You nailed it Phillip. No adult should be fined or imprisoned for something they do to themselves. Allow parents to deal with their children's drug issues. Though you are young, your sentiments echo those of a time in our country when an adult was considered responsible for his actions to himself and others. If those actions caused no harm to anyone but himself then he should suffer no legal consequences. I also grew up in a time when parents raised their own children they way they saw fit. Boys getting into fights was no big deal. I grew up in East. St. Louis where walking out the door everyday bore a good chance of getting into an altercation. During school several times a year boys would meet after school and while others watched, fight out their differences. Somebody won, somebody lost, sometimes somebody got hurt but BOTH students made their point. Two of my best friend when I was growing up were both boys of who I had fought when we first were getting to know each other. So I think you do make PERFECT SENSE as you understand that if you get drunk and get behind the wheel that it would not only be a violation of (traffic) laws but that that drunken idiot could seriously injure or even kill someone else who had the good sense not to get behind the wheel of a car even if they are just "buzzed". I have a firm rule. If I am out for an evening with friends I might have ONE shot of Cuervo. But if I have a second shot, even if we stay another hour, she drives, no argument. (my wife never drinks, smokes are uses any substances) I'd like to bring up a couple of points about "pot" and it's legalization. There are a few things those that want it legalized MUST agree with (and to) if we EVER expect to see the social use of marijuana legal. FIRST AND FOREMOST: Pot is not some sort of holy grail or personal freedom many potheads view as more important than other rights. I smoked all through my enlistment and a few years afterwords 24/7. I woke up and smokes it with my coffee. I smoked it at work. I smoked it at night just before going to bed. (this was back when a kilo of Mexican weed cost about one hundred bucks) I smoked it WHILE I was driving, before sex, after sex, before meals, after meals, before and after, or even during any activity. WE MUST BE MORE RESPONSIBLE with our use of it. I never drive if I am under the influence, even mildly, of marijuana. I do not ever smoke before or during work. I never smoke in front of anyone it would offend and NEVER in front the children of other people, NOT even if their parents may be smoking in front of them children. When I was raising my kids they (by the time they were teens) they knew I smoked pot though I might go outside or to my room to smoke it. I did not mislead them. Neither of them smoke or use any such substances, even the legal ones. My son when bringing his wife and son will have a couple of beers or even a couple of shots of tequila with me if they are staying the night. I NEVER USE FIREARMS if I have smoked pot. I'm extremely well trained in their use but it is a rule I set and adhere to just as well as the others. So pot is not something that should be allowed to be used anywhere at any time. If you smoke it and then even accidentally harm another then you should be held accountable for any harm you do, even more so, regardless if you are high on anything or not. So all you potheads out there operating heavy equipment or even cooking someones hamburger at Mickey "D;s" need to show some self-control! Either that or become a rock star. ADULTS should NEVER give, sell or allow any children not their own to smoke it. I never let my children smoke it though on very special occasions I did allow them an ounce or two of wine as we would toast whatever that occasion was. So we adult pot users must never contribute to the use of pot by any minor. BE TRUE TO OURSELVES. By that I also mean "be true to themselves". Themselves in this case all the adults who are either apathetic or against it out of ignorance about it. We need to educate the general public about the eighty-two year old hoax. We need to educate them as to the huge mis-information campaign waged against them for so long now. But they need to be true to themselves and realize that as the pot smokers are being dragged away, so or their (the watchers) are also watching their own rights being dragged away. All the tobacco users or alcohol users will have no one to blame if there drug of choice becomes illegal. If that is not enough to get them into action then they should be educated about the ENORMOUS cost of the War on Drugs, both financially and to society as well. Are prisons are over-filled. Many hard core criminals get out of prison because of some mandatory sentencing that many states impose on some young adult smoking crack or growing marijuana for self-use. Many states back when the law was being "fixed" had mandatory life sentences for even first time pot smokers. We need to make people realize that excessive fines and imprisonment for being a user of any presently illegal use is grains against our constitutional right that the punishment fit the crime. Lastly, the war on drugs has become it's own industry, needlessly employing hundreds of thousands of people to fight against a problem where there really should be no problem in the first place. Do you think the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency or any number of federal, state and local agencies want to lose their lucrative careers? At the VERY LEAST drug use and/or abuse should be a medical problem at most, not a legal one.