Phil Murphy for Marijuana

[JimC1965]

The state spends 150 million dollars a year enforcing pot laws. Well over 90% of pot arrests in nj target users and not high level dealers. There were nearly 30,000 pot related arrests in NJ last year. Far and away, pot is what is eeping law enforcement people employed

A majority of that money is recouped through fines and assessments. Majority of your Marijuana arrests are an a result of some other police contact, motor vehicle stop, response to citizen complaints, or public use. NJ mandates an arrest when an officer find probable cause for a violation of the drug laws. No discretion. Must arrest. That's why 90% of Marijuana arrests involve the end user. How many of the 30,000 Marijuana arrests were associated with another offense, criminal or motor vehicle. I would bet 99%.

[Lunatic]

I said a deterrent, not a sure way to stop it, and I even added no law gets 100% compliance. Of course it's not stopping everyone, but it does stop many, and the fact that we have many less people walking, or driving around, under the influence of drugs, is a good thing. 

 

As for your last sentence, if you could assure that people will only do cocaine in their own home, and not go out, and not do anything to hurt their wife, kids, roommates, etc, maybe, just maybe you would have a point. But inevitably, what you do to yourself, can, and frequently does, have an impact on others. The question is, does the desire for you to use cocaine to get stoned out of your mind outweigh the potential damage to others?

 

So you would be ok to make it legal if there was no potential of users harming others while high. How are you making sure they are not while the drugs are illegal? You are hanging on to one single idea that some people will not get high if the drugs are illegal. You are not stopping anyone if they want to do it and the current situation proves it. We have laws preventing us from hurting others so lets concentrate our law enforcement on what they should be doing, protecting us from each others, instead of hanging on to laws which have no effect on use of drugs in this country. How many trillions went down the drain on the War on Drugs ince it started in 1971 and our streets are now saturated with drugs as if the war on drugs was meant to bring them in. Total waste of time, effort and money, it made no difference.

If you took the wasted money and only use a fraction of it for education and treatment of people who want help you would make some steps in improving this situation. Otherwise we are doing the definition of insanity, same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

 

are you  for prohibition on alcohol? Do you drink alcohol? ,  

Edited November 5, 2017 by Lunatic

[not on the rug]

If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you. Law enforcement in NJ is dealing with a much bigger problem right now. Heroin is the problem and has been the problem for the last few years. LEO's I know just take and destroy the pot or write them on a summons, doing so because they know it is a waste of time. The courts system is even viewing it as a waste of time now. If they don't get PTI they are being put on probation. It is basically being decriminalized.

 

  

Well i believe it because it is true.

 

I'm certainly in agreement that the opiod epidemic is far reaching and a far greater issue for society. That doesn't mean that law enforcement isn't spending that money, making those arrests or paying the salaries of the officers doing that work

 

A majority of that money is recouped through fines and assessments. Majority of your Marijuana arrests are an a result of some other police contact, motor vehicle stop, response to citizen complaints, or public use. NJ mandates an arrest when an officer find probable cause for a violation of the drug laws. No discretion. Must arrest. That's why 90% of Marijuana arrests involve the end user. How many of the 30,000 Marijuana arrests were associated with another offense, criminal or motor vehicle. I would bet 99%.

I'd be curious to know as well. But eliminating pot as being a crime, the other offense wouldn't end in the arrest, processing, money and time spent, etc. Right? So when a guy gets stopped for speeding or a tail light out or whatever and the officer smells weed in his car, boom he must arrest him. Wouldn't it make sense to eliminate that alltogether?

[JimC1965]

@Not on the Rug - I don't really care if it is legal or illegal. My point was that the end user is not targeted as you stated, but the result of a police contact and a legislative mandate. 

[JimC1965]

 

How many on here has been on these drugs at one time or another for some sort of pain, these are the problem. 

 

 

• Oxycodone
• Hydrocodone
• Hydromorphone
• Methadone
• Fentanyl
• Fentanyl Duragesic Patches
• Propoxyphene
• Butorphanol
• Levorphano
• Meperidine
• Oxycontin
• MSContin

 

To

blame the drugs for drug abuse is like blaming guns for murders and shootings

Edited November 5, 2017 by JimC1965

[Oddball8945]

 Phil Murphy wants to legalize marijuana in New Jersey. We may not have any gun rights but we can all smoke weed.

 http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/whoever_wins_governors_race_nj_marijuana_laws_will.html

 

i find that fact hilarious and i mention it to all my friends, so they will make weed legal and continue to infringe on my constitutional right to bear arms.

 

I'm a libertarian when it comes to weed and other more natural substances, you can be a responsible toker the same way you would have a beer once in awhile after work.   TBH most decent blue collar and even high end jobs drug test and will continue to do so, legal weed might break the backs of your small local weed dealer if store prices are reasonable and they allow personal growth. They would have to legalize weed on the national scale to hurt the bigger drug dealers imo and build the wall. NJ is already filled with plenty of druggie weirdos, I guess legal weed would cull the herd moreso separating the normal responsible people and the people who can't control themselves. 

 

The only people who will benefit off the bat are people who already toke up and don't work, democrats, the self employed and people with jobs that don't drug test and of course the state via taxes. That is unless the fed makes weed legal and all jobs treat weed like beer, but that won't happen any time soon.

 

Murphy was going to win i believe even if this wasn't a campaign issue, sadly.  

[not on the rug]

@Not on the Rug - I don't really care if it is legal or illegal. My point was that the end user is not targeted as you stated, but the result of a police contact and a legislative mandate.

