This has been a forthcoming issue in todays society. Would it be ok to legalize marijuana? Marijuana is proven not to be addictive, like cigarettes. Marijuana in excess has also been proven to effect one's motor skills less than alcohol in excess. So why can't it be legalized if cigarettes and alcohol can? Here's a list of pros and cons I have come up with:

Pros:
1. The government spends millions of dollars on stopping the use and selling of marijuana. If legalized, the Government could recieve tax revenue from sales.
2. Government could control what kind of marijuana is circulating. The marijuana used today is very strong, and is often laced with all kinds of drugs.
3. Marijuana could be used for medical research.
4. If people above 18 can buy marijuana, then it will be harder for kids to get it. There is a large black market in the schools where it is easy to get weed. The government would be able to regulate (more than now at least) who gets it.
5. Hemp can be used as fabric, fuel and even food. This has been illegalized because it is related to marijuana, but if legalized, hemp could be used to our advantage.

Cons:
1. Do we want to make it acceptable to smoke pot in our society? Would it be ok for parents to smoke pot around their children?
2. Would this increase the amount of people that get high? Would this possibly ruin society as we know it now?
3. Could this be used as a stepping stone to legalizing other drugs?

There are of course many other arguements. I was just wondering if anyone has any strong opinions on this subject.

Well. Since I don't think you should smoke or drink...

No, I dont think it is ok to legalize it. It would make todays civilization even more corrupt becuase there would be an increase in the number of stoners, deaths. And suicides because of it.

Sorry nanners, but in my brain it goes
pot = BAD

Yeah, legalizing this would not be a good idea. In my opinion, we should focus on getting rid of cigarettes and alcohol as well...

Thats the dumbest thing ive ever heard. That would just make it easier for people over 18 to get it, and then they would sell it to kids.

Last edited: Saturday, April 01, 2006 at 10:22:55 AM

Whose individual rights are being violated? What is the need to make MJ illegal in the first place? What is the impact of declaring otherwise perfectly good citizens to be criminals when they are not violating anybody's individual rights? Did we learn nothing from alcohol prohibition?

In HS, I did a persuasive speech in english class on the legalization of pot. I got an 85. Mary Jane should be legal. Those who disagree are ignorant.
V-show me an example of where pot has caused a death. If you find an example, would that person still be alive if pot was legal?

Last edited: Saturday, April 01, 2006 at 12:20:16 PM

Yeah drugs only kill a ton of people a day...

Legalized marijuanna? Why not. It's harmless. I don't use it and I dont have a problem with people who do (other than being a little retarded).

@Jacob
The only laws we need are those that protect individual rights. That is the basis of civilization. Laws based on anything else are criminal.

BC, no.

^^ right on BC

I've been a leisure pot smoker for years, I started when I was 16 (oh!) so I've been smoking on and off for 18 years! :) I can go for months without smoking, but once in a while I will get some (irony: you can get dope everywhere, including in front of the DEA office re. Famous interview). I smoke only in evening after my work day is done, usually at home, and usually to chill and put my mind off work and change my thinking pattern (i.e. Bring new ideas and perspectives to my mind). SO I use it in a leisure, and almost medicinal way.

I can say from experience that to smoke MJ chronically has several adverse effects, although they are relatively minor and reversible. To smoke too much, to smoke all day (i.e. Wake and bake) and one day after another will certainly wear you down and will make you 'a little retarded' to quote from KKB. I had time where I definitely exaggerated and it was rather bad. Doing that for a LONG period of time can definitely weaken you and hampers your life. It's a slow spiral. If your life is disorganized and you smoke madly, well it won't help at all.

It is known that MJ does not create a physical dependancy (whilst cigarette does btw) and that is why it's not labeled a 'hard drug'. However MJ can create a 'psychological dependancy', i.e. You'll want to be stoned and to stay stoned.
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Here where I live (in Victoria BC) we're having an epidemic of crystal meth . Now we can talk about something nasty which will leave permanent sequels in your brain (i.e. It kills your brain... For good!). I live DT and see the effect first hand on those street kids who waste away very quickly and have blank glares. Sad.

The joke about smoking too much pot is... You'll fall asleep. I don't think any death has ever been linked to too much pot smoking. I don't smoke cigarette and for me it's a big mystery how people can smoke cigarette every day, all day! And some people smoke like 20 suckers a day! HOW do they do that? I smoke 1-2 MJ cigarettes and it's plenty! Cigarettes kill tens of thousands of folks every year and can be purchased everywhere. Sweet irony!

'Drugs' and MJ in particular are just one side of society, of an individual. If we want to talk about 'problems in society' we can go on forever. For instance I've been living without a car for years as a lifestyle choice, yet I have to endure all those exhaust fumes wherever I go, all the time. Yet it's normal, condoned, even glorified, but for heaven sake it kills our planet, shape our urbanism around it, creates endemic asthma, smog, etc.
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To adult I say: do I condone it? It's all in the taste.

