Marijuana Legalization, What I Think

[Jman35]

When I first thought of marijuana being legalized, I thought it was a great idea, but I forgot about something, being underage. I'll discuss this at the end.

Nobody has ever overdosed on marijuana, there is no known medical record of an overdose of THC. From what I've looked up, you have to smoke your weight, within a certain amount of time.

Marijuana is pretty safe. More people are killed/die from drunk drivers and alcohol, which is completely legal at the age of 21, and 18 in Canada. Marijuana is also usually a social thing, and makes people happy. With other drugs, side effects could include negative emotions.

Now what I didn't think of, was underage people. If marijuana were legal, it would of course have some age. Marijuana is hard for adults to get now. Well, not hard, but it is not legal, and not the easiest thing, and if caught, there are consequences.

Point being, not everyone can just go get weed, it's just not that simple. You have to find someone to buy it from, etc. Now if it were legal, think about it like cigarettes. Where I live, and used to live, kids usually stand on a corner playing "Hey mister," is what i call it.

Now with cigarettes, most kids who are trying to get them, get them. If marijuana were legal, kids could do the same thing. 13-(legal age limit) year olds could be standing on the corner asking for people to go in and buy marijuana for them.

That's the main downside I see, and the only negative part about marijuana legalization. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

[thedudeman]

kids wont be able to do that, there will be specialized shops in order to prevent this

after time, when its integrated MAYBE
but where i live alcohol is harder to get then weed from a dealer for a kid and stealing it will be impossible because it will be behind a counter

[Jacobim Mugatu]

Marijuana has some long term mental effects. I heard it ruins your brains ability to process information logically. It also kills ambition, if your only happy when on marijuana, then what would motivate you to do anything else. I don't drink or smoke, and I don't associate myself with anyone who does, unfortunately everyone else in my family does, or has done, both. unfortunately most people don't recognize the seriousness of the long term effects, which is why its so dangerous. think of why people made it illegal in the first place.

[INFERNO]

Marijuana is pretty safe. More people are killed/die from drunk drivers and alcohol, which is completely legal at the age of 21, and 18 in Canada. Marijuana is also usually a social thing, and makes people happy. With other drugs, side effects could include negative emotions.

Studies have shown that smoking marijuana is far more harmful than smoking cigarettes. Long-term smoking can be extremely damaging to your respiratory system. There's some debate about the cognitive effects for long-term smoking.


Now what I didn't think of, was underage people. If marijuana were legal, it would of course have some age. Marijuana is hard for adults to get now. Well, not hard, but it is not legal, and not the easiest thing, and if caught, there are consequences.

If it's made legal, then the government would need to compete with the prices and any laced substances that illegal dealers sell. If the government makes it too cheap then there's going to be a lot of sales but with it being more harmful to be smoked than cigarettes, people's health will decline faster.

As I mentioned above, some dealers may lace the weed so if people prefer it to be laced, then why not go back to the illegal dealers?


That's the main downside I see, and the only negative part about marijuana legalization. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

As it is more harmful to be smoked, I would say that the rate of COPD and some cancers would sky-rocket. Also, there's now a greater risk of more people driving high and if their THC concentration is high enough, they'll be impaired and there will be more vehicle or machinery accidents. Marijuana also tends to relax oneself, so this is even more dangerous while driving.

[thedudeman]

Studies have shown that smoking marijuana is far more harmful than smoking cigarettes. Long-term smoking can be extremely damaging to your respiratory system. There's some debate about the cognitive effects for long-term smoking.



If it's made legal, then the government would need to compete with the prices and any laced substances that illegal dealers sell. If the government makes it too cheap then there's going to be a lot of sales but with it being more harmful to be smoked than cigarettes, people's health will decline faster.

As I mentioned above, some dealers may lace the weed so if people prefer it to be laced, then why not go back to the illegal dealers?



