Keep it illegal other wise there will be a lot of gangs going out of business. These poor degenerate's will be out of work if we legalize pot. Lets keep it illegal so the gang bangers can keep their jobs. Another reason it needs to remain illegal is that if it were legal and controlled like say alcohol school kids wouldn't be able to buy it in the parking lot before school. I know when I was a kid in high school you could daily in the parking lot purchase pot, acid, cocaine and a few other illegal substances but no one was selling booze there!! In fact getting booze was a pain in the rear end. First you had to find someone who was 21 or older and most of the time this was a pot head dealer who didn't work a real job and was available on the weekend nights to buy it for you. Now a lot of these guys didn't have cars so you would have to go pick them up and drive them to within a close distance of the state store, drop them off, go around the block a few times, then pick them up a safe distance from the state store, drive them back home and drop them and the booze that you had to buy them for getting you yours off back at their house or wherever they wanted you to take them to. It was such a pain in the rear that I just opted for the pot in the school parking lot and waited until I was 21 to buy my own alcohol when it was much simpler! I smoked pot all through out high school along with many other kids my age and I can't think of one that turned into a heroine, crack, or meth addict including myself. So lets just keep it illegal other wise it will be harder for kids to get a hold of!!
LMAO! I feel like I time-warped to a 1930s revival meeting. Where do you get this misinformed drivel?
Misinformed? That industrial America will capitalised marijuana? Wall Street will control it......where have you been that is what capitalism is all about the reason why marijuana is being legalise is not because of the marijuana smokers, or medical marijuana patience lobbying it it is the corporate America! they see that it is time to diversified the tobacco industries. Do you know how much tax money the government will collect from the legalization and how much corporate America share holders will be making....billions of $. The government will collect millions if not billions of tax money, the private health insurance providers will also gain substantially, the huge manufacturers and distributors will gain just like the gun industries and the losers will be the consumers that will be addicted and they will end up spending more for health care and wanting more. This is a good way to balance USA budget introducing a new product that the public are demanding and make money out of it.
Actually I referring to these little nuggets of ignorance: "Weed smokers once they get addicted they elevate that to more powerful sedative such as opium, heroine and cocaine." "Marijuana goes after the body, mind and soul" They sound like they came straight out of some '30s propaganda film. You just don't realize how infantile and ignorant your rhetoric is. I mean, come on, you just referred to cocaine as a sedative and are equating marijuana to opium and heroin! You've made it abundantly clear that you have no idea of that which you speak.
Decriminalisation only means it wont be a crime. It could still be a misdemeanor. That is to placate those who dont agree with harsh punishments but are reluctant to make it completely legal.
You are of course correct, my mistake. "Infraction" is the word I was looking for, that is not a crime.
Yes, that is correct, in fact I think that is the case in some states already. Regardless, as legal weed neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg, I think it ought to be completely legal, and the distribution mechanism ought to be legit business interests, not Mexican criminal cartels. We need to put them out of business.
Voted for "not sure" as I'm definitely in favor of decriminalization, I'm just not sure I'm ready for pot in stores yet. Will have to see how things work out in the states that have legalized it after a few years.
Those "losers" would have been "losers" in the first place. Pot didn't make them that way. What might make them criminals would be to make it illegal to get the weed by growing it in their back yard instead of paying a drug cartel to import it and kill people to get it to the market. How stupid is that? Sounds like "loser" logic to me.
You mean like forcing straight people to get marriage licenses to get married in their chosen Religion. Which is a blatant violation of the separation of church and state. Or forcing you to pass a background check to own a firearm which is a blatant violation of the second amendment. Like that? Doesn't sound very smart to me.
You've not supported your claims with any numbers, data, studies, statistics about weed vs. cigarettes, nor have you established the quantitative criteria for such examination. You also sidestepped my arguments and rebuttals. I asked you if alcohol should be outlawed per your own standards as you suggested but you didn't answer the simple yes/no question. Can you answer it now? And why are you bringing up opium and British wars of colonialism as an argument against a different drug when no war is involved (it would actually be the END of a war. There is a real war on drugs. And I say "war" in its most literal, bloody, dead-body producing definition of the word.
