PLZ Read and give your opinion?

Question

Do you think marijuana should be legalized?
Facts about marijuana
it is not addictive ( if you want to prove me wrong give me one substance in marijuana that is addictive )
It makes people more relaxed
It gives people better taste and smell
It is the #1 medicine of all cultures ( including america )
It opens up your lungs to help you breath
It doesn't destroy brain cells ( only one study has shown that and it was not backed up with scientific evidence, and other studies have been shown not to cause brain damage with scientific studies)
You are actually less likely to get into a car accident while high( this is true because you are more cautious, you are just less likely to get to the right place you want to)
If it hurts your lungs you may still get high from eating marijuana

Helps with multiple sclerosis, cancer treatment, AIDS (and AIDS treatment), glaucoma, depression, epilepsy, migraine headaches, asthma, pruritis, sclerodoma, severe pain, dystonia. there a list of 1000

Answer 1

Besides the fact that some of your arguments are a little spurious (and the car one is a little dubious), I agree that it should be legalized. We as a country are wasting too much money trying to stop it. The drug war is killing this country, killing good people, killing cops, and draining the resources of this country. Does that mean we legalize every drug? Hardly. Most illegal drugs have absolutely no redeeming medical value. But for the drugs that make sense (like marijuana), legalization should be considered.

The problem with legalization will be, like with alcohol, determining when you are too impaired to drive. A field sobriety test would indeed work, but there still needs to be an objective physical test (blood test or breath test) that measures and determines when you've had too much to drive. FSTs are subjective, and without an objective test to back it up, it would overwhelm the court system with unnecessary arguments. Until such a limit is found, we're not going to see legalization.

That won't be done until some valid tests on marijuana are done, and THAT won't be done until the government admits that marijuana actually has some redeeming value. There NEVER has been a fully proven, scientific, double-blind placebo controlled study done on the effects of THC on certain diseases. But they still tell you how bad it is, and how much it's going to hurt you. Until they prove it scientifically, I'm afraid I won't believe them. They've gone through exhaustive tests with cigarettes, and they've proven that they have absolutely no redeeming health benefits. Similar tests have never been done for marijuana, or its active ingredient, THC. Haven't you stopped to ask yourself, why not?

In some cases, marijuana is the only thing that can control the pain. Just ask Montel Williams. He uses liquid marijuana on his food at night because it is the only thing that can control his leg tremors and pain enough that he can actually sleep. And he has tried EVERY legal pain drug known to man, both in the US and overseas (and you know he has the monetary resources to do just that. Don't take my word for it, read his book). Those drugs either didn't work, or didn't work and really messed him up. And while a few drops on your food is enough to help the pain, you'd need to consume quite a lot to get high off of edible marijuana (unlike smoking). For those who use it medicinally, it's not about getting high, it's about controlling pain when nothing else will. So please don't pontificate about what's right and what's wrong, and that those who consume medical marijuana just "haven't tried hard enough to find a legal alternative." How pretentious! You think you're morally right because of a law? Show me a law that dictates morality, and I'll show you BAD LAW.

In some cases, there is no legal alternative. You think people in this condition *want* to be criminals? Not on your life. But until it is legalized, those with chronic illness will do what they must, and if that means breaking the law, so be it.

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I was just re-reading the other comments, and I gotta add more. We are so entirely hypocritical in this country. Marijuana is illegal, but cigarettes are legal? Smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and a myriad of other health problems too numerous to mention. It has NOT ONE medical benefit. It does not relieve pain for cataract sufferers, or stop the pain of Multiple Sclerosis. It does not help relieve the symptoms of chemotherapy. And yet, it's still legal. On the other hand, recent medical studies have shown no increased risk of lung cancer from marijuana usage in comparison to the general population who did not smoke (note: marijuana users who also smoked cigarettes were not counted). These studies are far from conclusive, but they are a step in the right direction. (Again, don't take my word for it, check the source link for the Washington Post article).

So again, ask yourself: why are cigarettes legal and marijuana not? One word: MONEY. Big tobacco is in the hip pockets of legislators. As long as Phillip Morris puts up a website and pours millions of dollars into helping people STOP USING THEIR PRODUCT (which, by the way, gets my vote for the most HYPOCRITICAL thing ever), then they can keep making them and selling them, and people will keep dying from them. That same study that showed that even the heaviest marijuana smoker had no increased risk of lung cancer also showed that two-pack-a-dayers had a 20-fold increase in risk for lung cancer. As was already mentioned, they can't tax marijuana because it is so easily grown, so there's little money to be made by the government in taxes. There is some, because people want it now, they don't want to wait for a plant to grow. So companies will make it and sell it, and it will be taxed, and they can sell seeds as well, so there is indeed a market for it. Philip Morris should push the government for legalization so they can switch to that instead of tobacco (as long as they leave the additives out), or market both.

We are in a sad state in this country.

