please do, man.

news of phelps doing this made me elevate him from hero status, to super hero status.

i often find myself in company and situations in which we laugh and wonder why its illegal in the first place...

I never understood the big deal on smoking weed. Yeah, it impairs you, but so does alcohol. If you do it behind closed doors and confined yourself til you were back to normal then who cares? As long as you're not hurting other people. Just your brain cells. Even then, it's entirely your choice.

I guess carelessness is the problem. I'm personally okay with it because I have friends who smoke this stuff and they are actually pretty intelligent people and they only do it for fun.

Oh yes many wrongs makes it right.

No - pot should not be legalized ever. What's next cocaine re-legalized, heroin re-legalized.?

I don't give a leap who has been dumb enough to smoke pot - that doesn't make drug use cool.

Hey Jennifer Aniston is a huffer - let's all start huffing too. Fergie did Meth - let's all take Meth cause you can became famous! Absolutely stupid.

wackdoodle - Have you ever done any real research on marijuana? Did you know that in colonial times, 1/4th of your crop HAD to be marijuana and you HAD to give a percentage of that to the government?

Did you also know that cigarettes have been proven to have twice the ammount of adverse side effects of regular marijuana use and that the majority of marijuana users never suffer ANY negative side effects, other than that of lung congestion?

Huffing can lead to brain damage, using meth ONE TIME can blow your heart out of your chest, the same with cocaine.

there is a huge difference between those substances, so instead of making coverall, blanket statements, do your homework.

Wackdoodle, you do realize comparing marijuana to cocaine and heroin is a far more than just a stretch. Why are you not comparing alcohol to heroin? Alcohol does far more damage to yourself and those around you than marijuana ever has or ever will, yet they have establishments set up just for drinking (how would one get home from one of these places?). They should absolutely legalize it for no further reasons than it would be a new industry, provide jobs, and produce a heck of a lot of tax revenue.
It drives me absolutely mad that the people who claim how terrible marijuana is, hve likely never tried it, so don't know how truly harmless it is; drink alcohol on a regular basis. I work overnight at a very popular hotel. I've not once had to make sure a stoned chick made it to her room safely, rather than wander to a random room full of guys. I've never had to call the police on someone because they are so stoned that they have become hostile towards employees and other guests. I could literally go on and on forever about the negatives edffects of alcohol that I've had to deal with compared to the lack of negative effects from marijuana. How about not criminalizing a large portion of the population for partaking in something that enables them to relax after a long, hard day at work? The reason marijuana is considered a gateway drug is because of people like wackdoodle categorizing it with harmful drugs like cocaine and heroin. If a teen tries marijuana and sees it as innocent, they then have the automatic thought in their mind "Well, if this isn't as bad as people try to say it is, heroin must not be so bad either."

LMAO! Matdredalia! Girrrl where have you been? You crack me up popping up every few months and putting in your two cents like you were standing in the next room listening to our conversation.

Well like Dick Morris on FOX news said let the boy have a dooby. I am thirty eight years old and I have personaly smoked pot maybe half a dozen times and eaten pot brownies/cookies about that much as well. I did it in social situations where I felt safe to enhance the fun. Then there are people like my old room mate Susan who smokes a full pipe every evening and a couple on her days off. She is one of the most sane together reliable responsible people I have ever met in my life. Then you have the so called pot heads who are just constantly seaking out a joint and they seem to be in a constant daze. These are the nuts that are ruining it for the ones who can keep it together. Learn to put the $#!+ down and take a brake..damn.

@Brandynico - amen, thank you! I'm semi incoherent thanks to my wonderful pain meds (which, I might note, make me WAY more incoherent and screw with me more than doing pot ever did when I did it), so I didn't elaborate my point very well.

Very well said, hon!

drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30
Click on the above link to see a nifty little chart comparing marijuana deaths to deaths from everything like poor diet to alcohol.

@hyptnotic - The "fun" answer would be on a small, exotic island with thirty five sexy men and women at my beck and call, but no internet. (Ha, I wish). The honest one is "dealing with life (TM)".

And yeah, it's one of my "bad" habits to jump in and run with it, but hey, at least I have fun and am good for a laugh while I do it

P.S. I've missed you guys, lol.

My state, Massachusetts, recently decriminalized marijuana. So now, instead of someone getting caught and being a drain on the justice system with court and jail and other costs, they get their stuff taken away and a $100 fine. I'm happy for anything that saves money for more important crimes, and taxes the stupid. (i don't mean people who smoke are stupid, that would be hypocritical. i mean those that don't know how not to get caught with it)

YES

I'm all for decriminalizing marijuana, but definitely not because Michael Phelps thinks it's fun to smoke pot at parties, or because President Obama had the same high school and college experience as me.

Lol brandynico "how would one get home from one of these places?"
I was just having this conversation the other day and I agree that it has been unfairly categorized with harmful drugs. With it being as prevalent as it is, it only makes sense that we turn to regulation rather than criminalization. When did it get criminalized anyway? Our pot-head forefathers would roll in their graves

Please legalize it already.

alcohol is legal and last time i checked way more harmful than weed. cigarettes are legal but cause all kinds of cancers and rot your lungs so why shouldn't marijuana be legal.

