Decriminalizing, legalizing pot is a very dumb idea. Unless you are growing your own bud ALL of the pot being smoked in this country and virtually every other is a direct result of organized crime.
Times have changed. The weed business is big business. It's no longer Ricky and Julian growing some dope for their friends.
The crop yields that come from the growops nowadays require an organized criminal element to distribute them. The money gleaned from these crops go on to finance other criminal ventures such as weapons trafficking, human trafficking, cocaine trafficking, meth trafficking, corrupting government officials nationally and internationally and so on and so on.
That's got to be the most retardestable thing I've heard thus far. (Word of the Day)
I known plenty who grow and sell, and none of them traffic guns, they don't traffic humans, cocaine, meth, or any other damn thing you can throw out there. They dealt with only marijuana.
No longer rick and julian? That show was late in the game for details of dealers, and for the most part, it is usually just your average joe growing the stuff...... then again, The Trailer Park Boys are from Nova Scotia, as am I.... so maybe it's different here then it is where you live, I don't know.
But granted, there are a few bad apples who also sell other things besides marijuana, you have no place to generalize and blame marijuana for other illegal drugs and actions.
Direct Result of Organized Crime? No, It being related to Organized Crime is an action by the governments making it illegal in the first place. Take Alcohol for example and how big the illegal trafficking of alcohol was during Probation...... is it like that anymore now that it's legal?
Last I check, no.
Jack Layton of the NDP has a perfect plan which is in the best interests of Canada and citizens..... decriminalize/legalize marijuana to remove or at least reduce the illegal market, free up more police, courts, and focus on the more important issues in society.
The Liberals did it in the past (Although chickened out from US pressure) so there's got to be some logic to it.
Don't get me wrong. If you can grow your own marijuana for your own use and consume it outside of the reach of children then by all means blaze it up. I have no problem with that whatsoever.
But if you buy your weed from a dealer you are contributing to a lot of human suffering.
Bullsh*t...... none of the people.... NONE.... of them were like anything in which you mentioned above, and they harmed nobody.
I knew one person who was a shaddy character who sold marijuana, but he wasn't growing it himself, and he dealt mainly in cocaine, E, and other forms of drugs..... marijuana was a small part of what he did.
If you want to worry about people like him, then focus on their main products of sale which brings about those sorts of things, other then marijuana.
The only reason why society has a bad image of marijuana is because of "guilt by association" with other drugs it's been classified with.