# Legalize it. \[Marijuana\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782 "2014-01-14T14:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/1 "2014-01-14T14:35:20Z")
I think weed should be legalized. Weed doesn’t lead to crime anymore then alcohol does. It CREATES crime if you make it illegal. The Capones couldn’t have existed except for the fact that alcohol was illegal. You can’t go to the cops if your deal goes wrong so you need to take care of things yourself if you’re in that buisness. It doesn’t inherently cause people to steal stuff. It may not make you want to succeed in business, but it may make you happy while you are not giving a crap about the latest techniques in marketing strategies. In a FREE COUNTRY, this should be your right. It can in some cases trigger psychotic episodes. That is a risk that YOU should decide for yourself, not another human. There has been no case of someone ever OD-ing on weed. If this were a legitimate reason to not smoke weed (which it’s not) then a lot of over the counter medications as well as alcohol needs to be illegal. There is evidence that (even if you are not psychotic) it is bad for the brain. Lack of motivation as well as short term memory loss are indicative of brain rewiring/ altered chemistry (in a negative way as a short term memory is a part of our brain functioning). Still, it should be YOUR CHOICE if you take this path or not. That’s all I have for now. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/2 "2014-01-14T16:18:28Z")
I just popped in to provide the [soundtrack](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJWFUuON3lQ). ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/3 "2014-01-14T16:23:39Z")
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. (Seriously, do you have a debate here? Or should we be petitioning for a move to IMHO?) ---
**Author:** ![Virgil\_Tibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Virgil\_Tibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgil_Tibbs)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/4 "2014-01-14T16:27:25Z")
Well, I have to agree. Everyone who is going to smoke it already does. The problem is that it’s currently at a cost to individuals and to society. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/5 "2014-01-14T16:51:34Z")
If there is effectively no enforcement of individual possession, which is the case, isn’t that effectively legalization already? There’s still some resistance met by wholesale distributors, sure, but that’s at the business-risk level. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/6 "2014-01-14T16:56:30Z")
You make many good arguments for the rest of us, **Gateway** , but in your particular case, I’d think any of \*your \*drugs would lead to harder, more harmful drug use. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/7 "2014-01-14T16:59:56Z")
> [@Gateway](#): > > It can in some cases trigger psychotic episodes. That is a risk that YOU should decide for yourself, not another human. > […] > There is evidence that (even if you are not psychotic) it is bad for the brain. Lack of motivation as well as short term memory loss are indicative of brain rewiring/ altered chemistry (in a negative way as a short term memory is a part of our brain functioning). Still, it should be YOUR CHOICE if you take this path or not. I agree with you that the stuff should be legal, but these aren’t very compelling arguments- or at least that’s not how I’d put them. We do make safety choices on behalf of other people all the time and I’m OK with that in principle. The question here is how much risk is being assumed (generally not that much) and the very high cost of keeping it illegal and arresting people. But I wouldn’t argue that everybody has the right to choose psychotic episodes and brain damage. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/8 "2014-01-14T17:03:35Z")
> [@Virgil\_Tibbs](#): > > Everyone who is going to smoke it already does. I disagree, but purely anecdotally. I love weed, but I do not currently smoke due to its prohibition. The difficulty of obtaining it coupled with the risks of prosecution for purchase and consumption outweigh my desire for it. As soon as my state legalizes, I will again be a user. I feel confident that there exists a substantial number of people in the same boat. But again, that’s entirely anecdotal. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/9 "2014-01-14T17:05:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > But I wouldn’t argue that everybody has the right to choose psychotic episodes and brain damage. No? Do we have the right to huff cleaning supplies and fall off ladders? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/10 "2014-01-14T17:07:02Z")
While you have some valid points, this isn’t one of them: > [@Gateway](#): > > Weed doesn’t lead to crime anymore then alcohol does. It CREATES crime if you make it illegal. The Capones couldn’t have existed except for the fact that alcohol was illegal. I see variations on that a lot, and it’s laughably untrue. The mob weren’t legitimate alcohol dealers forced into crime by Prohibition. They were a pre-exisiting crime syndicate that merely turned to alcohol during Prohibition and turned to other things when it ended. More to the point, the mob then and now deals in cigarettes, _even though cigarettes are legal_. They can make money evading the taxes…but the driver is that cigarettes are _addictive_, not that they are _illegal_. You’re talking about a substance that is addictive as well (to some degree), and (because it is in demand) it will be meddled in by organized crime whether legal or illegal, as long as it is taxed (and it will be taxed). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/11 "2014-01-14T17:08:24Z")
> [@andros](#): > > No? Do we have the right to huff cleaning supplies and fall off ladders? …no? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/12 "2014-01-14T17:15:28Z")
