should marijuana be legalized throughout the united states?

[pavyracer]

The black market retail buyers will be mostly gone. The incentive to import would be much less.

No one would be charged for using anything, as it would be legal. Sellers could be prosecuted much more efficently under tax type laws, just like illegal alcohol or tabacco sellers are.

But the biggest change would be brainwashed lemmings not being able to tut tut and pass judgement on smokers as criminals anymore (as they sip a Jack n coke).

The public attitude to pot is as pathetic as the public attitude to online gambling laws. It's like we, the public, are on average so stupid that anything a politician declares illegal automatically becomes wrong without further thought.

The way so many average Americans view gambling and pot smoking as sinful crimes is a sad indictment of us all I think.

You really think the black market will be gone? Do you think the local farmer production in the US will be able to keep up with demand for legal pot? What if a US farmer decides to outsource the pot production to Mexico where the costs will be cheaper? Don't we drink Swedish vodkas and Scottish whiskey and Belgian beers here in the US even though there is perfectly good tasting domestic hard liquor and beer?

[DwightShrute]

It amazes me how much debate can spent on such a subject as this. Regardless if you do or don't smoke pot I haven't heard one good argument as to why someone should have a moral authority to not allow someone to smoke a natural plant.

I am sorry but anyone that thinks pot shouldn't be legalized is selfish and self righteous when it comes to this particular issue. Give your head a shake and ask yourself "why do I really care if it's legal?" and "who the **** am I to decide what someone else can do?"

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

Don't we drink Swedish vodkas and Scottish whiskey and Belgian beers here in the US even though there is perfectly good tasting domestic hard liquor and beer?

I really hesitate to resort to an ad hominen attack, but you really are making tremendously stupid arguments/points here. Tremendously stupid.

[Optional]

You really think the black market will be gone? Do you think the local farmer production in the US will be able to keep up with demand for legal pot? What if a US farmer decides to outsource the pot production to Mexico where the costs will be cheaper? Don't we drink Swedish vodkas and Scottish whiskey and Belgian beers here in the US even though there is perfectly good tasting domestic hard liquor and beer?

Just mostly gone, because it will too hard to shift the volume to make it viable. I can't se it being any larger a problem than the trade in black market booze and smokes is now.

Who cares if it's grown in Mexico? In fact that would make it easier to control if the only legal/licensed growers were out of the country. But with the massive potential tax revenue and farm sector employment to be gained, I can see states fighting to subsidize farmers to grow it in their state.

I'm not really on the legalization bandwagon though. I think decriminalization for users and home growers of small amounts is a better way to go.

[Housemoney]

For the SBR stoners

[jgilmartin]

My point is there are more important problems here than legalizing marijuana for recreational use. And does that study account for the amount of dealers who are going to lose their job?

Would it not also create jobs, though? Imagine if marijuana was available at your local convenience store; you would need people to grow it, package it, distribute it, advertise it, etc. etc. etc.

[8ArIvd5]

Would it not also create jobs, though? Imagine if marijuana was available at your local convenience store; you would need people to grow it, package it, distribute it, advertise it, etc. etc. etc.

I don't know about where you live, but my neighborhood already has growers, packagers, distributors, and advertisers. Hell, I could smoke for free for a week with the samples given out by people around my way. It's only going to create jobs that people will openly admit to the public, not new jobs. And even if it does create new jobs above what the current dealers will lose, is it going to create a positive impact on society like helping addicts of hard drugs recover would? Spend the money distributing syringes to junkies who share, not lobbyists looking for donations to fight for a non-issue. In the world of drugs, marijuana is a non-issue.

[mrfancy]

One just has to look at Amsterdam how successful they are. As for the US it seems a little shady with the medical cards, my friend went in said he had headaches and didn't like taking pills because it hurt his stomach and they gave him the card on the spot lol

[Wrecktangle]

You really think the black market will be gone? Do you think the local farmer production in the US will be able to keep up with demand for legal pot? What if a US farmer decides to outsource the pot production to Mexico where the costs will be cheaper? Don't we drink Swedish vodkas and Scottish whiskey and Belgian beers here in the US even though there is perfectly good tasting domestic hard liquor and beer?

Northern California would soon own the rest of the US were it legal.

We take our pot seriously.

[Lockitup1x]

I think too many people here are caught up with the "legal" label. Why do laws exist? Some posters here would have you believe that most (all?) laws exist to unfairly repress your God given freedom. To that I say... Grow up!

[OSUCOWBOYS]

Yes

[no1here]

Being legal here, it has created many high paying jobs with new businesses popping up all over. Making me rich.

[DwightShrute]

Being legal here, it has created many high paying jobs with new businesses popping up all over. Making me rich.

Freedom, what a concept.
congrats man I rather you make a living doing it then some asshole in Columbia or elsewhere.

[RogueScholar]

Northern California would soon own the rest of the US were it legal.

We take our pot seriously.

I see it slightly differently. The boon for Northern California (where I reside as well as work in this industry) would be the sudden increase in legit value of the skills so many of us have grown up here acquiring and perfecting. Were legalization and regulation to occur, established agro-businesses would suddenly need people with experience maximizing yield and managing this new crop through the production cycle, and there is no greater pool for that knowledge than in this area.

The fact of the matter is that the demand for pot is being met whether the Puritans like it or not, would they like a cut of the proceeds or not?

[jgilmartin]

I don't know about where you live, but my neighborhood already has growers, packagers, distributors, and advertisers. Hell, I could smoke for free for a week with the samples given out by people around my way. It's only going to create jobs that people will openly admit to the public, not new jobs.

