I sure as hell hope so.

I’ll tell you what, it seems there has been a lot of talk about this recently. I am starting to become hopeful that it may actually be a reality and a huge smack in the face of the elite causing the economic problem.

Here’s an interesting comment from another board that speaks to your question in a way that many would not immediately consider:

The new world currency should be a natural product ensuring human survival. One cannot eat gold or paper but hempseed.

The planets [sic] people need an economic foundation which as a natural product cannot be patented or monopolised but be grown by everyone everywhere.

Great Source: “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herer:

“In 1619, America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia, “ordering” all farmers to “make tryal of “(grow) Indian hempseed. More mandatory (must-grow) hemp cultivation laws were enacted in Massachusetts in 1631, in Connecticut in 1632 and in the Chesapeake Colonies into the mid-1700s.”

“Cannabis hemp was legal tender (money) in most of the Americas from 1631 until the early 1800s.”

“You could pay your taxes with cannabis hemp throughout America for over 200 years.”

- http://www.jackherer.com/chapter01.html

Chris too my answer… but yes, I do hope so. What an economic stimulus! We could stop wasting public resources on the ‘war on drugs’ as regards to marijuana.

This is a bit off topic, but nice advice dog picture. Another /b/tard possibly?

Food sales would also go way up as a result. It’s a win-win, but unfortunately there’s still a big stigma to overcome when it comes to weed.

It’s been used for rope and paper and all sorts of things. I’m not much of a recreational user, but if a resource has multiple uses, I believe a cost/benefit analysis of those uses should be seriously considered.

I think that it would most certainly help the situation that we face today. The biggest thing, in my mind, that it would do, is better focus the war on drugs. The current war on drugs is a huge waste to money time and effort. We have bigger things to worry about then pot. I say legalize it. However, rawpixels is right. There is a huge stigma on pot and I doubt it will be fully legal any time soon. Not that I really use it anyway.

I hope the United States doesn’t base all their hopes for economic recovery on a controlled substance. I can see a monetary gain and benefit from this drug but there’s no way it can be our single motivating factor to bring us out of our recession.

April
The type of hemp used for rope is not the same as the type people smoke to get high.
The laws enacted that kevbo mentioned were for the kind of hemp used to make rope which was a maketable and tradable commodity of those times. In fact, one can still find it growing wild(it is a weed,afterall!) throughout the mid west.

@basp – Thank you. I didn’t know that.

You’re welcome, April.
I have also seen clothes, handbags, and other items made from hemp.

No

I doubt it will happen anytime in the near future. People have been working on this for many years, and little progress has been made so far.

I think the government makes alot of money by keeping it illegal. They confiscate cars, boats, planes, real estate, and many other things when they bust pot dealers. They also resell a lot of the pot they confiscate when they set up their sting operations, giving them both the pot back and the money. I think that’s why alot of people say that pot is America’s #1 cash crop.

Do I want to see it leaglized? Sure, why not. But I don’t think it will pull the country out of our financial problems. If it is legalized, we run the risk of more people using it more often, and less responsibly. I’m not sure that would be in our best interest.

I’m gonna go ahead a drop my ballot in the box that says yes, but probably not soon. The fact remains that narcotics are a hugely taboo issue in our society, and the propaganda ads you see on TV are of course not giving us the whole story. At the same time, there are those who would misuse legal pot, and that portion of the population might suffer huge setbacks in the general subject of productivity. But then again, we can just chalk that responsibility up to natural selection :)

@MrMontpetit we’ve all got a bit of a /b/tard in us, we just don’t let him out all that often (and I do mean him)

Foolaholic
Canibus is not a narcotic.

@basp

see that’s what I’m saying. I don’t know the issue fully, and I suspect that a lot people don’t either.

How exactly do you misuse pot?
I think the last time I misused pot, I fell asleep on my couch.

@chris6137 How exactly do you misuse pot? Years ago I saw a skit on SNL where Chevy Chase wrapped a belt around his arm, rolled a joint and kept poking his arm with it. The caption said… “Why do you think they call it dope?”

Your question just reminded me of that.

@chris6137
Well, despite my support for the total legalization, pot can be misused. For example, making pot brownies to trick someone into getting high is misuse. Smoking up with the intention of driving is misuse.

