Should Marijuana be legalized for medical purposes/recreation?

[Maggot6]

Alright, my parents went to "bali" which is somewhere in the phipines(sp, that was horrible :P) and there was a sign saying "If you bring drugs into our country, there will be a death pentaly" or something related. They asked a few people, and it was true.. Imagine if that law was in place, that would made things messy and interesting.... Not saying it's good or bad, but just something to discuss.

[AcemanPB]

Instead of spend millions of dollars trying to control it, why not make money by taxing it. From what I've seen if people want to smoke weed they are going to smoke weed.

[fcpchop]

first off im happy to see this hasn't been locked because we have kept it at a mature level. First off here is a good quote from former president Jimmy Carter."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."
-REFERENCE: President Jimmy Carter: Message to Congress, August 2, 1977.

heres another good quote. "annual drug deaths: tobacco- 395,000; 'legal' drugs- 38,000; illegal drug overdoses- 5,200; marijuana- 0. considering government subsidizes of tobacco, just what is our government protecting us from in the drug war?"- Ralph Nader

According to a 1999 federally commissioned report by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM), "Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications."
-REFERENCE: National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM). 1999.
as for the smoke being unheathly part, there are many devices that help stop the harmful effects smoke, like vaporizers, and even bongs. But instead of making them legal the goverment makes them extremely illegal resulting in more unhealthy smoking.

Taxpayers annually spend between $7.5 billion and $10 billion arresting and prosecuting individuals for marijuana violations. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for marijuana possession only.
REFERENCE: NORML. 1997. Still Crazy After All These Years: Marijuana Prohibition 1937-1997: A report prepared by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
It's pretty safe to say I am for decriminalization(sp)

[1stdeadeye]

No!!!

[WicKeD_WaYz]

Ryan I swear to god, dont get busted like Skeet, and Haw.

haha I know man. Its getting so ridiculous over there right now. I was talking to a coach today and he said its always a bad time of the year when the players arent supervised. They better clean it up soon though...

Or Schafer ... or Downing.

At this rate, you'll be starting against Miami, OH by default because everyone else will be serving a one-game suspension.

that would be amazing...not that I want it to happen though.

O and TJ's was pretty innocent. He had an arrest warrant for a trafic ticket, but I guess it was a misunderstanding on court dates or something. Not as bad as some of the other idiots....

[WicKeD_WaYz]

I question the statistic (and the justification after that statistic) that 90% of teens have tried pot.

I didnt take the poll man, I dont know how accurate it is. But being a senior in highschool I can tell you its up there, 90% isnt TOO far off. If it was my friends being surveryed the numbers would be way higher, but I guess there are kids who sit at home and study and watch tv and stuff too....I dont know, but I can say just about everyone I know who has gone through highschool and lived a halfway social life has tried it at least one time. Even if it was one hit 4 years ago, they still tried it. And I wasnt justifying it. Ive done lots of stuff I regret, pot being at the bottom of that list....

o yea, and heres an interesting read on the health effects from weed vs. tobacco.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabi..._health2.shtml

[Lohman446]

TO those of you arguing that there are no dangerous side effects to weed: Your idiots, thats why most of America dismisses your idea. May it be safer than tobacco / alchohol very well may be but there are risks to anything that alters your chemical balance, or that you inhale into your lungs... part of life folks. Whining about zero, makes your argument seem laughable.

[fcpchop]

May it be safer than tobacco / alchohol very well may be but there are risks to anything that alters your chemical balance, or that you inhale into your lungs... part of life folks.

you are aware that there are tons and tons of "legal" drugs that do exactly that, and they are all excepted in soiety with no penalty by law. I bet there are many that alter your chemical balance worse than marijuna.

[Lohman446]

you are aware that there are tons and tons of "legal" drugs that do exactly that, and they are all excepted in soiety with no penalty by law. I bet there are many that alter your chemical balance worse than marijuna.

I'm well aware that there are several over the counter medications, and prescription meds that carry far more dangers than marijuna. Tylenol and Aspirin it is often said would not be over the counter meds if rereleased today. I am not in favor of marijuna or any other drug being forbidden by the federal government - restricted sure but not flatly forbidden. My point is this. I often hear people claim that there is NO risk to marijuna. This, to many people, insantly invalidates your argument, as it is plainly and obviously not true.

