Marijuana Legalization

[RSBDavid]

Pot is like alcohol, caffiene, and even World of Warcraft. It has its addictive components, but it can help people. Wine has been known to help prevent Heart Disease, people who are physically disabled and depressed can play WoW to communicate with the world and feel alive, and pot has it's medical effects as well. Its not the product you use, its the amount which is consumed which is harmful.

[3PointMan]

Pot is like alcohol, caffiene, and even World of Warcraft. It has its addictive components, but it can help people. Wine has been known to help prevent Heart Disease, people who are physically disabled and depressed can play WoW to communicate with the world and feel alive, and pot has it's medical effects as well. Its not the product you use, its the amount which is consumed which is harmful.

For weed to kill a human, it's ridiculous and impossible. It's like the equivalent of 60,000 blunts being lit at once in a compact car. No one has EVER died from cannabis use. Andddd there are no addictive components in it, for some users it is the state of mind.

[Range_This11]

Saying marijuana isn't addictive might be true, but it's misleading at the same time. I would say that it is highly habitual but doesn't have the withdrawal symptoms of an addictive substance.

 

EDIT: Ring World, your post saddens me. Marijuana does not impair you in the same way alcohol does neither in operating machinery nor making decisions. If anything, I think it would make you scared as hell to go on a rickety bridge whereas alcohol would make you fearless in that situation.

[My_Eggs]

Pot is like alcohol, caffiene, and even World of Warcraft. It has its addictive components, but it can help people. Wine has been known to help prevent Heart Disease, people who are physically disabled and depressed can play WoW to communicate with the world and feel alive, and pot has it's medical effects as well. Its not the product you use, its the amount which is consumed which is harmful.

For weed to kill a human, it's ridiculous and impossible. It's like the equivalent of 60,000 blunts being lit at once in a compact car. No one has EVER died from cannabis use. Andddd there are no addictive components in it, for some users it is the state of mind.

 

No one is denying that it is safe in it of itself. The arguments against pot stem from fear of additional DUI's and deaths that are associated with stupid decisions.

 

Heres a comic relating to stupid decisions stoners make, that I am too lazy to draw.

 

Panel1:

Duude lets walk across this broken bridge *tons of signs saying do not walk on bridge, crappy wooden bridge over a massive cliff above a river*.

Panel2:

common it looks legit dont be a [kitty]. *one extremely stoned guy#1 with blood red eyes says to the other*

Panel3:

Halfway across, man this bridge is so sketch. *stoner guy#2 says with an extremely nervous look*

Panel4:

*Le bridge breaks* *stick figures falling*

 

I would love for an artist (or anyone with access to Microsoft paint to do this comic).

 

I've never made a stupid decision while high that has put me, or anyone around me for that matter, in any danger at all. I've been smoking for almost four years now and I've never got behind the wheel of my car high. The most stupid thing I've done while high was put the cereal box in the fridge, and the milk carton in the food pantry, but I realised my mistake as I was putting the milk on the shelf and fixed it right away. Hardly a stupid decision that could have resulted in death.

[My_Eggs]

Pot is like alcohol, caffiene, and even World of Warcraft. It has its addictive components, but it can help people. Wine has been known to help prevent Heart Disease, people who are physically disabled and depressed can play WoW to communicate with the world and feel alive, and pot has it's medical effects as well. Its not the product you use, its the amount which is consumed which is harmful.

For weed to kill a human, it's ridiculous and impossible. It's like the equivalent of 60,000 blunts being lit at once in a compact car. No one has EVER died from cannabis use. Andddd there are no addictive components in it, for some users it is the state of mind.

 

No one is denying that it is safe in it of itself. The arguments against pot stem from fear of additional DUI's and deaths that are associated with stupid decisions.

 

Heres a comic relating to stupid decisions stoners make, that I am too lazy to draw.

 

Panel1:

Duude lets walk across this broken bridge *tons of signs saying do not walk on bridge, crappy wooden bridge over a massive cliff above a river*.

Panel2:

common it looks legit dont be a [kitty]. *one extremely stoned guy#1 with blood red eyes says to the other*

Panel3:

Halfway across, man this bridge is so sketch. *stoner guy#2 says with an extremely nervous look*

Panel4:

*Le bridge breaks* *stick figures falling*

 

I would love for an artist (or anyone with access to Microsoft paint to do this comic).

