Legalize marijuana?

[Patrick]

I was having a deep intellectual discussion with a few friends the other night. One of the topics we discussed was legalizing marijuana. You think it should be legalized? One thing a few of the guys in the group mentioned was that marijuana is no worse than smoking or drinking. It probably causes less impairment than alcohol in large doses. And it doesn't cause hallucinations and mess like meth, LSD, cocaine, and other drugs do.

So we're basically spending tons of tax dollars locking folks up for doing something that hurts basically nobody. What's the point?

What are your thoughts on legalizing marijuana?

[dirtrider73068]

This topic has actually been tried and I think brought up in the state senate by somebody. His plan was to leagalize it, sell it only in liqur stores, would have to be 21 or older to buy it, sell it in packs of 20 like cigs are, and sell it like 10 dollars a pack or so. People would be treated just as if they were drunk, so if you got high and then drove you wouild be considered dwi/dui. In my opion I rather deal with someone high on pot then someone drunk and unpredicatable. I have seen poeple drunk be fine and calm and then be pissed and fighting just by someone walking by abd brushing up against them. I think its fine, since most people either grow it themselves any way, this way the government could grow it them selves and tax it silly and make money off of it. Legalize it people will more than likely not moke it since there is not a thrill of if they get caught. Its not that I would go out and start smoking it if they did, wo0uld be one less drug to have to keep up and arrest them for it. To me pot is just a puny drug, why not bust peopl efor bigger things, meth, coke, the higher worse drugs.

[MadMonk]

I don't have a problem with legalization and regulation, much like the alcohol and cigarette industry.

[Midtowner]

With Mexico's choice to legalize minor possession, I don't see how the U.S. thinks that it can "win" the war on drugs.

With the money spent on the war on drugs, we could easily fund a national healthcare system. While I'm against both, I'd much rather see a national healtcare system than a war on drugs.

[bandnerd]

As long as they would enforce the same cigarette smoking rules they have in public areas, restaurants, bars, etc. I'm highly allergic to pot smoke!

[{la_resistance}]

I am actively searchin for minimally biased sources my only so far is from NOML as to the health risks of marijuana-
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3475

Personally I think it is less dangerous, less addictive, and is the cause of less violence than alchohol. But I really couldn't care less as to weather it was legal or not. Yet I heard an interesting rumor that says Henry Ford built a car out of cannibus -I am currently opperating under the assumption that the original author was high- I would like to find proof though, just because that would be quite funny and intrigueing.

[Karried]

I'm highly allergic to pot smoke!

And you know this how?? LOL -

I think it does ease the suffering of many people with cancer and other major illnesses so I believe medical marijuana is a good thing.

But, I also do believe that people who are stoned all of the time aren't very motivated.

[bandnerd]

I spent about half a month of one summer in Germany. They like their mary jane over there. I never smoked it, but just coming in contact with that smoke would make my eyes swell shut, my nose stop up, and I would get a horrific headache.

Trust me, if I smoked it, it'd probably kill me!

[the pledge]

I am highly in favor of legalizing it. Like Patrick said, it's safer than alcohol in large doses, and certainly much more pleasant. It's also much easier to control your behavior under the influence of pot than with alcohol.

I think it's ridiculous that possession of marijuana results in such stiff consequences, even possibly jail time. I also find it humorous how the government can declare a "war on drugs" and spend billions of dollars in the name of such a program, yet it was acceptable to use the sale of cocaine in decaying urban neighborhoods to fund a guerilla army run by the CIA back in the 80's...

[Easy180]

the pledge...there are already hundreds of legal drugs available if one needs to "take the edge off" or whatever the goal is...just take some ambien if you need help sleeping

I can see it for those in constant pain, because those people need all the help they can get

[the pledge]

the pledge...there are already hundreds of legal drugs available if one needs to "take the edge off" or whatever the goal is...just take some ambien if you need help sleeping

I can see it for those in constant pain, because those people need all the help they can get

But how expensive are some of those legal drugs? I know of several that can "take the edge off" but the effects aren't nearly as enjoyable as the high from marijuana. The idea behind getting high isn't to be able to fall asleep afterward (which pot does make many people do), it's to enjoy the relatively short-lived high you get immediately after smoking...

[Midtowner]

the pledge...there are already hundreds of legal drugs available if one needs to "take the edge off" or whatever the goal is...just take some ambien if you need help sleeping

I can see it for those in constant pain, because those people need all the help they can get

Ambien and other such drugs have horrendous side effects (and I'm assuming many as-yet undiscovered side effects). For example, those taking Ambien and other similar sleep aids report sleep walking episodes. Didn't one of the junior Kennedys in D.C. blame his driving into a telephone pole in the middle of the night on a sleep aid such as Ambien? True or not, the objection was at least minimally plausible.

Have you ever heard of marijuana causing such things? Nope. The side effects of THC are pretty well-known.

I haven't ever done the stuff, nor do I plan to. Our prohibition of it, and the subsequent enforcement thereof; however, has to be one of the largest failures of public policy in the last 2 centuries.