Marijuana and the legalization of it.

[drew70]

The second reason is the other thing that owns half of Washington. The religious right. Apparently, everyone is going to Hell if they have any fun on Earth, and they have to make sure everyone plays by their rules or no rules at all. I guess Jeebus said so or something.

Still bashing the Christians, eh Dave? You know, even though the rules clearly don't apply to you, here is one of which you ought to at least pretend to be aware...

How does a member get a partial ban?

Harass a group of members...directly on a regular basis...

As for the marijuana, I also agree it should be legal, but with the same restrictions as alcohol; i.e age, driving, operating heavy equipment, etc. I would be growing my own in my back woods but for this silly law.

 

[Dave2112]

It isn't the religious right. It's the religious. Think Hillary would push pot legalization? That, and a continuous propaganda campaign that mercilessly pounds home the (bullshit) message that pot is a "gateway" drug. If pot IS a gateway drug, it is no more so than beer.

Two good points. When morality and fear play a hand in decision making, nothing gets decided. At least nothing that's not self-serving, anyway.

 

[JohnnyB]

Personally, I couldn't care less what people do with there spare time. But what I was wondering is, why should it be legalised? All the arguments are about the reasons as to why it should be illegal, but no one is really giving a good enough reason as to why it should be legal. It's a drug. It has no real beneficial effects, apart from maybe medicinal use.

When I was young, I used to go out and play with my friends. As we grew up, we kept ourselves active. The communities made an effort to keep kids and teenagers happy and busy on after school projects that thought us a lot about ourselves and the world around us. Now that I'm grown up (well physically, if not mentally 😀 ), I take the same approach to things now. I keep myself busy, and don't bother just sitting around, letting the world go by.

The reason I bore you all with this homely tale, is because isn't this what we should be doing with our kids and ourselves today? Should we be trying to better ourselves, or should we just sit around getting wasted on beer and weed, waiting for Southpark to come on?

But, to be honest, I can't see it being legalised for the basic reason that it'll be too hard to tax. It will be possible for the government to make money from it, but to start off, it'll be too difficult and so I can't see anyone commiting political suicide in order to make it legal. Just smoke em if you got em and hope you don't get caught 😀

 

[spareme]

making enemies I know, but........

I think pot should be treated like any other drug, not like alcohol. Do we tax antibiotics? As far as I can see, my opinion, pot sucks the ambition out of some people. I would rather see diet pills, the real ones we used to get when I was a young kid exploring drugs, be legalized. Maybe we would have a little more ambition in our young folks.

America has become fat and lazy. I would rather see our youth working too hard than not enough. I think prostitution should be legalized. Imagine the income from taxes, and doctors would have to provide health cards for those in the profession. Infection would be controlled. I know more people that have sex, than I know that do drugs. Just my opinion.

 

[Dave2112]

The reason I bore you all with this homely tale, is because isn't this what we should be doing with our kids and ourselves today? Should we be trying to better ourselves, or should we just sit around getting wasted on beer and weed, waiting for Southpark to come on?

Hey, Johnny. I don't disagree with your post in principle, and it was well-said. This is a strong debate that's been going on for awhile, and both sides have valid points. That's what makes it hard to find a solution to. I fully support legalization, but I don't count opposing arguements as invalid. I can honestly see where some of these concerns are serious for anti-legalization folk. I don't always agree with them, but you do, and that's cool.

I just wanted to touch on this one point, though. I completely get where you're coming from, as that's a concern even I have. But, to be fair, I don't get high and sit around "waiting for South Park". Some of us who smoke don't do it for "the sake of getting wasted" anymore than a guy coming home and having a beer is doing it "to get drunk". Make sense? Not everyone who smokes is overdoing it. Like any substance that affects mood, and that includes alcohol, it has great potential for abuse. There are many of us who do not abuse, though. A beer or two after work....a joint while working on a new song or something. (And I know I'm gonna sound like I'm reinforcing a stereotype here, but I really do believe this...I find pot to have stimulating effects on the creativity parts of the brain. I know that, as a musician, my creative thought process flows more effectively at times.)