True.. using irresponsibly can be considered misuse.

I think ive read somewhere that Cannabis used to be the United States number 1 cash crop.

Was it 7 posts above? kidding ha ha!!

if they make it legal, yes, the world would be a better place. i mean, seriously, let people make their own choices. you can smoke the leaf over in amsterdam or sweden i think, no questions asked. crime rate: very low.

Id pay for government taxed weed, on the news for Californias legalization didnt they say taxed an oz. would still be only $50?

Triiple
$50 dollars an ounce!!!
It has been many years since weed cost fifty dollars an ounce in California!!

More like $50.00 a quarter now!!

You can get some snicklefritz weed for $50 an oz here in FL, the good stuff is around $300–350

THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS?

JESUS.

The general prices I know (for pretty good to very good stuff) is about 50–60 an eighth, 90 for a quarter… most people I know will sell larger quantities for less too. I never buy by the oz though…

$50–60 an eighth is going rate here for good stuff as well.

I don’t know that it will be the savior of the US, but I think it could certainly help. Increased revenue, decreased spending on pursuit and incarceration of pot users and eliminating crimes associated with the sale of it would all be positives.

Have yall lost yer minds? Jesus is the Saviour.. Drugs especially marijuana dont do nothing but breed more drug use. Which inturns takes away from doing right. Cannabis will never be my saviour. CRISTO!

@Triiiple I guess that just goes to show you how long it’s been since I bought a bag!

@ernie bud lite and nascar instead, right???

Pharmaceutical companies would lose billions. They would eventually allow everyone to grow their own pot and there would be no really good way for the government to make money off of it. As a smoker I am all for it but I think the government likes the money it generates now as well as the money pharm companies make.

Jessturtle
Policy during the bush administration was especially favorable toward the pharmicutical companies. From what I hear, I don’t think the new administration will follow suit in that regard.

@emie
Some people claim to see Jesus while smoking weed. Perhaps, weed is the tool for you to see and perhaps, have a conversation with Jesus. So, keep an open mind and you never know what you may find.

No more dime bags people. I’m in CA and $60 bucks will get you shwag.

Ugh, schwag :(

Schwag? That’s a term I haven’t heard before. Is it like skunk weed?

It just means really, really shitty weed.

@scamp its that nice dark green stuff that you know someone chopped off of a brick of shit. but i have to say, i smoke it all. bud is bud to me, whatever i can get with the cash i want to spend.

@Triiiple

yeah, but when you get the good stuff, It’s a whole different game. My friend got me some amazing smelling Northern Lights for my birthday, and I was gone for two days straight.

@Foolaholic True some people do prefer only the good stuff and even get all bent out of shape if i mention schwag. I really dont get it, i understand its different highs, but thats with any variety of strains of weed. I still go by, if it gets me high, SCHMOKE IT.

Oh man itd be sweet if we legalized cannabis, and i totally think it could pull us out of this economic crisis, as all the posts above mine already pointed out.

btw to answer the on going pot by location trend. I get stuff like this for 50 a quarter. :)

@uberbatman

Well then you are one lucky SOB :P

i know right :P

Wow this question is almost as leading as the “pot smokers being vocal question.” If you want an open dicussion ask an open question and stop preaching to each group’s respective choir.

If this were a serious question like “would de-criminalizing cannabis ease the stress of the current economic crisis?” the discussion might be a bit more “serious”. I’m not a pot smoker and never really have been but, like alcohol, I can see why some find it enjoyable. It’s hard to see why there is a serious difference between the two BUT under current pot is illegal. Pot smokers should put down the roach clip and do something about about the law! From what I can tell there are more than sufficient pot smokers in the USA to make this happen.

i like marijuana a lot. but this is just sillyness and one of the lamer side-effects of stonerism.

@Rsam
Welcome to Fluther.

Let me say it again. It is not legal on a federal level. And, that is what counts.

Medical marijuana has strong support from voters and health organizations. The federal government, however, has resisted any change to marijuana’s illegal status at the federal level. The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 in Raich v. Gonzales that the federal government can prosecute medical marijuana patients, even in states with compassionate use laws, and several medical marijuana dispensaries in California have since been subject to Drug Enforcement Administration raids.