Why the fuck isn’t weed legal by now?

[kowalan]

In a few words: It's the money, Lebowski.

Listen you potheads....THC (Cannabis) is a gateway drug that leads to further addiction problems. Have you read recent data about pot destroying your brain and inducing schizophernia and psychotic disorders later in life......

 

[Ramirez]

Listen you potheads....THC (Cannabis) is a gateway drug[1] that leads to further addiction problems[2]. Have you read recent data about pot destroying your brain[3] and inducing schizophernia and psychotic disorders later in life[4]......

You's trollin' or just ignorant. Either way, since I'm sober and pretty bored, I'm going to deconstruct your post, piece by piece, though I doubt you'll be convinced anyway.

1.) The reason why cannabis is a gateway drug is because the current Prohibition puts cannabis in the same category as other (actually dangerous) substances like heroin, crack, methamphetamine, ect. ect. When you're going to go cop some buds, there's a chance that other drugs will be available, and one might be inclined to try them out if they're readily available. Saying that cannabis is a gateway makes little sense, does that mean that drinking Mountain Dew is a gateway to Mountain Dew and vodka? Or that drinking milk is a gateway to alcohol?

Even then, this gateway theory makes no sense whatsoever when you look at the numbers.

"(2008) More than 102 million Americans have tried marijuana; 15.2 million Americans are estimated to be "past-month" users. Yet there are only an estimated 1,855,000 "past-month" users of cocaine and 213,000 "past-month" users of heroin.)"

( http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8nsduh/2k8Results.pdf )

This argument has been pretty much deconstructed almost a million times and I feel like I've already wasted a good deal in doing so myself.

2.) Further addiction problems...like what? I know for a fact that cannabis is non-addictive. I've been off the drug for a decent amount of time now, even though I'm strongly tempted to toke again, I haven't fallen yet to the temptation. If I wanted to, I could take a long, long break from buds without any kind of problem other than the occasional desire to toke up. Even then, it has not led to any other addictions whatsoever in my personal experience. I've been around cocaine, opiates, and other highly addictive substances just from being around the buds, but I was never once inclined to try them much less get addicted to them.

3.) Exactly how does your brain get "destroyed" from smoking marijuana? In fact, a study shows that marijuana in fact actually helps to prevent brain injury.

"Marijuana is considered a psychoactive drug. It stimulates specific brain receptors, but there is no published clinical evidence that marijuana destroys brain cells."

4.) I would give you this one, but the way you grossly generalized it invalidates your claim.

"We cannot be certain that the increased risk we saw is due to cannabis use, but it is the most likely explanation," psychiatrist and lead researcher Stanley Zammit tells WebMD. "It is important to point out that the risk is still quite small. If your lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia is 1% then frequent use of cannabis would increase that risk to 3%."

It does not absolutely guarantee that one will develop schizophrenia as a result of cannabis consumption. While it may be a factor, it's very difficult to determine whether that's actually true or not. However, you're spinning it like everyone that's ever smoked pot once will automatically be putting themselves at a huge risk for disastrous mental disorders later in life. That's simply not true.

Next time, make sure you do your homework before you parrot the propaganda you learned in D.A.R.E. back in the fourth grade. Almost all of what you said is completely factually untrue, and the tiny bit of truth you might have had in there was distorted and blown completely out of proportion. Also, on your last talking point, could you perhaps point me to the study that finds that marijuana consumption "destroys" the brain?

 

[cr250owner]

Why the fuck isn’t weed legal by now? Seriously? Everyone knows it is safer then alcohol, we know it would help the economy out exponentially. Like why the fuck is it not legal?

cuz there are a lot of dumb mother fuckers out there. Unfortunately there are more dumb than smart people

 

[kayenta]

1.) The reason why cannabis is a gateway drug is because the current Prohibition puts cannabis in the same category as other (actually dangerous) substances like LSD

Uh, please don't go saying LSD is dangerous. It isn't.

 

[SpecialK_]

Uh, please don't go saying LSD is dangerous. It isn't.

+1

Also, I think Cannabis can cause problems, I love weed and toke up as often as possible but I am satisfied that it's illegal. It can cause some problems, one of my friends used to toke around 3grams everyday (WITHOUT fail) and he began to get some severe paranoia and at stages depression. He always thought someone when they were calling him was trying to do something to him or someone was planning something on him.
He eventually got caught, and stayed off it for like a week and when he had the chance to toke again he was literally shaking and he paid twice the price for what he bought, he was that desperate.
He then went back to his 30 bag a day, he also used it to calm down his ADHD (he had it pretty bad) and it worked. He was then caught again and stopped completely, it took a few months for him to go back to normal but now he's fine.
Although this person never tried any other drugs, apart from e's but he stopped taking them long before this, showing that weed is not a gateway drug.
I think persistent use of large amounts can cause problems, so if it is moderated it should be legalized, but people will still have problems with that, there will never be an agreement.
- Please do not argue with this stating scientific facts proving otherwise etc, I witnessed this first hand and although I can't entirely blame it on weed, he did smoke a lot and I have heard of previous cases of people having a few problems from toking too often. I'm just merely stating what i've seen. Although time can heal it as shown but maybe not for everyone.

 

[Ramirez]

Uh, please don't go saying LSD is dangerous. It isn't.

Ergh, I should have known someone would actually call me out on that.

Allow me to clarify: I know someone who committed suicide under the influence of LSD; however, I am very well aware of the fact that it was an underlying mental health issue, not the substance itself, that caused him to do it. While it's probably not dangerous to like 99.99% of people, there is always the rare case of...well, someone who has some sort of mental health issue taking LSD when they clearly should not be.

