Should marijuana be legalized?
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camelia bedelia
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 Posted: 01/26/05 - 16:59 Post subject: Should marijuana be legalized?
Arguements pro and con go here.
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copteacher
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 17:03 Post subject:
no.
I don't want some people using marijuana then driving, or doing other stuff.
If we start with marijuana, what next.
I believe if it is legalized (strictly a belief), its use will increase dramatically and lots of people will get hurt (financially, emotionally, etc)
You asked if marijuana should be legalized. Not should alcohol be made illegal or comparing it to alcohol, so I will argue only that marijuana should be and stay illegal.
I see young kids every day get hooking on marijuana and it ruins their lives, their futures and their family.
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Gogirlgo
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 17:10 Post subject:
I think marijuana is not particularly dangerous. I don't know anyone who is hooked on it and whose life has been ruined by it. I know people who for parts of their lives used it and were also not particularly directed or motivated but I'm not sure it ruined them.
Legalize it, tax it, educate about it. Alcohol, the legal intoxicant, is so much more damaging and destructive to families, workplace, community that it's impossible not to compare the two.
In a nutshell, how many barfights begin with a stoned guy misunderstanding something? None.
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copteacher
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 17:15 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: |
In a nutshell, how many barfights begin with a stoned guy misunderstanding something? None. |
WHAT?
You want incident report numbers?
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genie
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 17:24 Post subject:
I work with addicts now in my practicum and I've worked with them before when I was in my field, and despite the so-called "lack of evidence" that has been published saying that marijuana is not a step-up drug, meaning that if you start with pot smoking, you end up turning to the stronger stuff, for whatever reason, I hear time and again from addicts themselves that they started with pot in school with their friends, "recreationally" and now they're using heroin, crack, etc. Some of them did it because the pot high wasn't enough, some were introduced to the dealing aspects through marijuana and found they could make more money selling crack, some grew up in that environment, i.e parents are addicts or drug users, etc....many different reasons, but a great deal of them do say that pot started the ball rolling. And yes, to a certain extent it is a choice, but to another, it is also a disease. While marijuana might not have been proven to be addictive in and of itself, it's a good way to get your feet wet in the drug culture, and I think for that reason I'd lean towards no. However, I have a couple friends who used it medicinally (illegally) during cancer or AIDS treatment, and it brought them the little relief they got, so I'm kinda on the fence.
Does this not partly become a discussion about whether legalizing it would curtail use and selling, thus eliminating some of the glamour of the drug culture? In my mind, it does. For those of you who would legalize it, how would you regulate it, if the decision was yours to make?
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gretriever
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 17:27 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: | I think marijuana is not particularly dangerous. I don't know anyone who is hooked on it and whose life has been ruined by it. I know people who for parts of their lives used it and were also not particularly directed or motivated but I'm not sure it ruined them.
Legalize it, tax it, educate about it. Alcohol, the legal intoxicant, is so much more damaging and destructive to families, workplace, community that it's impossible not to compare the two.
In a nutshell, how many barfights begin with a stoned guy misunderstanding something? None. |
A roommate of mine after I graduated college got himself stoned, borrowed another roommate's motorcycle, and promptly took on a tree, totalling the bike and breaking his leg. As he was an experienced rider, he did acknowledge the accident was due to being stoned.
I know as I saw all this occur (except I didn't take part in the smoking part), and rode with him to the hospital in the ambulance.
It does happen.
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MastrBrewr
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 17:27 Post subject:
I'm tempted to say legalize it, put an age-restriction on it, then tax the hell out of it.
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thegman
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 18:29 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: | | I think marijuana is not particularly dangerous. I don't know anyone who is hooked on it and whose life has been ruined by it. |
I would find it difficult to argue that Ricky Williams' life is not financially worse, at least, because of his marijuana habit.
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camelia bedelia
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 19:41 Post subject:
| rtpd113 wrote: | no.
IYou asked if marijuana should be legalized. Not should alcohol be made illegal or comparing it to alcohol, so I will argue only that marijuana should be and stay illegal.
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I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here.
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Cappy
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 19:43 Post subject:
| GoGirlGo wrote: | | I think marijuana is not particularly dangerous |
Wanna bet?
