Prev Next
Featured Quizzes
Politix Daily Headlines
Featured Debates
Issues

See all 17 issues

People
White House

See all people

POT

Will New England Legalize Marijuana?

Four North East states introduce legalization bills

Next>

by PolitixMayday

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

Colorado and Washington aren't the only states trying to legalize and regulate marijuana: State legislators in both Rhode Island and Maine will announce marijuana legalization bills this Thursday, according to Reason magazine.

Vermont and Massachusetts will also introduce similar legalization bills, according to a press release by the Marijuana Policy Project.

Like this article? B Vote Up
?

Should states be able to legalize marijuana, or should that be left to the federal government?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • u
    tomincali
    !
    funny how the same folks who was against arizona for passing laws the feds don't like are now pushing to go against the feds. lets see if they get sued or is the boss man a dope and ok with it.
  • Rocker
    !
    I always found it amusing. Legalizing weed in states that are the most difficult to grow it in.
    Well, used to anyway.
  • u
    tomincali
    !
    @dances-weebles illegal aliens deserve no rights,they have no right to be here yet traitors want to reward them.

    they put it off as fed issues so the feds stepped in to sue,well this dope is a fed issue to,so we will see how the pres sees fed issues he doesn't like. why not sue those states who are over riding this fed law?

  • View all 40 replies >

  • MRMacrum
    !
    Not sure why someone wants to legalize pot in Maine. We already have medical pot and cops who do not seem to fired up to bust anyone. But what the Hey, let's make those law books even thicker.
  • DARSB
    !
    @MRMacrum It's more than $40 but not by much. Once the physician signs off the patient makes a visit to one of the 500-odd MMJ dispensaries in the state and starts a relationship. Being a "member" of a dispensary gets access to higher quality products and in return the patient can assign permissions to grow a set number of plants to the dispensary, which enables the dispensary to increase its grow capacity. It's actually a pretty naked free market setup.
  • DARSB
    !
    @GetAwake Oh, sure, of course. I had no idea at all that it would pass, but actually having the chance to vote on something that I, in the '70s, thought would never happen happen in my lifetime had a kind of irresistible Cheech and Chong vibe. Imagine my surprise - who knew the stoners would get off the couch?

  • View all 10 replies >

  • o
    Sonny
    !
    Legalize it---but why tax it? If it becomes legally ok to do...Then why continue to punish people who do it. Same with cigarettes. Why make something legal---and then punish the hell out of people when they "observe the law"?

