Pot Vote: Legalizing Marijuana Could Be On 2010 Ballot

Well, lets call it experience, not logic.

We'll assume you have known people who's lives have become enslaved by marijuana, but there are other people here who smoke and are living life quite normally. Opinions are obviously changed by experiences, and it seems like your experiences with marijuana are negative.

 

I was going to go back and add "observation" and "experience" to logic. As for my experiences with marijuana, they've either been negative or benign. I don't really see the non-medicinal positive aspect of marijuana that can't be replicated with other legal drugs.

 

I didn't claim to be a Libertarian. I have laissez-faire attitudes, but I'm not consistent.

Again, it's not as easy as going to the grocery store.

There will simply be too many offenders to adequately punish those impaired drivers or people that sell to minors. As for being victimless, how do you feel about parents smoking around kids? Is giving them a contact high still a victimless crime? You can have a beer around kids and they don't get drunk.

Race has nothing to do with it. And if they're dealing drugs, they're not fine young men. They're miscreants. And none of these studies have looked at the loss of productivity in society. Sure, I'm a Weberian in my outlook on life, but seeing people waste their lives in a THC haze shouldn't be something that's encouraged.

And the criminal element would move onto other drugs as people got a taste for them.

 

How do you figure there'd be too many offenders to actually punish anyone caught. That same argument could be made about alcohol as well. Not everyone on the road is drunk, the same way not everyone would be high.

Parents smoking around kids would be bad. Obviously, second hand smoke is a bad thing. But so is smoking cigarettes around them, which is legal.

I understand you said it' smore the fact you don't see the need to make more things legal, but if you have those attitudes about driving, and about smoke around kids, why aren't you more a proponent for making cigarettes and alcohol illegal? We can't regulate who uses and abuses them, whether they are sold to minors, and whether people smoke their cigarettes around their kids, so why not ban them, and eliminate those problems?

 

As people got a taste for them?

 

1.] More people wouldn't be using cannabis because it is cheaper and more abundant. More people would use cannabis simply because it is finally "legal" and the overall effects on ones body are much "healthier" than that of alcohol, cigarettes, and a lot of prescription meds that are being prescribed these days. If alcohol and cigarettes were "cheaper" and more abundant, then do you think more people would use them? You might have to define "drugs" for the society that will be better off by not using them ["It’s reasonable to expect a certain percentage of adults, respectful or fearful of the current prohibition, would give pot a first try if it were made legal. But, given that the U.S. is already the world’s leading per capita marijuana consumer (despite our relatively harsh penalties), it’s hard to imagine a large and lasting surge in consumption. Further, under a system of regulated legalization and taxation, the government would be in a position to offer both prevention programs and medical treatment and counseling for those currently abusing the drug. It’s even possible we’d see an actual reduction in use and abuse, just as we’ve halved tobacco consumption through public education–without a single arrest." http://blog.norml.org/2009/07/20/new-york-times-blog-if-marijuana-is-legal-will-addiction-rise/]

2.] False. Urban Myth. [this is just one example of how out of touch and off-base you are; "5 Things the Corporate Media Don’t Want You to Know About Cannabis
via Alternet.org

1. Marijuana Use Is Not Associated With a Rise in Incidences of Schizophrenia

2. Marijuana Smoke Doesn’t Damage the Lungs Like Tobacco

3. Cannabis Use Potentially Protects, Rather Than Harms, the Brain

4. Marijuana Is a Terminus, Not a ‘Gateway,’ to Hard Drug Use

5. Government’s Anti-Pot Ads Encourage, Rather Than Discourage, Marijuana Use" http://www.alternet.org/media/14281...media_don't_want_you_to_know_about_cannabis/]

3.] We do?

4.] It is much easier for kids to get their hands on cannabis than it is for them to get their hands on alcohol and/or cigarettes. ["In their study, they found that 40 percent of teens could get marijuana within a day; another quarter said they could get it within an hour. In another portion of the survey, teens between the ages of 12 and 17 say it’s easier to get marijuana than buy cigarettes**, beer or prescription drugs. That number is up 37 percent from 2007." http://blog.norml.org/2009/08/28/study-says-its-easier-for-teens-to-buy-marijuana-than-beer/]

5.] False. Another urban myth. [reefer madness propaganda has jaded your better judgement and common sense yet again...see above link(s)]

6. Obviously those claims are only based on your assumption that legalization would increase drug use...again, please see link(s) above

***that is your only argument that holds any weight...you are against it because our gov't made it illegal...the rest of your opinions all fall into the category of the severely misinformed***

 

You now have drunk drivers, and you would also have stoned drivers. It's additive.

Pot is worse for kids than cigarette smoke. It's all the cancer risk with a hit of THC. Why do it?

Because for reasons I've outlined previously, you can't ban alcohol. As for cigarettes, one doesn't get become impaired from tobacco.

 

Yep. It's the stepping stone idea of drug use. Every single cocaine and heroin user I know started smoking pot first. They liked getting high, so they tried other drugs. It's a gateway.

 

Thank you for your opinion. We'll agree to disagree.

 

...so far, it is fact until I read otherwise

 

Thank you for your opinion on what you consider a fact.

 

Its a gateway drug because its so obtainable and people try it at an early age. I think there's probably very few people on this earth that jump into snorting coke before they ever smoked pot. Just because you like the feeling of being stoned doesn't mean you long for some crystal meth so you can tweak out for 5 days with no sleep.

I think your opinions on weed are based on your lack of experience with the reefer. I'd way rather wake up from a night of smoking pot then a night of excessive drinking. I've never heard of a person getting in their car and running someone down and killing them while they were stoned.

 

What makes you think I have no experience with pot?

 

Nice try. Give it another shot.

 

I'll second this. I suppose at this point, the agreeing to disagree is best. I'm not intending to be mean, or make a personal attack towards you, but I feel like generally, you come across as very well educated on a wide range of topics. It always seems like you've done your homework, gathered information on stuff, etc. before talking about it. Whether I disagree or not, you at least sound like you know what you're talking about. With this, that's not the case. You come across as completely ignorant of the subject, and sound like someone who has been sheltered from drugs, and are getting most of your information from sound bites and bullet points, without choosing to research that information on your own.

 

Let's just say I'm a taller version of Alex P. Keaton, which is to say my childhood resembled a Cheech & Chong movie.

As for agreeing to disagree, it's what I've been advocating all along.

 

...medical studies & research, expert accounts, professional testimonials, personal experiences, and common sense are just a few examples of what I consider to be FACT(S) [those facts were stated as such, not my "opinion"...your opinions, however, have yet to state anything with any validity whatsoever ]