Marijuana legalisation

In My Humble Opinion
21

Oh. So I assume that you are in fact completely against all forms of recreational drugs? Never had a beer after a hard day of work? Never smoked that cigarette just to give you 10 minutes to think? Aww heck, what about your TV? I bet you NEVER sit in front of it and use that nifty remote-control thingy to surf through endless channels looking for something to while away the hours.

Many smokers would argue that they in fact utilize the time that they are high. Pot draws out ones perception of time, thus, after that hard day of work coming home at 7pm, you can pack a whole lot of fun and relaxation into 3 or 4 hours before bedtime. Or maybe that hike in the mountains that you appreciate all the more because you let go of your daily programmes and just sorta, well, hangout. And don’t even think about sex while high- you know, of all things to have time draw out on you, an orgasm is the last thing that you want to do that to…

But no, I’m sure you don’t understand. Your WHOLE day is one full daytimer of projects, meetings, and pencilled-in appointments. You never just sit down and take time for yourself, do you? GO GO GO! If you’re not moving fast, life will just pass you by, right?

Time is wasted by people’s choices, not by certain drugs. I smoke. I also do TONS of stuff with my life.

Legalize it. It’s not evil, and it’s never going to go away. The war on drugs is insane, as are the people that continue to fight a losing battle. Over 1 million people are incarcerated for victemless crimes in the land of the free (the highest percentage and total in the world I believe)…Funny that. You know, I feel more freedom in a former communist country than I ever did in America. And I think that that is not only sad, but wrong.

Read the Constitution, vote Libertarian.

-Tcat

22

Decriminalization is long overdue, let’s just see how it goes from there.

– G. Raven

23

Okay, so how come we are so far out of the mainstream. I noticed that we are unanimous that it should be legalized, even though there are people here of most age groups and on both ends of the political spectrum.

Yet polls show that Americans don’t want legalization, and even medical marijuana propositions are mostly getting voted down.

Is the population of this thread THAT much different, or is this one of those issues where people’s private opinions and public actions are completely different? If so, then all we have to do is make it politically acceptable to say that you’re for legalization, and all the hidden fans will come out of the woodwork.

24

In my experience, Dopers have a very unusual attitude towards a lot of issues if you compare it with the States.
Do keep in mind a lot of us aren’t American :smiley:

Also, most Dopers are probably more educated than your average citizen on the street.
People who have preformed oppinions and are not willing to accept any arguments that challenge those views are extremely common all over the world. Though we have had our share of such people around here, I’d wager that most people that become regulars on a message board like this one are fairly open minded and willing to learn.

We’re fighting ignorance for a reason, there’s a lot of it! :smiley:

— G. Raven

p.s. I do believe there is a large majority for medical marijuana legislation on a nationwide basis in the US, CNN once quoted it to be more than sixty percent. Don’t know how this would break down on state-to-state basis.

25

Male, 42, NDP

What Pipeliner said, with the further argument that enforcement against this (and other drug offences) demonstrates a profound class bias. Stop and think how many people have been unable to secure employment because they have been convicted for an indictable offence (felony to you yanks) and consequently cannot be bonded. It’s time to stop criminalizing the working class.

Finally, Parliament should establish a pardons board so that people who have a record for crimes of simple possession can have their criminal record expunged.

The money saved from enforcing archaic drug laws can be used to investigate real offences… like corporate manslaughter.

Remember Bhopal?

26

Actually I don’t smoke or drink.

But I can look for something educational or at least watch a good story. My brain might not be functioning at as high a level as if I had written the story myself, but it is still functioning.

And many smokers simply babble nonsense, stare at a wall, or act paranoid. It can also contribute to sexual dysfunction so that orgasm isnt an option.

Pot has different affects on everyone. Some of the folks that do nothing but waste their lives away smoking it and staring at the wall would probably waste their lives away staring at Jerry Springer if pot was unavailable to them. I don’t see pot as a menace. I see it as an annoyance. And I absolutely despise the smell.

I’d deal with your sarcasm properly in a pit thread, but I’ve got more important stuff to do. :slight_smile:

Yeah, it is sad and wrong that you feel that way, but pot is probably messing with your thinking process. So this former communist nation is far more free than America? Was it the freedom to smoke pot that put it over the top? Should we be dropping weed into Cuba? Will it result in instant elections, freedom of speech. and the release of political prisoners there?

I think the war on drugs should be redirected towards treatment and away from incarceration. But a lot of those folks that are in jail on drug charges are there for things like crack and heroin. Having met many such folks up close and personal, I can’t say I’m all that upset that there’s not more of them running around loose.