 

I've never made a stupid decision while high that has put me, or anyone around me for that matter, in any danger at all. I've been smoking for almost four years now and I've never got behind the wheel of my car high. The most stupid thing I've done while high was put the cereal box in the fridge, and the milk carton in the food pantry, but I realised my mistake as I was putting the milk on the shelf and fixed it right away. Hardly a stupid decision that could have resulted in death.

 

You didnt but plenty do. Again I am not personally against it, otherwise I wouldnt have offered help in court on the first page. I am just listing why people are against it.

 

Fair enough. Here's your comic btw, what with being the artist, I felt free to use some creative freedoms and err.... change it a bit.

[Range_This11]

You forgot to add the part where they took forty five minutes to decide which flavor Doritos to pick up at the convenience store. (Even though they eventually settled on Funyuns)

[My_Eggs]

You forgot to add the part where they took forty five minutes to decide which flavor Doritos to pick up at the convenience store. (Even though they eventually settled on Funyuns)

 

 

That part was just implied by them being high. Funions is always the right choice, everyone knows that.

[Sam]

I've never made a stupid decision while high that has put me, or anyone around me for that matter, in any danger at all. I've been smoking for almost four years now and I've never got behind the wheel of my car high. The most stupid thing I've done while high was put the cereal box in the fridge, and the milk carton in the food pantry, but I realised my mistake as I was putting the milk on the shelf and fixed it right away. Hardly a stupid decision that could have resulted in death.

 

Well, the milk could of gone bad and poisoned you :s

[My_Eggs]

I've never made a stupid decision while high that has put me, or anyone around me for that matter, in any danger at all. I've been smoking for almost four years now and I've never got behind the wheel of my car high. The most stupid thing I've done while high was put the cereal box in the fridge, and the milk carton in the food pantry, but I realised my mistake as I was putting the milk on the shelf and fixed it right away. Hardly a stupid decision that could have resulted in death.

 

Well, the milk could of gone bad and poisoned you :s

 

 

Could have, if I hadn't caught the mistake as it was happening. Also, no ones going to drink milk thats been sitting in the food pantry all night, it would obviously not be good anymore lol.

[Sam]

A DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS.

[Furah]

Saying marijuana isn't addictive might be true, but it's misleading at the same time. I would say that it is highly habitual but doesn't have the withdrawal symptoms of an addictive substance.

People get addicted to the happiness they experience from being high. They could easily get that same feeling a million other ways, thankfully they didn't pick something like meth.

[obfuscator]

Yeah, it's a mental addiction, not a biological one. From personal experience it can still be pretty harmful.

[Zierro]

Apparently there is a "war on drugs" petition with over 500,000 names that will be hand-delivered to world leaders today.

 

We call on you to end the war on drugs and the prohibition regime, and move towards a system based on decriminalisation, regulation, public health and education. This 50 year old policy has failed, fuels violent organised crime, devastates lives and is costing billions. It is time for a humane and effective approach.

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/end_the_war_on_drugs/?rc=fb&pv=39

[obfuscator]

Interesting. I've been torn over that idea for quite some time, I can't decide whether I like it or not.

[Zierro]

The reason I'm on board is because it's not just some "Come on man I just wanna smoke!" hippie crap. They are approaching this by bringing actual rational points to the public's attention: government spending, harsh sentences, underground drug trafficking and the violence resulting from it, public health, a more effective and reasonable system of regulation, and they even brought up education. :thumbup:

[obfuscator]

Agree with those benefits, but I also think that legalizing makes usage of some incredibly harmful drugs increasingly widespread which I'm not okay with.

 

If it was just weed they wanted to legalize I'd be more likely to sign.

[Range_This11]

I think it would be very easy to reverse the decision if things began to get out of hand. At the moment, a colossal portion of law enforcement agencies' budgets are used to fight the war on drugs. I think it's worth a try given there are successful models from around the world to follow.

[TrueBeaver]

Jesus, don't these threads ever die?

 

War on Drugs has failed, stop wasting taxpayer money on petty offenders when we're in the middle of a budget crisis.

 

That said, I doubt this new panel's suggestions will gain much traction. I hope it does, but I'm not optimistic.

[TrueBeaver]

Jesus, don't these threads ever die?

 

War on Drugs has failed, stop wasting taxpayer money on petty offenders when we're in the middle of a budget crisis.

 

That said, I doubt this new panel's suggestions will gain much traction. I hope it does, but I'm not optimistic.

 

War on ANYTHING fails.

