers. We need to wipe out drug dealers.

back in 1920 pot was legal then then it changed, above statement is right there are more drunk drivers then high drivers, i'm not saying its right to drive under the influence, but i know people that smoke and they are not criminals or have guns. people that have guns are paranoid, and think they are tough with it. In other words they have no self esteem and thats how they make their point in life. alot of doctores give it out as medicine, cause it does help. people smoke cause they are in more control than drinking. yes it can lead into other powerful drugs, i do agree with that!!!!!!!

I hope it does pass. I have been smoking pot for over 30 years and i have never killed anyone for it , I have never been in an accident because of it. And NEVER have i ever robbed any one to get it. There are more problems in this world to worry about.Lay off of the little problems and deal with the big ones....

Smoking weed on a social level is only unnacceptable for those who cannot control it. Meaning the government cannot make any money from it. It seems to me, that if it comes from the earth, like tobacco, flowers and herbs, we should be able to do what we want with it. Rock on, communist oops... commonweath of Massachusetts........Vote Yes on # 2 stop badgering the pot heads and fight some real crime like catching the child molesters we let out on bail.

I agree with MeMyself&I 100%
The Only reason the Gov. doesn't want pot legal is cuz they will lose the profits from all the fines that are collected from the arrests. I think it will pass especially when all the closet smokers vote behind the curtain...The politicians really need to focus on bigger issues like getting our citizens back here from Iraq, and fixing the mess GWB & his cronies created. Lets get our country financially stable again....

Given the unwillingness of most americans to research the data behind claims they adopt as their own points of view, the ignorance expressed here is not surprising. The facts are that there is no evidence that marijuana functions as a "gateway" drug, and the very concept of a "gateway" drug has not been shown to be a valid concept. Indeed, alcohol is extremely costly on our society, with an estimated 15 billion dollars in lost productivity alone per year resulting from alcohol consumption and abuse.
At this point, the greatest health risk associated with marijuana is prison. The desire by DA's, state, and local law enforcement to keep marijuana illegal is a direct result of the financial profit these individuals make in seizing property and money.
Talk about a conflict of interest.

the comments of the law enforcement officals used in this article DO NOT represent the opinions of all law enforcement officals and in fact may well represent the opiniomns of those far removed from the reality of our present laws. these people who only leave the office for photo ops are very different than those of officers in the street. google leap.com [law enforcement against prohibition}. leap is a grassroots organization of UNPAID cops who worked the streets of NYC and eventually were joined by others from different cities. these are the people who see the costs of our drug laws and who, unlike the upper echlon, pay the rpice for these laws.

I am a recovering addict/alcoholic clean and sober for 25 years. I have worked as a Masters Level Licensed substance abuse clinician all my life in every milieu imaginable. To my dying day I will affirm this Proposition is a mistake. Cannabis remains the most insidious drug as evidenced by this Proposition. There is now a preponderance of empirical evidence available through N.I.D.A. funded research to support this. I would urge any who support this to seriously think about the consequences of this vote either way and then simply act accordingly. Thank you.

dealers carry more than an ounce.
personal users buy an ounce or less.
Possesion shows up on a CORI report under the current laws and can prevent someone from getting a job, housing, or getting into a school and turning their life into something useful.
as an ER nurse i see more fights, car accidents and domestic violence from alcohol. The only time someone comes into the ER from smoking POT is if it's laced with something or they admit to their parents that they smoked and the parents bring them in anyway after they admitted it. (home drug tests are available at the local harmacy by the way.

M conley are you serious??? Ask those same drug addicts if they were popping pills, shooting up, drinking like fish and doing coke all around the time they start smoking bud, and i promise they tell you they were. Bud is not a gate way drug, People who turn into huge drug addicts were always drug addicts and use marijuana as an appetizer to get then ready for what they want,

well lets see cigarettes kill peeps = not illeagal
alcoholic drinks kill peeps = not illeagal
weed has NEVER been o.d. or killed anyone =illeagal
it all makes sences now

It is illegal and should remain so. Nothing good ever came from using any kind of drug including some perscription medications. I am not an old prude but any one with half a brain knows this is true. So many lives and famalies have been ruined from drugs marajuana included..Wake up and see reality!!

marijuana is not a stepping stone drug, alchohol is. The people who smoked weed then did other drugs, well they all did alchohol before marijuana. If someone wants to get high, they are gonna get something. Marijuana is just the weakest of them all, hence a lot of people try it first, most never do it or any other drugs again. Marijuana is not a gateway drug, the peple that used marijuana then started using other drugs had issues to begin with. If your gonna make marijuana illegal then its only logical to make alchohol illegal. And to the guy that said"alchohol is the worst, more people die from drunk driving, blah, blah" well thanks for stating a fact, and cosidering people dying due to alchohol BLAH.

Get ready for all the hippies posting talking about " pot dosnt make you violent" and "alchohol is worst, more people die from drunk driving....blah blah blah."
There haven't been Hippies around for 30 years!
Get current!
Government has been spending billions if not trillions of tax payer dollars trying to fight a hopeless battle since 1937. Propaganda films and commercials have only promoted ignorance to the majority of the nation.
Stop wasting my tax dollars and vote yes on 2.

