Should marijuana be made legal?

[Harvez]

now when I say legal I mean still restricted by licensed premises such as in Amsterdam.

Pro.

1. The taxes collected.
2. Putting a dent in the drug lords pocket.
3. Releasing a ton of space in our overcrowded prisons.
4. Less monies and time spent in our courts to convict.
5. Medical reasons.

Con

1. Regulating, making sure it's not laced with something more dangerous.
2. It's still "smoke" in ones lungs!
3. Smoking around children or others who don't wish to be high or,shouldn't be.
4. Age restrictions. How old?
5. Releasing prisoners who know no other way of life.
6. Having people walking around in an altered state with munchies!

There are tons of other pros and cons. JMO.

May I remind everyone this is a debating section, if you have nothing but stupid childish comments to make find another thread.

[Blazer]

Make it legal! A lot of people do do it any way and if it was made legal at least the government will benefit from it.

[oXoDCoXo]

they benefit alot now anyway with it being illegal though blazer

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by oXoDCoXo

they benefit alot now anyway with it being illegal though blazer

reall, how?
Sureley they can get a whole lot more tax money from it if they make it legal.

[oXoDCoXo]

hmmm, yeah although they take alot out of it sneakily... plus how bad would they look after doing all this saying how bad it is then they legalise it and make money from it... they really would look bad and people would think they didnt care about the public and just wanted the money

EDIT: then it would be smuggled out of the country and into others where it is illegal...

[Harvez]

Tbh i think if they made it legal, but you required a license to sell it. there would be more people growing it at home and selling it without a license than there are.

this would then create another problem, the police would have to make sure those selling it are licensed etc and those who are not, should be greeted with severe slap from a judge.

I think the medical side of the coin really needs addressing as people with servere arthritis etc can benifit from marijuana and some people take the risk and smoke marijuana as it as it gives them hours of pain relief.

I used to enjoy a good smoke with friends over the summers, but since the kids came along ive either no money or time for them social events anymore

and the people who say it leads to people taking class A drugs and being addicted, well im sorry thats BS people have a choice and if they decide to move to class A they made that choice not a bit of weed, imho those who take class A would have made that move anyway regardless of smoking weed.

[the_icks]

I think there is a big difference between plain 'vanilla' naryjane and the sort of Skunk thats out there now..... I have often been the victim of 'passive toking' after entering lifts when the people who have left came out looking like Stars in Their Eyes contestants - in a big plume of smoke!

And what age limit would you put on it? My local tescos sets a minimum age of 25 for alcohol... contrary to the goverment limit of 18!!

[Tippy]

I think it should only be legal for medical purpose only!

Tippy

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by oXoDCoXo

hmmm, yeah although they take alot out of it sneakily... plus how bad would they look after doing all this saying how bad it is then they legalise it and make money from it... they really would look bad and people would think they didnt care about the public and just wanted the money

EDIT: then it would be smuggled out of the country and into others where it is illegal...

Haha, yes, I see what you means.
The thing is tho, a lot of people are smiggeling it in and out now anyway, so it wouldn't be that much different if it is legal.

[barcelonic]

All drugs should be legal.

The idea of prohibiting drugs has always been a bad one. When the UK government prohibited heroin, under pressure from the US, it led to widespread health problems, deaths, and a massive increase in crime and prostitution.

Until it was prohibited, heroin was relatively harmless and its users did not go around robbing to fund their habits. The drug itself is still the same as it was then but now when you prohibit a drug you are pushing its manufacture and distribution into the hands of black marketeers, who cut it with all kinds of harmful substances and the end product causes people's blood vessels to rupture and they become so desperately addicted they don't spend their money on food and so get very thin and then turn to crime or prostitution to fund their habits. People also die because they don't know the purity of what they are taking so they misjudge the correct dose.