Answer 2

When I get home after 9 hours at work and 30 mins each way commuting, I like to come home and have a beer or some wine (like Jesus did). If I then jump in a car and go driving around, I have then broken a Law. Prohibition didn't work.
The addictive argument against Marijuana is lame because I happened to be addicted to caffine, and I don't see anyone comparing Starbuck's to Phillip Morris. Addiction is mostly a mental thing and unless you are talking about Sched 1 drugs, addiction is not the main issue here.
My Doctor wants me to take medicine for Hypertension/High Blood Pressure. I wear glasses for a slight stigmatism & nearsightedness. If Marijuana were legal, I would be able to eat a laced muffin after dinner and wind down (I don't smoke). And, just like my wine, if I hop in a car and go for a drive - I would be breaking the Law! It could reduce my HT/HBP, and could eliminate my need for glasses. Instead, My Health provider has to pay 75 cent a pill for blood pressure and new eye perscriptions every 6 months. At $200 a pop, that's almost $1.10 a day! My grandmother had to take Marinol after her cateract surgery. Price per pill was over $2.50 each!
I think too many people have hangups that have nothing to do with reason. I have yet to see a valid argument against legalization that also allows for coffee, beer, wine, and tobacco (not that I care about tobacco). Plus all of the benefits of hemp as an industrial material are numberous. (industrial Hemp isn't suitable for consumption, but is too similar to be legal)
The conditions surrounding it's illegality are quite interesting considering that Coca-Cola still had Coca(ine) leaf in it at the time! It all looks good when you look at it alone, but looking at the big picture, you just can't support a ban.

Answer 3

I agree that marijuana should be legal even though I disagree with many of your following statements. I don't use alcohol or any drugs, except caffeine about once a week. Marijuana is much safer by any measure than alcohol, but that does not mean that it doesn't have harmful effects. Extended marijuana use does a whammy on your brain cells and emotional health. The tar content of marijuana is about 140 times that of tobacco, you may as well pour asphalt in your lungs.

What do you mean that it is the "#1 medicine in all cultures?"

I think people who resort to mind/mood altering substances recreationally are constitutionally weak. Either that or they are addicts, which is a completely different matter.

I also believe that heroin, crack, meth, etc. should be legal; however, I think there should be hardcore consequences for any negative results of intoxication. It comes down to this: either you own your body or you don't. If you don't own your body, then you are living in a state of slavery (because someone else owns your body). If you do own your body, you should be able to trash it as you see fit, but don't expect me to pick up the tab for your idiotic behaviors.

Answer 4

It's a shame that medical IGNORANCE is bliss. People go along with what ever they are told in the media, State owned and sponsored schools and colleges and NEVER, I repeat never study the facts for themselves. Truth be known, cigarettes, alcohol, and pork-chops are more of a medical risk than Pot. Case and point not one of these critics can show PROOF or EVIDENCE that one single overdose has ever occurred from its usage unlike the multi billion dollar's medical society of perscription Drugs that are poisioning the population everyday for Corporate gain by the people who are "looking out for your well-being". It's a natural Herb given to us by our creator. This is for the critics " If you believe in God.... When did the almighty become a Drug dealer and distibutor? If you don't believe in God... I don't need your council anyway. If it was farmed as a cash crop we could refine the hemp oils into fuel, make paper from the hemp, save the forest, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions the list goes on and on. WAKE UP AMERICA.

Answer 5

Some of you people don't know what the hell your talking about. Marijuana dose help people with many illness cope.I know 1st hand it works with the pain and nausea while under going cemotherapy for lung cancer.And it dose open up your lungs to help you breath.My dear wife fought lung cancer for all most a year before it took her and even one of her doctors said it helped her.Try some chemotherapy your self and take about 15 pills a day and see how you feel!

Answer 6

strangely I owe my career to smoking weed (long story but true)
and its a pretty good career so far

it helps me focus (though only on one thing at a time, but that's OK) and it gives me tremendous energy, I have to write or clean house or hike or bike like mad

it also helps with occasional depression

it doesn't help everyone though and I don't smoke every day or very much at a time

my biggest problem (and this is out of the ordinary) is that it completely takes my appetite away, I can't eat when I'm high, in fact food is absolutely disgusting, I'm very thin and it is unhealthy for me to miss meals

this is an uncommon side effect but happens with a few

Answer 7

i think that no more money should be wasted trying to eradicate it, prosecute people who use it, or incarcerate those who grow it. It cant be taxed, since it is easy to grow, and is already illegal, again, so some stick in the muds see it as "surrender" to legalize it, and some people make way too much money keeping it illegal, i guess prohibition didnt teach any lessons there. I disagree that ist is harmless, but agree that it is no worse than many things and with legal regulation could have benefits or at least a purpose.

Answer 8

I have smoked pot before and though I gave it up because it makes me REALLY lazy, I know people who burn one in the morning and write computer programs higher than a kite and function normally in every way. So I see no reason not to make it legal.

I'm not so sure about your "driving" argument. That sounds like a stretch.

Answer 9

Marijuana by itself is rather benign. Problem is, it is a "gateway" drug. That means people experimenting with it usually graduate up to more powerful drugs. Marijuana also kills braincells which do not get replaced. Have a conversation about something interesting with a mariuana smoker and try to confuse them, you will see that is is quite easy. Marijuana smokers get sidetracked very easily. Despite all of this, Marijuana certainly does less harm than alcohol in our society.

Answer 10

Government has no business telling people what substances they can put into their bodies. That said, I think that people who live in such terror of their rational minds that they must destroy their own consciousness with alcohol, drugs or religion are complete losers and should do us all a favor and destroy themselves permanently.