Should marijuana be legalized?

[Phoenix68]

Should we legalize pot on a national level? I'd like to hear people's opinions.

I believe we should for the following reasons:

--Marijuana isn't linked to lung cancer, unlike cigarettes.
Cannabis Smoke and Cancer: Assessing the Risk - NORML

--Police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana violations in 2005, and 88% were arrested for possession alone.
Marijuana Arrests For Year 2005 -- 786,545 Tops Record High... Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 40 Seconds - NORML
Sending that many people to jail is a big waste of tax money for something so nonthreatening.

--2001 Total Deaths: 2,416,425 Cannabis Related Deaths: 138
truth: the Anti-drugwar Cannabis "Related" Deaths (2001)

-Now let's take a look at the alcohol related deaths.


--Marijuana doesn't impair driving ability as much as alcohol, as shown by this introduction to a study:



Here's another quote (facts are on that page but I'm simply summarizing the one above):


As you can see alcohol is a far greater killer than marijuana.

--A common argument is that marijuana leads to harder drugs. That's not the case:


Also, and I believe this is very important, legalizing marijuana will drastically reduce the amount of people who move on to harder drugs. Imagine this situation: A person looking to buy some pot goes to his neighborhood drug dealer because he can't grow it or buy it legally in a bar or something. He goes back a month later to buy some more and the dealer asks him if he wants to try some harder stuff. The person says yes and marijuana becomes a gateway drug to cocaine, meth, heroin, etc. If marijuana is legalized this won't happen because people won't go to drug dealers to obtain it.

--Another common argument is that by legalizing marijuana more people will use it. This is a flawed argument for two reasons:
1. As shown by the number of deaths in 2004, more users won't really make a difference.
2. Pot being illegal doesn't really stop people from buying it (this is based on personal experience, not any facts).

So in conclusion, if you're going to keep marijuana illegal why not make alcohol illegal also? I'm fine with both being illegal since I don't use either very much, but alcohol is a much bigger killer than weed, and it's not harming anyone, so why criminalize it? And as the bold text above states it's actually doing harm making it illegal.

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[pjmret]

yes, with similar controls to alcohol. Actually if anything alcohol should be criminalized and pot legalized, based on the effects on society (of course criminalizing alcohol isn't feasible).

i'm sure freedom-loving republicans are all behind this...but...they are hypocrites, as always.

 

[Phoenix68]

marijuana is a gateway drug.

usage of marijuana will lead to usage of harder drugs.

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View attachment 2587
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Exposing Marijuana Myths
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[PLC1]

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I don't believe that the death toll from pot is zero. Driving while under the influence of cannabis has no doubt killed some.

That said, pot is one of the less harmful substances that we have declared legal or illegal. Tobacco is beyond question more harmful, yet it is legal.

Moreover, outlawing people's bad habits does not work. I would have thought that prohibition would have proven that beyond a doubt.

So, while pot is not necessarily a good thing, outlawing it has not and will not work. It would be better to legalize and regulate it than to attempt the impossible, which is to outlaw it altogether.

 

[pjmret]

ban alcohol! lol

Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol: It's Time To Treat It That Way

We Change Laws!

www.mpp.org

time to legalize it, tax it, and regulate it as needed (to ensure accurate labelling of dosage for example).

"Marijuana is less toxic than alcohol, less addictive, less harmful to the body, and less likely to contribute to violent or reckless behavior."

REEFER MADNESS! lol

 

[Phoenix68]

Now... the truth....

A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers. Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses.

http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html

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Now....THE REAL TRUTH!!!!
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Medical pot a huge part of Silicon Valley
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Drug Testing Robs Workforce of Talent and Creativity
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We need a modern workforce, not a drug-tested one​

 

[pjmret]

time to ban cigarettes! (of course that isn't going to happen).

A sweeping federal assessment of marijuana research found the lung-health risks of smoking weed appear "relatively small" and "far lower than those of smoking tobacco," the top cause of preventable death in the U.S.

Unlike for cigarettes, there's evidence of certain health benefits from marijuana, such as easing chronic pain. And marijuana can be used without smoking it.

 

[Phoenix68]

I could honestly care less about the entire issue, but this is one argument that I never understood "Oh well alcohol is legal, so pot should be be legal."

