Mattmao, I am with you on the decrim talk. It is all nonsense. Baby steps? Why is it illegal in the first place? Is there a legitimate reason? Granted the UK banned weed before the US by a decade, but that prohibition was done for reason that where really unrelated to a problem with marijuana. It was a knee jerk reaction that occurred due to international diplomatic manuveering. Prohibition as we know it today is a direct result of the USA's campaign between 1935 and 1937. The demonization of marijuana that occurred at that time cemented future attitudes toward weed and has resulted in the quagmire that we currently find ourselves in. Does anyone know why the US deemed it necessary to prohibit marijuana? Was there a legitimate reason? We know that the science cited by prohibitionist in 1937 as a reason for outlawing marijuana was bogus. So why prohibit marijuana, why lie? Why commit fraud against the world community by slandering the herb? Historians in the US assert that it was because of Mexican immigrants and African-American jazz musicians, but when asked why the Federal Bureau of Narcotics made the final push to prohibit marijuana they have no definitive answer. Paraphrasing one of the first observers (Becker, 1966): Whatever the reason may have been they decided to prohibit marijuana. In other words we don't really know why? Other historians talk about political pressure from the individual states, however, if you bother to check the source of the pressure the trail leads you right back to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Sure several states had banned marijuana before the Bureau was created, but these laws simply banned the smoking of marijuana cigarettes. Truth be told, Parke-Davis bud was available anywhere in the US by mail order for 35 cents an ounce. According to a 1917 US Government report, the Mexicans preferred the PD bud over their shitty mexi weed. Go figure. Wrapping up this rant, I just want to ask why we'd talk about decriminalization when illegality in the first place is suspect? I am not a lawyer, but there is a law - US Code Chapt 18 Sec 1001 - False statements. It covers the misrepresentation of the truth. The prohibition of marijuana should be completely repealed based on the original lies of demonization. Lies that are essentially acknowledged by the US Shaffer Commission in the early 1970s. Prohibition would not have occurred if the Bureau of Narcotics had not demonized marijuana in 1937, thereby polluting the public perception of what was previously known by other names like hemp, cannabis, ganja, muggles, reefer, etc. Several generations passed before people began to evaluate the consensus opinion about marijuana in the late 1960s and early 1970s. By this time the damage had been wrought. More later. Decriminalization is wrong, for the simple reason that marijuana should have never been criminalized in the first place!