I would also agree that the risk to reward of other beneficial drugs, or mood altering substances is far worse than marijuna, and that its continued legal issues are rooted in politics rather than good science.

I just think that there are a lot of statistics that seem to be tossed out there with an "in your face" attitude that weakens the argument to legalize it. 90% of people have tried it? I don't think so, I could be wrong but I just don't think so. It has no risks. I doubt it, again I could be wrong, but I don't think so. When I hear these arguments these big signs in my head come on that say zealot and your arguments then loose credibility.

There are more dangerous drugs out there - sounds to be like a logical argument worth considering. There are a lot of logical arguments worth considering, but the extreme arguments (by both sides) are ridiculous

[spantol]

I often hear people claim that there is NO risk to marijuna. This, to many people, insantly invalidates your argument, as it is plainly and obviously not true.

It's trivially not true, sure--there's risk in everything. When pot proponents make this argument, they're speaking relatively.

The cancer risks--the usual suspects when this argument pops up--are a function of the method of delivery, not the drug itself. There's more than one way to skin this particular cat.

Research into the long-term affects of consumption, though highly politicized, has been largely inconclusive. For every study claiming harm, another dimisses it. In contrast, we know definitively that smoking and chronic alcohol ingestion have adverse health effects.

Why the discrepency? Well, two of these substances have well-funded lobbies to speak on their behalf. The other has a bunch of patchouli-smelling hippies, disaffected, naive teenagers, and the occasional libertarian.

[tard]

No way in hell it should be legalized. I visited jamaica over vacation and the people there smoke pot all freakin day long. They are lazy, good for nothing, stranded idiots.


If you legalize it, we would be just like any other country like jamaica, or holland.

Look at thse people, and look at yourself.

You really dont want to be that way...

No because if it were legalised the amount of pot smokers would increase very little if any at all because right now if someone wants to smoke pot they will because its so easy to obtain.

One cool idea i heard as protest would be to have a ton of people all turn themselves in having pot and then there would be even more overcrowding in jails and they would have to pay a lot of money to send them to jail.

[WicKeD_WaYz]

Lohman, when I put out those numbers, I wasnt arguing for legalization. Im saying that from what Ive heard and read, it doesnt make sense to me thats its not legal. I dont have all the facts to argue for it to be legalized so I wont. Personally, I dont care if its legalized or not. I dont smoke pot because it involves breathing it into my lungs, and I need my lungs to play football. Its really that simple for me. I cant take the risk of it effecting my lungs even 5 or 10 percent, because that puts me 5 or 10 percent behind the offensive tackle for Michigan next year.

That being said....

I dont think there are too many people that will argue "weed has NO bad health effects." I think the argument is more along the lines of "its worth it". As in being high is worth the small amount of bad effects it has on ones health. Just like Tylenol. Its not good for you, and hard on your liver, but used conservitively(sp?) its worth it to temporarily relieve headaches. Maybe that wasnt the best analogy but you get what I mean.

And one more thing. I already made a thread on here about a legal drug called Salvia. Its legal to buy at any head shop, and will give you a 10 minute trip pretty damn close to an acid or mushroom trip. Now how does that make sense? It doesnt. Our government isnt consistent.

[Target Practice]

If you do illegal drugs, you are an idiot.

Marijuana to Meth, you are nothing but a goddamn loser.

That is all.

[TDonovan]

Doesn't matter to me... There will always be something else, something new. There is no solution to the problem of substance use/abuse (drinking, smoking, etc.). People want to do it, THAT is the real problem.

Really if you think about it... Everything starts at childhood. American parents are failing their kids. They don't get the attention and lessons they need, they don't develop the morals they should, they don't have the respect for this country and the law.

[billybob_81067]

If you do illegal drugs, you are an idiot.

Marijuana to Meth, you are nothing but a goddamn loser.

That is all.

T.P., I for once actually agree with you on this one!!! High five man!