BILL CLINTON: LET STATES DECIDE WHETHER THEY WANT TO LEGALIZE POT

Discussion in 'Politics Discussion' started by ash2014uk, Jul 1, 2014.

  1. ash2014uk

    ash2014uk Well-Known Member

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    Former President Bill Clinton told NBC's David Gregory that ‘we should leave it to the states,’ when it comes to legalizing pot.
    Bill Clinton wants states to experiment with marijuana as cautiously as he claims he did.

    Clinton, who famously admitted during his 1992 campaign to having tried pot, said in an interview that aired Sunday that he believes states should decide whether they want to legalize marijuana.



    “I think we should leave it to the states,” the former president told NBC’s David Gregory. “This really is a time where (the states) should be laboratories of democracy.”

    “I like where it is now. If the states want to try it, they can, and then they’ll be able to see what happens,” he added, suggesting that he wasn’t in favor of federal legislation that would legalize the drug.

    Clinton was interviewed Tuesday at this year’s annual Clinton Global Initiative conference in Colorado, which legalized personal marijuana use in 2012.

    In 1992, Clinton said he had tried pot in the 1960s but claimed he “didn’t inhale.”
     
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  2. Annabell

    Annabell Well-Known Member

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    Sure you didn't Clinton, we believe you. Come on, you were a huge hippie. You don't need to lie about it.
     
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  3. Determined2014

    Determined2014 Guest

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    I think that is a fair enough decision, for each state to make its own decision, because all laws differ in all the states.
     
  4. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm inclined to agree with state's rights. And pot is not anywhere near the danger that smack, crack, coke, meth, PCP, etc are.
     
  5. sully3333

    sully3333 Member

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    Weed is arguably even less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco in terms of how it affects the user's body.
     
  6. kayrockwell91

    kayrockwell91 Member

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    I think that this is a very common sense approach to the idea of marijuana legalization. We all know that states have different values, and some are more open to the idea of marijuana decriminalization than other are. I believe that if states are allowed to choose, the process (which I think is inevitable) of total marijuana legalization will move along at a more natural pace.

    If federal legislation is introduced, I suspect that a large number of states which normally support decriminalization will- on principle, reject federal intrusion into what should rightly be a state decision. This can only be counter-intuitive because interest groups which stand to lose money from marijuana decriminalization will be able to change the discussion from one about the benefits of decriminalization to one about the dangers of letting the federal government dictate to states. If the debate is allowed to become one about federal domination, I am very sure that the legalization movement in the former confederate states will be adversely affected.
     
  7. Livvy

    Livvy Well-Known Member

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    From the studies that have been done on it, even by the CIA, it's certainly less dangerous than all of those drugs. Most of the issue comes from the tobacco that is often used when rolling to be honest.
     
  8. Sam Tarly

    Sam Tarly Member

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    I think Clinton is on the right track, legalizing marijuana should be done based on individual state's and their people's beliefs. Plus, as it has been said on this thread, marijuana is not as harmful as many other legal drugs out there, tobacco being the worst offender. And if states legalize marijuana, they can regulate it better and also bring in significant amounts of money through taxes and fees.
     
  9. kayrockwell91

    kayrockwell91 Member

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    Hey,

    I am very happy to discover that there are other people that see things the way I do. To be honest, I generally avoid discussing "Third Rail" topics like this in person because some people hold very, very strongly to their views and I have witnessed some very emotionally charged arguments over drug policy. I honestly think that the marijuana legalization movement needs to focus more on getting people to consider the idea of legalizing marijuana by trying to get people to drop their visceral reactions to the idea of "legalizing drugs".

    While I do not use and mind altering substances (not even coffee), I see the issue of marijuana legalization to be an issue of individual liberty. We allow smokers to smoke in spite of the many health issues that smoking tobacco can cause, we allow drinkers to drink in spite of the large amount of deaths that can be attributed to alcohol-related causes... why should we arbitrarily decide that people are not allowed to smoke or otherwise ingest other psycho-active substances? I think that framing it this way will make more people warm to the idea of legalization because everybody loves liberty.

    That's just my opinion though.
     
  10. Gelsemium

    Gelsemium Senior Investor

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    I agree that marijuana can be compared to alcohol, tobacco or even coffee, but that doesn't make any of these substances good and healthy, so why should they be legal? Shouldn't we be following the opposite path?
     

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