As it is more harmful to be smoked, I would say that the rate of COPD and some cancers would sky-rocket. Also, there's now a greater risk of more people driving high and if their THC concentration is high enough, they'll be impaired and there will be more vehicle or machinery accidents. Marijuana also tends to relax oneself, so this is even more dangerous while driving.

theres debate on whether its more harmful then cigarettes to

they wouldnt need to compete with shit, dealers dont advertise that theyve laced marijuana, its a trick, you need to associate with more dealers and get inside these guys heads before you make judgement calls like that, because dealing is a whole culture, have you ever met a serious drug dealer? and talked to him about the game? once again, the cigarette thing has not been proven, there are other sides of the argument, go check my erowid link

your talk of marijuana being more dangerous in a car has not been proven, marijuana increases paranoia, as alcohol does not
paranoia usually creates a lot of alertness in a person
while on alcohol you cannot see straight and have a few typical emotions,over confidence, anger, sadness, or gigglyness, all which dont mix with driving
while on marijuana you have, gigglyness(in no stress situations) extreme paranoia(in any stressful situation) and hunger, you can see straight under the influence of marijuana unless large amounts of smoked, most people who smoke and drink that i know report feeling more out of control on alcohol rather then weed

you speak as if you smoke this stuff all the time, which you said you do not, have some personal experience before talking on certain aspects of marijuana

[Atonement]

My main argument on it is why do we allow smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol when they, combined, kill 530,000 a year in the USA. (According to the Center of Disease Control, this same source also attests to marijuana not killing any)

Furthermore, the carcinogens in marijuana are not from the cannabis itself, but form the stuff that is laced in it, just like tobacco. Tobacco smoke doesn't harm, the tar and thousands of poisins do.

Overall, I just find it to be a large double standard to say tobacco and alcohol are okay, killing half a million people a year, and saying marijuana, with no deaths, is terrible and should be prohibited.

[INFERNO]

they wouldnt need to compete with shit, dealers dont advertise that theyve laced marijuana, its a trick, you need to associate with more dealers and get inside these guys heads before you make judgement calls like that, because dealing is a whole culture, have you ever met a serious drug dealer? and talked to him about the game? once again, the cigarette thing has not been proven, there are other sides of the argument, go check my erowid link

You'll find that I responded to your post with the evidence in the other thread. You'll also find that smoking marijuana is widely accepted to be more dangerous than smoking cigarettes (refer to the other thread so I don't need to copy and paste walls of text).


your talk of marijuana being more dangerous in a car has not been proven

Let's see what some studies have to say about that:

The objective of the current study was to assess the separate and combined effects of marijuana and alcohol on actual driving performance. Eighteen subjects were treated with drugs and placebo according to a balanced, 6-way, crossover design. On separate evenings they were given weight calibrated 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) doses of 0, 100 and 200 g/kg with and without an alcohol dose sufficient for achieving blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of 0·04 g/dl while performing a Road Tracking and Car Following Test in normal traffic. Main outcome measures were standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), time driven out of lane (TOL), reaction time (RT) and standard deviation of headway (SDH). Both THC doses alone, and alcohol alone, significantly impaired the subjects performances in both driving tests. Performance deficits were minor after alcohol and moderate after both THC doses. Combining THC with alcohol dramatically impaired driving performance. Alcohol combined with THC 100 and 200 g/kg produced a rise in SDLP the equivalent of that associated with BAC=0·09 and 0·14 g/dl, respectively. Mean TOL rose exponentially with SDLP. Relative to placebo mean RT lengthened by 1·6 s under the combined influence of alcohol and THC 200 g/kg. Changes in SDH ranged between 0·9 and 3·8 m. Low doses of THC moderately impair driving performance when given alone but severely impair driving performance in combination with a low dose of alcohol. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. CLICKIE HERE #1 (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/74000373/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0)

Subjects arrested for reckless driving who were not apparently impaired by alcohol (did not have an odor of alcohol, tested negative on breath analysis, or both) were tested for cocaine and marijuana at the scene of arrest. The results of the drug tests were compared with clinical evaluations of intoxication made at the scene by a police officer.

A total of 175 subjects were stopped for reckless driving, and 150 (86 percent) submitted urine samples for drug testing at the scene of arrest. Eighty-eight of the 150 (59 percent) tested positive: 20 (13 percent) for cocaine, 50 (33 percent) for marijuana, and 18 (12 percent) for both drugs. Ninety-four of the 150 tested drivers were clinically considered to be intoxicated, and 80 of them (85 percent) tested positive for cocaine or marijuana. The intoxicated drivers had a broad range of affects and appearances. Nearly half the drivers intoxicated with cocaine performed normally on standard sobriety tests. CLICKIE HERE #2 (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/331/8/518)

