should cannabis be legalised?

Answer 1

It should be reduced to a misdemeanor offense. By doing this we could cut prison populations in half.
US has the highest prison population per capita of any nation on earth

Answer 2

It should at least be decriminalized, as was done in some parts of Australia 20-odd years ago. How does it work? You get caught with a smaller amount (like a couple of plants), it's a misdemeanor. The drug is seized, you get a ticket and you pay a fine. Larger amounts? Then you're a producer/dealer and that's a criminal offence, same as if you are producing or selling hard drugs like speed, smack, coke or trips. You get ten years in jail, your assets are seized and sold and the money goes to drug rehab programs.

Overall result? The big 'weed' dealers are pretty much out of business and the courts have a lot less work and most everyone is much happier. The police can focus on hard drugs like speed and smack etc and if they catch you with that sort of stuff... OMG...You will NOT be a happy bunny...

And luosechi...Saw your comment and I see your point. Using weed and then driving is crazy stupid and the penalties should be harsh, like for drink driving. I assume you don't want to get hit by a drink-driver, either. It makes not one scrap of difference in that situation if the drug the person was using is legal or not (and alcohol is a drug), you are just as dead if you get clobbered hard enough...Although of course alcohol is known to make some people very aggressive, while that is excedingly rare with 'weed'. But yes, your point vis a vis intoxication while driving is quite valid, although it doesn't affect the legalization argument one iota. If it did, then obviously you should also argue that alcohol be made illegal as well. Right?

Answer 3

No. What nobody seems to mention is that passive smoking of cannabis can have a bad effect on bystanders. I can cite an example of this. A diabetic court usher found some people smoking in the narrow space between the court door and the outside door (there were two doors to prevent excessive disturbance in the court room as people entered and left). As smoking was prohibited, she made them extinguish their cigarettes, but it struck her that there was something odd about the smell. She was so whoozy all afternoon that she concluded that there was something wrong with the new medicine which had recently been issued to her and someone drove her to hospital. It was there that blood tests revealed cannabis in her blood stream. Merely sniffing it for a few moments had made her ill. Admittedly, she was susceptible, but so might many people be. Why should the rest of us be exposed to this harmful drug?

Answer 4

an a mental health worker, have a lot of people now coming into the system who used cannabis in the 1970 / 80s , i would like people to see the mess these people are in, of course this will not happen,sorry cannabis should not be legalised

Answer 5

Absolutely not. I know this is against the majority but I work in probation and we have so many people reporting to us who have cannabis induced paranoia and who have literally lost memories because of the usage. One person we have now does not touch the stuff and is one of nicest people you could hope to meet and would never dream of causing problems. However, when he was taking cannabis regularly he attacked several people whilst out of it and shouted at everyone that he was Jesus Christ and was here to save the world. THAT is the real effects of cannabis (no I am not preaching here. I have done cannabis myself, regularly a few years ago, but hate the stuff now for the effects it had on me and the paranoia that it induced was awful)

Answer 6

No, it should not.
The problem with marijuana is NOT that it's inherently "bad", but that people abuse it. Constantly. Not only that, but when a person abuses marijuana, the effects are felt PERMANENTLY.
For example:
1. Loss of motivation
2. Loss of energy
3. Loss of brain cells
4. Short-term memory loss (mine is shot)

While those aren't as bad as a failing liver, for example, they're bad enough.

Even though I don't believe marijuana should be legalized completely, I think it should be decriminalized. In Germany, an adult is allowed to carry up to a quarter ounce without having to worry about getting in trouble, AND a person is allowed to smoke it in their own house.
That's how I think it should be in the States. If a person wants to grow their own in their house for their own use (as long as there are no children residing in the house), I think they should be allowed to.
And there should DEFINITELY be more research into the medicinal uses for marijuana.
That's how I feel about it.

And one last thing. If a person under 18 or 21 was caught with it, they should either receive a fine, or have to go to treatment.
But if a person is DEALING from their house, hit them hard. Hit them with endangerment of a minor (or reckless endangerment), and whatever else they can be hit with.

Death penalty for heroin dealers.

Answer 7

It should be legal, but it doesn't matter. People have consumed it for no less than 3000 years, and people always will.
Nobody has ever died from it directly as a result of smoking it. Well, I could be wrong, but never heard of it.
I agree the laws should be relaxed a bit on it.

Answer 8

A lot of people want it legalised but what they don't realise is that the government will slap loads of tax on it.

Answer 9

Only for medical conditions this is known to help and only prescribed through doctors...people with MS Parkinsons Arthritis and even cataracts(sp) of the eyes have been helped with this in the States not all states will let doctors prescribe for medical reasons though

Answer 10

People are already using and abusing it. Go ahead, make it legal, slap a tax on it, and lets move on with our lives already. Sheesh. All this time we argue about pot, when its tobacco and alcohol that actually kills people. They're like the elephants in the damn living room, yet we're all focusing on the little mouse.