This is exactly the problem with the new Obama "medical" marijuana policy of state law trumps fed. Now that the feds say it’s ok to smoke, the push will be to legalize the drug outright. With all the health hazards that entails and encourages. Is there no lesson in the consequences of having repealed alcohol prohibition? Highly successful in the early years, crime down, health up, the popular drug was decriminalized and now costs the US economy hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives each year. One important way to bring down medical costs in the US would be to re-criminalize alcohol. Pot kills. It destroys the lungs, is a known carcinogen, reduces the body's defenses against infection. In all, yet another short-sighted pandering to a popular, self-destructive, socially expensive drug.

First of all the feds never said that it is "okay" to smoke, David Turner, so please get your facts straight. Secondly, marijuana has helped many people. The oil from it has helped shrink tumors. Please look into the Rick Simpson story. It also helps glaucoma and other medical problems. As far as alcohol, wine is mentioned in the Scriptures as being helpful for the stomach, so are you suggesting something the Heavenly Father okayed should be illegal? How about people just learn not to get drunk and abuse what is given to them on the Earth instead?

Hopefully the insanity will stop in California when the voters reject this garbage. For every $1 in taxes on alcohol and tobacco the back end costs are $8.95 (CASA). Pot would be worse. Aside from the adverse impacts on physical and mental health, welfare and crime, the additional impact on the 24.2% average high school drop out rate that costs Californians $46.4 billion a year would be immense while we raise future generations of losers. Interesting to note that 80% of California inmates are also high school drop outs, another $8 billion problem. The druggies need to gear up for this battle. Even though money is no problem, because they can always turn to Soros, it is time for all Americans who endure the pain, suffering, death, destruction and economic cost of drugs to put the hammer down. Roger Morgan

The article states 78,500 felony and mistemeanor arrests is very misleading. The felony arrest are for dealing none for using as for misdemeaners in California marijuana has been decriminalized for over 30 years. Under one ounce in a $100 ticket. This article makes it sound like California has put all these individuals in prison. Even very few of the felony counts spent any time in prison. Most were booked got out on bail and were sent to treatment.

Dear Rose, Assuming that you only use pot oil, that would make you odd in terms of nearly all pot users, who choose to smoke. And smoke, from any source, kills. As regards water into wine, Man wrote the word, not God. And if earlier man, in their ignorance of the impact of the drug on health and life expectancy use it for purposes of ritual, well let's forgive them. As for today, no excuse exists for self-administering poison (detox from alcohol is a direct reference to the toxic impact of the drug!) to achieve a self-taught appreciation for the feelings any such poison delivers as "pleasurable." Poison is, after all, still poison. And pot does kill.

mr roger morgan: DRUGS?..how about all the crap doctors prescribe?..People get addicted to prescription "drugs" as you call them, which is much more harmful than marijuana! I personally do not like marijuana, but I know plenty of people who work regular jobs and are successful citizens who do use marijuana and it does not rule their lives. But their have been Doctors who have lost everything-their homes, families,practices, as I recall reading an article where a Doctor himself got addicted to a drug called OxyContin that he prescribed to his patients.

Roger Morgan said, "it is time for all Americans who endure the pain, suffering, death, destruction and economic cost of drugs to put the hammer down." NO! It is time for all the Americans who endure the pain, suffering, death, destruction and economic cost of marijuana prohibition to stop the hate, and use decency as a standard! Prohibition was and is a cruel failure! Been there - watched my dear spouse suffer with cancer that was so relieved from smoking Mj - immediate, sweet relief when nothing else Hospice had to offer came close.

To compare pot use to any other drug is a red herring. It is not about which one is more dangerous; the fact is they are ALL dangerous in terms of long-term effects. Not only that, they are very expensive, but that is for future generations to worry about, right? Pot can be dangerous in the short-term, too, especially relating to driving and increases in assaults when people are coming down. It is also interesting to me to see that $20b have been spent on the cause to legalize pot in CA. I doubt this money is coming from private citizens, which means some business interest (i.e., drug cartels) is financing the campaign. Do you really want to legitimize organized crime? Is this what you want in your state?

diane, it will no longer be a crime when it is legalized, hence no more need for any drug cartels in regards to marijuana! please wake up!

Diane Kopperman, you say, "To compare pot use to any other drug is a red herring. It is not about which one is more dangerous; the fact is they are ALL dangerous in terms of long-term effects." Well, then that would include all pharmaceuticals, too, so get rid of those? I see a failure of compassion on the part of those who have not seen the suffering that can be eased by pot. It's either NO DRUGS, including OTC and prescription, or allow a relatively harmless, wonderfully helpful, cheap drug like marijuana to be an option.

ok well to start roger morgan im 17 and in high school...marijuana dont mess with my schooling at all. i smoke weed every day and twice on saterdays. i get all A's and a B here and there, personally i belive that weed helps me retain what im learning, and does not harm me at all because also im my physical education class i can run a six minute mile. also when im studying for a test ir doing my homework i find it way easier to concentrate.to add another thing i suffer from insomnia and well marijuana helps me sleep and then function better the next morning. and rose you are right, perscription medication is way worse and more harmfull. (and yes i know im not the best speller)

I can't believe the perpetuation of myths displayed here. Diane: the long term effects of chronic pot use are (are you ready for this?) REDUCED levels of head, neck and throat squamous cell cancer (Brown University 2009). Assaults as a result of 'coming down' from cannabis? Please show me that study! Can't? Are we working from whole cloth here? And, sorry to add, but actual driving studies (the real kind - with scientists) have not shown the kind of impairment caused by drinking alcohol or taking legal pain medications. David, the only thing that pot kills are delusions. Prohibition of cannabis has done nothing to protect society, but criminalizes millions of otherwise law abiding citizens (it certainly has not reduced use). Worst of all, it puts distribution completely out of public purview. You can't regulate what you prohibit. Roger, it is absurd to compare alcohol and tobacco with cannabis use. The first two ARE poisons. They sicken and kill hundreds of thousands of people each year. Nicotine and alcohol are physiologically addictive. To try and deduce the social costs of legalizing cannabis, by comparing it to alcohol and tobacco is like saying "you can drown in the ocean, so better build a fence around that glass of water'. Where, in the last 13 years since the passage of 215 in California, have the horrendous consequences of "easily available" marijuana played out? Teen use went down. Is that so bad?

I wonder if Daved Tuner and most of the other people commenting here believe in the constitution of this great country. If they do, they would agree that mans prohibition from the freedom to use any substance is WRONG and unconstitutional. The Criminal Justice System in CA is so engrossed in these uncostitutional laws that it struggles to handle serious crimes. People have the right to live any way they like. Prohibitionists like david tuna obviosly dont see the negatives of this unconstitutional prohibition all around them. fortunately we live in a time of enlightenment and prohibitionists will actually need to think before they speak.

First of all let me start by saying that I don't smoke pot or use any drug but I do drink occasionally. I do believe that the effects of alcohol and prescription drugs are worse than pot use. What I cannot understand is how some people feel like it is their right, or even their job to tell others how to run their lives. "I don't like pot and I don't use it so make it illegal for everyone" seems to be what many are saying. Seems pretty bold to think that you are just the perfect person and that we would have a perfect society if everyone were just like YOU. My thoughts are if you want to smoke, go ahead, but I will pass. There are so many things that are harmful and bad but going out and making all of them illegal just seems absurd. Do what you feel is right and let others do what they feel is right and leave it at that.