Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Opinion on Marijuana Legalization
With all of the talk about legalizing marijuana going on, I feel like I should give my two cents. The use of medical marijuana is legal in 14 states at the moment (Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) but is still illegal at the federal level. In all honesty, it doesn't matter to me whether or not pot is legalized, for medicinal use or otherwise. If it is legalized, it will only be available to people 18 years or older anyway. I know that there are tens of thousands of kids under the age of 18 that smoke marijuana anyway, so that won't eliminate dealers. According to athealth.com, nearly 50% of teenagers will try marijuana before they graduate high school. That would mean that there would still be around 8 million minors smoking dope illegally in the U.S. either way. Plus, since I don't smoke (and I'm under 18), this law doesn't affect me too much. I know that marijuana is a mind altering drug that affects motor skills, mental capacity, coordination, etc. but alcohol has similar affects and that is legal. And some over the counter drugs as well can have the same effects. And, truthfully, I would rather it be this that gets legalized than some of the harder, more dangerous drugs. If pot is legalized however, I think that it should be taxed pretty high and also the legal punishment for marijuana related felonies should be harsher than, say, alcohol. This is only my opinion and I am interested to hear yours.
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I am not a pot-head nor have I ever smoked or done any kind of illegal substance but surprisingly, I did some research on this And it turns out marijuana does less damage to a person than both alcohol and cigarettes. The reason the latter have not been made illegal is because of the failure of the coalition acts and the expense of losing the revenue generated off of both the alcohol and tobacco industries. Also I think people need to know that caffeine is more addictive than nicotine. And when it is paired with things like sugar it becomes even more addictive. Soft drinks and energy drinks should be illegal if that's the case haha.
ReplyDeleteSteven, I'm in total agreement with you.
ReplyDeleteScience says that alcohol and cigarettes are worse for the body both physically and mentally then cannabis. I believe that if cannabis should remain illegal, they should make alcohol and the tobacco industry as well. It's funny, because when California decided against Prop 19 I thought to myself "Well, sorry California, looks like all of your citizens will have to continue to pretend to be sick until they vote on it again."
The reason cannabis was outlawed in the first place was because it went against the Timber industry in production of producing paper. The Timer industry pointed out that if you were to eat the buds of the plant, they affect your motor skills, much like alcohol, and it was banned.
I personally believe that if your old enough to die for your country in war, you're old enough to have a beer, so the drinking age should be 18. But since that isn't going away any time soon, if they were to legalize Cannabis for recreational purposes, it would have to be done so for 21 years of age and older.
I guess the one of the most compelling arguments I've come across is that "Marijuana is a gateway drugs, that leads to more harmful drugs such as cocaine, and heroine."
Although I can't deny this statement, cigarettes are an equal, if not worse, form of a gateway drug that can be attained for anybody over the age of 18, and unfortunately for a little more, anybody under 18.
It's kind of fiscally irresponsible for us NOT to have cannabis legalized for recreational purposes. Some people say that if we taxed it, we could be out of the debt issue with China by 2015. Although doubtful of this hope many people have, I do know that if we taxed it, the government would have much more green in their wallets...
Lastly I'll leave you with some (pretty) unbaised facts...
http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/
You read my mind Zach. What I don't understand is how the main argument against marijuana is that it is a gateway drug. Like you said, there's no denial in that but they have to remember that both alcohol and cigarettes are gateway drugs as well. Plus just about everyone that wants to take marinjuana abuses the medicinal system. If it is legalized there needs to be some guidelines for usage.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this may seem the most absolutely coolest idea on the block...the most difficult part about this legalization would be government regulation. Once we include Marijuana in our sources of revenue we will disband all growing and drug coalitions. Which, coincidentally was a huge source of revenue for growers themselves. Plus legalization would most likely cause turmoil in the drug smuggling factions including Mexico, Cuba, and Jamaica(no stereotype intended). In agreement with Steven, yes, there are no long term affects prominent in occasional use of THC. but once legalization has hit every state, we will immediately face the facts of government regulation. Then, going with the trend of course, the buying process wont be fun, and all the good stuff: Kush, Orange, Maui, and everything else that is laced with other things will all be taken out of regulation. Essentially, and I say this with a smirk on my face, this will take all the "fun" out of marijuana. Doesn't mean legalization might actually be a good source of revenue....I think it's a good idea but it in all honest opinion....we won't really know what happens till it happens.
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