It would certainly free up money that is wasted prosecuting people for possession or selling or growing, to be used on more important issues.

I'm with Lukin here.

The research on marijuana use is inconclusive so its not factually correct to say there are no side effects. The research I've read has said that smoking marijuana is just as damaging to your lungs as smoking cigarettes.

And lets not forget the impairement pot causes when you drive, only we don't have a breathalyzer for pot. Maybe we should devise a good way to test for something like that before we open the flood gates. It can't and shouldn't be legal to operate a vehicle while impaired but until we can enforce it, pot should stay illegal.

Also the medical benefits of marijuana have been greatly overstated and are also inconclusive. The only thing thats been studied and proven is that if you give a patient pot they are more likely to eat more, so that's why cancer patients can sometimes get it. They don't get it for the pain, they get it so they can put weight back on.

Fact is that there needs to be much more research and better practices put in place before we legalize pot.

My little libertarian heart screams with glee for this.
Attention government: leave me alone.

Though I also agree with wackdoodle. If we're going to legalize one drug, then the next drug will just be next in line and we'll be having the same argument. Either it's all ok or none of it is.

i'm all for legalizing it. and then putting a hefty tax on it. then it becomes a win-win for the government: fewer people to prosecute (congesting the courts) and more revenue. but that has nothing to do with michael phelps (good for him! living his life).

i don't buy the whole 'if you legalize pot, you should legalize heroin' argument. largely b/c marijuana is not a narcotic, some of which are legal...should doctors stop prescribing vicodin, b/c it's closer to heroin than pot is. while it can be processed (additives, etc), it is not manufactured the same way cocaine or herion are (created by man). you can pull a pod off a plant, dry it, smoke it and get high. pot and manufactured drugs are two different animals.

Why nicotine and not pot? Why alcohol and not pot? Most of the people I know that smoke pot are not addicted and do not use it to excess. Having a test for someone's level of intoxication from alcohol does not stop drunk drivers. It's already too late if they are behind the wheel.

Its not about stopping drunk drivers, its about prosecuting them. We will have to prosecute high drivers with the same intensity as the impairment is the same.

In regard to the idea that medical marijuana would only be used for appetite stimulation, I say tell that to the Multiple Sclerosis patient who can move easier after taking one hit of marijuana. To see your evidence of the uses of medical marijuana, you should go to the patients. Watch "In Pot We Trust," there are excellent examples to show the different effects marijuana can have on all kinds of ailments from severe stuttering to arthritis to cancer. In addition to it's ability to be used for many different things, the side effects compared to any other drug manufactured by a pharmaceutical company, are nill.

The impairments are the same how?

most potheads i know don't smoke and drive. they smoke, get the munchies, stuff their faces and then take a nap. by the time they wake up, they're no longer stoned.

as far as impairments, yes, getting high is like getting drunk. but the effects (at least from my experience) don't last as long as being drunk does. you could get high and then in an hour or two be sober again. i've never had drunkenness fade that quickly (maybe a buzz, but not all-out drunk).

I think it is so absurd the number of people in prison for this. We are wasting SO MUCH tax payer money and police efforts on something that is not that harmful. I would rather prioritize, and save room for people who are violent or sexual offenders, and people who deal drugs with far dire consequences like heroin, coke, or meth.

YES !! And I've never smoked in my life. Not even a cigarette. But the hypocrisy has to stop. And think, dear government, how much money you could snatch by taxing the legal selling of marijuana !!

Oh, and btw. I used to be on intense medications for my migraines, which I would get every 2 weeks or so. Stuff that gave me nosebleeds and hives, but I had no other alternatives. Then I tried pot and I haven't had a migraine in months, and if I feel one coming on and I smoke, it either goes away entirely or is dulled to a normal headache. So I'm in, the medications were so expensive and had the worst side effects. This one just made me want BBQ fritos. Oh, and I've NEVER experimented with other drugs. Never even been tempted, I stick with the 1 I like.

Ok well first off, I'm not going to watch a biased documentary to get "facts" any more than I would read High Times to get the facts. The research is inconclusive. That is a fact. When the actual cannabinoid system in the body, the CB1 and CB2 receptors that take the effects of pot are studied they have found no conclusive evidence to suggest that the effect on pain is statistically significant enough to prove its value. And lets not forget about the placebo effect which HAS been proven.

And the side effects haven't been studied because its not worth it for any company to study the side effects of something thats not worth synthezixing into a concentrated form. When drug companies study cannabis they are looking for effect, the effects are not statistically significant so the studies end. No company would pour money into something that doesn't have a glimmer of hope. So to say the side effects are nill is simply incorrect. The side effects haven't been studied. The long term side effects are unknown.

