Should Marijuana be Legal?

[Venus]

nope they were. surgeon general said he died of marijuana overdose. poor fellow.

That would have made national news if it was true considering there are very FEW reported cases of someone dying from a marijuana overdose. I would imagine it was either laced with something else or they were also doing some other sort of drug.

In order for a human to consume enough marijuana to be fatal, they would have to consume nearly 40,000 times the amount of THC required to intoxicate them. In contrast, it only requires about 5 to 10 times the amount of alcohol required to intoxicate, to be fatal. For example, if it requires 3 beers to intoxicate you, it only requires 15 to 30 beers to kill you. However, if it takes you 3 'hits' of marijuana to intoxicate you, it would require 120,000 hits to kill you. Thus, it is virtually impossible to die of a marijuana overdose.

[Scarecrow]

There's a high risk of addiction (at least 4me), so I guess no.
What about dealers? =(

[Sci_Girl]

There's a high risk of addiction (at least 4me), so I guess no.

Marijuana has no capacity to be addictive in the sense like harsher drugs are. It does not work like that. What does happen is people keep coming back to it because they like the feeling from it. Yes that type of wording sounds like it would be addictive because all addicts like the feeling of their drug of choice but with marijuana it does not operate on brain the way cocaine or heroine does. It does not activate the reward pathway in such a way that the person needs that drug to keep going, and it does not produce severe withdraw symptoms. A cocaine addict cannot go about their day without a high, they may not want to actually get high but their brain responds in such a way that it wants that hit again and again so the addict does take more or else they go through withdraw symptoms, and those symptoms are often the reason that addicts simply will not stop taking the drug. The withdraw is so bad it makes you feel so crappy that they would sooner avoid those symptoms from happening altogether by taking more hits than to stop the drug. That same feeling is not present with marijuana and hence if not considered an addictive substance.

[John]

Marijuana is no more addictive than anything you come across in every day life. Other, harder, drugs that deserve to be illegal are not the same and are highly addictive. Both Cigarrettes and Alcohol are both illegal and are both FAR more addictive than weed.

This site poses some interesting facts about Marijuana, although some of the things published here are debated elsewhere.

(you need an account to see links)

[robots]

i don't know if anyone has mentioned this.
but the hemp plant is one of the most versatile to grow, at one point the majority of textile industries, paper industries, and even some medical industries used the hemp plant.
It requires less water and fertilizer to grow.
A major reason that the US isn't allowing hemp to be legalized is because it'd take over the cotton industry indefinitely.

[Sci_Girl]

At quick glance of that link I can say that the things mentioned are exactly why I avoid blogs when it comes to giving evidence. It is clearly written by an individual with zero education in the material other than knowing some slang and personal experience from using it on a very regular basis. Some pot head is not going to be taken seriously when comments like this pop up (all taken from that bog):

#51 - "Christians don’t know Jesus was a stoner."...
#58 - "Marijuana will not hurt a fetus; it is not a good idea to have a child. Get an abortion and light up a joint."
#69 - "Your parents tried marijuana!"...really?
#79 - "Marijuana is biodegradable."....that one made me laugh lol, but wtf? That is the reason for it to be legalized, it degrades because it is a plant?
#97 - "Marijuana is an excellent party drug."
#98 - "Marijuana, despite what you heard, is a lot of fun."

Those are just some of the puzzling ones lol. That is not how a pot head should go about making their point.

If Government is going to consider it being legal they need someone other than a hippie or some high school kid making points about how wicked pot is. They need the educated ones with degrees and evidence to say "hey guys marijuana is not as bad as some people make it out to be".

[robots]

haha i actually completely agree with this, i was actually watching "The Union" the other day, a documentary about marijuana legalization. they had some former pot growers interviewed, who used foul language and were definitely bias.
I come from "the bud capital", British Columbia. (go me) and while i am pro legalization / pro-decriminalization, there needs to be more unbiased material about the effects of weed.

TLDR; neutral non-potheads should put in unbiased information

[jongeh]

No, it would cost more for the government->taxpayer->us to regulate the drug if it were made legal compared to it remaining illegal. Go and research it.

[Scarecrow]

Marijuana has no capacity to be addictive in the sense like harsher drugs are. It does not work like that. What does happen is people keep coming back to it because they like the feeling from it. Yes that type of wording sounds like it would be addictive because all addicts like the feeling of their drug of choice but with marijuana it does not operate on brain the way cocaine or heroine does. It does not activate the reward pathway in such a way that the person needs that drug to keep going, and it does not produce severe withdraw symptoms. A cocaine addict cannot go about their day without a high, they may not want to actually get high but their brain responds in such a way that it wants that hit again and again so the addict does take more or else they go through withdraw symptoms, and those symptoms are often the reason that addicts simply will not stop taking the drug. The withdraw is so bad it makes you feel so crappy that they would sooner avoid those symptoms from happening altogether by taking more hits than to stop the drug. That same feeling is not present with marijuana and hence if not considered an addictive substance.

not at all.
just the smoke-movement, it makes addictiv in ur brain. Cocaine makes PHYISICAL addiction, marijuana is like Mental
rutine-addictive is not the same

[Sci_Girl]

not at all.
just the smoke-movement, it makes addictiv in ur brain. Cocaine makes PHYISICAL addiction, marijuana is like Mental
rutine-addictive is not the same

Are you agreeing with me? Because that is what I just said lol. Marijuana is only "addictive", and I use that term loosely, because people want to keep taking it. People do not smoke pot because of the way the smoke moves, they smoke it because they like the feeling it produces. If someone liked "smoke movement" they would roll up anything, light it up, and simply inhale and exhale that smoke...which people do not do. The point of smoking pot is for the high, the feeling, the outcome, that is the reason people keep using it.