These people should worry about things that are important, instead of silly crap.
Vote them OUT.

In a free country, adults should be able to choose what to put in their body. Imagine the money saved if we stopped arresting and convicting people for marijuana, and the time police would have to investigate actual crimes.

And no, i don't smoke marijuana.

Society has spent so much time and energy banning cigarette smoke; why in the world should we legalize some other kind of smoke. Makes no sense.

Marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol. We have far greater crimes to tie up our legal and penal systems. Make it legal, regulate it and tax it. Win-win.

Weed is for dirty stinking hippies

Something else to consider: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213#ixzz2Ge4lCWcf

PS: There's as much chance of me ever being a marijuana smoker as there is of me being a nicotine smoker (i.e., ZERO), however, I will be closing my HSBC account which I've had since 2006.

Less government intervention in our daily lives is always a step forward.

We all know that someday, soon, this prohibition will end.

I spent 5 years in Federal Prison for a marijuana offense.

The memorable day that I met with the parole panel, I asked, "When pot becomes legal, what will my 5 years spent in prison have meant?"

Their response, "That is a very philosophical question. We don't deal with philosophy in this office."

Case closed...go back to your cell.

When the 5 years were gone, I walked out and never looked back. But, I know to this day, there are thousands of Americans still dealing with the same miserable crap.

I wrote about the escapades that led to my imprisonment...my book:
Shoulda Robbed a Bank

I would be honored by your review.

The closest I have ever seen marijuana come to harming anyone was during an air drop. We brought in 1100 pounds from Jamaica and dropped it in a peanut field in middle Georgia. The bales were dropped from a small plane at 125 feet altitude. One of the bales, about 80 pounds, missed my compadre by only a few feet... but it surely messed up his truck.

You can read about it in: Shoulda Robbed a Bank

That is my contribution to helping point out just how ludicrous our pot laws truly are.

The question is too general for legislation that is very specific. The legislation specifically addresses medical marijuana and regulated dispensaries. My immediate answer on this is yes. When it comes to medical needs how is it any different than any other drug. Seems to me that the only ones that would object would be the drug companies that may want to limit competition.

As for the broader question it is very clear that jail and prison time for marijuana is ridiculous and does more damage than good. It puts young impressionable people in a very negative environment that does not exactly develop productive adults, it creates an unnecessary burden on the tax payers for State or Federally run prisons, and as we have read in the news, has produced sentencing that help private prison owners fill their beds to turn a profit.

Lifting the prohibition on marijuana could put it in the same category as alcohol. It could also add to State revenues by taxing it, and it would create jobs in the agriculture industry as well as possibility of private businesses not unlike cigar shops.

I personally think that if marijuana eases pain, stops the nausea and vomiting from cancer treatments, etc. commonsense tells us that this legislation needs to be passed.

It is a waste of taxpayers' money to try to control marijuana. Prohibition didn't work and the "war on drugs" hasn't either. Time to move on and focus on the really dangerous issues like guns.

I'll never understand how alcohol can be legal to consume, and pot, for medical purposes anyway, is not. I would much rather work next to someone who smoked a joint the night before than drank alcohol. I've also seen alot of stupid stuff done by alcohol drinkers that I have never seen pot smokers do. Give the people with medical conditions some relief.

There is a really interesting book out called The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander. It talks about the tremendous costs, both human and financial, of enforcing our existing drug laws.

Legalize it, don't criticize it!

Imagine, the once great stronghold of hemp being the last hold out as everywhere else races toward change! Pennsylvania has a long tradition of hemp farming, especially in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where East and West Hempfield Townships were named for the "Vast quantities of hemp raised there".

Over 20,000 people are arrested for pot every years in Pennsylvania. That means that over the next ten years more than 200 thousand people will have their lives wrecked in Pa while the people in Colorado and Washington will be FREE!!! Meditate on that number for a minute.... TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND!!!

It's so insane that a cancer patient can't use it as medicine and the farmers can't grow industrial hemp for all of its myriad uses.

Legalize it. It will be the best thing Pennsylvania ever did.

By the way, I am the author of Hempstone Heritage, a book about the history of the hemp industry in Pennsylvania as well as the potential of a revived hemp industry in the future. We're trying to put the Hemp back in Hempfield.