Marijuana is no different. We made this illegal under pressure from the US, after a media mogul in America called William Randolf Hearst realised that he would benefit enormously by the illegalisation of hemp, given that he invested heavily in the timber industry. Also, himself and Harry J Anslinger, the ambitious head of the Bureau of Narcotics who used marijuana to vilify the Mexicans who were flooding into the US at that time, both hated Mexicans - Hearst actually used these anti-Mexican stories in his newspapers as they sold lots of copies making him rich.

Similarly, the health industry who donated heavily to presidential campaigns and had loads of lobbyists to fight their cause in Washington, tried incredibly hard to protect their future by pushing this bill. Because they spent lots of money and made lots of money by making anti-emetics and pain relief drugs, and they weren't too keen on the idea that something that anyone could grow for themselves free of charge could perform better than their products. They knew that they couldn't claim ownership of a natural plant, and therefore couldn't make money off of it.

I have actually read the transcript of the congress hearing in which they prohibited marijuana. During it, there was NO mention of ANY medical evidence whatsoever. Instead there was merely articles from Hearst's newspapers with fabricated "information" about marijuana, which was accepted somewhat bizarrely as "evidence" - (see spoiler).

Spoiler

Some samples from the San Francisco Examiner:

"Marihuana makes fiends of boys in thirty days -- Hashish goads users to bloodlust."

"By the tons it is coming into this country -- the deadly, dreadful poison that racks and tears not only the body, but the very heart and soul of every human being who once becomes a slave to it in any of its cruel and devastating forms.... Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters. Hasheesh makes a murderer who kills for the love of killing out of the mildest mannered man who ever laughed at the idea that any habit could ever get him...."

And other nationwide columns...

"Users of marijuana become STIMULATED as they inhale the drug and are LIKELY TO DO ANYTHING. Most crimes of violence in this section, especially in country districts are laid to users of that drug."

"Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim's life in Los Angeles?... THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES -- that is a matter of cold record."

On a personal note, I suffer from ME/CFS and I have found marijuana to help enormously with not just pain relief, but with ALL of my symptoms. In fact, nothing a doctor can give me works better.

For pain relief it is second only to morphine. As a sleep aid it is unparalelled and I have tried some strong stuff like Zolpidem, a powerful hypnotic.

Most importantly, and this is the reason AIDS sufferers and cancer patients use it, it is the singlemost powerful anti-emetic in the world!! In other words it fights nausea better than any drug ever developed, and without the side effects assosciated with man-made anti-emetic pills.

There is NO reason I can think of to continue the prohibition of marijuana (or in fact any drugs whatsoever), and to use a medical basis for its prohibition is absolutely absurd given how much more harmful tobacco is.

[adammcg]

I think the crux of the issue is essentially a moral one. What right have you to tell people what they cannot do in the privacy of their own homes, especially when you consider that marijuana is safer than alcohol and you cannot overdose on. The current prohibitions push money toward the drug dealers (as did alcohol prohibition ie al capone in the US) and makes the product much more expensive and less safe. The government should not be involved in regulating personal habits and if they should, alcohol and tobacco should go as well.

[Schism]

Originally Posted by the_icks

I think there is a big difference between plain 'vanilla' naryjane and the sort of Skunk thats out there now..... I have often been the victim of 'passive toking' after entering lifts when the people who have left came out looking like Stars in Their Eyes contestants - in a big plume of smoke!

And what age limit would you put on it? My local tescos sets a minimum age of 25 for alcohol... contrary to the goverment limit of 18!![/quote]

Glad someone brought that up... I think if it was to be made legal, the chemical induced version of the herb should be banned... they can be quite bad, and literally then be called a drug, as opposed to the natural version that is purely a plant, of which there are more dangerous "legal version" supposedly.

The thing about taxing it is the fact that too many people know how to grow it, and even if you don't, a quick Google and you'll get the gist of how to do it... so would be hard to control to be honest. Especially cos such small amounts are worth quite a lot in this country... i.e - it's not the same as making your own alcohol and selling that, because without having a factory you couldn't mass produce. (I chose alcohol cos that's taxed also)

There's the point that it does mess with your head, and people would be smoking it much more if it was legal I think... But I don't get the fact why it's worse that alcohol?

