Legalization of Marijuana

[draper]

Here's a juicy can of worms.

So, anyone and everyone who opposes -- state why.

(BTW I don't think this thread is against the rules..if it is please delete with my sincerest apologies!)

 

[Crusading_Ostrich]

I'll oppose it.

It's a deadly drug.
It does crazy things to people.
Look at 4 dead mounties.
Look at crime in Toronto.
Look at the state of Vancouver.
Look at the state of our politicians who have used it!! (i have the proof of it somewhere...and you can't argue with that proof, cause it is proven by being a proof! )

 

[draper]

I'll oppose it.

Should be fun.

It's a deadly drug.

One example of someone dying from a marijuana OD, plesae. In fact, one example of a marijuana OD at all, please.

It does crazy things to people.

I certainly wouldn't say that. Whatever 'crazy things' it does is minimal compared to things like alcohol, in terms of medical effects and loss of control while on marijuanal which is minimal to nonexistant on marijuana.

Look at 4 dead mounties.

You mean the guys who died raiding a guy who had stolen car parts' house?

And if pot were legal, people wouldn't need people like that man growing it..they could get it legally from government growers.

Look at crime in Toronto.
Look at the state of Vancouver.

How's that relate to marijuana?

If anything, legalized marijuana would greatly, greatly reduce drug related crime because people would go get it legally instead of hanging out with shady dealers.

 

[draper]

As for it being a deadly drug that is easy to overdose on (which is all I can assume you were implying, since I don't see how a non OD could kill you)

http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/mj007.htm


In other words, to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned.

In contrast, the ratio for alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It is easy to see how upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses every year and no one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses.

 

[proclaim]

it may lower crime...it may be hard to overdose on...
but it's deadly to your soul.

and we can't argue it's not helping your health. sure. you have to take 40 000 times as much marijuana as you need to get stonded, but any marijuana screws with your mind.

importantly, marijuana is a gateway drug. taking marijuana increses your chances of becoming addicted to cocaine, alchohol, etc. by more than 50%! So though marijuana itself doesn't kill, it eventually leads to death.

marijuana is bad. period.

 

[draper]

I hate long copy/pastes as much as the next guy, but no need to reword something that is already said perfectly. From the link I posted a few posts ago:


3. Marijuana Is A "Gateway" Drug It Leads To Hard Drugs

This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can be found in Holland.

The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard drug use, heroin and cocaine, have DECLINED substantially.

If marijuana really were a gateway drug, one would have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up, not down.

This apparent "negative gateway" effect has also been observed in the United States.

Studies done in the early 1970s showed a negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of alcohol.

A 1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in states that had decriminalized marijuana versus those that had not, found that where marijuana was more available, the states that had decriminalized, hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room episodes decreased.

In short, what science and actual experience tell us is that marijuana tends to substitute for the much more dangerous hard drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.

 

[draper]

any marijuana screws with your mind.

Any source tat this 'screwing' has long or short term negative effects?

 

[sweetlambofgod]

Strongly Object- it stinks, makes me wnat to vomit, does nothing to bring me closer to God so no point

 

[draper]

Strongly Object- it stinks, makes me wnat to vomit, does nothing to bring me closer to God so no point

"me, me, me"

What about the millions of Canadians who do smoke it eaqch year and get a criminal record for doing something that's being a crime is ridiculous?

 

[Crusading_Ostrich]

Why should it be legalized?

It IS worse than tobacco to your lungs.

 

[draper]

Why should it be legalized?

It IS worse than tobacco to your lungs.

Eh -- I'm tempted to thank you for the essay question to keep me amused with no school tomorrow. A late night debating the legalization of marijuana

Why should it be legal? Zillions of reasons. Well, okay, a few all encompasssing ones.

Fristly, it's legalization would generate some 2-5 billion per year in income for the federal government.

As has been demonstrated by other places it has been legalized it will reduce the use of heroin, crack etc.

Do some 600, 000 Canadians a year deserve a criminal record for a victimless 'crime'?