Join us at our Facebook page, Pennsylvania Hempland Security... http://www.facebook.com/HempstoneHeritage?ref=ts&fref=ts

Legalize it, I don't think so. If weed has so many medicinal uses, don't you think the big Pharma Co's would be trying to capitalize on it.
Weed is a gateway drug. Fools like those advocating its legalization just want to get high without ramifications. Don't get me started on booze.
Weed may be no more damaging than booze, but don't think that encouraging its use is good for our kids.

If marijuana were legal then the government could try to control its distribution and tax the life out of it. In countries where some drugs are illegal their addicted populations have become older and smaller. In the US our addicted population has become younger and larger. Something isn't working.

The idea of marijuana being a gateway drug is largely a mythology. People who are likely to become addicts alcohol will also be a gateway drug. What the "gateway" for any individual is the fact that it may put you in contact with people, places, and situations that allow you to connect with other substances. Alcohol and marijuana lower inhibitions and cause people to say yes to things they may never agree to under normal circumstances. Couple that with people who have a tendency towards addiction and yes, it becomes the gateway drug. How many people smoked pot and never did anything harder in their lives? How many people smoked pot and decided it was stupid and never did it again? The correlations are there yes, but not for the reasons many believe. The complexities of addiction are not as simple as being exposed to and smoking marijuana, if only. I know this from the tragedy of addiction in my own family, not because I ever was a pot smoker. This knowledge came from study, counseling and actual courses taken to learn more about this situation.

Um, these people also endorse medical marijuana. I would like to provide you with a list of organizations that formally endorse and approve of legalization of marijuana. You are not fully informed. I hope this changes your mind. Leading National and International Medical, Religious, and Legal Organizations Supporting Physician-Supervised Access to Medical Marijuana:

§ The American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM), § American Anthropological Association,
§ The American Bar Association (ABA)§ American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)§ The American Nurses Association (ANA)§ The American Public Health Association (APHA) Arthritis Research Campaign§ British Medical Association
§ HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America§ The Lymphoma Foundation of America (LFA)§ The National Association for Public Health Policy§ National Black Police Association§ The National Nurses Society on Addictions§ The Episcopal Church§ The Presbyterian Church USA§ The United Church of Christ§ The United Methodist Church’s Board of Church and Society§ The Union of Reform Judaism§ The Unitarian Universalist AssociationState/Local Medical Marijuana Endorsements and Statements of Support:§ AIDS Care Ocean State§ AIDS Foundation of Chicago§ AIDS Project Rhode Island§ Alaska Nurses Association§ Associated Medical Schools of New York§ California Academy of Family Physicians§ California Legislative Council for Older Americans - & more

Smoke away!!!!!! Life gets shorter and shittier ~~ People need to go back to minding their own business

It should b legal..its safer than alcohol and has medicinal value... and we would save so much money by not sending people to jail for smoking a plant and not causing harm to anyone..not even themselves...esp when them being in jail is harmful to them and to taxpayers both...its fiscally and socially irresponsible to continue to waste money on prohibition

Marijuana Prohibition is the most destructive and dysfunctional and racist social policy in America since Slavery. It is time to throw it on the ash heap of history

This little 3 minute video will explain the absurdity and nonsense of Marijuana Prohibition. It is all about money and control and old dying empires. The Prison/Police State Industrial Complex,The Pharmachutcial Industrial Complex and the Alcohol/Tobacco Industrial Complex are the only people opposing Marijuana legalization. It's all a giant SCAM on the American people. When Prop 19 in California the measure to legalize Marijuana was introduced in 2010 who was the biggest financial contributor to prevent it? Yep you guessed it the California Beverage Association aka the BOOZE industry. The above industries have bought off our Federal Government through expensive lobbying to prevent a better product from hurting their bottom line. Like I said we are being SCAMMED in America on a monumental scale Marijuana and Cannabis will change the world as soon as we kick the old outdated dinosaur industries to the curb.

http://youtu.be/hMM_T_PJ0Rs

A Nobel Prize winning economist tells us in today's Wall St. Journal (1/5/13) that ending the War on Drugs (which is mostly a war on marijuana users) would, "reduce the role of criminals in producing and selling drugs, improve many inner-city neighborhoods, encourage more minority students in the U.S. to finish high school, substantially lessen the drug problems of Mexico and other countries involved in supplying drugs, greatly reduce the number of state and federal prisoners and the harmful effects on drug offenders of spending years in prison, and save the financial resources of government."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324374004578217682305605070.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Darticle

Pot smokers are docile.

It's a waste of police time to go after pot smokers. Regulate it, tax it, and use it to offset the massive debt that these two political parties have rung up over the last few years.

