Legalize Pot ?

[SteelerEmpire]

I have agreed with a lot Pat Robertson has said over the years, but this is not one of those issues.

I have seen a list of people degenerate over a side effect or addiction to "weed".

LINK: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/09/10624653-pat-robertson-is-for-legalizing-marijuana-what-would-jesus-do

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120309-pat-robertson-1245p.photoblog600.jpg

Schizophrenia has been the #1 result. I have lost numerous loved ones over the years to a slow "Schizo" decline; watched one of my lil bro's wack out several years ago and has never been the same since; had to physically beat his a** "several" times to keep him off of relatives that he felt where "plotting against him."
It may work for some people (it did for my bro for 20 yrs) until it does't anymore.

I've never did it, but good luck with it... not for the kid (me).................>>>>>>>>>>>

[smokin3000gt]

Sorry man, sounds like schizo runs in your family. I don't think we can blame the evil marijauna for that.

[SteelerEmpire]

Sorry man, sounds like schizo runs in your family. I don't think we can blame the evil marijauna for that.

Negative... I saw it most in people that are not kin to me... sorry... If your for legalizing it ????????????????????????? Bad stuff bro.... You may have seen some positive results from it, but I have seen some negative results. What I've seen I "surely" don't like.

[zulater]

Some people are self destructive by nature, and it's just a matter of what vice they choose to bring about their end. I've been close to people who've succumbed to alcoholism, gambling & sex addictions, and even self vanity. You shouldn't punish the world in an effort to save people who in many cases simply wont be saved from themselves. You take away one thing ( such as marijuana) they'll find another manner to destroy themselves.

That's not to say every reasonable effort shouldn't be made to save self indulged people from themselves. But you don't punish the masses because of the weakness of a few.

Marijuana should be legalized for adults over 20 years of age. ( which by the way should be the legal drinking age). It should be regulated and taxed. One of the biggest dangers with marijuana now is that the THC level in a normal joint is much higher than it was back in my day's of using it. (late 70's early 80's) Similar to alcohol, were it to be regulated in a free market setting, the potency level could be gauged and sold accordingly, so you could control what sort of high you're after. Also of course penalties should be administered to those that drive under it's influence.

And not that it's anyone's business, but I haven't used it since the mid 80's. As was the case with many of the people I grew up with it was just a part of being young, and when it was time to be a grown up it was easily put away.

[HometownGal]

Why not? Alcohol is legal and can give the same effects. :noidea:

[ALLD]

I do not smoke anything because I do not want to increase the risk of developing lung cancer which is a real and serious threat from that behavior. However, people should not be arrested and put in jail for bootlegging or possession. It should be legalized which would reduce the budget, but you also have to consider the moral hazard.

Pot is not harmless or a deity as some have elevated it to that status. IT makes you sleepy, lazy or nervous depending on the strain and it also has some therapeutic benefits, but most use it for recreation. Nothing wrong with that as long as you are not driving or working and understand the problems it can cause. I have seen some people smoke all day, everyday and their lives reflect it.

[The Patriot]

Marijuana is not something that will make you a danger to other people, so there's absolutely no reason we should be throwing people in prison for it.

[Count Steeler]

Is Robertson just trying to get publicity? Perhaps he is hearing that he should be running for President again?

I am not for legalizing MaryJane, although in Canada it already is virtually legal. You can only be arrested if you are deemed to be trafficking and you need to be in possession of a greater than casual amount. You are allowed to smoke it in public without being arrested.

It can be valuable as a pain reliever.

[zulater]

Marijuana is not something that will make you a danger to other people, so there's absolutely no reason we should be throwing people in prison for it.

I wouldn't go that far. If you're operating any sort of vehicle,or if you're responsible at the time for another's well being ( day care, nursing home, own child care etc.... ) you absolutely could make a fatal mistake due to marijuana use. I have a friend who's wife was a user. Their one child has severe diabetes, and his blood requires constant monitoring. Let's just say my friend nearly lost his son because his wife almost made a fatal mistake concerning their child due to being stoned out of her gourd while caring for him.

If you want to say people generally don't commit malicious acts due to marijuana use that's fair. But it's far from a harmless drug, the potential for abuse if very real.

That said it should be legal.

