American Weed

Should marijuana be legal to use?

  • Yes

    Votes: 22 84.6%

  • Yes-- but only for medicinal use

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Undecided

    Votes: 4 15.4%
  • Total voters
    26
subwayrider

subwayrider

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This is a television show on Nat Geo chronicling the events, stories and viewpoints of dispensary owners/patients and anti-dispensary activists in Colorado, USA, in the midst of a relevant election.

[video=youtube;Wu64PA2w8DU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu64PA2w8DU[/video]


If you choose to take sides, which will it be?
 
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Very simply, Yes. It should be legalized.
 
subwayrider said:
Why?
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All the resources the US spends on controlling Marijuana, let alone the whole war on drugs could be spent in more productive ways.
It could be regualted and taxed like alcohol and bring in revenue instead of draining revenue.
Removes incentives from the black market.
The law has it's roots in racism. Mainly against Hispanics in the early 1900's.
 
Economics makes it illegal. It is more profitable illegal than it would be legal because of how abundant and easily grown it can be. It's simply taxed in an indirect manner. Did you know that property seizure is far more lax than criminal charges? Meaning you don't necessarily have to be charged with a crime to have your money or property seized by drug enforcement on suspicion alone. It's deemed asset forfeiture.
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The illegality of marijuana gives law enforcement a right to steal. It also artificially inflates the value of marijuana by associating a legal risk with it whereas if it were legal it would raise the available supply and lower the value. It'd be like trying to sell your lawn clippings. The DEA are the real drug dealers by marketing it as illicit, increasing its profitability, and then cashing in by raiding those who distribute it and seizing all their assets. Furthermore, we have a penal labour industry that is funded by tax dollars which certainly does not benefit the tax payers, but those who operate the industry.

It is widely considered one of the, if not the, most valuable cash crop, but only because it is illegal. Legalizing it would fundamentally alter its market.
 
Legalize it and tax it.
 
I think marijuana has considerable medical benefits (glaucoma/appetite inducer and anti-nausea agent for chemotherapy patients/use in childbirth), almost no addictive potential, and that in general it produces interesting/pleasant experiences. Another reason to legalize and promote natural cannabis, would be to phase out the strong cannabinoid analog synthetic drugs that are being used as substitutes. (Dronabinol and the others like it.) The synthetic cannabinoid drugs haven't been widely tested, are little better than research chemicals, and are more likely to produce side effects compared to the natural drug. I find our 21st century society very busy, the kind of society driven by caffeine to keep people 'productive'. I think marijuana's relaxing introspective psychedelic effect could benefit the population. I'd like to see it legalized and regulated in the same way as alcohol.
 
i say legalize it and then get your greedy little tax scraping fingers off.
 
subwayrider said:
Do you care if children use it?
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Probably should be restricted in the same manner as alcohol. My opinion on that may be mostly cultural though. So I suppose I'm not sure past a point as I'm sure it will never really happen as our society would never allow it without age restrictions. I do believe in laws against stoned driving however.
 
Children have easier access to cannabis than alcohol or cigarettes, because alcohol and cigarettes are controlled, whereas drug dealers don't ask for ID: they ask for money.

I think I'm more or less done with my good ol' stoner days buuuut legalize it for both recreational and medicinal purposes. It benefits those with many medical conditions (honestly, just about every condition in one way or another), and is a safer alternative than alcohol or tobacco for recreational users.
 
I smoked it regularly for 35 years. Have smoked very little the last couple of years due to loosing contacts.
During those years I regularly smoked, I managed to be a productive member of society.
I think the true percentage of people that use marijuana is higher than reported, since it is often kept on the down low. The current marijuana laws just make criminals out of otherwise law abiding and productive people.
I would much rather have a couple of hits off a joint or pipe than have a drink.
The only times in my adult life that I got in trouble were the result of my actions while drinking.

Changing the drug laws will be very difficult since there is a huge bureaucracy behind it, and those people in those bureaucracies will fight any legalization to save their jobs.
 
Here's a case in point of law enforcement robbing the elderly through the use of political marketing:

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blog...-oklahoma-142202087--abc-news-topstories.html

They're going to seize everything she owns and she'll be lucky to not be incarcerated due to her age, but I wouldn't put it past them. It's disgusting to see what lengths they will go to.

They found her in possession of 4 pounds of pot, which is a good amount, but not all that much considering how much money they confiscated. That's what they really want. The money.
 
It should be legalized and taxed. I think the majority of drugs should be legalized and taxed, really.

There are a number of reasons for this but the primary one (IMO) is the strain it puts on the prison system (which is privatized, btw - thus a large part of the reason marijuana is illegal). Well, that and the fact it contributes to the black market.
 
They should def legalize it because my neighbor is all out and he wont be harvesting until May 1st. =(

On a more serious note: Weed can make you lazy but it shouldn't be illegal. If people are educated, they can make educated decisions on how they choose to live their lives.
 
Prisons are awfully expensive on taxpayers.

$37 billion annually, it seems.
 
In the posted TV show, it was found that the availability of marijuana (including for those not legally authorized to use it) skyrocketed with the opening of the dispensaries. Indeed, some people with (red, in CO) cards are dealers. Because of this (hopefully) minority of 'patients,' opposition sees the dispensaries fueling crime. In the 5th or 6th episode of the show, the voting comes to a close and all the dispensaries in Ft. Collins are forced to shut down.

I propose, simply, to make it more difficult to get a medical card. Patients should be screened by responsible doctors, found to have a legitimate condition, etc. Medical cards shouldn't be given to dealers. There'd be really no need to close down legitimate establishments if the proper steps were taken to ensure the wrong people didn't have cards.

Once at episode 8 or 9, we start to see Josh (dispensary owner) become interested in research and development of medicines derived from the cannabinoids in marijuana that are not THC. Taking the "high" out of medicating is one more step to being a fully legitimate industry. There is potentially a lot of money to be made here. Obviously, pharmaceutical companies stand to lose a lot-- A LOT, so I don't think we'll be seeing the development of cannabinoid medicines soon, other than straight weed and the usual. But it's a great idea.
 
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