I believe Cannabis should be completly legal !! It helps with my depresion and anxiety !! <3

I was 13 and flying from L.A. to Philadelphia in 1970 when a woman seated ahead of me began to smoke; I got a "contact" high. I smoked pot on occasion from age 14 to 19, but eventually became an anti-drug crusader. I've supported severe penalties for drug dealers and have bought into conspiracy theories related to how the government "permits" drugs to flood into the USA and into ghetto communities. I now believe that any drug that has medicinal benefits should be available for people who could benefit from it. I also believe that a country that has only 5% of the world's population, but 25% of its prison population is in a sense a police state. Most of our prisoners are incarcerated on non-violent drug-related offenses. The "war on drugs" has been a war on the poor and on minorities.

Cannabis is not only safe, it cures diseases. I am registering to vote after what I saw happen in Colorado. I always refused to register to vote because of the electoral college. I am now ending my boycott. There is nothing more important than legalizing weed. I think all drugs should be legal. Proper education is the key to keeping kids off dangerous drugs. Marijuana is not dangerous. Kids smoking pot is not dangerous. Coffee and cigarettes are far more hazardous to a persons health. I am embarrassed that PA was not the first state to legalize. We must follow suit with Colorado and Washington. This is the state of Independence! We stand for freedom! Stand up for freedom and call your senators and congressman and tell them you will never vote for them unless they vote to legalize pot in our state. I want to smoke pot and grow it organically in my yard. It is my right. Genesis Chapter 1 verse 29 specifically gives to all of us "all manner of seed bearing plants" to use as food or in this case, medicine. Did you know that cannabis seeds do not get you high, and they are a complete healthy protein? The uses for weed are not countable. Legalize in 2013 for freedom, for the economy, and for the love of Pennsylvania.

I believe the push for legalizing medicinal marijuana is a ruse to legalize smoking pot to get high. Under this law would marijuana only be available legally with a doctor's prescription or would it be sold like alcohol? No humane person would deny someone who is experiencing negative side effects of chemo, has chronic retractable pain or who is terminal the use of a drug that could ease their suffering Those cases need a Dr.'s Rx. Thats ok
I love freedom. I'm against laws that prohibit smoking cigarettes in public places. I'm against laws that limit the size of soft drinks. I'm against mandatory seatbelt laws. I'm against laws that violate the second amendment guarantee to the right to bear arms but I want regulations that restrict who can purchase guns. I feel the same way about legal marijuana.
If getting stoned becomes legal, I hope the laws against driving under the influence of marijuana are as strict or stricter than those for alcohol. You are fooling yourself if you think a stoned driver is not impaired. The safety issues for drivers is a real concern for me.
If legalizing medical marijuana results in greater acceptance of young people getting high, (which I think it will) then it's a bad idea
The laws we have reflect the type of society we want. My experience with pot is that it makes people less productive and irresponsible
Finally, a request for the gentleman who has repeatedly responded above that marijuana cures cancer. Please stop.

ha...its okay for youth to grow up thinking booze is okay bit not marijuana? I am a childhood cancer survivor, and I think about my past on a daily basis (negatively) so why is it legal for me to go drown my sorrows and damage my body and possibly others, as opposed to smoking and relaxing on the couch for the evening worry free? I have seen the psych Dr. and he wanted to do nothing but put me on anti depressants, needless to say I stopped going to him and went back to self mediating. Today I am a college grad, still smoke, successfully employed, and can not wait for the day I can enjoy my harmless meds without worry of jail time for doing so.

If only it wasn't illegal, because then I would be able to share my story personally with people while not putting my future at risk, as opposed to anonomysly.

If it can help the economy when taxed correctly more power to them... I have never touched any drug and I will continue to never touch it even if it will be legalized. I do feel that if they allow it in PA that it should only be restricted to certain areas. Just like some people do not want to smell cigarette smoke, I do not want to have to smell weed. It would turn my stomach.

Bungie jumping and sky diving are legal, and so is alcohol and and cigarettes...all of these kill indiscriminatly. Cannabis should be legal because it has never been proven to harm adults.