I am completly apathetic towards the legalization of pot as long as it is restricted to the privacy of one’s home.

Keep in mind though that if it is taxed heavily, folks will simply continue to buy it cheaper on the black market. And all though it might not be “evil” it isnt good for you either. I know, I know, neither is chocolate… But I don’t have to accidently consume caolories when the person next to me has a chocolate bar.

27

Yeah, the sarcasm switch was on full last night…apologies.

BUT, no, it’s not the pot messing with my head. I don’t fear jackbooted thugs breaking down my door using a ‘John Doe’ warrant (which is directly forbidden in the US Constitution, btw) looking for drugs and shooting me here - which has happened a few times in my old home town of Denver. I don’t fear about illegal search and seizures or worrying that my private property isn’t really that private because cops can pretty much do whatever they want. In this country, cops now have to actually have REAL reasons to stop me or search my car.

Here, I don’t feel like I have to worry as much about my civil rights being trampled. I’m sorry, but there are plenty of cases and evidence that support the view that the US is slowly becoming a police state. ‘Fascism with a smile’ as some people term it. And I believe much of it has to do with this crazy war on drugs. Having pot legal won’t in and of itself make a country more free, but having rational policies towards drugs will. This country over-reacted a few years ago and made a blanket “all drugs are the same” law and it has proven to be a failure. They now don’t enforce it in many cases because it’s such a fuck-up, and now the politicians are trying to re-vamp it. By next year there should be a better policy in existence.

As a true-blue Libertarian, I believe the war on drugs is at the root of many of America’s evils. I believe it has led to higher crime rates, lost productivity, senseless hassles and harm to individuals and families, and has changed the face of America for the worse. A rational policy towards taxation and treatment would do far more than any fascist crackdown ever would.

So yes, I do feel free-er(?) here. Kids play after dark here. I can walk anywhere in this city and not worry about getting mugged (pick-pocketed maybe, but nothing violent). Police don’t do no-knock raids. I have never been harrassed on the street by cops here, whereas that happened to me in Denver about once every 6 months.

And your comment about buying cheaper drugs on the Black market after legalization…ummm…no. Alcohol is legal, and I bet you couldn’t buy moonshine on the black market if you tried. Same for tobacco. It doesn’t exist. So no, if pot were made legal, it would be taxed and regulated, and that is about it(think back to Prohibition- the same arguments were stated then and have been proven silly in the past 75 years). You would have to deal with people growing it at home, but that would be up to them and not affecting you.

I came off a little too strong yesterday. I’m sorry about that. But my views on the issues still stand.

Take care-
-Tcat

28

Just for the record - in Canada, where tobacco is very heavily taxed, there is a black market for it. The black market isn’t huge (the vast majority of smokers still prefer to buy it from 7/11,) but everyone knows about the cheaper sources.

29

Blackclaw: the whole ‘marijuana makes your sperm count drop, and become a woman’ is just prohibition propaganda, whether you believe either way, it has been proven to be a lie. A similar such lie is that women will grow facial hair and their voices will deepen as a result of marijuana use. If you don’t believe that people go to jail for marijauana possession, than you have either shut your eyes to the facts, or you are being deluded by the media.

30

Tomcat,

Don’t worry too much about the sarcasm.

I think pot would likely smuggled in if legalized and taxed heavily because the infrastructure to get it into the US unnoticed by authorities already exists and it works really well too. You still can find illegal alcohol to buy here in the US, but the problem with such homebrewed things is that if made improperly it can blind or kill you. Pot doesn’t really offer such risks in production.

I’ll admit I simply don’t like the stuff. But if you want to do it in the privacy of your home, I don’t see why the government should care. If you’re looking for an area of agreement between us, yeah the drug policy needs to be revamped completly.

31

Lowers sperm count and makes you a woman…? No, I hadn’t heard that one. But pot can contribute to erectile difficulty in men and a lower sex drive in both men and women. Other contributers to erectile difficulty include alcohol, cigarettes, and anti-depressents.

http://urology-health.com/med_sexdys_male_impotence.htm

And I never said that people don’t go to jail for pot possession. I said:

32

You are absolutely right, and you are making an absolutely ridiculous argument.

I can think of literally dozens of legal activities that are complete wastes of time. What gets a workout besides your adrenal gland when you ride a roller coaster?
If “complete wastes of time” should be illegal, the producers and directors of Pearl Harbor should be shot on sight as pushers of the vilest kind. :wink:

The point, to those of us who aren’t pot heads, is that it is the people’s time to decide whether to waste it or not, not the governments.

