Critics of marijuana policy reform are fond of dismissing the idea as a liberal fantasy. Unfortunately, last night's Democratic Presidential Debate revealed that the party's so-called leaders would still rather play politics than stand up for the 800,000+ Americans that are needlessly arrested each year for the world's pettiest crime:

Tim Russert:
Senator Dodd, you went on the Bill Maher show last month and said that you were for decriminalizing marijuana. Is there anyone here who disagrees with Senator Dodd in decriminalizing marijuana? [MSNBC]

Clinton, Obama, Richardson, Biden, and Edwards all raised their hands. Only Dennis Kucinich stood with Senator Dodd on this important question. John Edwards was quick on the draw, pulling out the oldest pro-drug war line in the book:

Russert:
Senator Edwards, why?

Edwards:
Because I think it sends the wrong signal to young people. And I think the president of the United States has a responsibility to ensure that we're sending the right signals to young people.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to the brain-dead world of mainstream drug war politics. It is a peculiar place where we ruin real lives in order to send fake messages. It is a vacant echo chamber in which those speaking the truth are singled out for ridicule, attention seekers spew tiresome incoherencies, and the rest cower embarrassed behind their podiums praying never again to be asked such a horrible thing.

Shameful and cowardly as their responses may be, the democratic front-runners were clearly sidelined by Russert's cheap hackery. Drug policy is so much more than a yes or no question, and this drive-by shooting approach to the marijuana debate trivializes the issue and obscures any diversity of opinion. I am saddened, but not at all surprised, that this question provoked this response when asked this way.

If we've learned anything from the brutal war that's been waged in our names for far too long, it is that many of our leaders would sooner allow it to continue for decades than speak one word of the truth that stands naked before us all.

With that in mind, I'm asking all of you to do something. Find out when the candidates are speaking in your area and attend the events. Bring friends. Bring a video camera. Dress well and arrive early. Sit where you can be seen and raise your hand high just a moment before they open the floor to questions. Ask whatever you like. Maybe something like this:

Over 800,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana this year. Some went to jail. Others lost their jobs, lost custody of their children, lost their driver's licenses, lost public housing, lost financial aid for college, the list goes on. Many people think these punishments are more damaging than the drug itself.

What do you think the punishment should be for someone who uses marijuana?

It is one thing to say you don't support marijuana decrim. It is quite another to describe how specifically you would go about destroying the lives of the millions of Americans who enjoy marijuana. Let's find out where they really stand on this issue.

Source: StoptheDrugWar.org
Copyright: 2007 StoptheDrugWar.org
Website: Democratic Front-Runners Reject Marijuana Law Reform

I might be trying to et a job in a month or two and i want to know if the drug tests you are required to take can detect if you smoked marijuana? If i smoked just yesterday how long does it take till drug tests cannot detect that you used marijuana?

It varies but it doesn't really depend on your metabolism. It also depends on how much is in your system...If you been smoking every day for over month it will probably take you 8 weeks to get weed out your system. The more you sweat, pee, defecate (aka excretion), the less will be in your system. There for meaning prune juice, de-tox formulas, cranberry juice, teas, running with multiple layers are all great ways for getting marijuana's THC out of your system. 4 weeks should be plenty if you drink the above mentioned liquids, drink an excessive amount of water each day, and promote a lot of sweating. That's blood and urine tests. A follicle test though is tougher....shave your head that's your only real way out of that. Or most costly but simplest of all...buy a whizinator and find a clean friend.

from answers.yahoo.com

Another state budget writing season is over, and another deficit budget adopted, with lip service to fixing the so-called "structural deficit." Meanwhile, from deep in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California, reputed as the national capital of marijuana growing, comes a simple idea that could solve the budget deficit and end the greatest American hypocrisy since Prohibition. Too bad it has no chance of passage in this decade or the next one, either. You remember Prohibition. The era when hard liquor was banned by federal Constitutional amendment but remained available to anyone who wanted it. The era when rum-runners got rich and moonshine whiskey distilled in secret became a cottage industry. Substitute pot for booze. It is available today for almost anyone who wants it. Drug cartels and the small private grower get rich from the illicit trade. Pot gardens abound in wild, woodsy and hilly areas of California. Homes in middle class suburbs are turned into greenhouses by hydroponic pot growers who are sometimes caught when their electric bills attract attention. How much pot is grown in California? The take from the annual Campaign Against Marijuana Production, a campaign of state, federal and local authorities, now approaches $7 billion in street value, but law enforcement estimate they confiscate no more than one-tenth of the crop. That estimate spurred the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to implore its congressman, Democrat Mike Thompson, to press forward efforts to get marijuana legalized. As medical pot users have discovered since passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 attempted to legalize medicinal pot use with a doctor's recommendation, any legalization will have to come from the federal level.

The Mendocino County letter contains the seeds of a budget solution. It was based on one official's estimate that marijuana contributes about $5 billion annually to the county's economy. The estimate is based on the $500 million worth of pot rousted by local authorities. The county might get $50 million a year in fresh income. That figure could be low. Statewide, legalizing pot would produce much more for government. Do the math: If $7 billion is confiscated, production in the state is worth about $70 billion, all untaxed. Legalize weed and you get an immediate $5.77 billion in sales taxes. Legalize it, and you can track who's getting the money and make sure they pay income taxes, which ought to produce another $7 billion or so.

Add an excise tax and you get even more. The federal government's take might be as much as $60 billion a year. This money now goes to criminals. Legalize marijuana and much of that criminal activity would end. And law enforcement could concentrate more on other drugs like methamphetmines. Sure, pot makes users unmottivated. It can be a step to harder drugs. The same can be said for alcohol, and was said about it before Prohibition ended. But Prohibition ended because it was flouted to the point of absurdity. The same is true for anti-marijuana laws today. It's a shame that, for now, the Mendocino County idea has no chance of even coming to a vote in Congress.

From Salinas Californian