To the kids I'm not gonna say 'oh smoke some asap' and I'm not gonna be hypocrite and say 'don't smoke it' - I don't care what you do. Actually I do care, and I can tell you this: don't even think of taking hard drugs for you'll find something that's stronger than you . Chances are if you're in high school you know people, have friends, of heard of people that got to try drug, alcohol, etc. Everything that *shouldn't* be done by kids. Somehow it seems we're wired like that.

My girlfriend's nephew told her he smoked pot at 12 and it truly saddened me. 12 is very young, but nowadays kids engage in all sort of behaviors (sexual promiscuity, drugs, alcohol) at a much younger age then in my time (the 80s)!
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Now to answer the initial question - should MJ be legalized, I say 'yes' not in order to make its access easier (it can hardly be easier: I walk 1 block and can get some anytime 24/24 that's just the reality), but in order to stop criminalizing hundreds of thousands of citizens. So many people have a criminal record that prevent them to travel, work, etc. It's ludicrous and insanely expensive.

Fact is the market laws of Supply and Demand is always at work.

It's well known who profits from the 'War on Drugs': the Judicial & Legal System (lawyers, prosecutors, judges, clerks, etc.), the Police, the CIA and other para-governmental organizations (this has been amply documented in the 80s and 90s), and finally Organized Crime. To leave MJ criminalized actually sustain an entire industry of parasites that feeds on the losers that get nabbed. The current economical benefits of this prosecution industry certainly is bigger than what the legalization of MJ would bring in in regard to tax dollars, etc. Thus the government rationale in keeping things as is.

Isn't it funny that in DARE, they tell you the names of every drug, how to use it, what it does, and where to get it, and then tell you "BUT DON'T GET IT"?
Ironic, really...

I kinda agree with Hugo. Too much pot can probably cause some ppl to do something stupid. MJ may/maynot be harmful if u take big amounts, because I do not no. I am not going to state something which I do not know that may just show how arrogant I am. I think it is not just the marijuana that needs to be concernd. Wouldnt there be more crimes, drug lords, gangs occuring, starting, dealing because it would make it legal to get MJ.

^yea it is kinda funny how they do that...I always figured they were to "forward" when talking about drugs. LIke mon said they did show us where and wut ingredients were needed. Oncce they got done they even told us never to smoke and never to do wut they specifically told.

@Hugo

You forgot to mention that it seems to make people ramble on endlessly, too.

:)

^ heh I was sober when I wrote this indeed long diatribe. If it was already legal I guess you'd still be downloading the page! :)

Guys, I'm not saying smoking pot is good, but I am saying there are many up sides to legalizing it. Is keeping it illegal really helping? Kids can get MJ anywhere, nevermind adults. If it was legalized the government could control the potency of marijuana and make it less harmful.

Well I have been smoking since I was 13. I cannot say that it has done any damage. Do any of you know the story behind the criminalization of MJ? This is just one version. It had to do with politics and paper and happened around 1937. That is when they started a big campaign against it. This was done on the bases of false evidence and with only one thing in mind, to make certain politicians that owned a lot of forest and the owners of a paper company richer. As far as I am concerned these laws infringe on my rights.

I started smoking wen I was 14 and am still normel now too...and im 36 now....so thats, like, almost 20 years. CRAP! I cant find my funyuns. Anyways, I like to smoke when I get home from work. Or, all day if I'm not working. Sometimes work calls and wants me to come in, if it's really busy or one of the other guys calls in sick, but I won't if I've been smoking. I drive a lot for work. I'm a Senior Cuisine Delivery Associate for a big pizza chain and I dont think its good to drive or work after I've been smoking. My ex-girlfriend used to smoke before work, which I think is totally wrong. I miss her a lot sometimes (and, god, I hate that jerk, eric)....but I'm happy she's happy. Mom says she was no good for me. My mom doesn't know I smoke, but sometimes she comes down into the basement and wonders why it smells funny. Anyway, I think smoking is fine and doesn't do any damage. Now, I'm gonna go play a cartoon tank game on my computer for a whole bunch of hours...but first I gotta find my funyuns. Maybe mom brought them upstairs. I hate when she moves my funyuns.

Last edited: Sunday, April 02, 2006 at 5:06:24 AM

Well I got you beat on the age thing 44, I am 45 now and besides that, what the hell are funyuns?

I always wondered who ate Funyuns.
They're not just for breakfast anymore.

ROFL

Seems strange that a lot of adults on TT have smoked pot. I guess an adult would have to be alittle high to play a cartoon computer game for hours %)

^Does that mean we should worry about the ones that play sober? :P
44's post contains far too much witty sarcasm for him to be a true pothead. Damn drunks.

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