Poll: Should they legalize pot?

[Hashime]

No, absolutely not. Pot is dangerous. It impairs judgment, causes hallucinations, and causes lung cancer. I would also severely restrict alcohol if I had my way, It is just as dangerous. If Marijuana was safe, it would have been already legalized in our society. Oh, and remember, with legalization comes regulation, with regulation comes restriction, and with restriction comes TAXES and price increase.
And that:

I would hazard a guess that many people I meet who would vote 'yes' here, would say so because of how cool or like 'insert iconic pot smoking movie character' it would make them look. What they don't realize is that once legalized, smoking pot will no longer be 'cool'. It will be common place. But perhaps those same people think that drinking and smoking are also cool. I have no idea.

I voted 'no' by the way, because having grown up in areas of Australia rife with all kinds of addiction, especially pot (cue someone's misguided argument that pot is not addictive - such people don't appreciate how addition works), I have seen first hand how destructive pot can be. Cue someone's argument about how many awesome and fantastic pot smokers they know. I have nothing against the people, and it takes all kinds.

Of course, there are factors with both correlating and causative relationships with pot, and separating them might be impossible. However, legalizing something simply because it IS a drug, seems illogical to me. Caffeine, Nicotine and Alcohol are only legal because our society ended up structuring itself around their frequent use. Beer is thousands of years old, for interest's sake. Had history been different for the Western world, perhaps we'd be discussing some other drug now, while having a joint before bed.

I don't think that legalizing pot without an actual reason, is a good idea. And before anyone jumps to slap an Hypocrisy Badge on me (who am I kidding, such people wouldn't have even read this far before replying!), I am aware of the socially encouraged drugs which we have, but its a cultural thing. And I don't buy any argument that pot is 'harmless' or 'no worse' than, for example, alcohol.

Minus the without a reason thing, there are better pain meds that do not cause cancer.

 

[Kair]

It seems like on every five youtube videos I watch I see a comment like this "Legalize Marijuana!!! thumbs up for THC!! and RHCP!! Hey oh lets go smoke a bong!" and quite frankly it disturbs me,while there is no severe short term medical consequences(There are a few long term though.)It does in my honest opinion from experience make people stupider,so I was wondering what do you all think?

It's quite the opposite, it has short term medical effects but no long term.

The 'stupid' you're seeing is actually an extended high/effect of high.

- The effects of marijuana last for several days, and potheads smoke every day, perhaps several times a day. All their smoking stacks up because they don't take breaks and they end up having the effects of 2 days or more of smoking persistently in their system, as it takes a couple of days for the effects to wear off.

If the potheads stop smoking marijuana for a couple of weeks, they start to function normally. Only their behaviour may change, but this is a product of the ban on marijuana, not the marijuana itself.

 

[RicoADF]

It seems like on every five youtube videos I watch I see a comment like this "Legalize Marijuana!!! thumbs up for THC!! and RHCP!! Hey oh lets go smoke a bong!" and quite frankly it disturbs me,while there is no severe short term medical consequences(There are a few long term though.)It does in my honest opinion from experience make people stupider,so I was wondering what do you all think?

They should make cigarettes illegal IMO, and not legalize pot since its just as damaging.

 

[Darkenwrath]

people want to smoke pot because to them it's cool and edgy.

Marijuana has been proved to reduce the pains of chemotherapy, and give the patient a better chance of pulling through. It's been used to treat schizophrenia and Alzheimers.

Add to this that studies by UK government funded projects have consistently proved that cannabis is far less dangerous than both alcohol and tobacco, which are both legal, and there's really no reason not to.

While I'm not discounting medical pot, I would like to know where you got your sources on the fact it treats schizophrenia and Alzheimers, one of pots known symptoms is causing forgetfulness. And cannabis psychosis is fast becoming a serious problem as a mental health illness, pot has also been known to increase your chances of schizophrenia, mood swings and depression. The medical benefits you have provided seem to make absolutely no sense with what pot actually does. Sources please.

 

[Legend of J]

No they shouldent ive met some bad people in my life and they sell pot, but the 2nd on the list is pot smokers ive never met people who are so selfish who smoke pot. I can explain these reasons.

 

[Eldarion]

Legalize every drug. If someone wants to do them let em do it. Look at Poland.

I agree. Pot isn't even dangorus.

 

[Enkidu88]

No, absolutely not. Pot is dangerous. It impairs judgment, causes hallucinations, and causes lung cancer. I would also severely restrict alcohol if I had my way, It is just as dangerous. If Marijuana was safe, it would have been already legalized in our society. Oh, and remember, with legalization comes regulation, with regulation comes restriction, and with restriction comes TAXES and price increase.

