Should Marijuana be legalized for medical purposes/recreation?

[Target Practice]

1.-I thought we lived in a free country. Why dont we start acting that way. Just because you think its bad that means I cant do with my body what I want to.

2.-Lets be realistic, Alcohol is a gateway drug, Not marijuana. Lets stop the hipocrisy and let people do as they wish with thier own bodies and in the process not only save billions of dollars, but make money by taxing it and making crime go down drastically. Why let the gang bangers make all the money while us taxpayers spend it trying to stop them. Why shouldnt we get a peice of the action and stop hemoraging cash from our own pockets to stop this violence.

Says the guy with "420" in his nick.

1) We do not live in your version of a "free country." True freedom is not, as Hobbes put it, "the absence of external impediments to motion." This country has a long tradition of positive liberty, not your negative-liberty-formed one.

2) Are you saying that marijuana can/does not in any way lead to harder drugs? Okay, have fun with that. Who's the hypocrite? Me, because I have a glass of wine 3 times a year or a beer once a year?

You don't want to spend tax dollars to fight what is illegal? Okay then. Let's make drugs legal. And theft. And rape. And murder. And prostitution (can't have those vice squads using up our precious taxes). Hell, since we aren't using any tax money, you don't have to pay your taxes if you don't want to.

[Lohman446]

2.-Lets be realistic, Alcohol is a gateway drug, Not marijuana.

I would argue that they are both very much gateway drugs. I would argue that both have very negative side effects when used.

Edit: I get sick of hearing the pure denial in justification of its use. There are hazards, it does effect you, it does have negative consequences. Ignoring them, denying them, and arguing against research that may be hyped but has some base truths weakens your argument. Accept the consequences and ramifications of what you do.

[Target Practice]

Here's a little response I whipped up for a hypothetical dealing with the justification of marijuana use. In the prompt, the woman was the administrator of a drug rehab center, yet was a regular marijuana user. She wasn't married, had no children, did not drive while high, had the money to support her habit, and she knew all the risks. Is she justified in using marijuana? Clearly, it's an exeptional case, but we'll get to that later.

Edit: I aced the exercise, by the way.

[Target Practice]

I would argue that they are both very much gateway drugs. I would argue that both have very negative side effects when used.

This is true, but think about this.

You have your first beer. Now, you drink it for a while, but it's getting old. Now, you want something a little stronger, or a little different. Which are you more likely to try, harder alcohol, or weed?

Alcohol leads to other alcohol. It may be stronger, more potent, but it's still alcohol. When you get down to it, even hard alcohol isn't so bad.

Look what happens after your first joint, however. You need more and more to get the high. So you move on to harder stuff. Here is the difference:

The crap that marijuana leads to is a hell of a lot worse then the crap that alcohol generally leads to. It is not a question of whether or not they are gateway drugs, because they are. It is a question of magnitude between what they lead to.

It doesn't go backwards. You don't move from meth or LSD to Red Label.

[Chris42050]

Says the guy with "420" in his nick.

1) We do not live in your version of a "free country." True freedom is not, as Hobbes put it, "the absence of external impediments to motion." This country has a long tradition of positive liberty, not your negative-liberty-formed one.

2) Are you saying that marijuana can/does not in any way lead to harder drugs? Okay, have fun with that. Who's the hypocrite? Me, because I have a glass of wine 3 times a year or a beer once a year?

You don't want to spend tax dollars to fight what is illegal? Okay then. Let's make drugs legal. And theft. And rape. And murder. And prostitution (can't have those vice squads using up our precious taxes). Hell, since we aren't using any tax money, you don't have to pay your taxes if you don't want to.

Seems I have hit a nerve. How sherlock of you to see my nick name.

1. Why shouldnt I be allowed to do with my body that with which I wish? Really I ant to know?

2. Alcohol is by far more a gateway drug than pot will ever be. Go ahead and deny it but you know I am right. Now why would we want to make theft legal. That is hurting another human being. Rape, again hurting another human being. Murder, again that is hurting another human being. Do you see how rediculous your arguments are becoming. Tell me what I am doing to you or others when I smoke pot. Nothing.

[Eric Cartman]

Marijuana is a gateway drug. That's a fact.

No. No it isn't. I'm amazed that anyone actually still believes this blatant propaganda

All the stuff they put on TV isn't just propaganda, people. It's real, and it happens.

Most of the "stuff they put on TV" is propaganda plain and simple. Prohibition for alcohol simply didn't work. There is nothing wrong with drinking in moderation. The laws against marijuana use are hypocritical. There is nothing wrong with moderate use of marijuna. It can be ingested in other ways than smoking making it less harmful than tobacco or alcohol both of which are legal. Where is the logic in this?

As far as medicinal uses are concerned, marijuana is very beneficial for AIDS patients, glaucoma sufferers, MS patients, cancer patients etc. Opiates are legal and available for use for many of these patients and they are truly dangerous and heavily addictive. Again, where is the logic in this?

Denying medical marijuana to suffering people is inhumane plain and simple. At least the laws in Canada are slowly coming around to change this horrible injustice. Hopefully someone in the U.S. will finally start to see the light in this regard as well (sadly I'm not optimistic).
I watched a fantastic show about this called Crimes of Compassion about the compassion clubs in B.C. who provide marijuana in various forms (cookies, tea, joints) to sufferers of various diseases with prescriptions for marijuana. How anyone could look any of these people in the face and tell them that what they are doing is wrong is completely beyond my comprehension.

And just for the record, there are degrees of being stoned just as there are degrees of being drunk. Operating a motor vehicle in anything but a sober state is irresponsible and wrong. Someone with a light buzz from weed may not be as dangerous as someone who's downed 18 beers, but they're still not fit to operate a vehicle.

