[paintingravens]

I hope this thread is not against the forum rules.
Just a warning: probably not a good thread for drug addicts, recovering or otherwise; I don't wanna risk triggering anything, you know? So if you are a recovering or current drug addict, STOP READING NOW.












...
Bear in mind, that I do not clump marijuana in the same category with cocaine, heroin, meth, etc, because it is not a drug made synthetically and with a number of dangerous chemicals; it is a plant, and it is NOT physically addicting.
But I'm in the mood for some stimulating discussion. and I'm not a drug addict, so...

Here's a starter:
http://abovetheignorance.org/

Have a read.
Very informative.

So how do you feel about legalization of marijuana?

[Yoda]

I have not read the link yet (but I will). I used marijuana daily for years but no longer do because basically I didn't feel it was a good choice for my health, physical and mental. I strongly support legalizing marijuana for medical use but I am on the fence about whether it should be legal for recreational use. It certainly is safer than alcohol but that is not a logical reason to legalize it, is it?

[Timgt5]

As a libertarian, I believe that the government has no right to tell an adult what they can or cannot ingest. Of course of one takes drugs and wrecks their own life, well that is their problem, if they harm others then punish them for those crimes specifically.

Our so called 25 year plus war on drugs is a complete sham. We have spent billions of dollars, given rise to a trillion dollar shadow industry and caused uncounted misery among the poor. Prohibition in the 20's caused the rise of Al Capone and his ilk. Our attempt to stop drugs led directly to the rise of the Crips, and the Bloods in the 80s/90s and the Latin gangs of today. When you run the numbers far more people have died as a result of our policies than would have if we would have decriminalized drugs in the first place, that has been proven over and over.

I am not a drug user, nor do I ever intend to be. That is MY choice, because I OWN MY BODY, Washington does not. I think legalized drugs, with a licensing and tax structure, would actually reduce crime, especially violent crime and make it easier for people who wish to end there use, to come forward withour fear of arrest and take those steps to rehab.

I know a lot of people will disagree with this, and it is a controversial position, but open your minds, do some research on this and you might be suprised at the misconceptions out there.

[NuckingFutz]

I do not use it myself. But I Think the only reason it is not legal is because there is no way governments can really regulate it or tax it. Throw some female seeds out the window and water them and baby them and viola...pot! Recreational use? Might do us some good...maybe people would not be so he11 bent on flying airplanes into buildings or shooting their students or fellow soldiers. Maybe there wouldn't be so many stressed out people who drown their kids in lakes while strapped into a car or even in bathtubs. Who knows? I am on my cell again, so if someone could putwthe trigger icon on here for me I'd be much obliged.

do your parents/gaurdians know ya smoke weed?
do your grandparents/aunts/uncles/siblings know ya smoke weed?

I've had this debate many times with my daughters(22&19)

do ya have to smoke weed to become artisically inspired?
thats the problem with weed/herb/marahoochie........
it (weed) makes ya think ya dooooooo........

when in reality, it subdues emotional pain from previous life experiances.....

ever become an instant genius after burning one?
....of course....thats the power of the drug......
it makes me think I can't do anything without it.....

when in reality, it distorts clarity of thought and slows re-action time.
d.u.i. driving under the influence of a controlled substance(blunt)

sssoooooo screw the weed and let's legalize opium, because thats all natural(no chemicals needed to refine), and it's a pain killer and yaa can smoke it, aaaaaaaand we can bring aaaaaaaaall the troops home from Afghanistan, because thats the real,real,real reason why we are over there.........poppy's.........................

and remember.........this is an open,public forum and ya had the cahoonas to post......and I got the cahoonas to reply..........

..................potheads.......uhm...................

[loveregardless]

Very strongly pro legalization.

[splitimage]

I personally do not agree that pot is non addictive - I've seen too many recovering users in rehab to not know how hard a drug it is to quit. And there is a clear link between heavy use and psychosis and possibly with schizophrenia.

That being said, I'm still pro legalization. I don't think pot is any more dangerous than cigarettes or alcohol & they both do plenty of damage. In my city we're plauged with grow ops all over the city, and criminilzation only funds gangs and drug lords.

Legalize it, regulate it, tax it, and have lows against driving while impaired, like we do with drinking and I believe the overall cost to society will go down.

I've tried pot a few times in my 20's didn't do anything for me, so I'm unlikely to become a user. I have a few friends who are casual users as they are casual drinkers. It's not messing up their lives.

Me I abused alcohol - totally legal, but it destroyed my life.

--splitimage

[lynn P.]

