Marijuana: It’s Time for a Conversation

[Helochut]

How many people smoke and allow smoking to control their lives?

I find tobacco just as controlling as any marijuana drug, why should an exception be made for one and not the other?

I find this society far to hypocritical

[Assarax]

Originally Posted by Megamind

And millions of people have died from smoking or alcohol abuse but that's still legal
How many have died as a direct result of marijuana smoking? Now I'm not talking idiots driving under the influence...I'm talking as a direct cause of it...

Zero. There have never been any valid recorded deaths where the direct result was marijuana use. Stuff like this was a scare tactic back in the 1950's and 60s in an effort to keep Americans, generally kids away from that sort of thing. I do think that kids should not be smoking pot, but for adults, its not a big deal.

And helochut, marijuana is actually less controlling than cigarettes or alcohol. Millions of people are addicted to cigarettes, and millions of people are alcoholics. Sure, pot gets you high. But the cravings involved with pot are for food, not another joint or bong hit. Side effects of pot: general euphoria (people giggle and laugh like idiots when they're stoned), hunger (mainly for junk food, of the greasy or crunchy variety, pizza and chips are the most common), and sleepiness (pot is a great sleep aid. If I can't sleep, I pack a one-hitter and it puts me right to sleep).

[Imperial]

Let's not get started on alcohol then!

[Assarax]

Originally Posted by Imperial

Let's not get started on alcohol then!

I drink quite a lot too, but I do believe that alcohol is much more harmful than pot

To quote what I just saw on the link that Melidan posted: "The most dangerous thing about marijuana is being arrested for it". The prohibition of marijuana is just shaping up to be exactly the same as the alcohol prohibition of the 1920's, just without a constitutional amendment making it so.

[Lincongrad]

I think we have two choices. We can a) legalize marijuana and tax it heavily, similar to cigarettes (although I think cigarettes should be taxed more) or b) keep it illegal but impose fines instead of jail time. Putting someone in jail for marijuana use is ridiculous. Smoking pot doesn't hurt anyone else, so there's no point in taxing our judicial system to keep pot users off the street.

And yeah, Mel, I'm a cop explorer and cops don't give a shit. At all.

[Megamind]

What's a cop explorer? It sounds kinky...

[Lincongrad]

Originally Posted by Megamind

What's a cop explorer? It sounds kinky...

It does, actually. Our coordinator (post leader) thinks explorer sounds gay, so we're called cadets, which rocks. We make fun of all the other posts.

Basically junior cop volunteers.

[David Ben-Gurion]

Imperial is right, it is a gateway drug. Also, a lot of dealers (maybe not by you Assarax) do lace it with PCP and PCP is very bad since it numbs you and people break their bones/kill themselves while high on PCP. Also, studies show that smoking a joint contains as many carcinogens as 4-7 cigarettes since cigarettes have filters and joints don't. However, people usually smoke 20 cigarettes a day and people usually only take a few hits from a joint, not the whole thing.

[Assarax]

Originally Posted by Lincongrad

I think we have two choices. We can a) legalize marijuana and tax it heavily, similar to cigarettes (although I think cigarettes should be taxed more) or b) keep it illegal but impose fines instead of jail time. Putting someone in jail for marijuana use is ridiculous. Smoking pot doesn't hurt anyone else, so there's no point in taxing our judicial system to keep pot users off the street.

And yeah, Mel, I'm a cop explorer and cops don't give a shit. At all.

Yup. Under federal law simple possession, like a gram or an eighth (3.5 grams) may get you up to 1 year in prison. Which would you rather have, incoming taxes from the sale of marijuana, or to have to pay taxes to arrest kids on possession charges?

[Megamind]

Originally Posted by The Arbiter

Imperial is right, it is a gateway drug. Also, a lot of dealers (maybe not by you Assarax) do lace it with PCP and PCP is very bad since it numbs you and people break their bones/kill themselves while high on PCP. Also, studies show that smoking a joint contains as many carcinogens as 4-7 cigarettes since cigarettes have filters and joints don't. However, people usually smoke 20 cigarettes a day and people usually only take a few hits from a joint, not the whole thing.

All that is great arguments for legalizing it