I do a lot of things to better myself. I've got a whole houseful of rescued animals that depend on me. I'm the guy in the neighborhood with the 4X4 who plows everyone out when it snows. Shit like that. Pot hasn't made me "melt into the couch" like in those commercials. I'd just like you to know that there are a lot of us out here who smoke that you'd probably never even guess, because you'd never know. Not everyone's an abuser. And to base the legality of marijuana on those who abuse it is akin to basing beer's legality on its abusers. The arguement that's good for one is good for the other, right?

 

[Redmage]

Personally, I couldn't care less what people do with there spare time. But what I was wondering is, why should it be legalised? All the arguments are about the reasons as to why it should be illegal, but no one is really giving a good enough reason as to why it should be legal. It's a drug. It has no real beneficial effects, apart from maybe medicinal use.

Legal is the default. Anything should be legal unless there are compelling reasons to make it illegal. Enforcing any law means spending the taxpayers' money and limiting freedom. You should never do this unless you have to.

So the burden is on those who want to keep pot illegal to show why this is necessary for the good of the public. That means that at the very least they need to prove that marijuana is more dangerous than drugs that are already legal, such as alcohol and nicotine. So far, the evidence to prove this is lacking.

 

[JohnnyB]

Legal is the default. Anything should be legal unless there are compelling reasons to make it illegal. Enforcing any law means spending the taxpayers' money and limiting freedom. You should never do this unless you have to.

So the burden is on those who want to keep pot illegal to show why this is necessary for the good of the public. That means that at the very least they need to prove that marijuana is more dangerous than drugs that are already legal, such as alcohol and nicotine. So far, the evidence to prove this is lacking.

In an ideal world, everything would be legal until a good reason comes up to make it illegal. But unfortunately, we live in the real world, which never really makes sense 😀 The idiots that be decide what we can and can't do, and sady, that's usually based on how much money they can make off of us suckers. Since it's hard for them to make money off of marijuana, then why should they let us enjoy ourselves? 😀 It's a sad state of affairs, but we're slaves to capitalism (Maybe Fidel had the right idea after all )

 

[SmarterthanU]

I think pot should be treated like any other drug, not like alcohol...

Alcohol is a drug.

 

[SmarterthanU]

Also, just un case it hasn't been said in this thread, pot was very nearly legalized under Carter. President Jimmy Carter told Congress in 1977, that: "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."

 

[Dave2112]

Legal is the default. Anything should be legal unless there are compelling reasons to make it illegal. Enforcing any law means spending the taxpayers' money and limiting freedom. You should never do this unless you have to.

So the burden is on those who want to keep pot illegal to show why this is necessary for the good of the public. That means that at the very least they need to prove that marijuana is more dangerous than drugs that are already legal, such as alcohol and nicotine. So far, the evidence to prove this is lacking.

Perfect! We are in complete agreement. It's the same concept that our legal system is based on. In a court of law...you don't have to prove your innocence...they have to prove your guilt.

As soon as someone can convince me that pot is more dangerous than alcohol, I'll agree to pot staying illegal...if the same rules were enforced upon alcohol. Just so there's no double-standard.

 

[Scinsor]

Wouldv'e been cool if it were legal when I was in high school. Can't smoke it now cause I'm in the Army.

 

[Dave2112]

Didn't stop those Vietnam boys!

 

[johnttickle]

Legal is the default. Anything should be legal unless there are compelling reasons to make it illegal. Enforcing any law means spending the taxpayers' money and limiting freedom. You should never do this unless you have to.

So the burden is on those who want to keep pot illegal to show why this is necessary for the good of the public. That means that at the very least they need to prove that marijuana is more dangerous than drugs that are already legal, such as alcohol and nicotine. So far, the evidence to prove this is lacking.

I completely agree with this post. Thanks Redmage.

Mahalo and Aloha, John

 

[tickmankyle1]

hemp

Help
Educate
Mass
People
you get more enathol pound for pound with hemp then any other product on earth 1 acher of hemp produces as much paper as you would get from 4 achers of trees. later

 

[drew70]

Didn't stop those Vietnam boys!

Didn't stop us post Vietnam boys either. That's because there was no valid test for THC in the urine back in those days. That didn't come along until the early eighties.

 

[Bizkit]

I havent smoked in while now.Mainly because of the possibilty of a drug test at work.Which is a joke because 99% of the people I work with have or have had a drug or alcohol problem.I guess it comes with the job?I say legalize,because I love me some kind bud.