I mean, you have a drunk person in your house:
"Watch it mate, he can turn violent when he's had a lot to drink"

Person who's stoned:
"Watch it mate, he may eat all your cheerios and fall asleep on your sofa"

And the public side, I reckon you should only do it in your own home... but then the thing about children being around would be hard to regulate.

Originally Posted by the_icks

And what age limit would you put on it? My local tescos sets a minimum age of 25 for alcohol... contrary to the goverment limit of 18!!

You only have to look 25 if you have no ID... it's just a benchmark for staff to ID people with... if you look under 25 and you have ID to say you're over 18, you're fine.

[Ragnarok]

Legal, its less harmfull than alcohol and less trouble is caused from it.

[Florrie]

I used to be all for "legalizin' it", but now that I don't smoke anymore I think that it should stay illegal. However, I do think it should go down to a class C again.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by Florrie

I used to be all for "legalizin' it", but now that I don't smoke anymore I think that it should stay illegal. However, I do think it should go down to a class C again.

thats odd. when i smoked it i always thought it was in my interest to stay illegal because it would become so much more expensive were it legalised.

still, your opinion on this surely isnt just based on how it would affect you personally? what about the effects on society of legalisation? crime and policing, health issues etc...

[delude]

Originally Posted by harvez

and the people who say it leads to people taking class A drugs and being addicted, well im sorry thats BS people have a choice and if they decide to move to class A they made that choice not a bit of weed, imho those who take class A would have made that move anyway regardless of smoking weed.

I used to be good friends with a guy who did nothing but a bit of social smoking, but now spends all of his money (i mean all of it) on cannabis, to the point where it seems as if he relies on it. Because smoking cannabis has became such a huge part of his life, he has started hanging around and even aspiring towards other stoners and drug users, to the point that whenever a arty is mentioned he seems to get excited about what drugs will be there.

Don't get me wrong, he has clearly proved that he has issues (although he wont admit it) but the cannabis didn't help. I've given up now though, he used to be alright but I just think it is pathetic that these sort of people that become so reliant on it do nothing else, every day is the same: roll a joint, sit down, smoke it, roll another, smoke it, walk to buy some more weed, roll another.....etc.

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by delude

I used to be good friends with a guy who did nothing but a bit of social smoking, but now spends all of his money (i mean all of it) on cannabis, to the point where it seems as if he relies on it. Because smoking cannabis has became such a huge part of his life, he has started hanging around and even aspiring towards other stoners and drug users, to the point that whenever a arty is mentioned he seems to get excited about what drugs will be there.

Don't get me wrong, he has clearly proved that he has issues (although he wont admit it) but the cannabis didn't help. I've given up now though, he used to be alright but I just think it is pathetic that these sort of people that become so reliant on it do nothing else, every day is the same: roll a joint, sit down, smoke it, roll another, smoke it, walk to buy some more weed, roll another.....etc.

lol that used to be me

as it happens tho most the stoners i know dont touch harder drugs, and my friends who take hard drugs barely smoke weed at all - they smoke a bit here and there but usually when ppl share it with them, they dont really spend money on weed and didnt get into hard drugs through weed, they all started on either pills or speed.

there are a few exceptions. i do know a couple of ppl who started off as stoners then went on to harder stuff, but if anything its an exception to the rule.

a lot of ppl who've never scored any drugs in their lives think they know about it cus they read the papers, but thats nonsense. the papers have you believe that you're skunk dealer sells hard drugs and so it can lead to you going on to them, but the truth is most skunk dealers just sell skunk, and maybe hash and pollen. Again there are some exceptions but its uncommon.

most dealers who sell pills will sell other drugs too, but skunk is the one drug that seems to be a completely separate commodity.

[delude]

I do not smoke, have never smoked, will never smoke and will never take drugs for pleasure yet am surrounded by them in the friend group that agreed all those years ago to stay away from it.

