POLL - Legalization of marijuana? Opinions?
I have spent 6 of my 11 adult years on probation. I have been arrested half-a-dozen times, I have been through re-hab twice, and I've been involuntarily hospitalized 7 times. That's the victimization I've endured from the lawful side of the brigandy that rules this shit-hole known as the United States. I've been mugged twice, I've had my home burglarized 8 times (the most recent being about 4 days ago), and faced numerous threats and other dangerous situations. This is what I have endured from the unlawful brigandy that also rules this shit-hole known as the United States.
All of these events have the same substance connecting them together, and without it and societies warped viewpoints and absurd laws none of that would have happened. I have been the repeated victim of brigandy, there is no other term so apt, both lawful and unlawful, and If life were a videogame, now is about the time when I would be turning my crosshairs on you, my supposed teamates, and letting you have a piece of my dissatisfaction.
A person who willfully purchases a thing should not be prosecuted for purchasing something. Instead of using the power of criminal law to re-enforce the idea that possessing or selling drugs are bad, the power of commerce derived from the drug trade is re-enforcing the notion that criminality is not tied to ethics, it's instead tied to what's expedient or what's popular.
" I have spent 6 of my 11 adult years on probation. I have been arrested half-a-dozen times, I have been through re-hab twice, and I've been involuntarily hospitalized 7 times. That's the victimization I've endured from the lawful side of the brigandy that rules this shit-hole known as the United States. I've been mugged twice, I've had my home burglarized 8 times (the most recent being about 4 days ago), and faced numerous threats and other dangerous situations. This is what I have endured from the unlawful brigandy that also rules this shit-hole known as the United States. All of these events have the same substance connecting them together, and without it and societies warped viewpoints and absurd laws none of that would have happened. I have been the repeated victim of brigandy, there is no other term so apt, both lawful and unlawful, and If life were a videogame, now is about the time when I would be turning my crosshairs on you, my supposed teamates, and letting you have a piece of my dissatisfaction. "now, personally speaking the US gets a bad rap most of the time, but dude, if you really don't like the country that much, then leave, it isn't particularly hard. Some think that making certain drug legal will reduce crime - it won't you will still have to pay for it. It sounds to me that you live in a shit hole, so move. I really do sympathise with your current situation though, I can see that living in such a dangerous area would effect you and your attitude negatively.
While I may not have lost someone to weed, I have to other drugs and the drug underworld. None of my family, but my friend, who I knew from when I was 3 years old (I'm 16 now) died in my arms (How cliche) due to an overdose. It wasn't that long ago actually, about 5 months ago when I still nodded everyday at least 10 times a day. I was at her place and we were sitting in the dark. I had already IVed Heroin 4 times prior and I was quite gone. We did a couple of rails of meth, vicodin and coke. She however did too much coke and started to seize and vomit. I was way to fucked up at that point that I had no idea what to do. I took her and tried to peak to her, but she went on. I thought she was playing and kept shaking her and this lasted a couple of minutes. Eventually she started to choke and maybe got a concussion from the shaking. She died covered in her own vomit with her eyes in odd places.
That's when I got my wake up call. I quit cold turkey and my mother brought out to a private chalet where she nursed me through HELL. Quitting so many things at once and having to go through the withdrawal is horrible thing. I couldn't sleep, I was depressed, more than a few times I felt like my heart would explode, I was always exhausted, I lost 30lbs due to barely eating for the two months that we were there and more than a few times did I go through delirious episodes. So many things are not mentioned there.
My doctor said I was lucky I was alive, what saved me was most likely my young age. If I had been 30 I would have had many heart attacks in that time.
I only meant weed should be legal and maybe medical forms of cocaine, although strongly regulated. Don't fucking get personal.
" @Suicrat said:I kinda agree with both of you. Maybe not in the case of cannabis, but in general. I would guess that there is rarely a victim in anything cannabis related. But as an illegal drug it's a perfect gateway to drugs that do victimize. Being that the case of a poor colombian girl or the family of the addict." @hunkaburningluv: When it comes to throwing someone in jail for possessing the wrong dependency-building substances, or for selling the wrong dependency-building substances, then yes, you're talking about a crime with no victim. "I see where you are coming from actually, but I do respectfully disagree with you, the very act of selling said substance itself creates victims, not to mention any impact that the manufacture of said substance had on others. There is very rarely if any crime that is truly victimless, especially if you take the standpoint that the person who possesses/selling said substance can be classed as a victim too. "
But if cannabis would be legalized, then you would take the criminal aspect away and so for control over it would be in much better hands, so that there wouldn't be victims.
