Marijuana?

[Svengoolie 3]

Legalize it or not?  I do not do marijuana,  I have no desire to use it but I believe it should be legalized.

Also I have seen a woman go thru breast cancer,  the whole 3 ring circus: removal,  radiation,  chemo.  She suffered baldness,  nausea,  sickness, all you've heard of.  She used marijuana illegally and it helped her tremendously.  I saw this.

I can see no reason whatsoever why marijuana would be illetal while alcohol and tobacco are legal.

[ER]

Would it be a good thing? No. Would it be the lesser evil compared to what we have now? Yes.

[indianasmith]

Medicinal marijuana?  Absolutely, 100%.  It works better than most alternatives and has less side effects.
Recreational marijuana?  I've slowly come around on this.  I don't use the stuff (nor do I drink alcohol, for that matter) and really have no intention of trying it if it does become legal, but I think it would probably help empty out our overcrowded prisons, provide the government a new source of tax revenue, and increase sales at convenience stores and other purveyors of late-night snacks nationwide.

[Olivia Bauer]

I agree completely. It seems to me the reason it isn't legal is because of the private prison, alcohol, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries throwing money at politicians to keep it illegal to keep their business afloat. The fact it's illegal is absolutely atrocious and I've never heard a good reason as to why it shouldn't be legalized.

Would it be a good thing? No. Would it be the lesser evil compared to what we have now? Yes.

How is it evil?

[ER]

Marijuana legalization isn't something I'd get too passionate about one way or the other. Prohibition is a bad joke with deplorable consequences, but as for it being evil,  marijuana is only evil insofar as it's misused but like alcohol and much else I've seen it do harm to people in a variety of ways. If nothing else it got my pre-teen cousin raped.

[Svengoolie 3]

Medicinal marijuana?  Absolutely, 100%.  It works better than most alternatives and has less side effects.
Recreational marijuana?  I've slowly come around on this.  I don't use the stuff (nor do I drink alcohol, for that matter) and really have no intention of trying it if it does become legal, but I think it would probably help empty out our overcrowded prisons, provide the government a new source of tax revenue, and increase sales at convenience stores and other purveyors of late-night snacks nationwide.

I commend your views here. 

[LilCerberus]

Back in my early teens, when they started teaching us why booze & cigarettes & angel dust & glue & all that other stuff was bad for you, all they had to say was "Marijuana is against the LAW! End of story!"
No examples of how it's bad for you or explanation of why it's illegal, and as such, no one's ever been able to that it should be or stay illegal.

Just let 'em have it & tax the Hell out of it.

[Svengoolie 3]

I agree completely. It seems to me the reason it isn't legal is because of the private prison, alcohol, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries throwing money at politicians to keep it illegal to keep their business afloat. The fact it's illegal is absolutely atrocious and I've never heard a good reason as to why it shouldn't be legalized.

Would it be a good thing? No. Would it be the lesser evil compared to what we have now? Yes.

How is it evil?

Exactly right.  America has allowed corporations to turn prisons in a for profit business built on consuming human lives.  

[El Misfit]

Legalized it so that the privatized prisons can go bankrupt. Plus there's worse drugs out there, weed should be viewed on the same level as alcohol. I've tried it, but didn't feel high. If I were to try it again I would eat it.

[Trevor]

Mom is a medical marijuana proponent so, yes to that but not recreational weed.

Although I do agree if people want it, allow it, tax it and so on.

[Svengoolie 3]

Also you can die from alcohol.  Directly and quickly.  Kids going to college learn that every year. The only people who die from marijuana use are actors in bad movies.

Tobacco kills abd we all know it,  except for experts who've sold their souls to big tobacco companies. 

Has marijuana directly killed anyone in reality?  I don't know.  The data says it's unlikely.


Anyway,  here.... 

[ER]

Also you can die from alcohol.  Directly and quickly.  Kids going to college learn that every year. The only people who die from marijuana use are actors in bad movies.

Tobacco kills abd we all know it,  except for experts who've sold their souls to big tobacco companies.  

Has marijuana directly killed anyone in reality?  I don't know.  The data says it's unlikely.


Anyway,  here....  

I'd rather be around someone who was stoned than someone drunk, and I'm not bashing marijuana users or arguing against legalization, because I don't oppose legalization and I think most people are no worse off from the occasional bowl, but on the subject of marijuana being "harmless" I do have to say marijuana causes a sudden spike in heart rate and blood pressure and emergency room doctors have noticed a surge in cardiac incidents among marijuana users, especially baby boomers who think they can smoke as much at sixty as they used to at twenty, and their hearts testify otherwise.

Aside from accidents that happen to people when stoned, freakouts, children neglected, money spent on getting high that could go elsewhere, users driving under the influence, lost productivity, and overall bad judgment, the actual risks arising from marijuana use among the healthy are probably close to nil, but marijuana isn't totally harmless. It also is addictive and anyone who thinks it's not is naive.

It seems like most stoners I know smoke as a way of life, daily, many staying stoned all the time, and can anyone really make a case for that being a positive thing? That's why I described legalization as the lesser of evils, kind of like fighting a just war is a lesser evil.

While there are lots of older stoners, most people sort of....outgrow pot anyway, one way or the other. Kind of like the other trademarks of youth like social protests and fashionable causes and wanting to live in Prague, like half my friends talked about doing in the '90s. (None did.)

I once saw a NORML study that asked why marijuana use peaks in the 20s and declines sharply in the 30s and thereafter, and I thought, well, real life replaces childhood.

Anyway, legalize it, tax it, shut down the criminal element and free up prison space, yeah, but let's not pretend it's a good thing to sanction more intoxication.

[RCMerchant]

Legalize and tax it.

[Svengoolie 3]

FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO SAY LEGALIZE AND TAX IT DID YOU KNOW that they already tax drugs even tho they're illegal? the drug taxes are exorbitant and impossibly high and paying them does not protect you from the penalties of drug use or possession, but not paying them allows the system to "pile on" penalty after penalty.

https://www.treatmentsolutions.com/drug-tax-stamps/

Yes they already tax drugs at rates that are higher than the drugs themselves. They know people won;t pay the tax so it lets them make a tax caSE OUT OF POSSESSION AND APPLY MORE PANALTIES AND TAKE MORE OF A PERSON'S MONEY. damn caps key.

http://norml.org/component/zoo/category/marijuana-tax-stamp-laws-and-penalties

[bob]

Medicinal marijuana?  Absolutely, 100%.  It works better than most alternatives and has less side effects.
Recreational marijuana?  I've slowly come around on this.  I don't use the stuff (nor do I drink alcohol, for that matter) and really have no intention of trying it if it does become legal, but I think it would probably help empty out our overcrowded prisons, provide the government a new source of tax revenue, and increase sales at convenience stores and other purveyors of late-night snacks nationwide.

Basically I think this exactly, except I drink alcohol. The other main reasons being that tobacco and alcohol, while being legal, can be more harmful to people than  marjuana.