Reefer Madness

The fact is, as I have said many times before...... the drug laws need to be repealed and almost all drugs (save for rohypnol (a date rape drug) and its brothers) need to be made totally legal, regulated and taxed.
It is the BOTTOM LINE that our 'war on drugs' (which NEVER really made sense) has failed miserably and will never succeed as long as ONE person wants to toke up, take cocaine, etc.

I agree with some checks and balances for these police....pulling out the guns on these students...would if a gun accidently fired....where's the respect for human life...students...I would get a lawyer and go after these cops....no sending my kids to that south carolina college...these cops are CRAZY.... and out of line!!

Well, as much as I can agree with Dr. Randolph regarding justice being colorblind, I can't abide by his eye-for-an-eye skullduggery. Persons of color; those without deep pockets; and gender bias all can effect a case, resulting in lopsided justice. Knowing that punishment and conviction can be disproportionate to the crime, it's paradoxical that Dr Randolph was ,nevertheless, willing to prosecute Phelps for that which he finds most deplorable in our system. While justice shouldn't be based on one's ability to pay or color or gender, it is equally unjust to single out another for "special" justice. Or, in this case, based on the facts, injustice. A more constructive way to highlight any inequity is to publish it and promote it through education to galvanize public support. The ends, Dr Randolph, don't always justify the means.

what is the deal with this super pig lott? sounds like he is running a military junta down there complete with a 50 cal equipped APC to move his soldiers around. then in response to a few kids smoking some pot, he proceeds to march his gestapo pig force in a military style raid to net, oh i don't know 7 grams and a bong. this militarization of our local police forces is becoming a huge problem in america. we are all dangerous criminals now, deserving of a military style raid on our houses, until we prove ourselves otherwise. does any body really believe those tactics were appropriate? did they ever think to knock on the door? these are young kids here. we wont even let most of them drink legally. and they run up in the house with guns because phelps smoked some weed there? get effing real. that guy lott is out of control. it only a matter of time before one of his paramilitary raids results in the death of an officer or a civilian.

Bible Belt - do we really expect anything better?

First of all, Sheriff Lott should be arrested for wasting news print for this petty offense and secondly Randolph may need to look inward, especially when he is lighting one up... What douches...

Reefer Madness is a great choice of names for this story of way blown-out of proportion lapse of judgment on the part of Phelps and total insane over-reaction by the County Sheriff. America is in the midst of big change and I predict that marijuana law reform is just one of the smaller issues that's changing for the better, day by day, and now Phelps has served to further the movement and become much, much more popular to tens of millions of young people.

Why are we so quick to throw our American heroes under a bus? And for what this time? For inhaling pot? Pot is a staple of university students and professors. Why do we rush to selfrighteous indignation if a kid like Phelps is caught puffing a little? This guy does not deserve this. He lifted America. He made us proud. Now he acts like the kid that he is, and whammo! Hang him by the neck until dead! What hyprocrisy. I love the guy. I have never been so proud of America before the world as he did it all for us in Beijing, setting swim records that may never be broken. Doing the impossible with an American flag draped over him. Now the Media and the Sheriff and Kellogs and the Black advocate trash the guy. Hey, Michael Phelps is still the all-American boy. It's just that all-American boys these days puff some pot. i mean come on, it is very, very common... The cops in University towns know better than to mess with it... It's about like going out behind the barn to smoke some cigarets you stole out of your mother's purse, back when I was a kid. And if smoking pot led right to heroine injections or cocaine snorting, why half the population would be street druggies. But they aren't. I am not a pot advocate, but for pete's sake let's show some common sense here. Actually, for Michael's sake...

If the authors are going to make an issue out of the search warrant's use of the (admittedly somewhat archaic) alternative spelling "marihuana," then they ought to clean up their own act and learn to spell "bhang" properly.

Kelloggs wisely dropped Phelps because that's NOT the image they wanted to buy into. If they want to sponsor an illegal drug abuser they can find one at a far lower price. As for the sheriff, maybe he thinks that by taking 'lesser' crimes this seriously, people will be afraid to commit major crimes in that county.

The illusion that this bong foo-foo is news is pathetic. So- let me get this straight- a young person smoked pot. Uh-huh. and.....