 

War on poverty failed

 

War on terrorism failed [well military aspect]

 

War on Communism [vietnam] failed

 

War on drugs was doomed to fail before it began

 

 

I certainly hope it gains traction but people dont learn their lesson.

I agree that a war on something as insignificant as drugs was doomed to fail before it started, but many times wars are successful. For example, in the five years after the War on Poverty was announced the poverty rate lowered by 10 million people, while in the previous 5 years it dropped by 5 million. At what cost is up for debate but I wouldn't lump the War on Drugs in with the rest of those.

[Furah]

Well decriminalising drug use has worked well for Portugal.

 

Faced with both a public health crisis and a public relations disaster, Portugals elected officials took a bold step. They decided to decriminalize the possession of all illicit drugs from marijuana to heroin but continue to impose criminal sanctions on distribution and trafficking. The goal: easing the burden on the nations criminal justice system and improving the peoples overall health by treating addiction as an illness, not a crime.

 

As the sweeping reforms went into effect nine years ago, some in Portugal prepared themselves for the worst. They worried that the country would become a junkie nirvana, that many neighborhoods would soon resemble Casal Ventoso, and that tourists would come to Portugal for one reason only: to get high. We promise sun, beaches, and any drug you like, complained one fearful politician at the time.

 

But nearly a decade later, theres evidence that Portugals great drug experiment not only didnt blow up in its face; it may have actually worked. More addicts are in treatment. Drug use among youths has declined in recent years. Life in Casal Ventoso, Lisbons troubled neighborhood, has improved. And new research, published in the British Journal of Criminology, documents just how much things have changed in Portugal. Coauthors Caitlin Elizabeth Hughes and Alex Stevens report a 63 percent increase in the number of Portuguese drug users in treatment and, shortly after the reforms took hold, a 499 percent increase in the amount of drugs seized indications, the authors argue, that police officers, freed up from focusing on small-time possession, have been able to target big-time traffickers while drug addicts, no longer in danger of going to prison, have been able to get the help they need.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/01/16/drug_experiment/?page=full

[jasignhagj]

 

Jesus, don't these threads ever die?

 

War on Drugs has failed, stop wasting taxpayer money on petty offenders when we're in the middle of a budget crisis.

 

That said, I doubt this new panel's suggestions will gain much traction. I hope it does, but I'm not optimistic.

 

War on ANYTHING fails.

 

War on poverty failed

 

War on terrorism failed [well military aspect]

 

War on Communism [vietnam] failed

 

War on drugs was doomed to fail before it began

 

 

I certainly hope it gains traction but people dont learn their lesson.

I agree that a war on something as insignificant as drugs was doomed to fail before it started, but many times wars are successful. For example, in the five years after the War on Poverty was announced the poverty rate lowered by 10 million people, while in the previous 5 years it dropped by 5 million. At what cost is up for debate but I wouldn't lump the War on Drugs in with the rest of those.

 

 

Reminded me of this song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Y9-JlSRXw

[justcallmedaddy]

A lot of people seem to be a fan of government marijuana "cigarettes". Depending on how much is in each cigarette, a pack of marijuana cigarettes would be quite expensive when compared to tobacco cigarettes. Or would marijuana become cheaper if it were legal?

[Resistance]

Give me a reason for legalisation of cannabis. There is none.

 

People talk about medical benefits and such but the medical benefits aren't so great that any countrys would choose to legalise it, nobody cares about moderate health benefits. Sometimes I feel it is in the governments best interests to keep people from leading a healthy lifestyle.

[Nomrombom]

Give me a reason for legalisation of cannabis.

 

Freedom of actions that don't harm others.

 

 

 

Weed is certainly not as harmful as it's made out to be, but it is still not good for you. Inhaling the products of combustion of ANYTHING is not good for you. The medical benefits are not really that beneficial to your average dumb teen kid smoking pot in the woods, though I acknowledge they are beneficial in many cases involving diseases. I guess I support legalization with caution.

 

 

Vaping would be better :thumbup:

[Furah]

Give me a reason for legalisation of cannabis. There is none.

Considering it wasn't illegal in the US until 1937 (can't remember for other countries) and the American Medical Association actually was against the illegalisation of it, I'm pretty sure there are.

 

Oh, wait! What do we have here? Oh look it's America's very own National Cancer Institute with a report on how cannabis helps people with cancer. So that's two groups who would like to disagree with you and your lies.