We bring you yet another opinion piece on the state of Marijuana's status as a dangerous, illegal substance-- this time, in Scotland.

Gordon Meldrum, deputy director of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said: "When cannabis was reclassified, the Scottish Police Service effectively made no change and the day-to-day reality is that there has been no change in policing style or stance.

"We still treat people found on the street with cannabis in exactly the same way. We still see cannabis as a dangerous drug and a number of recent studies have confirmed that. Cannabis is still viewed very much as a gateway drug – it's still the first drug that children and young people will try. We've a focus on cocaine and heroin, but we've never taken our eye off the ball as far as cannabis is concerned."

Woah there laddy, a dangerous drug? Studies have confirmed that? Really, where?

The Spectrum posted an op/ed piece as a follow up to Barney Frank's proposed end to Marijuana prohibition for adults in the US. It's a good read and gives a brief overview of how Marijuana became illegal:

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank is proposing a bill that would remove federal penalties for possession and use of small amounts of marijuana.

Why do we need a federal bill?

Because the rest of the country is far behind Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon in decriminalizing the herb, with Michigan on the verge of approving a similar bill. We need a federal bill because we need to put an end to this fruitless, expensive prohibition once and for all.

Is legalizing Marijuana a reachable goal for the near future?

We're just full of opinion at Smokedot today, our next op/ed piece comes from Livingston Daily and asks: Give Legal Marijuana A Chance!

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws rebukes the addiction claim, citing a 1999 U.S. Institutes of Medicine report that shows less than 1 in 10 of marijuana users become regular smokers.

Putting that into context, the study states 15 percent of alcohol consumers and 32 percent of tobacco users exhibit signs of drug dependence.

NORML also states you can't die directly from a marijuana overdose.

Then there is drugwarfacts.org, which states there are plenty of other things that kill more people each year than marijuana use.

In 2000, there were 435,000 tobacco-related deaths in the United States, 365,000 attributable to poor diet and inactivity and 85,000 linked to alcohol.

That poses the question: Should alcohol be banned again? How about tobacco? Maybe fast-food restaurants instead of marijuana?

Tobacco and alcohol kill people all the time, and they still schedule Marijuana with crack and ecstasy.

The Seattle Times has an opinion piece of the state of Marijuana laws, so, can we talk?

So, can we talk?

I think we should. As a nation, we spend at least $7.5 billion annually enforcing our marijuana laws. In 2006, the latest year for which we have numbers, a record 830,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana — 89 percent of them simply for possessing it.

Our criminal-justice system wastes time and resources with these low-level marijuana-possession cases while half our violent crimes go unsolved. And those facing the judge are disproportionately African American and Latino.

It's a nice read, it brings up some good points, but they've all been brought up before. We need a leader in the U.S. who is ready to decriminalize Marijuana for adults. Stop busting Marijuana users and go get those rapists and meth heads.