Marijuana Legalization

[unknown]

I live in Canada and they have been talking about legalizing weed for a little while now

 

so far they are talking about decriminalizing marijuana, meaning that if you were caught with weed the most you could do is get a fine, like a speeding ticket or something but that still is going to take a while.

 

i believe it should not be legalized - booze and cigarettes are worse then weed but weed is a gateway drug and it can lead to alot of things.

 

dont say that education about drugs in early stages will shy kids away from doing drugs in the event of weed legalization cuz i did the DARE program when i was in grade 6.........now i am 17 years old and in college and alot of the guys i did the DARE program with are either dealers or dont got a job dont go to school and smoke up every day....

 

what do u people think?

[SBN Doug]

My biggest problem with legalizing it, is where do you draw the line? Marijuana today, speed tomorrow? Amsterdam has alot of these type of vices leagal, but I have no idea of how they control it.

 

Some government guys would like to legalize, under the smoke screen of regulating it. Yeah, how well have they kept teenagers from getting cigarettes and beer? What they really mean is they want to be able to tax it.

 

Tough debate, but I vote no.

[Patrick]

I am against it being legalized.

 

Some people like to say that "Hey, alcohol is legalized, why shouldn't my marijuana be?" That has to be the DUMBEST argument. Just because we have one intoxicant that is legal and has been forever, doesn't mean we need another!

 

Bill O'Reilly said that he would legalize it, and would govern it very toughly. He said that he doesn't care what you do in your house, you can get high as much as you want. But, the moment that you step out in a public place (in a car, etc.), and they catch you, big fine. That would be a good way if it was indeed, legalized. (And tax it. Use the money).

 

But, I don't want it legalized.

[Sid Vicious]

i want it legalized. what someone does in their home is noone elses business.

[SBN Doug]

i want it legalized. what someone does in their home is noone elses business.

 

You would have to add

 

", as long as it doesn't harm anyone else inside or outside of that home."

 

before I'll agree to that statement.

[Sid Vicious]

let me rephrase my statement.

 

i dont see a problem with someone toking up in their home as long as noones in danger. i personal dont smoke it put some of my friends do. legalizing it would cut down on murders from deals gone bad too. plus if the government was the one selling it, they could make a huge profit off of it.

[chh]

I'd be for legalizing & regulating it. Demonizing it certainly hasn't done anyone any good, unless you count the people who are in the business of smuggling it in, cutting junk into it to increase its bulk and selling it indiscriminately on the streets for enormous profit. I don't buy the "gateway drug" concept, last I looked (which I admit was a long time ago!) there is no real evidence to support this theory. From personal experience, the kids I knew who did hard stuff (coke, heroin etc) were interested in that sort of thing from the beginning; yes, they happened to get their hands on pot first because that's generally easiest, but it was not pot that led them to the other substances. And also from personal experience, if I had kids I would honestly be more worried about the unknown additives in their hallucinogenics than the base drugs themselves. Whether it's as benign as a 100 dollar bag of lawn clippings, or as dangerous as weed or acid laced with rat poison, by making the drug illicit you give the drug dealer license to make his own rules.

 

I agree with Doug that it would be ludicrous and WAY too ironic for the gov't to rake in all that cash from taxing pot, but I don't see another way to regulate the purity and potency. At least regulation would make it a little safer, and they could pretend to funnel the $$ into drug education and prevention programs, right?

 

And alcohol hasn't always been legal. You'd think we'd have learned something from prohibition. While re-legalizing it clearly didn't solve all our problems, I don't know of any good that came from making it illegal (not counting all the great movies )?

 

Token disclaimer to ward off the flames that will come regardless: I'm not saying I think pot's a wonderful thing that everybody should use. I knew plenty of those stoners 'unknown' was describing that toked up first thing in the morning and spent all their time in an oblivious daze. This comes down to the concept of moderation, though, too much of anything is a bad thing. It would be like banning twinkies because people eat too many of them, become obese and take up more than their fair share of insurance claims with their health problems.

 

Anyway, enough. Just my 2c.

[Patrick]

Forever was just an expression.

[omnifinite]

I agree with the first post. I'd be perfectly happy if cigarettes and alcohol were illegal too. Cigarettes are just plain airborne wretchedness to anyone in range... and alcohol is probably one of the worst things humanity has ever unleashed on itself in my opinion.

 

But they aren't going anywhere unfortunately. Never underestimate a person's capacity to complicate their own lives. It's not my place to decide a person's right to destroy themselves all they want as long as it doesn't effect anyone else (might as well let natural selection take its course), but how often does that happen?

 

"Ok all you alcoholics... you can drink as much as you want as long as you don't drive or go near your spouse or children or talk to the opposite sex or anything like that, deal?" - "Sure thing!"

 

Cigarettes might die out (commercially) in the next few decades since all the facts are known now... my grandfather smoked for 10 years of his life and he was suddenly stricken with emphysema about a year ago and needs a steady supply of oxygen for the rest of his days... when he smoked I don't think there were any warning labels... it was just something people did. The sooner they're gone the better if you ask me. These things are probably only still so acceptable because of past cultural ties (how many millennia has wine been around?).

 

Hmm... maybe that was more off-topic than I thought it would be.

 

No... I'm not looking forward to its legalization if it happens.

 

And if it does get legalized I guess we could tax the hell out of it... but the problem with things the govt gets income from... is that eventually the govt doesn't really want those things to go away...

[ZeRo]

let me rephrase my statement.

 

i dont see a problem with someone toking up in their home as long as noones in danger. i personal dont smoke it put some of my friends do. legalizing it would cut down on murders from deals gone bad too. plus if the government was the one selling it, they could make a huge profit off of it.

 

i agree. in spain it is legal to grow but not to sell, i think this is good because it cuts out dealers and people can do it in there own home and no one gets hurt.