On the Legalization of Marijuana

[Toasted]

My username probably tells all of you how I feel.

My husband is part of the NORML chapter here in SC, and his lawyer is one of the leading members.

Soooo...yep. Legalize.

[moonrash]

Sorry, thread's a week old.

So I'm from Canada. The cops here are pretty lax about smoking weed, but they'll still bust you for growing it for distribution, etc. Now, I've smoked before, several times, but only socially. I've never had my own to smoke, and it usually only happens when I'm drunk. I don't anymore though, as an agreement with the bf, and he won't smoke cigs. Fair enough.

I don't really like the thought of it being completely legal, like cigarettes. I guess it's for weird reasons too.

Firstly, I usually like the smell. But if someone walks past me and I get HIT in the face with it, it can be a little nasty. I can imagine how this is for people who hate the smell of it. I hate cigarettes as well, I hate their smell, and I hate the fact that they're as legal and accepted as they are. I can picture a future where weed is as widely accepted, but I can also picture a future where people are growing it faster and faster, and the stuff is a little less potent, making me like it a little more.

Secondly, I don't like STONERS. Like people who smoke everyday, snoop style, having like "72" joints in a day or whatever, and always being fried. Those people suck. Their brains are in constant derp mode and I don't like them, and the average person wouldn't like them. I don't like people who talk about weed out of context "Haha I'm so frieddd mannnn", I think it should be treated like cigarettes, and you don't talk about it, you just do it. Simply because it's obnoxious, and it's not like anyone couldn't tell from how badly you smell of it. Imagine if people treated cigarettes like that. "Oh man I just had the best cig a minute ago, I'm so relaxeddd"... no. Stupid. Go home. Don't make shit weird. lol

I don't think I'll really like it until it's treated more like it is in the Netherlands. Everyone is still pretty weird about it, in most places. Where I live it's pretty normal though, most people just smoke, or have smoked it. Until that stigma goes away........ yeah.

Oh, and I'm all for decriminalizing it, I suppose. If someone is walking down the street and the cops stop to "say hi", and they smell weed on the poor guy, he shouldn't be searched or questioned FURTHER, FOR that reason. But if someone is stumbling down the street, and they smell like weed, that might we reason enough to search the person, because there could be something else going on there.
But there's always the bad cop who hates weed, and would search the person anyway, accusing them of stumbling when there's no proof etc....
Sooo, I dunno. It's kind of a weird area.

I also think that jobs shouldn't allow "cigarette breaks" in between normal breaks while on shift. I don't smoke cigs, I don't get extra breaks to get fresh air outside, how is that fair? My thought process with this is, if weed is legalized, then will employers have the right to send you home or fire you if you smell like weed? Will they be allowed to smoke weed on their cig breaks???
If it's LEGAL, do they have any right to tell you you're not allowed? I suppose they might, considering alcohol is legal but you can't be drunk or drinking at work.... although you can't be publically intoxicated, either. What about a law where you can't be publically stoned? lol.

And then what about driving? Someone who is fucking fried IS going to be impaired behind the wheel, but how does one guage how stoned you are? How would that work? And then the whole issue with insurance. Alcohol is one thing, even I've driven while I was past the point of being buzzed, but I KNEW better...... imagine how long it will take people to get the same mindset with weed? They won't KNOW better at first. I dunno.

I could ramble forever.

/useless post

---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 AM ----------

I agree with you it really should be legalized. I think less people would smoke it because some people just do it to break the law. To look cool. But how would you look cool if everyone could do it. Those are my thoughts

Well cigarettes are legal, 13 year olds still start smoking even if their parents and everyone around them does, trying to be cool.... I don't think that reasoning works

[marianokt]

I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. It's just as simple as drugs are accesible enough so that anyone who want to try one will be able to. The problem es distribution and drug dealing. Drug dealing needs to be stopped and the only way it can be done is by legalizing drugs distribution

[Jolz]

Drug dealing needs to be stopped and the only way it can be done is by legalizing drugs distribution

If drugs become legal, shops will start selling them, thus making the shops now the "dealers." Once this happens, the government will tax the holy shit out of them which will create a black market for cheaper drugs, also to make them cheaper, the black market dealers will start cutting/mixing them with other shit to lower the price and make more profit so the problem will actually get worse.

Also, where do you draw the line? Drugs are illegal. Weed, is a drug but so is cocaine, meth and heroin. All drugs legal or just weed? In which case someone would want weed legalized purely on the fact they smoke it. You can easily grow white poppies and make opium does that make opium fair game to say "legalize it."

A main argument most weed smokers say is that it is natural as it comes from a plant, and all they do is stay doors, smoke weed instead of going out getting drunk and fighting.

Heroin come from white poppies. Its a plant so its natural, and heroin addicts stay doors and get high instead of going out getting drunk and fighting.

Just because someone does/likes something doesn't mean it should be fine for the rest of the public. I'd make all pop music illegal but I don't think that would be best for everyone else because it will start underground clubs for people to listen to it.


