Marijuana Legalization; where do you stand?

[ReTroMagBoy]

*CLEARS THROAT*

i am utterly AMAZED at the amount of 100% BULL CRAP coming from some of you AOers....

ill start with a few......go research them on the web if u dont beleive me...

MARIJUANA is NOT addictive. Some may argue that it is slightly psychologically addicting but it is not at all a drug that makes you "need it to function" or ANYTHING along that line. i can tell you personally that marijuana is not addicting. i have had to quit several times for drug-tests and other reasons with EASE along with MILLIONS of other people who you probaly dont even know smoke... in fact, i had to quit after sunday(4/20) because of an upcoming test...i will state first hand being clean for 1 day & 1/2 that i do not feel ANY withdrawl symptoms or the like. i do admit that i would love to smoke right now, but its not a craving and im not out smoking am i??

MARIJUNA does NOT cause impedence or testerone level decreases...MYTH MYTH!! again search all you want find ur gov't links ill find my INDEPENDENT studies.

MARIJUANA does not stay in your system for more than 2-3 hours. In that i mean, the intoxication from smoking does not last more than that. I just read through the last page, and i see someone else already addressed this. its the Metabolites that are left in fat cells and have NO effect on the brain, or body for that matter. Utter BS.

MARIJUNA does NOT kill brain cells. Ok thats a lie, it does kill brain cells, but not ANY more than jogging, jump-roping, holding your breath, or much of any other physical activity. Everything kills brain cells, and the fact that the Gov't twists this to make people think you go stupid from smoking.....very sad....yet, nothing is mentioned about the MASSIVE amount of brain cells killed through alcohol consumption....(think of ur hangover).


before you say anything,

i lost my best friend to some fiends trying to steal some free bud. they took off with my bag and my friend jumped out and ran after them. they shot him one time at close range in the heart with a .22 during a struggle and he died. now you think something like this would make me change my mind about legalizing pot huh? well think of it this way. if our POS gov't hadnt made this illegal people wouldnt do stuff like this. if it continues to be illegal, the same type of things can and WILL happen. my friends life was not worth weed. weed would not have value in peoples minds if it were legal.

[Restola]

Originally posted by SprayingMango
I could care less what habitual users of marijuana on this board have said to me, anyone that needs a Controlled Dangerous Substance, such as marijuana, to function or feel good is of a weak mind and body. I wish I could help you all because you have no idea the damage you are doing to yourselves. You are all addicted, trust me. Denial is all part of the dependency your body has grown for the marijuana. Try not smoking up ONCE for 6 months. You can't do it.

As I said in my last post, something such as Alcohol, can be regulated and the intake can be moderated in such a manner as to not cause addiction. Yes, people have a predisposition to become alcoholics, but the number 1 cause of alcoholism is depression, a pre-existing condition of mental stress. It is also hereditary. People are not inherintly BORN with a predisposition to Marijuana. They BECOME addicted to it.

How does ANY of this support your position that marijuana should be illegal?

If you simply believe "marijuana hurts people and hurting people is bad so make it illegal" then SAY THAT.

I AM NOT A DRUG USER. I dont try to prove or disprove the health effects of drugs. That is NOT an issue as far as I am concerned. Why are you so concerned with what other people do to their bodies SprayingMango?

I find it amusing that people have spent the last 4 pages of this thread nit-picking at the possible health effects of drugs, while COMPLETELY ignoring what giving MILLIONS of dollars OR MORE to gangs by letting them charge THOUSANDS of times more than a drug is worth has done to our neighborhoods (dispite BILLIONS of dollars spent on enforcement each year!).

People will do drugs whether they are illegal or not.

WE CANNOT WIN THE WAR ON DRUGS

[Mango]

Originally posted by Restola
Why are you so concerned with what other people do to their bodies SprayingMango?

Because I care about people and want to help them. Thus, the career I chose. I guess I'm crazy because I have empathy for others...


And since this thread was created to discuss why it should or should not be legalized, I expressed my opinion and the facts with which I base it on. If through what I've posted, even one person has learned something new, then I've succeeded. And yes, the war on drugs does costs lives and money, but war is ugly. You are right, the war will never end so long as there are people.

