Should marijuana be legalized?

How scandalous to use a drug to alter one's perception and state of mind! How terrible a crime!
Wait...Doesn't caffeine do that too? Yeah, I guess it does. And I guess it makes your argument is pretty much null and void.

 

I have a lot of friends at my high school who want Marijuana to be legalized but, I have to say, bottom line, it impairs you. You can take your chances, and even my best friend smokes, but it's possible that you can do some really stupid things while under the influence. \:

 

While that is true, I think that everyone should have the right to do stupid things without being dragged away to a cell, unless those stupid things happen to be violent things. And that is not very likely with this drug specifically, here.

 

As far as I know the only stupid thing it could lead someone to do is laugh for no specific reason. It also slows down your reflexes/makes you sleepy (a sort of caffeine opposite) and makes you hungry.
Marijuana isn' t like alcohol, you stay very much aware of everything you' re doing when you smoke some, and it doesn' t alter your personality in any way.

... or beating up a total stranger for no other reason than the weird way he looked at you, or throwing up everywhere.
That' s exactly what I' m trying to say. When I smoke I' m still me, when I drink too much I' m someone else.

 

I have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say your personality isn't altered and people can't tell you're high. That's a complete lie, my dad smokes pot and I can always tell, basically from the moment I see him.

Anyway I once wrote a research paper on marijuana. Though I have never and will never smoke it, it should absolutley be legalized. It's basically harmless (Impossible to overdose), doesn't impair much except for harming sperm count, killing brain cells, and impairing driving (two of which alcohol do anyway), and if legalized would be regulated more, stimulate the economy, be safer, etc.

Think about this. If some kid wants to smoke pot, and no matter what you do or say to him he's going to smoke pot, would you rather him buy it from a convenience store, or have to track down a dangerous drug dealer and buy pot that could be laced with who-knows-what? Seriously, think about it, because it happens every day and there's really no reason for it, it puts people in danger they don't have to be in.

 

Well it doesn' t affect everyone the same way, I' m just saying that it wouldn' t drive me to do things entirely out of character or over the top stupid while being drunk could. I' m certainly not trying to say that it' s not a drug or that it isn' t dangerous at all. My parents never figured out that I was smoking, I had to tell them myself. Yesterday I saw a guy on TV saying that he obtained his driver license while being totally high during the exams.

 

Thisthisthisthis.

I've had days when people wouldn't even know I was high and won't even believe I am (thank god for eyedrops), days when I'm so paranoid that everyone knows that I go through extra measures to hide it, and days when it's just ****ing obvious. I even know people where you wouldn't even know the difference between them high and them sober.

Also, to the whole people don't do stupid stuff while high, they can do dangerous and stupid stuff given the right resources. Normally, high people are just to...chilled out to find something dangerous to do, but put them in a situation where they can do something dangerous, well, they're already in a state of worse judgment. One of my friends almost got his head blown off from a loaded rifle. Would that happen sober? No. Would it happen high? Probably not. Would it happen high if there was a rifle fully loaded and it was there? Yeaahh.

 

Comparing marijuana to alcohol is almost unfair, the effects they have on the body are completely different. You're right in that marijauana has different effects on different people, but I am always able to tell when my dad or cousins are high, and they're the only people I now who smoke

 

Actually, weed doesn't kill brain cells. Smoke does, but the consumtion of weed itself doesn't kill brain cells. For example, if you ate a weed brownie, or used a vaporizer, your brain cells remain in tact.

