I too think it is quite ridiculous. My understanding from what friends told me is that pipes with carbs are illegal (and have been) though pipes without them are not. I don't quite get the logic behind that, but I think that's how it is. Regardless, it is very stupid. There ain't nothing wrong with a little pot.

Funny, I came on to your site with the sole purpose of posting this: TOP 10 POT COLLEGES (High Times List) 1. Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash. 2. New College, Sarasota, Fla. 3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 4. University of Wisconsin, Madison 5. Florida State University, Tallahassee 6. Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio 7. University of Colorado-Boulder 8. Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif. 9. Bennington College, Bennington, Vt. 10. Wesleyan University, Middleton, Conn. Avi wins, Harry, but we're up there.

Well, Princeton is certainly not on that list... Probably at the very bottom. But still, we manage to find weed, and can smoke it freely.

The whole gun shops thing doesn't seem like a reasonable argument for your case on the constitutionality of pot smoking, considering the right to bear arms is specifically listed in the constitution. Not that I don't support a little pot smoking, but I don't think that arguing that guns should be taken away and not pot is a very bright statement.

moking the spot aint bad. dopamine is released in the brain, makes you feel good, nt harmful in any way. repubs dont like it b/c it is associated with free thought, radicalism, and uncontrolled open minded youths, who would dare challenge his precious autocracy. oh and---where does that list come from.

i meant, do you know the criteria of the rankings

I consider myself a republican and I don't think a little pot is a problem. However, people who sit and smoke all day are seriously affected so the side effects can be lifelong. Just look at Cheech and Chong.

Fritz, The gun point is good. It is about priorety in the government. Prehaps I did not exlpain it well enough. The constitution protects your right to purchase a weapon that can end someone's life. Look at the "harmless" commercials against pot recently. In one of them, a kid is stoned and shoots his friend. And smokey letters that say harmless appear on the screen. Now, is the weed the one that is dangerous, is it the kid, or is it the gun? The constitution allows people to own a weapon, and the government allows that (as in the isn't an operation get all illegal guns back). However, there is an operation called get all glass pipes back, and that is where are sense of prorieties fail. With the upcoming war, the orange terror alart, what is the main thing happening, I am allowed to buy glass pipes at half off.

I don't think their priorities are screwed up at all. The war right now is their main focus, but all this marijuana stuff has been going on for years, they're not just going to drop it and go after something else completely. Also, that commercial with the gun, it's not the gun's fault that the one kid shot the other kid; it's the person's fault who left a loaded gun on their desk. But, if the kids were just sitting around and happened to find the gun do you think they would've been so casual handling it? I'm not totally against pot smoking, a little is harmless. But in the case where people use it to extremes there are serious side effects and there are bad decisions that are made. You can't really argue with that. It's not the recreational users that cause the huge amount of concern from my perspective, it's the people who smoke all the time. Plus, you have to look at where all the money from the drugs is going. Sure, if they legalized it they could control where it's grown and who grows it, but think of how things would be if you could just walk down to the gas station and pick up a pack of joints. The people who are too stoned out of their minds to function all the time would be even worse. It's like gun control, if you took away people's right to bear arms sure there wouldn't be as many accidental deaths but the people who use guns for violent crime would still find some way to get them. Then guns would be just like pot. In the meantime, just go buy whatever cool pipes you can while they're on sale and take advantage of the situation.

I like this political debate on the homepage of Kansas o'Rogers. So about gun control. Fritz casually says at the end of his comment that a suspension of the right to bear arms would result in a decline in accidental death. Does that mean Fritz supports gun control? Or does Fritz support accidental death? Plus, if Fritz sees a reason to control the use of marijuana, then his argument about maintaining the second amendment simply due to our government's ineffectuality enforcing its laws is entirely moot... I think Michael Moore's recent movie "Bowling for Columbine" -- http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/ --might be enlightening for the right-wingers. Just watch the flash-intro, and if you remain unconvinced, watch it again.

I don't support gun control. The only problem with guns in our country is that some people don't handle them responsibly. But the thing is, marijuana is more often harmful than it is helpful. The thing with gun-related accidents is that you only hear about people with guns when something goes wrong. My dad is an arms collector and we've never had anything close to an accident, there's never been a problem. People just need to be more careful.