There are huge, huge medicinal benefits.

Legalizing it would reduce crime. ie no illegal grow ups, shady drug dealers in back alleys, etc.

I coiuld go on and on, and probably will later on when I remember more reasons.

More damaging than tobacco? Consider how many people die from marijuana. Consider how many die from tobacco. Consider how many people die from marijuana. Consider how many people die from driving a car.

But, that would be based on a false assumption since it isn't more damaging than tobacco. From that same nifty little link:


5. Marijuana Is Much More Dangerous Than Tobacco

Smoked marijuana contains about the same amount of carcinogens as does an equivalent amount of tobacco.

It should be remembered, however, that a heavy tobacco smoker consumes much more tobacco than a heavy marijuana smoker consumes marijuana.

This is because smoked tobacco, with a 90% addiction rate, is the most addictive of all drugs while marijuana is less addictive than caffeine.

Two other factors are important. The first is that paraphernalia laws directed against marijuana users make it difficult to smoke safely.

These laws make water pipes and bongs, which filter some of the carcinogens out of the smoke, illegal and, hence, unavailable.

The second is that, if marijuana were legal, it would be more economical to have cannabis drinks like Bhang (a traditional drink in the Middle East) or tea which are totally non-carcinogenic.

This is in stark contrast with "smokeless" tobacco products like snuff which can cause cancer of the mouth and throat.

When all of these facts are taken together, it can be clearly seen that the reverse is true: marijuana is much SAFER than tobacco.

 

[proclaim]

Our Federeal Government is not terribly short of cash, and they have way better ways to get revenue than marijuana.

And while marijuana may not be as bad as tobbaco, it's not saving our healthcare any beds at all.

You can't treat marijuana like a "baby drug." Marijuana is just as serious as crack, cocaine, and heroine.

*plus, as we all know, one thing leads to another. first a "baby drug," then what...

I hate long copy/pastes as much as the next guy, but no need to reword something that is already said perfectly. From the link I posted a few posts ago:


3. Marijuana Is A "Gateway" Drug It Leads To Hard Drugs

This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can be found in Holland.

The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard drug use, heroin and cocaine, have DECLINED substantially.

If marijuana really were a gateway drug, one would have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up, not down.

This apparent "negative gateway" effect has also been observed in the United States.

Studies done in the early 1970s showed a negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of alcohol.

A 1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in states that had decriminalized marijuana versus those that had not, found that where marijuana was more available, the states that had decriminalized, hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room episodes decreased.

In short, what science and actual experience tell us is that marijuana tends to substitute for the much more dangerous hard drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.

• marijuana is terrible for your health (what do you want to do, kill our already crumbling health-care system.)
• if marijuana is substituting for use of alchohol, how come since marijuana use rocketed, the number of alchohol-related car crashes has gone WAY up. Although with heroine it may substitute, with alchohol it doesn't.

 

[draper]

Our Federeal Government is not terribly short of cash, and they have way better ways to get revenue than marijuana.

I don't necessarily disagree with you that we don't "need" money right now. But, it was still a definite plus to legalizing weed.

And while marijuana may not be as bad as tobbaco, it's not saving our healthcare any beds at all.

Neither is baseball, basketball, soccer, bowling, fishing or anything else that is fun. Oh, and skydiving.

You can't treat marijuana like a "baby drug." Marijuana is just as serious as crack, cocaine, and heroine.

Just as serious? I already posted info on how marijuana rarely leads to crack, cocaine, etc use and considered relative to all other drugs AND activites we do for fun, it is very, very low risk.

*plus, as we all know, one thing leads to another. first a "baby drug," then what...

I already posted something refuting that.

• marijuana is terrible for your health (what do you want to do, kill our already crumbling health-care system.)

Terrible? Please source! At worst, it just "isn't good." That's not to say it is bd, again, relative to all other activites, and "terrible" is an over the otp exagerration.

if marijuana is substituting for use of alchohol, how come since marijuana use rocketed, the number of alchohol-related car crashes has gone WAY up. Although with heroine it may substitute, with alchohol it doesn't.