 

You've missed the point. Doesnt matter if they are targeted or not... Idiotic laws mandate the end result. Which is 30k arrests and 150 million dollars being spent on punishing weed smokers. Not to mention wasted officer time and resources that could better be allocated to fighting actual crime and working on more pressing issues like the opioid crisis

[not on the rug]

To

blame the drugs for drug abuse is like blaming guns for murders and shootings

Still not getting it..

 

The two are not even remotely comparable. Most opioid addicts these days start out due to overprescribing of painkillers.

[BHC]

To

blame the drugs for drug abuse is like blaming guns for murders and shootings

the problem is those drugs are the problem, yet people take them like candy, yet they have issues with people smoking weed....I never heard of a person passing away from smoking weed, or need rehab for weed. Hell I love to see the inmates smoke it, they will me more mellow make my job easier.

 

In fact more people are productive with work and social life smoking weed, cause they are more mellow and relaxed.

 

4 years ago I was 110% against weed for personal and even medical use. It was when a old friend of mine got ill with stage 4 cancer with one year to live, chemo didn't help, but the oil extract from weed did, she is still sick but she is alive without chemo. Western doctors mock the use of weed cause it hurts their wallets

 

Weed isn't the problem, it's the crap that dealers lace it with 

[Oddball8945]

To

blame the drugs for drug abuse is like blaming guns for murders and shootings

 

I disagree somewhat, these are VERY powerful drugs. I've never taken  any of them but i do believe the more powerful drugs can alter a person's mind for the worse and the long term. Now of course it is up to the individual to have some form of self control but let's be honest here with the average person. 

 

Your average person for example goes to the doctor for depression or pain and gets prescribed a drug for a quick fix imo which carries all kinds of mental side effects or addiction potential. A HUGE majority of this country are on some form of medication which I don't believe is necessary for MANY of those people.....We are a heavily medicated society but that in itself is a different discussion. A gun is an inanimate object, drugs mess with your brain big time....SSRI's are prescribed like candy and the side effects are insane, a drug like that can for sure cause an otherwise OK person to snap if they experience a negative side . I believe a few of the last mass shooters were on some form of SSRI

[BHC]

I have three pinch nerves and three bulging disc the pain could be really bad. The doctor gave me a prescription for some sort of pain meds (this was a few years ago) I took it once, and I had some screwed up dreams, and I couldn't function, the next day they got crushed up and in the garbage they went. I now take ADVIL. 

[allmann]

You've missed the point. Doesnt matter if they are targeted or not... Idiotic laws mandate the end result. Which is 30k arrests and 150 million dollars being spent on punishing weed smokers. Not to mention wasted officer time and resources that could better be allocated to fighting actual crime and working on more pressing issues like the opioid crisis

I agree with you but those numbers are including officer salaries that would be paid anyway among other funds that are not only dedicated to pot. Besides that a person who is getting hit with distribution of pot 9 times out of 10 isn't only distributing pot. Or even leading a law abiding life. These numbers are put out to push an agenda. Same goes for the numbers the left puts out for gun control.

[DV1]

 How are you making sure they are not while the drugs are illegal? You are hanging on to one single idea that some people will not get high if the drugs are illegal. You are not stopping anyone if they want to do it and the current situation proves it. 

 

No, not hanging on one single idea that people will not get high if drugs are illegal, although that is true for some portion of the population, probably higher than that you think, maybe not as high as I think, but definitely true. You seem to be hanging on the idea that all the problems associated with drugs will go away if they are legal.

 

If we to treat drugs like alcohol, like you and many others have said they should be, let's think that through. So we legalize them, and in a decade or so we not only have bars, we have smoke shops, crack houses, heroin dens, all legal, like bars are for alcohol, and people frequenting them, like bars.

 

Do you really think we need that in Society?

 

Do you think we need the additional problems on the roadways, with addiction, and burdens on the health care system that would come with that?

 

While there is no proof that your opinion, or mine, will be the reality, what we do know is if you are wrong, and this social experiment of legalizing drugs does result in much more addition, death and everything else that we see with drug abuse now, just on a larger scale, it's too late to unring the bell. Even if we see it was a mistake 20 years from now, you can't just make them illegal and expect those problems to go away. The key to reducing the problems with addiction is preventing it in the first place, not trying to cure it after it happens.

 

It is a complicated issue but that right there^^ should be enough to uncomplicate much of it for us. 

 

In my opinion, your (generic, not "you" personally) desire to get high doesn't outweigh the potential, and probable negative impacts to the rest of society if drugs are legalized.

[DV1]

How many trillions went down the drain on the War on Drugs ince it started in 1971 ... Total waste of time, effort and money, it made no difference.

 

We disagree here. I think it has made a difference. The problems we have with DWI deaths, drug abuse, addiction and death, not to mention the financial burden on the health care system (since people like to bring wasted money into this) would be exponentially higher now if we did nothing, or legalized them 45 years ago. 

[buckhound]

i know a lot of people that smoke weed everyday for last 25 plus years and you would never know it by looking at them and some have very successful businesses in the trades and other areas (not selling drugs lol). i know guys that drink everyday and you may never know it but there health is failing and some it shows in there businesses. two things do stand out of all the ones the drinkers and smokers the drinkers are the ones i remember starting fights and wrecking vehicles all the time ...that is just my opinion of what i remember. i know the cops and politicians keep throwing out stats they are told but remember stats can be and will be altered to suit ones own needs just like all the polls we seen during the election that showed killary winning in a land slide...again my opinion  honestly who cares if someone wants to smoke weed as far as i am concerned we should all worry more about ourselves and our family not what others do thats really none of our business unless it is going to cause us harm.. i believe in live and let live and we would be much better off if we all lived by that rule.