"There is no substitute for a life experience to form an opinion on."

Correct, Martin. I have such experience. I smoked pot exactly 5 times. Twice in the 70's. Three more times in the 80's. I did it precisely so that I would be knowledgable about it...and find out what the hell all the fuss was about! :-) I was not very impressed by the experience or by the stone (although that was quite powerful on 2 of those occasions).

Bear in mind that I had literally thousands of opportunities to smoke pot, hash, and hash oil in those 20 years...thousands...and I did it only enough times to see what it was all about for myself. It was not something I wanted in my life. Virtually all the friends I had smoked it casually, and a few did so regularly. I was an unusual musician, cos I had the long hair but no real interest in the drugs...legal or otherwise.

I wholeheartedly agree that smoking pot makes one "a much weaker person" and that "pot and other mind altering drugs do not truly enhance the human experience". Couldn't agree more, in fact. I feel the same way about tobacco and alcohol.

I think most people do it simply because it's considered "normal" in their favourite peer group...along with alcohol and tobacco. The 3 common substance vices generally go hand in hand, and encourage each other.

If you're in a somewhat different peer group now, then you find that pot is no longer "normal", but tobacco and alcohol may still be.

I don't go along with either one of those peer groups.

So, I understand your feeling on it all right. I get you.

I guess the real difference is that I think legalizing possession would protect the public while you think it would further endanger the public. For all I know you may be right...only doing it would enable us to find out.

I hate to think of the many perfectly harmless and decent people I know who do smoke it casually getting a criminal record because they had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got arrested. It seems like a pointless waste to me. They are harmless people, not criminals. I'd rather see cops chase real criminals than go after harmless people who are a bit unconventional in some way.

The thing about the really bad element in a town...they smoke dope all right, but they also do any number of other things (like rob and fence and deal drugs) that the cops are going to be after them for anyway...regardless of the pot. I don't want to see peaceful, harmless users of a drug lumped in with real criminals by a law that is not flexible enough to know the difference.

That's my concern.