People are dumb, having it legal would mean a shitload more misuse and result in as many deaths as are attributed to the misuse of alcohol. So, sorry for those who smoke in moderation and never do anything stupid along with it, but you don't represent society, so it should stay illegal.
I do not have the resources to move from the country, and If I did you can bet I would be gone in a heartbeat. I don't live in a bad area, though. I actually think that geographically, I probably live in one of the best places in the world. I hail from a small town in mid-Michigan. I've just made a few poor choices and had a streak of incredibly bad luck. However, I do think that due to several reasons, Americans in general are probably the worst people to have ever existed from any culture and that the U.S. is probably one of the worst places to have to live out of all the places to have lived, throughout all of history. It's just the cultural mantra that exists here, where greed and pettyness are looked at as admirable qualites, and the prevailing general attitude is "everybody just be as selfish as they possibly can, and we'll all hope it works out for the best." I was ready to belong to a higher order than what you, as a species, are currently capable of achieving. I belong to a higher order than what you ever may be capable of achieving as a species, and that is the real downer to think about. When you realize that your moral code seperates you from the rest of men the way intelligence sets the rest of men apart from animals, you simply don't have much of a choice with your life but to slowly get choked out and suffocated by the weight of the masses. There was no way for me to account for the general sense of evil, malice, and hate that exists within the hearts and minds of most men, it is simply alien to me and has been my undoing time, and time again.
" @hunkaburningluv: Oh? So you're going to go that way huh? Getting all personal? Well here's something for you. While I may not have lost someone to weed, I have to other drugs and the drug underworld. None of my family, but my friend, who I knew from when I was 3 years old (I'm 16 now) died in my arms (How cliche) due to an overdose. It wasn't that long ago actually, about 5 months ago when I still nodded everyday at least 10 times a day. I was at her place and we were sitting in the dark. I had already IVed Heroin 4 times prior and I was quite gone. We did a couple of rails of meth, vicodin and coke. She however did too much coke and started to seize and vomit. I was way to fucked up at that point that I had no idea what to do. I took her and tried to peak to her, but she went on. I thought she was playing and kept shaking her and this lasted a couple of minutes. Eventually she started to choke and maybe got a concussion from the shaking. She died covered in her own vomit with her eyes in odd places. That's when I got my wake up call. I quit cold turkey and my mother brought out to a private chalet where she nursed me through HELL. Quitting so many things at once and having to go through the withdrawal is horrible thing. I couldn't sleep, I was depressed, more than a few times I felt like my heart would explode, I was always exhausted, I lost 30lbs due to barely eating for the two months that we were there and more than a few times did I go through delirious episodes. So many things are not mentioned there. My doctor said I was lucky I was alive, what saved me was most likely my young age. If I had been 30 I would have had many heart attacks in that time. I only meant weed should be legal and maybe medical forms of cocaine, although strongly regulated. Don't fucking get personal. "personal?!?! Let me get this straight champ, you reply to me in a confrontational and downright rude manner and when I reply with the like you get your panties in a knot and your arse starts making buttons? Stop being a cock. You have went through every drug out there and survived and you are still using, granted on the grand scale of things it's at the ow end of the spectrum, but you shouldn't be using ANYTHING.
