The story: Tucson has developed into a thriving hub for marijuana distribution, with much of the pot headed for the East Coast.

Your take: It’s not every day that a public policy debate features Bob Marley. But the late reggae star’s lyrics (“Herb is the healing of the nation,” etc.) were quoted by Julian H. to bolster his contention that marijuana should be legalized – a position that many members of the Citizen’s online community also held.

Joe Q. thinks the drug is harmless: “Crack and meth and heroin are one thing, but pot? C’mon. The only downside to legalizing it is second-hand smoke.”

Anthony H., who’s not a “pothead,” thinks the problems associated with the drug trade go away when the prohibition against the drug disappears. Likewise, Francisco L. – “a teacher and a father” who doesn’t smoke marijuana – believes “putting it behind counters” would make it more difficult for kids to get; his students say it’s harder for them to buy a 12-pack of beer than to obtain pot.

That would make America a lot like Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where drugs have been decriminalized. But that’s the problem, says Eric J.: “Amsterdam has huge drug-related problems and is the poster child of why legalization does not work.” And P.S. asks, “Is life for you so crappy you have to resort to chemicals to help enjoy it?”

Compiled by PAUL SCHWALBACH

pschwalb@tucsoncitizen.com

MOST-VIEWED LOCAL NEWS STORIES

For Wednesday, Nov. 21

1 Tucson teeming with marijuana “stash houses.”

2 Win over ASU no guarantee of bowl for UA.

3 Cleaning death scenes is crews’ task.

RESULTS OF WEDNESDAY’S POLL

Question: What should be done to reduce marijuana smuggling in Arizona?

Add law enforcement 4%

Add barriers, weaponry, surveillance 13%

Add law enforcement and barriers 28%

Legalize or decriminalize pot 53%

I don’t know. 3%

Votes: 226. Poll results are not scientific. Because of rounding, totals may not equal 100 percent.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Citizen Voices. Tags for this post: Arizona, page-1, Paul Schwalbach, RealFAST ONLINE COMMENTS, Tucson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.