Why would we keep something illegal that is impossible to overdose on? Why aren't you people who are opposed to this spouting off about liquor, tobacco, prescription drugs, guns, knives, fatty and unhealthy foods, and even VENDING MACHINES FALLING ON YOU (look it up, more people die from vending machines falling on you than cannabis). How hypocritical are you people? You all belong back in the 1950's with your bad science and ignorant views. Especially the so called 'gateway effect". I smoked a cigarette first before I used anything else, so if anything tobacco is a gateway drug. I also drank coffee first. Does that make it a gateway drug? Because more people die from caffeine and other energy drinks than cannabis. The reason people call it that is because they are exposed to harder drugs having to obtain cannabis from street dealers. Stop trying to control people's lives.

We would go out from church and help families without dads yet there were many older teenage boys who would quit school and lay around not doing to much to help out their families. Most times I would talk to these young boys and offer them work at our construction site almost always they would say no. Almost all the time when their mother would hear me offer them work the moms would get upset and tell me all they want to do all day is lay around and smoke pot. This happened more than a few times and the moms would say they have no idea on how to change their laziness. Was this from pot? I don't know, did pot attrituibite to their lazyness, I don't know. Should we tell these young people that this is fine to do and sanction it from a state level. These young boys would find money for pot but never find any money to help out there moms. This I was told by their mothers. I personally have not seen too much good from this drug. The decision is up to the person to decide what are their priorities.

(Ah character limit, so much to say)! Marijuana is illegal solely due to propaganda & misinformation. It is classified as a schedule I drug meaning it has no medicinal value. If you know nothing about this topic, I urge you to google it. To say this drug has NO medicinal value is a blatant lie. The US government has a patent for the medicinal use of marijuana (google: US patent 6630507) wherein they say it has qualities that may be effective in treating numerous conditions. One of the most powerful, if not THE most powerful, lobbyist groups in this country is the Pharmaceutical Industry. They cannot make a profit off of a God given plant; therefore, it is in their best interest to keep it illegal until they can develop an effective pill form extract which stands to make HUGE profit. Especially considering recent studies which show that THC extract injected directly into certain cancer cells "eliminates the cancer while leaving the healthy cells in tact" (http://www.worldhealth.net/news/thc_initiates_brain_cancer_cells_to_dest/). People need to become infuriated that the US government has direct evidence citing medicinal marijuana as a very legitimate candidate as the CURE for cancer, yet does nothing about it because it hasn't figured out how it will turn a profit on it. How many more of our family members & friends need to die of horrible illnesses before this topic will be taken seriously? PA is stereotypically behind on social issues. Why not be at the forefront for once?

aND IF YOU TOOK THEM ALL , YOU MOST LIKY WENT TO DOC FOR REFILL AND MAYBE HAVE GOTTEN HOOKED . WHY DO YOU THINK ALL THESE YOUNGTERS ARE JUNKIES THESE DAYS. PAIN PILLS. THEY SELL THIER MOMMY PILLS , THAN THEY GET HOOK , THAN ITS CHEAPER FOR HEM TO DO HERION.. NOW POT , THAT WONT HOOK YOU . SO SMOKE IT IF YOU LIKE , ITS BETTER THAN DRINKING . SHOULDNT DO ANYTHING , BUT THE LESS OF THE HONEY FROM THE DEVIL , GO WITH THE ERB.

I think you all need to take a look at Run From The Cure. The Ron Simpson Story. It has been proven that marijuana in its purest form KILLS CANCER! PERIOD! The bottom line here people is that there is no money to be made in cures. Only treatments. The above mentioned video series can be found on youtube.

Simply watch the video series and you will see for yourself.

Wow. It got really quiet on this one. Bottom line here is that this is the most important plant on this earth. To be honest I really don't think the government or any official has the right to put any rules on what is grown naturally. Since there is no money to be made if it was legal. (Because anyone can grow it) The government figured how to make money on this by making it illegal.

I would love to see it legal. It would be beneficial on so many levels for so many people! The economy would definitely get a boost. Why keep something illegal that brings so many peace?

The prohibition of marijuana and everything it encompasses is FAR more detrimental to society than marijuana itself could ever be. It is time to put an end to these senseless laws. Legalize and regulate it like alcohol. Through state legalization we can force the federal government to change their stance.

Write your public officials and urge them to implement a sensible marijuana policy. For more info visit:

The Marijuana Policy Project at http://www.mpp.org/
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition at http://www.leap.cc/ ("Cops say legalize")
The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws at http://norml.org/

hahahaha this is awesome. The worst thing a stoner would ever do is buy out a sheetz store's food

Join others on 'Legal Marijuana: Pa. Voters Say No' re Daylin Leach legislation debate