Jimmy Carter: Legalization Is Smart, Imprisonment For Possession Is Out Of Control

[Truth Seeker]

Former President Jimmy Carter gave a full-throated endorsement of state efforts to legalize marijuana during an appearance at a CNN forum aired on Tuesday.

Carter, who as president supported an era of marijuana decriminalization in the mid-1970s, told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux that he was "in favor" of states that were taking steps to legalize the drug.

"I think it's OK," Carter said. "I don't think it's going to happen in Georgia yet, but I think we can watch and see what happens in the state of Washington for instance, around Seattle, and let the American government and let the American people see does it cause a serious problem or not."

Voters in both Washington and Colorado approved ballot initiatives last month legalizing and taxing marijuana. The governors in those states have signed both measures into law, but marijuana reform advocates remain concerned that federal law, which still considers the substance illegal under the Controlled Substances Act, could lead to complications if federal authorities decide to continue with frequent raids of dispensaries and other marijuana-related operations.

Speaking about the issues of an anti-drug system focused on enforcement, Carter suggested that large incarceration rates, especially among minorities, were being perpetuated by harsh punishments for marijuana possession.

"It's a major step backward, and it ought to be reversed, not only in America, but around the world," Carter argued, later going on to say that nations such as Portugal, which decriminalized all drugs in 2000, could be a model for the United States to look toward in the future.

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Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author: Nick Wing
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Website: Jimmy Carter: Marijuana Legalization Is Smart, Imprisonment For Possession Is Out Of Control

 

[happybud]

Re: Jimmy Carter: Legalization Is Smart, Imprisonment For Possession Is Out Of Contro

Thank Goodness for an ex pres with a straight forward, common sense approach to marijuana reform. It boggles my mind how anyone in this day and age can not see that this war is not working, nor has it ever.

I would ask anyone that does not agree with marijuana reform to take a good look at Portugal. I'm not saying that we should legalize all drugs. But If law enforcement agencies can't keep hard drugs out of prisons. What kind of sense does it make to allow them to continue to put people in jail for using them.

Portugal has been able to reduce drug addiction by 50% over a decade of approaching the problem as a condition, more like we do with alcoholism. What kind of sense would it make to put all alcoholic into jail. As silly as that sounds, it's what we actually do to our drug addicts in this country. Throw them into jail.

I saw more hard drug addiction during the two years that I spent in Orange County Jail than anywhere else that I have ever seen since. That was over three decades ago during the height of the Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign. I got busted with a few z's. Think that was a rough sentence, the guy in front of me at the Orange County Court Room got busted growing six plant. He ended up with a 25-life sentence. NO BS 1991 Orange County California! During this same time period I also remember seeing more hard drugs like coke on the streets than at any other point since. Oh and No, I have never been back, even though I have never stopped smoking weed.

I'm just one of so many people that I know that have lived through this same kind of crap. I would ask anyone to take a good look at what good it really did to put any of us in jail. What do you think......... ABSOLUTELY NONE!

Good for You Jimmy Carter!!! We Need To Put An End To This Drug War Once And For All. As tax payers we would be so much better off paying for treatment and education for addicts rather than jailing them. Not to mention that everyone would be much better off.

Peace HBF