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Yeah, I've always been a bigger fan of.....​

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NOW THAT MARIJUANA IS LEGAL....ENDING THE DEATH PENALTY IS NEXT!!!​

 

[pjmret]

death penalty should be replaced by "life without parole and without amenities" if need be. Lock them up in a box with basic necessities and call it good if that's what it takes to get rid of the death penalty, which has been terribly used in the past and is subjective and error prone.

 

[Phoenix68]

"If you look at my first post you will see that marijuana is not a threat to other people and should not be prohibited."

Anything that distorts perception and loss of coordination is a threat to other people. Marijuana included.

You are using a very weak argument. You feel it should be legalized so you can use it without consequences.

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Ah, yes.....how can you maintain an acceptable level of "conservative"-preferred paranoia.....if you're getting a GREAT NIGHT'S SLEEP from a bong-hit, or two????​

 

[Phoenix68]

Legalise it and put tax on it. People are less danger to themselves and other people sat stoned at home than out on the streets pissed up.

It's a gateway drug because it introduces people to a world of illegal drug deals. If they were buying it over the counter in their local store they wouldn't be going anywhere near anyone who has an interest in 'E', coke, crack, meth or any of that rubbish. They'd also be taking a lot of drug revenue away from the illegal dealers and creating a new industry.

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October 31, 2011

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[Phoenix68]

death penalty should be replaced by "life without parole and without amenities" if need be. Lock them up in a box with basic necessities and call it good if that's what it takes to get rid of the death penalty, which has been terribly used in the past and is subjective and error prone.

The Death Penalty is merely a band-aid, used by extremely-lazy societies....who prefer not to tackle the work, required, to end Murders.​

 

[Yo Daddy!]

Should we legalize pot on a national level? I'd like to hear people's opinions.

I believe we should for the following reasons:

--Marijuana isn't linked to lung cancer, unlike cigarettes.
Cannabis Smoke and Cancer: Assessing the Risk - NORML

--Police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana violations in 2005, and 88% were arrested for possession alone.
Marijuana Arrests For Year 2005 -- 786,545 Tops Record High... Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 40 Seconds - NORML
Sending that many people to jail is a big waste of tax money for something so nonthreatening.

--2001 Total Deaths: 2,416,425 Cannabis Related Deaths: 138
truth: the Anti-drugwar Cannabis "Related" Deaths (2001)

-Now let's take a look at the alcohol related deaths.


--Marijuana doesn't impair driving ability as much as alcohol, as shown by this introduction to a study:



Here's another quote (facts are on that page but I'm simply summarizing the one above):


As you can see alcohol is a far greater killer than marijuana.

--A common argument is that marijuana leads to harder drugs. That's not the case:


Also, and I believe this is very important, legalizing marijuana will drastically reduce the amount of people who move on to harder drugs. Imagine this situation: A person looking to buy some pot goes to his neighborhood drug dealer because he can't grow it or buy it legally in a bar or something. He goes back a month later to buy some more and the dealer asks him if he wants to try some harder stuff. The person says yes and marijuana becomes a gateway drug to cocaine, meth, heroin, etc. If marijuana is legalized this won't happen because people won't go to drug dealers to obtain it.

--Another common argument is that by legalizing marijuana more people will use it. This is a flawed argument for two reasons:
1. As shown by the number of deaths in 2004, more users won't really make a difference.
2. Pot being illegal doesn't really stop people from buying it (this is based on personal experience, not any facts).

So in conclusion, if you're going to keep marijuana illegal why not make alcohol illegal also? I'm fine with both being illegal since I don't use either very much, but alcohol is a much bigger killer than weed, and it's not harming anyone, so why criminalize it? And as the bold text above states it's actually doing harm making it illegal.

It has adversely affected our society.

I smoke pot.

I would give it up to get America right again.

 

[Phoenix68]

marijuana is a gateway drug.

usage of marijuana will lead to usage of harder drugs.

.

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That'd be Bullshit Myth #13
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[Phoenix68]

Should we legalize pot on a national level? I'd like to hear people's opinions.

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August Cannabis Sales: $24.9M Connecticut / $21.6M Maine
September 12, 2023
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