Marijuana Legalization?

Question

If given the opportunity in a nationwide election would you vote to legalize marijuana and why?
It has been illegal for over 50 years,it's use is no less prevelant now than it ever was,it is safer than almost every legal over the counter or prescription drug currently on the market,so please remind me,why is it illegal??
Alchohol kills in excess of 15,000 people a year in America if you only count the traffic fatalities,tobacco kills what ten times that,and yet marijuana is illegal. It would also be nice if more Americans got educated on the subject by putting it on the ballot,to expose the mentality of those who first banned it and those who fight hardest to keep it banned,the floor debates alone are a hoot including a comment by one senator about marijuanas effects causing black farmhands to lose inhibitions and go after white women,and he didn't use the word black. I think it's about time America put our priorities in order and this would be a start.

King Richard you proved my point in less than 5 mins,alcohol kills more people than Weed,Heroin,Cocaine,Meth combined so good job on the ever inane"more ways to kill people" If that's the problem why is alcohol legal?

Loving the answers,especially all the folks who seem to think it's better to jail almost a million non violent drug offenders in America than to solve our real problems,love living in a country where you can get more time in prison for the right amount of pot than you can for molesting a child yet?

Answer 1

Yes definitely, though it will not happen. The enormous amount of money spent on police busting people for it, courts trying people for having/using it, and keeping poeple in prison for doing so could solve the problem of poverty and homelessness in this country. The gangs who kill each other as well as innocent people in the inner cities are doing so because of and using the profits from selling illegal drugs. A tax placed on it could further fund the government. People have the right to get high as they choose, but too many influencial people (rich people) make money over keeping it illegal, so I think it will stay that way.

Answer 2

Yes, put mit on a national ballot. The facts are that is is samfer than cigarettes. Cigarettes have more than 2000 toxins. M.J. consideralby less. The smoke from MJ is less harmful that cigarettes, because the particles are larger and they are more likely to be expelled while coughing, wheras the particals in cigarettes smoke are much, much smaller and are ingested deeper into the lungs. The La Guardia report, a comissioned report at the height of the "pot will make you crazy" era, proved the governments assertations that pot leads to stronger drugs, makes you crazy or makes you like a zombie, wrong. Google LaGuardia report for all the juicy details, then write your congressman. The myths about pot are being debunked everyday, but the media and the government don't want you know about it. They don't want you to know the real readon why it was outlawed in the first place. Personally, I would rather have a pot smoker on the highway with me rather than a person who has had even one drink, or one beer.

Answer 3

Marijuana is the introduction to hard drugs. Almost everybody that is a druggie says that they began on Marijuana. Since that is a fact then Marijuana should not be legalized. Because we all know what hard drugs do to the the mind and body. So, stop the legalization of Marijuana.

Marijuana has some chemicals that could be used for medical purposes...however that does not mean that it should be used in its raw form.

Besides all the above, I have personally found that most Marijuana users have some how lost their people skills...I don't know exactly how to explain it but they always assume that they are right and that no body else knows anything about anything. They seem to have lost the ability to understand that communication requires two points of view and that theirs is not the only right view on any subject. Their brain seems to have burned out those people skills of looking at someone else's view of something...

So, that is why when ever it comes up on the ballot that most voting Americans vote it down. They know from experience that it should not be legalized.

Answer 4

In the late 70's, I did a term paper on marijuana for Criminal Justice classes. I got an 'A' on it.

What I found was doctors used marijuana as their number one tranquilizer before it was prohibited. Also, I found out that unadulterated marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol.

Twice in history, major scientific studies showed that it would be a mistake to force pot users to use alcohol. The first was the Indian Hemp Drug Commission in 1894, in England, in reference to India where it was commonly used. (Marijuana is hemp, the plant used historically to make good rope. The first pilgrims brought hemp seed with them hoping to produce rope.)

The second study was initiated by Mayor La Guardia of NYC in the 20.s. same deal, don't get them started on booze.

Studies show that unadulterated pot cannot kill users as booze can. It causes less problems with driving ability. It is not linked to domestic violence as booze is. Etc. Etc.

So, why did marijuana become illegal? After prohibition was repealed, the liquor lobby feared low priced competition, so they spend millions on stupid inaccurate propaganda to convince people that pot turned you into a raging killer, a totally false premise. IT WAS BIG BUSINESS!!!

Most of the problems with pot are linked to the illegal status, just as our problems with Mexican illegals stem from not letting them be legal.. You have to buy it from criminals,who add things to it, such as cocaine or amphetamines or other bad stuff to get you addicted to the really expensive stuff.

Note that I have never used marijuana nor been drunk on booze. There is something really disgusting about police officers having a beer party to celebrate a large marijuana bust.

Answer 5

Pete Tosh said it best in his song "Le ga lize iiiiit". Anyone can already get any drug they want. Making it illegal just lets certain people profit from it. If someone has a good upbringing and doesn't search for pleasure to balance pain, they won't go to the store and ask for the hypothetical ready-to-smoke-Blunt next to the Mad Dog 20 20 behind you on the shelf. Doctors are already saying that if smoked, it's harmful to your lungs, and that eating it is fine.

Answer 6

Marijuana is niether without negative side effects nor 100% safe.

It's worse for you than smoking cigarettes, even if you use a filter. There is more tar in marijuana than in tobacco. It also has proven long term health consequences, which escape me right now.

Also, a small percentage of people suffer very severe psychological side effects from even a single use of marijuana. Politicians will never risk the inevitable media storm that would result from the publicity from a such a person using newly legalised pot.

Answer 7

I think smoking marijuana is simply a matter of choice, and people will continue to smoke it, legal or not. However,
the marijuana of "today" isn't the same as it used to be. It
is laced with crap that makes people weird! I don't mean stoned, I mean weird! Even years ago, it was proven that smoking pot "does" do something to the brain cells. Now, with whatever it is mixed "with," it is even more damaging, "and" it makes people weird out. Otherwise, I might smoke it once in awhile. I simply don't trust the "makers." Perhaps some of the government "higher ups" feel the same way....untrusting of it, and so they prefere to keep it illegal. Who knows?

Answer 8

Where do you get this garbage. What about pot makes it "safer that almost every legal over the counter or prescription drug currently on the market"? Maybe it's the fact that it's equal to smoking about 2 packs of cigarettes....now THAT'S right up there with Tylenol, isn't it?

Answer 9

Marvelous! You just asked the most unique of all questions. I have never heard nor read about this thing you call "marijuana legalization." Judging from your short and rather spellbinding story I would say that racism has gone way too far.

Answer 10

"I think it's about time America put our priorities in order and this would be a start."

OK pot-head. If you think that THIS is a priority, then you really need to check into reality. What about priorities like feeding hungry people, social security, medical care, cancer research, aids, Danfur ... etc?