Not trying to be a devil's advocate, but should today's "illegal" status really be subject of debate? There are so many levels in which this matter is intertwined socio-economically that I wonder if it really should be done right now. You have to deal with drug cartels/pharmaceuticals/government at the big money level, local level dispensaries competing with drug dealers as a stable low-mid income status, and as users vs. patients, who really is sick enough and how do you label actual patients vs recreational users bandwagoning.
Well I could explain why it should be legal, or I can simply ask you a question. Do you want end up in jail for the bud of a plant?
So I want something that's easily accessible and not necessarily frowned upon by the community as long as you keep your shit together and don't bother anyone legalized in place of any other legal effort that's worth being fought right now? All i'm saying is that there is a time and a moment, but not now. It should be in it's semi-legal status for now as people with actual disabilities need access, but I also see that the illegality of it makes it a sort of right of passage or at the very least, you know you are getting into something that requires a certain mindset that you either already have or will develop in the process of coming into contact with the bud.
You may not be the devil's advocate, but you sure are the devil's avocado, because you're full of Omega-3 fatty acids, thus keeping the devil's cannabinoid receptors up par and enhancing the devil's experience of cannabis
It should be legalized, but not now? If not now, then when? Marijuana should be legal yesterday. We shouldn't be contributing to the black market and we shouldn't be contributing to violent drug cartels. We should tax it and create desperately needed revenue to state and federal governments. We need to stop wasting money on non-violent, non-harmful drug-offenders in jail. I don't see any reason to keep it illegal.
Well, yes, but right now there is no secondary economy nor a rising one for there to be a smooth transition. If it were legalized now, there would be another recession/boom cycle because of just how magnificent marijuana and hemp are in terms of potential. What would happen to low and mid level houses that depend on the sales of drugs as a source of income, people need to stop looking at dealers as simple providers and look at them as self made business people. There will definitely be a class war between dealers and dispensary owners at some point, and DEA raids will be replaced with IRS visitations, as schwagg becomes over the counter and dank will need prescriptions.
because it's intertwined socio-economically it shouldn't be discussed? where the hell is your logic? are you trying to say, legalizing it would do damage to the economy of drug dealing?LOL legalizing it and selling like it's alcohol is different than legalizing it for sick people with doctors recommendations, you're basing your whole post on it being legalized for medicinal purposes...< YOU NEED TO RECOGNIZE THIS AND THEN YOU'LL REALIZE THIS .if it were to be recognized as legal at the federal level for medicinal purposes and in all states, simply a further investigation and some bills or acts, making it only allowed to be used for SERIOUS, ongoing, uncurable, inoperable, diseases or disorders. thus doctors could only recommend it to those fitting the criteria, which would be derived from further scientific evaluation of the effects of cannabis in each illness it's recommended in. it does help for headaches, but headaches might not qualify....get it?
Yes it should. Not only will it be great for pot smokers, but it will let the failforce direct their attention to more pressing matters. Also it will give the economy money if they choose to sell it, and tax the sale of it. However as with Alcohol, it'll probably still be illegal to grow your own and sell it to friends and shit.
Yes, really. Cannabis is one of the most useful plants on this planet. Keeping it illegal is a crime against humanity. The prohibition of cannabis has led to the imprisonment and murder of tens of thousands of people. @OP: Forget the nonsense you're spewing. You need to start over. Check your premises. Research cannabis. Research cannabis prohibition. Research economics.
^^i was gonna be a huge douche and light OP up..thanks kstigs for keeping me from looking like that asshole that i truly am....
Fuck all the sociopolitical economical impacts of legalizing it. Think of all the dank shit you would be able to buy for extremely cheap prices.
It shouldnt be illegal in the first place. We're the only civilization that has had a problem with it. Why? Because hemp and cannabis took away profit from the lumber industry. It still is capitalism that keeps it illegal. Marijuana in its current form is a huge cash cow for the government. Why would the government want to lose billions in funding? Money=power.
Economic arguments aside, cannabis prohibition is a gross violation of the inherent right to do with one's body what one pleases. By telling individuals that they may not consume cannabis (or any other substance, for that matter) is, in essence, telling them that they do not have ownership of their body.
I'm not saying it shouldn't or I don't want it, period, it's just that my view is that society tends to be jumpy to new developments, in part because media capitalizes on specific things and that gets people who don't really think about shit riled up from rationalizations, and at this present venture in history, with the middle east re-building and new energy alternatives, globalization, should the US really be fighting pot front and center, I mean, is it really that important? Because right now the money is going to a few, instead of being spread among the masses. That's what lobbyists and campaign donations are for.
That has to be the most poppycock excuse. It would cause a boom, and only a boom. It would greatly benefit the economy. It's not a self made business, it's a crummy business. It isn't a sustainable one, and will never be. The attitude that drug dealers need it is fucking stupid. The medical community needs it, cancer patients need it. Fuck the drug dealers if they need money that badly, they should get a second job. Lolwut, 2nd most poppycock excuse. Dank would be available 24/7, and 99.98% if the time it would be better then what the average dealer sells. Also the amount of dealers that actually need the money is miniscule compared to the ones that just do it for the money. You have the, "OMGEEZ dealerz need the monies to support themselves, like omg this should over ride all the potential medical uses, herbal, rope, and material usage that legalizing dope would bring on." I mean come on, you want to keep a plant that has anti-cancer property illegal so a few chump dealers can make extra money? Tell them to get a fucking job. Epic lulz were had upon reading this.
it's a cash cow in a way, but they don't pocket the money they are 'funded' from the proescution of drugs, they convince us we need to believe they're all very dangerous, and that the people using them need to be put in cold 5x8 steel cells with murders, rapists, robbers, for using them...and that the american people should pay for it, with the "war on drugs" using our tax money on police, jail, DEA, drug task forces, court fees and costs, prisons $47k a year for one inmate paid for by tax payer.www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/laomenus/sect...+does+an+inmate+cost&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us and some people believe it's a way to help deflate the dollar and it has been doing that a lot, as we've been spending a lot of money on it in a time we shouldn't be. 50th Anniversary Of Treaty Outlawing Cannabis Worldwide - Toke of the Town i'm not sure the dates other nations made cannabis or other drugs illegal, i can't find much online, but i've always heard the US influenced them to do so. this furthers my point. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hFfgpKdo_E]War on Drugs founded on Racism & Ignorance - YouTube[/ame] Judge Jim Gray^
Your argument could be applied to things like slavery in the US before the Civil War. The reason the South didn't want to give up their slaves was at least partly economic. Many Southerners would've had to come up with new business models. Obviously, slavery was probably worse than cannabis prohibition; however. people are still be imprisoned and murdered en masse over cannabis. Legalization could help end a lot (if not most) of that. Your argument boils down to the following: the well-being of businesses/people that could lose money from cannabis legalization is more important than the people imprisoned and the people who died because of cannabis prohibition.
not true. it is cronyism that got it illegal and cronyism that is keeping it illegal. in a capitalist society it never would have been an issue...you know voluntary action and all of that