Wednesday, July 30, 2008

World News Wednesdays

I thought the Religion days were going to be my hardest day. I have written up three separate posts before I started this one. Unlike Religion where I feel as though I have some idea of what I want to say, but don't know how to put it down, here I have no idea what exactly to do. So, since I'm pretty good at giving my opinion and thoughts, no matter how valid they are or whether you agree or not, I've decided I'll go to a news website and pick a story and then just discuss.

Today's item comes to us courtesy of Cnn.com: New Pot Penalties.

To be perfectly honest, I am neither for nor against the legalization of marijuana. Yes, I've heard the argument made for both sides, but neither really has a truly engaging point for me. However, as this story talks about, knocking out penalties for people in possession of small amounts of marijuana is actually not a bad idea. I read Police reports every single day (it's part of my job), and you would be surprised at how many people are arrested for "Possession of Marijuana - less than one ounce."
It already sounds like I'm taking the side of legal pot, but I'm not (quite). Like it is being said in the article, Marijuana use should be under the same sort of regulations as alcohol and therefore use (and abuse) of the substance should be monitored. Also, by not focusing on small count arrests that rarely lead to anything but a small fine or community service, agents can focus more on finding where the drugs come from and putting a stop to it. Or, if it is made legal, they can not even worry about finding it and focus on finding the 900 million meth labs in my area that (as far as my knowledge goes) does quite a bit more damage than the green leaf.
So, on further thought, maybe I am a little more on the side of legalization of marijuana. Heck, if it's legal, they can tax the mess out of it and maybe put some money towards finding alternative fuels so that we aren't all dependant on fossil fuels (that is a whole other discussion that I'm sure we shall get to at some point, but it's discussed to death everywhere, so I'm steering clear).
And, there is our first World News Wednesday. Although it wasn't really World News, it worked. See you tomorrow for some gameage.

1 comment:

Tim said...

Nice new blog. I agree that there should be some form of at least decriminalization for small amounts. If it's ok to use alcohol and other prescription drugs, why can't you enjoy the green leaf.