You seem to be missing my point Zeta. Bullshit or not, the law is the law. Everyone has to make a personal choice if they follow it or not. Knowing things are illegal and doing them anyway people are making the choice and also have to face the consequences. I drove to work today with no seatbelt on knowing if I got caught I would face a ticket or injury/death but I didn't put it on. I made that choice knowing what could happen. Like I said I'm not saying the laws are fair or not, I'm just stating they are there to follow and those who don't follow them know what can happen and take that risk.
You seem to be explaining to me what a "law" is. I already understand this.
I'm curious, you say $5-25 for the first offense. What happens after that?
The fine doubles a couple of times and then pegs out at $100. In general though there is a lot of weed around here, but legal or not most people only smoke it indoors so there isn't much in the way of tickets being issued. Now that Michigan has legalized medicinal marijuana I don't expect the law will be getting any harder about this...which brings me to my point. Once a huge portion of the public is ignoring any given law the government eventually has to make a decision as to whether not its worth devoting assloads of time and money to prosecuting it. They work for us, you see, which is a point you obedient types seem to forget.
The public at large no longer buys into the myth that weed is a gateway drug, that causes people to kill, etc. Its all bullshit. Unlike coke, booze, speed, or just about anything else pot just grows in the dirt. No processing is needed. God himself put it there. Its virtually impossible to overdose on, and not only does it have fewer negative health side effects than legal drugs like alcohol and cigarettes, but its usually a lot safer than all those f*cking prescription drugs they are constantly trying to sell us on TV. Every day people are going to jail for pot, being branded as felons for life, losing student loan eligibility, etc for something that only a small portion of America actually believes is morally wrong (ie: the pro life yet pro nuke crowd, mostly). Because of this, the tide will turn.
Since 40,000 people die every year from car accidents, which is 40,000 more than pot has ever killed, don't expect to overturn any seat belt laws. You should be wearing your seat belt, not because its the law, but because its f*cking stupid to not wear it.
Laws are, in theory, meant to be derivative of morality, not origin of it.