I've never tried marijuana, but I do believe it's has it's medical place. It wouldn't matter to me if it was legalized, but then you would need to deal with taxes and a whole new can of worms(legislative nightmare). I also don't advocate smoking tobacco or alcohol. I read the link and I just have one comment - I don't believe there are 0 deaths related to marijuana use. I'm sure accidents from alcohol is considered a statistic, so how do we know there wasn't a death from being high while driving. I think it's a personal choice to smoke or not. There also recent medical findings that it can play a role in schizophrenia in some users. Here's a link:

http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/streetdrugs.html

[lynn P.]

BTW this ia a good topic Paitingravens thanks. I don't know why that link didn't come out blue so here it is again:
http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevent...reetdrugs.html

[Moreta]

I don't think the government understands how much money would be generated by legalizing pot. Then since it would be more mass produced, they could sell it at a premium and tax the hell out of it. I'm sure it would still not be as expensive as it is now.

What makes me mad is that people label it as a "gateway" drug. Seriously, people, do you sit around smoking marijuana all night and then be like "you know what I really need? Some cocaine/heroin/crack." When actually most of the time you just kinda sit there, eat, do some sketches, go to bed. The real "gateway" drug is alcohol. Think about it, your drunk, and you have no inhibitions, people are all around you doing hard core drugs, what's the chance you're going to be doing them in the next 5 minutes as well? (Especially if you're in a manic phase.) Be honest.....

[Hippie]

Legalize everything. That'll reduce crime.

[michele#3]

I think it should be legalized. Jeez, things like cigarettes and alchohol are legal and yet they place marijuana up there with stuff like heroin and crack!! It is my belief that smoking marijuana is no different that occaisonally having a drink.
Of course it has a possibility of abuse but so does alchohol and cigarettes and they are legal.

[sanityseeker]

Pot has been given a really bad rap in my opinion. It is not a hard core physically addictive drug. It maybe psychologically habitual for some users but quiting will not result in any physical withdrawal effects. I love the effects of pot but I have no self control and tend to over use so it is best I don't use at all. In my experience pot was great for reducing my anxiety and helping me to sleep. I really wish I could keep it around for those time when I need it but I just can't stop myself from over using if I have it around. I love to be stoned. I don't like how alcohol effects me so it is easy to stay away from it but pot is a whole other thing for me. I don't use any psych meds because no matter how hard I try I will abuse them or try to abuse them and many of those are addictive so I don't risk having them around either.

I think it is also important to remember that the pot today is not the pot of the 70's. Today most street pot is heavily laden with chemicals from growth hormones to pesticides to maximize crop yield. There is also a lot of lacing going on with street drugs so it isn't the innocent 'plant' hellucinagenic it used to be.

I totally think we should legalize it to take a bite out of crime related to trafficking but more importantly I think it needs to be monitored for quality and safety because right now a user has no idea what else they are smoking along with their canabus.

If it were legal more people could grow their own and then they would know what they were smoking.

[Typo]

I was in an Intro to Law Enforcment class last spring, we of course studied the "War on Drugs" and all the diffrent drugs, how they affected the body, and etc. I even had to do a presentaion in class about drugs in society.

After having to do all that research, and learn all that stuff, I became pro legalization, because of the strain, money, and effort it would take off not only law enforcment, but the money it would cut on the money spent on the "war on drugs" we could use that money to fund education programs or after school programs (which prevent crime and keep the youth out of trouble) and all the time energy, effort, and focus could be placed and channled to somewhere that is more concerning, or more well usefull..

I've never smoked it, can't say I never will, but I think it has it's place, and yes it can be addictive, but so can alcohol and a numerous amount of other things that are legal, in fact alcohol related accidents and damages cost more each year, than any related incidetn with marijuina(I forget the exact statitistcs and I don't have the text book anymore)

I think the reason it hasn't become "legalized" yet is because they can't figure out how to control and tax it, but if you've noticed many states, and even towns in the US , have passed local laws viewing pot possesion as a "misdemnor charge" or no charge at all

Shouldn't we be focusing on more dangerous drugs such as meth, which is becoming an epdemic in parts of the US? (I live in such an area)

I can see both sides of the story, I think it is something interesting to watch in the next few years, what is decided on the manner...

[FooZe]

This suggestion is meant about 90% frivolously but not 100%:

Establish a new branch of government called, oh, the Department of Villainy. Put it in charge of promoting and selling popular but potentially harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other street drugs, also running a national lottery. All of its products would be distinctively branded with a picture of the Villain General...

.... and would be legal, while competing products continued to be regulated just as before. Everything would be priced at a level where existing dealers couldn't afford to compete and would be driven out of business.