I would look up what happened last time someone tried to ban alcohol. And that's basically my main problem with making marijuana illegal, it doesn't really stop people from using it. It just forces them to buy it from sources that are usually linked to criminal syndicates. At least if it were legal, we could collect revenue in tax and maybe put it to some good use. At the moment the US pours millions up millions of dollars into the war on drugs for very little gain, it's basically a waste of money because you're never going to be able to win.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I've written a whole essay on this, but short answer, yes.

If you don't want to smoke pot, that's fine. Everyone knows that it's bad for you. BUT if somebody smokes pot they obviously don't give a fuck, so why should you? Projecting morality generally leads to an oppression of freedom, and this is no exception.

If marijuana where legalized, it would be taxable, it would reduce the power of drug dealers, and it would relieve the costs of prisons. Though I think the biggest argument for pot's legalization is that people do it anyways. I believe the statistic was something like 41% of americans over age 12 have used pot at least once. If almost half the population is able to easily brake a law, it probably isn't worth trying to enforce. Especially if it doesn't directly hurt anyone else.

 

[Ekit]

I'm against the legalization of every drug. Alcohol and tobacco included.

 

[Blitzkreg]

Any kind of drug should be made illegal, be it cigarettes, alcohol, or marijuana. Unfortunately because the US is so deeply rooted in the tobacco industry it is hard to make it illegal, and back in the 20's with prohibition we all saw that the banning of alcohol was bad. THESE drugs haven't been, and wont be illegality because they're already widely used and accepted in society. Marijuana on the other hand is known as the gateway drug, and is illegal for many reasons. Not the least of which are the health concerns, as it has been proven that daily marijuana use causes an aggressive type of testicular cancer, which comes faster, and more aggressively than an equivalent smoker of cigarettes. I'm disappointed that the escapist is foolish enough to think that marijuana should be legalized, and I hope people change their minds about what drugs do in the world. If anyone cares, I'm 16 and know a TON of people who smoke pot, many of which are my friends, and the strongest advocates for legalizing marijuana, so I have experience in the subject.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

i didnt know pottery was ilegal

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

What people don't understand is that legalizing something is the quickest way to kill its illegal trade. Look back at probition, you know who fought against its repeal the most? The bootleggers and the mob since if it was legal, people wouldn't by it from them and they wouldn't be making money. Do you see much illegal alchol and cigerette trading now adays. No, since their exists legal ways to get it, and it is not nearly as profitably to trade something that can't be gotten legally. It would also proboly help keep it out of minors hands since they would apply all the same, or even more laws, that currently are in acted to alchol. A drug dealer would give meth to anybody, even children, as long as they get cash. No bartender or liquer store would dare hand a beer to a child in fear of losing their liscence.

 

[Canadian Briton]

drugs are bad m'kay and people say pot is completely safe but hot smoke in your lungs IS NOT A GOOD THING!

 

[vaderaider]

I think if someone wants to smoke pot then let them, if anything happens to them then it's there fault.

 

[Firia]

There's really nothing bad with marijuana. It's about as bad as cigarettes, alcohol, or any other low key drug of choice. The one difference is that it's not legal, like cigarettes, alcohol, etc.

The people that are serious about legalizing marijuana (that is, not doing it just to get high) understand that there's a history of why this plant was made illegal some years ago. They understand that it isn't harmful (of course anything is harmful in excess-- food is harmful in excess. When I say pot isn't harmful, I mean just casual use). While I can't remember which one of my books (college study) I read it in, or who the politician was, I can say that marijuana was made illegal for political reasons (sorry I can't source that). What you see in commercials about the down sides of pot are often a mixture of what excess can do, and war-on-drugs propaganda.

If pot were made legal tomorrow, you'd see a celebration of pot used in excess. It would die down, and in a short amount of time, it'd be like cigarettes, alcohol, or whatever legal low key drug that people enjoy. What's more, people won't get 2-4 years for possession just because they had an ounce of what is essentually a substance no worse than a cigarette.

 

[James Hueick]

I see no bigger problems with people smoking pot than smoking tobacco or getting drunk. All of them have negative consequences, and if 2/3 are legal just legalize it.

 

[Hirushia]

If tobacco and alcohol is legal, the pot should be too. It's just filling our jails with non-criminals and giving actual criminals more power.

 

[Jonesy911]

Legalising pot:
Reduces the population of prisons
Makes it able to be taxed
Less people with crimanl records
Irradicates the criminal side to pot (basically criminals get less money for buying more expensive drugs to sell to real addicts)

Also pot is awesome, better than alcohol anyday of the week

 

[Lemon Of Life]

Seems fine to me, if we allow alcohol, which makes us violent and poisons our bodies, and smoking, which slowly kills us, then I don't see how pot shouldn't be allowed.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I'd vote to legalize it just so stoners have nothing to talk about anymore.

You don't hang out with many stoners huh?
I would say yes so everyone else can stop talking about it, to help the economy, and to put to rest one of the most racist moves made by the US government outside of the harsh realm of genocide and slavery.