[The Patriot]

I wouldn't go that far. If you're operating any sort of vehicle,or if you're responsible at the time for another's well being ( day care, nursing home, own child care etc.... ) you absolutely could make a fatal mistake due to marijuana use. I have a friend who's wife was a user. Their one child has severe diabetes, and his blood requires constant monitoring. Let's just say my friend nearly lost his son because his wife almost made a fatal mistake concerning their child due to being stoned out of her gourd while caring for him.

If you want to say people generally don't commit malicious acts due to marijuana use that's fair. But it's far from a harmless drug, the potential for abuse if very real.

That said it should be legal.

Well, yes. It impedes judgment, so abuse of the drug should have the same consequences as drunk driving or using it at work. I meant that it's not a hallucinogen, so users won't become confused and potentially attack someone, and it's not scientifically proven to be chemically addictive, so it's very unlikely you'll have people snatching purses to pay for their next fix.

[bayz101]

Alcohol is more dangerous than Marijuana. As for schizo, one of the possible side-effects of smoking weed can be summed up as being a temporary schizo. Paranoid, scared and confused. I found myself locked in a closet once talking to a broomstick. That shit is ROUGH.

[X-Terminator]

Legalize ganja. Today.

[ALLD]

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/if-drugs-were-legal/

[GoSlash27]

The government shouldn't be in the business of protecting you from your own bad decisions.

[fansince'76]

https://mycotopia.net/forums/attachments/general-discussions/154494d1263322890-what-6a00d8341cc8d453ef00e5512d65068833-800wi.jpg

:chuckle:

[GBMelBlount]

It can be valuable as a pain reliever.

Anacin? Weed? Anacin? Weed? The tough choices we are faced with in our lives. :smoker:

J/K. I have heard that to be true.

[suitanim]

Legalize it, regulate it, tax it, and release the millions in jail for possessing it and/or selling it.

[suitanim]

Expounding:

Use the tax revenue to repair the roads and bridges...put the money in an "Al Gore Lock box" so it can't be stolen to pay for SSI, Medicaid, etc...once it's regulated, the dosage will be predictable so it will be safer. Decriminalizing pot will instantly defuse the whole situation with drug gang violence in Mexico, and finally the whole prison overcrowding situation will be relieved. Pot is ostracized so heavily ONLY because of the way it was portrayed in the media and popular culture 100 years ago. Pound for pound, alcohol is worse. I've never heard of anyone getting high and shooting up a nightclub, or killing their whole family...

[fansince'76]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zkgWHnqJ1I&feature=related

"Smoky McBongwater."

:lol:

[Hindes204]

Marijuana is no different than alcohol. It should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. Most people who fear marijuana are people who have never done it. It poses no more of a health risk than smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, both of which are legal. Here in California it is pretty much legal, and I havent witnessed anything that would make me think that it shouldnt be.

For the record, I do not smoke it.

[tube517]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zkgWHnqJ1I&feature=related

"Smoky McBongwater."

:lol:

:rofl2:

[The Duke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zkgWHnqJ1I&feature=related

"Smoky McBongwater."

:lol:

that was epic!

Brownies is the only type of weed I accept to be honest. At least it's food, leading you to getting more food :)

[silver & black]

If Ohio doesn't do any better with Pot than it does with alcohol, then, it will be a mess. Control states suck.

[GoSlash27]

I don't understand the mindset of people who say "tax and regulate". Especially when those same people complain about all the excessive taxation and regulation from the Federal government. This is not what they were empowered to do, so why can't we just kick it back to the States and be done with it? There is no need to "regulate" a plant and the government wastes the vast majority of the taxes it collects now. I say they shouldn't tax it *or* regulate it.

[zulater]

I don't understand the mindset of people who say "tax and regulate". Especially when those same people complain about all the excessive taxation and regulation from the Federal government. This is not what they were empowered to do, so why can't we just kick it back to the States and be done with it? There is no need to "regulate" a plant and the government wastes the vast majority of the taxes it collects now. I say they shouldn't tax it *or* regulate it.

It's called a sin tax. People generally don't bitch about taxes placed on non essential "fun" things such as gambling, drinking, and sex. And yes prostitution should be legal, taxed and regulated too.

We've got to fund the federal government somehow. Tanks and planes don't build themselves. Interstate highways don't pave themselves. The government needs to start cutting into the deficit. Our currency is nearly worthless. I'm all for taxing pot and prostitution. It wont be a cure-all, but it will help.