Cannabis produces dose-related impairments in cognitive and behavioral functions and may potentially impair driving a motor vehicle or operate machinery. These impairments are larger and more persistent for difficult tasks that depend on sustained attention.
...
The effects of recreational doses of cannabis on driving performance in laboratory simulators and standardised driving courses have been reported by some researchers as being similar to the effects when blood alcohol concentrations are between 0.07% and 0.10%. CLICKIE HERE #3 (http://www.ukcia.org/research/AdverseEffectsOfCannabis.pdf) (NOTE: Link is a PDF so you may need to give it extra time to load).


while on marijuana you have, gigglyness(in no stress situations) extreme paranoia(in any stressful situation) and hunger, you can see straight under the influence of marijuana unless large amounts of smoked, most people who smoke and drink that i know report feeling more out of control on alcohol rather then weed

Scientific experiments do back it up that alcohol plus weed cause more impairment than either of them separately. However, this isn't on the combination of the two, nor on alcohol by itself nor on any other drugs other than marijuana. So I don't see why you're attempting to bring the effect of alcohol into this debate.


you speak as if you smoke this stuff all the time, which you said you do not, have some personal experience before talking on certain aspects of marijuana

I'm using data and results from various scientific studies and other reliable sources. I guess that if I'm to apply your logic, then all scientific studies on medications or drugs where the scientist didn't take the drugs or medications should be abolished.

Despite me not having had experience with the drug, I still have some experience from an academic perspective. This isn't a thread where the requirements are to have had personal experience with it.

[thedudeman]

You'll find that I responded to your post with the evidence in the other thread. You'll also find that smoking marijuana is widely accepted to be more dangerous than smoking cigarettes (refer to the other thread so I don't need to copy and paste walls of text).



Let's see what some studies have to say about that:

CLICKIE HERE #1 (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/74000373/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0)

CLICKIE HERE #2 (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/331/8/518)

CLICKIE HERE #3 (http://www.ukcia.org/research/AdverseEffectsOfCannabis.pdf) (NOTE: Link is a PDF so you may need to give it extra time to load).



Scientific experiments do back it up that alcohol plus weed cause more impairment than either of them separately. However, this isn't on the combination of the two, nor on alcohol by itself nor on any other drugs other than marijuana. So I don't see why you're attempting to bring the effect of alcohol into this debate.



I'm using data and results from various scientific studies and other reliable sources. I guess that if I'm to apply your logic, then all scientific studies on medications or drugs where the scientist didn't take the drugs or medications should be abolished.

Despite me not having had experience with the drug, I still have some experience from an academic perspective. This isn't a thread where the requirements are to have had personal experience with it.

haha, i have only heard that it is more dangerous from the same people who put up propaganda like above the influence, these are tests that have been done by scientists and come up with various results, as i posted before

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-finds-no-link-between-marijuana-use-and-lung-cancer-10660.html
heres another
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/schizophrenia_retired/52607
and another article linking skizo to alcohol abuse

it seems to me your studies showed that intoxication is more common on marijuana then more dangerous, and that mixing them is going to of course, provide an extremely dangerous driver, why wouldn't it?

i bring it into the debate because its obviously a more dangerous drug yet its legal

haha, this is a thread for debate, so that doesnt exclude personal experience as part of an example you can use or should be using
personally yes i think the scientists should expiriment it on themselves, because whats actually going on inside your mind is much different then what you see or observe, i would know

what experience do you have from an academic experience?

[The Batman]

Marijuana should never be legalized, it has no health benefits and it's more harmful than helpful, I don't have any personal experiences with it but i have been around pot heads and they are not the best people to be around. Cigs and alcohol should be gone too.

[JackOfClubs]

Marijuana should never be legalized, it has no health benefits and it's more harmful than helpful, I don't have any personal experiences with it but i have been around pot heads and they are not the best people to be around. Cigs and alcohol should be gone too.
I completely agree. (Except for the alcohol bit, as long as its in moderation.) Its illegal for a reason, just like all other illegal drugs.

[INFERNO]

haha, i have only heard that it is more dangerous from the same people who put up propaganda like above the influence, these are tests that have been done by scientists and come up with various results, as i posted before

So anything that says it's dangerous must therefore be propaganda?


http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/study-finds-no-link-between-marijuana-use-and-lung-cancer-10660.html

This link doesn't say that smoking marijuana has no risks. All it says is that smoking marijuana doesn't cause lung cancer (and some other cancers). It doesn't say that smoking marijuana doesn't cause other respiratory diseases.


heres another
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/schizophrenia_retired/52607
and another article linking skizo to alcohol abuse

This is a debate regarding marijuana, not alcohol. I don't know why you're trying to bring alcohol into a marijuana debate.


it seems to me your studies showed that intoxication is more common on marijuana then more dangerous, and that mixing them is going to of course, provide an extremely dangerous driver, why wouldn't it?