[Lohman446]

No. No it isn't. I'm amazed that anyone actually still believes this blatant propaganda

I am amazed at the logic that argues that doing an illegal, mind altering drug does not work as a gateway towards other illegal, mind altering drugs.

This is not saying alchohol isn't, or even saying which is more of one. Nor is it arguing that it should be illegal. It is, pointing out, what I see as a logical flaw in the knee jerk "is not" reaction. Is it as bad as they say? Don't know, never tried it, don't want to. But this "anything you say bad about pot is propaganda" is one of the reasons why very few people take arguments for legalization seriously.

[Chris42050]

I am amazed at the logic that argues that doing an illegal, mind altering drug does not work as a gateway towards other illegal, mind altering drugs.

This is not saying alchohol isn't, or even saying which is more of one. Nor is it arguing that it should be illegal. It is, pointing out, what I see as a logical flaw in the knee jerk "is not" reaction. Is it as bad as they say? Don't know, never tried it, don't want to. But this "anything you say bad about pot is propaganda" is one of the reasons why very few people take arguments for legalization seriously.

Getting into your car and driving leads to car accidents, does that mean driving should be illegal?

[Target Practice]

Getting into your car and driving leads to car accidents, does that mean driving should be illegal?

Now you're just grasping at straws. Correlation != Causation

How about when someone has marijuana in their car, gets pulled over for a traffic violation, then runs from the police, putting everyone in danger. Is that okay too?

No. No it isn't. I'm amazed that anyone actually still believes this blatant propaganda

I explained how it is, so you explain how it isn't.

And if the woman cultivates?

That wasn't in the prompt, so I didn't write about it. For me, still illegal, still wrong.

[Eric Cartman]

"anything you say bad about pot is propaganda"

Nice quote marks you threw around that. I hoipe they weren't directed at me because I sure as hell never said anything like that in my post. Yes there are harmful side effects to marijuana, but in the area of medical marijuana, the benefits frequently vastly outweigh the side effects. As far as recreational use is concerned, my point is that it's hypocritical to legalize products with much worse side effects and make marijuana illegal. I never once implied that it was good for you. Hell eat a Big Mac every day, or smoke a bowl every day. Which one do you think will kill you first?

I must say I'm concerned with your "Don't know, never tried it, don't want to." statement. Hey if it's not for you and you want nothing to do with it, then that's fine. Good for you. But at that rate, you really have no personal experience to talk about (never mind what happened to friends / family - I'm talking about what you yourself have personally experienced). So how can you say with any certainty that it is a gateway drug. By your "anything you say bad about pot is propaganda" logic, I suppose you also assume that anything bad said about pot is absolute gospel truth?

Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm 35 and have a lot of personal experience with it. I have used and know a great many people who have used marijuana recreationally for decades and have shown no inclination towards "heavier" drugs. The world is full of pot smokers who never touch acid, coke, heroin, e etc. etc. Just because some people who were going to wind up as crack heads or junkies started out with pot doesn't mean that pot is a gateway drug. It's not. That's not a knee jerk reaction, it's a statement that I can make from personal experience that stretches longer than a lot of the posters in this thread have even been alive.

Again, I'm not advocating drug use, I'm advocating opening up your minds and not believing everything that's told to you by people who have agendas. I figured that anyone younger than the "Reefer Madness" generation and older than 12 would know that the whole gateway drug thing was a myth.

[Target Practice]

Seems I have hit a nerve. How sherlock of you to see my nick name.

1. Why shouldnt I be allowed to do with my body that with which I wish? Really I ant to know?

2. Alcohol is by far more a gateway drug than pot will ever be. Go ahead and deny it but you know I am right. Now why would we want to make theft legal. That is hurting another human being. Rape, again hurting another human being. Murder, again that is hurting another human being. Do you see how rediculous your arguments are becoming. Tell me what I am doing to you or others when I smoke pot. Nothing.

1) Because it's against the law. You are a citizen of this country. Being so, you have entered into a contract with the State to abide by any and all terms of the contract. If you do not, you are in breach of that contract.

2)Tell us what alcohol leads to. And while you're at it, where do you buy your pot from?

[Chris42050]

I threw the car thing in as a joke and it wasnt directed at you target so I dont know why you are answering it.
Here is my question for you Target. Tell me why Marijuana should be illegal and alcohol is okay to be legal. Tell me. Because you saying someone running from cops cuz he has weed just grabs at straws and also proves my point that weed should be legal. No one would be running if it were legal.
Please answer my question that you keep dodging.
WHY SHOULD MARIJUANA BE ILLEGAL?

[Target Practice]

Again, I'm not advocating drug use, I'm advocating opening up your minds and not believing everything that's told to you by people who have agendas. I figured that anyone younger than the "Reefer Madness" generation and older than 12 would know that the whole gateway drug thing was a myth.

If you get your first car, you love it. It's the greatest. But after a year, you want something better, faster, prettier.

You get your first Spyder. It's a piece, but you love it. But later, you want something better, faster, prettier.

You smoke weed. It's okay, you get your buzz. But later, you need better, stronger stuff to get that same high.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I'll take the word of JAMA and the APA over some website and a couple of users.

[Target Practice]

WHY SHOULD MARIJUANA BE ILLEGAL?

Marijuana should be illegal because people are stupid. Alcohol is legal, and it is abused. If weed were illegal, it would be abused just as alcohol is. Does being legal make alcohol abuse right? No, of course not. If marijuana was legal, it would not magically take away it's abuse away. It would only make it easier to abuse.

[SCpoloRicker]

I would have to say that, IMO, weed isn't really a gateway drug.

/anectdotal
//there, the Thorde does disagree.

edit nicely worded anaylsis of pos vs neg freedom, though.