That being said, I believe that there are certain people who absolutely shouldn't take it, because it is actually dangerous for them as it can exacerbate mental health problems and lead them to do irrational things...such as jumping out of a high window.

So yeah, tl;dr BACKPEDAL BACKPEDAL.

 

[drscience]

Fucking stoners and hippies.

 

[ahint]

I actually don't know yet, this argument has been won logically many, many times...

I guess the vast majority of the public isn't willing to accept it yet, and politicians don't want to do anything that may lose support/potential votes.

 

[andy3009]

Would people on here smoke more or less regularly if it was legal?

I assume everyone knows somewhere to get it already, so what difference does it make if it's legal?

Has there ever been a drug thats legal to possess but illegal to sell?

 

[semigenius]

Why the fuck isn’t weed legal by now? Seriously? Everyone knows it is safer then alcohol, we know it would help the economy out exponentially. Like why the fuck is it not legal?

1. Not everyone knows this.

2. Politicians won't risk losing support by supporting the legalization of a drug that has such a bad reputation, even if that repuation is not fit. They would gain the support of some, but would lose the support of many other people.

 

[Chainer]

Would people on here smoke more or less regularly if it was legal?

No. I base my decisions on self-integrity and justice, and I don't see pot being illegal as a social justice, I see it as corruption in capitalism. Regardless...

I assume everyone knows somewhere to get it already, so what difference does it make if it's legal?

Even I, who knows several growers and sellers, can not *always* get weed when I want it. Besides that, legality is the difference maker in this case. Availability doesn't factor into whether you will get arrested or not. So, this isn't a very viable argument in the eyes of anyone.

Has there ever been a drug thats legal to possess but illegal to sell?

Any prescription drug? Cigarette / Alcohol to minors?

Short answer: yes.

 

[TripppAR]

haha..


andy3009

"Has there ever been a drug thats legal to possess but illegal to sell? "

YES MATE!

TOBACCO!

I don't know about the states, but here in Australia our goverment will sell you tobacco in all forms. You are allowed to grow it, purchase it ... BUT if you go to CURE it or SELL it.. they see it as stealing from them! HA!

The irony of it all... and POT is illegal. Pfft.

 

[angryteabag]

While it's probably not dangerous to like 99.99% of people

*cough* alcohol *cough*

i mean, yeah thats a huge danger. nothing that dangerous is legal, thank god

 

[pepes]

this is why i voted for the green party and apparently in 2001 the lib dems said they would legalise various drugs. however, in coalition with the tories im not optimistic.

 

[jimgaffigan]

I assume everyone knows somewhere to get it already, so what difference does it make if it's legal?

If it's legal the cops won't bust down your front door, shoot your pets, seize all your property and steal your children for having a gram of it around.

 

[SensoryAmusia]

From Michigan to Cali.... I hope you're prepared for the huge cost-of-living increase!

That's why I am saving up. I just hope I can do it.

 

[fryingsquirrel]

Any prescription drug? Cigarette / Alcohol to minors?

Short answer: yes.

Very different. You can buy cigarretes and booze at stores, legally. You can buy precription drugs with a script, as you can pot in kali. This law makes it legal to posses marijuana that you can not legally buy anywhere. Although if it passes I dought it will be long before they decide to tax it.

 

[mecaib]

Have you read recent data about pot destroying your brain and inducing schizophernia and psychotic disorders later in life......

Most of us have read these things, and many of us simply don't buy it, or draw the same conclusions.

Having bipolar disorder myself, I once thought cannabis had a large part to play in my illness. Smoking it seemed to increase my paranoia and psychosis. I would think people were talking about me, I could hear people's thoughts, I was socially withdrawn... Well as it turns out, these symptoms had appeared *before* I ever smoked pot, and continued even during longs breaks (up to fours years without it).

Now that I'm on the proper medication to treat my chemical imbalance, smoking pot (while sometimes a rough ordeal) does not exacerbate my problems like I thought it once did. I was using pot as a medication! I'll admit that it was a poor one for treating my disorder, but adding it to my current daily "supplements" does not disturb my mental state appreciably, but neither does it help much.

It's much more likely that people who have mental health issues use pot to self-medicate, and that is often the real correlation between pot use and mental disorders. I'm not saying that cannabis *never* exacerbates a person's mental state, I'm just saying that its involvement in all disorders is largely overblown.

 

[mecaib]

Would people on here smoke more or less regularly if it was legal?

I would smoke it less if LSD were legal

 

[Dravidian]

first of all it would be really hard to tax us for something that any of us can grow.
as far as problems from smoking pot go, that could be solved easily if we were all eating more weed brownies and smoking a little less which probably has very minimal negative side effects.
And as someone mentioned above: there is a small percentage of people who control literally everything that happens in not just this country but basically in the world. These scumbags that probably make up less than 1%of the population who have all the power and they have decided for some reason it is not in there best interest to legalize pot.

and how would the gov't handle all the cases of teenagers or adults for that matter raiding there neighbors gardens, there would be tons of trespassing cases.

however if it were legal there could be an age restriction on it. I dont know about any of you but i dont remember any of the dealers ever askin me for my ID when i was a teenager.

It is probably only a matter of time before it is legal in some places especcially since more people in the US smoke now than ever before. And according to an article in the Washington post a few months back a recent study shows that teens prefer pot over other more harmful chemicals such as alcohol and tobacco.

honestly however legalization may not be the best answer. Decriminilization might be a better option. instead of sending young people to prison for smoking pot.
But here in NY we had a MMJ bill that i think is total shit b/c the state wants to control every aspect of it. The growing, processing, and distributing. which will prob lead to shitty medicine.