Then you haven't read them properly. Yes mixing them both is dangerous but having them separately still does impair one's driving.


haha, this is a thread for debate, so that doesnt exclude personal experience as part of an example you can use or should be using
personally yes i think the scientists should expiriment it on themselves, because whats actually going on inside your mind is much different then what you see or observe, i would know

The problem with scientists experimenting on themselves is that it removes all objectivity. Scientists are meant to be analyzing the data on subjects, they are not supposed to be the subjects. Many experiments use methods such as double-blind studies. How can you do such an experiment if the scientist is experimenting on themselves? Scientists experimenting on themselves was ruled out as a feasible method at least 10-20+ years ago for the reasons I explained and other reasons.
They want to understand what's going on in the mind but they can analyze it
better if they examine someone else who is using the drug.


what experience do you have from an academic experience?

University courses in medical pharmacology (approx. 1200 pages) taught by two current researchers in neuropharmacology. Also, various psychology courses (approx. 400-600 pages) taught by current professors who are doing research in addition to teaching, and one of these courses includes a course in human neuropsychology (approx. 900 pages). Then there's all the biology courses, such as human anatomy and physiology (approx. 1200 pages) that goes into a lot of detail and is for pre-med students. There are other books but they don't discuss marijuana in a lot of detail to be considered for this debate.

The medical pharmacology course is the one I'm referring to the most in this debate because it gives extensive information for numerous medications and various illegal drugs (one of them being marijuana). It's published by Elsevier, a very famous and highly-respected scientific group/database, where each chapter of the textbook is written by doctors (PhDs or M.D.s) who specialize in various areas.

And of course there are the courses I'll be taking next year which will deal with marijuana to some degree. So I think I have a decent amount of academic experience. I lack the personal experience though. And I'm not including any of the scientific journals I've read about marijuana and its effects.

[deadpie]

Does anyone agree it should be legalized?

[Rutherford The Brave]

Yes but I would say that before we legalize it we work on our grammar :P

No but seriously in small douses legalize it but dont traffic it,

[Bougainvillea]

This thread has been made. :P

And it's marijuana.

[BeautifulSilence]

Does anyone agree it should be legalized?

Merged with a similar thread, please check before making duplicates.

[theOperaGhost]

Does anyone agree it should be legalized?

No..

[deadpie]

Marijuana should never be legalized, it has no health benefits and it's more harmful than helpful, I don't have any personal experiences with it but i have been around pot heads and they are not the best people to be around. Cigs and alcohol should be gone too.

They have medical marijuana in some states, you know?
It can help with people with ADHD, asthma, autism, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, and a bunch of other things.

[theOperaGhost]

They have medical marijuana in some states, you know?
It can help with people with ADHD, asthma, autism, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, and a bunch of other things.

It doesn't help shit...there are no health benefits associated with marijuana.

[Antares]

No it shouldn't be legalized.
I see no benefits of it.
I only see negatives actually.

And no, don't pull that economy bullshit.

Also, 13 year olds have no place smoking marijuana.

They should be in school learning.
Dumbasses

[mRojas2000]

Marijuana should never be legalized, it has no health benefits and it's more harmful than helpful, I don't have any personal experiences with it but i have been around pot heads and they are not the best people to be around. Cigs and alcohol should be gone too.

Certain people use marijuana as a treatment for a certain illness called Glaucoma...
As people not using if for healthy issues, does cigarettes bring any health benefits? Does alcohol? No... and still they are legal; I've heard more deaths about people being killed because of alcohol than because of marijuana! As an occasional user I say its fun, it makes you feel funny, it makes you laugh, it makes you more social, its cheaper than alcohol, without hangover, your head is a bit more attached to earth, and it has a nice flavor... I say it should be legalized everywhere; it would in the first place take out a weight to the police on looking someone over such a thing as marijuana, it'd get socially accepted and in little time people would get used to it! See for instance Netherlands... there it is legal, they've got their limits, it's easy for adults to get and not as much for little children trying to get high... still, their people are not as mad as we'd think, it is socially accepted there and there's no drama about it.
Just my 2 cents...

