# Legalization Of Marijuana
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 23, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205 "2009-09-23T06:30:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/1 "2009-09-23T06:30:07Z")
What is your position on the legalization of marijuana?
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/2 "2009-09-23T06:31:15Z")
I think it should be legalized.
I’d be surprised if there was anyone here who _didn’t_ think that.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/3 "2009-09-23T06:37:16Z")
Felt like being a rebel and not using the new poll function eh? 😛
Yes it should be legal. Or alcohol illegal. Either one, doesn’t matter in the least to me.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/4 "2009-09-23T06:48:42Z")
Legalize it. Keeping it illegal doesn’t do much but enrich criminals and hurt innocent people in various ways. You’d think we’d have learned with Prohibition, but apparently not.
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/5 "2009-09-23T06:57:27Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#):
>
> Felt like being a rebel and not using the new poll function eh? 😛
Hmm… apparently there is a glitch in this system. From the time I started to create this, to the time I finished creating the poll, my question was posted?
At any rate - yes, I am trying out the new poll system, but I guess I will have to be faster to finish.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/6 "2009-09-23T07:01:05Z")
Well I don’t know the specifics, but what I do know is that there was no sign of a poll when I first checked out the thread. The poll is up now obviously and I have contributed my answer, legal for 21+.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/7 "2009-09-23T08:32:06Z")
I’m wishy washy. I want to see non biased, non propaganda studies that answer once and for all if pot is better, the same, or worse than alcohol. If it’s the same or better then I’d be for legalizing it for 18+ year olds.
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### Author:  [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/8 "2009-09-23T08:45:05Z")
I chose legalizing for 18+, but I seriously considered 21+ and state-by-state.
It seems odd to set the legal age below that for drinking, _but_ it also seems wrong to me to criminalize beer for people who are legally capable of entering into binding contracts, marrying, serving in combat, etc.
I think it should be decided by the states, \*and \* they should all legalize it.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/9 "2009-09-23T11:30:45Z")
I also chose legal for 18+, because I also think alcohol should be legal for all adults who so choose, and 18 is legally adult.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/10 "2009-09-23T11:57:43Z")
18+ (you people have too many ages of majority), but keep DUI illegal. I’d make alcohol 18+ too, mind you, just to simplify things.
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### Author:  [@Neverender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverender)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/11 "2009-09-23T12:01:09Z")
I chose +18 _and_ +21.
a.) Because I could.
b.) The +21 applies to the USA, keeping it the same as the drinking age, and +18 for the UK, for the same reasons. Because that way English 18 year olds can win more arguments with Americans on Xbox Live about which country is better due to drink/drug laws 😛
Seriously though, I think it should be the same as a legal drinking age, though I still don’t understand what function having that age as 21 serves.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/12 "2009-09-23T14:08:36Z")
Not sure my opinion on legalization neatly fits any of your categories, so I picked the last one. I’m sure there may be some exceptions of which I am unaware, but just about every substance should be legalized and regulated. Let people fuck themselves up however they choose. Biggest difficulty is if they harm themselves and then desire some social benefits to accomodate their reduced circumstances. Exactly how they are regulated, I’m not strongly opinionated.
Treating pot like etoh/cigs is a no-brainer.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/13 "2009-09-23T14:58:15Z")
I voted for legal for 21+, on the theory that marijuana should be treated like alcohol, and could be sold at liquor stores.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/14 "2009-09-23T15:16:23Z")
Drinking age, I think, is heading back to 18.
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### Author:  [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/15 "2009-09-23T15:38:29Z")
I’d decriminalize it at age 18. I have mixed feelings about the system of regulation. I don’t want giant corporations to have a huge vested monetary interest in encouraging millions of people to smoke pot, but at the same time I’m far happier about your average Joe buying a pack of Marlboro Greens than having to look for a shady “dealer”.
In this area, a lot of people produce their own lovely homegrown and I haven’t had to buy pot from anyone sketchy in years. My local environment makes me far happier about simple decriminalization than any concerted “legalization” efforts. Basically what I want is for normal, everyday people to be free to grow and smoke it, sell it or give it away. I want kids in possession to be subject to punishment, and I don’t want Phillip Morris selling us another addiction: if it does get legalized and commercialized, I want extremely strict controls on additives… preferably none at all allowed, of any kind.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/16 "2009-09-23T15:39:21Z")
I swear I read a relatively recent article about one of our California pols writing up a bill that would legalize it in our state (notwithstanding the clash with federal law, still obviously an issue). Who was it and what happened to that?
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### Author:  [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/17 "2009-09-23T15:44:36Z")
That was [Tom Ammiano](http://blog.mpp.org/tax-and-regulate/mpp-tv-ad-hits-california-airwaves-today/07082009/) (D-San Francisco).
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/18 "2009-09-23T15:46:54Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#):
>
> That was [Tom Ammiano](http://blog.mpp.org/tax-and-regulate/mpp-tv-ad-hits-california-airwaves-today/07082009/) (D-San Francisco).
Awesome. When do we get to vote? 😉
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/19 "2009-09-23T15:54:51Z")
Legalize it. Keeping it illegal does far more harm to society.
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### Author:  [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalization-of-marijuana/511205/20 "2009-09-23T16:00:00Z")
> [@Nobody](#):
>
> I’m wishy washy. I want to see non biased, non propaganda studies that answer once and for all if pot is better, the same, or worse than alcohol. If it’s the same or better then I’d be for legalizing it for 18+ year olds.
I’m just curious - better, the same, or worse than alcohol in what way?
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