Should Marijuana be legal?

[Perd Hapley]

It doesn't matter whether they were illegal or not.  Right now they are not illegal.  MJ is illegal.
People committing illegal acts need to be prosecuted.

Unless the illegal act is border-hopping.   

[Finch]

If only we would abide by the constitution.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

This is and should be a states rights issue. But the heavy handed "I know what's best for you" Federal Government has decided otherwise.

[CAnnoneer]

Prostitution and soft drugs (MJ, extasy, alcohol, tobacco) should be legal. Hard drugs should remain illegal. What is the definition of soft/hard? Levels of impairment, long-term damage, social consequences. H, meth, crack are hard. MJ is soft. Cocaine is probably hard.

The reality is that the price of freedom is personal responsibility, but there are plenty of people that fail the latter. Therefore, counteracting the negative effects of the such on the rest of us inevitably requires some restriction on overall freedom. Ergo, the above separation.

[The Rabbi]

That isn't an argument why increased drug use would be good for this country.  Go back to square one and start over.

That isn't an argument why increased drug use "would be bad for this country." Go back to yada yada yada. See, this is a fun game!

But it's an awfully interesting standard you've got there.

A government which is not limited by the rights of the people and protecting them from harm, but an active government whose role is to decide what is "good" for the people, whether they can handle freedom or not.

Weren't you cracking wise about "papieren bitte" just a few days ago?

You're talking about government rights and papieren and won't answer a simple question:
How is increased drug use going to benefit this country?

[wooderson]

You won't answer a simple question:
How is increased marijuana use going to harm this country?

And a less-simple question:
Should all things that have the potential to "harm this country" be illegal?

And a simple question again:
Does alcohol use harm this country?

Another simple question:
Should alcohol use be illegal?

One last less-simple question:
If alcohol is harmful and should not be illegal, why should marijuana be illegal?

[Firethorn]

I have no dog in the fight, except the one labeled "too much government control over individual freedoms".

I'll chime in that I'm another virtual teetolar by personal choice, and less government control is the reason I want it legalized.

I think that the last time I had an alcoholic beverage was a year ago, I've never smoked or done anything illegal.  I'm not about to start just because it's legal.

You're talking about government rights and papieren and won't answer a simple question:
How is increased drug use going to benefit this country?

We've argued this before; we're not arguing that increased drug use(assuming it happens)  is of benefit to the country.  We're arguing that the ancillery effects of prohibition are worse than allowing the drug usage.

Benefits of legalization:

1. Decreased crime
1a. Gang warfare would decrease as there would be less profit motive in holding territory
1b. Drops in drug prices would allow addicts to get their fix with less stealing
1c. With drug use legal, they're more likely to be able to keep a job
2.  Decreased police power, as well as the need for it
2a. drastically reduced need for undercover cops
2b. Justification for seizing large sums of cash and other assets on the hazy basis that it might be drug money is gone;  Especially when there's not enough evidence to charge the person it's seized from
2c. 'Law Enforcement' Officers might go back more towards 'Peace Officers', IE the Good Guys, as they now should be only going after crimes that involve victims
2d. Drastically reduced need for SWAT type teams originally assembled to raid heavily fortified drug houses
3.  Decreased accidental poisonings from drugs without proper quality controls;
3a. The drugs would be cut with safe substances at a consistent rate
3b. People more likely to confess usage if they have to hit the hospital, so better treatment
4.  Chance to reduce deficits
4a. Massive Police costs transformed into Tax Revenues
4b. Funding for addiction treatment centers cheaper than prisons

[French G.]

I vote legalize.

If only we would abide by the constitution.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

This is and should be a states rights issue. But the heavy handed "I know what's best for you" Federal Government has decided otherwise.

Quite right, MJ grown in a backyard isn't exactly interstate commerce, but then again everything is interstate commerce these days.

The power for the government to tell you that you cannot lawfully trade in or use marijuana is the power for them to tell you the same about guns or whatever other freedom you covet.

[Sergeant Bob]

I just took some narcotics and I haven't killed anyone yet.

[Warren]

Sometimes I laugh maniacally and dance and on the furniture, and I don't smoke the stuff.

I say keep it illegal as long as the folks who want it to stay illegal pay for all the costs of it's prohibition. So you guys buy the prisons, pay the cops and prosecutors etc all on your own (eith no asset forfeiture to offset your costs). Then we will see how committed to your position you really are.

 
Move it into the torts system, if someone is smoking pot or using whatever, and you think you are being damaged sue them. If you can prove your case they pay you. If not, you pay them. That way you prohibitionists can have your little control freak hobby while leaving the rest of us out of it.

Personally I don't give a crap about pot, but I would love to see hemp legalized.

[roo_ster]

The only thing that should be legal is near beer and grape Nehi. 

[The Rabbi]

You won't answer a simple question:
How is increased marijuana use going to harm this country?

And a less-simple question:
Should all things that have the potential to "harm this country" be illegal?

And a simple question again:
Does alcohol use harm this country?

Another simple question:
Should alcohol use be illegal?

One last less-simple question:
If alcohol is harmful and should not be illegal, why should marijuana be illegal?

You're refusing to answer the question and segueing into irrelevancies.  Your time is up.  Thanks for playing.

[wooderson]

Haha.

[thebaldguy]

Marijuana should be treated just like alcohol; control it, legalize it and tax it. Our country spends billions trying to enforce weed laws when they could be earning billions in tax revenue.

