Legalization? An Insult-Free Discussion

in addition to the slowed reaction during driving, i think common sense says it's a gateway drug for harder substances. just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it isn't common. as for "no hard evidence it contributes to an increase in highway accidents," if there were more people using it (i.e. if it were legal), i suspect that would increase. i dont want to wonder every time a car approaches me on a one-day street about whether he's stoned. there's already alcohol, and yes i agree that's probably worse

 

BW:

I agree with you on these facts. My point is, it does have a downside, and except for medical use, not much upside. I don't think I'd legalize it because of that (except for medical use). Legalizing it (and probably taxing it) would promote its consumption ("Maui wowie, the king of pot--for all you do, this joint's for you!").

Look at it this way: If tobacco use weren't legal, you wouldn't legalize it now, would you?

 

I wouldn't have an issue one way or the other. I smoked pot for 15 years. A lot of it. A lot. I was Cheech and Chong combined for the 6 months I lived in Jamaica. Then I did coke for the first time and fell out of love witih pot. Then I did coke hardcore for a year. Then I quit that. Now I'm drug-free.

It doesn't matter if pot is legalized. It's still going to get smoked.

For medicinal purposes, sure, legalize it. Some time in the next 15-20 years it will be, when our generation comes to power and changes the rules.

 

If it was legal, all i would do all day is get high.

So, sadly, I must conclude that it should only be legal for medical purposes.

 

Wait a minute.

Isn't getting high a medical purpose?

 

But tobacco use IS legal. And just because something has been illegal for 70 years or so doesn't mean that we shouldn't ever look at the issue again fairly and educationally, and then decide what is best for our society.

Personally, I think criminalizing marijuana is not what's best for our society. People are going to do it -- that's a fact -- and wasting countless resources fighting that and stigmatizing that isn't worth the reward of fewer people doing it.

Besides, the war on this drug isn't working. Fewer people AREN'T doing it.

The fact is: there are thousands of people who smoke marijuana, illegally, in this country, every day. And do no harm to anyone. There are millions who do it once in a while, every month or a couple times a year. They do it in moderation, they do it responsibly, they do it safely.

So going after people like that -- ruining people's lives by throwing them in jail -- wasting time dealing with them when there are far more important criminals to go after, doing far more horrible things than lighting up a joint -- is a travesty, IMO.

Keep our jail cells free from possession charges, keep our law enforcement on the tails of the real bad guys, put our government resources toward Katrina or poverty or facing the myriad of other issues we could be dealing with right now.

As far as "promoting its consumption," well, that's just not true. Plus, the government could regulate advertisements the way they do for alcohol and the way they do for cigarettes. When's the last time you saw a billboard for Joe Camel? It's been a long time.

Regulation is the key here. Education and regulation. And moderation.

You can smoke marijuana safely and responsibly, just as you can drink alcohol safely and responsibly. But one's legal and one's not. Prohibition failed miserably for the one -- and it's failing miserably for the other. End Prohibition -- again.

Legalize it!

 

I have. Careless stoners blaizing up in their living room in front of open or thinly curtained windows, nosy neighbors calling the cops, boys in blue arrive. It happens. As HST observed, we are a "nation of finks." If I was taking that call at the police department, I'd want to dispatch the cops to the tattletales' house to ask them what the fuck they were doing spying on their neighbors.

 

OTD --
I see your point except for one key element -- The "cure" right now is much worse than the disease.
Of course, in a perfect world, no one would smoke dope or cigarettes (or maybe, in a perfect world, it just wouldn't be bad for you).
But people do. And putting them in jail for it is wrong. Morally, ethically, wrong.

Hiding behind "sending the wrong message to our kids" and other evasive reasonings don't give those people their lives back.

 

Just to throw in my two cents, which is identical to many of the rest of you...

After having been on the inside of it for a while and on the outside of it for even longer, I continue to believe that the worst thing about marijuana use today is that to get it, you generally have to deal with people who are into harder things (coke, LSD, Ecstasy, etc.)

If pot-smoking is no longer a criminal activity, you can get it out of the hands of the criminals.

I gave this thought, HH, and it isn't a bad hypothesis.

But I don't think many of us could afford to have it around for constant use if it were legalized.

 

Dead on with the first point (re: illegality being the worst thing about weed), shotglass.  I quit smoking because I hated dealing with the idiots and sleazeballs in the "drug world."  Now I drink when I want chemical relaxation.  It's much, much more unhealthy.

 

Teenage Stoner (on phone): Hey, dude, how's it going?

Neighborhood Supplier: Hey. What's up?

TS: Hey ... uh ... you got any stuff?

NS: What the hell are you talking about?

TS: Pot, man. I need a half-ounce. Ounce if it's bad.

*click*

Phone call to Teenage Stoner five minutes later. Traffic noise in the background.

NS: Hey, ASSHOLE!

TS: Huh?

NS: Don't EVER call me on my home phone again! Don't you know it could be bugged?

TS: Uh ... OK ...

NS: Fuckin' rookies...

 

I could, by spending all the money I saved all those years when I wasn't smoling doobies in a van down by the river ...