Advertising pitch: "The Villain General says: smoke and drink more, kids! We need the money for schools and other good stuff."

Some people have joked that the scariest thing anyone could say to them is, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." Well, then, how about "I'm from the Department of Villainy and I'm here to show you a good time"...?

[salukigirl]

Personally, not legalizing it seems dumb to me. There are billions made on the illegal sale of a drug that, I'm sorry, but it's not a gateway drug. You can sell alcohol which has much more longterm and immediate effects than marijuana does.

Not to mention that people in prison for the possession or sale of drugs are in there, on our tax dollars, for something so frivolous. In Ohio, my brother was pulled over by the cops and they found a bowl in his car and scraped out the resin to get him on possession! Come on. Thats our tax dollars at work for my brother who smokes on occassion.

It would make the government money, it would make it safer to buy and sell and cut down on crime caused by it, it would create jobs, it would take millions of people out of prison which would make the gov't money. Not to mention the fact that the penal system takes small time criminals and hardens them. So people that spend time in jail for something small like possession have that on their record making it harder to find a job or get an education and leading them BACK into a life of crime. It has been proven that rehabilitation works better for criminals in drugs rather than violence so all around, to me at least, it just makes sense. I honestly do not see a negative side to it.

Department of Villainy? Such irony since villainy in Washington is so firmly ensconced. Would insider dealing be a crime?

this is for all the experts who say weed aint no gateway drug.....

ask your nearest crackhead if they ever smoked weed.....

ask the closest dopefiend if they ever smoked weed.......

ask your friendly nieghborhood meth head if they ever smoked weed.....

.......just ask'em.......they'll talk to yaa......they'll probably ask yaa for a ciggerrrtteee........or any spare change......follow ya home and rob your house.......then swear to god they didnt do it....and help yaa look for the ones that did it.....while there standing right next to yaa..........

.....thats right.....all ya'll experts know absolutely nothing about how dangerous poverty really issssss.....let alone were it starts.............

ya'll probably dont even know what a dopefiend isssssss.......

now, back to topic.....thc has medicinal properties...........
so, grow cannabus maximus, harvest it, refine it, manufacture it in PILL form, then prescribe it, as medical doctors would prescribed any other drug for specific ailments.......no more smoking weed.......hahahaha!!!!!.............

ok kool?......of course not.....because the pothead/wannabe druggie says...

the rtiual......coppin' the weed....(doin crap thats illegal,the excitement(underlying issues...contributing to the problem).......layin' it out.....clean the seeds out.......then how we gonna smoke it........twist one up.....ka-bong......put this in your pipe and smokeit..........

and for the ones that say its not addictive?

stop smoking weed for the rest of your life.....just stop....

got a problem with that statement?....

or if ya say"I can stop anytime I want,BUT I dont FEEL like it....

its your problem.....not mine.......the policeman is my friend.....can ya'll say that?........outloud for others to here?

........issues.......it's not me........ish-you.......issues

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahhahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

aint dat funny?......I think soooooooooo......wwoooohhhoooooo!!!!!!!

potheads........the flea on the dogs behind........

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Yoda

................now.....thats funnny!!!!!!...................

[Rmdctc]

Nope don't want it legalized. If I could I would outlaw tobacco use as well.

[Naturefreak]

Originally Posted by sparrowstail

this is for all the experts who say weed aint no gateway drug.....

ask your nearest crackhead if they ever smoked weed.....

ask the closest dopefiend if they ever smoked weed.......

ask your friendly nieghborhood meth head if they ever smoked weed.....

I agree that it can be a gateway drug for SOME.
That's kinda like saying everyone who own's a gun will eventually kill someone.

I smoked weed casually for many years . It was relaxing , that's all it did for me. I am being honest .
I gave it up because I hated sneaking around looking for it . What will people think of me if they find out I'm smoking this horrible drug .
Will I become a crackhead? I guess I'll never know. Anything is possible I guess.

[lynn P.]

I know smoking tobacco can lead to lung cancer - does smoking weed do the same thing? I wish there was no such thing as alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs. Too bad people are always looking to alter their feelings. Sorry if this is off topic.

[Naturefreak]

Originally Posted by lynn P.

I know smoking tobacco can lead to lung cancer - does smoking weed do the same thing? I wish there was no such thing as alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs. Too bad people are always looking to alter their feelings. Sorry if this is off topic.

I think that it can contribute to lung cancer as well Lynn . If you google it I'm sure you will come of with contradicting results.

[Yoda]

Smoking weed has a bad effect on my asthma. That is one of the big reasons I seldom smoke it now. Not much fun being high if you can't breathe.