Guns have one purpose--to wound, Sometimes--often--to the death wether for sport with animals, defence, or agression, they have no other purpose. Guns don't kill people, people kill people, fair enough. But without guns its alot fucking harder to do on a whim. I don't buy the comparison between the gun laws and the marijuana laws. There is no recreational gun use, something is always hurt. Pot however is like practically every other substance in the world, when used in excess it can have negative effects. Alright, so can alcohol, so can tylanol, so can enchaladas. I understand the reasons for not legalizing marijuana, and while virtually everyone I respect(and most that I don't) enjoy it, I amm not on a crusade to bring it into the mainstream. some thing I can get behind? Stricter gun laws.

What is beyond me is the way the republicans whine on and on about peoples' and companies' private property with tax cuts, free trade, GUN CONTROL, etc. but when someone wants to put something in their body, a benign herb that has reportedly caused far fewer harmful psychotropic and physical effects than alcohol is illegal. In short, the human body is the most sacred piece of property and under the conservative ideology one cannot impede such property

Fritz--When's the last time someone had a gun and something went right? Even the police can't help but shoot 24 bullets in a cell-phone toting black man. (I wouldn't say that law enforcement officials should be denied guns. I would say, however, that the average person should not be a law enforcement official.) And simply because you were a precocious child, and your father a loving parent, does not mean that a four year old will stop his finger from pulling a bullet into his own face. That is a scary and unnecessary prospect. It is our government's responsibility to protect and defend against its citizens irresponsibility. Seatbelts are a law. Maximum occupancy is a law. Tighter gun control should be as well.

The only problem with marijuana in our country is that some people don't handle it responsibly. The thing with marijuana-related mishaps is that you only hear about people who do something wrong. Thousands of peoples dad's are marijuana smokers and never cause any problems or have any accidents. People just need to be careful.

You guys can say all you want, stricter gun control is never going to pass and marijuana is never going to be legalized. It's just the way it is. Guns, also, are not just used to wound. There are plenty of people who skeet shoot for sport, who target shoot. And nobody gets hurt. For a lot of people it's like playing basketball, it's just another sport. Plus, I don't know if where you guys are from if you have problems with overpopulation of animals, but in Wisconsin if there isn't hunting there's serious trouble for the deer herd. There are more car accidents and a majority of the herd starves to death if the herd isn't thinned out every fall. I understand that you guys all probably come from a totally different background than me and I can appreciate your perspective, but how about you all open your eyes and realize that there is a whole world outside your point of view. Look at the government and the people who are running it, they're never going to say "Hey, how about we make pot legal, nobody's getting hurt. It's a harmless little weed". That's never ever going to happen, but I'm sure a lot of the men in power have had experience with guns that wasn't negative. There's a whole lot of America between the coasts that is represented, and you guys can think all you want that we're just hicks out here with our guns "huntin and drivin big trucks", it's not going to change anything. Have any of you ever actually shot a gun? Have any of you ever been hunting? Seriously, I'm probably one of the last people anyone would expect to be out shootin with the boys in the woods, but it's not about maiming and killing. It's a part of the culture and heritage of everyone on this planet. Countries that have stricter gun control aren't really better off. There are a lot of other ways to wound someone and if someone wants to hurt or kill they're going to do it whether the weapon they use is a gun or a knife. People are wounded and killed in car accidents, it's the second highest cause of death in high school kids. Should driving be illegal? How about we go back to a horse and buggy? How does everyone feel about abortion? Should we talk about that now? The reason that gun control will never happen and marijuana will never be legalized is because the people who support the right to bear arms are actually in positions of power while the people who never grow out of smoking weed are in a daze in their respective hovels listening to the Grateful Dead.

Hmm...lot of interesting things said here. I guess. I think the point the lefties are trying to make is the one I tried making, which is, it is redicules that lawmakers aer going after glass pipes when you can still walk into a store and buy a gun, seeing as a Glass pipe is in no way related to people negatively being affected by pot, where as a gun is directly related to killing. A rifle is one thing, hunting tools, I get that, but I am talking about hand guns. So while the government allows us to buy guns that are only used in killing other human beings, the government is restricting people from buying glass pipes, something that has no direct link to anything as negative as killing another human being. Yes there are down sides to pot, that is why it is illegal. But we aren't talking about whether pot is illegal or legalizing, we are talking about the fact that people have a right to buy a gun but not a glass pipe.

