Haaaah.

[Mog Dragonheart]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061227/ap_ ... y_neighbor

lol This is about as silly as getting thrown in jail for 3 years for smoking a joint. (Which is on almost par with average Rape+Gun Possession terms in Japan) I guess in Japan crime is crime!

[GhaleonOne]

I agree, it's really harsh, but when have they thrown people in jail for 3 years for weed smoking? That's gotta be the harshest interpretation of the law, and probably for multiple offenses. I could see 3 years for selling it, but not smoking it, even though I still think they should be punished (might team some of them lessons before they move on to heavier stuff).

[Sonic#]

It is overly harsh, in either case.

In the case of noise, I can see where legal action would be necessary, but that long is... inordinate.

As for the marijuana laws... first of all, I frown on the habit, and would never smoke it personally. However, I think one big reason that using marijuana would lead to heavier drug use is that it's illegal in the first place. To get a hold of it requires a sort of knowledge that, once had, would make it easier to get something heavier. It's already off the map, what's with going a little further?

But like I've said, I've had no experience with it, so I can't say whether the drug itself might lend itself to those urges.

[Agawa]

I agree, it's really harsh, but when have they thrown people in jail for 3 years for weed smoking? That's gotta be the harshest interpretation of the law, and probably for multiple offenses. I could see 3 years for selling it, but not smoking it, even though I still think they should be punished (might team some of them lessons before they move on to heavier stuff).

Yeah, three years for smoking weed seems really, really harsh. This case, I can almost agree with - while it's not something one would normally see being charged, the person with jail time did get multiple warnings from authorities, and it seems like the only purpose in her blasting music (or at least one of the main purposes) was to hurt and annoy her neighbor. If you're stupid and petty enough to continue behaviour like that after being warned by people in power, and with the knowledge that your neighbor is having medical problems that could easily be used against you, I can see why at least the year long sentence is fitting.
20 months did seem a bit overboard to me though.

[GhaleonOne]

I should have read the rest of the article. I only read the title and skimmed it quickly. Didn't realize the neighbor had a medical condition that was worsened by the music. In that case, to hell with the lady blasting her music if she's doing it out of pettiness. 20 months in jail? Yeah, likely overboard, but really, some people need to learn to stop being douches.

My problem with weed is I've seen too many people almost throw their lives away to it. They ended up on heavier drugs, because it became so easy to get it, and they were always high to begin with. I've also got issues with people who smoke it all the time and expect freebies out of life, when if they'd stop spending on their money on their drug habits, they'd start doing something productive with their life.

[Werefrog]

I agree, it's really harsh, but when have they thrown people in jail for 3 years for weed smoking?

There are some states with really tough laws about drug use.

[exigence]

i feel pretty sorry for the woman who has to go to jail just because her nighbor had to complain to the cops

[Benevolent_Ghaleon]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061227/ap_ ... y_neighbor

lol This is about as silly as getting thrown in jail for 3 years for smoking a joint. (Which is on almost par with average Rape+Gun Possession terms in Japan) I guess in Japan crime is crime!

Whaaaat? And i thought i wanted to try living there for like a year or so...guess not.

Rape is a crime in japan?! Anime told me differently.

[Mog Dragonheart]

I agree, it's really harsh, but when have they thrown people in jail for 3 years for weed smoking? That's gotta be the harshest interpretation of the law, and probably for multiple offenses. I could see 3 years for selling it, but not smoking it, even though I still think they should be punished (might team some of them lessons before they move on to heavier stuff).

A couple of months ago, Arashi of All Japan Pro Wrestling got caught smoking a joint by some police officer and Great Muta had to fire him to save face for the organization before it was released and he got setenced 3-years. Insanity.

I should have read the rest of the article. I only read the title and skimmed it quickly. Didn't realize the neighbor had a medical condition that was worsened by the music. In that case, to hell with the lady blasting her music if she's doing it out of pettiness. 20 months in jail? Yeah, likely overboard, but really, some people need to learn to stop being douches.

Yeah, true she should learn her lesson for being a douche but getting thrown in for almost 2 Years? That's extreme.

[ilovemyguitar]

My problem with weed is I've seen too many people almost throw their lives away to it. They ended up on heavier drugs, because it became so easy to get it, and they were always high to begin with. I've also got issues with people who smoke it all the time and expect freebies out of life, when if they'd stop spending on their money on their drug habits, they'd start doing something productive with their life.

I gotta say, I'm a huge advocate for legalization of marijuana. I don't think it's the government's place to hold each individual citizen's hand and tell them how to live a productive life by imposing such laws. I mean, yeah, I've seen people throw their lives away because they're too busy getting high all the time to focus on something productive, but people are also capable of throwing their lives away to feed addictions that are perfectly legal. Alcohol and prescription drugs are the most obvious examples, and there are people who have very serious addictions to shopping, the internet, pornography, and other such things. Should we outlaw these things too?

And the whole idea of marijuana being a "gateway drug" is a crock. People who do heroin and other hard-core drugs and become strung-out junkies would have done so even if they hadn't started out smoking weed.

And don't even get me started on the legal drinking age being so strictly enforced at 21.

[Benevolent_Ghaleon]

I know people smoke weed HEAVILY and own a successful business. I know people who smoke weed heavily and sit around and do nothing.

I'm someone who smokes it..well..pretty much when i can. Am i employeed? yes, but that wasn't the case some time ago. I was a lazy pothead. I thought back and it and, for a while, i had convinced myself that weed had turned me into that person.

Then i thought back. Did i smoke weed in fourth grade? No. Did i do my homework in fourth grade? Rarely.

It isn't the weed and it isn't alcohol. With EVERYTHING (video games, television, drugs..) there are those who take them to extremes and ignore what the average person would have higher on their priorety lists.

MY CONCLUSION: You can't save people from themselves.

[ilovemyguitar]

MY CONCLUSION: You can't save people from themselves.

Exactly. Some people simply have addictive personalities. It's not something that can be blamed on the substance that's being abused, but upon the disease of addiction that the personal inherently has.

I firmly believe that the public at large would be given a much greater service if time and effort was spent educating people on the nature of addiction, as opposed to a "War on Drugs" that demonizes certain substances that people may become addicted to.

[Blue_Sycro]

I feel like a big reason the government is reluctant to legalize marijuana is that it can't make any profit off of it. There's no way to regulate it. With something like alcohol, most people have to rely and companies to deal with the techincal stuff. Pot is a plant anyone can grow. No one would have to spend so much money on a taxed corporation.