All the reasons in the world to KEEP Maryjane illegal are
trumped by reality.
Making it illegal in no way diminishes it’s availability or it’s use but that illegality DOES give the assclowns in office and their pet badgemonkeys carte blanche to assault, abuse, destroy and imprison countless otherwise honest, normal and productive citizens.
The PC method of getting high would be to eat it, not to smoke it, as to not pollute the environment.
Telling us what we already know. Anyone who has been exposed to stoners know they are a waste case.
And the idea that stoners are mellow, passive people have a hard time explaining the gang-bangers’ obsession with smoking dope. Not to mention athletes.
Forget Colorado and Washington. I think California and New York should legalize it so we can get a real taste of what would happen.
From your linked article...
“After several decades of the tolerance policy, Dutch marijuana usage rates are in the middle of international norms, higher than those in neighboring Germany, but lower than those in France, Britain or the United States.”
Hardly the disaster you paint.
Those five arguments are also ‘valid’ reasons to make/keep alcohol illegal.
However, in a free society, the fact that some people will abuse a particular freedom/right is not a valid reason for restricting that freedom/right.
In a free society, the fact that a particular individual activity can be dangerous to the individual is not a valid reason for outlawing that activity.
Don't ask me. Ask the people who made pariahs out of tobacco users.
Marijuana is the first step to harder drugs. It makes it easy for someone who smokes it to justify using other drugs, rationalizing that it doesn’t bother them so maybe the other drugs aren’t so bad either. I watched an hour show on TV about marijuana and drug use. At the very end of the show, the moderator asked a DEA agent who sat quietly through the whole show if he thought marijuana was the stepping stone to harder drugs. His response was ‘I don’t know, but every drug user that I or any other agent arrested had started with marijuana’.
I guess we’ll have to make booze illegal again, the same points apply. Of course, that’s only if you’re interested in intellectual consistency. And if you’re not, then there’s no way to keep marijuana illegal. At any rate, the train has already left the station, just have to wait for a few more old farts with propaganda-addled brains to die off.
>>It’s extremely addictive for some people
Though if that’s the case, alcohol and tobacco would be illegal. (Instead they’re great revenue providers for the government through taxes, and isn’t/wasn’t tobacco growing subsidized by the government?) I’m not saying pot should necessarily be legal but again, if the nanny state government really wanted to save lives, they would outlaw booze and cigs—both of which are VERY addictive (and can be dangerous when abused). Just saying...
I was attacked and nearly killed by a group of pot-smokers in a car.
They were dangerously paranoid and out-of-control.
There’s a reason why the infamous Assassins (”Hashish-eens”) were doped up to the eyeballs.
Obama wants to spread The Fail around because he hates America.
Otherwise people would move their welfare checks to Colorado & Washington. The other States could then elect decent leaders to save the country.
Any other personal behavior you want to give the government control over? If so, please cite where in the constitution the government can outlaw a vegetable.
Pointlessly necessary disclaimer: I don’t use marijuana, tobacco, alcohol or any other drug. I got Vicodin after knee surgery and took precisely one. I got a perscription for percocet after a root canal. I never filled it.
I don’t like, use or recommend drugs. I like an invasive government even less. I like wasting money on a pointless war-on-drugs even less so.
If you want to talk about something REALLY destructive, dangerous, and addictive, talk about video gaming. I think it is far worse than alcohol, tobacco, and weed together. Last weekend I was at a friends house and his 2-year old was totally wrapped up in an apple tablet. A wonderful, happy, friendly little boy transformed into an obsessional robot. This is what will destroy us.
While we are at it - I think a big part of the drop in crime is due to the homeboys smoking weed and playing online games. It keeps them pacified and indoors.
My two cents says keep it illegal, just lower the penalties. One example (for use) would be you get busted the first time, $100 fine. You get busted a second time, $200. You get busted a third time, mandatory drug rehab.
Just sayin'.
5.56mm
A very tiny amount of fact mixed with a plethora of opinion and falsehoods.
Because the police state and drug dealers like it that way.
I’m fine with arguing to keep it illegal, but that argument needs to be made to the people, not to unelected bureaucrats, and the argument needs to happen at the state level, not federally.
Blah, blah, blah. These tyrants said the same thing years ago about medical pot...but none of it came true.
What's the legal principle here? All addictive substances, activities, behaviors ought to be outlawed. How's making marijuana illegal working now?
2) This experiment hasn't worked out so well for Amsterdam:
Marijuana isn't legal in Amsterdam, the law just isn't enforced against it in certain areas. Marijuana was effectively legal for personal use and growing from 1975. Studies showed lower use among teenagers in Alaska than in the other States. Marijuana was seen as uncool, the drug for smelly hippies. So the idea that making pot legal is going to set off a stampede of pot smoking just isn't true.
3) Marijuana is terrible for your mental health:
Heavy, chronic use has negative effects. Marijuana prohibition isn't stopping this damage, so why continue the legal sanctions. What damage does arrest, conviction and jail time do to people? You have to weigh the costs and benefits.
4) Marijuana is terrible for your physical health:
Should all substances, activities and behaviors that negatively affect physical health been outlawed? In a free society, individuals weigh the risks and benefits for themselves. Life is not risk free and cannot be made risk free.
5) The drug decimates many people's lives:
Marijuana prohibition decimates many people's lives. Again, you can just look on one side of the balance sheet. Again, what's the legal principle here? Anything that can harm people ought to be banned. You can see from this listing, that drug prohibition is just another progressive project, this one from the original progressives, that sets the government in charge of people's lives. People aren't responsible for themselves and can be responsible, therefore government, police, courts, jails must be used to get people to live in the correct way.
It's doomed to failure and there's no limit to how far they'll go.
The illegality of pot is a statist tool, as are those who support it.