boo boo

Legalization wouldn't be much of a threat to families who want to keep their kids off of drugs. How often do you see little kids smoke cigarettes just becaus they're legal? Prohibition in general always creates more problems then it solves. Legalizing hash would mean more regulation and scarcity of the drug, which I know is not what potheads want. But the point is that it would decrease the popularity and availability of pot to minors.

It would be harder to supply to children, because as people pointed out earlier, government regulated drugs would be a little harder to get, but I agree with JJJ that enough people would be willing to pay a little more for their hash if it grants them the freedom to possess it without persecution from the government. They won't however be more willing to let little kids bum a joint off of them.

Besides, the more socially accepted something is, the less "cool" it becomes, everybody knows that.

Well there are certainly complications in legalizing marijuana, it should be common knowledge that it never should have been legal in the first place. It's a naturally grown substance, it's not addictive or fatal and while there are some negative effects it can have on one's health they're miminal compared to alcohol, tabacco and countless perscription drugs.

And the gateway drug argument has always been a silly one. People who get the idea to do cocaine from marijuana (which is nothing like cocaine) are not only idiots, they would probably get that idea anyway.

I also wouldn't compare it to do drugs like E and Coke which actually ARE dangerous drugs and don't have the same benefits (health, economical, social) that Marijuana has. I'm also supportive of legalizing LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. E is a grey area, it's not addictive and exactly how safe it is is still a big matter of debate. Most cases of people daying from it involve them taking a lot of it or mixing it with other substances.

Yeah, but how did kids get into pot? Because they smoked cigarettes?

That alone isn't much of a reason to keep pot illegal. A lot less kids smoke tabacco these days. Because they have been made aware of the health problems it causes (and unlike pot, most the cited health effects are actually real). So why would these same kids try pot just because it's legal? Let alone try coke.

These kids are gonna do stuff like that regardless if it's legal or not. And the fact of the matter is, cigarettes and aclohol are legal and they always will be. It's only fair to legalize substances that are not only less dangerous but also have even greater benefits for the economy.

I'd rather have the right to put any natural substance in my body without risk of facing prosecution. And I think millions of people feel the same way.

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mr dave

wow, can't say i agree with this one. although i suppose it would make it safer to know it was made in a controlled lab environment as opposed to an old bathtub but still. legal LSD is a scary prospect. yes, technically pot, hash, LSD and mushrooms all get lumped into 'psychedelic' drugs but wow is there ever a huge difference between smoking a J and eating a tab or two.

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i am the universe

boo boo

Pot isn't a true psychedelic drug.

LSD's mental effects vary from person to person, but that applies to a lot of sh*t that's legal in this country.

Shrooms and peyote should also be legal. And opium. You can criticize me for over-simplifying matters but I don't think the government has any right to control what kind of plants we pluck out of the f*cking ground.

I don't want to discuss how dangerous said drug is because that's not the point. People put unhealthy sh*t in their body everyday, and a lot of it doesn't come from the black market, it comes from the supermarket, and the pharmacy.

If you're stupid enough to put something in your body that you know very well could kill you, you're gonna do it anyway, legal or not. And legalizing drugs would do more good than bad, it would bring in a lot of revenue, it would actually make drugs less accessible to the public and it would put a serious decrease on drug related crimes, our prisons would have enough room for real criminals.

Just look at how things were during the prohibition era and how things changed afterwards. That's all the proof you need.

Of course there are things to work out, it won't be easy, if drugs are too high people will still go to the black market. So we would have to compete with it. Maybe not tax drugs too hard because the legalization alone should be very stimulating for the economy.

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lucifer_sam

they are, for you.

white man fucked the aboriginal American hard, least we can do is let them keep their piece pipe.

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first.am

boo boo

I don't live on a reservation dude.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

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lucifer_sam

i was joking (slightly). the government checkerboarded the **** out of them anyways; it's impossible for Native Americans to live in a unified community any bigger than a city block.

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first.am

Thrice

Those numbers are no where near correct. You cannot put a value on a LB of MJ. I've purchased a pound for $500 of brick, and seen a buddy purchase one for $2500, thats a bit of a difference. Also, the cost of production of a pound could even outweigh the profit. It takes quite a few plants to produce a pound. You must also factor in the cost of lighting, fixtures, pots, soil, chemicals, timer, and mostly the outrageous electric bill. The article states an average of $1.70 per gram to produce. $1.70/1g>28g/1oz>16oz/1lb>$760/lb on average to produce a lb.


Thats great, but thats not the arguement, I agree 100%, but obviously it isnt this way. The thread is about the discussion from different standpoints on the Legalization/decriminalisation of MJ for economic purpose. May it be irrelevant, yet we still enjoy it.

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Lew Harrison, who looked like an anarchist with his red eyes and fierce black beard, had been writing furiously in one corner of the room. "That's good—happiness by the kilowatt," he said. "Buy your happiness the way you buy light."

Thrice

Not in the least. I guarentee myself or MANY others would not have ventured into the realms we have endeavored if it were not for MJ. I truly support the fact that it is a gateway drug.

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Lew Harrison, who looked like an anarchist with his red eyes and fierce black beard, had been writing furiously in one corner of the room. "That's good—happiness by the kilowatt," he said. "Buy your happiness the way you buy light."

SATCHMO

Yeah, there's a huge variation in the cost of marijuana. that's beside the point. The system of production that you've illustrated here is grossly inefficient and unprofitable. The markup on the cost of the equipment to grow the weed is as outrageous as the price of the weed itself. Marijuana wasn't meant to be grown using sodium grow lights, it was meant to be grown using sunshine like every other thing that grows out of the ground on this earth for free without the assistance of human beings.

Bane of your existence

In short answer, yes weed is a gateway drug, but not inherently.
Think about the speakeasies of the twenties. Drinking gained a ton of popularity in this time, and fairly upright citizens (including police, political figures) were forced into these speakeasies. Because they were already a place of illegal goings-on, there was no reason they wouldn't be a place of gambling, prostitution, and drugs. Weed is the same thing. Because normal people that smoke are forced to go places and deal with drug dealers, they are exposed to them and the fear of hardcore drugs is diluted.