Marijuana Legalization
Cannabis or marijuana has been illegal but many people continue to use it anyways. There are a lot of teenagers trying marijuana; it’s almost looked at as a normal thing for them to try. If so many people already use it, why shouldn’t we make it legal and institute harsh laws such as the ones on alcohol and cigarettes. Making marijuana legal would be beneficial to California because it would increase state revenue, there would be less crime due to drugs, and there would be more jobs created.
California would make a lot of money if they were to legalize marijuana. If California were to allow marijuana to be smoked, there would be companies selling marijuana cigarettes just like they sell tobacco cigarettes. Then California could collect tax on every pack sold. Considering if you go to Mexico and buy regular cigarettes for half the price you do in the United States, we know that California is making money on every pack sold. California could enforce laws just like there are for drinking and driving and even the age you have to be to buy marijuana cigarettes. It’s proven that things being illegal sometimes entice people to try them.
California statistics would slowly show a decrease in marijuana-involved crime. There would be less burglaries and other harsh crime due to less criminals. People could buy their marijuana for reasonable prices and it would be no big deal. Of course there would people who would still rob convenience stores just like there are now. If marijuana was legal there would be more room in our jails for more serious criminals, because there would be marijuana meetings where you can try and get clean. People are addicted to cigarettes so the difference between tobacco and marijuana is minimal. They both can have an affect on the way you act and think. If there was more teaching about the effects and consequences of cigarettes and drugs and what they can do to you physically and emotionally maybe less people would opt to steer away from them. When you tell a child not to jump on the bed; guess what he does. He learns when he falls and gets hurt. The principle for marijuana is the same.
Legalization of marijuana would bring more jobs to California residents. There would be new companies developing ways to produce and sell marijuana. There would also be a higher demand for people to deliver this product and more stores to sell them. They say after you have smoked marijuana you get the munchies so even grocery stores and fast food places would see an increase in profit. There would also be a need for more rehabilitation centers that can help you stop drinking, and smoking tobacco and marijuana. These centers would need skilled professionals including nurses and doctors.
In the long run the legalization of marijuana would produce more jobs, increase state and federal revenue, and keep more people out of jail. If there are strict laws with harsh punishments like there are for drinking under the influence and selling tobacco to minors why can’t we regulate the sale of marijuana why collecting the profits. In my mind selling marijuana legally might just be the answer!!!
Sounds like a decent defense for legalization. But what about all the downfalls to this: addiction, substance abuse, altered mental state? Would people go crazy and get high as they drive? before work or school? Would it be okay to take joint breaks instead of cigarette breaks while you're working? Would you restrict the use of it for certain times and places? I mean, we wouldn't want doctors operating on people after smoking a joint, would we? We might have more jobs, but would our work be as productive if everyone's high?
It wouldn't be any worse than what alcohol.
Alcohol is probably associated with more violent crime and accidents than all illegal and OTC drugs combined.
How come it's not illegal???
My news reports to me daily, accidents and violence where 9 out of 10 times alcohol is involved. Where is the clamor to make it illegal?
With alcohol still legal and the astronomical damage it does, isn't it kind of hypocritical to base marijuana illegality on the assumption that it's bad therefore it ought not be legal. Alcohol is bad!!
In reality, marijuana is safer than most OTC drugs, and far safer than alcohol. Drug War Facts
We've probably all seen someone being drunk and annoying, but you will never know if someone has smoked pot cause it doesn't leave you incoherent and obnoxious like alcohol. Yet someone how alcohol is better for society and marijuana is not.
The real issue with marijuana is the powers that be will not let their power go. "Drug War" is big money and power to many people. Think about it.
It's not beyond them or their industry to distort truth to remain in power.
You have a good point but think about it, you dont see docters going out before opperations to go drink beers. they're smart people. Even I smoke marijuana once and a while but I dont do it befor school or a hockey game. There would also be strict laws so that there would be the same amount of people drinking and driving as smoking and driving. it really is just like alcohol and thats not such a big problem
This is one of the most pitiful arguments for the legalization of marijuana that I have heard in a while. There are no sources for the facts you claim. Your claim is contradictory, too. You allude smoking marijuana to children jumping on beds and that the only way to learn of the consequences of weed is to use it. If a person only learns of their mistakes (...smoking weed) only after doing it, then why legalize it?
I live in the Bay Area, known for some of the countries best weed, and also where medical marijuana is somewhat accepted and practiced. Some kids at my highschool have obtained medical marijuana cards to cure false illnesses, and simply abuse the ease and ability of obtaining the drugs at the club. Similarly, completely legalizing weed would lead to abuse of the drug and careless use.
While I don't object to the use of marijuana, your argument is faulty and realistically, legalized marijuana would be impractical and foolish.
Perhaps you could clarify why legalization would be impractical and foolish?
