I should move to England just to round off the number.

Funsucker

You take 1,000 hours of police time?

I'm a good runner.

"Most young people know that cannabis is illegal and can be harmful but we need a much greater focus on drug education and prevention," he said.

And really tho, is it more harmful than smoking or drinking?? It all has to do with moderation.

Wow, that's cool... more Weed for all!

>_>

Yeah, but what about all the murders and assaults that those darn potheads do? Y'know, the rampant criminality that people engage in after hittin' the bong? Surely that takes up thousands of hours of police time, right?

/please

How much is that in XBox time?

Funsucker wins.

No need to read the article or the rest of comments now.

instead they're busy going after all the hooligans knocking over dustbins.
-who gets that one?

Ms Flint said: "A year ago we reclassified cannabis on the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, so that the police could concentrate on the far more destructive Class A drugs.

"One year on, the picture is encouraging, with significant savings in police time which can now be used to drive more serious drugs off our streets and make our communities safer."

The sweet sound of common sense.

Dustbins is English for trash can. Ho ho!

Yeah, but think of all the toddlers that have drowned in pools due to the irresponsible actions of neglegent pot smokers that could be behind bars.

/think of the children

hero tag. There has never been a finer time for intervention.

I did a paper on "pot culture" in college, one of my points was that marijuana use seldom leads the user into a life of crime. My professor summed it up nicely by saying "How many people will take a few bong hits and then think 'hey, let's go rob a liquor store??' More like 'hey, move over man, I want the comfy chair'"

I'll bet they spent 120,000 hours compiling those numbers.

negligent, even

It said in the article "Cannabis was reclassified so that officers could target hard drugs."

Yet no where in the article does it state that hard drug arrests actually increased. Would it not make sense to crow about the historic increases that presumably took place with those 200K extra hours of law enforcement?

/smells rotten

When are they gonna legalize it outright?
Once they do, I'm moving there.

/Atlanta gets boring after three-and-a-half decades

This one straddles the fine line between Hero and Obvious.

Last seen on a British Airways flight to Heathrow...

did you hear that?

it's the sound of heads slowly being pulled out of asses!

politicians increasing productivity.......savor the moment, we may never see it again

Please catch on in the states, please catch on in the states, PLEASE catch on in the states...

People that smoke weed / do drugs have crappy lives that need something to take them away from their crappy life.

Anyone that says drugs are ok, good, should be legalized is a bubbling moron. Run from these people as fast as you can, or shoot them dead. ;)

I don't know why I posted this, it's common sense but for those that need some help...here you go.

BB

How original, an article to get the "legalize weed now" crowd going. This web site becomes more predictable with each passing day.

I heard a stat awhile back that was something like 12% of all people in US federal prisons are there for simple possession. All that money wasted because some people insist that the government should be able to tell me what chemicals I can put in my body.

BloodFart: This one straddles the fine line between Hero and Obvious.

It's called.... HEROBVIOUS

</copyrights that word>

stillhatewhiskey: instead they're busy going after all the hooligans knocking over dustbins.
-who gets that one?

"Oooohhh... what if they become ruffians? I appreciate your trying to sympathize and be diplomatic and all, but this is Hobbiton and I'm Bilbo Hicks."

Probably one of his best bits ever.

Well, DUUUUUUuuuuuuuuh... In other news, I also save 199,000 hours NOT arresting users.

legalize weed now

Songbird:

It said in the article "Cannabis was reclassified so that officers could target hard drugs."

Yet no where in the article does it state that hard drug arrests actually increased. Would it not make sense to crow about the historic increases that presumably took place with those 200K extra hours of law enforcement?

/smells rotten

It doesn't say that the previous volume of marijuana arrests was limited to that amount, either. That could actually be a net figure of total police time saved--199,000 less hours were spent for arrests when more was available for hardcore offenses. I'd like to think that the overall amount of hard drug arrests is less than the former amount of marijuana arrests...

BiggerBastard
People that smoke weed / do drugs have crappy lives that need something to take them away from their crappy life.

That's right, because anytime you do something you enjoy, you're just trying to 'escape your horrible life'.

Do you even realize how abusrd your argument is? I could say the same thing about baseball, drawing or any hobby activity.

Llois

I thought the biggest problem was not the user but the dealers fighting over territory/supplier/etc?
I honestly have no idea, I'm asking.

