Inspired by the few comments in the Sublime thread. I'm on the "LOL, drugs r bad" camp. Try to change my opinion. Was an idiot. Opinion changed.
1. You cannot overdose on marijuana. 2. It is not addictive on the same level as other drugs, including alcohol. Yeah, people who smoke marijuana might really love it and can't get enough, but the same could be said about cake or video games. Heroin and alcohol can actually hurt you physically if you're addicted and try to quit (withdrawals), marijuana will not. 3. It's an issue of individual choice. A person smoking pot does not affect you, so who cares? It's like gay marriage. Let people do what makes them happy if it doesn't hurt anyone. These next two are more about the war on drugs in general, and that includes marijuana. 4. Keeping drugs illegal creates violence. If drugs were available at the grocery store, drug cartels couldn't exist. People could just go to the local pot shop and buy some. Having it illegal creates a kind of "wild west" scenario where the people who do have the drugs can charge a bunch of money because where else is anyone going to get it? 5. The war on drugs (in the U.S.) creates racial oppression. In the U.S., minority groups disproportionately inhabit poor areas in the country. This is probably because up until maybe 50 years ago, they were legally seen as second class citizens. So, young children are born in poor areas. Because the area is poor, the educational system sucks. Because the educational system sucks, there is pretty much no chance of going to college. Not that they could even pay for college, because the jobs suck (the area is poor). So the educational system has failed, the economy has failed, what are these young kids supposed to do? Well, you can sell drugs. Because drugs are illegal, you can make a lot of money. In fact, it's one of the only ways to make lots of money in these areas. Then you get caught for having some weed on you. You go to jail because of mandatory minimum sentences. Did you think it was hard to get a legit legal job or an education before? Because now that you have a criminal record, you sure as shit aren't gonna have those things. So what do you do? You go back to selling drugs. It's an endless cycle that keeps poor people poor and oppressed people oppressed. So when people say "marijuana should be illegal because drugs are bad," not only do they show incredible hypocrisy (I don't see them lobbying for alcohol prohibition, a drug that is more dangerous than weed in pretty much every way), not only are they trying to impose their own moral values on others similar to religious fundamentalists and gay marriage, but they are missing the bigger social picture. It's more than just a bunch of hippies saying "it's my right, mannnn." It's about institutional oppression.
Here in Colorado, this pit opened up in the ground now demons fly out and rape every body. I haven't seen the sun in weeks because of all the marijuana smoke. Sublime record sales have sky rocketed. It's ugly shit man. I just wish they would make it illegal again.
Medical marijuana should be legal, but not recreational. Not gonna explain cause a) I'm shitty at explaining my thoughts. b) it may or may not turn into a rant
Having it legally sold contributes to the economy and reduces chances for the weed to be laced with drugs like LSD and such, making it safer. No one has ever died from smoking weed, nor been addicted to it on a higher level than being addicted to video games. I feel a huge reason like people are against weed because it's illegal, and for the lack of proper education on the subject.
We legalized rec pot and we're doing just fine. I don't understand what problems people could have at this point. It is literally completely harmless and who is anyone else to tell me what I put in my body. Besides the medical MJ system just gets abused.
One of my main problems would be driving while smoking marijuana. But then again, laws could be passed against that.
Exactly. No different than alcohol - we have laws against driving drunk. But TBH, driving while high is probably a lot safer than driving drunk.
Yeah not exactly sure if I can trust my health teacher. To be honest, she's a complete idiot. No one pays attention to her, and that's the only class I've fallen asleep in. All year long she just talks about why drugs are bad, blah, blah, blah. I get it, they're bad. No need to spend a whole fucking year on the subject. Anyways, I'm guessing my opinions will change on the matter as I learn more legit information on marijuana.
