Bales of marijuana are typically cheap, low quality, Mexican weed. Just think how many illegals were involved in transporting that "product."

Legalize and keep America working. Surely no one in Lawrence grows.

P.S. The sad part is your lame commentary. Marijuana is no more for kids than is your whiskey.

Just think; if there weren't ridiculous laws on the books regarding cannabis, people wouldn't have to break the law. Show me one other product that is so incredibly useful and so completely demonized, but has never killed anyone who used it.

I'm so sorry that you find it ok to criminalize people over a plant.

yet you cannot grow hemp in the United States. and that's really at the root of why all cannabis is illegal. Corporations have been manipulating government for some time, even back in the 30's.

the hallucinogenic properties of cannabis were demonized in the 20's & 30's because it became associated with Mexicans and blacks; and we all know how popular they were at that time.

Once they government and the lobbyists had scared white America with the "minorities are scary on drugs", they were able to criminalize all cannabis products, including industrial hemp. William Randolph Hearst reaped the direct benefits of that.

"practicality, have you ever smoked a joint?"

No, I have not, but I have spent extended time around potheads and I have never seen anything good come from it in their lives.

Ha, that is hardly what I base my perception on. It is based on scientific research and studies, not a small number of individuals I associated with when I was younger.

Cannabis users harm the people around them by becoming undependable with their behavior, which is dictated by their desire to smoke marijuana no matter what it costs themselves or others. Hardly a intelligent choice or productive way to spend ones time.

I know all about the farce you people like to refer to as NORML and have posted on it extensively.

Chronic marijuana use may affect the heart's health as well as the brain's. A study published yesterday in the journal Molecular Psychiatry found that chronic marijuana users—those who smoke on average nearly every day—may up their risk of both heart attack and stroke. That finding comes on the heels of a government report that linked pot use to psychiatric problems, including depression.

Compared with non-users of the drug, heavy marijuana smokers in the new study had significantly higher levels of a specific protein in their blood known to increase triglycerides, which are fatty molecules linked to vascular and coronary disease risk. Previous studies have tended to focus on marijuana's cognitive, behavioral, and psychoactive effects, including impaired memory and learning deficits. Long-term and chronic marijuana abuse has been associated with adverse effects on the heart, too, says lead author Jean Lud Cadet, a molecular neuropsychiatrist at the National Institutes of Health, but scientists are only beginning to understand how the drug impacts the cardio- and cerebrovascular systems.

The best way to prevent any potential health effects is to refrain from heavy, chronic use, according to George Kunos, an NIH researcher specializing in substance addiction and cardiovascular health, who wasn't involved in the study. He says the increased presence of the protein in heavy marijuana users may also predispose them to metabolic disorders like diabetes.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2008/05/14/marijuana-linked-to-heart-disease-and-depression.html

Again, this is just a few things Marijuana is linked to.

Marijuana might very well stimulate appetite in cancer patients and Aids patients. So will Marinol but without the Halucgenic effect to go with it.

http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/marijuana.html

"Effects on the Heart Marijuana increases heart rate by 20–100 percent shortly after smoking; this effect can last up to 3 hours. In one study, it was estimated that marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug.7 This may be due to the increased heart rate as well as effects of marijuana on heart rhythms, causing palpitations and arrhythmias. This risk may be greater in aging populations or those with cardiac vulnerabilities.

Effects on the Lungs Numerous studies have shown marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens and to be an irritant to the lungs. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50–70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which further increase the lungs’ exposure to carcinogenic smoke. Marijuana smokers show dysregulated growth of epithelial cells in their lung tissue, which could lead to cancer;8 however, a recent case-controlled study found no positive associations between marijuana use and lung, upper respiratory, or upper digestive tract cancers.9 Thus, the link between marijuana smoking and these cancers remains unsubstantiated at this time.

