Legalize It.

[hazedprocess]

With the way last years election went it has got me thinking of the possible legalization of Marijuana for recreational use. Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? My opinion is that it could help pull us out of the national debt our nation entered into during the Republican reign. It is safer than alcohol and a lot less addictive and hazardous to your health. It could be a big plus if the government decides to invest in it. Any opinions or arguments?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another. You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE. Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal. No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

what the fuck are you talking about!
if pot was legalized potheads would not be running around everywhere they would do the complete opposite sitting and laying down in their homes or parks some chill shit
i would know as a fellow NORML supporter and stoner
hard drugs are in no way linked to pot either i smoke daily and i let alone none of my friends have seen crack or meth or any other kind of hard drug
just because it is legal to wont change that many views on it
people will still have the same bad stereotype that it makes you stupid and really bad for you

as for its legalization i think not
but an act of decriminalization would be more accepted i think by political figures
not all Dems. are for legalization either just more then Reps.

P.s.
Davids if drug use was shut down humanity would be fucked

 

[Chris]

I watched a special on the marijuana business in the U.S. the other night on CNBC. It was unbelievable. In Mendicino county in California, it is legal to grow 25 pot plants for personal use. They estimated that 60% of the people there are now growing pot for a living. 25 plants can earn a person more than $100,000 dollars a year. There were whole neighborhoods that were nothing but pot growing operations...a facade...no one actually living in the homes...just indoor pot farms. It was amazing.

 

[theunbubba]

Until marijuana gets as powerful a lobby as Big Alcohol, it won't happen.

We will continue to kill millions with booze and refuse to use it for even real medicinal uses.

Tightassed buttwads.

You get a rep for that! I'm a bit of a radical on this subject in that I believe all drugs should be legalized. However, the government is in the business of 'protecting' us from ourselves, so that'll never happen. Thank God for a coercive and intrusive government!

I'm with you on this one.
The people that want drugs kept illegal all benefit from it in some way.
The Mafia turns a proffit
The Politician gets an issue to demogogue
The Priest/Rabbi/Pastor gets to rail against the evils of drug use.
The terrorist gets a source of funding.

All that goes away if you legalize them and you can grow marijuana and coca in your back yard.
The crime stops because nobody has to steal to get a buzz.
Law enforcement gets a break to fight real crime
Prisons suddenly don't have to let out the hard criminals to house druggies.
You get to tax what is sold to fund treatment programs.
People get jobs selling legal drugs.
Since it costs less to get high you have fewer people on social services.
A bag of weed that goes for $100.00 now will sell for about $5.00.
The funding for terrorists goes away.
Border traffic gets less dangerous for our border patrol.
Fewer cops get killed trying to stop crazed drug trafficers.
I could go on and on.
But will the dogmatists listen?

Only a dealer would be against legalization.

 

[Harry Dresden]

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another. You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE. Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal. No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

David you know diddly squat about Pot....i can see that from your first 2 sentences...

 

[Gunny]

With the way last years election went it has got me thinking of the possible legalization of Marijuana for recreational use. Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? My opinion is that it could help pull us out of the national debt our nation entered into during the Republican reign. It is safer than alcohol and a lot less addictive and hazardous to your health. It could be a big plus if the government decides to invest in it. Any opinions or arguments?

Don't get your hopes up. Carter had a Democratic Congress and the legalization of weed was a big issue until the election was over. Never happened. I guess I should also point out it was criminalized by a Democratic President and Congress?

Let's dispense with the political divisiveness on the issue. Republicans alone have not kept weed illegal. Or do you think alcohol lobbyists won't be buying dinners and arranging weekend meetings at Colorado ski lodges for Democratic Congresscritters?

It is not safer than alcohol nor less addictive. Both pose health hazards and are addictive to addictive personalities. I don't see one as any worse than the other.

So my argument would be that keeping weed illegal has worked about as well as Prohibition. It's stupid to not legalize it and tax it.

 

[Luissa]

With the way last years election went it has got me thinking of the possible legalization of Marijuana for recreational use. Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? My opinion is that it could help pull us out of the national debt our nation entered into during the Republican reign. It is safer than alcohol and a lot less addictive and hazardous to your health. It could be a big plus if the government decides to invest in it. Any opinions or arguments?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another. You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE. Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal. No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

by the way there is crack heads and potheads all over the streets already! If you don't believe me go to Walmart around 8pm!