[InfinatyBPS]

So mango, I'm guessing that you feel that alcohol and tobbaco should be illegal too?

[giblit]

i just recently quit smoking pot because i just didnt like the feeling, not worth it to me, my parents really didnt want me to smoke so i quit for them, i celebrated 4/20 of course but thats another story. i am for the legalzation of pot because you will never stop it, you can regulate it but you cant stop it. if pot was legal it would be great for a lot of people. i personally beleive that pot has medical effects to it, i use to smoke so my knee wouldnt hurt so much thats partly why i smoked so much, but it was a very temporary relief and now im in physical theropy. to rap it up again... im for legalzation.

[than205]

My first link:

http://www.jackherer.com/comparison.html

[cphilip]

LOL...go search em on that net...thats rich...

The very things you demand to hear someone say, I told you from first hand experience and yet you CLAIM the people on the net will debunk them all.

How convienient for you...It tells you just what you want to hear... I am happy you can find something to support your conclusion

I am done. Good luck and do as you wish. I got nothing against you for it.

But I want to ask this. If you are so convinced then why do you ask us here to tell you what we think? And is this just here as a self serving place for you to be an advocate for life styles and lifestyle choices? Seems to me that it is. And realy I could care less if you advocate it elsewhere or do it personaly. I am no Saint either. but is this the place to be doing this? You gotta ask yourself why this keeps coming up and we have to ask ourselves here on AO if we want to be a place to deal with this. At some point we may have to cut it off.

I gave you several real life exeperiences that disprove completely what you want to believe. Never once did I equate it with harder drugs. But your claims its COMPLETELY harmles and COMPLETELY non addictive are false. I know personaly that they are. Nuff said

[Restola]

Originally posted by SprayingMango
Because I care about people and want to help them. Thus, the career I chose. I guess I'm crazy because I have empathy for others...

And because you "care" so much you support the $14 billion the DEA spent last year?

If it was making ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL I might agree with your motives. But in reality the drug war has had no effect on use or availabilty. You believe what you believe because its a knee-jerk reaction and EASY. "I care about people, so lets make things that hurt people illegal". Its a simple emotional response, but is deadly wrong.

How many innocent families and children have been killed or their lives destroyed because gangs are funded with BILLIONS of dollars of illegal money? Pot is the #1 crop in America as of 2002, with a market of $35 billion a year in the US alone (corn, the runner up, only takes in $15 billion a year). Who gets that money? Not legitimate companies that can be held responsible in any way for the condition of their product. And thats ONLY POT.

So sit there and tell yourself you are helping people, when in fact all you are doing is making sure that we will always have the most violent well funded gangs in charge.

[CasingBill]

keep illegal

I didn't read whole thread. Sorry if this is repeat.
It should be illegal. Marijuana is a mind altering drug. It changes your perspective. Someone mentioned that alcohol has the same effect and it is legal. I think it should also be illegal. It does just as much damage. My aunt was killed by a drunk driver. My cousin is in jail for drug related crime.(again) He started with pot when he was around 14. It was clearly a stepping stone to harder drugs. They should both be illegal.

[WicKeD_WaYz]

Originally posted by Restola

LittMag, Wicked is like 14 years old (I'm not making fun of him, just pointing it out). I think he is picturing the couple druggies at his junior high, and thinking that reflects the real world in some way.

If your going to make a stupid comment you should know your facts. Im 18 (you were close ). Dont try and pull the age card with me because Im sure im not one of the younger ones on this board. I would put myself somewhere in the middle.

And there are literally hundreds of stoners at my school(3,500 kids), and I still stand by what I say. I can walk around campus and look around and see who the druggies are for the most part. I should be corrected and say "drugs" not just weed though. Although I kind of roll them both up into the same category.

[than205]

Originally posted by cphilip
LOL...go search em on that net...thats rich...

The very things you demand to hear someone say, I told you from first hand experience and yet you CLAIM the people on the net will debunk them all.