@SILIK said:
" @hunkaburningluv said:" @Suicrat said:I kinda agree with both of you. Maybe not in the case of cannabis, but in general. I would guess that there is rarely a victim in anything cannabis related. But as an illegal drug it's a perfect gateway to drugs that do victimize. Being that the case of a poor colombian girl or the family of the addict. But if cannabis would be legalized, then you would take the criminal aspect away and so for control over it would be in much better hands, so that there wouldn't be victims. "" @hunkaburningluv: When it comes to throwing someone in jail for possessing the wrong dependency-building substances, or for selling the wrong dependency-building substances, then yes, you're talking about a crime with no victim. "I see where you are coming from actually, but I do respectfully disagree with you, the very act of selling said substance itself creates victims, not to mention any impact that the manufacture of said substance had on others. There is very rarely if any crime that is truly victimless, especially if you take the standpoint that the person who possesses/selling said substance can be classed as a victim too. "
I know exactly where you are coming from and in theory, I am not completely opposed, especially when you take holland as an example, but they are far, far more progressive on every count compared to the UK (where I'm from) and the US/Canada. Until we are at the same educational level as they are, then I will be totally opposed to the legalization of any recreational drug.@SolemnOaf said:
" @hunkaburningluv: I do not have the resources to move from the country, and If I did you can bet I would be gone in a heartbeat. I don't live in a bad area, though. I actually think that geographically, I probably live in one of the best places in the world. I hail from a small town in mid-Michigan. I've just made a few poor choices and had a streak of incredibly bad luck. However, I do think that due to several reasons, Americans in general are probably the worst people to have ever existed from any culture and that the U.S. is probably one of the worst places to have to live out of all the places to have lived, throughout all of history. It's just the cultural mantra that exists here, where greed and pettyness are looked at as admirable qualites, and the prevailing general attitude is "everybody just be as selfish as they possibly can, and we'll all hope it works out for the best." I was ready to belong to a higher order than what you, as a species, are currently capable of achieving. I belong to a higher order than what you ever may be capable of achieving as a species, and that is the real downer to think about. When you realize that your moral code seperates you from the rest of men the way intelligence sets the rest of men apart from animals, you simply don't have much of a choice with your life but to slowly get choked out and suffocated by the weight of the masses. There was no way for me to account for the general sense of evil, malice, and hate that exists within the hearts and minds of most men, it is simply alien to me and has been my undoing time, and time again. "
Dude, what a terribly pessimistic way to see things, rather than be bogged down with the way everyone else is, take a leaf from my book - try to help, try to be positive influence on all those around you. That's probably why I ended up going into research and eventually into nursing...@ahriman22 said:
" @Al3xand3r: Might as well make alcohol illegal too. Or anything for that matter, because no matter what you do, people will still abuse things. But legalizing would be good for the majority, the minority that abuses it... Well. Sucks for them. "
but that's the thing, it won't benefit society as a whole for it being legal.
I don't think it should be legal. I'm also against tobacco and alcohol though (not to say I've never had anything with alcohol in it, but I'd approve getting rid of it).
EDIT: I'd like to add a few things. Tobacco and alcohol are legal because of tradition, people have been using them for such a long time, before we even knew too much about the harmful effects, people are making money off of it, and so on and so forth. I doubt that neither alcohol nor tobacco would be legal if they had never existed before and someone disovered them tomorrow, because of their ill effects.
What I don't like about them is that they can easily harm other people in different ways, people who have already chosen not to voluntarily be exposed to tobacco or alcohol. So many people smoke that it's difficult to go outside without running into them, especially at crowded places like bus stops. Drunk driving by some random fool could affect any innocent person. I think marijuana should stay illegal for the same reason, there will always be some person that abuses it at the wrong place and time and has the potential to ruin someone else's life (operating heavy machinery, driving, or whatever).
@hunkaburningluv: What you call pessimism I would call realisim. I don't need to look for the bad in other people, they are all too eager to show me. I'm one of those fortunate persons who bring out the worst in people, it isn't something that can be explained, described, or imagined if you haven't experienced it as I have and do on a daily basis. As far as the legalization/decriminalization of marijuana/drugs not benifitting society, well, I think you should watch this: http://wideeyecinema.com/?p=181 . See for yourself the real cost of the drug war, not just in monetary terms, but also the impact on people's lives. You speak from the perspective of someone who doesn't know the truth, so allow me to attempt to share it with you.
