Why should marijuana be legalized?

Question

i am doing a depate on why marijuana should be legaized. my part of the debate focuses on the gateway theory. i have alot of information but dont know how to put it together. got any suggestions?

Answer 1

well, i think alcohol is more of a gateway than marijuana. plus marijuana doesnt cause irrational behavior like alcohol.

marijuana also has many health benefits, such as preventing alzheimers, pain relief, anxiety, nausea, insomnia, etc...

and hemp is a renewable resource that could save many trees and animals

Answer 2

Don't be weediculous.

1) So many people grow it so legalizing it wouldn't work because so few would buy it.

2) Those who use it for the first time would probably puke and never do it again; those with an addictive personality would probably get hooked.

3) The gateway theory is a difficult subject; I believe that drug users can be categorized:

i) coke users

ii) ecstasy users/amphetamine users

iii) pot users/hash users

iv) heroine users

Drug dealers usually only sell one range of drugs as far as my experience goes; hash/pot, coke/amphetamines, heroin/china.
They never say,

'Fancy some uppers with your downers?' This just doesn't happen. I think the strongest gateway is peer-pressure. If your friends are popping pills at a night-club, then it's possible to give in; one may have never touched a 'lower class' drug.

There is also an argument for drug availability; if you can only get coke where you live, then that will be your drug of choice. Then one could get introduced to either higher or lower class drugs. In this case, the gateway theory falls down



It is rare that a user will use all of the categorized substances. A new York stock exchanger wouldn't operate on heroine or pot.

Answer 3

It has an obvious medicinal value for cancer and HIV/ AIDS patients, as well many other illnesses, including diegestive and obesity issues.

It is a plant, not a drug, and the illegalization of marijuana, and really any earth born substance is a contradiction to the term 'freedom.'

The use of the term 'gateway' is government propaganda against it legality.

Taxpayers suffer the burden of paying for useless, minor infractions that have even lead up to prison time for offenders in states where there are tougher laws, i.e. Texas, and California, the latter being home of the 3 strikes penalty (jaywalking can send you to prison if it is the third offense.)

The only reason why it was banned by the government was over a highly publicized effort by William Randolph Hearst's political and media interests to control the illegal immigration of Mexicans who profited from it as there cash crop in the United States in the early 1900's. The government thought that by making cannibus illegal, it would control immigration in the south... which obviously worked...uhm, uh, err... oh, this is a quick summary, but look that up.

I've never met anyone who blames their other harder addictions on marijuana.

Answer 4

here's a different angle: Marijuana isn't what's illegal, it's hemp. Hemp was made illegal in 1937 when it was poised to re-emerge on the textile market. the marihuana stamp act was pushed through by the future head of the narcotics bureau (Harry Anslinger) and 2 southern senators. 8 years into the great depression was a very bad time for a new textile to come on the market, especially when it would be taking a bite out of the cotton industry. these men lied and passed a tax that was designed to stop hemp production, not to raise revenue. none of the claims made by Anslinger have been substantiated over the last 70 years of prohibition. In fact none of the studies preformed for the government have been verified by peer review while pro-marijuana studies are.
As for the "gateway Drug" thing, it's not a gateway because of the drug but rather because who is selling it, drug dealers! It wouldn't be a gateway drug if the local mom & pop stores were selling it.
If you can interject any religous slant into it then check out Gen 1:29 it's God telling Adam & Eve what is acceptable to eat and Hemp fills the bill completely. you could use the freedom of religion angle here.

Answer 5

One attack would be that the Gateway theory is just that.. a theory.. whereas we can look at factual information.. such as that your average pot smoker gets less tar/resin/carcinogens per week than your average cigarette smoker and that a person who is high is more capable of operating machinery and vehicles than people under the influence of alcohol.. then you can use alcohol as a segue into Prohibition, and how the limit of a widely used substance created organized crime (the mob) as we know it in this nation.... that's off the top of my head.. I'll try to think of some more later.


oh yeah.. you can also talk about how (this is another fact) Marijuana is NOT chemically addictive.. in other words no matter how much you use it or for how long if you stopped tomorrow you would not have physical withdraws.. that's not to say you won't miss the habit.. just that your body will never become chemically addicted.. as it can with alcohol and cigarettes

Answer 6

Marijuana a gateway drug.....I am curious where you got this information? It is not a gateway drug.
I am legal to have this and I have had other drugs my doctors prescribe for me. Some of them had been very addictive and very bad for a person, these I feel are gateway drugs. Not marijuana.

Watch this video it is of Montel Williams. It is a show he did on medical marijuana. He is also a medical marijuana user. A lot of information is here....
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1445

The Hemp Foundation maybe able to answer some of your questions as well.... 1-800-723-0188

Answer 7

The myth that is the Gateway theory has been dispelled awhile ago. Alcohol and tobacco are the true gateway drugs. Marijuana has no proven health risks. But many ways to help people who are in pain and suffering. In the history of the world exactly zero people have died from marijuana use. Compare that to the 435,000 people a year that die from tobacco use so tell me which one should be illegal?

Answer 8

Extraneous laws are not what this country is founded on. We write laws to protect people, not to limit them. We used to think that marijuana was a narcotic (look the defintion up) so we lumped it into a category of drugs which includes narcotics like cocaine, heroine, etc...those drugs have specific properties that make them addictive. Addiction has shown to cause crime (cops getting shot, theft, etc...) so they are in essence, reducing other humans' rights to be safe. Since then, we have researched the properties of marijuana, and have concluded that it isn't a narcotic, but a stimulant much like alcohol (legal). it has been shown that a minute number of deaths have resulted from the use (Casey Jones, a railway operator, smoked a joint and didn't switch tracks. 14 died. As far as I know, this is the only recorded tragedy from marijuana, over 30 years ago) Marijuana has also been deemed to have 'redeeming qualities' which is a term used to describe poistive medicinal purposes, for example. This is also contrary to other drugs that are illegal. Since the positive qualities outweigh the negative, and since we are a counrty founded on freedom that does not like to write extraenous laws, it should be decriminalized. Now, you could also go on to mention the history of presidential usage (Geroge Washington) the exportability and environamentally sound hemp products, the taxability of marijuana and the amount of revenue that could be generated from it's sale, the crime rates of other countries that legalized it compared to our crime rate, etc...And yes, it should not be illegal.

Answer 9

Of course it should be legalized.
Is it my fault that some people have no self control and fake an addiction to a substance simply because they are to weak to control their urges.

The gateway theory is the biggest load of bull ever. Weed is not a gateway drug and anyone who believes that has A.never smoked or B. highly delusional and warped in their thought process.

Keeping weed illegal is just another example of how the government seeks to control people. It should be legal and regulated.

Answer 10

99 years in prison for growing marijuana in Kentucky, you'd be better off to come up for murder. The bottom line is the police state that has gotten fat off the drug war, more choppers they need to feed Their addiction of putting harmless smokers in prison. You could alleviate most of the overcrowding in prison by legalizing and regulating drugs, but what would the government do with all the high tech toys they bought for the Fake War on Drugs.

Answer 11

you can defeat the whole "gateway" drug argument b/c here's what ppl say: "95% of hard drug users tried marijuana beforehand"...but concurrence does NOT mean correlation...you could also say that 99% of hard drug users had eaten carrots before...does that mean carrots are a gateway drug?

marijuana could be controlled and made much less dangerous if it were legalized...the biggest problems with supposed "deaths" linked to pot usage have to do with it being laced with other stuff. the govt could regulate the contents much better, and hell, at least make some money off of america's number one-grossing agricultural product!

good luck!