WHY LEGALIZE MARIJUANA?

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

[gdani]

Teens don't do weed because it's illegal....

Don't get out much?

[Wolfie]

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.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

[Dead Corpse]

Is there anything currently stopping those "hard core" addicts from doing whatever it takes to get their fix? Todays laws sure as hell aren't doing it. Artificial price inflation of illegal substances could be a contributing factor to drug habit related property theft.

A coralary that doesn't stretch logic would be that the drop in drug prices would see a reduction in property theft by addicts.

De-criminalisation of dope would also free up resources for investigation and incarceration of those who steal to support their habbits. Not hard to see where that would make the LEO's efforts at stopping real crimes that much easier.

[Dane]

It's about time you admitted you have brain damage.

LOL, Thom you really get nasty if don't have your daily toke of marijuana, don't ya.

And the pot heads on FR say it isn't addicting.

[Protagoras]

Teens don't do weed because it's illegal and making it legal won't make them do less of it.

Many teens do weed whether or not it's illegal.

My kids never did any drugs but it had nothing to do with government thugs. Maybe your kids are different.

[MK]

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

And that's the only way they will get it.

No, Kevvy boy, it's because smug statist control freaks like you desperately want more power and are willing to shove more nanny-state socialism down our throats to get it.

[Don Myers]

"I don't think we do."

Yes, I know, southern rock, I know.

[biblewonk]

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

Define work. Murder laws never work and they never will either.

[Protagoras]

LOL, Thom you really get nasty if don't have your daily toke of marijuana, don't ya.

I have never used any illegal drug in my life, can you make the same claim in honesty?

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Ok, let's ban alcohol, tobacco, and coffee too, then. Oh, yeah, and televison and all forms of fiction. We all square now - no escapes from everyday reality?

Sorry, having not tried tobacco or coffee, and now that I'm past my college years I don't do up the alcohol. Yes, I do watch about 60 minutes of TV per week but it's usually Fox News where I get to see reality rather than escape from it (just too busy with life to get caught up in all of the TV shows). Yes, I know... I am to be hated...

[gdani]

Murder laws never work and they never will either.

Are you equating marijuana with murder?

[dmz]

you wrote: 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.

I've seen this reasoning before on this topic, and I have to say it is specious. Marijuana is no different than alcohol in your example above. The major reason you cite above is simply inaccurate. The moment you put alcohol into your system, it begins to have an effect. How much you put in determines how much of an effect. The same is true of marijuana.

Your major reason doesn't exist. Marijuana intoxication is not binary, nor is alcohol's. There are levels of intoxication for each, and the intoxication begins at the moment of ingestion.

There is NO justification for one being legal and the other not.

[txhurl]

I guess this would mess with traffic laws, too, as we can measure how drunk you are but have no way to quantify how high you are, or if you got high earlier today, etc...

Maybe they'd just charge you with Public Intoxication and make somebody come pick you up... after you fail a motor-skills test? How would that work?

Anybody constructed any practical models of post-decriminalization?

[southern rock]

Yes, I know, southern rock, I know.

Yes, yes, I know. I am evil and selfish because I don't want to use the force of government to save others from themselves. I'll just have to live with that.

[Dane]

I have never used any illegal drug in my life, can you make the same claim in honesty?

Oooh, Thom thinks he has me over a barrel. I have been honest that I was part of the drug culture and that it is not benign as being portrayed by the pro-pot crowd on FR.

So what's your point?

[Don Myers]

"I am evil and selfish because I don't want to use the force of government to save others from themselves. "

Just take a couple of joints and everything will be mellow again. It works nearly everytime, I understand.

[dmz]

you wrote: I also did indepth studies of it in college.

yea, uhhh, right, uhhh, me too....studies they were, field work :-)

[coolworx]

"There is NO justification for one being legal and the other not."

Sure there is... it assured DuPonts profit margin in its pursuit of petrochemicals.

[eno_]

Not having smoked pot since high school, I wouldn't know from one kind or another, but it is certainly true that there are bad cigars and there are good cigars, and all cigars will give a very occational smoker like me a strong nicotene buzz. Taste and effect are complex and intermingled. And just because you can legally drive does not mean that you are not "impaired." It is VERY difficult to write code after even one beer, without causing more bugs than is worth.

[Dakmar]

Yes, I know... I am to be hated...

Not at all. I was just pointing out that escape from reality is something almost everyone participates in, in some form or another, and is not in and of itself a bad thing, if not taken to extremes. I know people who are less productive due to watching TV all the time than any of the potheads I know.