How convienient for you...It tells you just what you want to hear... I am happy you can find something to support your conclusion

Let me start with. I am not 15. I am a parent of a 15 year old. I may have had some similar experiences that you may have had.

cphillip, I respect you and your opinion as allways is well thought out.

I have in the past, among other things, smoked cigarettes and pot. I quit tobacco 6 years ago, and pot many years before that. The funny thing is, I still want a cig. I however, have no need to smoke pot. What I am saying is this, there are different people in this world. And I guess some people have harder times with just about anything.

I believe any compound you put in your body will affect your body. I recently read an article citing the immediate and permanent changes that caffiene does to the brain. The research cited that this change made the body essentially addicted upon first usage. And the funny thing is it is possible to overdose on caffiene.
The (albiet lop-sided, I'll admit that) web pages I have referred to contest that it is impossible to OD on pot.
My belief is that might be true, but (again) I have no desire to find out.

As I said before, I have no great need to smoke pot.
But I do remember one key thing when I was a preteen.
I watched a dean from a respected college being interviewed. I remember the "talking head" asking, "So, Professor so-and-so, you are saying that based on your research marijuana is harmless?"
I remember him clearly replying on national television "There are no long-term permanent effects from the usage of Marijauna". That blew me away.
I stored that little nugget in my head.

I grew and went through what every teen seems to have gone through. I then got a career and had children. I no longer had time (or money) to mess around. And besides I would feel like a hypocrit. Now this is a key point.
I enjoy the occasional beer or perhaps a glass of wine.
However, I don't delude myself by thinking that it is not a drug. I also realize that many other things also fall under this category.

So, I try to look at things objectively. Actually, I try to look at all things objectively. And like many people here I try to do my research. It is funny that we're having this debate. I have recently taken to reading what I can about this issue. So far, I'm leaning towards legalising it.

The only nagging thing I have is this:
Where do we stop? What are criteria for making anything legal?
Everyone has their little pet thing.

The bottom line is I still would prefer that no one here give up. But please be receptive to other possibilties.
And keep the public debate going.

To those that are considering anything. Please be carefull. But cphillip is right on one thing, your money would better spent on other things.
Like paintball.
Play on!!!

[ReTroMagBoy]

CasingBill-

i see you have also suffered huge losses because of drugs. but what you must also think is that if alcohol was made illegal again, we would STILL have drunk drivers(very unfortunate) and at the same time we would have Alcohol-related Crime. Marijuana although i personally dont think it affects driving(but i am against driving under the influence of ANYTHING) is in this situation. Like i said, my best friend was murdered for weed on December 6, 2002. I thought over alot of **** after it happened. Of course i quit smoking weed and all for a while, but being open-minded i realized that marijuana isnt to blame. its the people. and what feeds these people is the profit involved in selling weed illegally and knowing that they can do things like robbing people of their weed because its illegal to possess it in the first place. but people will always be against the legalization of any drugs but they just DONT understand that people will continue to use them anytime they want whether its legal or not. Seriously its pretty bad, i live in a good neighborhood and everything. im in the suburbs in a rich area and i can still get ANY drug any time any place any day and im not even in that game anymore. please think about it the other way. Legalizing drugs will stop alot of the drug-related crime. Further prohibitions of drugs will result in a few good DEA-busts....but...more crimes, more deaths, more illegal money, and more peoples lives turned upside down.

[cphilip]

Excellent post than205! I agree and it seems similar to my story without the trajedy I saw in mine. But I do have a 16.5 year old. I too have a tolerance for it but I know its not without risks that some seem to think it is. Thats what I was trying to get across to them

I recomend if you do smoke it that you limit your intake to no more than once a week. And while its illegal consider your actions criminal as thats what they indeed are. I do recommend some sort of decriminalization. But I do not advocate the use of it. Its a waste of your money and time.

[bluepiz]

thanks for the link about infertility. But that was no "clinical proof" that it will make you IMPOTENT.

Spraying Mango ----- Also, for all you guys out there that smoke up, THC will eventually kill your sex drive by almost stopping the production of Testosterone. And it makes you impotent. Clinically proven.

