RE: Should We Legalize Grass?

I am a firm believer that we should legalize all drugs. There are a few reasons for this.

My first reason is that we are trying to legislate against a natural law. As long as there are people who want a product, someone will fill that demand. No prohibition, not alcohol, not drugs, not even tea without tax stamps has ever worked.

Yes, drugs are stupid and dangerous to use. But, we are free citizens with the right to be stupid if we so choose. After all, we allow other self-dangerous items to be used, such as cigarettes, alcohol, aspirin, butter, candy, etc.

Note that legalizing drugs does not mean we allow crimes committed based on the use of the drugs. Much as DWI is still illegal and Texas law specifically states that intoxication is not a defense to any crime, we could still have illegal crimes committed under the effect of drugs.

This would go a long way to help preserve our rights as citizens since so many infringements on our rights have been done in the name of the war on drugs.

The Power of Choice

Well, Steve...you do have a good point. It really doesn't matter if the drugs are legal or illegal. People still do the drugs.

Do we want babies born with mothers that smoke pot? What will that do to our ability as a nation to raise intelligent children? Will the American public enjoy seeing car manufacturers going out of business and Pot Manufacturing facilities going up instead? Who gets to sell this stuff? Do we allow people the right to work where ever they want to work even though they do pot? If it is legal, will there be battles in the U.S. Supreme Court about people's constitutional right to smoke mary jane's at home and to work where ever they please?  Do we want our partner's on duty doing this?

Are we comfortable knowing that cigarettes get into the hands of kids under 18 - so will joints? I gotta funny feeling that U.S. test scores are going to remain in the dumps if we legalize this stuff and make it even easier for people to use. Even teachers with pot habits will be teaching the kids.

But on the plus side - our jail population will go down. We can tax this stuff and help our national debt and make up the tax base the government is losing from the middle class disappearing. We might create jobs from bong manufacturers (need accessories to go with this stuff - new Christmas present ideas). Not to mention - if you gotta boss that is tighter than a - well never mind, we can give them a joint and say "Here, smoke this...you'll feel less stressed in 15 minutes". We might get the day off of work!  :-)

Will there be more sexual assaults? How about cranky-ER teenagers? More violence? What is the worst possible thing that can come out of legalizing this stuff? Any one have any thoughts? 

Steve is absolutely right that people will do Mary-wanna whether it is legal or not. So what what do we do?

Last edited @ 5/22/2009 5:25 AM

"Is your number still 911?" - Ofc. Rachel T.

RE: Should We Legalize Grass?

"Grass.." thought that term died out in the 70s...LOL.

See, drugs are neither legal nor illegal. They are semilegal. You can buy anything except for crack at CVS pharmacy.

Legalization is too idealistic. Complete illegalization would leave everyone screaming and complaining. What we have is the current compromise, semilegalization.

catch 22

Legalization would most likely reduce the insane proffit levels of MJ, but as mentioned, would be more accessible to kids, although they don't seem to have any difficulty as it is so that consideration is reduced. I am neither for nor against, but I feel the middle ground is costing the taxpayers even more money. Medical MJ is not the answer. A person can get a script for anything, My personal favorites are, alcoholism, narcissism, and "phantom pain".

Both answer come with problems, but we need to either get on the bus or off, not try to make everyone happy.

Yes and here is why and how.

Well it is the number one cash crop in California so it would make sense to legalize it and then pull revenue from the sales. If the Government and FDA get involved then they can come up with a THC level that above which you would need a prescription for, for medical purposes. This would be similar to an over the counter pain killer (Advil, Ibuprofen, Motrin) vs. one you would get from the doctor, and in the same way if you are caught with the stronger stuff and can't produce proof of prescription and show a pharmacy bottle that it should be stored in then you tote a charge.

Legalizing pot is also a natural way to help save the tobacco farmers of the country. They already know how to grow, they already have the land and equipment, and they can grow for both industrial (clothing, rope, etc) and personal use. It just makes sense. There is your economic fix right there.

As far as pregnant women, I do not think that is a strong enough argument against legalization beacuse we already have too many of them smoking crack and or meth while pregnant anyway. I do not see these numbers changing just because of legalization. A soon to be mother cares enough not to harm her child or doesn't. Smoking and drinking are both legal and mother's make the choices under current laws regarding those every day.

I think that companies would have to make the decision as to whether or not to allow employees to smoke it or not once legalized. I think that certain vocations just should not allow it and should continue to test. The employee would be left to make the decision as to wether he/she wants the job bad enough, and wants to be truely professional or not. I'm talking about corporate jobs, airlines, trucking, medical, law enforcement, fire, EMS, etc.

While I do believe in so called "recreational drugs" I do not think that we as a nation should be considering across the board legalization of all drugs. We can not for example allow crack, meth, heroine, etc type drugs to be legal. We can however utilize funds from the sales of the legal drugs (we are talking only about pot here) to fund progressive and agressive programs to fight against the crack and meth epidemic we are experiencing currently.

I really do feel that there is a logical and proper way to make pot legal and reap the benefits of doing so. (as mentioned above in the other posts, room in our jails and other good points made so far) I think the only real problems we face with getting this done is good old government red tape. While we are providing a logical and simple outline for getting this done the gov't. will mess it all up and over engineer it to the point of not making sense. They will want to do study after study and will spend untold amounts of monies doing so. All they really have to do is study Amsterdam and go from there.