Marijuana is a gate way drug, so why promote it? Here is a good example for you; Every time the speed limit gets raised, like it did a few years ago in California form 55mph to 65mph, people always think it is acceptable and perfectly OK to go at least 5mph over the speed limit. When is it enough? 100mph sounds prety fast, yet if the speed limit is raised to 100mph people will abuse it and still go over the limit. As you can see many people can take things too far. regulation in this case is very imporant. If a person wants to get HIGH on pot, then that is their perogative and they can go about their one business; however, it will be ILEGAL. At least some people will fallow the law, and that helps keep our streets, schools and social environment clean.
I would love to see this isue adressed again, but with more examples and proof as to why is should be legalized.
Thank you for sharing your oppinion with us.
Marijuana is not a gateway drug Dan. An article from 2 March, 2006 in the Mirror.co.uk says that: "CLAIMS that cannabis use leads to harder drugs were yesterday dismissed as nonsense." It refers to a report prepared by the London-based "International Narcotics Control Board" for the British Parliament.
Your argument that every person who abstains from it solely because it is illegal can only hold water if you assume that all instances of cannabis use are negative. That is a highly subjective area. Don't bother bringing out the other propaganda about the "negative consequences". I've used it long enough now to prove to own satisfaction that every claim made along these lines is a lie.
Marijuana is no more of a gateway drug than alcohol. The only difference is alcohol is legal. The same consequences come with both -- but I would argue that marijuana is safer. When was the last time someone smoked themselves to death? There are risks involved, but they are minimal.
Addiction is possible with even caffiene or even sugar. An addiction to marijuana might cause someone to make bad decisions but not intentionally harm others (as many who are drunk and riled up do). When marijuana is finally legalized, and it will be, the same restrictions should be placed on it as with alcohol.
Lung cancer is possible, but regular cigarette use can cause this as well.
Legalization will lead to abuse, but abuse already happens. I doubt there will be that many more cases of severe abuse or addiction if legalization occurs.
I do know that economically legalization makes sense. A tax placed on marijuana - which if legalized will come into affect as with any other "mind altering" substance - can boost the intake by the government. And prisons will have more room with all of the "criminals" with pot charges on their record are released. And if you have noticed our jails are quite overcrowded at the moment. We could use a break of some kind there.
Overall, if held in the same light as alcohol - which is a drug too - marijuana will do no more significant harm to society.
As a side-note, I've never met an angry pot head. Maybe it will do the world some good and calm us all down.
No form of regulation and penalization will ever stop the flow of the universal panacea known as cannabis.
They will only increase demand and value of blackmarket cannabis.
Only full legalization, or better yet - declassification, of cannabis, will decrease the demand for blackmarket product (of unknown quality) and lead to the production of safe whitemarket (pharmaceutical grade) product of known quality.
Marijuana is used to commonly here yet it is so bad for you. Although making it legal might make it easier to regulate, I'm sure there'll will be problems with dealers and people who abuse it.
I've wanted it legalized for a good while - less people in jail who really shouldn't be there, less crime due to drugs, and even safer marijuana. People keep thinking of marijuana as this big bad addiction - the stuff dealers'll sell you isn't just marijuana. They usually lace it with something else to make it more addictive at a faster pace - and that of course makes it less safe. If pharmacies are selling it, there's no lacing being done - why would a drug company need to lace it when they've got practically every pharmacy in the US selling their product? It'd be unnecessary overkill and bad publicity.
We could heavily tax marijuana (gradual heavy tax, mind you), introduce a marijuana card (so you'd have to pay initially to have the right to buy marijuana, and then the card would be used to track your usage - which keeps people from OD'ing), and maybe try to curb driving whilst high. We could concentrate anti-drug campaigns on the harder drugs, the ones that really deserve all the attention.
I think the US will legalize it eventually, but not until a few years from now at the soonest - once Denver's crime stats come in, then we'll see (Denver legalized it - one ounce for recreational purposes), and when those come in, we'll go from there.
Originally marijuana was banned because of logging companies oddly enough - you could actually use marijuana as a paper-like substance. That's bad for the oxygen-killers because they won't be able to justify cutting down millions of trees/day in Africa.
i really like the comment aboute how pitiful this argument is. i mean you really cant compare smoking pot to jumping on the bed. if you jump on the bed and bang your head you wont do it again. if you get hooked on pot and become a bum your screwed.
Getting hooked on pot and becoming a bum don't really correlate. I know plenty of people who smoke weed on a daily basis and still go to the gym daily, work regularly, make six figures, can be social, and you would never know! Being a bum is a concious decision. If weed is causing you to be lazy then by all means quit. But don't imply that smoking marijuana, even on a daily basis, will make you lazy or a bum. That is just not true.
But you get my point.
Oh I know plenty of hard-working, very intelligent and very successful people who smoke pot on a daily basis, and by no means are they getting more apathetic. The argument that marijuana is a gateway drug is not very convincing, and although it can happen, with money being spent on things like battling prisoners and gangs, you won't really have a problem. The people who are doing the most of very addictive (cocaine, heroin) drug trafficking are from overseas and in gangs. Therefore, you solve the problem.
"Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity"
-Albert Einstein
20 years ago, weed wasnt half bad. Sure, I still dont think it should have been sued, but it wasnt AS Bad. Today, weed is packed with so much shit (chemicals) to make it more powerful that it could be deadly. Leagalizing weed is a bad idea.
I am not sure what you are talking about? Added chemicals -- like pesticided -- or other drugs -- like pcp or cocaine?
And the health affects of stronger marijuana are better! The more potent the weed, the less you smoke, thus lessening the impact of harmful side effects (which in reality are very few to begin with).
No, no, no. Most marijuana smokers NEVER encounter laced marijuana. First of all, it doesn't make business sense. The other drugs that are added are much more expensive, and the amounts used to "lace" it really isn't enough to get anybody addicted. The only times I've acrually seen laced marijuana is when the dealer charged a special price and told people. I didn't smoke it either.
The only chemicals that are put into the weed are perhaps fertilizers to help the plant grow. As for the "This isn't your father's weed" ads, that say that marijuana is more potent: It's false. Marijuana is exactly as potent as it used to be. You can buy schwag weed and you can buy heady weed, just like in the 60s. The ads say that today's weed is twice or thrice stronger than weed in the 60s. Yet, if weed was so un-potent, it wouldn't have got as popular as it did back then. You can read about this: Perry, D., "Street Drug Analysis and Drug Use Trends, Part II, 1969-1976," PharmChem Newsletter 6 (1977).
The Gateway theory has been disproved for some time now. If you're one of the foolish people who still believe it, read some studies: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1990; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Preliminary Estimates from the 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.
Marijuana is NOT phsically addictive. Someone said "well cigarettes are addictive so marijuana is too." No, no, no. Marijuana is not physically addictive at all. About 10% of the world has an "addictive personality" however. Furthermore, anything can be habit forming, and this includes marijuana. Some marijuana smokers, less than 5% of all smokers, actually meet criteria of addiction and dependancy. Thankfully, the withdrawal is so benign that it's almost laughable when comparing it to alcohol, cigarettes, or heroin. For one or two nights, the person may have problems sleeping and eating. That's as far as it goes.
The scientific community agrees: Marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and it can be a very good medicine for many people.
Remember what happened in the 1920s? Alcohol prohibition CREATED Al Copane. Marijuana prohibition creates the drug lords. Marijuana prohibition creates the drug gang wars.
Did any of yall ever hear the word tolerance??? Once you start using this drug you will build a tolerance for it and eventually you will get tired of smoking it and it will not give you the same affect!!! That is why it *IS* a gateway drug because eventually you will need to use cocaine and heroine to get that same affect!!!! Marijuana should not now or ever be legalized!!!!
thats why most people are responsible with it, or at least the people i know.. what happens when u dont smoke it for awhile?!??!! your tolerance goes *DOWN* OMG!!! i would NEVER use heroine and cocaine.. stop judging people. its not a gateway drug unless u let it be..
Come on anything you put in ur body is going to make ya different. pot, like any other drug, is going to negatively effect everyone differently. And to say that it is not addictive is crazy. The addiction might not have the withdrawals of heroin but it certainly creates a mental addiction that just fuels ur need to smoke pot. You become so used to a lifestyle that is based upon socially smoking something to get dumb. But then when it gets to that point when you realize how much you really spend on it, not only with money but your actual time spent, you begin to think what life would be like without it. There are an endless amount of productive things you can do with you day that can progress you threw life. Marijuana is a like a pot hole, some just hit it harder than others.
For people with a chronic illness marijuana has helped them like a more comfortable life. And in California you can legally smoke and possess pot if determined by the guidelines set forth by prop 215 in 1996 adding 11362.5 to the health code of California. [http://www.chrisconrad.com/expert.witness/Prop215.html]
lots of real people smoke pot so maybe u should get real. its a free country.
as for this...
""You become so used to a lifestyle that is based upon socially smoking something to get dumb.""
not everyone smokes it socially and some use it to be creative.(music, ideas, relax)
""But then when it gets to that point when you realize how much you really spend on it, not only with money but your actual time spent, you begin to think what life would be like without it. There are an endless amount of productive things you can do with you day that can progress you threw life. Marijuana is a like a pot hole, some just hit it harder than others."""
Have u ever even smoked pot? unless ur talking about continuosly smoking for like 2 years straight u kinda see what life is like once it wairs off.. in like 1-3 hours
as for productive, dont smoke it when u wanna be productive, its that easy. be responsible with it, just like alcohol or any thing else..
Marijuana legalization? Well there have been several failed attempts. They failed because they have noticed that the number of addicts has grown dramatically and people still died because of drugs.
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dan if marijuana was to be legalized people will just abuse it go to work high mess up what there doing and some jobs if you mess up you could take an innocent persons life. Think about the whole picture not just what u want to see.