I am for it. For one second, let's get past smoking it. Hemp can be used to make paper, clothing, milk, tea, flour, oil (which can reduce symptoms of eczema), fuel, and more.

Then there's the fact that I don't feel that anyone should be telling me what I can or can't do with my body, so long as it harms no one else.

And there's the part mALX brings up. Why should someone who just wanted to smoke a bit be housed with dangerous men who committed horrible acts? It costs lots of money to keep them in prison. Not to mention how much it winds up harming them in the future, since it gives them a record.

I say legalize it and then tax the hell out of it. Take the power away from drug lords.

I haven't read the previous comments - I'm sorry if I repeat something. I'd like to tell my story about this although it isn't as half as interesting as you think it will be.

In my country - the Netherlands - it is legal. People often use it and become addicted to it, especially if you live in such a big city as I use to live in. I don't know what moron made it legal in the first place. It is addicting, it is bad, and bad things can happen.


When I was younger, me and my friends went out and they all got high on that stuff. Except I didn't. The first time, I'll admit, it was hell funny to watch them all laughing and doing stuff you usually embarrass yourself for.
But the second and third time they became a bit more - excessive and started damaging things and breaking stuff. They also thought I was a ''mad, scared boring girl'' for not taking it.

Well it went out of hand. Later I didn't even bother coming along with them. Couple of weeks later I've noticed they didn't used it for going out only, and a month later some of them went in deep trouble. They often bought it from dealers (which is not legal) and became addicts.

Hell I'm happy I was smart at that time.

At one point, hell be glad it is legal. There are dealers everywhere. And when people buy it from dealers it isn't half as save as when it is bought somewhere official. Dealers can mug with it and hamster everything up so it becomes more dangerous.

Except it's not addicting, it's only potentially habit-forming. And bad things are less likely to happen while high than drunk. Even a lot of the supposed horrible things that happen around alcohol aren't true (such as the likelyhood of rape).

The problem with prohibition is that it simply doesn't work. People will always find a way to get a hold of the substances and making it illegal just throws more people into prison for inconsequential actions. Nanny-states in general only hurt the people, depriving them of their right to choose for themselves. And the government that has the kind of power to make SOME of your decisions for you has the power to make ALL of your decisions for you.

QFT

My best friend is a junkie. It depresses me to no end to hear him talking about how he loves to get high. I don't think tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana should be legal. But as we learned from the prohibition, that'd do no good.

Do I approve of it? Hell no. Do I think it should be legal? See answer one. Can I force him to quit? Nope. Marijuana is simply a 'gateway drug' as they're called.

When it is legal, I think the following restrictions should be in place for purchasing it.

"No selling to anyone under 21"
"No selling to anyone with a criminal record"
"No selling to anyone who is clearly intoxicated"

About no minors being around...That'd be too hard to enforce. Besides, you can't get high from being around people smoking pot.

They have quick-testers. The problem is that you can kiss your license goodbye if you've taken marijuana in any form in the last 2-3 months. It's the law around here.

AFAIK they don't actually say if you're high, just whether you've taken it in the past few days (whether you should drive having taken it in the past couple of days is another issue but as it's metabolite hangs around in fat it takers a while to disappear). Also the current quick-test is pretty shoddy, there are many things which cause it to give false positives so the results wouldn't stand in court without sending it away to a lab (quite expensive and slow).

How would they know if you'd taken it in 2-3 months?

Without having read all eight pages of this thread, I will toss in my two cents worth...

I am absolutely in favor of legalization. For several reasons.

1. Marijuana is the #1 cash source for the drug cartels that are ravaging our southern border. In the past 5 years, over 34,000 people have been killed in "The Drug War".

2. Legalization creates a tax base for for cash-strapped, impoverished southern states, of which I am currently a resident.

3. If a drug like alcohol can be legal, then a drug like marijuana can be legal with the same restrictions and penalties. (DUI for example)

Addiction does not enter the equation. Addiction is a disease that is not caused by the substance, but rather it is a disorder within the person that is an addict.

With all of that said, legalization has to take place on the Federal level, not state by state. Besides all of the state laws against marijuana, a Federal law prohibits the sale and use of marijuana.

I don´t know, but lots of other stuff that´s really bad for you is allowed. Like sugar. And coffee. And cigarettes. And alcohol. And gene-manipulated food. And pharmaceutical drugs with tons of side-effects. And vaccination shots to kids way too young. Not to mention the stuff they spray out of planes which we later breathe in.

What´s so bad with marijuana?

People are gonna smoke it however illegal you make it and however harsh you make the penalties. Might as well make it legal, taxable and get some money off it.

Precisely.

Greedy cynicism, hooray!

How the world works, man

Capitalism FTW!

Edited. You know what. I won't derail the thread here.

I don't smoke, nor am I a heavy drinker. As long as people do it in their homes and not in public, I'm fine.

Don't leave yourself that incredibly open for me. There are so many easy as hell insults I could use there. So tempting ways to hurt your feels and undermine your sense of self-worth, but all with the inherent risk of mod wrath. Don't...don't do that to me, dammit, that's just cruel...

Heh. I edited my post before you posted. Honestly, in the bottom of my heart, that right there was sarcasm. Just a way of expressing how I feel about marijuana and how countless young folks around my age use it. If something like that is legal, then why not make everything else?