The only thing your link did for me was tell me that pot has a new use too, birth control!

the conclusion from the link you gave

In the meantime, though, if you're a heavy pot smoker and also trying to have a baby, stop smoking.

Ok, so if I'm not trying to have a baby, then it doesn't matter how much I smoke. In fact, it will only help me not have a baby. And if I'm trying to have a baby, then I'll just take a break for a couple of months, which isn't that hard, since ive done it before.
Any responsible parent that wants to have a baby shouldn't be trying it high anyway. Survival of the fittest, I say.

I gave you several real life exeperiences that disprove completely what you want to believe

No you didnt. you said you had real life experiences, but you refused to share. Now, you gave us your reasons for not giving us the real life experiences, but the fact still remains that you didn't give them to us. Why should I be convinced by someone that basically says, "it screwed up my life. i'm not going to tell you about it, but since I'm some random guy on a messageboard that you've never met, you should believe me." I shouldn't.
What happened with your loved ones has nothing to do with whether marijuana is illegal or not. It was illegal, and this still happened. So this real-life story of yours may put MJ in a bad light, but it in no way supports prohibition. The prohibition that you're supporting is far worse than anything MJ could do. Remember alcohol prohibition in the 30's? Remember the crime rings and gangsters that made large quantities of $$? Al Capone? If you've studied your history, you would know that violent crime dropped significantly when the ban of alcohol was lifted. Are you trying to tell me that repealling the prohibition of marijuana will do nothing to help violent crime?

Try not smoking up ONCE for 6 months. You can't do it

Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? I can, I have, and I will in the future too. But I will continue to go back to smoking. Why? Not because I "too weak of mind and body", but because, simply, I like it.

[cphilip]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bluepiz

No you didnt. you said you had real life experiences, but you refused to share. Now, you gave us your reasons for not giving us the real life experiences, but the fact still remains that you didn't give them to us. Why should I be convinced by someone that basically says, "it screwed up my life. i'm not going to tell you about it, but since I'm some random guy on a messageboard that you've never met, you should believe me." I shouldn't.

You didn't read anything I said did you? I said ask me anything about it you want. I gave you a brief over view and asked you to ask any details you want. I didn't get to last time as the thread got out of hand and got closed. You didn't know that did you? I guess I can assume that...

I told you why I didn't tell it last time before some other mod closed the thread. Unfortunately you seem to have missed all that. Sigh.... So there you go


What happened with your loved ones has nothing to do with whether marijuana is illegal or not.

Huh? Man do you link bizzar things around. Your about just incoherant on that disjointed thought.Have no idea what the heck you are even trying to say here.

It was illegal, and this still happened.

Huh agian! Another complete missread of what I said.Heck I have no idea what that is all about!

So this real-life story of yours may put MJ in a bad light, but it in no way supports prohibition.

Did you read my thoughts on the legalizaton part AT ALL?I now am prepared to say BS on trying to twist those to conclusion of my position into that. Prohibition? I do not reacall ever calling for that. Sorry but that ain't gonna fly. You just blew your credibility with me.

The prohibition that you're supporting is far worse than anything MJ could do. Remember alcohol prohibition in the 30's? Remember the crime rings and gangsters that made large quantities of $$? Al Capone? If you've studied your history, you would know that violent crime dropped significantly when the ban of alcohol was lifted. Are you trying to tell me that repealling the prohibition of marijuana will do nothing to help violent crime?

HUH!!!!??????? MORE PROHIBITION TALK...when in the world did I address crime or prohibition or ANYTHING but decriminalization? Read it. You obviously did not. And commented on them anyway. Tisk Tisk maybe if you were not so stoned you could comprehend...


Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? I can, I have, and I will in the future too. But I will continue to go back to smoking. Why? Not because I "too weak of mind and body", but because, simply,

At this point I will just assume your not talking to me. I will just assume you have no idea what you are trying to lay on whom here. I think you mixed em all up and aimed em around at just anyone.

I like it.

GOOD! Enjoy!