# What would happen if marijuana was legalized in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 24, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862 "2004-01-24T18:16:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/41 "2004-01-27T19:04:23Z")
> [@E72521](#): > > Why not allow THC pills or for that matter, > …snip… > IIRC, one of the government’s arguments against legalization of medical dope was that if it was that therapeutic, why couldn’t it be offered in pill form to chemo patients, allowing for better control on quality, dosage and safeguards over illicit abuse? [http://www.ardpark.org/reference/marinol.htm](http://www.ardpark.org/reference/marinol.htm) On a related note, is it possible to make medium-pressurized “caplets” on a much smaller scale akin to nitrous oxide canisters, containing only the few dominant psychoactive chemicals in pot? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/42 "2004-01-28T09:08:34Z")
Speaking of marijuana in pill form, are there tests to see if pulmonary and lung problems are caused by the _smoking_ instead of the cannabis itself? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/43 "2004-01-28T18:45:56Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > Obviously, that should have been “would **not** constitute a safety hazard.” Many if not most positions that would not be a safety hazard require more judgement and interpretation. Would you for example want your accountant to be a little tipsy while he was working on the taxes for your business? Would you want your minimal skill required receptionist hanging up on customers and or misdirecting calls? Would you want your criminal defense attourney to show up drunk for your trial? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/44 "2004-01-28T21:45:35Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Many if not most positions that would not be a safety hazard require more judgement and interpretation. > > Would you for example want your accountant to be a little tipsy while he was working on the taxes for your business? > > Would you want your minimal skill required receptionist hanging up on customers and or misdirecting calls? > > Would you want your criminal defense attourney to show up drunk for your trial? Of course not, but we all make mistakes, as shown by the very post of mine that you are quoting. And I’ve never smoked pot in my life. If someone is not performing up to par, then you have to decide whether to keep him/her as an employee anyway, but are you advocating random and/or at-will drug testing for all workers, no matter what the job? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/45 "2004-01-28T23:03:51Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > If someone is not performing up to par, then you have to decide whether to keep him/her as an employee anyway, but are you advocating random and/or at-will drug testing for all workers, no matter what the job? I have no problem with the idea of random or even mandatory _impairment_ testing of on duty employees. As far as I am concerned I could care less if someone I worked around or with does a few recreational drugs, as long as they are not still impaired by it. If places tended to pay more for drug free employees I would bet my next check nobody would care if it was legal, they would be more worried about keeping their higher paying jobs that consistently test. Workplace safety is also an issue in even the most mundane tasks. Office workers are injured all the time moving heavy boxes of files, trips/slips and falls, much of which are more likely in an impaired employee no matter how good they are at their job. Would a DJ who performs brilliantly on the air when drunk but have workmens comp claims from falling and hurting themselves on several occasions, still be considered a good employee? How large of a chance should an employer be required to take with such an employee. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/46 "2004-01-29T00:10:54Z")
> [@Gyan9](#): > > On a related note, is it possible to make medium-pressurized “caplets” on a much smaller scale akin to nitrous oxide canisters, containing only the few dominant psychoactive chemicals in pot? Asked too soon… [Sativex](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/health/policy/27MARI.html). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/47 "2004-01-29T01:50:42Z")
Well, if marijuana were legalized in the U.S., we would save a lot of money on keping nonviolent drug offenders in prison, and in addition there would be cultural and political ramifications . . . in that, there would be widespread effects in our society . . . reducing our levels of bigotry and hatred and . . . liberalizing our attitudes towards violence and intolerance and exploitation of the natural environment . . . and . . . are you going to eat that? ---
**Author:** ![T.Mehr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@T.Mehr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Mehr)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/48 "2004-01-30T12:54:01Z")
It was legal in Alaska in the eighties. Everything went fine. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/49 "2004-01-30T13:28:22Z")
> [@T. Mehr](#): > > It was legal in Alaska in the eighties. > Everything went fine. It is legal in Alaska again, at least for personal use in the home. [http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/012104/sta\_cannibas.shtml](http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/012104/sta_cannibas.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/50 "2004-01-31T04:31:57Z")
> [@Gyan9](#): > > Apparently, [false](http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/20/1074360762037.html). Try this quote: > [@](#): > > 1. Drugs in medicine are routinely given what is called an > LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty > percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of > drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted > to determine cannabis’s LD-50 rating in test animal, > without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable > to give animals enough cannabis to induce death. > 2. At present it is estimated that cannabis’s LD-50 is > around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means > that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have > to consume 20,000 to 40,000 time as much cannabis as is > contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana > cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker > would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of > cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. > as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios that may fall > below 1:1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios > and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being > properly employed. [Google it](http://www.google.com/search?q=The+Drug+Enforcement+Administration+In+The+Matter+Of+MARIJUANA+RESCHEDULING+PETITION%2C+Docket+No.+86-22&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) [.gov results only](http://www.google.com/search?as_q=The+Drug+Enforcement+Administration+In+The+Matter+Of+MARIJUANA+RESCHEDULING&num=10&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&c2coff=1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=.gov&safe=images) ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/51 "2004-01-31T08:18:19Z")