 

True, but let's not forget that ingesting marijuana is the only way to overdose on it (even though that's basically impossible unless you consume insane amounts of it), so it's not much better

 

Yeah, I don't think "overdose" is the right word to use. Sure, cannabis foods have a higher THC (the chemical that gets one high) content, but overdosing is still very unlikely (not saying it's impossible). Can you become overly paranoid if you eat too much cannibus foods? Yes, definitely. Can you get the feeling of wanting to pass out and have a load of negative effects (nausea, dizziness, depression, etc.)? Absolutely. However, this usually happens when people eat a cannabis food, get impatient for the effects to kick in (probably about an hour) and end up eating too much and the effects can be overwhelming and even long-lasting. Hell, my friend ate 2 cannabis cookies, got tired of waiting for it to kick in, ate 9 cannibus cookies and was high for about 3 days straight. He said that it was scary, was glad it ended, but wasn't totally turned off by weed.

 

Needs to be legal.
It'll cut down most of the violence down at the border. (most, not all, of the illegal aliens coming in are here to sell drugs, hence drug cartels.)
You shouldn't get in trouble for hurting yourself, only if you harm someone else should be the only reason to get in trouble. What rights do you have to your own body if you go to jail for hurting yourself? It's not right.
It's like prohibition. It caused more violence than good.

 

Sure, It's not the governments choice if people want to sit around happily on there couches and eat stuff while watching TV.

 

To be honest, I could care less either way. If marijuana is legalized then there would be one result, kids would quit doing it. The only thing they are looking for is to break free from rules and do something illegal. I say keep it illegal, at least this way they won't move on to more hardcore things like . . . well you get what I am saying. The only problem I have with this law is the difference in punishment between marijuana and other drugs. You go to jail for twenty years for marijuana but if you get caught with (other drugs) you go to jail for maybe a year. I say lower the punishment so it isn't so extreme. I am getting off subject, bottom line, leave it illegal. If you want to do it legally go to . . . well google it.

 

No, there would be several results, including having to spend much less money, making a good amount of revenue on taxes, safer regulation and distribution of it, etc.

So you'd rather put people in needless danger for something you don't care about either way?

 

I say legalize it.
-When something is legalized, people tend not do it as much. Just look at prohibition during America's 1920s. People were drinking like crazy, just the thrill of being "bad."
-More money is being put in to circulation and taxes can be utilized to take advantage
-Open a cafe next to a place where they sell majiuana = BIG BUCKS
-There would be rules about how it's distributed.
-More room for the more dangerous criminals in jails.
-No reports of death from marijuana. It takes 800 constant joints in a row to overdose......
-If cigs are legalized, why not marijuana

 

I would prefer it legalized. I only rarely use it, but I've never done anything outright stupid while high. The taxes that could be imposed on it would really help the economic standing of the country anyway. I've not seen one good argument for keeping it illegal, but when it's proposed to legalize it (i.e. cali), old people get off their asses and vote "No" because they were raised to fear it.

 

Is this guy a troll? Oh well.

I am going to debunk your first point before doing anything else. Do kids do harder drugs because alcohol is illegal for them? What about cigarettes? The idea is ridiculous. Let's say that it is legalized with the same restrictions as cigarettes. Either you get caught smoking marijuana underage, like with smoking cigarettes underage, or you do harder drugs. Which is worse for you if you get caught, and which is more dangerous for you to do even if you don't? The answer to both should clearly be the harder drugs. Which would you do if you were going to do one in that case?

Please think about it more before posting something like this again, much less several posts across the section with an equal lack of intellectual dedication.

 

I'm for legalizing it, though I have never smoked it and I probably never will. Alcohol is way more damaging than marijuana is.

The thing is though, if you legalize it, you should regulate and taxate it, I swear to God the US would as a nation would earn a lot of money there. And as far as smoking one thing leads to something stronger, well - I highly doubt that happens in many cases... And anyway, those substances would be illegal still though. Legalizing it won't be encouraging people to do it, it just makes it legal, it's like cigarettes. You could have a warning label on however you would pack the marijuana saying it MAY cause some kind of problems.

Also, kids smoking weed or cigarettes don't do it because it's an act of rebellion, they do it first of all because they think it makes them cool. Second of all because they are kids, they are not as aware as older people.

I've also heard it's a great stress-reliever, something everyone could need once in a while!