The War on Marijuana has be going on now for 70 years. More people smoke marijuana today, by percentage, than in 1937. Presently the usage of marijuana is about the same as cigarettes among teenagers. Is that called success? The only thing wasted is tax money. We are paying far more taxes today because the prohibition of marijuana. 70 years of wasted money on enforcement, judicial, and prison systems. A failure from start to finish, we've spent a mountain of money only to have gone backwards. Also we lost all the tax monies by not taxing it. Look at the results over the last 70 years, talk about waste in government. The tax monies would be better spent on education and PR campaigns. Law enforcement efforts should be concentrated on the number one killer in this country, auto offenses. It is well known that Al Capone was a big supporter of the prohibition of alcohol. Why? There's a lot more profit to made in the untaxed market. There's so much profit that Capone bribed numerous politicians and law enforcement officials. Presently the drug cartels are controlling the production and sale of marijuana, not our government. Do you think a drug dealer going to ask a kid for ID? Times are tough, the economic crisis today is compared to that of the Great Depression, and what paid for the New Deal that helped pull the country out of that crisis, the end of prohibition of alcohol. Let us not forget that the hemp plant (marijuana) has many viable commercial and industrial uses (energy, material, medical, etc). Did you know that our founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and that the Declaration of Independence is written on hemp paper? Let it be noted, that the baseball great Babe Ruth was drinking illegal alcohol throughout his career. He played from 1914 to 1935, prohibition of alcohol was from 1920 to 1933. Isn't he thought of fondly and is in the Hall of Fame? Finally, the last three Presidents of the United States of America have smoked marijuana at one time. It's now the time to end the prohibition of marijuana. PS If Phelps loses endorsements because of public image concerns so be it, that's business.

The War on Marijuana has be going on now for 70 years. More people smoke marijuana today, by percentage, than in 1937. Presently the usage of marijuana is about the same as cigarettes among teenagers. Is that called success? The only thing wasted is tax money. We are paying far more taxes today because the prohibition of marijuana. 70 years of wasted money on enforcement, judicial, and prison systems. A failure from start to finish, we've spent a mountain of money only to have gone backwards. Also we lost all the tax monies by not taxing it. Look at the results over the last 70 years, talk about waste in government. The tax monies would be better spent on education and PR campaigns. Law enforcement efforts should be concentrated on the number one killer in this country, auto offenses. It is well known that Al Capone was a big supporter of the prohibition of alcohol. Why? There's a lot more profit to made in the untaxed market. There's so much profit that Capone bribed numerous politicians and law enforcement officials. Presently the drug cartels are controlling the production and sale of marijuana, not our government. Do you think a drug dealer going to ask a kid for ID? Times are tough, the economic crisis today is compared to that of the Great Depression, and what paid for the New Deal that helped pull the country out of that crisis, the end of prohibition of alcohol. Let us not forget that the hemp plant (marijuana) has many viable commercial and industrial uses (energy, material, medical, etc). Did you know that our founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and that the Declaration of Independence is written on hemp paper? Let it be noted, that the baseball great Babe Ruth was drinking illegal alcohol throughout his career. He played from 1914 to 1935, prohibition of alcohol was from 1920 to 1933. Isn't he thought of fondly and is in the Hall of Fame? Finally, the last three Presidents of the United States of America have smoked marijuana at one time. It's now the time to end the prohibition of marijuana. PS If Phelps loses endorsements because of public image concerns so be it, that's business.

This insanity began a long time ago when pot was made illegal based on an ad campaign that used fear to suggest that pot smoking black men would rape white women. It's just a shame to waste our police this way. We need them to fight violent crimes, not something even a kitten is prone to do catnip. State representatives need to virtually legalize pot by decriminalizing possession of small quantities. Many forward thinking states have already done this or are considering it. It is the only way out of this cultural insanity in which the people have accepted pot as harmless but still require our police to enforce antiquated laws.

Finally, Joe Rogan brings some sensible thinking to this crucial subject:

http://blog.joerogan.net/archives/454

While I agree the offense is minor there are some of us who went to college and did not use drugs. I would have hoped that an olympic athlete that has enjoyed the sucess Phelps has would have had the sense to not let what was probably a lot of peer preasure push him to do illegal drugs.

It's outrageous that three months later, police would use a battering ram to enter a home, guns drawn. Who pays for damages done to the home? Why should the taxpayer foot the bill for the police that raided the homes? We need a national system that polices the police and punishes sheriff's like Lott for abusing power for self promotion. With a system of checks and balances in place for law enforcement, there would be much less 'bubba' policing.