WHY LEGALIZE MARIJUANA?

Voy forum ^ | 2-19-2 | Marc-Boris St-Maurice

[Magician]

My first reaction is WHY NOT?

It’s a question of common sense.

Our marijuana laws do not work. They never have, and they never will.

Their stated goal being to rid society of the so-called affliction of marijuana use, the harsh reality is that since prohibition, usage rates have increased drastically.

Either we legalize it, and fast, or we get busy locking up millions of Canadians. With one out of three Canadians admitting to having tried marijuana, we may very well be locking up our best and brightest, not ruined by drugs, but ruined by the criminal sanctions that go with getting caught for what amounts to a common social practice. I can’t even begin to count how many elected officials admitted to having used it, yet everyday hundreds of average citizens are arrested for marijuana offences.

So, why are there so many users, and why is marijuana so easy to acquire?

In a strange twist, prohibition is to blame.

When a product is illegal, the profit margin skyrockets. Prohibition turns an agricultural product (a plant that’s very easy to grow) into a drug worth its weight in gold. Without prohibition, marijuana would cost pennies to produce. No wonder some adventurous modern day prospectors are setting up in their own back yards and basements to try and get in on the gold rush. Who could blame them? They aren’t hurting anyone, they’re making good money, and most of all customers are willing, grateful participants in the process.

We must come to grips with the fact that the demand for marijuana is never going away and find a better way of dealing with it. Imagine the billions of dollars spent on marijuana and enforcement going to more noble causes like health care and other social programs.

The general public understands this. Support for legalizing marijuana recently reached the much sought after 50%+1 majority. Recent polls show that 51% of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, a slim, but very real majority.

And with more and more advocates, the trend is just taking off. Several European countries like Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and Germany are successfully leading the way towards tolerance with legislation aimed at helping drugs users, not by treating them as criminals, but as human beings deserving of respect. There is no reason why Canada should lag behind. We should be on the cutting edge of this new international movement.

Now it is time to step onto the world stage and assert our sovereignty by legalizing marijuana once and for all. I would venture a friendly wager that the international community would stand by Canada on this issue. Our inevitable success would then make us a world leader in marijuana reform—an example for others to follow.

(I can hear it already): But marijuana is dangerous!

For the record, marijuana is NOT dangerous. It is no worse than coffee and much safer than alcohol. Marijuana is also much less addictive then cigarettes. Chronic use is rare as the majority do not smoke it everyday. Try that with tobacco!

What little risks that may be present with marijuana are no worse then any other risks deemed "morally acceptable". Should we ban music because, if played too loud it might hurt your hearing?

French fries and gravy are far more dangerous for our health then marijuana. Should we ban fast food and send overeaters to mandatory fitness camps?

Who are we, as a society to judge? What exactly are marijuana users guilty of? Who are they hurting? What have they done wrong?

To deny marijuana users the right to choose what they want to consume is nothing more than an arbitrary decision based on moral values, not public interest......

Legalization does not mean promoting use. It means providing medical care, support, education, quality standards and proper labeling. We then trust that responsible adults will make their own choices. This is what makes legalization healthy for our society. At least legalization would force retailers to be accountable for what they sell.

Under prohibition, the government has waived its responsibility for the well being of marijuana users, and is only responsible for their arrest and persecution.

This total disregard for their rights drives a wedge between them and the rest of society and breeds contempt for our legal institutions. If society does not tolerate pot smokers, how are pot smokers supposed to tolerate society? This does not make for a healthy social climate and even less a basis for sound policy.

If a policy so deeply flawed as prohibition not only fails to reach its goals, but actually makes the situation worse, it should be radically changed.

Prohibition is the problem, and legalization the solution.

In places where marijuana is tolerated use actually decreases.

Of course, don’t count on the politicians to have the courage to change the law—it’s not in their nature. Look instead to the Supreme Court. That is where most significant legal change comes from anyway. Gay rights and abortion issues were resolved there, and, some time this year our land’s highest court will also rule on the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition. I strongly urge government to make a wise decision and end this madness now. Millions of bright, productive, patriotic pot-smoking Canadians are counting on it.

Most sincerely, Marc-Boris St-Maurice Le Parti Marijuana

[Jonathon Spectre]

>rubs hands together eagerly, waiting for the Drug Warriors to tell us how demon weed will destroy America<
Oooh, this will be entertaining! We'll get to see rationality, reason, and any sort of intelligent discussion fly out the window when the Drug Warriors get here!

"Obey our government, or feel its wrath!"

Can't wait to see if that guy, or his alter ego, show up on this thread. It's like watching for Bigfoot.

[Phantom Lord]

And if they can get it legally, they won't have to steal the radio out of your car to pay for their drugs.

How could this be true? If they have to steal to pay for it today, how will they magically have more money by legal means tomorrow to pay for it if it is legal?

[southern rock]

Why? Because libetarians desperately want their dope and are willing to accept more nanny-state socialism to get it.

Are you from the universe with the bearded Spock???

[Dakmar]

Because prohibition acts as an artificial price support system. During alcohol prohibition a shot of whiskey cost about 8 dollars in todays terms, if I remember correctly from the documentary on the History Channel.

[Phantom Lord]

Wanna get high?

Come on, just a little bit?