[INFERNO]

They have medical marijuana in some states, you know?
It can help with people with ADHD, asthma, autism, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, and a bunch of other things.

Yes it may be able to make the person feel better and for certain disorders, it may help combat the disorder. But the problem comes with the issue that although it can help for certain things, it also harms the rest of your body.

Certain people use marijuana as a treatment for a certain illness called Glaucoma...

People may use it for glaucoma but it's not widely accepted as a treatment for it.


As people not using if for healthy issues, does cigarettes bring any health benefits? Does alcohol? No... and still they are legal; I've heard more deaths about people being killed because of alcohol than because of marijuana! As an occasional user I say its fun, it makes you feel funny, it makes you laugh, it makes you more social, its cheaper than alcohol, without hangover, your head is a bit more attached to earth, and it has a nice flavor... I say it should be legalized everywhere; it would in the first place take out a weight to the police on looking someone over such a thing as marijuana, it'd get socially accepted and in little time people would get used to it! See for instance Netherlands... there it is legal, they've got their limits, it's easy for adults to get and not as much for little children trying to get high... still, their people are not as mad as we'd think, it is socially accepted there and there's no drama about it.
Just my 2 cents...

Alcohol and cigarettes may be legal, however, I don't see using those examples as a reasonable argument for one very simple reason: this thread isn't about them, it's not about comparing marijuana to other drugs. If we make it legal, then we better understand the long-term effects of it on humans. Happily, we do understand some long-term effects but sadly there aren't many (if any) positive ones.

If you smoke marijuana, then there is substantial evidence suggesting it's worse than cigarettes. If you don't smoke it, then you avoid the bronchopulmonary issues but you still aren't out of the water and safe yet, there still are plenty of other health issues.

Making it legal wouldn't immediately make it easier on police because illegal dealers can sell it for a lower price, larger quantity, etc... than the government. A common way to remove those dealers is via police.

It probably would become more socially acceptable if made legal, however, that's hardly a good reason to make it legal. If we're to use that argument, then we might as well make every single illegal drug become legal. We'll have people cracked out of their minds, far more accidents, overdoses, an insane amount of drug interactions for pharmacutical companies to attempt to deal with, etc... . But the good news is it's socially accepted to shoot up some heroin and get a bit of PCP before enjoying your meal at the restaurant.

[The Batman]

The Glaucoma Research Foundation stated in a website article "Medical Marijuana" (accessed May 8, 2007):
Advocates of medicinal marijuana cite evidence that hemp products can lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with glaucoma. However, these products are less effective than safer and more available medicines. Most research regarding marijuana use took place before some current medications with fewer side effects were available.
The high dose of marijuana necessary to produce a clinically relevant effect on IOP in the short term requires constant inhalation, as much as every three hours.
The number of significant side effects generated by long-term oral use of marijuana or long-term inhalation of marijuana smoke make marijuana a poor choice in the treatment of glaucoma, a chronic disease requiring proven and effective treatment.

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=000140

[diamond jetstream]

drugs R bad-mr mackey-south park lol but seriously pot isnt that bad a drug like imagine if you had to choose between heroine or pot which one would u do

[theOperaGhost]

drugs R bad-mr mackey-south park lol but seriously pot isnt that bad a drug like imagine if you had to choose between heroine or pot which one would u do

Lyke srsly...imagin if u had 2 choose between killing someone who's dying or killing someone completely healthy. which one would you do?

That is what your dumb comparison of pot and heroine is like. Both are bad and are rightfully illegal. Only dumbasses do drugs.

[Whisper]

jared you make ant seem like a hippy i love that :)

It doesn't help shit...there are no health benefits associated with marijuana.
Wrong
it helps with chronic pain a great deal better and safer than other drugs like high doses of Demerol or Oxycontin
Canada was the first country to legalize medical pot

[INFERNO]

drugs R bad-mr mackey-south park lol but seriously pot isnt that bad a drug like imagine if you had to choose between heroine or pot which one would u do

You're comparing drugs that harm and affect the body in different ways. Both of them are harmful. As for my answer, I would do neither. Although, it is an incredibly weak and pathetic argument you're using to justify marijuana not being very harmful.

[Fiending_the_freedom]

anyone willing to watch a long but very interesting documentary about marijuana should watch this, its very informative

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007#