I don't want this thread to get out of hand, but I want to see how many people here are for legalizing mar1juana. I would appreciate your rationale for making your choice on this poll, one way or another. I know this is the internet and not Nevada, but I see this forum as a good sample of society and would like to get opinions from people with other backgrounds than myself and my circle of friends. As for my opinion, I am definitely for legalizing it. I'm not going to even get into the health risks or the intoxication side-effects, and I don't even want to open the can of worms that will be spilled as soon as I compare it with the other legal drug, but I will offer this: I can't smoke weed without going to jail, because I'm on probation for the next 8 years. That's not my motivation in wishing for legalization. More selflessly, I feel that society would gain a lot from this possibility. For instance, and as I posted in another thread, mar1juana is a gateway drug. It has been statistically proven to increase the odds of stepping up to other, more harmful drugs. I don't want that for anybody. Now, what I'm saying is, people are apparently going to buy the stuff whether it's legal or not. If it were legal, people would be buying it at their local convenience store instead of the street corner. Their dealers would be under strict federal and state supervisions, as are the alcohol dealers now. Age restrictions could be enforced, and impressionable minds could be spared the complications of using a mind altering chemical at a vulnerable stage. On top of that, there would be far less of a gateway effect if people never had to encounter drug dealers and the environments around them if they could just get it at 7 Eleven. What I'm saying is, I'm not looking to get high here, I'm theorizing on how to positively and benevolently () influence our society. Your thoughts?
I agree, it doesn't matter to me either because of my situation. But what I'm asking is, in respect to the rest of society, would legalization be a good idea to you?
I actually wrote a paper on this subject in undergrad. I dont like it but I dont hold it against anyone if they choose to do it. I honistly dont see how mar1juana is any worse than alcohol. Also I think that the best solution may be to decriminalize it rather than legalization. There would also be the added benifits from commercial sources rather than people getting it from drug dealers. kt edit: I forgot to add that the downside is that it would likely increase usage.
I'm against for the simple reason that I don't know what the effects really will be. Once its legal, you can't make it illegal - it simply won't work (see Prohibition) - so you're screwed if it was the wrong decision. It's not worth the risk until we really have a good idea what the actual consequences of legalization might be.
Whether I agree or not, it won't be legal for a long long time. Even if we knew alcohol is much worse than mar1juana (especially for teens) we wouldn't ban alcohol and bring in mar1juana because the alcohol industry is as enfranchised as the tobacco industry is worldwide.
I would probably be for it, with some tough rules on who could buy/sell it. I would also favor taxation similar to or above what cigarettes are at now. It would definitely make a dent in the national deficit, hell we would probably be in the black in about 5 years.
Yeah really, you think Houston/America are the fattest people now, wait until we start smoking dope. Cheetos/Doritos/Funyuns will set new sales records.
And how do you know what the actual consequences of legalization are, unless you go through with it? As for me, I haven't see anything that suggests that mar1juana is even as dangerous as alcohol or tobacco. So I'm for legalization.
Amsterdam didn't turn out too bad... http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/mar1juana/dutch.jsp I would like to see what happens to that place 30 more years from now and to find out what their perception of weed and drugs will be.
Part of my term paper last semester was about this sort of thing... I'm for legalization. It's reasonable to look at the Netherlands and conclude that a similar legal approach to mar1juana would have similar (non-detrimental) effects in the United States.
I don't condone mar1juana usage, but here's my logical reasoning for why we should legalize it: 1. Prevent the sale of it to underage buyers. Due to the "black market" sale of mar1juana, there's no way to tell who its being sold it. When you market it in the mainstream (say Wal-Mart), then its very easy to control (like alcohol or tobaccco). Also, selling it through big-name outlets puts the little-guy out of business, just like Starbucks puts small coffee shops out of business. 2. Tax revenue from the sale of mar1juana can be used to better society. Tax it at say a 13-15% rate, and not only does this deter people from buying it, it creates billions of dollars in revenue for the government.
Just a question, does anyone think that the number of people who smoke mar1juana would significantly increase with legalization? Legalization indicates society accepts smoking pot (which to some extent I'd say it does anyway). In that sense I think it's bad. I'd say a change in enforcement of the laws would be better than a straight out legalization.
There is a pretty big debate going on in Canada right now, and a couple of court cases that have tossed out some law. There is talk of decriminalising, something recommended by a government committee looking into it. A recent court ruling declared it legal to posses small quantities. I don’t have time to look through it all, but I recall some interesting stats and studies reported in these articles. http://cbcgo2.cbc.ca/search?q=mar1j...nt=CBCNews&access=p&tab=news&sort=date:D:S:d1 We already get lots of American teenagers up here in our boarder towns to drink. If these laws pass we’ll have all the pothead Americans too.
If they legalized it, I would become a life time smoker and I don't want to be a lifetime smoker, it'll make me dumb/forget details.
shal i give an opinion from somebody who lifes near Amsterdam? i think legalizing is a great idea. Most people who smoke it smoke it in Coffee shops. and al the soft drugs are taken mostly in those shops. Some aren't but the normal citizen do not have any trouble with the people who do soft drugs. i also think it bad for the drugs dealers, end drugs lords. they will lose alot of power if the drugs is legalized, just like when alcahol became legal in the USA.
