Three reasons to legalize pot / three to keep illegal?

Question

give party afiliation and reasons pro or con,

no party bashing please?

please remember party sf. if none that would be no party, THANKS

please remember party Af. if none that would be no party, THANKS

Answer 1

Legalize:

1) Tax the trade, and regulate
2) Personal freedom (victimless crime)
3) The COST of enforcing drug laws! (and the failure to succeed)

Criminalize:

1) Approval by default of legalization (my kids might think its OK, if legal, to start and use, in example.
2) Drugs negative effects on families and society
3) Health care costs if users increased on system and public (same as smoking or booze)

I'm an Independent Conservative. The National Review (A well known William F. Buckley publication, very conservative) supports legalizing Mary Jane, as do I.

I AM NOT A DRUG USER, nor have I ever been. But fiscally, the war on drugs isn't working. That money would easily cover free health care for everyone, and comprehensive at that.

Answer 2

Reasons to make it legal

#1 Compared to alcohol, Pot is far less damaging to the human body. I mean Alcohol is way, way worse for your body than pot and if you eat pot instead of smoking it then there is no proven damage to the body where as Alcohol can ruin every organ in your body.
#2 People are far less likely to start bar fights or initiate violence on pot compared to alcohol.
#3 Pot could be regulated to prevent unnecessary deaths or fatalities related to altered or "spiked" pot from an underhanded swarthy dope dealer.
#4(Bonus) Instead of countries paying millions or billions to try to stop people from smoking pot they could be making millions or billions in tax revenue which means double the financial return (Not spending on preventing and making money on taxing)

*Note I used Alcohol as a comparison because it is a legal and accepted drug that pretty much everyone is familiar with.

Reasons to keep illegal

#1 Problems determining if someone is under the influence at present moment (DUI/BUI/etc).
#2 There would probably be a denotable decrease in overall productivity from the first country to legalize it.
#3 There are laws setup to protect people from harming themselves with drugs considered too harsh and life endangering. So we have to draw a line somewhere so why not pot. While alcohol, nicotine or caffeine could be a gateway drug if the line were drawn differently, this is where the line stands currently. The problem is we don’t help these people who cross the line, we incarcerate them and call them criminals.
#4(Bonus) Due to pot being illegal for the last many decades, anyone who presents a case to legalize it is almost sabotaging their career. In general people/society are in the general mindset that "its illegal and druggies use it" rather than thinking about how much worse their preferred drug is(alcohol, nicotine or caffeine) This is known as programming.

Also to add insight to all those who say we wouldnt make much tax money because everyone would grow thier own. Let me ask you, do you think the common grower could come anywhere close to being able to produce pot as cheap as Marlboro or Camel could? Not even close and probably not near the quality. Sure there will be some fanatics that would rather spend 20 hours a week for months on end and pay 10 times more per pack/bag/whatever but realistically I would think most users would prefer to go with the 5 minute trip to the store, 5 dollar a pack consistantly high quality option.

Answer 3

1. It's safer than alcohol.(You can still walk and see straight. Plus you can still function properly, it calms you down--rather than making you mad)

2. It's just as bad a cigarettes and alcohol, not to mention cigars.(If cigarettes are legal and they hurt ur lungs then you can't really preach about the weed. Same goes for alcohol, it's hard on the liver, brain, and many other things.)

3. It's not hard on the body like other illegal drugs,meaning you can't over-dose on it.(It won't hurt the liver, heart, veins, etc. like other drugs do. You can smoke until you go to sleep right were ur at and you still in no way can over-dose.)

4. It's all natural.(It comes from the ground, just like tobacco, but doesn't even have any added ingredients to it, so how harsh could it really be?)

To list just three is hard. I could go on and on. Enjoy the answer and thanks for asking.

Answer 4

1. People can use it for medicinal purposes.

2. Drug abuse should be treated as a medical problem, not a criminal one.

3. We corrupt our courts and police by creating victimless crime.

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1. We would remove the huge profit motive by legalizing pot. Drug pushers would have to find legitimate work.

There are not many good reasons for keeping it illegal. Making it illegal is pretty much about as mind stultifyingly stupid a thing to do as anyone might imagine.

Answer 5

Libertarian Party

Reasons to Legalize:
* police/jails/courts can focus on more significant crimes
* not physically addictive
* enforcement is an economic burden (taxation could be a significant benefit)
* easier to control use by minors
* separates the hard drug market (heroin, cocaine) from the soft drug market (weed) and therefore reduces the risk of marijuana acting as a "gateway drug"
* nearly impossible to overdose to death
* those who need medically will be able to obtain it as needed
* it's not within congress's authority to regulate it anyway if its grown and used within one state (they can only regulate "interstate commerce")

Reasons not to Legalize:
* anyone would be able to grow it at home with hydroponics; an underground market would undoubtedly thrive beneath the regulations with the less risk of punishment; taxes might not be collected on all sales as a result
* really, there's no constructive benefit to society (but does government have authority to determine this?)

Answer 6

im neither party but lean more to republican when i vote i think pot should be legal its no different than alcohol and the only reason its not is the government cant get the tax money out of it ,theres no good reason to keep it illegal

Answer 7

Pot, unlike cocaine or heroine, it is a natural plant of the Earth used for centuries from the Incas, Aztecs, Jamaicans to Native Americans to cure illnesses, despite the brainwashing teachings in school there are NO dangerous side effects and unlike man made drugs the user does not become defendant..it is now in some places used by cancer patients to relieve pain and cure depression. I see no repercussions to marijuana being legalized. Of course if it was legalized drug companies and the jails would lose billions, so I doubt it will ever happen.

Answer 8

Moderate:
#1 tax it - awesome source of revenue
#2 not as dangerous as alcohol
#3 Already legal for medical purposes

Answer 9

Moderate Republican
Against - Damages communities (Drugs make people withdraw.)
Future health problems that tax payer would have to pay for in the future.(Particularly brain damage)
damage productivity - marijuana use damage productivity as well as the mood problems associated with it disrupt the work place.

FOr -research could help find medication
New tax base.
Take away income from Criminals.

I am strongly against Marijuana - because I notice long term use has made the users behavior absurd.

Answer 10

legalize it because:

fewer crimes are committed because of marijuana than alcohol
(fewer people get into car accidents after smoking weed than drunk, among other examples)

the government can tax it, just like everything else (a load of bs if you ask me)

marijuana no longer interferes with the cotton industry, which was the problem when the laws banning cannabis were created.