Should Marijuana be legalized for medical purposes/recreation?

[spantol]

The gateway effect is a wonderful example of the triumph of marketing over critical thinking skills. Only DeBeers does it better.

People predisposed to addictive behavior are indeed more likely to seek out more potent highs over time, as they build up mental and physical tolerances to their substance-of-the-moment.

Five seconds of googling will turn up credible studies that fall on both sides of the issue. What the pro-gateway theory studies tend to ignore, though, is that people predisposed to addictive behavior are more likely to start doing illegal drugs in the first place. They'll start with whatever is available, and pot's not too hard to find. It should be no surprise, then, if a subset marijuana users graduate to harder drugs--it's just Darwinism in action.

Example studies:
Anti-Gateway: http://www.rand.org/news/press.02/gateway.html
Pro-Gateway: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/ar...rd2010.24.html

[Chris42050]

1-Prohibition didn't work why does anyone here think that it will work for Marijuana?
2-It just makes criminals out of ordinary citizens. Causes extra crime, gangs, and Billions of our tax dollars to stop it. How is this a better way?
3-Who are you or anyone in the Government to say what I can or cant do with my free time and my own body. It's my choice not your own.
4-Do I make you smoke weed everyday? No, than why are you trying to prevent me from choosing to smoke it myself?

Edit: Here is the problem everyone is overlooking. Legalizing weed has almost no affect on whether people will do it or not. So gateway or not is irrelavent. The same people will be doing it whether or not it is legal so why criminalize the ordinary citizen?

[SlipknotX556]

Alright, my opinion is yes marijuana should be legal for medical and recreation. It has been proven that it is useful in the medical field, we should use it. Now recreation, marijuana is a naturally growing plant, its not cooked up and or produced in a lab. Now other drugs like coke are also a plant that naturally grows, but it has to be processed to be turned into a form so you can use it. The leaves of a coca plant are chewed in South America by tribes, but are illegal to sell. My thought is, as long as it naturally grows it should be legal. Now in present time, marijuana is the most commonly abused drug, alot of people do abuse it, I hate it. But from my personal observation, if you are a hardcore stoner, after a long time of smoking, you build up and immunity from becoming high. I noticed this from my own experience and my friends telling me. If kids and adults want to spend a crap load of money on weed for recreational use, I say let them go for it. If all drugs were legal, the USA economy and economy of South America would increase 10 fold. But then drug lords would become the richest men in the country. However you look at it, drugs are here and are here to stay.

[spantol]

What about the people who end up in jail for posession or distribution, that go to prison, then learn how to make meth, or cocaine, or how to steal cars?

Good point. If pot were decriminalized, those other potential criminal acts could be stopped dead in their tracks!

What about the deadbeat parents who spend all their money on weed while the children starve, then grow up to be criminals and abusers of hard drugs.

They're playing bridge with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Rational Thought on teh Intarweb.

This is no more than fear-mongering and straw-grasping. If you can produce a credible example of this actually occuring--children living in poverty because their parents are spending all of their money on pot--I'll donate $100 to a charity of your choice.

[SCpoloRicker]

While stupid is not illegal, consciously choosing to be so... should be.

Disagree. Strongly.

TP We will likely have to agree to disagree. Marijuana does not lead to other types of serious drug use. The only possible exception is pscyliocybte (ouch, uh, mushrooms ). I can see some correlation there, but not neccessarily causation.

And frankly, there is a large body of op-ed, research papers, and data to support that the War on Drugs*TM* has been a nightmare of court costs, prison costs, and a general waste of money. Not to mention, it allowed for some of the most tyranical foreign policy the U.S. has carried and continues to carry out in South America.

/tinfoil hat

[Chris42050]

Alright, my opinion is yes marijuana should be legal for medical and recreation. It has been proven that it is useful in the medical field, we should use it. Now recreation, marijuana is a naturally growing plant, its not cooked up and or produced in a lab. Now other drugs like coke are also a plant that naturally grows, but it has to be processed to be turned into a form so you can use it. The leaves of a coca plant are chewed in South America by tribes, but are illegal to sell. My thought is, as long as it naturally grows it should be legal. Now in present time, marijuana is the most commonly abused drug, alot of people do abuse it, I hate it. But from my personal observation, if you are a hardcore stoner, after a long time of smoking, you build up and immunity from becoming high. I noticed this from my own experience and my friends telling me. If kids and adults want to spend a crap load of money on weed for recreational use, I say let them go for it. If all drugs were legal, the USA economy and economy of South America would increase 10 fold. But then drug lords would become the richest men in the country. However you look at it, drugs are here and are here to stay.

You are kinda on the right track except the Drug lords would be taken out of the equation becasue thier only purpose is to produce/distribute/smuggle in the drugs to America. If these drugs were legal there would be no need for these drug lords and they would be out of business. We could have actual poor citizens in these countries cultivate and ship these drugs to the USA and then our shop owners would also profit from thier sales.

[tard]

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?

If it was legalized we wouldn't have that problem. We also wouldn't have gang related incidents and theft because of it. And having it for sale cheap at a store would also cut money going to the gangs.

[tard]

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

Not all pot smokers are like that. Sure everyday smokers will gain a tolerance to it but not someone who is like once a week or even more than that. Ive been smoking multiple times a week for a couple years now and dont need all that much more than when i started.

And this would be another benefit of legalization. Since pot would be higher grade and cheaper even if you did have a high tolerance pot would be cheap enough that instead of going for harder drugs for a buzz you could just smoke more pot.


