We have this in various parts of the US. In Ann Arbor, I think it's $10 and you get to keep the pot.

In Mass, I think it's $100 for under 1/4 of an ounce.

Honestly, this whole pot debate is BS. Just legalize it and tax the shit out of it.

How can you suggest people should be fined 10% of their income for using marijuana?

And yeah, 10% of net income of fucking ridiculous, btw.

Actually, I didn't read your inside post, just the OP.

Seriously? Are you being serious? $500 or 10% of NET income? Or 100 hours of hard labor? Jesus Christ, last time I checked, Canada wasn't Nazi Germany.

Note - This thread is coming from someone who thinks that Marijuana use should not be tolerated in our Society.

The problem I have is that the police are not enforcing the law because they don't want to give young people criminal records with all that that entails. When a law is not enforced it is useless, and you get problems of unequal application. Therefore as an alternative, have huge fines, dependent on income. This would be a real cash to governments and also help the police enforce the law.

What your problem with pot?

Lets say someone is a young worker making 50,000/year. They are in a field where a criminal record will prevent them from employment. They are caught smoking Marijuana. Which would you prefer. Pay a $5000 fine or not be able to work in your field until you obtain a pardon (7 years). The cost of this would be far greater.

I have not heard anyone else suggest the idea of huge fines. Most people suggest $100 and there is even talk that one of our former Prime Ministers wants to try Marijuana if it was decriminalized, and he would try it with the fine in hand. But the debate that I have seen so far is from the conservatives who insist that it remain a criminal offense and the liberals who think it should be a small fine. So what about a huge fine as a compromise?

For how much pot? Sounds bad at first, but if you look at as a $5,000 fine for a $50,000 income. That would really hurt but not impossible. Cheaper than a couple years in jail.

Its hardly a criminal offense. I personally have never been caught with marijuana. But I have never heard of anyone being charged criminally for possession of a small amount.

I would prefer neither. It is absolute bullshit that we are waisting our time arguing about pot and wasting police officers' time with pot when there are so many other things to do.

There is zero justification for it being illegal.

But it is illegal and even in California there is not enough support in the general public to send a message that it should be otherwise. Therefore there is at least a perceived harm that Pot causes to society.

Yes, I think older generations still view it as harmful.

You realize that in the US, $500 is equivalent to going 50MPH over the speed limit. If you're going that fast, you aren't just getting a ticket; you're getting your license suspended.

And you think that's the same as having 1/4 of pot?

Plus, most of the people who support pot can never seem to make it to the polls for some reason : )

That seems a little draconian, joey1, and by a little, I mean a lot. The truth is, your ridiculously huge fine could in a lot of cases be more harmful than the current laws. The whole issue with marijuana is the harm it does to society, and by far the most harm it does involves the legal consequences of drug use. Which is part of the reason why laws simply aren't enforced, and why we're discussing decriminalization at all. If we start imposing steep financial penalties instead, we would actually increase the harm done to society overall. Kinda, counter to what we're trying to accomplish.

Lando, you are probably stoned right now.

I agree with joey1. It is the law here in Canada and you should respect it. 10% might be a bit excessive though. That is a lot of money for anyone making decent green.

The punishment is completely unjustified for the crime. How many domestic violence issues are cause by pot? By alcohol?

i read a really good article in today's papaer, but i can't find it, pointing to the expierence of a reduction of drug addicts in portugal after 10 years of decriminalisation.

@Lando "Yes, I think older generations still view it as harmful." I think it's more along political and religious lines than anything else.

I disagree. I think it's very much a generation thing.

I know a lot of young republicans that smoke pot.

A number of Christians, too, now that I think about it.

Yours Truly not included in any of those 3 groups.

I live in Massachusetts, and we decriminalized small amounts of pot (less than 1oz) two years ago. Possession now results in a fine ($100, or possibly more depending on township).
Somehow... some way... we've survived.

I see it as harmful. This came up recently, where I spoke about how I think it's a gateway drunk, and very dangerous as is.

To clarify, that doesn't mean I think its fine on its own, merely I'm not sure, and that its gateway property is bad enough.

Congrats to you and Massachusetts, Dave. I would have figured decriminalization of pot would have led immediately to Massachusetts turning into a post-apocalyptic hell, like something out of Road Warrior, within a week. Ten days at the outermost.

figlesguide-What does the term "gateway drug" mean? Do you think that it is possible some of the gateway effects might have arisen because we as a society act as if using pot will ruin your life, and then when users confront the manifest untruth of this claim, they start to doubt society's claims about other drugs? Or that, because marijuana is criminalized, one must consort with socially defined criminals in order to obtain it?

@figle,

That possibility is certainly there, but look at alcohol. It isn't a "gateway" drug, but it can be extremely damaging. I actually think legalizing pot would make it less of a gateway drug. There would then be a strong correlation between the legality of a drug and it's danger. I'd suspect that one of the reasons people who use pot go on to try harder drugs is that they're already breaking the law. If pot is illegal and crack is illegal, what's the difference?

If, however, you were allowed to smoke pot in a bar, like alcohol, you wouldn't have this seedy underground society to draw people in to.

As to the older generation's fear about pot, most 50-70 year olds I know, and I actually do know quite a few, indulge in usage from time to time and support decriminalization or legalization. I suspect that the anti-pot impetus comes from people connected with the prison-industrial complex, who see a big loss of total market if pot should ever be relegalized.

"prison-industrial complex"

What is this? The US Government loses a disgusting amount of money on our prison system.