Pretty much. It basically goes like this: "Why is marijuana illegal?" "Because it's bad." "Why is it bad?" "It's an illegal drug." Public school education is terrible when it comes to drugs and, even more-so, sex education. One of the common threads throughout my 4 years of college was professors constantly bringing up how unfortunate it is that public education refuses to provide real education on these issues because there are lots of ignorant people who think, for instance, that if you teach kids that sex is a natural phenomenon that is not evil, every kid will just run around having sex. Even though studies have shown that kids who are more educated about sex in a positive light are actually less likely to have sex, because it's not a mystery to them and they know the real risks. I don't particularly remember the drug portions of public school health classes, but they're just as bad I'm sure.
I feel like Xero have summed up perfectly the whole thing. So yeah, not gonna add much. Weed should definitely be legal. The only period in my life when I though otherwise was until I was 14 or 15, and that was because people had told me drugs were bad an marijuana was bad. When I actually learned about the matter, I realized how much what people had told me was nonsense. At the end of the day, I'm sure it will one day be legalized, and when it will be the case, people will look back at the times when it was prohibited, and think" WTF? How did it happen that these stupid laws ever existed?"
To make it perfectly clear, I am in full support of legalizing marijuana and allowing state governments to tax its sale appropriately. I do think its legalization would solve a lot of problems, especially on the end of unnecessarily prosecuting people and placing them into prisons - freeing up some of the cost of processing those individuals. It would bring in extra revenue to a state, especially to states like California that have a difficult time funding their public schools and could use the extra money. With that said, I think people need to be educated about the impacts of its usage. Not to generalize, but I know a couple of people who I feel have changed since they started using marijuana. Granted, this was daily usage - and it was quite a lot. And I wouldn't necessarily attribute the changes in their personalities solely to their marijuana usage. At the same time, though, I do feel as though the claims of it being a 'gateway' drug are not *completely* false. I think it does change people, and I think if people do it enough they may feel tempted to try something harder (e.g. cocaine, heroin, etc.). At the same time, purely recreational and medical usage by educated individuals who are aware of the symptoms and impacts of its usage oftentimes leads to no harm, which leads me to believe that I think its legalization could work out just fine with the proper support and educational promotion. I think people oppose it largely because they know nothing about it, and the truth is that we teach kids when they're young not to touch drugs at all (which is still a good thing, in my opinion). At the same time, as kids get older and they start making their own decisions, it'd be nice to educate them about healthy marijuana usage and keeping them away from criminal acts and people. So, that's where I stand on the issue. Also, Xero21 summarized arguments for its legalization perfectly.
"Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally on our planet, serves a thousand different functions, all of them positive. To make marijuana against the law is like saying that God made a mistake. Like on the seventh day God looked down, "There it is. My Creation, perfect and holy in all ways. Now I can rest. [Gives shocked expression] Oh my Me! I left fuckin' pot everywhere. I should never have smoked that joint on the third day. Hehe, that was the day I created the possum. Still gives me a chuckle. But if I leave pot everywhere, that's gonna give people the impression they're supposed to … use it. Now I have to create Republicans." " … and God wept", I believe is the next part of that story." Bill Hicks
Do I think it should be legal? Yes. Primarily for prison overpopulation concerns and the relative low risk nature of it. I actually think there are several drugs that should be, but that is a whole other ballgame. That said, I completely disagree with people that say its harmless, and that it isn't addictive. True, the life threatening withdrawal symptoms may not be present, but I've also never seen anyone quit successfully. I've seen too many people throw away great opportunities because they refuse to stop smoking for a couple of months in order to pass a single UA. And I've never understood the "It's Natural" argument. All things considered, if it ever does reach full legal status, as a personal choice, I still won't smoke it. There are a lot of other people that will do the same. Those that do want to smoke it, probably will, legal or not. It's not particularly difficult to get a hold of. And I think that is wasted taxable income that could be put to good use. Like paying teachers what they deserve to make or what have you.
Colorado Sells $19 Million in Cannabis in March: $1.9 Million Goes to Schools and Crime Down 10% Drugs r bad.