> [@marley23](#): > > …no? ok. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/13 "2014-01-14T17:41:56Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > If there is effectively no enforcement of individual possession, which is the case, isn’t that effectively legalization already? There’s still some resistance met by wholesale distributors, sure, but that’s at the business-risk level. Related to this topic, despite 20 states (plus DC) allowing medical marijuana dispensaries and quasi-legalization in Colorado and Washington, the fact that Marijuana is still a schedule I drug at the federal level has [made banks gunshy](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/us/banks-say-no-to-marijuana-money-legal-or-not.html?_r=0) about doing business with dispensaries for fear of running afoul of fedeal money-laundering statutes. Some of these businesses are handling huge amounts of cash, most of them are not able to process credit card transactions–not even the ATM is safe: > [@](#): > > A.T.M.s are common in marijuana outlets, but the business owners often have to use their own cash in the machines in case law enforcement authorities conduct a raid and seize the money. So, the business-risks are quite huge, and IMO a serious stumbling block toward real legalization. It’s more than just allowing individual possession; the Feds really need to address the business side before effective legalization is realistic. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/14 "2014-01-14T18:22:06Z")
[History lesson:](http://www.thefix.com/content/Maia-Szalavitz-pot-addiction-health2100) > [@](#): > > The truth is that our perceptions of marijuana—and in fact all of our drug laws—are based on early 20th century racism and “science” circa the Jim Crow era. In the early decades of the 20th century, the drug was linked to Mexican immigrants and black jazzmen, who were seen as potentially dangerous. > > Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (an early predecessor of the DEA), was one of the driving forces behind pot prohibition. He pushed it for explicitly racist reasons, saying, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men,” and: > > “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” > > The main reason to prohibit marijuana, he said was “its effect on the degenerate races.” (And god forbid women should sleep with entertainers!) > > Although it sounds absurd now, it was this type of propaganda that caused the drug to be outlawed in 1937—along with support from the Hearst newspapers, which ran ads calling marijuana “the assassin of youth” and published stories about how it led to violence and insanity. Anslinger remained as head of federal narcotics efforts as late as 1962, whereafter he spread his poisonous message to the world as the American representative to the U.N. for drug policy for a further two years. > > Before marijuana was made illegal, the American Medical Association’s opposition to prohibition was ignored, as was an earlier report on marijuana in India by the British government, which did not find marijuana to be particularly addictive or dangerous. That “Indian Hemp Drugs Committee” report had concluded way back in 1894 that, “The moderate use of hemp drugs is practically attended by no evil results at all.” ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/15 "2014-01-14T18:54:12Z")
[Legal history of cannabis in the United States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/16 "2014-01-14T19:51:42Z")
The OP and others here clearly need to watch this educational film!!! [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5SUdLIBV4) ---
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/17 "2014-01-14T21:59:38Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > If there is effectively no enforcement of individual possession, which is the case, isn’t that effectively legalization already? There’s still some resistance met by wholesale distributors, sure, but that’s at the business-risk level. I see what your saying but I think it should be legal fully. Plus the people who are in prison due to weed should be released. ---
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/18 "2014-01-14T22:01:02Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The OP and others here clearly need to watch this educational film!!! > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5SUdLIBV4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5SUdLIBV4) I plan on seeing that sometime. I hear that is one of the propaganda movies that was largely responsible either for weed prohibition and/or the war on drugs, I am not 100 percent about that though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/19 "2014-01-14T22:11:15Z")
I likewise would like it to be legalized. But as I have said before; I would also like it to be a $500 fine for smoking that shit in a public area. ---
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782/20 "2014-01-14T22:19:12Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The mob weren’t legitimate alcohol dealers forced into crime by Prohibition. They were a pre-exisiting crime syndicate that merely turned to alcohol during Prohibition and turned to other things when it ended. The thing is is that they have the gun-power and aren’t afraid to go against the law. These are the people who will be the sharks in the water you have to compete with if you want to buy the product at least in certain areas. They can push around smaller organizations to maximize their product (think crack dealer on a corner. They will not let some random guy come up and take their profits by selling if they are weaker) The fact that it is illegal makes it rarer and higher risk to the seller which in and of itself hikes up the price. It is now attractive to crime organization because of the artificially raised profits. ESPECIALLY if it is addictive, if it is at a higher price (due to what I said above) it can cause you to try to get the money by things like theft and robbery. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legalize-it-marijuana/678782.md?page=2)