legalize all drugs - free money and freedom

What I'd like to see are the statistics on the percentage of pot users who also use heroin and coke. I think you'll find that percentage to be low.

Still, I don't see how the gateway argument justifies the status quo. Again, it's not the government's job to tell people what substances they can ingest for recreation.

 

I believe the Right should engender a culture of, Persons should handle their drugs better than their drugs handle them, instead of a Nanny-State without Nanny-State Tax rates.

 

Well, here's some scientific evidence which shows that smoking marijuana may actually be physically addictive for some people, which proves that smoking marijuana may lead to some of it's smokers developing some sort of tolerance, which may cause them to seek out some harder drugs.

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/pot/a/Marijuana-Withdrawal-Symptoms.htm

 

And some people that sit in a bar might just happen to be sitting next to a person that beats their wife so is there a cause and effect relationship?

Here in WA we have recently legalized the recreational use of marijuana and have had legalized medicinal marijuana for several years. Those obtaining "legal" marijuana are not "hanging out" with hard drug users because they obtain their marijuana from legal distribution centers. I've been to parties recently where the adults had a place where they segregated themselves from the children to enjoy a few hits of marijuana and I've never seen any other drugs being used at any of these gatherings. Not once has that occurred.

Back in the 60's and 70's there were often multiple different drugs because the "drug dealer" would show up and have marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs and so those at the party would purchase different drugs and might use them at the party. That doesn't happen when there is a legal source where the person goes to the "market" as opposed to the "peddler" coming to them.

The reason that multiple drugs are available and used at any "event" is because the person selling the drugs brings as many different drugs as possible to maximize sales.

 

This relates exclusively to very high marijuana consumption over very long periods of time and that is extremely rare. The symptoms are so mild that they wouldn't even show up on a chart if compared to caffeine addiction that a person can have from drinking too much coffee or soda or for "sugar-holics that also experience "withdrawal" symptoms. These "symptoms" are also very short-lived only lasting a few days (as noted) and are generally believed to be more psychological in nature than physical.

None of this has anything to do with normal marijuana use in America.

People that bring this up are really grasping at straws to support an irrational opinion. If we banned everything where excessive use lead to very mild "withdrawal" symptoms we'd have to ban about 50% of everything we consume.

 

This has already been disproven by citation in this thread so why bring it up again? The use of marijuana, even in excessive amounts, does not create a physical tolerance to the use of marijuana.

 

If we want to do drugs, any drugs, we will be able to find them, somewhere. Taking part, or not, I don't think is a supply and demand issue.
We have tobacco products available at every gas station or store, but that doesn't mean we all smoke. Same with booze stores.
I don't understand that we don't have a problem with highly addictive products like tobacco and alcohol, yet we moan about a bit of pot

On my way....j/k

 

The only thing that the Law of Supply and Demand affects when dealing with a black market commodity is the price. The price of "prohibited" drugs is 100-times to 1000-times or more than if they were legally produced and sold products. The "demand" will be "met" legally if possible or by the black market if illegal and the only thing that changes is the cost of the product and the huge price society pays for the prohibition in violence and law enforcement because a black market creates both of those problems.

 

Insomnia, loss of appetite, and night sweats are symptoms of some physical addiction to marijuana.

 

Actually, I have heard this being stated many times before, that if all drugs were legalised, since the drugs would then be cheaper, drug addicts would not have to steal to get their drugs. However, this is obviously not true, since some alcoholics even steal to get their alcohol, which is a legal substance. Drug addicts would steal to get their drug money if even all drugs were just suddenly legalised.

 

I have insomnia , don't eat much and have night sweats and I don't smoke pot.

 

We will never heal all that ails society. Of course people will find the most convenient way to supply their recreational appetites.
If we deal with stealing...booze, cigs, clothing, even food...people will always do that. But why do we have to waste so much man power and cash going after the dealers and smugglers and the average user, instead of taking in the revenue, just like we do with alcohol and tobacco?
That is for pot. Legalizing all drugs? That is another story, but I wonder if we would have less of an issue with other recreational drugs if pot became legal?

 

The amount of tax revenues that's been generated from alcohol and tobacco is very minuscule in comparison to the overall damage and the monetarily costs to society that those two substances keep doing to this society.

