Do you think that if legalized, marijuana would further detriment society, or bring about a safer alternative?
What are your opinions? We all know the problems associated with alcohol, do you believe legalizing marijuana could potentially create a safer alternative? Or that all we would be doing is substituting one problem for another? Why?
Answers:
If it were legalized, the government could tax it similar to cigarettes and alcohol. It would put many dealers out of business unless the cut their prices. This could also free up many officers who waste a lot of time with possession charges for one doobie.
I personally don't use it and don't care to, and I realize that if it is legalized, we may have more DUIs because of stoned drivers and more accidents. For this reason, I think there should be a reliable field test for THC before we legalize it. If people know that an officer can reliably detect that one is "high" with a court-approved field device, then it MIGHT cut down on the use while driving.
Follow-up: If you legalize it, the price goes down and drug dealers will dump it for something else. You can't make money off of pot for 69 cents a pound unless you are a big commercial farmer. That means US farmers can get the money instead of foreign organizations. Or, if imported, we can tax it on import. This could mean tax dollars similar to cigarettes and gasoline taxes could pour millions or even billions of dollars into the budget. Or, the price would drop so low that no one would grow it.
If you want to get stoned and bleed your brain dry, go for it.I say lets get some tax dollars out of it and send some dealers to prison for tax evasion instead of dealing...the tax evaders get longer prison sentences!
If it was legalized, a lot of the problems would go away because without the "danger" of breaking the law, the coolness of smoking pot would drop.
Look at Prohibition in the early 1900s. The government, feeling that alcohol was a problem, attempted to ban alcohol in the United States. Instead of decreasing the problems cause by alcohol, the amount of problems increased - including alcohol-induced deaths from poorly made alcohol. When the Prohibition was repealed and alcohol made legal again...the problems caused by alcohol dropped back to pre-Prohibition levels.
I say legalize a certain amount on hand for personal consumption, and tax it, there's allot of folks smoking it, might as well tax it.
I think it should be legallized because they would stop sneaking it in. also it wouldn't be that appealing to teenagers and others as much cause it would be legal and not such a way of rebellion.
It would be detriment to our society !
It is usually a safer alternative but that doesn't mean alcoholics would switch. I would favor decriminalizing it and not legalizing it because I really don't like a nanny state getting that involved with peoples lives.
Tricky question. I know somebody that's heavily into drugs (mostly weed and meth), so I've seen firsthand the damage that they do.
However, I've also seen firsthand the complete and total lack of enforcement. You can't ban weed. It can be written down on paper, but anyone that wants it can get it. You can ban other drugs, such as meth, because even the potheads realize that they're bad. However, I don't think that a ban on marajuana CAN work, similar to the prohibition on alcohol.
Marijuana is readily available in any school, park, playground, office, club or bar in America. By de-criminalizing the drug, the profits would be redirected to the legal companies growing the herb and away from organized crime figures who now grow and distribute 100's of tons annually. The Courts and justice system would lose a lot of revenue as there would not be any criminals to prosecute and fine.
If you do not use Marijuana now, there is no reason to think that most people would run out and start smoking daily is a bad excuse for legalization. Would you? People have free will and can choose to use the drug now or not. The legalization would not increase consumption substantially, it would just remove the stigma of breaking the law for those that do use it. I do not know a single person who wants to use Marijuana but does not because of the law. The law is an antiquated, obsolete joke.
The Kennedy Family was active in the smuggling of alcohol during prohibition and now they are considered one of the leading Families in America. What if they were dealing in Marijuana instead of alcohol? Would they be vilified or made Presidents?
As far as a gateway drug, that is another myth put out by our Government. If you tell me something like Pot is so very, very evil and then I try it and it is virtually harmless, I may be prone to try Cocaine and see what the Government was lying to me about that drug as well! It is time to tell the truth! Victimless crimes are wrong to Americans. Prostitutes should be allowed to sell their bodies and you should be allowed to smoke Marijuana, drink Absinthe, snort Cocaine or anything else you want. You are not a detriment to me, my friends or my society. Enjoy your life the best way you know how!
BTW, there are effective field testing devices for Marijuana, so law enforcement could use a device to determine usage while operating machinery or motor vehicles. I do, with no diminshed capacity or reaction times.
Alcohol is a deadly, addictive drug that destroys many lives and the lives of those around them.
Marijuana has no physically addictive qualities that are mentionable. The only real negative aspect that could affect society, is a greater rate of lung damage since it burns at such a high temperature (although there are ways to deal with it...I hear!)
But it would have little affect on keeping people from abusing alcohol and the results that come with that.
As to the mentally addictive qualities of it? So many people are on so many addictive drugs, legal or otherwise, I can't see it making a difference. At least it doesn't cause people to run out and kill or commit crimes. The only issue I could see as a problem is people smoking it and driving, and the consequences that come with that. But that's true of any drug that alters perception.
A safer alternative to... alcohol? Yikes!
First off, if you make it legal and tax it, who would pay for it ? Who would grow it legally ? No one.
Do a little studying on the subject of marijuana. There is a ton of it out there. Ever hear of schizophrenia? You need proof ? I see it first hand in my line of work. New studies will be enlightening. Find real studies. Not the loads of fake pro propaganda.
Prohibition simply does not work. Arresting people for posession does not make them stop doing it, it just makes them paranoid and forces them to be creative in avoiding being caught.
Arresting people for supplying doesn't work as there is always someone willing to take their place - dispite the risks.
The only way to stop people illegally growing marijuana is to grow it legally, tax it and regulate it. Who is going to want to pick up weed off of some shady guy on the street when they can just go into a shop?
I've been smoking weed for many years (and know people who have been smoking it many, many years longer than I have) and have yet to find a regular pot smoker who has all-out developed some kind of mental problem. I'll agree I know many people who become paranoid when high and some who even get really depressed on it, but the same can be said for alcohol. Any negative, mental effects of marijuana can be easily got rid of after a couple of days (at the most) of being clean.
As for wether it would be safer than alcohol? Yes! Much safer! Look at it this way: Would you rather walk home from town after a night out and walk past a group of drunk people or a group of stoners?
Why let the crime network regulate weed and all that profit when you can let the people (government) control it and reap the rewards themselves?
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