Nonetheless, marijuana smokers can have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers, such as daily cough and phlegm production, more frequent acute chest illness, and a heightened risk of lung infections. A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers.10 Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

Effects on Daily Life Research clearly demonstrates that marijuana has the potential to cause problems in daily life or make a person’s existing problems worse. In one study, heavy marijuana abusers reported that the drug impaired several important measures of life achievement including physical and mental health, cognitive abilities, social life, and career status.11 Several studies associate workers’ marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers’ compensation claims, and job turnover.

Do you still want to claim 0?

In general, people who smoke weed do so at the expense of their family and others who depend on them with little concern at how their negative behavior effects others.

In general, people who smoke weed think that it is of the utmost importance that they smoke weed, even at the expense of legal troubles or career advancement or opportunities.

In general, you shouldn't try to justify one bad behavior by comparing it to another bad behavior.

It just doesn't make sense.

In general prohibition has nothing but a failing record in the United States. In general every pothead in jail is a pothead we are paying approximately $24,000 a year for. It just doesn't make sense.

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/13/politics/main6480889.shtml

Ah yes, the ol' prohibition of alcohol argument. Because it didn't stop drinking then we should just legalize all vices, is that it?

I imagine you also believe that our society is so much the better for having a bar at every other store front downtown and a liquor store on every other block. Yeah, I agree that is much better for society. Lets add more legal vices to the downtown atmosphere. Then things will be even better!

“Yet high numbers of nonviolent, lower-risk criminals have been swept up in the prison boom. Getting tough on them has gotten tough on taxpayers, without an adequate public safety benefit. A prison cell costs about $65,000 to build and $24,000 a year to operate.”

From your “supporting” link.

Show me where it says those cells are filled up with Marijuana users? It won’t, because that would be untrue and you are generalizing a false premise to support a false argument.

"Police arrested an estimated 872,720 persons for cannabis violations in 2007, the highest annual total ever recorded in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of those charged with cannabis violations, approximately 89 percent, 775,137 Americans were charged with possession only. An American is now arrested for violating cannabis laws every 38 seconds.”

This is from your next link,which is a phony pro-drug websitethat takes a snippet from the FBI crime statistic. Please show me the 775,137 inmates incarcerated for Marijuana Possesion in either State or Federal Prisons costing the tax payer 24,000 dollars a year?It would also suggest that the others were arrested and incarcerated for something else now wouldn’t it?

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

And your last link just talks about the amount of money spent on the Drug War some pro some anti. Hardly a supporting argument to your hypothesis which was every pothead in jail cost the taxpayers $24000, yet the only supporting link you showed said that a prison cell costs $24000 a year to operate. A prison cell is different from a jail cell. But, you want the uninformed reader to follow your logic that potheads are filling up our prison cells at the cost of $24000 a year. Nice try, it didn’t work. Simple Marijuana possession does not result in a prison term. Thanks for playing though! http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/13/politics/main6480889.shtml

"Police arrested an estimated 872,720 persons for cannabis violations in 2007, the highest annual total ever recorded in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of those charged with cannabis violations, approximately 89 percent, 775,137 Americans were charged with possession only. An American is now arrested for violating cannabis laws every 38 seconds.”

so the courts are slapping 3/4 of a million people on the wrist each year with merely a fine and a requirement to attend treatment. That sounds like a tax to me. It also sounds like the government subsidizing mental health facilities by forcing people to attend. meanwhile, the country is overrun with people who have actual mental problems and can't find help to save their lives; literally!

Unless perhaps it was coming from the southwest when it was intercepted in Junction City?

"playhard" isn't the sharpest tool in the KC Star shed, if you know what I mean. I usually rely on users like "chickenscheat" for the most insightful and objective comments about KU, Lawrence (or "Low rents" as they so endearingly refer to it) and the state of Kansas. You know those Mizzery lovers always look at all things Kansas in the most objective light... No one in Columbia ever got a DUI, or pulled a gun, or got into a fight or committed a sexual assault or came to Kansas to murder his estranged family, or...

Beatrice, I agree. Who the heck has time not to mention there's better uses for money than letting it go up in smoke.

We only get one body, so we need to treat them well.