4 UL football players arrested for growing marijuana

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written by Unempirical Observer , April 20, 2010 - 02:21 pm

It's like the state will take the $50,000 or greater fine rather than locking these men up for 5 to 30 years. How are those two interchangeable standards consistent with each other?
And then the key sticking point, will be did they have intent to sell or distribute this material.
But the real question is why does Louisiana continue to pack our jails (and the jails of private contractors) with "felons" of this sort.

The penalty is not consistent with the crime, if it even should be a crime in the first place.

Didn't Mike Foster toss a lot of "felons" out jail before his term ended, exactly for the reasons that we were over capacity and could not afford the expense relative to the societal "benefit" to be rendered.

Besides, until Louisiana is willing to consider some real rehabilitative and social reintegration treatment for offenders, I remain unoptimistic that we have any sense of what will work and what's truly good in the world.

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written by J. Alfred Proofrock , April 20, 2010 - 02:29 pm

Far out man. Chech and Chong would be proud.

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written by The Original Northsidian , April 20, 2010 - 03:08 pm

The reason it is not legalized is because of all the jobS that would be lost. Not because pot is evil. Why do you think the dealers in Mexico are killing each other over the right to distribute to the millions who use? The law needs to go after the big shots who caused the greatest recession since the great depression. But, those folks will never do jail time. Why? Because the jails are packed with recreational drug users and there is no room for the REAL CRIMINALS (WHITE COLLAR)!!!!!!!

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written by Frank , April 20, 2010 - 03:14 pm

It is pathetic that our police force is spending time on stupid stuff like this.

First of all, if this is not a case of "The punishment does not fit the crime" then I don't know what is. It's time we changed these draconian laws. This is supposed to be a free country and yet we allow people to be penalized like this every day.

What is even more pathetic is that not a single lawmaker in our state has the balls to bring this issue up. Your constituents are getting hurt by the law many times more than any hurt they could do with marijuana. The inaction of our lawmakers to do anything about this injustice is a big fat failure on their part.

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written by Colleen , April 20, 2010 - 04:19 pm

This is pathetic. There is no reason why these laws should exist. These kids would have had college educations and bright futures but instead they are in jail and being criminalized for something that hurts nobody. The worst part is that our state is considering a bill that would make the penalty for this even harsher.
Write your local congressman and tell them to vote no. It is time we are free in this state.

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written by red , April 20, 2010 - 06:09 pm

What a shame. I wish we could set up a controlled experiment where we studied two bars and all their patrons and two Marijuana clubs and all their patrons.

We keep wasting valuable time and resources on Marijuana when, junk food, alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, guns, and violent criminals are bigger problems.

Its no surprise that polls are showing that 75% of the American's do not have a very good opinion of the Government. Maybe when the government listens to the people a little better instead of collecting bribes the tides will turn. I can't believe that almost 80% of the public thinks Medical Marijuana should be legal as the politicians ignore them and collect campaign contributions from the health industry.

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written by Addicted to Food , April 20, 2010 - 07:57 pm

Oh Red! See below. I am for legalize drugs, just to get the crime out of it. Nevertheless, when you quote a poll please reference what poll, and not just pull out numbers.

Poll: Majority oppose marijuana legalization, new nationwide poll finds -- but where do Californians stand?
April 20, 2010 | 2:32 pm

A new poll shows most Americans oppose legalizing marijuana, but as California voters are set to consider the always controversial topic in the fall, many readers are questioning the poll's validity.

In the Associated Press-CNBC poll, 33% of respondents favored legalization while 55% opposed it. The results showed a division in age as younger people were more likely to support legalization, while older people were more likely to oppose it. Women and Republicans also strongly opposed legalization.

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written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , April 20, 2010 - 08:24 pm

i have never met anyone who could smoke a joint of top grade marijuana and get up and work, or stay awake or not giggle their ass off like a pre-teen girl and not eat the top shelf of munchies from the local 7-11 convenient store, today we have the most irresponsible,lazy,do-nothing 18-25 year old zombies walking around with their eyes half closed and mouthuing wuzzup to their stoned pals who are to stoned to make class much less learn a damn thing in school,,,,,,,,,if you can show me a habitual user that has smoked marijuana for 10 years ,is 25 years old and has a steady job ( I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT DELIVERING PIZZA OR FLIPPING BURGERS ) and owns a car and daddy and mommy doesn't have to bail their worthless ass out and pay their cell phone ........and no i don't have that problem but, i hasve known to many parents with kids who never give up their crutch in their entire lifes...........Lam that, couillies

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written by NO-ZERO , April 20, 2010 - 09:08 pm

Marijuana is a means which weak people use to escape reality,these people are unable to face the real world and cope with the struggles in their life ! "Which is that, they are complete failures." Like Linus and his blanket !

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written by Resident , April 21, 2010 - 06:43 am

The sooner we get rid of idiotic laws like this which criminalize people for growing a plant, the better. People are waking up to the reality that jails do not need to be stuffed with non-violent drug users, especially for a substance that is far less dangerous than the legal drug alcohol. What an affront to liberty and common sense.

NS and No Zero typify the faulty sweeping generalizations that allow laws like this to perpetuate. i wonder how many people they know whose lives have been ruined by alcohol? Criminalizing the personal use of a substance does not make better citizens. Personal choice and consequences have a way of working themselves out.

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written by 1 , April 21, 2010 - 06:56 am

@ No-Zero & Northsidan - Both of you are clearly talking about something that you know nothing about. (Not that there is anything new about that)

Tell you what folks, if your experience with Marijuana consists of either trying it once or never trying it at all, then how about you just shut up because you DON'T know what you are talking about.

I know plenty of people who can do tasks stoned that straight people I know could never do.

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written by pink eyeglasses , April 21, 2010 - 04:54 pm

This is in response to the person who claims pot smokers are not able to cope with life, and the other one who said they are loser living off their parents. You two must not know many people or live in a bubble. I am in a rather hard graduate program at a prestigious school. I smoke daily after all my obligations are finished. I am top of my class and am fully self supportive.

The criminalization of this drug is archaic and asinine. It is time people face reality and let people make their own decisions-good or bad.

If the drug did in fact make people worthless losers, it is still their decision whether or not to do it. In a free country people are allowed to chose to be productive, or not. As far as I know, communist countries are the only countries that don't allow people not to produce.

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written by VOX POPULI , April 21, 2010 - 09:31 pm

Mike foster was a loser !!!!!!!! Only an idiot would ride a bike without a helmet.
" Resident.. 1 and Pink Eye Glasses, you f'ing. pilgrims would'nt know marijuana from stink-weed. Your brain will be fried before you are old enough to leave the hind teat !
You smoke some jungle weed, you rookies be playing in the street.

You need a crutch have at it, your daddy will bail you out, you bunch of loser Crutch Jockeys !

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written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , April 21, 2010 - 10:36 pm

Hey Pinky Eye, just imagine this, if you did't get high and stoney, for the rest of your young-ass life, you might could be a Valedictorian of you class........
But, instead you'll end up a Valet, when you burn-out...

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written by EXISTENTIALIST HOMME , April 22, 2010 - 09:02 am

MY DEAR COLLEEN ! You are probably one of the many commentators above who are demanding a smoke-free festival !!!!!!!!!!!