# SSM and Marijuana are legal (kind of). What's next? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 29, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046 "2014-01-29T17:19:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/102 "2014-02-01T23:29:28Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > (I was also the first generation not to have to register for the draft. Lucky me. 1957 was a good year to be born!) Hmm? Do you mean the first generation not _called up_ for the draft? You still have to register (if, that is, the “you” is male, which ought to be changed) and I thought that had always been the case. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/103 "2014-02-01T23:34:40Z")
I don’t think the drinking age will be lowered in the United States until we have a massive improvement in public transportation. In much of Europe if you’re a stupid buzzed 18-year old who’s been out partying you can hop on a bus or a train to go home; worst case scenario is that you’ll fall asleep and miss your stop. In the US if you’re 18, have been drinking, and want to go somewhere, someone in the party is likely to get behind the wheel of a car. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/104 "2014-02-01T23:56:48Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Well, by definition, most people in polygamous societies don’t practice polygamy, at least in the the ‘one man, multiple wives’ form. the sex ratio is generally close to 1:1, except under special conditions (e.g. Massive warfare) so polygyny is usually an aspiration, not the norm. Islam of course emerged under warfare conditions, which may be part of why Muhammad allowed it (unless you’re Muslim and believe he was divinely inspired). > > It isn’t only Muslim countries in Africa which permit polygyny, most majority Christian countries do so as well. **Most**? And I was explicitly excluding heterogeneous countries that may have a Christian majority\* but allow it, like Nigeria. \*Polls differ. Pew gives 0.5% more Christians but basically even. Apologies if this is becoming a slight hijack, another thread maybe. > [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Paraguay apparently had a 10:1 sex ratio at the end of the War of the Triple Alliance, must have been a great place to be a guy. a great place to be a guy _if you survive it_! 🙂 Still, you can’t expect to go against three of the most powerful South American countries **alone**. The number of deaths (military and civilian) were **double** the troops committed. Wiki says 4:1 F:M on average, but as high as 20:1 in some places. “Unfortunately,” a country that is (now) 89.9% Catholic is unlikely to let you get your war widow marryin’ on. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/105 "2014-02-02T03:27:34Z")
I bust my ass keeping one woman happy. Polygamy? Right. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/106 "2014-02-02T03:51:19Z")
Said an Argentine gaucho named Bruno, "Fucking is one thing I do know! "Camels are fine "And sheep are divine “But llamas are _numero uno!_” – Isaac Asimov – no, really ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/107 "2014-02-02T20:29:06Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Hmm? Do you mean the first generation not _called up_ for the draft? You still have to register (if, that is, the “you” is male, which ought to be changed) and I thought that had always been the case. IIRC, there was a 3 or 4 year period after the draft ended before mandatory registration resumed. There are a few men in the United States who never had to register for the draft. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/108 "2014-02-03T02:37:48Z")
**thelurkinghorror** Well, when I say ‘legally allow polygamy’ I’m including those African countries, which don’t explicitly sanction polygamy in their civil law, but do allow for polygamous marriages under ‘customary’ law. So I may be using a more expansive definition of legality than you are. The map below indicates that Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Zambia and Myanmar are all countries which explicitly allow polygamy in their legal codes and have very few Muslims. Other African countries which allow polygamy either allow it under customary law but not national law (like South Africa, Botswana, etc.) or have significant Muslim populations (Cameroon, Tanzania, etc.). Good point about Paraguay…I’d been told the female:male ratio was closer to 8:1 than 4:1, but you may well be right. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Legality_of_polygamy.png) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Legality_of_polygamy.png) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/109 "2014-02-03T08:02:57Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > The map below indicates that Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Zambia and Myanmar are all countries which explicitly allow polygamy in their legal codes and have very few Muslims. Other African countries which allow polygamy either allow it under customary law but not national law (like South Africa, Botswana, etc.) or have significant Muslim populations (Cameroon, Tanzania, etc.). Cool, thanks. > [@](#): > > Good point about Paraguay…I’d been told the female:male ratio was closer to 8:1 than 4:1, but you may well be right. Well, _Wikipedia_ may be right. I don’t claim expertise except that this thread isn’t the first time I heard of that war and I knew the belligerents, but that’s mostly it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046/110 "2014-02-03T16:38:12Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Depending on your state and situation, you can already get close to assisted suicide. My living will is the standard “no heroics, its OK to withhold feeding, etc” which is basically my way of killing myself if I can’t kill myself - by telling those trained to give care not to act. Some states will let relatives make that call even when the patient hasn’t. Going from there to “I can’t stand the pain and there is no hope but I need some help” isn’t that far. > [@Marley23](#): > > No, you can’t. Do Not Resuscitate orders and refusal of extraordinary measures are nothing close to assisted suicide or euthanasia. They apply only if you’re in a coma or in the middle of a medical crisis, and that’s a very limited version of that situation. It doesn’t help if you’re experiencing a long, painful decline in your health. A friend was a long term diabetic. He did OK with it but not exceptionally well and by age 40 he was on dialysis. By age 50 he was just done. He had a few more years of pain and a continuing decline in what he was able to do and enjoy but he decided to check out then and there legally. He beefed up his living will to refuse anything other than pain killers and hydration and refused dialysis and all other treatment. Was it fast, dignified and painless? Not totally; took a week or more and the first few days had to hurt like hell. But the job got done and his funeral was held basically on his time schedule. We may want to debate the words “close”, “assisted” or “suicide” but I’ll stand by what I said. Thirty or 40 years ago, what he did would have been impossible. You simply were not allowed, at least in most of PA, to allow yourself to die like he did. You certainly wouldn’t get the help in pain management he did. We had the machines and the drugs and by God, short of some religious factions, we were going to use them. Unless you were absolutely “beyond end stage” in an understanding hospital that allowed (without admitting it) “slow codes” and other measures like that. Or would at least release you to die at home. Maybe. To get from where we are now to something you and I would both easily recognize as assisted suicide? I give it 10 years max. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ssm-and-marijuana-are-legal-kind-of-whats-next/680046.md?page=5)