Fair enough, but do you really believe there would be a net LOSS of jobs from legalizing marijuana?

[urge2kill]

Americans would be taking jobs from Mexico for a change.

[8ArIvd5]

Fair enough, but do you really believe there would be a net LOSS of jobs from legalizing marijuana?

No, it probably will make an increase, albeit negligible. That's why I think it shouldn't be focused on right now with the many other problems we have. But if we ever get our shit straight legalize it so I don't get asshole cops tearing up my trunk looking for meth cause my girl's smoking a blunt in the car.

[8ArIvd5]

Americans would be taking jobs from Mexico for a change.

No one likes Mexican weed; and if they do I feel sorry for them.

[The Madcap]

I hear members of the pot lobby in Mendocino have actually started backing some anti-weed laws to bolster their economic hold.

[8ArIvd5]

It amazes me how much debate can spent on such a subject as this. Regardless if you do or don't smoke pot I haven't heard one good argument as to why someone should have a moral authority to not allow someone to smoke a natural plant.

I am sorry but anyone that thinks pot shouldn't be legalized is selfish and self righteous when it comes to this particular issue. Give your head a shake and ask yourself "why do I really care if it's legal?" and "who the **** am I to decide what someone else can do?"

We live in a complex society that's more involved than 'do I have the right?' How much will it cost to legalize it? What will be put on the back-burner to focus on legality issues? Sure, philosophically we should mind our own business, but once it becomes a government issue, everyone's involved.

[DwightShrute]

We live in a complex society that's more involved than 'do I have the right?' How much will it cost to legalize it? What will be put on the back-burner to focus on legality issues? Sure, philosophically we should mind our own business, but once it becomes a government issue, everyone's involved.

sometimes as a society we tend to over think things. This topic is one IMO. We know a lot about what it costs to keep it illegal already and keeping so it's a waste of money.

[8ArIvd5]

sometimes as a society we tend to over think things. This topic is one IMO. We know a lot about what it costs to keep it illegal already and keeping so it's a waste of money.

That's why it's complicated.

[Bezmeticu]

Marijuana should be legalized in all states, all over the world, in all religions )

[Vaughany]

From someone who has done more then his fair share of all of these, It's funny to me for people to defend alcohol but not weed. The amount of people who have died in the history of the recorded world directly from weed: 0.

Joe Rogan in disguise?!

[DwightShrute]

That's why it's complicated.

I don't think it is that complicated. You legalize it tomorrow and what will happen? Suddenly everyone is gonna get stoned? Society will seize to exist? I doubt it. The same people smoking it won't have to worry about getting caught and the cops can concentrate on more important things.

[kenjikash]

Definitely should be legal...

[chilidog]

I don't think it is that complicated. You legalize it tomorrow and what will happen? Suddenly everyone is gonna get stoned? Society will seize to exist? I doubt it. The same people smoking it won't have to worry about getting caught and the cops can concentrate on more important things.

Yup, exactly. There's a really good website called LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition -

They have a link to a study/poll:

If hard drugs such as heroin or cocaine were legalized would you be likely to use them?
99% SAY "NO"

Zogby International asked that question of 1,028 likely voters. Ninety-nine out of 100 said "No." Only 0.6 percent said "Yes."1

Drug War advocates have always insisted that addiction would explode if drugs were legalized. But that argument comes apart under the weight of the evidence. While a poll can't predict actual drug use, it clearly shows that most of us avoid hard drugs because of common sense – not fear of arrest.

And that's always been the case. At the beginning of the last century when a virtual free market for drugs existed, use rates were lower than they are today.2 Drug use and addiction – along with crime, violence and corruption – only began to climb after the advent of drug prohibition in 1914.3

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

I hear members of the pot lobby in Mendocino have actually started backing some anti-weed laws to bolster their economic hold.

this is why the efforts to completely legalize failed in CA this past election. not so much backing the anti-weed laws, but keeping the situation as is right now-tons of people are making lots of bank from the pseudo-legal state grass has in CA right now.

[beckluna]

i dont want the day care that takes care of my kids to be handled by pot heads no way jose

[chilidog]

i dont want the day care that takes care of my kids to be handled by pot heads no way jose

But you don't mind if they take anti-depressants, painkillers, ADD medication, etc?

[DwightShrute]

But you don't mind if they take anti-depressants, painkillers, ADD medication, etc?

or come in drunk?


it's a weak argument for the anti legalization of it

[BebeRebozo]

pot sux

[Dad]

No one has ever died from a pot overdose. Its in a completely different category than heroin, coke, etc. If cigarettes and alcohol are legal, then why not weed? Tax it, regulate it, and stop spending so much federal money on trying to stop it.

[chilidog]

No one has ever died from a pot overdose. Its in a completely different category than heroin, coke, etc. If cigarettes and alcohol are legal, then why not weed? Tax it, regulate it, and stop spending so much federal money on trying to stop it.

I really wish that a politician would actually address this question. I would really love somebody like Anderson Cooper on CNN to sit down a few key policians and simply ask them "What right do you, or any other adult, have to tell me what I can put into my body? Why do you care what I do with my body?"

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

it's a weak argument for the anti legalization of it

it's worse than that, it's a complete red herring. It's irrelevant.

Argument: I don't want [blank] to be illegal because people working [anywhere] could come in under the influence of [blank]

what this argument doesn't address in this context is; a) nothing is stopping worker from coming in high on grass anyway because there is no shortage of grass anywhere in the US, b) there are plenty of other legal substances worker can get high on and then come to work anyway, c) the assumption that worker could simply come into work high as a kite and keep their job.

next!