Besides it'd probably still end up cheaper than it is now, and be a better product. So what's the complaint?

[GoSlash27]

It's called a sin tax. People generally don't bitch about taxes placed on non essential "fun" things such as gambling, drinking, and sex. And yes prostitution should be legal, taxed and regulated too.

We've got to fund the federal government somehow. Tanks and planes don't build themselves. Interstate highways don't pave themselves. The government needs to start cutting into the deficit. Our currency is nearly worthless. I'm all for taxing pot and prostitution. It wont be a cure-all, but it will help.

Besides it'd probably still end up cheaper than it is now, and be a better product. So what's the complaint?

My complaint is two-fold.
#1 the Federal government doesn't have the power to levy "sin taxes", but nobody ever calls them on it.
#2 IMO this discussion should be a referendum on the government rather than the marijuana. They are indeed going broke, but it's not because they're not getting enough money. They do a shit job at the stuff they're supposed to do. Why would we want them doing any more than that?

Now... this is not to say that the States shouldn't tax and regulate if they wish. They have the power to do that. It's just that I'd like to see people take a more hard-line stance on how the Feds stick their fingers in the tiniest aspects of our lives. Instead of acting like we have to have some sort of Federal involvement in everything, if we decide it makes more sense to have something legal... why not tell them to go kick rocks?

[beSteelmyheart]

Expounding:

Use the tax revenue to repair the roads and bridges...put the money in an "Al Gore Lock box" so it can't be stolen to pay for SSI, Medicaid, etc...once it's regulated, the dosage will be predictable so it will be safer. Decriminalizing pot will instantly defuse the whole situation with drug gang violence in Mexico, and finally the whole prison overcrowding situation will be relieved. Pot is ostracized so heavily ONLY because of the way it was portrayed in the media and popular culture 100 years ago. Pound for pound, alcohol is worse. I've never heard of anyone getting high and shooting up a nightclub, or killing their whole family...
Great post, I agree completely!
I also want to add that I disagree about pot being a "gateway drug" that supposedly sends it's users into a downward spiral with more & more powerful drugs.. My fiancee is a regular pot smoker & that's funny how I don't see him shopping around for bags of heroin or dozens of pain killers. My mother recently passed away because she smoked cigarettes all of her life & in the end, refused the breathing tube. A close relative slowly killed herself with alcohol & drug abuse...every drug you could think of...except for pot, which she didn't like.
Nobody mentions the real gateway drugs, the "babysitter" drugs that are prescribed for so called problem children in an effort to calm them down. It's strange how these conditions weren't so common 30 years ago. And how are some of them connected to the young people who flip out & go on shooting rampages through their schools?
A friend of ours started taking Paxil to "cure" him of a social disorder called shyness and it turned him into a psycho. "Paxil" admits on it's own website that they're not sure how it works!!
But the common denominator here is big business...With the tobacco, alcohol & big drug companies heavily lining the pockets of politicians, pot doesn't stand much of a chance, it's going to take a long time & with some of the old farts clinging so desperately to old media myths, it might not happen at all.

[suitanim]

There's no chance it will be legalized any time soon. It's just a nice thought and another common sense approach to a problem that has many unintended consequences (although I'm sure most people who are prefer that it remain illegal think they are doing the right thing). Besides, if they DID regulate and tax it, they'd end up funneling the money off and squandering it on some other Democratic pet spending project or other, and they'd probably grandfather the non-violent offenders INTO prison.

[SteelerEmpire]

Originally Posted by suitanim
Expounding:

Use the tax revenue to repair the roads and bridges...put the money in an "Al Gore Lock box" so it can't be stolen to pay for SSI, Medicaid, etc...once it's regulated, the dosage will be predictable so it will be safer. Decriminalizing pot will instantly defuse the whole situation with drug gang violence in Mexico, and finally the whole prison overcrowding situation will be relieved. Pot is ostracized so heavily ONLY because of the way it was portrayed in the media and popular culture 100 years ago. Pound for pound, alcohol is worse. I've never heard of anyone getting high and shooting up a nightclub, or killing their whole family...

I heard the Californian Mexican gangs were threating and killing the operators of the stores that were commissioned to distribute legal pot (for medical uses, etc...). The word is it's because the legal distributors are seen as a threat to hurt the drug gangs business.