Marijuana: Should it be Legalized???

[Brasil]

[quote name='Zeta']Legalizing it would free up law enforcement and keep children away from the drug trafficking. With it under government regulation all an underage person would have to do would turn to an 18 year old (if that is the chosen age lets say) and ask for him to buy some. That is what people do with cigarettes. It would be no different. The plus to this would be that it would keep children/teens away from the drug market, keeping them away from much harder drugs like cocaine and heroin.[/quote]
I just want to make sure I'm understanding your point here. You're saying that it's okay to make it easier (but safer) for children to buy drugs that are currently illegal for a reason.

I think there's some confusion about what drug trafficking really is, too.

[url=http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/drug_trafficking.html][u]Drug Trafficking[/u][/url]

I think everyone here should note that "drug trafficking" is defined as what is essentially an illegal method of acquiring drugs. If we were to adopt your suggestion, Zeta, we [i]would not[/i] be removing drug trafficking from the equation. We would only be removing the druglords. That's it. The drug trafficking would still be very prevalent, only now, drug trafficking would be run by 18-year-olds. 18-year-olds would become the new druglords.

Sciros, under Zeta's "plan," there's still going to be a drug market.

[quote name='Zeta']The key to legalizing marijuana is smoking it responsibly.[/quote]
The key to using marijuana to begin with is smoking it responsibly, but it doesn't seem like anyone is using it responsibly now, anyway.

[Zeta]

When most people say drug tafficking/market, they usually mean the illegal drug dealers not those who just buy cigarettes. My apologies.

You don't hear about health related problems nor car accidents concerning marijuana. That is being more responsible than drinkers in my mind. Since you don't hear about them too often, it is obvious they are being more responsible than drinkers who decide to drive.

The only thing I have left to say is if you want to know the truth you can try it if you want. Just be responsible about it. I have nothing more to add.

[Syk3]

In response to the statement about a joint not being safer than a cigarette, I just wanted to say that I simply don't understand how someone would willingly put all of the toxins and poisons into their body from a cigarette, as well as nicotine which could potentially get you addicted after one smoke. Joints have a bigger impact on your lungs with the smoke intake, it's true, but this is how I see it: a lot of smoke > poisons and addiction. Not only that, but as said before, there are methods for using marijuana that bypass the smoke issue altogether.

Heaven's Cloud and Zeta have made excellent points on the subject:

[quote name='Heaven's Cloud][color=indigo]Despite all of my pro-pot propaganda, I am actually against legalizing the substance for several reasons. First being that corporations would more than likely bastardize the product, much like they did with tobacco. I have a feeling that commercial marijuana would be loaded down with an overabundance of the same carcinogens that cigarettes contain. Second, marijuana grows anywhere and that means that, regardless of corporate involvement in the product, there would always be a huge underground market for it that is entirely un-taxable. Third, there is no definitive way to test for marijuana impairment. Since your motor skills are severely hampered while under the influence of marijuana you have a greater chance to create a vehicular accidents, and I don?t want pot legalized until there can be repercussions for its abuse. [/color][/QUOTE][QUOTE=Heaven's Cloud][color=indigo]You don?t weigh the benefits of something before you make it legal, you weigh the consequences. The marketplace is currently saturated with products that, with the exception of enjoyment, offer no benefits (Twinkies, most video games, and reality television to name a few). But partaking in these activities doesn?t directly or indirectly hurt anyone but the partaker. If an object or substance doesn?t present a threat to anyone other than the user than why should the government become involved? I don?t think the government should protect ourselves from ourselves.[/color][/QUOTE][QUOTE=Zeta']When you smoke weed you have the ability to think. Which I hope that everyone actually does before thinking of getting into a car while under the influence. I used to drive after/while I was smoking, with people who are totally against the stuff mind you. They commented on my driving being a whole lot better. Maybe this is just an isolated incident, maybe it isn't. But all the people I have driven with stoned are much better drivers while under the influence of marijuana than alcohol. It was stupid of me and them to do that, but our driving wasn't half as bad as those who have been drinking. Looking back on this, I realize that I was not being responsible and am just glad that nothing ever happened. But most times when someone smokes they are just going to chill wherever they are at. Usually it is in small groups and they just crash where they are, lol. Or the person is alone and just sits at a computer or watches a movie. Not too many people smoke and drive and get into accidents. If they did you would hear about them a lot, even if it is illegal you would still here about them. I know I don't around the places where I have lived.[/quote]And now, I think it's about time that I retire from this debate. I do appreciate all of the replies to my posts, which I have read in addition to all of the new posts. It's not that I'm trying to get out of this debate so much as out of the cycle. I'm confident enough about the strong positions on each side of the subject that I don't think either of us will fully convince the other, and I don't want to debate for the sake of debating, especially when we're no longer trying to convince someone. I feel unfortunate that Serraph chose not to support the legalization of marijuana, which I do still back up, but that's his decision. We've each responded to the points, and it's likely now that I've already shared my opinion on positions that are still coming up. I don't want to start sounding like a broken record here, heh. I am interested on what others opinions on the subject are, though, such as the posts I've quoted above.

[Guest mynameiswhooy]

i don't personally want to comment (it's a long story) but i have to say that i think it is absolutly wonderful to see people discussing because i think it needs to be talked about and ppl should be more open about it... before i get carried away i need to stop talking but thank you for starting this and thanks to the ppl who comment

[Sun]

[COLOR=DarkOrange][SIZE=1][FONT=Verdana]I'm a 13 year old kid and i've already been exposed to it. Until this year i was totally against it. But at the moment the drug was right there, so it wouldn't hurt if i took a few hits. I realized later that i hated it.

Keep in mind that i've heard the stories about how bad it is and everything. It was just there, and me being a stupid little kid was curious. That was about a month ago and i'm so glad i didn't like it. I now see a couple of my friends do it and i'm starting to realize if i really want their lives getting exposed to drugs that are later on going to be harmful to their health.

I'm working on my friend to quit, but he's not doing it to act "cool". He's doing it for the high.Since i'm at the stage of peer pressure already it wouldn't matter if it was legalized or not because kids are still going to get their hands on it anyways. But i do believe that we should keep it illegalized because it's actually getting a lot of kids in "Anti-Drug" mode. But who knows if my opinions change when i enter my high school years. [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Syk3]

XD Woah.. didn't expect this thread to be coming back. I'm not sure what the moderators of this section want to do, but I'd like to comment on a part real quick.

[quote name='Rising Sun][color=darkorange][size=1][font=Verdana]But i do believe that we should keep it illegalized because it's actually getting a lot of kids in "Anti-Drug" mode. But who knows if my opinions change when i enter my high school years. [/font][/size'][/color][/quote]That's the thing, heh. Since it's illegal in the first place, I suppose that makes kids more cautious, which is good, but it also gets it in their heads that it's completely bad without a doubt. And in my opinion, they should be presented with more of the facts about the drug as opposed to "it's illegal and a drug, don't do it."

[James]

[color=#737373]Yeah, there are already a lot of facts in this thread and stuff that's been cited, by myself and others. Interested members can browse through that if they like, but it might not be best to bring back an extremely old thread.[/color]