  • View all 28 replies >

  • FFX_VA
    !
    I hope so, only domestic pot though, and tax the hell out of it so we can smoke our way out of debt... and if we fail at that, guess we won't care!
  • Penn1699
    !
    Don't care. Just am not paying for reforming their habit or the resultant healthcare issues. Dumb down the citizenry easier to rob them blind.
    It appears everything is on the table, new ideas and all, to increase tax revenue. Don't forget while you're taxing mj add another $10 per pack to cigarettes. Sick of being poisoned by tobacco smoke.
  • o
    Sonny
    !
    Well look---And I'm being very sincere here. Why make something legal (ok to do)---and then punish people for doing it?...Seriously why? I mean if the gov (and enough people think its not right) then don't make it legal..But if you do make it legal...Why keep "punishing" people for committing a "legal act"?
  • Penn1699
    !
    @Sonny I see what you are saying. It is my belief that it will be legalized for no other reason than profit from taxes. I'm all for people doing what they want, since I want to do what I want. What I object to is their right to smoke whatever interferes with my right to breathe. Grew up with a father that smoked he didn't care if there was air for us to breathe or not. He was gonna smoke. Now I have chronic lung problems and COPD my point being. What happened with my rights?
    As long as everyone is happy I'm good.
  • o
    WattheTyler
    !
    How can we called the "land of the free" if we have the largest prison population the planet all because people smoke a planet called marijuana? This is as stupid as alcohol probation. Just legalize and tax it already.
  • truthsayer
    !
    The states will at some point end the prohibition marijuana by the Federal Government just as they did the prohibition alcohol. Anything based upon a lie collapses at some point.
  • Keyjo
    !
    The Federal government needs to back off. Anti-marijuana, anti-hemp laws were enacted to benefit big oil and plastic manufacturers in the first place. It was all about the money, not some misplaced public health reasoning.
    Today, it's the pharmaceuticals who are belly aching.
    Legalize it nationally and state by state and enjoy the new revenue to the state budgets.
  • MRMacrum
    !
    Actually I think because the infamous Hearst owned so much timberland, he was the main backer (can you say koch before koch) of the anti pot laws. Hemp is a much superior paper pulp product and is renewable at a faster rate than timberland. Hearst knew this and thus he pushed hard to roll pot into the hard drug laws of the early 20th century.
  • u
    Tolpuddle
    !
    @MRMacrum Wasn't Hearst. It was the Duponts. Hemp males a better plastic than petroleum and the Duponts didn't have the patent for hemp made plastic.
  • Keyjo
    !
    @Tolpuddle
    Did you know that Henry Ford made a hemp Model A? He experimented with hemp car bodies, they were much more durable and lighter than steel. Didn't dent like the metal.
  • u
    Tolpuddle
    !
    @Keyjo And the fuel it ran from was made from hemp. ;=)Henry's experiments iare what started the war on hemp,,, not the tokers. Hemp is a big threat to several other markets. . The entire plant can be used with zero waste, kind of like a hog. The only parts not used from a hog ard the grunts and squeals.
  • u
    Tolpuddle
    !
    @Keyjo And the fuel it ran from was made from hemp. ;=)Henry's experiments iare what started the war on hemp,,, not the tokers. Hemp is a big threat to several other markets. The entire plant can be used with zero waste, kind of like a hog. The only parts not used from a hog are the grunts and squeals.Hemp oil can be used as a biofuel and can produce more horse power and burn cleaner than gasoline. Theres no reason we can't use hemp as an additive instead of corn. There are also HHO kits available for most vehicles that separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in water. The hydrogen is directed to your intake and can increase ones mileage by as much as 50%. With a combo of hemp and HHO gasoline itself is almost the additive.

  • View all 14 replies >

  • jessejaymes
    !
    This needs to happen. I hope the legislators have the courage to pull it off. It's the way to get Obama to bend to the will of the people and it makes it impossible for the DEA to enforce pot laws the more states that legalize or go medical. The time has come. This is an issue that needs to remove itsself from the American Landscape. The Thumpers and the Confederate states will never legalize so this is something the rest of the states have to bend the feds. Give it up Obama. You can't run again. You can't be hurt by supporting legalization. It won't pass first dozen times but the time is now to start the process.
  • shawnyc36
    !
    I don't think he will do it, he has already said it wouldn't become legal on his watch, I agree with you JJ, the time has come. wonder how drug testing will work. Will companies still hold it against applicants who have used it within 30 days, also I wonder if they will come up with a new breathalizer system, to nail you for driving under the influence, and will the prison system release inmates who have marijuana related drug charges. I'm sure it will all fall into place in the future.
  • Denizen_Kate
    !
    Perhaps if enough states legalize it, the federal government will back off. This seems to be one of the few issues upon which both left- and right-leaning people agree. I hope Obama is paying attention.
  • Locutus
    !
    I hope they do. It is about time it is taken off the dangerous devil drug list. Maybe we can finally make use of such a versatile plant instead of wasting our natural resources as trees and paying out the nose for foreign oil. Crooked money is the only thing holding it back from being legal. Maybe our jails would not be full of non violent offenders. I also feel that if it is legalized the population of pillheads hopefully would go down. That is where a major problem lies.
  • VVP
    !
    This issue is here. The genie is out of the bottle. Its time this is addressed on federal levels and undo almost a century of Americans being denied due freedoms. It never should have been illegal in the first place.

    Quit tapdancing around the issue. There never has been a good reason to resist restoring freedoms to the people and stop creating criminals and funding international drug cartels. The people of this country want it. It is and has always been hypocritical given the legality of alcohol and honestly we are now to the point all any resistance does is continues to delay the inevitable.

    Legalize it nation wide, Regulate it like Alcohol, Tax it if you must, But stop making excuses and do the right thing already.
  • acchokiefan
    !
    Listen carefully. The Koch Brothers have given up on winning many federal elections and are planning to pump wads into STATE LEGISLATURES. Red states want to privatize the prison systems. Legalizing pot would empty their businesses. Find a Republocan lawmaker in your state and find out where he lives.
  • R Load more comments...