Well since I had just stumbled on the motherload of documentary/educational film sites, and the first doc. I happened to watch also happened to be one of the best documentaries I'd ever seen, I kinda leapt at the opportunity to spread the word about it. There's stories in that doc about teenage girls who got mixed up with drugdealer boyfriends and thanks to the mandatory maximum/minimum sentencing laws whereby anybody even loosely connected to a criminal organization is responsible for the whole thing, end up getting decades-long prison sentences for being an unknowing, unwitting accomplice. The film even goes on to detail how people at the top of such organizations frequently get lighter charges and sentences by 'ratting' on the underlings that were beneath them, and they are prosecuted whether or not they even knew they were engaged in criminal activity at the time. It has interviews with one of the guys who wrote said mandatory maximum/minimum sentencing laws and at one point he says something to the effect of "my work on this law was the worst thing that I've ever done", and "this isn't recovery, this isn't treatment, THIS IS CRAZY!!" Just watch it, trust me, it's good. Especially for someone in a medical field.
I was involved in a protest today to legalize pot. We rolled up the little flyers to look like joints and handed them out to people. Our campus is probably one of the most pro-marijuana legalization campus in the country. Gotta love it.
What kind of government would legalize, and thus sanction, a drug that makes its citizenry slow-witted and forgetful? That gives them a short attention span and a poor work ethic? What will society gain from this? More tax revenue? People accuse governments of the most heinous deeds; and legalizing a drug is going to make things better? Governments may be corrupt and lazy, but thankfully they're not so corrupt as to sanction a drug that has no benefit(unless you're talking about pain-alleviation for cancer victims.... which you're not...)
But guess what, the government already sanctions several drugs that make their citizenry slow-witted and forgetful, so what you're talking about is the government sanctioning some drugs that make people slow-witted and forgetful and not others.
If you compare it to other legal stuff, it just doesn't make much sense. But I don't care that much.
The government should legalise it, allow it to be sold in stores and tax it. Solves a lot of financial problems.
" @Arjuna: Way to stereotype. I know stereotypes exist for a reason and all that, but this one is ridokulous. I'm a stoner, I smoke weed err'day, but I've got a job and I've got 3/4 of the credits I need to finish high school. ""Stereotype"? This is one of the problems with potheads... Saying that someone who smokes pot has a poor attention span isn't a "stereotype", it is a "symptom": a side effect from the drug. It is a reality. Being a pothead isn't an open-ended part of who you are like it is with being an African-American, Native-American, homosexual, etc.; these people don't have a "choice", because this is a part of who they are. People who identify with a drug, regard it as a part of who they are as a human being, and take it personally when someone suggests taking drugs is harmful, have identity problems. This is not a civil rights issue. This is a public health issue. I'm glad you have a job and all that, but all these good things happen in spite of you taking drugs. You would do even better if you didn't do the drug. Concordantly, society would wholly be better if it didn't do drugs.
@Suicrat said:
" @Arjuna: No, we're talking about getting the government to stop wasting even more time, effort, money, and lives on prosecuting people for making personal choices. But guess what, the government already sanctions several drugs that make their citizenry slow-witted and forgetful, so what you're talking about is the government sanctioning some drugs that make people slow-witted and forgetful and not others. "Yes, I think we're in agreement. All drugs that are harmful should be banned and made illegal. I also agree that governments are spending too much money and effort on prosecution methods. I think the focus should be on prevention, like getting people in rehabilitation centers and focusing on people who manufacture/grow drugs.
Legal all the the way.
I think it's time you hit up this website here.
And no, society wouldn't necessarily be better off if we didn't do drugs (because it seems like the only thing that separates a "drug" from a "non-drug" for you is how it is consumed. Television has similar psychoactive effects, and the internet makes people super-fucking lazy, but no one's trying to ban the non-business-related aspects of the internet or television. Humans have always had escapists within its ranks. There is no rational justification for throwing a person in jail for providing that escapism, just as there is no rational justification for throwing a person in jail for consuming that escapism. What is true, however, is that society would be way better off if people stopped trying to use the power of government intervention as a weapon to get other people to act how they would like them to.
I'm gonna play Jack Thompson a bit with your quote.
People who identify with gaming, regard it as a part of who they are as a human being, and take it personally when someone suggests gaming is harmful, have identity problems. This is not a civil rights issue. This is a public health issue. I'm glad you have a job and all that, but all these good things happen in spite of you playing games. You would do even better if you didn't play the games. Concordantly, society would wholly be better if it didn't have video games.Now, that sounds like a realistic Jack Thompson thing to say, right? And that's how you sound to anyone who actually knows, from real live personal experience, the actual effects of marijuana and how long they last. As ignorant as Jack Thompson talking about 'murder simulators.'