In casual conversation, a kid much younger than me just openly offered me heroine at our local skate park. Is that not wrong in the slightest? I am actually sick of all these drug crazed kids giving the majority a bad name, taking drugs seems to have became an act of entry into some groups, and is still seen as 'cool'.

I'm about ready to give up on a few people I that I have grown with, all thanks to our friend Cannabis and the way in which they cannot have fun or even think without it. I don't want to be a prick and am all for each to their own and that, and have also heard that you should stick with your mates if they are really hooked on it but quite frankly **** that! I do not want to be with them smoking cannabis when the police come, why should I run and why should I be given the same reception that they do?

[Ali Binley]

YES! people are too scared due to the fear propaganda. They could implement the system Portugal have just done. No jail sentence but counseling instead. Stats show drug use has gone down and Heroin is surely more addictive than weed (not coming from experience) so it could potentially work better.

Weed is no different from alcohol, why that is? Unless liver damage is more desirable?

[barcelonic]

Originally Posted by delude

I do not smoke, have never smoked, will never smoke and will never take drugs for pleasure yet am surrounded by them in the friend group that agreed all those years ago to stay away from it.

In casual conversation, a kid much younger than me just openly offered me heroine at our local skate park. Is that not wrong in the slightest? I am actually sick of all these drug crazed kids giving the majority a bad name, taking drugs seems to have became an act of entry into some groups, and is still seen as 'cool'.

Ye i totally agree with that. It disgusts me that there are ppl out there who feel presured into drug use. Fortunately I've never actually seen it happen, but even among my own circles growing up the pot smokers were the majority so there will always be some inevitable feelings of being left out for the minority.

I'd hate to see the same happen for heroin. Only among youth culture could heroin users become a majority, for the reason you've mentioned - peer pressure. It goes without saying to stay the hell away from anyone who smokes heroin.

I'm about ready to give up on a few people I that I have grown with, all thanks to our friend Cannabis and the way in which they cannot have fun or even think without it. I don't want to be a prick and am all for each to their own and that, and have also heard that you should stick with your mates if they are really hooked on it but quite frankly **** that!

Just to clarify you can't actually get "hooked" on cannabis. Its non habit forming. That said, i understand why you say that because no doubt all of your friends smoke it all the time, as did I. Its analogous to drinking tea - a lot of Brits drink up to 7 or 8 cups of tea a day but we wouldn't say they are addicted to tea. Its just that its such an enjoyable part of your day and unless you believe it is harming you in some way you tend to see no reason not to drink it.

Also I would have to strongly endorse sticking by your mates. There was a time when I began to experiment with drugs that a lot of my friends grew tired of me. Perhaps my personality began to change and maybe I seemed a little less genuine than before but I was still the same person and within a few months I quit the sh*t and went back to how I was but it was too late. Why lose a lifetime's worth of friendship because a friend is going through a phase?

And I assure you most (not all, but most) of your friends are experiencing a phase with cannabis. The reason I can say this with certainty is because when you lot are a few years older you'll all start getting your own places. When that happens you won't all meet up in the same sized groups, because some of you will want to go over person A's house and others to person B. person C will want to stay home. Only when you throw big parties will you all be in the same place. So what happens is you all begin to live your own lives and at that point, people start quitting drugs/weed etc.. Some may smoke a bit longer until they get a girlfriend who wants the house smoke-free etc.. You see where Im going. Peer pressure works better in bigger groups.

I do not want to be with them smoking cannabis when the police come, why should I run and why should I be given the same reception that they do?

C'est la vie im afraid. You are with them so it is how it is. Take solace in the fact that its a petty crime that most people don't agree with and nobody will ever judge you unless you are to be a politician of some sort.
Trust me, even the cops doing the chasing are wishing they didn't have to.

To sum up, Im sure you're friends respect you for not indulging yourself, even if they dont say it. But be sure not to judge them as a result. Yes their lives may be different now but so they would with any other hobby such as sailing or competitive chess. Just remember that smokin a bit of bud is, for most people in this country, a part of growing up and most of your friends will grow out of it within a few years.