Apologies if you did not get the joke. A "/sarcasm" would be in order right about now. But instead of outright insulting me or undermining my self-worth if I actually desired prostitution to be legal, why not debate it as mature, open-minded individuals? Or perhaps I should counter that with my charming point of view on different topics?

Yeah, that comment wasn't from any sense of moral outrage but because cheap shots against others are the only means through which I derive a sense of self worth. Mine is a miserable and spiteful lot.

But in all seriousness, it should probably be made legal if, for no other reason, to provide protection to the workers in the sex industry, who are probably some of the most vulnerable peoplle in the modern world. But that's a discussion for another thread.

Then let us make that thread, shall we?

No, just fight. Make it interesting XD

This isn't a children's thread, m'am!

PBBBBBBBBTH.

I just voted in the poll and it seems I am with the majority by a margin of almost 2 to 1. It only makes sense. Alcohol has been legal for ages and it can arguably cause more damage to the human body than pot. Emphasis on 'arguably'. The tax revenue available to poor states that provide a good growing climate (Alabama and Mississippi for example) could be an immense boon to their economies. Of course, these are Bible belt states that would probably never legalize it on a state level.

Lots of people are getting killed every day because it is illegal. Legalization and taxation will increase lots of revenue for the states and feds. It will also decrease the amount of people who are locked up per year for drug related offenses drastically, in the United States at least.

In the USA, we're supporting lots of people in prison because of minor drug offenses. Aside from "moral" reasons, I just don't get why it is illegal.

Just so you guys know, yes I've tried it, no I didn't like it, and I still think it is ridiculous that it is illegal.

Salvia Divinorum should be legal. It is in few states but many including my state, its illegal. It was used by Mazatec shamans in ceremonies in spirit healing and astral projection.

It became a bit popular, so much so that its being banned many places because people don't know how to use it properly.

The effects may include:
- Uncontrollable laughter
- Increase of body temperature
- Increase sweating and tear production
- Increase heart rate
- Loss of body control
- Involuntary movements
- Merging with or becoming objects
- Perception of being in several locations at once
- A powerful and mystical visions
- Confusion, irritability, psychosis
- Fear, terror, panic

The effects are seen here.

Sounds like the same results one gets from reading my story, but so far my story hasn't been banned as illegal, lol.

You have to PM me how I can have powerful and mystical visions and go into other realms/dimensions legally

Fact: Marijuana kills teh brain cells!

*Aide whispers in ear*

Oh, I'm terribly sorry, it turns out that that is completely false, and was spread during the Reagan Administration to manipulate the public into the 'Just Say No!' campaign.

The Government Agency commissioned to make the false report admitted their 'error' stating further that there is no evidence to support that the chemicals found in Marijuana inflict any degradation on any organs or cells whatsoever...damn.

Fact: Marijuana causes cancer!

"Aide whispers in ear*

OH! Um, it would appear that I am mistaken once more. *Smoking* marijuana produces carcinogens the same as inhaling any other burning substance would. But if you try the several other non-flammable methods available, marijuana actually inhibits the growth of tumors....seriously?!

Fact:Marijuana is ADDICTIVE!

*Aide whispers in ear*

Oh, I see. Sorry, the euphoria associated with the 'high' of marijuana could be 'psychologically addictive' in some individuals, but otherwise there is nothing to suggest that there is a physical dependency such as receptors in the brain or increased hormonal levels and the like associated with perfectly legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. Alcoholism was once so rampant in america in the late 1800's doctors prescribed morphine over drinking despite being addictive as well as a drunk man got into fights and felt virtually no pain, and even led up to the failed experiment of prohibition, virtually creating organized crime as we know it.

There has never been a single case of anyone suffering physical withdrawals, or death from trying to stop smoking weed.

Fact:There are people in jail doing longer stints than sexual predators, murderers, and rapists, for simply having more than an ounce of marijuana on them!

*Looks at aide, the aide just shrugs shaking his head.*

Wait, seriously?! There is no medical, moral, or otherwise good reason to have this as anything more than a regulated substance, similar if not identical to the way we regulate alcohol and there are people who will rot in jail longer than a child molester because of this?!

.....I don't want to live on this planet anymore.


Authors Note: I do not smoke weed. I did back in '99-'01. Havent had it since, and I am routinely drug-tested at work under the Federal Government regulations. I work in the medical field, and we used too take people to Chemotherapy. The difference in the patients that chose to partake and the ones who did not, were night and day.

That being said, I would say 9 out of 10 Doctors I've spoken with say that there is no medical compunction that would lead to them recommending that Marijuana being outright banned, were it hypothetically legal.

They gave the caveat that they do not recommend that people without a good reason such as cancer patients start it's use either. Though they admitted, that there wasn't necessarily a reason to restrict that personal choice either.

Black Hand is a self-absorbed, opinionated, weirdo who thinks he has all the answers. If you were offended by the preceding message, send $19.95 to the address at the end of this message.

As I was indeed not at all offended but rather supportive to the text preceeding this, I´ll just keep my 19.95.

However, if you agree with the above; please draw an outline of your housekey, and send it (care of mALX) along with the below list:

1. Your daily schedule
2. Your computer (include stats in detail)
3. Your PC game compilation
4. Anywhere in your home you may keep "treasures." If they are in a locked safe, please include the combination

-mirocu goes to the mailbox with a letter addressed to mALX-

WOO HOO! I love getting mail!