When someone is stoned from weed it is usually a calm and relaxing time, yet for alcohol the person can act violent or angry, and from personal experience alcohol is a ton harder to function normally on then weed, I don't understand why one is legal and one is not.
" To legalize alcohol would be retarded. It is a mind-altering drug and is harmful. People have been giving alcohol far too much slack these days. "yeah, I agree. Alcohol should stay illegal. I've lost friends to it, my father died of liver cirrhosis. Thus it should never be allowed to be legalized.
" @Arjuna: So anyone who consumes something that could potentially cause him harm (whether that be addiction, injury or death) should be thrown in jail? When you talk of "banning" substances, you speak as though getting a government to pass a law against something will make it evaporate from the face of the earth. When you say "something should be banned" and the government follows through, what you get is a war on drugs, where hundreds of billions of dollars are wasted, and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of lives are wasted.I said that I was against the prosecution and incarceration methods used, and was in favour of preventative and rehabilitation methods. I might be more inclined to accept a decriminalization argument, but not a complete legalization. I never said people should be sent to jail. The only reason I would want people to be sent to jail is if it stops the proliferation of drug-use; and I don't think jail does this.
I think it's time you hit up this website here.
And no, society wouldn't necessarily be better off if we didn't do drugs (because it seems like the only thing that separates a "drug" from a "non-drug" for you is how it is consumed. Television has similar psychoactive effects, and the internet makes people super-fucking lazy, but no one's trying to ban the non-business-related aspects of the internet or television. Humans have always had escapists within its ranks. There is no rational justification for throwing a person in jail for providing that escapism, just as there is no rational justification for throwing a person in jail for consuming that escapism. What is true, however, is that society would be way better off if people stopped trying to use the power of government intervention as a weapon to get other people to act how they would like them to. "
When I talk of "banning" substances, I do not speak as though it will "evaporate from the earth". Although if you say that I think this, it certainly does make me seem stupid. Drugs won't 'evaporate', but they will certainly decrease. Conversely, if they are legalized they are sure to increase. When you say "war-on-drugs", then it conjures up thoughts of the United States, and I certainly wouldn't want a war-on-drugs in the way that America handles it. I don't advocate the old ways of doing things. I advocate a complete new way of approaching things, with the end result of getting people off of drugs.
I believe society would be better if it didn't do psychotropic drugs; exceptions might be made for maniacs who need to be mentally subdued or other extenuating circumstances. But not because it's temporarily fun.
Television and the internet are not like drugs because they do not alter the chemical make-up of your brain and they do not create a physical, addictive dependency. Actually, I find television and the internet to be extremely strong forces of education and information(revolutionary really). Taking a hit from the bong is not going to teach you anything or do you any good at all.
This debate has been argued for decades. Every time it is brought before an educated commons, the result has never been in favour of "legalization". When questions involving society-as-a-whole, health, and the well-being of children enter into the fray, the legalization argument always fails. Proponents of legalization are only thinking about themselves and the little buzz they get; they are being controlled subliminally by an addictive, chemical compound that is swimming about in their brain. The only positive thing that comes out of marijuana is a little buzz, hardly enough to merit legalization especially when the negatives greatly outweigh the positives.
You claim that they will diminish when we ban them, yet they're banned, and yet they are plentiful, so obviously your arguments are divorced from reality, and you need to check your premises.
You are not addressing the matter at hand at all. You are talking about why people shouldn't do it. That is not the poll question. The poll question is not "should people smoke marijuana?", the question is "should marijuana be legalized?" And health matters must not become the domain of the law, because that leads down the path of paternalism (a path governments have trod down for far too long, and must soon reverse). Alcohol and tobacco are legal drugs that people can purchase, that minors can not. I do not see how criminalization of the drug keeps it out of the hands of children, since now a person is punished for selling of drugs, regardless of whether he's selling to children or adults.
You are looking at the matter from the wrong angle, by looking at "society as a whole", you forget that people exist as individuals. Society is not a whole. It is a composition of individuals with different desires, wants, and needs. The only role for government in society (i.e., the only way the law should come into play, which is the specific question being asked) is to deter the use of force. By incarcerating, fining, and otherwise punishing people for doing things that large groups don't like, we are expanding the role coercion plays in society, not diminishing it.