 

[Harry Dresden]

I watched a special on the marijuana business in the U.S. the other night on CNBC. It was unbelievable. In Mendicino county in California, it is legal to grow 25 pot plants for personal use. They estimated that 60% of the people there are now growing pot for a living. 25 plants can earn a person more than $100,000 dollars a year. There were whole neighborhoods that were nothing but pot growing operations...a facade...no one actually living in the homes...just indoor pot farms. It was amazing.

hey not bad.....if it moves a couple hundred miles south......IM IN LIKE FLINT....

 

[Article 15]

Not a chance. It is a dying issue that isn't gaining any steam.

Dying?

My state just decriminalized it this last election.

 

[Article 15]

If Obama gets reelected we might see something happen nationally.

 

[LiveUninhibited]

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another.

That is not how it works. Marijuana use is associated with hard drug use because of several factors:

1. People who are willing to try marijuana are more likely to be the same people with a willingness to try hard drugs to begin with. Much like there's an association between tobacco, alcohol, and hard drug use. It's not causative.

2. People who mostly inhabit the conventional, non-criminal sphere of society are exposed to those in the criminal subculture BECAUSE marijuana is illegal and more commonly used than other illegal drugs. This introduces them to behavior that is more dangerous to themselves and others than marijuana use.

3. People who try marijuana notice that the scare-tactics educators and the government used against them to try to get them to never try marijuana exagerrated the actual risks of marijuana use. For example, the idea that marijuana causes people to use harder drugs. Actually most of their friends who have tried marijuana don't go on to use harder drugs. Now they start to wonder if anything they were told was true, rendering their drug education counterproductive.

Legalizing marijuana would actually reduce the gateway effect you're referring to. It would also be a good idea to base drug education on solid facts, rather than scare-tactics and hyperbole.

You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE.

Most people who don't use drugs don't use them because they already don't want to, not because they are illegal. The odds of getting caught upon experimental use seem low, well below the tipping point required for deterrence to operate in most peoples' minds. Some people, however, use drugs partly because they are illegal.

There is some risk of sending the wrong message upon legalization. Some of the resources currently directed at supply reduction would need to be diverted into educating the public on the fact that marijuana isn't harmless, it's just a waste of time to spend criminal justice resources on it. Cops have better things to do. Jails have worse people to keep away from society.

Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal.

America already jails the highest proportion of its population of all nations in the world (at least on the record). Another drug user in prison means one more rapist on the streets or one less kid in college who will be the career criminal of tomorrow. It's just not worth it putting these people behind bars.

No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

Unrealistic. Sometimes the solution is worse than the problem. Haven't you heard of alcohol prohibition?

 

[editec]

... Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? ...

No. The Democrats would never risk their political careers by legalizing marijuana. They always talk like they will, but when they're in office they never do.

So true. Traditional Dems once in office are a cowardly lot.

Mark my words, it will be a REPUBLICAN who finally finds the balls to repeal the prohibition.

Why?

For the same reason it took Nixon to open up China and Clinton to reform welfare.

 

[Harry Dresden]

No. The Democrats would never risk
Mark my words, it will be a REPUBLICAN who finally finds the balls to repeal the prohibition.

Why?

For the same reason it took Nixon to open up China and Clinton to reform welfare.

Clinton a Repub??....

 

[N4mddissent]

With the way last years election went it has got me thinking of the possible legalization of Marijuana for recreational use. Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? My opinion is that it could help pull us out of the national debt our nation entered into during the Republican reign. It is safer than alcohol and a lot less addictive and hazardous to your health. It could be a big plus if the government decides to invest in it. Any opinions or arguments?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another. You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE. Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal. No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

Maybe people should, but I can't make that decision for them and I don't believe the government should. As far as a gateway drug, I read an explanation that the main reason marijuana works as a gateway is because it is illegal, so to have access to it, individuals must interact with people involved in trading illegal drugs- which often provides access to other drugs. If that's the case, then legalization would reduce cases of people moving from marijuana to harder drugs.

 

[N4mddissent]

... Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? ...

No. The Democrats would never risk their political careers by legalizing marijuana. They always talk like they will, but when they're in office they never do.

So true. Traditional Dems once in office are a cowardly lot.

Mark my words, it will be a REPUBLICAN who finally finds the balls to repeal the prohibition.

Why?