I'm also guessing that most crimes would occurr while not on the drug, but rather when the user is out of cash and needs a hit. Obviously this would only apply to heavier users who spend more cash on it... and that's if what I'm saying has any truth to it

Legalize it, tax it, regulate it like cigs and beer.

Oh wait, that would hurt the highly profitable "War on Drugs" too much, which would be bad for Amurika!

"...when more were available..."

/pre-emptive Grammar Nazism.

Anyone here know of some boss/well-paid executive or businessman/prestigious individual who occasionally -- or even regularly smokes weed?

Yeah, I thought so. Imagine each of those smart investors or businessmen getting suddenly hauled off to jail. Goodbye capitalism.

That pot is a crime is just ridiculous. Bust it in school -- yes, but can we please get out of the Reefer Madness mindset in this country?

hey go drink a case of beer ..beernut and crash into a concrete wall...next

Well, bully for you BiggerBastard. I'm good at making gross generalizations as well. But I won't. Because it is annoying, innacurate and rude. And all people who generalize should be seeped in vinegar and... well thats it... I don't have anywhere else to go with this.
//doing drugs is just fine, you just have to know why you are doing them.
///There are "some" people who will look at the above and say screw the knowledge part and jump to the partying. They should be burned, then banned, and then burned again!

Songbird: Yet no where in the article does it state that hard drug arrests actually increased. Would it not make sense to crow about the historic increases that presumably took place with those 200K extra hours of law enforcement?

If decriminalizing marijuana in this instance goes as it has in other countries, there will actually be a dramatic drop-off in hard drug usage. It makes sense when you think about it. Casual pot users no longer have to come into contact with drug dealers and hardcore criminals to get what they want. That leads to easily tempted people not being around hard drugs nearly as often as well as cutting off a source of income for drug dealers. Add it up and it turns into a massive reduction in availablity and overall demand for hard drugs and therefore a massive reduction in hard drug usage. I read about this phenomenon almost 10 years ago, but I'm sure a little searching around will turn up more info on it if you're interested. I'm still amazed that we in the US haven't woke up to this and demanded that marijuana be decriminalized. The best thing the US could do right now to fight hard drug usage and sales would be to decriminalize marijuana.

Raddamant

I thought the biggest problem was not the user but the dealers fighting over territory/supplier/etc?

Indeed, which makes the logic of legalization that even clearer. Al Copone couldn't have happened if no one needed his men to get booze.

legalize it.

/didn't RTFA or RTFT

yossarian reznor: Indeed, which makes the logic of legalization that even clearer. Al Copone couldn't have happened if no one needed his men to get booze.

Exactly! I bet there isn't a single drug dealer out there who wants marijuana legalized (or decriminalized, which would be more likely to happen, if either.) If you really wanted to hurt drug dealers across the nation in one awesome swipe, decriminalize marijuana. It would lay waste to a huge chunk of the underground drug market instantaneously.

BeerNut

How original, an article to get the "legalize weed now" crowd going. This web site becomes more predictable with each passing day.

Talk about predictable- you make this same declaration in every thread having anything to do with pot.

Thirty Foot Smurf
inkswamp

The article STATES "Cannabis was reclassified so that officers could target hard drugs."
But there is ZERO proof that this happened.

I could give a shiat if the cops are drinking tea at the station and enjoying a nice break from busting people, but I wonder how the taxpayers would feel.

If they want to say they are taking it easy on pot, then fine. But they shouldn't say crap about targeting hard drugs and then have nothing to back it up.

Oh, and to add onto the post above:

You better have a damned good reason for riding the H train.

Songbird

One other thing... when you decrinimalize marijuana and remove the stigma attached to it, people with drug problems are more likely to seek help, no longer needing to be paranoid about losing jobs or respect for it. That also adds to the overall reduction in hard drug usage. There are so many social benefits to decriminalizing marijuana that it's utterly ridiculous that it's still illegal.

You young people won't beleive this, but there was a time when England was considered a bunch of stick-up-your-arse conservatives and America was the land of progressive, intelligent thinkers.

Ah, progress!

inkswamp
It would lay waste to a huge chunk of the underground drug market instantaneously.

But what about the entrenched bureaucracies know as the prison and criminal justice system? How would they get by without drug laws?