If you want people to not consume drugs, then you should be free to advocate against the use of drugs, but that's not the matter at hand in this thread. Your government should not have the power to throw people in jail for making choices you don't like, whether on the side of consumption, production, or trade. The government is not your weapon, and no one should be allowed to wield it as recklessly as you are demanding.
You don't think that marijuana use will increase when it's legalized? and you accuse me of being divorced from reality? How can someone who advocates mind-altering drugs accuse someone of being divorced from reality?
I totally was addressing the legalization question. I guess you could say that I wasn't.
Marijuana is not plentiful. Plentiful is a subjective term. Tobacco: now that's plentiful. Having it sold at corner stores and mass produced, which is what would be the end result of legalization, would certainly make marijuana plentiful.
Of course the government is my "weapon", as you call it. Regarding the government, and its processes, as a "weapon" just demonstrates a personal attitude and hatred of government. Tool, protectorate; we can use all kinds of words. Government enacts laws that benefit society and the individual. Government has looked at this issue and the result is the criminalization of marijuana. They don't hate you, it's just that people have argued the points and it has been decided that we'd be better off with it being illegal; whether in terms of society or the individual. I can hardly imagine what argument someone could bring for the legalization of marijuana. 'I like to get high' won't cut it. It just reeks of bad idea for so many reasons.
"Legalise it, It's time to recognise iiiiiittt" -Sean paul
Using marijuana doesn't develop a physical dependency. There are no withdrawal symptoms for the long-term pot user upon quitting. It is a natural substance that god gave this green earth and without mankind's interference would be readily available for anyone who needed it. As someone who suffers from acute auditory hallucinations, a form of schizophrenia, I can tell you that marijuana is pretty much the only thing that helps alleviate the symptoms that I face everyday. The medical establishment has sought fit to try to replace this natural substance with several different forms of psychcoactive drugs. Geodon, Ablilify, Seroquel, Celexa, the list goes on. None of these substances dealt with my issues as effectively as I had dealt with them myself, using a natural substance that exists naturally. There's no chemical reaction involved in the creation of marijuana, it does not undergo a process of refinement other drugs do, and there is nothing in it that isn't put there by nature herself.
There has never been a single death due to the use of marijuana, not one single documented case where the cause of death was marijuana, never, not one. I'm sure you're not from the United States and so you are most likely not familiar with the process of illegilization that occured in this country, and what it's real motives and obligations were, but I have done research for college papers and can assure you that public health was not even an issue considered. Most of the world has been pressured at one point or another to conform to the laws the United States has set concerning illicit substances, of which marijuana has been included, unfortunately. I can hardly imagine what a legitimate argument to make marijuana illegal would look like, because there certainly wasn't one in the judicial processes which caused it to become illegal in the first place. The first anti-marijuana taxes were centered wholly in racial discrimination, and the laws banning it were centered wholly in financial interests. Research history.
There is no reason to assume drug use will increase if you stop putting people in jail for buying and selling it. Why do I assert that? Because they buy it and sell it in prisons! If you can't coercively control a substance in a prison, why try to control it coercively in the wider society? "A long time ago people got together and made a decision that I agree with and you don't" is not a justification for the claim you agree with and I don't, and it also implies that you didn't bother checking out www.leap.cc, that's a non-profit organization of lawmakers and law enforcement officers advocating an end to narcotics prohibition. You need to find a better argument. And you have yet to come up with an argument for why coercion is a means of preventing drug use, you've only come out explaining that drug use is bad. And really, you haven't really come up with a consistent justification of that, because there are many substances and activities which governments not only sanction, but in some cases monopolize them, such as that of gambling, tobacco, and alcohol, and become dependent on them for revenues. In the past, and in different parts throughout the world, gambling and/or alcohol are banned, but people still gamble and people still drink, and punishing people who do these things with government action (such as seizure and detention) doesn't solve the problem, and in many cases exacerbates it.
@Suicrat I'm glad we're in agreement that government is a weapon. Unfortunately you seem to be under the impression that I don't agree with this. Government is a weapon! The words you are typing are weapons, my brain is a weapon! You're just using connotative language to make it soundbad. You could call the government a tool and it would mean the same thing; but it wouldn't sound as bad. That was my point, and I hope rewording it has made it clearer.