 

Ah yes, the call for "Godwin's Law." You can't defend yourself, so you roll out the meme. I accept your surrender.

Peoples lives are often cut short by being put into jails and prisons. They have done nothing to harm others, yet you deem it moral and righteous to harm them.

 

Ok, but look at the money spent dealing with what is no more or less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.
As long as pot remains illegal, we spend more than we take in. I rather we focus on the real criminals, not the ones we create.

 

Well, smoking marijuana is actually way more dangerous than drinking alcohol is, because alcohol only stays in somebody's body only for a few hours, unlike THC.

 

Where's your compassion for the ruling class? Why do you want to deprive them of all the fun of harassing us and putting us in our place? Remember, these are people who grew up pulling the wings off flies, swinging cats by their tails, and putting firecrackers in the mouths of frogs to watch them explode.

 

Absolutely,
unless you are driving drunk, come to work with a hangover, or indulge in excessive drinking to the point of liver cirrhosis.
Smoking...aside from all the health issues, needing to drag on that cigarette, lighting up while driving,.......
I'm not saying pot shouldn't fall under scrutiny. An employer should have a right to drug test, randomly, and potential employees will know the risk before signing up.
We do intoxication testing and drug testing already, lets just expand a bit. I don't want my pilot or surgeon or nurse or whatnot be under the/any influence.

 

Also, I'm just so sick of all of this pro-marijuana propoganda that some people keep stating that it's true, such as this hemp conspiracy theory. Honestly, 30 states had made marijuana illegal long before William Randolph Hearst's 1930s smear campaigns.

Second of all, driving while stoned is very bad because somebody's judgement is very impaired while intoxicated on any substance, whether it be marijuana or alcohol.

 

If you also have headaches then perhaps you should smoke pot because it seems to alleviate these problems which tend to pop up in a few people that quit smoking pot. I also suggest moving to Washington or Colorado so that you don't violate state laws by smoking pot. The federal government isn't enforcing laws related to the use of marijuana which is logical because they'd have to build prisons to house tens of millions of Americans to do that.

 

Driving under the influence of anything that significantly impairs the operation of a vehicle is against the law in all states that I'm aware of so this is not a valid issue. Of note marijuana doesn't significantly affect a person's judgment but can slightly increase reaction times by up to 30% (e.g.from perhaps .75 seconds up to 1.0 second) and those driving under the influence of marijuana are generally aware of this (because their judgment isn't impaired) and tend to not tailgate and slow down to accomodate slower reaction times. That's why there isn't a statistical difference in accident rates between driving while straight and driving under the influence of marijuana.

 

Don't you know it. Its too cold over yonder though.

 

Actually, smoking marijuana actually does impair somebody's judgement to some extent. Somebody that's stoned, they can't really think straight, and somebody in that state of mind is not really fit to make some good decisions at all. Now, you're making some very good points. Smoking marijuana doesn't necessarily impair somebody's judgement in the same exact way that alcohol does-it doesn't 100% remove somebody's senses of right and wrong, which is what alcohol does. Alcohol affects somebody's behavior in way worse ways than smoking marijuana does, but being stoned still impairs somebody's thought processes. People that are stoned can't think straight. Their senses of right and wrong may not be fully destroyed (like what happens to somebody's senses of right and wrong while they are drunk), but still, somebody that can't think straight and their mind is clouded and intoxicated, obviously is not in their right states of mind to be driving some vehicles. Stoned people do stupid stuff that they wouldn't have done if they was sober at the time.

Second of all, regardless of how dangerous it is to drive while stoned as compared to driving while drunk, there's no question that the amount of deaths that are related to stoned driving will increase when marijuana becomes legalised, which is the main reason why I am strongly against the legalisation of marijuana.

 

Driving stoned, driving drunk...what does that have to do with legalizing pot, i.e.?
People drink, people smoke pot, that doesn't mean either should be on the road while impaired.

 

I don't know what this assumption is based upon because it certainly contradicts everything I know about smoking marijuana. I must admit my knowledge is anacdotal but I've know numerous individuals when I was in college that smoked marijuana when they studied because it helped them focus on that subject. They were straigth A students so apparently they didn't lose an cognative abilities while high. Seriously, the President of the United States openly admits to smoking pot while in school and he went to Harvard and became the President so it's hard to believe that pot negatively affects a person mentally.