The studies I'm talking about are the ones published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and similiar trade magazines. I wish I had a link for you but I don't. I only know what I know because I work with chronic pain doctors whose focus is studying chronic pain and who travel around the country teaching PCMs how to deal with patients with chronic pain. This is a question they get asked a lot and what Ive told you is the answer they always pass on.

Maybe they should do tests on volunteers with different ailments and ask them if their pain goes away. Isn't that the most accurate testing method? Scientists discover new things about the human brain all the time. Just because they are unable to see the effects on the human brain, doesn't mean they are not there. I listed the movie as a reference because it contains several examples. You may find it biased, but wouldn't you also be biased if you discovered something worked for you unlike anything before?

I was going to jump in on this, but after reading the comments, realize that most of you feel the same way I do about it and have made the points I was going to make. I did a huge project on it in college and if I can get my swollen hands onto some of my research I will post it. I am 100% for the legalization and subsequent taxation of marijuana. And, I actually have no problem with legalizing and regulating the hell out of all drugs. Just in designtated highly regulated areas and protected areas.

wow, I need the spell checker back! Sorry everyone!

Legalize it- not because Obama did it, or because Phelps did it. Legalize it because it's a relatively mild substance, and it would be more beneficial to society to regulate it and tax it and benefit from the revenue than it would to prosecute people for having it.
Legalize it because it's not logical for alcohol to be legal, and marijuana not to be. Let our government look at science and statistics and make a rational decision, for once, instead of getting its collective panties in a bunch and throwing a hissy fit about "OMG will no one think of THE CHILDREN."

Frankly, I think just about everything should be legal, as long as you don't hurt people in your use of it. But the problem with pot is that it *is* illegal, and so there isn't enough research on it that's accessible to normal people.

I'm inclined to agree, for the most part. I think that more things should be legal, but that the penalties for misusing them should be more severe. For instance, I think the drinking age in the US should be 18- because the law should be consistent, and consistently applied, and it doesn't make sense for 18 year olds to be adults in the eyes of the law in every other respect but alcohol. But I also believe that the penalty for a DUI should be much, much more severe and life-altering.

Likewise, I believe marijuana should be legalized for sale to adults, but that if they misuse it- get stoned and get in an auto accident, or give it to minors- that the penalties should be severe.

Basically, I would like the law to treat adults like adults, who are capable of making responsible decisions- and then punish those whose irresponsibility crosses the line. Instead, we're all prevented from making the choice to use marijuana or not, no matter our level of personal responsibility, because the government has decided that collectively, it knows better than we do.

Full disclosure- I don't do marijuana (and don't smoke tobacco, and only drink in moderation once a month or so). But I believe the current laws on the subject are illogical and inane.

Here in MA the voters chose to make it no longer a crime to possess small amounts of marijuana. It makes sense- why clog up the court system and waste police officer's time chasing down people with small amounts?
But as for smoking weed- Im sorry... the majority of people I know who do it arent being sworn in as President or are in the Olympics.- they are 27 years old ordering 3 large pizza's from their parents couch while watching a Tool Academy marathon.
I just dont think its a good idea to send oyoung children the message that its ok to smoke weed. Sorry if that offends anyone, just my opinion

"Maybe they should do tests on volunteers with different ailments and ask them if their pain goes away. Isn't that the most accurate testing method?"

No actually thats the least accurate. Look at Airborne. Look at how many people say it worked for them and then look what the science behind it said. Look at diet pills. Same thing.

I will say this, as an analgesic, that is a pain killer, that data on marijuana is not good. However, as an anxiolytic, that is an anti-anxiety medication, the data is a little bit better.

So it may be possible that pot doesn't take away your pain, it just makes you too high to care about it.

But when you're talking about people with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, cancer pain, etc, its not possible for them to be high all the time. Well, its possible but its not healthy and it would prevent them from living an everyday life.

I definitely think it should be legalized and like many of you said- not because of Phelps or Obama. I don;t want to repeat what so many said but my reasons are the same.

Did anyone see Pineapple Express? THAT is what happens if pot remains illegal.

Weed made me paranoid and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. That's the main reason I don't smoke it anymore.

But, I agree with most of you. I think it should be legalized and taxed heavily.

And I REALLY hate that there aren't paragraph breaks in these posts.

That's the handsomest photo of Michael Phelps I've ever seen. He doesn't look like his usual retarded monkey self.

Blue - Me too! I hate no paragraph breaks. I thought I was the only one!

Anyways, I'm not saying it shouldn't be legalized. I don't think it should but honestly I haven't researched it enough and I don't really care either way. I'm just saying that the medicinal uses of it is not a strong argument and shouldn't be used in the support of it being legalized.

"Did anyone see Pineapple Express? THAT is what happens if pot remains illegal"

are you being sarcastic?

Only asking because I love that movie...I love Saul and Red!
They remind me of old friends.

Weed makes you paranoid if you think about it.
I did that one day and got a panic attack. I kept thinking about a problem over and over until I started breathing harder!

Well you're not the only one Haus. A lot of people are annoyed by it!