[Phantom Lord]

The reason that the hardcore addicts have to steal to pay for their drugs is because they are not functional enough to hold a job and support themselves. That will not change by reducing the price. If anything, they will be able to do MORE drugs.

And before you make any assumptions, i full support the legalization of pot.

[reagent]

I've flip-flopped on this issue in the past, but now I feel the need for the legalization of Cannibis. Provided the substance is used responsibly, who is the government to tell me what I can and cannot do to my body?

However, there is one major difference between an illegal drug such as Marijuana and a legal drug such as alcohol. That one difference is intoxication. I can enjoy alcohol recreationally in moderate amounts and can control my level of intoxication. I can decide just to savor the taste of a good beer, or get obliterated on a fifth of whisky. With Marijuana it's a different story. The only result of use is intoxication. While this isn't necessarily a reason NOT to legalize, it certainly nullifies the comparison of Cannibis to alcohol.

[al-andalus]

'During alcohol prohibition a shot of whiskey cost about 8 dollars in todays terms, if I remember correctly from the documentary on the History Channel'

I'll bet it tasted better, too. The forbidden is always sweeter.

[Phantom Lord]

Did the show you saw give any information on the amount of crime that was caused by the "high price" of liquor that people were engaging in to support their drinking?

[eno_]

I don't want to sound like a preacher, but the most interesting thing I uncovered about the Drug War is the deplorable state of police culture. It is almost literally a case of the wages of sin. Divorce is nearly axiomatic. Alcoholism is twice the general population. Life expectency is 14-16 years lower than the general population (which is even more astounding if you compare against similar incomes and educations). You would have to look in the worst ghetto to find a more dissolute and less healthy culture. And yet the Drug Warriors posture as a thin blue line separating us from chaos. Well, sirs, address that great plank before you offer to remove the mote from my eye.

[Nate505]

MARIJUANA grows like a weed. Therefore anyone could grow their own crop of MARIJUANA for use. There goes your tax it argument. Why buy it from the stores, where it will have less potancy, higher cost and taxes to pay when you can get around all of that by growing it yourself? You are assuming that people are pretty much idiots and could not realize this on their own. Unlike grain alchol and beer, which takes different processes to more potent, the same process is needed for really potent MARIJUANA as does lesser potent MARIJUANA. All you need is a seed, water sunshine and there you go!

I think you underestimate the laziness of many pot smokers. Why grow it when you can get a month's supply or so for $30-50? And when the store has a great variety? Growing it could only get you 2-5 or so varieties at a time, when at a store you could theoretically get 500 or so different strains....not to mention that while growing is easy, growing well and drying well can easily be messed up.

[Wolfie]

Many countries are abandoning the U.S. led (or should I say, "force fed") Drug War model. Canada and the UK will soon follow.

Belgium Legalises Personal Pot Use

Swiss Government Decides to Legalize Pot Use

Portugal Legalizes Drug Use

America's Lonely Drug War

Drug Reform Not Limited By Treaties

[txhurl]

De-criminalize, that's the way to go.

Points to ponder:

How many court cases would have to be immediately dropped, and how many inmates would have to be released?

How many employers would have to re-write their drug policies?

How many urine-testing and drug-screening outfits would have to change policies and procedures?

How many police would lose 'side' income?

How much federal interdiction money would go bye-bye?

Has prohibition created too large of an anti-pot economy? Will this economy die willingly and gracefully?

[Dane]

For the record, marijuana is NOT dangerous. It is no worse than coffee and much safer than alcohol. Marijuana is also much less addictive then cigarettes. Chronic use is rare as the majority do not smoke it everyday. Try that with tobacco!

LOL! Here is the pot quote for the ages,

Another man, Patrick Hughes(a "medical marijuana "patient") circled around the police squad units -- sent as backup -- intermittently standing up and raising his arms in the air. "I have brain damage," he said. "I can stand up, but I can't walk."

Hughes said he smokes marijuana morning, noon and night to ease the pain.

LINK

[lugsoul]

Trust me on this one - I studied it intensely in college. A person can only smoke so much pot.

[Nate505]

I can enjoy alcohol recreationally in moderate amounts and can control my level of intoxication. I can decide just to savor the taste of a good beer, or get obliterated on a fifth of whisky.

That depends on how much you weigh and what your tolerance is to alcohol. I can drink a beer or two, but I still feel a slight buzz, equivalent to the buzz I get by taking a hit or two of pot. I know some potheads who can smoke a whole gram and barely feel anything....

[Phantom Lord]

How many employers would have to re-write their drug policies?

How many urine-testing and drug-screening outfits would have to change policies and procedures?

Well, i think employers who currently screen for users of drugs would be in their rights to continue to do so even if it was legal and would probably continue to screen and not hire those that test positive.

[Dakmar]

No, but there was a lot of crime on the supply end.

[sharktrager]

Good points, however the money spent on the drug war would be available to fight real crime, were this to be a problem. Most of the risks involve things that are already an issue, so I doubt we'd see too much in the way of negatives.

Additionally, the reduced spending could lead to lower taxes, which should help the real economy take up the slack of the pot economy.

I expect we would find we could have more effective policing with less spending if we made changes that forced a refocusing of efforts.

[Phantom Lord]

I also did indepth studies of it in college. I found that one could only smoke it while awake and the limit one could smoke was what was on hand. But the post I think you are refering to was in regardes to "hard drugs."