Another thing i have seen mentioned is driving while high. It doesnt really affect your driving skills that much. In almost all accidents involving pot there was also alcohol involved, but of course the news will only report the weed just to give a bad image. If there isnt alcohol involved its usually just that the person sucks at driving anyway. Speaking from a lot of experience of driving while high it isn't dangerous at all I havent gotten in a single accident.

[tard]

Hey, like I said, don't tell that to me, tell that to the AMA, APA, and the NEJM, not to mention every textbook I've ever seen.

Perhaps I should have worded it better: Why try weed? To experience it. After you experience it (and like it), the chances are good that you will try something harder. After all, you tried weed and liked it, so why not try something else?

because everything else is actually dangerous and has real risks

[Lohman446]

Who's rights are we trampling on? The right of some people to ruin their lives and that of others?

Get the feeling that I may be a Libertarian? Where does the Constitution spell out the right of the federal government to legislate against any drug? It doesn't, as such I do not beleive that they have the right. If you want to get high, get drunk, shoot a gun, drink poisoned kool-ade I don't care. Ethical hedonism, I don't care what consenting adults do... as long as it does not step on the rights of other people. Do I care if you get high, run from the police, and endanger everyone? Yes I do, but I do not beleive the crime was getting high (actually its obvious under today's law it is), it was running from the police. Is it fair to make the argument: what about the guy who owns a gun, and gets in a firefight with the police, and endagers everyone and come to the conclusion firearms should be illegal? I don't think so. Or in your argument just replace pot with alchohol. Now I'm even going to go further. I beleive the government can legistlate behavior (and I also beleive that STATE governments can legislate drugs) but not cause. Want to use meth / heroin / whatever - as long as it does not effect anyone non-consenting I really don't care.

I'm sure most everyone here that has done it have turned out to be pretty upstanding people. But this is only the most microscopic of cross-sections of users.

I think a lot of the arguments I have read on both sides have been greatly influenced by propoganda, and demand a departure from logical reasoning to make. I beleive that it is very possible for someone to do drugs, alchohol, and many other things in moderation and be an upstanding member of society. I also beleive that abusing the above can be catastrophic towards an individual.

You may all be great people that can use it in moderation and be okay. But you have to look farther then that. What about the people who end up in jail for posession or distribution, that go to prison, then learn how to make meth, or cocaine, or how to steal cars? What about the deadbeat parents who spend all their money on weed while the children starve, then grow up to be criminals and abusers of hard drugs. Are we trampling all over their rights?

If it were not illegal they would not end up in jail for posession. What about the idea that we do not have adequate housing for violent offenders because of drug convictions? I think we are spending a lot of funds trying in trying to enforce legislation which is of questionable value to begin with. How much black market tobacco is there? Some to underage, but is it a violent criminal industry as the drug trade is today? I think legalizing it will help some of the problems. Deadbeat parents - for whatever reason, need to be dealt with better, child protective services need to step in.. What about deadbeat parents who are alchoholics, does that justify making alchohol illegal?

Now... I need to go back and remind people - pot, as most mind altering substances probably has side effects. Anything you inhale into your longs probably has side effects. I don't beleive pot is harmless, sorry don't buy that rhetoric either. I just simply don't beleive that I have the right, or the duty, to keep you from destroying your own body. Have fun...

[Lohman446]

Another thing i have seen mentioned is driving while high. It doesnt really affect your driving skills that much. .

I know alchoholics that tell me that to about drinking and driving. I don't beleive them either

[Eric Cartman]

youre missing my point. im saying he couldnt even spell his own NAME right he was so high. im not talking about his comprehension of the material, im saying being high just makes you not "all there." so if you arent conscious enough to write your own NAME, imagine if you tried driving?

and actually i think the law against suicide is just about the stupidest thing ever, but my point was that its a law against hurting yourself, and you could argue pot is illegal so you wont hurt yourself.

I'm not missing your point at all, but you seem to be missing mine. Why was your friend stupid enough to get that wasted? Seriously now, he couldn't spell his own name? No one has ever been that wasted from just using marijuana.
If anyone tried driving in that state, they'd deserve the worst that the law could possibly throw at them, but so would anyone who was that drunk, or who hadn't slept in days and nodded off at the wheel. Driving while impaired by anything is dangerous idiocy.

I agree that the law against suicide is idiotic, but arguing that pot should be illegal so you won't use it to hurt yourself is idiotic too. In that case, you'd better make all guns illegal, and ban Doritos, McDonalds, all alcohol. Govern all automobiles so that they can't exceed the maximum speed limit. Prohibit running with scissors etc. Ban skydiving and bungy jumping, motocross, skateboarding and rollerblading, hell cycling too! It doesn't take long for that to get pretty ridiculous does it?

Pot taken in moderation is no worse that alcohol taken in moderation. The fact that some people see one as acceptable and the other not, is ridiculous. If you're completely against all alcohol and all pot, well then at least you're being consistant..

[Eric Cartman]

I know alchoholics that tell me that to about drinking and driving. I don't beleive them either

QFT!

[Eric Cartman]

I think a lot of the arguments I have read on both sides have been greatly influenced by propoganda, and demand a departure from logical reasoning to make. I beleive that it is very possible for someone to do drugs, alchohol, and many other things in moderation and be an upstanding member of society. I also beleive that abusing the above can be catastrophic towards an individual.

Yet again, very well said.

[tard]

. When it becomes legalized I'm going to open a taco bell that also sells weed to people. I would be rich.



different topic but heres a question for you guys: If weed is part of the rastafarian religion than why cant they smoke weed in the US? I thought there was freedom of religion. And aren't those native americans allowed to use peyote or wahtever because its part of their culture? Doesnt seem fair to me.