1. Marijuana can generate hundreds of billions in tax revenues.

2. Drug dealers are making trillions of dollars BECAUSE it's not legal.

3. We spend resources to catch the "criminals" and keep them in jail.

So we really need more drugs going around this country? Drugs are enough of a problem as is, why add to the problem by legalizing pot?

Yea, just go to Canada.

this is a tough topic. The drug war is not being fought the way it should be. It seems there is no progress in stopping people in using drugs. The problem with legalizing is the line to draw to stop. Now, hypothetically, forget about all the other drugs, if marijuana was legalized, would that be such a big deal. It could be controlled like alcohol and tobacco, both socially and organizationally. But, back to reality, is marijuana a gateway drug? Some would say yes, others would say yes by default, because its just easier to get marijuana and we know the effects of using it one time arent detrimental(spelling?). Others of course would still say no. I believe that we should decriminalize marijuana because we are wasting millions of tax payers money on imprisoning petty possession charges and even small trafficing.

Other benefits:

Lower Crime Rates (Crimes commited by addicts)
Police time can be used more effectively elsewhere
Tax money
Users Health (drugs on the street have 'extras')

Downsides:

Drugs are bad (health etc)


In Liverpool, England Heroin was temporarily legalised and attainable at some Hospitals. Users were safe from gaining aids from needles and the drug itself was pure and safe. Also Crime rates dropped by a third

Frankly I don't really like pot. I've tried it. Some of my friends smoke it frequently. Eh. Just not my thing.

I do think pot has tangible side-effects, particularly on your outlook on life. My ex was a heavy pot smoker and was rather lazy and unproductive. I drew a correlation at the time, but objectively I can't say which is the chicken and which is the egg. If - and this is not a 'fact' to begin with - pot does cause people to become this way, is it even the Government's role to play Daddy and tell them they can't live their lives as lazy and unproductive? Outside of a situation where they're sucking off welfare at the same time, of course.

Regarding "Gateway", I don't really think so. I have friends that are in their 30s that have never tried anything but pot. I have friends in their 20s that did harder drugs (acid), stopped, and now only do pot occasionally - still abstaining from the harder stuff. I don't think there's anything inherent in marijuana as a drug that makes you try other drugs. I certainly haven't had the urge to try heroin from the handful of times I've smoked on a Saturday night with friends. I think that any possible gateway danger is created by the circumstances surrounding obtaining pot. If you're getting pot from a dealer (and I never have, so this is all imagined), that dealer might try to sell you other stuff. Were pot legal and you could purchase it at 7/11, for example, those gateway dangers would actually be lessened. Theoretically.

Eh. Ultimately, I don't really care. It doesn't really affect me, and there's no grand social injustice that truly raises my ire. I do think it would be a nice new source of tax revenue. The money could be folded right back into rehab programs for harder drugs, creating positive effects on the overall "war on drugs" in tandem with my theoretical gateway solution above.

the first anti-marijuana legislation in the United States was a result of heavy Mexican emmigration to El Paso, Texas. They created this legislation to curb that Mexican influx (oh ya THAT worked out well, morons).

Marijuana was banned on a national level because of Mexicans, not it being a narcotic. Same as cocaine was banned nationally because people thought blacks on coke raped white women (not that coke should be legal regardless).

it would actually have two MAJOR benefits...One, more tax revenue for the Gubmint, and two, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more money for the manufacturers of fast food!!!!

I agree with TrueBrit ( ) and his pips (similar to Gladys Night and the pips, only different)...

We have a local judge here who is running for state senate as a libertarian primarily on the legalization issue...excellent judge and he makes a lot of sense when he talks about this issue...after all, a bottle of cheap hooch does more damage and renders one more incapacitated than weed...hell, I'm pretty sure that all recent US presidents and VPs with the exception of Cheney have done it, yet it is illegal...ridiculous...and what ank says about it being a law rooted in racism is true too...get rid of the drug war, tax it, regulate it...

That might be the funniest thing anyone has ever said on this forum.
Yeah--fast food manufacturers, i guess pretty soon they'll have a union too!