Should Marijuana be legalized for medical purposes/recreation?

[Will Wood]

I said it before, I'll say it again - The government won't make a penny off pot if they legalize it.
You can grow it ... Why would I pay some overpriced government taxed product when I can grow this stuff in my backyard for next to no cost?

Weed will never be legal for one reason - Money.

[Lohman446]

I said it before, I'll say it again - The government won't make a penny off pot if they legalize it.
You can grow it ... Why would I pay some overpriced government taxed product when I can grow this stuff in my backyard for next to no cost?

The same reason you don't grow tobacco.

[Will Wood]

Tabacco is a bit different from marijuana..
And you also smoke alot more of it.

[bofh]

The same reason you don't grow tobacco.

And the same reason most people don't brew their own beer. It's not a small effort compared to just buying it.

[Eric Cartman]

The same reason you don't grow tobacco.

And relatively few people make their own beer / liquor. The vast majority of users would just take the simplest route even if it cost them more money. Fewer worries about quality control would be another reason.

[Noonan]

Anothing point that hasn't been brought up. People have mentioned being worried about having people on the roads after smoking if it becomes legal. I'll tell you right now that making it legal would result in less people on the roads smoking. Most of the people I know who smoke drive around when they smoke becuase they can't just light a bowl in their back yard or porch. If they could, they wouldn't have to drive around.

[Will Wood]

Yea, Noonan, that is true. But that wouldn't stop being from driving AFTER they get high.
And alot of kids, even with it being legal, probably wouldn't be allowed to smoke in their house, or around. I'm thinking some people won't give a rats *** if it's legal or not.

[Lohman446]

Yea, Noonan, that is true. But that wouldn't stop being from driving AFTER they get high.
And alot of kids, even with it being legal, probably wouldn't be allowed to smoke in their house, or around. I'm thinking some people won't give a rats *** if it's legal or not.

A lot of kids WOULD not be allowed to smoke it. Remember my argumetns are all based on consenting ADULTs. The state has an obligation to make laws to protect those who cannot (for physical, mental, or developmental reasons). Don't think my argument is in favor of those teenagers who want to be stoners. Kids should not have the legal right to do drugs or alchohol, these are substances that are dangerous and a reasonable argument can be made that those of a certain age, as a rule, do not have the capacity to consent to these risks and dangers.

[Will Wood]

Yup, ok, missed that point completely, but I would obviously agree - if it became legal it should be a 21+ substance like alcohol.

But I was just making a point.. alot of people won't put up with it, even if it's legal.

[Noonan]

But I was just making a point.. alot of people won't put up with it, even if it's legal.

That's true, and is even more reason why it being legal wouldn't be as big a deal as some people take it to be. The people who don't agree with it now won't just magically start smoking because it's legal. They don't do it now, they won't do it then. (Again, refering to adults smart enough to make their own decisions)

[ultralight]

does anyone know when and why marijuana was made illegal in the first place?

it's rather interesting. i was watching a show about it on the discovery channel a few years ago. marijuanna was the government's solution to a bigger problem, Mexicans.
no, really. during the depression the mexicans were coming into the country doing work for less money than the american citizens were willing to. the government saw this and needed to put a stop to it, they needed a reason to deport all of these mexicans. the one thing that almost all of the mexicans had in common was this euphoria enducing plant that they brought with them, marijuana. so, the gov. launched a major PR campaign against marijuana and got laws passed making it illegal. then they simply deported any mexicans caught in posession of the drug.

i know that this was a bit of topic but everything else has already been discussed at length.

as far as my stance, i don't really care. i smoked pot for about a year in highschool and then quit because it wasn't interesting anymore.

[bofh]

marijuanna was the government's solution to a bigger problem, Mexicans.

And that's why, thanks to the US goverment, there are no more Mexicans nor Marijuanna in the US.

[trains are bad]

That's not surprising. The earliest gun control laws in the country were aimed at controlling freed slaves.

[drg]

One thing that has been missing from this thread -- conspicuously and surprisingly -- is an accounting for the levels of physical addiction engendered by the various drugs we discuss. Marijuana has a very low level of physical addictivity. Drugs such as caffeine, nicotine and alcohol have extremely high levels of physical addictivity.

That's why it's such a crock to talk about marijuana's potential for "abuse" in the way alcohol is often abused.

[Lohman446]

One thing that has been missing from this thread -- conspicuously and surprisingly -- is an accounting for the levels of physical addiction engendered by the various drugs we discuss. Marijuana has a very low level of physical addictivity. Drugs such as caffeine, nicotine and alcohol have extremely high levels of physical addictivity.

That's why it's such a crock to talk about marijuana's potential for "abuse" in the way alcohol is often abused.

I haven't ignored anything about addictiveness. I think its propaganda that says weed is not addictive but if it is or isn't does not change my argument in the least.