Basically it boils down to either legalize it, or stop tying more chains around our already tied hands and let us fight the "War on Drugs" properly. Make a decision and get on with it.

Last edited @ 6/25/2009 5:55 AM

P.S.

Let's also not forget the fact that we as a society have created a situation where it is much easier for our children to buy any illegal drug than it is form them to buy tobacco and alcohol. Perhaps legalization would then make it harder for those under eighteen. I remember during my years before the age of twenty one my peers making the decision to buy pot over beer because there was less of a chance of getting caught doing so.

RE: Should We Legalize Grass?

Legalization is ridiculous! As a Sheriff whose daughter has been an addict for the past 12 years, I am all to familiar with the terrible consequences addiction has on a family and society. The open door caused by medical legalization was, and is, a huge blunder caused by a society that progressively only wants to see shades of gray in everything.

Marijuana is highly harmful to the human body (conclusively proven) and is a gateway drug to much more harmful drugs. If we legalized all of it, as was unbelievably suggest by some posts, what would be the solution to the countless financial demands upon society for hospitalization, rehabilitation, etc, by a group of addicts that cannot work due to their addiction? How much longer can taxpayers cover the cost of another person who can't function due to addiction? Suppose that YOUR daughter or son is at school, and some evil little schmuck laces their lunch with meth. In YOUR world, that would be a legal substance, no different than putting a little laxative in brownie. Except then you'll have an addict for a child...forever, and no process other than civil to deal with it.

Ultimately, the problem is the same one as in the case of over-crowded prisons. Everything has been watered down to the point that it no longer acts as a deterrant to those criminally inclined. When a typical homicide sentence is less than 10 years, and drug charge sentencing is even less, where is the sting? The same people who created diversion programs, alternative sentencing, first time offender programs and all the other pap, created a system that no longer works. Now they are the first in line to call for something else after they destroyed what used to work. Legalize? B.S.!!

Should We Legalize Grass

Nobody denies the fact that drugs of all types are dangerous in many ways. I think it is important to look at the big picture. Now, look at all the examples we are given at the expense of other people who we see at work, or in the family or wherever. We see the terrible outcome of those who use drugs. They use these drugs.... illegally.

In my opinion if you are going to use drugs, you are going to do it whether it is legal or illegal. Each year we spend millions upon millions trying to "win" the war on drugs which in my opinion was lost a long time ago. You arrest a person for personal use of whatever it may be... now we are paying for your time, court/jail clerks, detention officers, judges, and then probation etc etc. Just being in jail is extremely costly for the taxpayers. This of coarse is only a small case, we all know how much is spent when you get into investigations, Intel, wire taps, etc etc.

It is obvious it will never get legalized, well at least in my opinion but it is a thought. Just the fact of putting drug cartels out of business is just about enough for me.

That being said I want to make it clear, I obviously don’t condone the use of drugs, be it prescription or not. Like stated in a previous article, just because it is legal doesn’t mean there is not going to still be laws such as DWI. Just make them stricter, and just like a lot of places already require, you take a drug test if you want a job.

RE: Should We Legalize Grass?

Once upon a time Opium was legal. Funnily enough, even though it was legal, opium addiction was still a terrible outcome for those who used the drug. Women (and men) would prostitute themselves for opium, they would commit crimes, even murder. Same as those who use illegal drugs today. Few, if any, were productive members of society for long.

Your arguement fits any crime. Ya know, pediophiles are going to have sex with children whether it's legal or illegal so hey, let's win the war on pediphiles by legalizing child rape! Just think of the financial savings; we'd no longer have to maintain vast sex offenders registries, it would free up space in the prisons, hell, just the savings alone on not doing back ground checks for teachers, scoutmasters, and day care workers would more then pay off! Uh, right?

Legalizing previous criminal activity does nothing more then admit defeat. And legalizing said activity does nothing to put drug cartels out of business. All we have to do is look to history to prove that. Did legalizing booze put the Mafia out of business? Nope, they just branched out. Legalize drugs and I can pretty much assure you not one Cartel boss is going to heave a heavy sigh, take off his thousand dollar silk suit, put on a McDonalds uniform, and go to work flipping burgers. Instead, he'll continue his criminal enterprise.

RE: Should We Legalize Grass?

Once upon a time Opium was legal. Funnily enough, even though it was legal, opium addiction was still a terrible outcome for those who used the drug. Women (and men) would prostitute themselves for opium, they would commit crimes, even murder. Same as those who use illegal drugs today. Few, if any, were productive members of society for long.

Your arguement fits any crime. Ya know, pediophiles are going to have sex with children whether it's legal or illegal so hey, let's win the war on pediphiles by legalizing child rape! Just think of the financial savings; we'd no longer have to maintain vast sex offenders registries, it would free up space in the prisons, hell, just the savings alone on not doing back ground checks for teachers, scoutmasters, and day care workers would more then pay off! Uh, right?

Legalizing previous criminal activity does nothing more then admit defeat. And legalizing said activity does nothing to put drug cartels out of business. All we have to do is look to history to prove that. Did legalizing booze put the Mafia out of business? Nope, they just branched out. Legalize drugs and I can pretty much assure you not one Cartel boss is going to heave a heavy sigh, take off his thousand dollar silk suit, put on a McDonalds uniform, and go to work flipping burgers. Instead, he'll continue his criminal enterprise.