Legislators aim to recriminalize small amounts of marijuana

Raising criminal penalties on use of marijuana is exactly the wrong direction to go. Our jails are filled already with drug possession offenders where they don’t get the treatment that could free them of their drug use. If locking up pot users for longer periods of time would help, Texas would be pot-free by now. But it doesn’t work, it only raises the cost to society, raises the reward to distributors without reducing dependence.

This suggested change in law makes me think these politicians don’t apparently know they’re already in a hole about managing drug use in society and they should quit digging deeper through tougher penalties on pot.

dude, we totally don’t have enough poor and minority people in prison you dig. I say we stick it to ‘em just like the Nazis would have. Goebbels loved prisons, bro. (ortman and olin should go
back to planet Bachman, where assholes belong.)

$20 for 14 grams? Damn that’s the cheapest 1/2 ounce I ever heard of. A $20 bag would be more like a gram or 2

Good idea.

Our prison-industrial complex is one of the few growth areas left in our economy.

In fact let’s expand the focus to include tail-gating drivers, people who talk loudly in theatres, and the next person who cuts me off on 494 without signalling. That last one should get life.

.

I hope this passes. I’m calling my Reps right now. I’m sure the police lobby and prison complex are going to lobby hard against this bill. Our Reps need to hear from people who think it is a good idea

Haha. I guess I shouldn’t go to Urban Dictonary to get my weed pricing schedule. In San Diego it’s $20 for 14 grams. MInnesota probably has a higher street price.

I don’t know what kind of Mexican ditch weed they smoke in San Diego, but I guarantee it isn’t anywhere near $20 for a half-ounce there either. Are you telling me you don’t know anyone in Minnesota to consult for your research? You gotta get out more, guy.

I was recently abhorred to learn that Minnesota has become one of the leading jailers in the United States. We are in the top 1/5th in the nation, right beside neo-conservative states such as Texas. Our laws with regard to small marijuana possession have served our state for over 30 years and suddenly we need stricter laws? Research has repeatedly shown that harsher drug penalties do nothing to reduce drug use. This is a matter of public health. People are not only NOT rehabilitated in prison for drug offenses, they also cannot obtain gainful employment upon release, effectively completing the vicious circle that drives them once again to crime. Do we want college kids to be refused funding if they are caught with a joint? Considering our last 3 Presidents and Olympic champ Michael Phelps have indulged in the practice of cannabis consumption, doesn’t that pretty well debunk the “evils” of this drug and that you CAN in fact amount to something if you indulge? This nanny state mentality does nothing but drive us further from personal freedom of choice and sensible public policy. The Drug War has not worked. We don’t need more of the same with HARSHER, MORE EXPENSIVE societal costs by way of increased rates of incarceration. There is so much revenue lost due to current policy, further compounded by the massive expenses of prohibition enforcement. All with no tangible, verifiable results that drug use has been reduced. Teens can get marijuana more easily than alcohol. Isn’t the solution to such a dilemma painfully obvious?

Oh- the figure is one in 26 Minnesotans is either currently in jail or on probation. Think about that!

Authored by representatives from Chanhassen and Thief River Falls. Hmm.. the “crime capitals” of the world, no doubt. Can you say, “Tough of crime image for sake of re-election?” This legislation undoubted is crafted to battle the ever-increasing narco-war in Thief River Falls. Quick! Lock up all these junky pot smokers before they go out and start tipping the cows over! Good grief…

Let’s go back to the Seventies! How stupid. To believe that taxpayers are actually paying the salaries of morons like Ortman and Olin.

I guess the police need something else to occupy their valuable time.

I have a better idea. Let’s recriminalize white-collar fraud and corporate crimes instead.

Sure… lets throw more people in jail for using a plant… out of touch, clueless idiots, get out of pollitics and keep your moral agenda at church on Sunday.

Have a seed? Go down to your nearest green area/park/forest/where ever and plant it. They want a war on drugs? lets give them one.

[...] other legislators have a bill that criminalizes small amounts of marijuana.  Anybody else think these people have misplaced [...]

Obviously this is a vindictive reaction by the police, who are afraid of the medical MJ becoming reality in Minnesota.

Massachusetts just voted to decriminalize by 65% to 35% – what would the percentage be in Minnesota? Easily over 50%.

keep on passing your bs laws and we’ll keep on passing bowls

As someone who lives in Ortman’s district, I couldn’t be prouder. Gawd, what an idiot! Please, PLEASE don’t ever come up back with a “no new taxes” argument for anything in the future, you fraud. If you think we have money to pay for this, then there’s nothing we can’t afford.

Why do we vote for Republicans? What use are they?

That’s a great way to fix the economy. JAIL MORE CITIZENS!

Or is restitution costs their big game this time?

The for-profit prison system is an abomination.

what exactly are they trying to prove? that they like to overfill prisons? that their cops are extremely bored? that the state of Minnesota is completely backwards compared to almost every other state? maybe they don’t want open-minded people to even think about living in their desolate wasteland of a state? maybe they have never read an unbiased research-based text in their entire lives? get a life you bunch of useless arrogant morons…

also no one in their right mind would even pay only 20 for a half, that is, unless they are as stupid as the politicians in the article i am commenting on.

Ortman and Olin must be smoking that medical crack john walters speaks of. Everytime I start missing home ( I moved away 8 years ago) I just get myself updated on the Minnesota political scene and it reminds me why I left. It’s to bad Minnesota does not have voter intitiative. I don’t suppose the politicians back there could handle letting the people actually have a voice. Everybody should be writing their reps to pass ballot initiative legislation so law enforcement groups and other misguided self interest groups can’t stiffle legitimate democratic efforts to give the people what they want.