I am all for the legalization of pot too. As someone who has literally never tried it in my life, and never will, I can't think of anything bad about legalizing it the way California is. Having less than an oz. of marijuana on you is a fine of a couple of hundred bucks. Big deal!!!!! I'd like to see it legalized and taxed the shit out of. California will get out of their debt in the first year of legalization of pot just from taxes. Just in case you are keeping score at home, I also think prostitution should be legalized for the same reasons and more.
Never smoked weed. But isn't one of the knocks on it that it's a "Gateway Drug" to harder, much worse stuff? I mean, drinking Jack Daniels' doesn't get people on the track of snorting coke (that I know of), but the education provided by public schools stated that weed did. I'm sure many of you will swear that there's nothing to that, but are there actual studies and stuff that say it's "harmless"?
and, logistically speaking, how do you "tax the $hit out of it"? I mean, if there are bunches of people that users already get their product from, won't they just keep going to them? And I'm not fully convinced that drug dealers-turned-legit businesspeople will be as scrupulous about filing their state weed taxes as public liquor boards. Why would you go to ,say, Safeway or the Oregon Weed Store to get it if it's a $#it-tax more expensive and the same danger as getting it from Smokey at the YMCA?
It is because of the black market you buy weed from. Drug dealers don't tend to just sell weed. One time you might buy from him (or her, I'm sure drug dealers aren't sexist) and he or she will say, "Check out this ecstasy I got. Much better high than weed." Or whatever. There isn't a chemical in weed that is making you want to try harder drugs. I've always thought that people with weak minds or will power will go on to harder things. I've never had any inclination to try anything else.
Weed is not a gateway drug. I've smoked plenty of it and have never had the urge to try any other drugs.
I would assume the powers that be would have some sort of reciept system for the first several years of this. That would force the unauthorized growers out by issuing huge fines and jail time to anyone that couldn't provide a receipt
Here is a link to marijuana and cancer risks Link Marijuana and the brain Link Heres a couple links to normls website.
Why is it that a discussion about hemp inevitably turns into a discussion about marijuana? Yes, I understand that the similarity between the two is the reason that hemp is not legal, but seriously, can't the industrial merits of hemp be separated from the recreational merits of it's cousin?
I was unaware that hemp production is economically viable for industrial purposes. What do you do with it that's not done cheaper and more effectively than other stuff? To answer your question, I think it devolves b/c a vast, vast majority of people interested in hemp are generally not thinking about cordage and biodiesel.
I'm sure a Google search will return a few answers to that question (albeit the legitimacy of said answers may be questionable). This site says that hemp can be grown and harvested to produce paper using 1/4 the land and creating 1/5 the pollution. Also says that if used for fabric purposes, hemp produces 3 times more fiber per acre than cotton.