Short-term effects of using marijuana include
- Sleepiness
- Difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory
- Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, such as driving a car
- Increased heart rate
- Potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease
- Bloodshot eyes
- Dry mouth and throat
- Decreased social inhibitions
- Paranoia, hallucinations
- Impaired or reduced short-term memory
- Impaired or reduced comprehension
- Altered motivation and cognition, making the acquisition of new information difficult
- Paranoia
- Psychological dependence
- Impairments in learning, memory, perception, and judgment - difficulty speaking, listening effectively, thinking, retaining knowledge, problem solving, and forming concepts
- Intense anxiety or panic attacks
Long-term effects of using marijuana include
- Enhanced cancer risk
- Decrease in testosterone levels and lower sperm counts for men
- Increase in testosterone levels for women and increased risk of infertility
- Diminished or extinguished sexual pleasure
- Psychological dependence requiring more of the drug to get the same effect
source: http://www.marijuanaaddiction.info/effects-of-marijuana.htm
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camelia bedelia
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 20:39 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: | Legalize it, tax it, educate about it. Alcohol, the legal intoxicant, is so much more damaging and destructive to families, workplace, community that it's impossible not to compare the two.
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Could it be that is because pot is not used as frequently as alcohol because it is illegal? Criminalizing marijuand does deter people from using it.
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rolling rock
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 20:39 Post subject:
| Gogirlgo wrote: | I think marijuana is not particularly dangerous. .....
Legalize it, tax it, educate about it. Alcohol, the legal intoxicant, is so much more damaging and destructive to families, workplace, community that it's impossible not to compare the two. |
well, legalize it and we could be a boozed up, and a toked up nation. the casual user would be in heaven if we'd legalize pot, and her casual use would become more than that, i'd bet the potfarm on it. one of the reasons i quit smoking dope is cuz there was no dope to smoke. it was way too hard to get and i wasn't going to stand on a street corner in cleveland asking who had a dime. the suburban stuff was gone. at the time, i looked at that as a bad thing. it made me quit and get on with life. i can not imagine having smoked away any more of my young life.
i'm not sure why you don't think it could be just as destructive to families, workplaces and communities. i drove high, i even got high on my lunch hour, sitting by the Ohio river in downtown pittsburgh in broad daylight at noon on a tuesday afternoon.
pot robs you of every ounce of ambition in your soul. it destroys the same way alcohol does, only it's much easier to deny the addiction cuz, dang, you're really never hung over. just foggy. it's perpetual fog. that's destructive in my dim view.
| Gogirlgo wrote: |
In a nutshell, how many barfights begin with a stoned guy misunderstanding something? None. |
have you ever known someone with a serious potsmoking habit??? they never leave the house, that's why they're not getting in any barfights. they never leave their muted televisions, Fantasia running, Pink Floyd blaring. they aint makin' it to no bar and they don't have an ounce of ambition left to get into a fight, let alone win one. they're hopeless.
the only reason i'd say legalize it is to cripple the trade, which it won't. the illegal drug trade in the US would probably just go on, business as usual, only stronger stuff is on the market now.
don't legalize pot. besides, there are not enough doritos on this earth.
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genie
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 21:08 Post subject:
| camelia bedelia wrote: |
Could it be that is because pot is not used as frequently as alcohol because it is illegal? Criminalizing marijuand does deter people from using it. |
Oh, I think it's used more frequently than people realize, but covertly, because it's illegal, thus the stats are not as readily available. I'm not sure I agree with the deterrent thing as far as habitual usage now goes, but I do believe that more people would try it who never have if it were legal. Kinda what RR said. And having been a more-than-casual user myself back in high school, I can attest to all of what she says. I did pretty much everything high for quite a while, including driving. Thank God I never hurt anyone doing it, and mainly because I never went very far because all my friends were in the neighborhood. I think about it now and go  when I realized just how impaired I was back then. If you smoke like we did, you're lucky you can walk, much less drive. When I started feeling complete apathy toward everything is when I quit. But not before dabbling with some of the other stuff just to see what the different kinds of highs were about.
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camelia bedelia
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 21:18 Post subject:
| genie wrote: |
Oh, I think it's used more frequently than people realize, but covertly, because it's illegal, thus the stats are not as readily available. |
I'd be willing to wager the numbers of pot users in the country don't even come close to the number of people who drink. I agree that legalizing pot is not going to make a difference in habitual use, but I believe it makes a difference in casual use and may deter first time users. It sure deters people like me. I don't think an occasional joint is all that big a deal, but I'm sure as heII not going to risk my home, job or family for it.
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kristin31
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Posted: 01/26/05 - 21:21 Post subject:
I feel that it should be legal. And I personally know of several people with pot-smoking habits (i.e. 2-5 times a week usage) who are quite productive, responsible, hard working adults. And most of them use it for pain relief.
To be fair, I also know of others who are never going to get anywhere in life because of their habit. The pot controls them, and they do not have control over the pot.
However, how many people get stoned and beat up their wives, start barfights, etc, as has already been discussed? It tends to have more of a melowing out effect, as opposed to alcohol. Seriously, how many "mean" stoners do you know, as opposed to "mean" drunks?
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