Did you/can you please source that?

Even if it is true, I would much rather replace heroin than alcohol!

 

[zoziw]

Whatever view you take on this issue I think that the AMA's website provides a fair overview of the adverse effects of marijuana. Most of the other sites seem to get their info from (or actually are) lobby groups more interested in their agenda than giving reliable information.


http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/13625.html#adverse_effects_of_marijuana

The federal government is decriminalizing marijuana to try to encourage enforcement of the laws against the use of the drug. The National Post quoted a source from within the federal government last year saying that the problem with the present handling of the drug was that police were growing more hesitant to enforce the law because they were concerned a criminal record was too harsh and because of the amount of work involved for them when the charge was prosecuted.

The legalization of marijuana, while helping in some areas (ie. organized crime), could become a serious irritant between Canada and the United States as the latter are currently engaged in what they term "The War on Drugs".

The American Government is not happy with the present situation and very concerned about the decriminalization of marijuana in Canada. Outgoing (I think now former) Ambassador Paul Cellucci has repeatedly warned that this situation could result in longer delays at the border which could threaten the "just in time" shipments that Canadian companies send to the US.

If border delays prevent Canadian companies from completing these shipments on time then US companies will find suppliers in the US that can more reliably meet these time demands and/or repatriate Canadian field offices to the other side of the border.

While they continue to threaten this kind of action given the current circumstances, full blown legalization would likely force the US political hand to actually follow through on these threats to some extent.

While I believe that legalization would help solve some of the problems that current marijuana legislation causes I also feel that legalization could have a negative impact on the open border with the US.

I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana at the present time because the Americans have adopted a "security trumps trade" policy which includes not just the "War on Terror" but also the "War on Drugs" and this may result in a more difficult trading relationship with the Americans that is not in the best interest of Canada.

 

[sweetlambofgod]

"me, me, me"

What about the millions of Canadians who do smoke it eaqch year and get a criminal record for doing something that's being a crime is ridiculous?

i'm glad!

 

[draper]

i'm glad!

Because you think it smells funny?

 

[Iollain]

I do not agree with people smoking it at all, i've saw what it can do first hand. I didn't smoke it but i saw someone who did for over 15 years. It is not the harmless weed people are trying to make it out to be. And i heard what they said when God helped them get rid of the habit, not good.

 

[selfintercession]

As for it being a deadly drug that is easy to overdose on (which is all I can assume you were implying, since I don't see how a non OD could kill you)

http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/mj007.htm


In other words, to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned.

In contrast, the ratio for alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It is easy to see how upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses every year and no one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses.

lol... I think it's funny that draper used a "recreational drugs guide" rather than a medical journal or reliable news source to back up his claims

 

[selfintercession]

I do not agree with people smoking it at all, i've saw what it can do first hand. I didn't smoke it but i saw someone who did for over 15 years. It is not the harmless weed people are trying to make it out to be. And i heard what they said when God helped them get rid of the habit, not good.

Same. I've seen more than one person ruin their life with pot.

 

[draper]

I do not agree with people smoking it at all, i've saw what it can do first hand. I didn't smoke it but i saw someone who did for over 15 years. It is not the harmless weed people are trying to make it out to be. And i heard what they said when God helped them get rid of the habit, not good.

Ever seen someone who has played tennis or baseball for 15 years? Look at what that stuff does to their legs and back!

Same. I've seen more than one person ruin their life with pot.

I would be lying if I pretended to care about a few irresponsible people. Pot is the least addictive recreational drug, and it's not something you should be doing in the first place if you don't have the self control to stop, like anything else. If you think that if you buy a PlayStation you'll use it so much that you stop interacting with friends and doing homework, don't buy it, and if you do anyways too bad for you. Let's not punish the responsible PlayStation users.

And anyways legalizing pot would allow for addiction to be treated as the problem that it is. Currently, an addict can't exactly go to therapy claiming to be addicted to marijuana -- they'd be arrested.