[Tecumseh]

Yes, the dilated-pupils potheads at my university whose rooms smelled like incense and who invariably dropped out after a semester, and who talked...really...slow... They were fiction.

Right.

Like it or not, there are a lot of people who do pot, lie around doing pot, and...end up not doing anything else much. Short-term memory loss and cognitive impairment tends to be a career-killer.

This is what I'm talking about.  Nothing like stereotyping right?  All potheads are retarded... hmmm...  well, I may not be as socially brilliant as some posters in here, but I know for damn sure that smoking weed didn't keep me from getting a physics degree.  Wait a minute, I smoke weed, and yet can take Jackson's Electrodynamics??? HUH?!?!

Sorry, but I don't buy your stereotype, because I myself prove it wrong.  I guess I should ask, can you pass a 600 level physics class? 

In my university experience so far, the trend has been kids drinking themselves out of college moreso than smoking themselves out. 

[Gewehr98]

This is what I'm talking about.  Nothing like stereotyping right?  All potheads are retarded... hmmm...  well, I may not be as socially brilliant as some posters in here, but I know for damn sure that smoking weed didn't keep me from getting a physics degree.  Wait a minute, I smoke weed, and yet can take Jackson's Electrodynamics??? HUH?!?!

Sorry, but I don't buy your stereotype, because I myself prove it wrong.  I guess I should ask, can you pass a 600 level physics class?

Wow!  Just think how far you could've gone had you not been a stoner - maybe a PhD or three!

Yes, I can pass a 600 level physics class - the degree on my office wall says so.  I also have a TS/SCI security clearance, and a Lifestyle polygraph that wouldn't have been possible had I decided I needed to alter my brain chemistry through drugs.  I understand the brownies are good, though...

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

How about legallizing tobacco ??  Heck, it's practically outlawed these days.....

I agree.  In some places tobacco seems to be more illegal than weed.

I find it interesting that in the places where pot is generally tolerated, tobacco generally isn't.

[Warren]

Marijuana should be treated just like alcohol; control it, legalize it and tax it. Our country spends billions trying to enforce weed laws when they could be earning billions in tax revenue.

I do not want the gov getting more money, therefore I must disagree with you. edit: On that particular aspect.

[wooderson]

Do you drink, Gewehr98?

If so, how does that differ (legal and security clearance issues aside - given that we're talking about legalizing it) from using marijuana?

[Nitrogen]

I think they should be treated like cigarettes are now.  I personally feel it's less dangerous than alcohol, but probably more dangerous (to health, not the "greater good") as cigs are now.

I still detest stoned people, though.

[wooderson]

The studies I've seen mentioned here and there seem to indicate that traditionally-smoked marijuana is rather less harmful than tobacco. And you've always got the option to eat or vaporize it rather than smoke.

[Perd Hapley]

The only thing that should be legal is near beer and grape Nehi. 

Don't you know that Grape Nehi erodes family values, and impregnates innocent, homeless, orphan nuns?

[roo_ster]

OK, we break Radar O'Reilly on the wheel , the nun-raping Nehi freak.

[Perd Hapley]

Hey, make sure he takes care of that paperwork first. 

[InfidelSerf]

I myself think it should be, as it is, in my opinion, less harmful than alcohol.

Amazing how the absence of one comma could lead others to think that your still partaking.

As for the legalization.
I have always viewed substances and their ingestion as this.
If it is naturally occurring and can be consumed using basic chemistry. i.e. heat, pressure, time. (Beer is made with natural ingredients using basic chemistry)
Then it should be legal and "under influence" should be regulated.
If it involves more advanced chemistry (cocaine, LSD, MDMA, heroine) then it should be controlled and regulated much like pharmaceuticals.
If production of any substance is for resale and not just for personal consumption, then the typical quality controls should be regulated.

I don't believe it is the governments role to tell me what I can and can not put in my body.  Especially when infanticide/abortion is legal.
I can agree with regulations on it's use in actions that would have a direct impact on others. For example making it illegal to operate a vehicle under the influence. Of course with current laws against drinking and driving there is a bit of a conundrum, since as long as they have allowable limits on BAC. The government is NOT making drinking and driving illegal, they are making drinking too much illegal.  Kind of gives the masses mixed signals if you ask me.

Another factor to consider, especially in relation to the medical cannibus controversy, is this.
All pharmaceutical drugs go through clinical trials prior to being green lit for sale. Correct?
One of the core aspects of the trials, are the descriptions of the effects the test patient is feeling from a drug.
This relies on the individuals own comprehension of their own body and how it makes them "feel".
However in the case of medical cannibus the government tells you that you don't have any knowledge or understanding of how your body feels.

There is a reason placebo's work.  The power of mind of matter is very strong and largely a mystery.
So even though chemically they may be able to "prove" that medical cannibus is not supposed to have a net positive effect.
It may very well just be a powerful placebo. 
Which doctors use and administer all the time.

[De Selby]

It's obvious that marijuana is bad for your health, and that it impairs cerebral functions.

But there is no way imaginable that it's worse or even as bad as alcohol.  Take a look at the folks who drink every day all day, and the damage they do to themselves and others, compared to potheads. Neither narcotic produces good things, but drunks are out there running people down and abusing their families in record numbers, whereas marijuana abusers generally are not.

Policing it is a waste of money that could be far better spent trying to get people to put down the bottle.