Fritz- I actually agree with you on most of what you have said, but I also think you are not realizing how many people actually smoke pot or have smoked pot and are completely normal people. As far as guns go, or drugs for that matter, it is less about the actual guns/drugs/laws than whether or not people are responsible. Every home in Sweden owns guns and knows how to use them and they have an extremely low violent crime rate. My dad used to live in Jackson Hole where, in the bars, everyone carried a gun. At first he was unnerved but after getting used to it he actually felt safer that way. Who the hell is going to try anything when everyone around you is packing a gun? As far as pot goes, I would not hesitate to say that quite a few legislators right now have smoked pot in their time. And the citizenry is no different. Until senior year of high school, I never really thought about adults smoking pot. It just seemed weird. Then, I got caught and realized both my parents not only had been stoners themselves but also thought that it should be legal. My friends, a large percentage of them, found out that it was no different with their parents or even that their parents still smoked. I think my only real point in this long-winded post is that the people who are out smoking weed are not just “in a daze in their respective hovels listening to the Grateful Dead.” Do I think it will be legalized any time soon? No. But I do think we are slowly moving in that direction.

There is a tremendous amount of (inaccurate) stigma attached to marijuana use. Notice, however, that none of those "Harmless?" ads in fact prove that pot itself is harmless - they show settings in which pot use might make other things MORE harmful. They mention many of the things you mention, Fritz: guns, driving. No, cars shouldn't be illegal, but they serve a practical and arguably necessary purpose outside of killing things. Handguns, as Avi pointed out, don't really serve any purpose. Self-defense is important. If you're a British colony looking for independence. I don't think our forefathers had skeetshooting in mind when they wrote this thing up. Emphasis on gun CONTROL as well - I think there could be legislation related to necessary gun use, like the hunting for the sake of the herd that you mentioned, Fritz. But as far as handguns in urban and suburban settings, I don't really see the necessity besides a cold-war arms race thing - everyone's packing, so you have to pack to feel safe. And yes, other things can go out of control - cars, heavy machinery - and are intended to kill - knives. But cars and heavy machinery, again, serve other purposes, and it's hard for a knife to go off by accident. And as far as pot, because the federal gov't restricts research on marijuana so much, it's hard to say whether or not it is a "harmful weed." We do know that there have been no recorded fatal overdoses, nor proven physical dependancy. We also know that (and this should interest you as a republican) that about 600,000 marijuana-related arrests are made every year, with hundreds of thousands of tax dollars going to the drug war as well. So we basically have to pay for the anti-pot action, and the housing of pot-criminals, which is money wasted on a drug that is no more harmful than alcohol. SO that's in keeping with Avi's "government priorities" argument. Just some thoughts.

i dont know why everyone has the impression that pot isnt unhealthy. it impairs the users short term memory, slows down comprehension and learning processes and destroys the lungs a lot more than cigarettes. the fact that so many people do it does not mean its safe. and as for guns, people use handguns because they fel it necessary to protect themselves from the people who, if made illegal, would still atain them. so this "cold-war arms race", though the expression is a bit extreme, is happening to make people feel safe without breaking the law, as they would not feel to be were guns to become illegal. and just to add a tidbit, the second ammendment was adopted because of the need for a militia back in the late 1700's. ownership of guns were for self defense, defense of the state and hunting. individual rights to own guns had nothing to do with it. now im not including my own opinions in any of this becasue i see debates as thoroughly pointless and accomplishing nothing, but those are some ideas i thought id like to throw in.

Just to speak from my own experience, here are my impressions of it's health aspects. I never had any problem with my lungs. I knew some people who did, but they smoked upwards of 3-4 times a day, and you are bound to have some shit in your lungs from that. I knew and know some brilliant people who smoke/d who never seemed to have problems with comprehension. I personally couldn't focus very well on things that didn't easily hold my interest when I was high but it never changed anything when I was sober. Short term memory- I don't really remember if it affected me much. What were we talking about again? Oh yea, guns. Guns are bad.