To all who are stuck in the 1930's I know Dr's, Lawyers, Suergons, Dentists, CEO's, Police, Firefighters,Teachers, and Professors who smoke almost every day (When not on duty of course) and have been for at least 15 to 20 years. So for all you whos minds are closed off and stuck in the Goverment propaganda that has been around since the begining of this great nation here are the facts again that the fine person named Chaz T was so kindley to post up here eariler: If you don't believe this there is this thing called Google type it in!!!
Here are some indisputable facts from the Journal of the American Medical association:
Annual deaths by catagory:
Tobacco: 435,000
Poor diet and physical inactivity: 365,000
Alcohol: 85,000
Reactions to perscription drugs: 32,000
Non-steroid drugs (like Asprin): 7,600
marijuana: 0.0
Did you notice something? No deaths every in the whole entire history of marijuana. Thats right EVER. So for all of you who have a few drinks, get behind the wheel of a car and most likley end up crashing and maybe even killing someone (besides yourself) in the process keep doing what your doing because you will all be walking by (Or hobbiling depending on how bad you crashed) us "Pot Heads" while we still have all of our limbs as well as our driver licenses and will wave our "still good" arm at you on the way by. Also here arer so more FACTS
1. If this bill is passed it WILL SAVE THE STATE OF MA APPROX. 29.5 MILLION A YEAR. YES I SAID A YEAR. That is more money for you "boozers" to blow on your DUI Charges...think of it you could maybe afford to loose your license
2. ONE Marijuana plant CAN PRODUCE UP TO 4 TIMES THE AMMOUNT OF PAPER that 1 TREE CAN...LOOK IT UP www.google.com
3.One of the reasons that Marijuana was made illegal is because the use of marijuana was tied to the Mexican People that came to this country to better their lives and Good ol White Business men wanted to get rid of them and made up this great law stating that the possesion of Marijuana is legal as long as you have the Marijuana stamp. Now the Marijuana Stamp sounds great right! WRONG. The loop hole is that the only way to get the marijuana stamp was to go down to City Hall present the Good ol boys with the marijuana and they "would give the stamp for you to make it legal"......BUT when people (Not just the Mexican population Whites, Blacks, Farmers, who ever) came down and showed the Goverment the Pot they would arrest them on site because no one had the stamp in their posseion at the time of the "Incident'. This way they could deport whom ever they wanted to (that was not a citizen of course) and arrest anyone else that came down for the stamp...AGAIN LOOK IT UP www.google.com
4. Now the other reason that this flower was made illegal is because of 4 very Wealthy Uper Class Business Men came together and held meetings on how to introduce their amazing new product called NYLON. At the time the biggest cash crop was the Marijuana plant as I stated before it can produce up to 4 times as much paper as 1 tree, as well as make Rope that is a hell of a lot stronger then the Rope used today, amognst other things. This is how the 30's propaganda like the poster "The Devil's Harvest" (that ones for you Murph!) and one of the stupidest movies ever to grace film "reefer Madness" came about. These 4 Wealthy White Men produceed these items to sway people towards making Pot illegal so that they could cash in on their new product called Nylon!!!!!!!!
One Final Note:
The DECLERATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS MADE OUT OF HEMP....THATS RIGHT THE PAPER THAT THIS GREAT NATION'S IDEALS ARE FOUNDED ON IS MADE FROM MARIJUANA!!!! AND ONCE AGAIN DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH AND LOOK IT UP!!!!!!
VOTE YES ON 4 IT WILL NOT MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL. IT WILL SAVE THE STATE 29.5 MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!!! WHICH WILL GO BACK IN ALL OF OUR POCKETS (EVEN YOU BOOZERS) AND IT WILL NOT I REPEAT WILL NOT INCREASE THE CRIME RATE!!! AND FYI: ALCHOL IS THE GATE WAY DRUG. I HAVE A FEW FRIENDS THAT ARE CAUGHT UP IN SOME HARD CORE DRUGS (NOT POT) THEY DON'T EVEN SMOKE POT AND NEVER HAVE. THEY ARE ALL HABITUAL DRINKERS THAT WHEN DRUNK HAD THE GREAT IDEA (BECAUSE ALCHOL LOWERS INHABITIONS) TO TRY IT AND NOW HAVE NOTHING BUT THE BOTTLE OF BOOZE THAT GOT THEM THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. VOTE YES ON # 2 AND VOTE NO ON # 1!!!
4:20=Norml

Persuit of happiness is the question,,,Most Law enforcement people I know smoke weed,,, The problem here Is when Law enforcement s children are arrested for possesion it seems the charges go away, ,, But for your kids and mine they end up losing a great amount of credibility when It comes to employment,,,,All these drug Laws do is keep prison guards, probation officers, Lawyers and judges busy,, drop all these nonsence laws and the prisons would be empty, they can never win a war (Drugs ) that makes people happy,, In a society that robs most every cent people have thru taxes and fines,,

L.Cypher ,,,,,,
Cant say It any better than that,,

Another Obama relative living in a slum.

Obamas home is worth $1,200,000. His net in 07 was 4,000,000.

I guess he never found a way to speard the wealth to his relatives living in poverty.