From what I’ve heard patients using Sativex or other pills containing cannabinoids say it doesn’t stack up to smoking mj. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/52 "2004-01-31T08:59:48Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > From what I’ve heard patients using Sativex or other pills containing cannabinoids say it doesn’t stack up to smoking mj. Is Sativex even on sale? Isn’t it still undergoing the formalities? And Sativex is a spray, not sure if that makes a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/53 "2004-01-31T09:02:22Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Try this quote: Not sure what the beef is, here. Someone posted that no one ever died directly from cannabis usage. I simply corrected that. MJ does seem to be very very safe in terms of lethal impact. ---
**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 31, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/54 "2004-01-31T16:56:20Z")
> [@Gyan9](#): > > Not sure what the beef is, here. Someone posted that no one ever died directly from cannabis usage. I’m almost certain hemp rope was using to hang criminals in the past. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/55 "2004-01-31T22:01:58Z")
> [@Gyan9](#): > > Is Sativex even on sale? Isn’t it still undergoing the formalities? > > And Sativex is a spray, not sure if that makes a huge difference. Ah, I thought sativex was one of the pill forms that is sometimes perscribed. While I don’t know if the effect of the spray is similar to that of the pills, but a little bit of googling led me to some complaints about the pills. The following is from Consumer Reports Magazine, May '97. > [@](#): > > With a legal synthetic marijuana pill already available, why are people still pushing for the right to smoke marijuana for medical purposes? Because patients and doctors assert that the two do not behave the same in the body. And a convincing body of research, some of it now nearly two decades old, shows that smoked marijuana suppresses nausea better than Marinol pills, and with fewer side effects. Physicians speculate that one reason for the difference is that smoked marijuana enters the bloodstream almost instantaneously, allowing patients to control their dose, whereas the oral version is absorbed slowly for some time. In addition, there’s the possibility that the complex mix of compounds in whole, smoked marijuana somehow counteracts the more unpleasant effects of pure THC, such as extreme dizziness and unsteady gait. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2004, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/56 "2004-01-31T22:50:45Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > Ah, I thought sativex was one of the pill forms that is sometimes perscribed. While I don’t know if the effect of the spray is similar to that of the pills, but a little bit of googling led me to some complaints about the pills. The following is from Consumer Reports Magazine, May '97. Sativex contains most of the major cannabinods (not just THC). Also, since it is a spray, it enters the bloodstream fairly quickly, unlike oral intake. ---
**Author:** ![madonnaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@madonnaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madonnaman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/57 "2004-02-01T06:07:35Z")
Could the legalization of marijuana have an adverse impact on the economy of some regions of the US? I understand that marijuana is the number one cash crop in many parts of the country, and that in some areas (rural Northern California, etc.) a fair-sized minority of the population is involved in the marijuana trade in one way or another. Could legalization devastate the economy of such areas? Legalization would almost surely cause a drop in prices. More people would be willing to grow marijuana, causing more competition, and increasing the supply, thus lowering prices further. Agribusiness could start growing marijuana on a large scale, forcing small time growers out of business. IANAE[conomist], so I could be completely wrong. But is there a possibility that some regions of the country might have to find a new illicit drug to manufacture or else suffer a local depression? ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/58 "2004-02-02T13:21:57Z")
> [@madonnaman](#): > > Could the legalization of marijuana have an adverse impact on the economy of some regions of the US? I understand that marijuana is the number one cash crop in many parts of the country, and that in some areas (rural Northern California, etc.) a fair-sized minority of the population is involved in the marijuana trade in one way or another. Could legalization devastate the economy of such areas? Legalization would almost surely cause a drop in prices. More people would be willing to grow marijuana, causing more competition, and increasing the supply, thus lowering prices further. Agribusiness could start growing marijuana on a large scale, forcing small time growers out of business. > > IANAE[conomist], so I could be completely wrong. But is there a possibility that some regions of the country might have to find a new illicit drug to manufacture or else suffer a local depression? But OTOH, think of the factors in legalization that would boost the economy. All the money we’re now spending in our war on marijuana, including the cost of keeping marijana offenders in prison, would be available to be used for other, more worthwhile, purposes. And all the productivity now lost when people are imprisoned for mj offences would be released. In any case, even if we were sure the economic problems speculated on by madonaman would occur, that should not stop us from legalizing. I mean, are we going to say, “We realize that mj is cirtainly no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco (and probably significantly less harmful than either), and we would really like to legalize it, but we just can’t. Too much of our economy depends on keeping the price of the substance artificially high due to its illegality.” I’m assuming that if mj were legalized, the legislation would include a provision that everyone in prison for mj offences would be immediately released, and anyone in prison for several offences including an mj offence would have his/her sentence reduced to eliminate the portion that was for the mj offense. If mj were legalized, what justification could there be for keeping people in prison for possession, use, or sale? So the savings of tax dollars would start immediately. Another effect would be an improvement in the operation of the criminal justice system. Police would have more time to spend catching violent criminals, the courts would be less overburdened, and the increased space in our prisons would allow us to make violent criminals serve their full sentences: no more cases of horrific crimes committed by people recently released from prison after serving about half of their sentence for an earlier crime of violence. Re the guy in Briton: I have to suspect that the coroner thought, “oh, that must be it,” and looked no further for a cause of death once he found a high level of an illegal substance in the dead guy’s system. He may have died of some other cause. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862/59 "2004-02-02T19:14:23Z")
I would think that to get a good understanding of how it would affect US, is to have some people post about how it’s affecting their own region (Not Amsterdam, this is the Las Vegas of the world). [ul] [li]What was it like before, and after legalization?[/li][li]What kind of legalization (how many ounces can you have, age requirments)?[/li][li]Can you consume it anywhere, or just your home?[/li][li]Less crime in general?[/li][li]Do people seem more at peace? Less stress in your society?[/li][li]What has benefitted by using “War on drugs” money, on more practical things?[/li][li]Work productivity, better or worse?[/li][li]Insurance problems? Health of the public, have visits to hospitals increased due to mj?[/li][/ul] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-marijuana-was-legalized-in-the-us/225862.md?page=2)