Marijuana is drug most often linked to crime, study finds

Even if marijuana itself does not cause violence, it does cause car accidents. Why do you think Colorado and Washington have some new laws against stoned driving, if it's totally safe to drive while stoned? The simple answer is this. Driving while stoned is very obviously not safe. People that are stoned can't think straight, their reaction times are slowed down, and even their coordination is very messed up. Just go onto youtube and type in "Washington stoned drivers".

 

new study says most criminals have ate peanut butter at one time or another in their lifetime, time to ban it

prohibitionists sure do fall hard for the faux propaganda coming from the right

I think that fell under... those were not meant to be factual statements...


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Marijuana stays in somebody's body for 1-4 weeks. Obviously, their judgement may have been impaired, even if they were not stoned at the time.

 

You are mistaken and maybe should do some research. Marijuana's active agent does not stay in the body, the metabolites that break it down do. No impairment lasts more than a couple of hours.

Also FYI.
http://articles.courant.com/2012-01...rijuana-law-medical-marijuana-fatal-accidents

 

But isn't it wrong to assume that legalization means everyone would partake?
Alcohol is legal, so is tobacco, and I don't smoke or drink.

The OP also mentions that legalizing pot wouldn't produce much revenue, but I like to argue that what we save by legalizing pot far outweighs the expenditure of criminalizing it.

 

the high doesn't last weeks, you knew that though right - lol

being able to detect the chemical breakdown for weeks doesn't mean you are impaired for weeks

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It seems to me that this study only proves that marijuana is widely used, not that it leads to criminal behavior. The only things we can conclude from these statistics are that criminals are more likely to use illegal substances, and that marijuana is widely available and widely used, especially in urban areas.

In order to utilize real science, that is; scientific method, you need a "control" and a "variable" that directly addresses the question. Since the data does not include an examination of non-criminal citizens and their propensity of drug use, it is impossible to responsibly conclude criminals use marijuana at a higher rate than the general populace.

Moreover, the article does not mention what "crime" the individuals were arrested for, and therefore did not distinguish between violent and non-violent crime. Since marijuana is widely available and widely used, it is extremely likely that many of those arrested were charged with simply possessing the substance. To go further with the data, one could likely conclude that criminals that have only marijuana in their system when tested, are less likely to commit violent crime.

I could go on for quite sometime explaining how many things are wrong with the interpretation of this study, but if anyone can clearly see that it is propaganda. Frankly, I'm willing to admit that I don't know what the implications of marijuana use are in society, regarding crime or any other behavioral of medical characteristic. The reason I don't know of the true harms or inconsequential effects of marijuana use is because I have yet to see a study that is not driven by an agenda, and that goes for either side.

 

What is the basis for prohibition of some of these behaviors? It can't be religious. What allows us to bootstrap the decision? I contend it's sustainability, or should be. If all of us can't do it then that's the signal for us to prohibit it. Alcohol is serious poison and the fact that it's legal doesn't mitigate it's standing.

And keep in mind that there's a cliff edge for each of these behaviors that's well less than 100%. If 40% of the country were dysfunctional alcoholics with serious health problems we'd be doomed.

 

How many were also drunk? The notion that marijuana leads to violence is absolutely absurd. Who is most likely to be in public: A stoner or a drunk?

 

Okay, but if the marijuana wasn't impacting their behaviors in any way shape, or form, then how else can you explain the fact that almost 40% of violent criminals all smoked marijuana?

 

over half of them probably smoked cigarettes too, but that doesn't mean smoking cigarettes is linked to crime

I would say most people have smoke weed at one time or another, very few have never tried it

 

Spurious correlation ftw.

 

Why does alcohol sometimes cause violence, whereas marijuana usually does not cause violence? What specifically about alcohol's mental effects causes violent behaviors, which marijuana does not have?

 

Those statistics don't mean jack if you can't prove the crimes were committed while the offender was under the influence. If I smoke a joint on Saturday and go out, get drunk, and beat the crap out of someone on Thursday, is it the pot that is making me violent?

 

Some people are just violent drunks. For example I can drink a twelve pack and not become violent, while a friend of mine can drink four beers and become a snaky ******** and want to fight. On the flip side I have never encountered anyone who smoked pot and became violent.

 

Maybe it is because Alcohol is a true schedule one drug; one that can be fatal upon overdose, is physically addictive, and can be fatal if an addict tries to abstain from it.

Marijuana is clearly not in that Class of Drugs.

 

Here's what some cops have to say about this subject.

http://www.healthydrugfreecolorado....galization What Do You Want to Know FINAL.pdf

 

Nice link but unfortunately propaganda BS. I like the part where they try to argue that prohibition of alcohol actually worked.

 

For some people, smoking marijuana causes them panic attacks and anxiety.

 

Alcohol has been the cause of tens of thousands of deaths from drunk driving, and possibly even millions of violent crimes, etc. These people that die from alcohol nowadays are innocent people. The people that were killed during alcohol prohibition's organized crime was mostly gangsters and mobsters fighting against each other.

Was legalizing alcohol really worth it? Which is more important- saving thousands of innocent people that were killed by drunk drivers, or thousands of mobsters that died fighting each other during alcohol prohibition? Also, the amount of deaths from alcohol prohibition was minuscule in comparison to the amount of deaths from alcohol's legality.

 

Not everyone who died was a mobster. What an absurd statement, but speaking of mobsters, what did alcohol prohibition do? It put the profits into the hands of the worst people. Just like pot.

- - - Updated - - -

And those are the people who don't smoke it.

 

How many people died as a result of the prohibition of alcohol? Do you have some statistics which is about this?

Second of all, here's some proof that alcohol is actually safer than marijuana. Also, this comes from that link that I had posted over here before.

 

Really? Marijuana, not alcohol?

OH! They mean the criminal government commits horrendous crimes trying to protect the alcohol industry by criminalizing the possession of sunflowers...er marijuana plants...

Anything in the Constitution giving the federal government authority to ban weeds? Oh. No, there isn't.

 

First of all, alcohol industry didn't lobby to make marijuana illegal during the 1930s-marijuana is illegal because of racism. I honestly don't see what the alcohol industry has anything to do with this.

Second of all, even if smoking marijuana doesn't cause violence, it's still even more dangerous and toxic than tobacco, which is why it should stay illegal. Besides, smoking marijuana causes paranoia, which can make some people violent, and it also causes panic attacks and anxiety. It's not a harmless substance.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1603611/posts

 

Widespread Panic is playing at Red Rocks this weekend and I guarantee there is more bud being smoked than beer being drank and I haven't heard of any fatal car wrecks yet. I will keep you posted lol

Alcohol use went up during prohibition. Imagine that.

http://www.druglibrary.org/prohibitionresults1.htm