You keep mentioning prison... I don't advocate jail time... I've said that a few times now... Maybe if it stops drug use but, as you say, it increases it, so I guess jail time is not the solution! I am of the opinion that wants to stop illicit drug use. I don't want to send people to jail, I want people to get off drugs. You say I need to find a better argument, but I never even used that argument! You consistently assume way too much.
There is no case where banning something increases it... You say "many cases", but I can't think of one... Of course it goes underground and continues on a lesser level, but it doesn't "exacerbate"... If you're talking about underground drinking and gambling during prohibition in the United States, then that was actually a success. The purpose was to have people's minds and money focused on the war effort. If you don't want people to do something, criminalizing it is very effective. I'm not saying criminalization necessarily is the way to go, as you keep accusing me of over and over again, but you can't argue that it doesn't serve to lessen an activity. I'm going to say it for the third time so far in this posting alone, just so you can't keep making up what I say: I am not talking about jail! I'm talking about stopping drug-use!
All you do is take what I say and put it on its head! Or you totally make things up! You accuse me of not checking out your website, when I DID! How could you possibly know whether I did or didn't?! Do you have a secret camera in my house? hahhahaha! I am very familiar with Libby Davies and her Liberal ideas because she's one of my MPs! I don't think that website is even advocating legalization. I think it is advocating decriminalization! Which are very different and not to be confused. I might be inclined to agree with decriminalization efforts, but not legalization!
Don't do drugs. Read a book, play a video game, get outside. You already do these things, you say? Yes, but now you will be able to rememberthem happening! hahahaha!
yeah, well I don't do drugs so maybe I just don't understand but I think that any substance that alters a persons personality that isn't for a medical purpose should be banned.
" @VisariLoyalist: So then Facebook should definitely banned. "lol
" The number of drug deaths in the US in a typical year is as follows: * Tobacco kills about 390,000. * Alcohol kills about 80,000. * Second hand smoke from tobacco kills about 50,000. * Cocaine kills about 2,200. * Heroin kills about 2,000. * Aspirin kills about 2,000. * Marijuana kills 0. There has never been a recorded death due to marijuana at any time in US history. * All illegal drugs combined kill about 4,500 people per year, or about one percent of the number killed by alcohol and tobacco. Tobacco kills more people each year than all of the people killed by all of the illegal drugs in the last century. "Marijuana is a contributing factor to some automobile accidents, and you'll get just as much tar in your lungs from smoking a joint as from smoking a cigarette, although you'll be smoking way less joints than chain tobacco smoker smokes cigarettes.
Even though weed probably does less damage than cigarettes, it should still be illegal because of its long term effects on mental health.
" Even though weed probably does less damage than cigarettes, it should still be illegal because of its long term effects on mental health. "Well you have to ask yourself the following question. Chocolate cake can have a hugely negative impact on cardiovascular health if not eaten in moderation, and it can cause a euphoric sugar-high, so should chocolate cake, which we've established to be a harmful, mind-altering substance, be banned? Now I think you can agree as well as I can that chocolate cake should remain legal. Now why not the same for marijuana? We know that marijuana can cause damage to the hippocampus if smoked chronically for a long period of time. But why should that alone be reason for marijuana to be illegal?
Sure, there are some things I can do better while sober, like typing, I'm high right now and typing is incredibly difficult, when sober I can type extremely fast and extremely easily. I'm not constantly stoned though and that's a good thing. Yeah, if I got high every 3 hours every day then my functions would decrease, but I control my consumption and manage to keep everything in order.
Everything in moderation.
Seeing people smoking anything pains me.
Clearly, drug legalization advocates are the immature ones here.
Don't do drugs. Read a book, play a video game, get outside. You already do these things, you say? Yes, but now you will be able to rememberthem happening! hahahaha! "
" @Arjuna said:Wit and humour does not constitute immaturity. It demonstrates levity and the ability not to take things too seriously.Clearly, drug legalization advocates are the immature ones here. "
Don't do drugs. Read a book, play a video game, get outside. You already do these things, you say? Yes, but now you will be able to rememberthem happening! hahahaha! "
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