I like this. The first prohibitionist to join this thread and present argument! Brilliant! I agree with you that weed should stay illegal. Here's some more reasons. Firstly, there's too many innocent people, including women and children, all across almost the whole of the Western hemisphere, who wouldn't have the chance to be shot up, blown up or decapitated. Also, the Pentagon would have to find something else to spend that secret mercenary-funding budget on. We know how hard they struggle already trying to figure out more ways to waste taxpayer money. They only managed to reach their waste-quota thanks to the luck of the F-35 project dropped into their laps. Not to mention all the corporate jail cells would be harder to fill in order to charge taxpayers for the expensive detentions. Don't forget, this would get rid of the police distraction of budget and manpower, so they would have to start doing other things like solving murders and rapes and such. Do we really want to live in a world where we choose preventing violent crime over preventing the enhanced enjoyment of junk-food snacks and Scooby Doo cartoons? What kind of twisted priorities! etc.
You are a christian aren't you ! Onl;y a christian could speak with such an aura of authority on a subject that he knows absolutley nothing about. Cocaine is not a sedative, anyone with the most basic knowledge would know that its effects are completely the opposite to that of a sedative,
legalise it. Decriminalisation keeps the profits in the hands of criminals. Let the business be regulated and Taxed. Think of all the money that can be saved. people are having to pay huge taxes to keep harmless people in Jail when those people should be paying tax on their drugs to help fund everything else. Its a no brainer.
This is the problem I have with legalization. It has to pander to interests that aren't necessarily pro-liberty for all uses, no offense intended. See, as it is now we have a black market which operates, somewhat by definition, with a large degree of freedom. Sure, you'll be incarcerated if you're caught selling or maybe even using, but put this aside for the moment and look at it from a counter economics perspective. Anyone can walk into an open house, often at anytime 24/7, and buy as much cannabis as they like. You can get home delivery if you order like over a 1/2oz, often at all times of the night. No taxes are levied, other than the indirect cost added due to prohibition (which is next to nothing if you have a good dealer/grow your own). Once cannabis is legalized, interests such as your own will demand regulation on the level of, or exceeding, alcohol. This means, at least in my country, that there'll be no sale after 9pm, no delivery, no internet order option, no sale to under 21s, high taxes, etc. To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that the latter circumstance is better than the former. We have it pretty good as it is. We know from experience just how bad the government can get on this issue - they're not shy to ruining people's lives with criminal records - do we really want to hand cannabis production over to their edict? Maybe we should cut our losses, aim for decriminalization, and keep this decentralized method of distribution going.
You are wrong about the level of regulation people like me would seek. It should be treated similar to alcohol in terms of minimum age, taxation, and such. I'm talking about the myriad problems legalization would create and viable solutions to those problems. I feel since change to the status quo is the goal of those who seek legalization it is their responsibility to bring forth a plan to deal with the known consequences and have room to deal with the unintended consequences. You seem a sensible chap, take the legal system for example. What to do? Realize that if this isn't handled correctly it could cause far more problems that it would solve. The only other primary concerns I have is with testing and liability. I'm all for individual freedom, but it must be done responsibly and with regard to dealing with the consequences we already know we would have to face. I'm all for measured change, not rapid change, as that allows for consequences to be dealt with before they get out of hand. My position is that those who seek major changes should be the ones that present plans to deal with consequences. Take the idea of changing the tax code. I despise the concept of income taxes, but just saying so would make me appear a total loon if I don't present or support some alternative, such as a consumption tax or flat tax. What I see is too many saying just legalize marijuana and the consequences be damned, and that will never get me to support it...
I can't wait for it to become legal, I am in the process of moving to another state where it is. I guess the question is would you use medical Marijuana if it was the only thing that took away the pain? Of course you would, think pain that is 24/7/365 worse in the winter then summer, pain so bad that the sheet on your feet wakes you up so you put your feet over the edge of the bed so you can sleep pain, you bet you would and so will I. River
The bottom line is this legalization has nothing to do with the medicinal benefits it has to do with the conglomerates who figure it is time to introduce a new consumer product that they can make billions of profits at the back of the consumers.
you take a nice family drinking wine with dinner, arrest them for nothing more then drinking wine with dinner, give them a criminal record, and you can see how prohibition is the gateway to crime for many
So you want the profits to stay with criminal gangs instead of being run by legitimate companies and properly regulated and taxed...I see.
