should marijuana be legalized????

Question

Please apply perspectives, views on crime and crime theories to your ideas or opinions.

Answer 1

Why would you want to dumb down America that much more? Dont you think we have enough issues?
I dont need someone driving stoned and laughing because he just hit someone.
Nor do I want Americas children smelling that crap in public places like cars etc.
And dont tell me its not a gateway drug. It is!

Answer 2

That would be the wisest thing to do, but it will probably never happen. Better to spend millions trying to keep it out of the country and punish those who use it as though they are really "harming" society.

Alcohol is legal, and we all know what happened with Prohibition.

Tobacco - a drug that has a much stronger addiction factor - is legal, and we even subsidies the business.

Problem is, weed is a real political "hot potato" and few - if any - legislators want to commit political suicide by touching the issue.

Answer 3

I think it should remain exactly how it is, but decriminalized. In other words, mere possession won't equate to jailtime. That should sufficiently take care of our overcrowded jail situation, as well as leave officers to handle more important business and real crime.

Legalization will lead to the government eventually taking control of it and using it's label as a 'narcotic' to tax the bejeezus out of it, over and over and over again. You will not be paying what you pay now for it...you will easily see 2-3x the price in taxes alone. Look at what they're doing to cigarettes. I realize they're different, but look at how it's become almost $8 to buy a pack in NYC, but it's still $2.30 in Delaware, 200 miles south. Then, it will get to be where it's banned within 1000 feet of a school, because we don't want little kids learning about it too young. Then, it'll become taboo to smoke outdoors, where people will surely complain about some civil rights violation when they sit near someone who doesn't smoke...everything is a civil rigths violation anymore.

Taking that into consideration, also think about how we'll handle it. These people that the government has been tracking, killing or arresting for 2-3 decades are now going to become our suppliers? Think about it. There will only be one route for pot to enter into the US (on paper and in the gov'ts mind)...through their (the US's) hands. The growers and sellers will be able to do whatever they please with the pricing when they sell it to the US, and under the guise of "this will create lower taxes", the US will tax pot severely in order to make their money back. Then, surely someone will come in under the radar and produce it themselves without going through the government...what then? Will they still be punished? Will there be free trade and commerce allowed, where private individuals will be able to grow and sell, or will the US want to be the sole provider? Are they going to throw down some ridiculous and unjust regulations, essentially taking the possibility out of the everyday farner's hands?

I'm not much of a conspiracy guy, but with all of this yapping about the government tracking people, wouldn't you think that the government being the sole supplier of a narcotic would lead to your name being put on a list somewhere, maybe even something llike a health insurance list?

There are too many variables to take into consideration. I have no idea how so many people in 2006 can have such a horrible image of the government and think that they're useless, but then continue to think of new and worse ways to give them more power let letting them control something like marijuana.

Sure, it's a great idea for people who smoke and want to get their hands on it, but we all look throw rose colored glasses anymore. you know that the government will come up with some way to profit from this, and eventually, it'll just become illegal again when private citizens decide that they want it from someone other than the government.

Everyone uses Holland as an example too. You know what? They've had it that way for a long time...same thing with the drinking age and weapons. They've been around them long enough to teach future generations responsibility. What do you think would happen if all of a sudden, we lower the legal drinking age to 18 tomorrow? There'd be countless 18 year olds in body bags. Every single person from 18-20 would go out and get housed...that's the way our younger generations operate anymore. The same thing would happen to pot...we're not responsible enough as citizens yet to go about doing something like this....and that doesn't even take what I mentioned about the government above into consideration.

Decriminalize it and allow it's use for medicinal purposes...let's forget about legalization though.

Answer 4

well legal or illegal is irelative.
it doesnt matter if its legal or not, it's still easy to get no matter who you are. the point is it should not be looked down upon so much.
used right, marijuana is a great herb. it frees your mind and feels great. it makes you understand life so much better, smoking marijuana enlightens you. i feel as though i am not completely alive unless im high. it's effects are amazing.
but too many kids use it for the wrong reasons and do stupid things when they're high.
i think it should be legal but you have to be 18 to buy it.
but the world knows that this could never happen because it's looked down upon so much.

Answer 5

first question.. why do we say a drug is illegal? because it does harm to people and can be very addictive.. so we try to protect the public from it.

fact: Marijuana is on par with or less harmful than smoking and drinking and Marijuana is NOT chemically addictive (that's not to say you can not form a mental addiction.. it's just saying that at no point will your body ever need THC to function normally).

So why is it still illegal? I don't have a clue.. I'm not a pothead.. but I still don't understand why people are so heavily opposed.. it feels of prohibition.. and that created the mafia.

Answer 6

I think that there is more money spent trying to eradicate it and keep it illegal than it is worth. The cops should spend their time doing better things than conscifacting small amounts of weed and a bong or two and handing out 300 fiines.. It should be as legal as alcohol is. There would still be drug tests for work, and you could be fired if you test positive, but there wouldnt be the stigma or hassle.

Answer 7

Yes. Too many resources being used to track, arrest, try, convict, and house small time offenders. It is a naturally occurring plant, it is even grown on the whitehouse grounds...of course they kill off the female plants and call it 'hemp' but the idea is the same. Our country was founded on hemp production, which is very versatile. George Washington smoked it to relieve pain from his false teeth. In fact, give me one reason it SHOULD be illegal....as a conservative, I believe in lees government intervention, not more.

Answer 8

if pot is legal, absolutly nothing would happen!!!people seeing thru a stupor do not do ...but they see a movie of ideas moving to sound .better idea would be to eliminate the illegal federal reserve abomination!!!!! nobody running the nyse should make 58 million a year!!!! no bank should make 7 billion a year !!!!!!income tax should be recinded!!!!original govt buildings were all built without income tax!!!!!excise taxation is more than enough!!! to me pot is not the problem!!!

Answer 9

Yes. It could be packaged, sold, and taxed much the same as cigarettes. Your average harmless "potheads" do not belong in jails/or prisons (at taxpayers' expense) with hardened real criminals. Also, how often to hear of someone toking a "doobie" then beating his/her spouse or kids, or killing someone with their car?

Answer 10

Take Holland as the example, they have far less addiction rates, crime rates and imprisonment rates. and it is legal to consume marijuana there. Of course their citizens have actual freedom instead of illusionary freedom as well.

Answer 11

I don't think it should be legal but it is no worse than booze. I do know people who are unable to maintain a job due to their strong desire to stay stoned.