Sua

P.S. 32, male, liberal in the 19th Century sense. Legalize it.

33

Male, 31, Democrat.

Oddly enough, I’m in favor of legalization for exactly the same reason Rastahomie is.

34

I think that the people got pot first, not the drug companies, so they want it to not be legal cuz they can’t make no profit now.

BTW, pot is legal in certain areas of the US. I think that’s fine with me. It’s also not legal in some, which is fine with me.

35

Female, 40, Democrat.

I also favor legalization for both practical and political reasons. Regulating it like alcohol seems eminently doable.

There does seem to be one problem though. You can’t grow whiskey in your backyard. Not easily anyway. How would we regulate private marijuana growing? I suppose if it were produced on a large scale the cigarettes sold could be made pretty much seedless, but seeds would still be around.
I also suppose if it’s sold relatively cheaply there wouldn’t be much incentive for adults, and I can’t say that I’ve heard of kids stealing tobacco out of the fields as a big social problem.

The biggest barrier seems to be in getting a mainstream politician to go out on a limb for this one.

36

handy-

Can you name some of these areas in the US where pot is legal?

37

Well, I have never heard anything about it treating MS or AIDS. Anyone care to prove me wrong with a few links. And remember, one little experiment in your favor doesn’t make it a truth. But, please, by all means prove me wrong.

I’m 19, male, Dem.

I don’t smoke, use pot, and very rarely drink. I’ve also never been drunk.

Warning! This post is going to be rant.

I couldn’t agree more. As for this posted by **SuaSponte:

The point, to those of us who aren’t pot heads, is that it is the people’s time to decide whether to waste it or not, not the governments. **

Yes, but why should I have to pay for your loss of productivity? Why do I have to put up with your second hand smoke at a concert? Why do I have to tell you to “leave me the fuck alone” when you’re stoned off your ass, drunk, and hitting on me?

I think if we do leagalize it, we’ll just have that many more Americans sitting around on their ass being worthless and rotting their life away. And for those of you who are more productive when stoned, how bout getting off your lazy ass and doing something while you’re clean? Is it that hard? Personally, I think if you people need to get stoned to have fun, or be productive, then you’re weak. People have made it a habit (and probably an industry) of making excuses for themselves:

“Oh, I just can’t get moving until I’ve had a cup of coffee.”

(Heard at the resturant where I work many a times): “Hey, I’m stressing, I need to take a cig. break, can you watch my tables and get them something if they need it?”

(Hey sure fuckwad, I’ll just watch your tables and my own while you go smoke.)

Life spinning out of control? Feeling sad? You don’t need that stuff to make you all better! Just suck it up, quit your bitching, and deal with it!

As far as how much money we’ll make by taxing it:

Check this out
and this…

<snip>
“Direct medical costs associated with smoking are around $50 billion a year.”
</snip>

or this.
Now you might be saying, hey, this is about weed, not tobacco. Well, what’s the difference? I think if you leagalize weed, you’re going to have people walking outside for their 15 minutes to toke it up, then walk back to their cube and stare at the damn screensaver for another 2 hours. Besides, some of these facts will apply to pot as well. It could possibly make things worse because now you have more people smoking.

For the kids in school.

…and that’s just in 10 minutes of searching on Google. I’m sure I could find a helluva lot more facts if needed.
Not to be baised though, same goes for the booze-hounds. Is your life that hard that you have to resort to drinking? Life isn’t fair and drinking isn’t going to make it any more fair. And neither is hitting your kids…

And if you even consider the thought of hitting a kid, drunk or not, do humanity a huge favor and take one for the team ok? I think suicide is wrong, but if you really feel the urge to beat a kid, maybe it’s something you should look into. You are a waste of resources.
::Put’s on flame protective clothing::

38

should read,

I don’t smoke or use pot and very rarely drink.

39

Originally posted by cykrider:

Regarding marijuana and AIDS from this site:

NIH approves study of marijuana as AIDS treatment.

From here–Regarding marijuana and MS:

More on MS/Marijuana. Don’t know if these exactly prove that it’s been approved for treatment of these diseases (more like coping with symptoms), but it clearly is being studied; and evidently there are numerous individual testamonials to its effectiveness. That’s a start; there’s more out there where this came from.

40

Suppose I should reiterate that I’m NOT gathering from these articles any sense that MaryJane is being seen as a treatment for AIDS and MS themselves, but rather as an evidently effective method of coping with some of their symptoms. In case anyone missed that little parenthetical thingy in my last post. My second custom link’s wording came from the article in question; it wasn’t my own assessment.