What are the Best reasons/arguments to keep marijuana illegal?

National Review ^ | July 29, 2008 | me_a_republic

[me_a_republican]

Dear fellow forum members,

What are the best reasons or arguments you can think of to keep marijuana illegal?

It would really really help to if you can reply only after reading http://www.nationalreview.com/12feb96/drug.html .

Thank you.

[mysterio]

Oh, and by the way.

[vox_freedom]

BTW, I especially liked the quote from your linked article:

Preet says much work is needed to clarify the pathway by which THC functions, and cautions that some animal studies have shown that THC can stimulate some cancers.

Oh, and sweet dreams.

[Mr. Silverback]

So, you are in favor of repealing age limits on alcohol purchases, and believe these limits to be examples of government stealing the role of parents?

Do you also favor eliminating the minimum age for a driver’s license?

[Mr. Silverback]

15% of freepers are misguided or just plain stupid

No bloated sense of moral superiority on your part!

[mysterio]

BTW, I especially liked the quote from your linked article:

did you like this quote as well? :

The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University

[Mr. Silverback]

Allowing Pharmacies to dispense hard-core addictive drugs, such as Oxy, but flipping out about pot is plain anti-intellectual.

Talk about comparing apples to oranges. One is prescribed and a valuable pain reliever and the other is unprescribed and mainly recreational.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Marijuana accumulates in the microscopic spaces between nerve cells in the brain called “synapses.”

LOL, really?

[fr_freak]

So, you are in favor of repealing age limits on alcohol purchases, and believe these limits to be examples of government stealing the role of parents?

Do you also favor eliminating the minimum age for a driver’s license?

Yes, I would eliminate age restrictions on alcohol. No I would not remove age restrictions on driver's licenses. There is a big difference between the two. Only one of those scenarios involves allowing the populace at large to be exposed to a juvenile piloting a 1-2 ton death machine.

As an example on the alcohol thing: how many parents might let their kid have a sip of beer at the table? Or a glass of champagne at New Year's? Technically, they are breaking the law, but the idea that government should reach into a family's house and dictate their actions is completely abhorrent to me.

[fr_freak]

potheads are stupid

And girls are icky.

Geez, when did FR become a third grade playground?

[Mr. Silverback]

Where do you get this crap? That is flat-out completely untrue. There is also no boogeyman, no Easter bunny, babies aren't delivered by a stork, and you won't go blind if you touch yourself. No, I don't know why grown-ups told you these things when you were little.

I particularly enjoy seeing pro-legalization folks go off like drill sergeants on anyone who gets a fact about marijuana wrong, even though one of the central tenets of pro-legalization arguments is that the government and foundations spend billions each year to tell people falsehoods about pot.

Pot's supposed to make you mellow, remember? :-)

[Mr. Silverback]

There's nothing liberal about restraining the government from forbidding its citizens to own a plant. That's the conservative position, in fact.

Whether legalization is a good idea or a bad idea, making pot out to be the equivalent of a spider plant is somewhat silly.

[vox_freedom]

LOL, really?

Just Google the phrase (w/o quotes) and you'll come up with a lot of info -- related to marijuana and otherwise:

microscopic spaces nerve cells brain synapses

After that search, add the word "marijuana" and you'll find more attributable scientific information relating to the topic on this thread and the silly position of some that there is no cause and effect of usage and brain function.

[fr_freak]

It is way easier to make beer than it is to grow Mary Jane.

Only if someone else grows your hops and barley for you.

That reminds me of a joke:

One day, a famous professor of evolution is standing on a mountainside, shaking his fist at the sky, shouting "I believe mankind came from a single cell organism. We have demonstrated in the lab how organic compounds can arise from the right primordial soup under the right conditions, and how those compounds could organize into simple organisms, given the right conditions and enough time, and how those simple organisms can evolve into more complex beings and eventually man!"

The professor continued, "In fact, I am so confident in this process, that I believe I can create life from nothing every bit as well as God. If there is a God, I challenge You to a contest. Let us see if I can't match you!"

A booming voice comes from the sky, "I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE. I WILL PROVIDE YOU ACCESS TO THE MOST POWERFUL COMPUTERS ON EARTH TO PERFORM YOUR CALCULATIONS. I WILL PROVIDE ANY TOOLS OR EQUIPMENT YOU MIGHT NEED. I WILL STOP YOU FROM AGEING OR GETTING SICK UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED. YOU MAY BEGIN IMMEDIATELY."

The professor clasps his hands with glee and says, "Yes! I will get started right away. I will begin with the most basic components." With that, the professor reaches down and grabs a handful of dirt.

"HEY - GET YOUR OWN DIRT."

[Mr. Silverback]

DMZ, I’m scratching my head over why you would be skeptical that pot might have an effect on a child during pregnancy. Is it possible it has no effect? Certainly. But when you consider how many drugs are harmful to the fetus or are schedule C (i.e, “Elefino!”) it certainly isn’t farfetched. Heck, a lot of antibiotics are C drugs, even after decades of use.

Note that I wrote the abbove paragraph before I searched and found this:

http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20070101/how-pot-harms-fetal-brain-development

[Mr. Silverback]

Did he say that, or did he specifically mention pregnancy?

[Mr. Silverback]

I didn’t call marijuana a gateway drug. Putting words in someone’s mouth doesn’t mean you win the argument.

In fact, I care little about marijuana’s supposed role as a gateway drug, because if we ban stuff on that basis we’d have to ban cigarettes.

[Mr. Silverback]

As an example on the alcohol thing: how many parents might let their kid have a sip of beer at the table? Or a glass of champagne at New Year's? Technically, they are breaking the law, but the idea that government should reach into a family's house and dictate their actions is completely abhorrent to me.

The idea that you're an FR member and are so divorced from reality that you think this would happen ("This is a raid! Put that beer down and step away from the child!") is completely mystifying to me.

Seriously, people who avor pot legalization can docuent police abuses of pot users...can you document a case where the police prosecuted a parent for giving a child a sip of beer or wine?

When I say remove age limits on alcohol, I don't mean Grandma doesn't get in trouble when she shares her Coors with little Billy. I mean little Billy can walk into the corner store, buy the Coors and drink it, or Mommy can buy Billy the Coors and he can drink it by the can. Do you believe that should be the state of the law, and do you believe the government is intruding on parental rights if that's not the state of the law?

[Mr. Silverback]

Here are just a few:

Here’s one...a small study pool, but a definite difference:

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20080513/take-this-marijuana-message-to-heart

Another one with a much larger pool:

http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/news/20080205/marijuana-linked-to-early-gum-disease

Infertility:

http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/guide/infertility-tobacco-marijuana

Psychosis (Though I believe this may be correlation, not causation):

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20070726/pot-now-psychotic-later

Lung damage greater than cigarettes:

http://www.webmd.com/news/20070731/smoking-pot-may-damage-lungs

Also, to these I’d add the obvious fact that a guy like me (6’4, 240lbs) would probably be too impaired to drive after one joint, but not after one beer.

Of course, I don’t see health issues as a reason to ban marijuana, because if we did that we’d have to ban cigarettes and certain sexual practices, and I’m sure not on board with that.

[Prole]

[Texas Songwriter]

The best reason for you to keep marijuana illegal is its imbibition (smoke or ingested) results in the person going into an altered state of consciousness. They do not perceive reality as it is. Then they get in a 3000 pound automobile and in an altered state drives that vehicle at illperceived speeds directly at your family...your children. This puts innocent people at risk.