Not everything is as simple as saying "legalize it and the problem will go away" as in most cases it makes the problem much much worse.





If you want to smoke it, fine, go for it, I really don't care, I have friends who smoke it. It's just not for me.

[Poe]

I preffer Mushrooms and Trombeta, but I would not want to legalize entheogens because it would become just a superfluous thing like that ordinary "drugs".

[SugarCoated]

Already a thread on this. (you need an account to see links)

^
What happened to this? lol

With regard to this issue. I believe that marijuana is safe as long as its used in moderation. In one of the studies I've read, cigarette smoking and/or alcohol drinking is even more addictive than smoking pot. Plus there are medical advantages in the use of this drug such as in the case of relieving anxiety. Furthermore, there are no signs and symptoms of withdrawal in relation to use of the drug whereas alcoholism and cigarette smoking have very evident withdrawal signs. If this drug will be legalized then I believe that there will be cheaper and more accessible ways of buying marijuana hence will decrease crime rates related like robbery or theft and increase in successful cases in relieving pain and anxiety in hospital patients.

On the other hand if we legalize the free use of this drug, there will be an increase rate of stoned driving and related dangers. Also, the drug is known to be the "stepping-stone drug" or the "gateway drug" to other more dangerous drugs like coke, heroin, etc. In effect, it will open an opportunity to further legalize these other drugs. Also if we'd allow it to legalize, there is an increased risk that marijuana users will include the younger age brackets as it will be much easier to obtain pot.

In most cases tho, people who use pot only use it for recreational purposes. It's pretty much like smoking a cigarette plus the benefits of getting high. I can't see any reason why not legalize the use of marijuana as long as the government could present a bill wherein pros outweigh the cons.

I'd say I'm 70% pro-30% con.

[cloudxcrash]

Still against legalizing. Cannabis is the gate to even heavier drugs. People always want more and more, doesn't matter what you give them 'cause they'll always be screaming for more. Enough should be enough! We already have to deal with the damage caused by another shitty legalized drug (alcohol), we don't need a second drug to add to the pot. A healthy people are people who are sober during their productive hours. No society would function if the citizens walked around drunk or high all days long. But I guess legalizing cannabis would make the people taking the drug think it's not all losery.

[XRBurton]

I dont really care either way. I think we should though because we are wasting sooo much fucking money on the War on Drugs...

[Amxs]

Ditto with above me, I don't take drugs nor will not unless prescribed to me but if there wasn't such a massive deal made on the lower risk drugs, countries could save millions..

[Toasted]

Still against legalizing. Cannabis is the gate to even heavier drugs. People always want more and more, doesn't matter what you give them 'cause they'll always be screaming for more. Enough should be enough! We already have to deal with the damage caused by another shitty legalized drug (alcohol), we don't need a second drug to add to the pot. A healthy people are people who are sober during their productive hours. No society would function if the citizens walked around drunk or high all days long. But I guess legalizing cannabis would make the people taking the drug think it's not all losery.

Whoa, maybe D.A.R.E in middle school taught you this, but Cannabis is /not/ a 'gateway' drug.

People who say that smoking herb made them want to try _______ (insert drug here) are lying-- as far as I'm concerned.

I've not yet, in nearly 24 years on this planet, met someone that snorts coke or shoots up heroin that said "it all started when I began smoking weed..."
And believe me; as someone who has tried every drug (excluding heroin, meth, and bath salts), I didn't try them /because/ I smoked pot first.

People just go down bad roads.

Personally, I tried mushrooms after I smoked weed-- but that was 5 years after I had already been smoking.
I was curious, and it was my birthday. I had seen friends do it, so I wanted to experience it for myself since it looked so fun.

THAT'S what causes people to move up the 'drug-ladder', per se. The people around you primarily, and of course your own choices.



And I could type on and on about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, as well as some of the other drugs created.

Did you know that LSD (acid) was originally intended by Albert Hoffman to be made into a drug for elderly people?
He stumbled upon it's components by accident, and the effects of the LSD kicked in on his bikeride home one day.
He was fine, lol, and made it home after his experience to record the results!


Annnyway, pot's pot.

It's not a gateway-- your friends, acquaintances, and ability to control yourself are the reason you try harder drugs.



"No society would function if the citizens walked around drunk or high all days long." - You

Really?

As a single mother who recently dealt with a miscarriage, suicide, divorce, and bankruptcy....who ONLY smokes pot....

I'll admit I get things done every day because there's a glass jar full of one of the most beautiful specimens of plant in my room that keeps me sane and active.
Otherwise, I'd be a depressed and shitty mother who would lay around all day sad about my life and losses.
Who needs that shit? haha

I refuse to take anti-depressants, or any other pharmaceuticals except advil and the basics, maybe painkillers once in a while if Im aching.
(Did you know one of xanax's (a major-selling anti-depressant) side effects is suicide? lol)







Long story short....

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