People are willing to smuggle and steal Oxy and others in the same family because they are narcotics. As narcotics, they are physically addictive. When they can't get a prescription or can't afford it, they will resort to less than legal means to get it. Anybody who does not believe that narcotic pain meds are addictive needs to read about Brett Farve's problem with Vicodin.
If it helped the girl stopped having severe seizures then they should legalize it because you can see it helps people.
That's a little bit of a generalization. Contrary to the beliefs of those who advocate the legalization of mar1juana, the current balanced, restrictive, and bipartisan drug policies of the United States are working reasonably well and they have contributed to reductions in the rate of mar1juana use in our nation. The rate of current, past 30-day use of mar1juana by Americans aged 12 and older in 1979 was 13.2 percent. In 2008 that figure stood at 6.1 percent. This 54-percent reduction in mar1juana use over that 29-year period is a major public health triumph, not a failure. mar1juana is the most commonly abused illegal drug in the U.S. and around the world. Those who support its legalization, for medical or for general use, fail to recognize that the greatest costs of mar1juana are not related to its prohibition; they are the costs resulting from mar1juana use itself. There is a common misconception that the principle costs of mar1juana use are those related to the criminal justice system. This is a false premise. Caulkins & Sevigny (2005) found that the percentage of people in prison for mar1juana use is less than one half of one percent (0.1-0.2 percent). An encounter with the criminal justice system through apprehension for a drug-related crime frequently can benefit the offender because the criminal justice system is often a path to treatment. More than a third, 37 percent, of treatment admissions reported in the Treatment Episode Data Set, TEDS, collected from state-funded programs were referred through the criminal justice system. mar1juana was an identified drug of abuse for 57 percent of the individuals referred to treatment from the criminal justice system. The future of drug policy is not a choice between using the criminal justice system or treatment. The more appropriate goal is to get these two systems to work together more effectively to improve both public safety and public health. In the discussion of legalizing mar1juana, a useful analogy can be made to gambling. MacCoun & Reuter (2001) conclude that making the government a beneficiary of legal gambling has encouraged the government to promote gambling, overlooking it as a problem behavior. They point out that “the moral debasement of state government is a phenomenon that only a few academics and preachers bemoan.” Legalized gambling has not reduced illegal gambling in the United States; rather, it has increased it. This is particularly evident in sports gambling, most of which is illegal. Legal gambling is taxed and regulated and illegal gambling is not. Legal gambling sets the stage for illegal gambling just the way legal mar1juana would set the stage for illegal mar1juana trafficking. The gambling precedent suggests strongly that illegal drug suppliers would thrive by selling more potent mar1juana products outside of the legal channels that would be taxed and otherwise restricted. If mar1juana were legalized, the only way to eliminate its illegal trade, which is modest in comparison to that of cocaine, would be to sell mar1juana untaxed and unregulated to any willing buyer. mar1juana is currently the leading cause of substance dependence other than alcohol in the U.S. In 2008, mar1juana use accounted for 4.2 million of the 7 million people aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of an illicit drug. This means that about two thirds of Americans suffering from any substance use disorder are suffering from mar1juana abuse or mar1juana dependence. If the U.S. were to legalize mar1juana, the number of mar1juana users would increase. Today there are 15.2 million current mar1juana users in comparison to 129 million alcohol users and 70.9 million tobacco users. Though the number of mar1juana users might not quickly climb to the current numbers for alcohol and tobacco, if mar1juana was legalized, the increase in users would be both large and rapid with subsequent increases in addiction. Important lessons can be learned from those two widely-used legal drugs. While both alcohol and tobacco are taxed and regulated, the tax benefits to the public are vastly overshadowed by the adverse consequences of their use. Alcohol-related costs total over $185 billion while federal and states collected an estimated $14.5 billion in tax revenue; similarly, tobacco use costs over $200 billion but only $25 billion is collected in taxes. These figures show that the costs of legal alcohol are more than 12 times the total tax revenue collected, and that the costs of legal tobacco are about 8 times the tax revenue collected. This is an economically disastrous tradeoff. The costs of legalizing mar1juana would not only be financial. New mar1juana users would not be limited to adults if mar1juana were legalized, just as regulations on alcohol and tobacco do not prevent use by youth. Rapidly accumulating new research shows that mar1juana use is associated with increases in a range of serious mental and physical problems. Lack of public understanding on this relationship is undermining prevention efforts and adversely affecting the nation’s youth and their families. Drug-impaired driving will also increase if mar1juana is legalized. mar1juana is already a significant causal factor in highway crashes, injuries and deaths. In a recent national roadside survey of weekend nighttime drivers, 8.6 percent tested positive for mar1juana or its metabolites, nearly four times the percentage of drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 g/dL (2.2 percent). In another study of seriously injured drivers admitted to a Level-1 shock trauma center, more than a quarter of all drivers (26.9 percent) tested positive for mar1juana. In a study of fatally injured drivers in Washington State, 12.7 percent tested positive for mar1juana. These studies demonstrate the high prevalence of drugged driving as a result of mar1juana use. Many people who want to legalize mar1juana are passionate about their perception of the alleged failures of policies aimed at reducing mar1juana use but those legalization proponents seldom—if ever—describe their own plan for taxing and regulating mar1juana as a legal drug. There is a reason for this imbalance; they cannot come up with a credible plan for legalization that could deliver on their exaggerated claims for this new policy. Future drug policies must be smarter and more effective in curbing the demand for illegal drugs including mar1juana. Smarter-drug prevention policies should start by reducing illegal drug use among the 5 million criminal offenders who are on parole and probation in the U.S. They are among the nation’s heaviest and most problem-generating illegal drug users. Monitoring programs that are linked to swift and certain, but not severe, consequences for any drug use have demonstrated outstanding results including lower recidivism and lower rates of incarceration. New policies to curb drugged driving will not only make our roads and highways safer and provide an important new path to treatment, but they will also reduce illegal drug use. Reducing mar1juana use is essential to improving the nation’s health, education, and productivity. New policies can greatly improve current performance of prevention strategies which, far from failing, has protected millions of people from the many adverse effects of mar1juana use. Since legalization of mar1juana for medical or general use would increase mar1juana use rather than reduce it and would lead to increased rates of addiction to mar1juana among youth and adults, legalizing mar1juana is not a smart public health or public safety strategy for any state or for our nation.
O come on its easier to get weed as a high schooler than alcohol BECAUSE of the fact we check ID for alcohol "The costs of legalizing mar1juana would not only be financial. New mar1juana users would not be limited to adults if mar1juana were legalized, just as regulations on alcohol and tobacco do not prevent use by youth"
(Recent topic) http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=243160 And despite all the educational advocacy and academic imagery, "weed" still hasnt gotten over its half a CENTURY imagery of "counter-culture" regressive slacker product of choice. And for a reason - because there IS a lot of counter-culture "stoners" pushing it, even beyond the "moral majority's" over-exaggerated depictions. Its hard to say if its had any effects on the laws good or bad. I'm thinking its maybe the sense that its NOT so much the users but the SUPPLIERS that are a bit too seedy. But what do I know, I've NEVER USED (and don't plan to) And - it should BE LEGALIZED. Get it over with.
{Interjecting myself in} If I were to answer that, I'd say maybe its MY OWN business how I deal with my son's discipline. Because unlike biological need to eat, to procreate, (& someone's sexual orientation from birth), drug use is a CHOICE - There CAN be an "IF". You say WHEN, as though its a foregone conclusion he WILL, but it doesnt HAVE to happen. Though yes for sure just because YOU PERSONALLY wouldnt do something, doesnt mean there should be followup RESTRICTIVE LAWS to support YOUR view removing it away for EVERYONE ELSE. That goes against liberty and having OPTIONS. Though if within your own conscience you don't want people to do something you perceive as bad, its part what laws are supposed to outline. I don't agree with PETA people at all and I'll eat meat in their face, but they're allowed to try to prohibit "damaging" things.
Regressive slackers are getting an undeserved bad rap. It is entirely as valid to assume the philosophy of passive enjoyment of our limited time as it is to be an aggressive, over-worked consumer. If someone were stoned all day every day but smiling at life, how could you say they were wrong or a criminal?
Agree mostly with that. (I know there's a term for that philosophy.) [Me talking about Me] I'm not material and view "9 to 5" (or really its more 7 to 7) as just forced necessity to pay life expenses. I'm just non-conformist and iconoclast enough away from commercial-corporate identity. I for sure inject PERSONAL experience into my view. Will just say that I know 1 too many IMMOBILE types who are ULTRA-MINIMAL who can't be moved to do ANYTHING. Complete Deadweights IF they were JUST SMILING and self-sufficient ENOUGH (without being mooches) thats great and I'd want to be where they are. But they provided the "bad example" and FRUSTATION enough to where I said I DONT want to be LIKE YOU/like THAT lol. (But everything can be abused - if I go drink the stress and frustration away I could develop into a worse alcoholic with much earlier death while they outlive me another 30+ years. So yeah what is the real use in the overwork and aggression.) How it concerns mar1juana: As long as people stay relatively functional. And anecdotally, I know 10 times more those than the bad cases who ARE
Thank you Quartija Winters. How about some original thought or perhaps at least credit for your source?
I meant WILL as in, its going to be prevalent and accepted in society eventually, so the likelihood of you being able to do anything about it without being irrational is going to be very difficult. I do hope everyone gets to parent and discipline in their own way but there can be things we cannot be so bullheaded about without causing more harm/division than good.