For the same reason it took Nixon to open up China and Clinton to reform welfare.

It could be either one. The left should favor it since currently they tend to favor less government involvement in so-called "moral" choices (euthansia, abortion, stem cells) but it seems like they are afraid to appear too hedonistic and want to distance themselves from radical 60's roots- as well as far left beliefs about drugs as a form of covert class warfare designed to maintain the current power structure.

The right should be more "conservative" about government interference in personal decisions, but has this social conservative tumor that prevents it from acting on conservative ideals when "moral" choices are in question. The older generation on the right still has animosity left over from the 60's and identifies marijuana with the left and will not be convinced otherwise despite a growing voter population that grew up in a far different world than the summer of love and probably don't associate the use of particular drugs with any political affiliation.

What I can't help but wonder is,

Is there a large majority of Americans who support legalization of marijuana? Are there politicians on the left and right who believe it should be legalized for a variety of reasons? And if so, is there a strong consensus in favor that just isn't being tapped because nobody is talking about it?

 

[LiveUninhibited]

With the way last years election went it has got me thinking of the possible legalization of Marijuana for recreational use. Since Obama has been put into office and majority of congress is democrati,due to the circumstances, does anyone think that taxing legal marijuana could be a big possibility? My opinion is that it could help pull us out of the national debt our nation entered into during the Republican reign. It is safer than alcohol and a lot less addictive and hazardous to your health. It could be a big plus if the government decides to invest in it. Any opinions or arguments?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another. You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE. Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal. No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

Maybe people should, but I can't make that decision for them and I don't believe the government should. As far as a gateway drug, I read an explanation that the main reason marijuana works as a gateway is because it is illegal, so to have access to it, individuals must interact with people involved in trading illegal drugs- which often provides access to other drugs. If that's the case, then legalization would reduce cases of people moving from marijuana to harder drugs.

Yeah I covered that in my previous post on this thread, though much less concisely.

 

[editec]

ABSOLUTELY NOT. One drug leads to another drug and yet another. You'll have pot heads and crack addicts all over the streets EVERYWHERE. Not only should they INCREASE the penalties for drug use, but they should also make tobacco illegal. No more smoking ciggerettes. You have any idea how many people die from lung cancer every year because the manufacturer of the product specifically creates it just so you'll be addicted to it? No other product is like that in the world! Shut down ALL drug use! People need to stop relying on drugs as their crutch and get out there into the REAL world and face their problems head on.

Sounds like someone needs to burn a fattie and chill out.

Thanks for reminding me.

Thanks to daylight saving time, 4:20 came a hour earlier than a few days back.

 

[editec]

I watched a special on the marijuana business in the U.S. the other night on CNBC. It was unbelievable. In Mendicino county in California, it is legal to grow 25 pot plants for personal use. They estimated that 60% of the people there are now growing pot for a living. 25 plants can earn a person more than $100,000 dollars a year. There were whole neighborhoods that were nothing but pot growing operations...a facade...no one actually living in the homes...just indoor pot farms. It was amazing.

Well I know where I'm moving to once I don't need this place anymore.

 

[editec]

The myth that hemp is a gateway drug is as preposterous as every other nonsensical myth the prohibitionists have thrown at it.

The first psychotropic drugs most people do are chocolate and caffine.
I can live without hemp and often do, but god forbid, I don't get my coffee in the morning.

I doubt I've gone a day without caffine in the last fifty years.

So was that a gateway drug?

Of course not.

There is no such thing in anyone's materia medica as a gateway drug.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Legalizing marijuana would just pose great danger. It may raise revenue but it would endanger the youth and increase crimes.
----------------------


The "youth" have no problem getting marijuana now, so I strongly disagree that it would endanger them or increase any crimes.

 

[T-Bor]

and tax the hell out of it. We could probably pull ourselves right out of this recession. Alcohol is a much worse drug in terms of it's toll on society. Anyone who has smoked some pot knows it's a drug that just makes you lazy. The statistics pretty much prove that. People in jail for mere marijuana crimes.

People can buy over the counter drugs and mix them with alcohol that have much worse effects on your body than mixing pot with alcohol. Plus marijuana does have some medical benefits where alcohol, except wine, pretty much has none.

It's just ridiculous how much we spend on controlling drugs and it is just wasted money. I am not for legalizing all drugs. Just marijuana. It just makes too much sense and the postivies far outweigh the negatives.