Here's another interesting thing I read on the subject at hand, just goto the link below:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=62294

Sounds pretty accurate to me...What do you think of this article???

I am all for legalizing it. I hate the stuff and can't stand to be near it, but as Geeogree said, it is ridiculous to get a record for getting high. Cigarettes are way worse for you yet they are legal. Also, by legalizing it you can tax it and regulate it. There is a way to tell how long something has been in your system, and trust me you can tell if someone is high or not. But when I say regulating I mostly mean quality... right now they have pot out there cut with rat poison and other s***, and there is no way to know what you are really getting. By legalizing it you can control the quality and reduce chances of accidentally getting killed because of the pot being coated with something. Also, it would hurt the drug cartels coming up from Mexico and perhaps reduce some of the problems with the drug war going on.

I am for it. Legalize it and tax it. If people are going to be using it either way, you might as well make money off it while simultaneously reducing drug-related crime.

Legalize it but dont tax it... oh guess that isn't possible... solution? Continue business as normal by selling it on streets I don't think they should legalize it now cause from what I've heard it does not benefit anyone except those with a desiese who need it for medical help. In my state, they would eliminate 80% of dispensaries if legalized so it really isn't as good as it sounds, at least here its not.

Originally posted by JigSaw

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Legalize it but dont tax it... oh guess that isn't possible... solution? Continue business as normal by selling it on streets I don't think they should legalize it now cause from what I've heard it does not benefit anyone except those with a desiese who need it for medical help. In my state, they would eliminate 80% of dispensaries if legalized so it really isn't as good as it sounds, at least here its not.

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Well this sounds good and all but they would just need to simply decriminalize it in every state and have every state abide by the rules like California and such states already do. This way it wouldn't eliminate the dispensaries but create more and the goverment would still get there share of some money as well. If they do it this way everybody pretty much gets their way, from the potheads right down the line to Osama and them, lol...

Now I'm not an american, but I'm weighing in anyway.
I dont think it should be legal for a few reasons.
1: despite what anyone says, it is an addictive substance, the same as ciggarettes are.
on that note, they should probally be illegal too, though they are slightly better because as was said earlier, they don't mentally impair you.
2: it has been scientifically proven that it has no real medicinal purpose.
it does not actually remove any pain or do any good, only makes one not care about the pain.
I will link to the relevent info if needed, Solehite has the links.
3: it is a gateway drug, that's what it means when someone says they got bored with it and tried something else.

Originally posted by geeogree

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Most people under the influence of alcohol can't drive, can be more angry, have poor judgment.

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Apart from the angry bit, you just described a a high person.
The anger instead comes afterwards when the addict realises they have run out of pot.

Originally posted by hoguan

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If Marijuana is legal, then people will start using it more.

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Which would either increase or keep the price the same as it is now, thus the crime rate would either not change or go up, due to more people not caring (because of being high).

Lagslayer also had many good points:

Originally posted by Lagslayer

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it can't be regulated like alcohol. Alcohol passes out of your system in a few hours, while drugs can stay for weeks or months after you used them, even after the effects have worn off. Drugs impair your judgment like alcohol, but there is currently no definitive way to test if someone with drugs in their system is under the influence or not.

As for drug related crimes, I figure it would either stay about the same or go up. If people can suddenly smoke it legally, consumption will go up. Like any drug, it's effect will feel less and less, and likely get people onto the harder drugs, which will still be illegal and very dangerous.

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^^^^I can tell you have a lack of real life knowledge of marijuana.(which isnt a bad thing, unless your trying to debate about it)

On it not having any medicinal values your wrong right off the bat.
Its not meant to be a pain killer.
Do you know anything about chemotherapy?
Well if you dont its a treatment what most people who have cancer undergo.
One of the main side effects of this treatment is nausea and vomitting.
Meaning you feel sick and you cant really eat anything becasue you will throw it up. Weed defintley cures that, Ive seen it first hand.
Marijuana can also help with migraines/headaches, and insomnia.

So yes please provide links where they prove it doesnt help with chemotherapy patients.

No, I don't know anything about medicine, despite my gf going to med school and telling me these things when I mentioned this thread (obvious sarcasm is obvious)

As I said, wait and my gf will get the links for me if you really care.
Pain is the cornerstone of illness. Even if you remove the disease, without pain removal the body cannot heal, because in order to heal you need to remove the pain.

All pot does is cause a chemical imbalance, one of the side effects possibly being reducing nausea.
If you in fact read the NCI page on weed, it in no way mentions pain and even goes as far to say "that other antiemetic drugs or combinations of antiemetic drugs have been shown to be more effective than synthetic THC" and that it's only really good "for some cancer patients who have chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting that cannot be controlled by other antiemetic agents".
In other words, it's a bandaid solution, not a real one.

You mention headaches. Well these are a pain based condition.
If you do nothing to remove the pain the sufferer can in fact become bed ridden.
If someone needs weed to cure a simple headache rather then using asprin then they have something seriously wrong with them and need to seek medical attention.
I know this for a fact as well as family members have suffered sevre migraines, and the perscribed medication for those symtoms when asprin wont work is a medication consisting of ergotamine tartrate and caffeine (Cafergot).

As for insomnia, weed would act as an antidepressant rather then a cure.
And there alot better alternatives out there to help one sleep that dont come with all the extra garbage (bad smells, addiction, etc)

Ill be patiently waiting for the links.
Ive already seen reports saying that marijuana can help with patients, but some dr's say it doesnt help enough to be considered a reliable medicine. Hopefully you show me one were they prove that out of all there tests it didnt help at all.

And yes your right, some other drugs work better then medical marijuana but it depends on the person. So for those people that used marijuana and it worked better then then regualar medicinal drugs, it kinda doesnt prove your point.

And your right again if you have severe migraines you should seek medical attention.
But if you have a just a minor headache, trust me it fixes that.


Im not here saying weed is some miracle drug that is a cure all, all im saying is that it does have medicnal purposes.

And for it smelling bad that is a opinion. I have 2 friends that will never smoke weed in there life, but whenever im around they tell me to smoke in there room/car because it smells so good lol.

Addicted to weed? I dont know about that one.

I'm going to say no for this one. If we legalize Marijuana, we may as well legalize most other drugs. Sure, it may have medical purposes, so you can make it legal for doctors to give it to patients personally and one dose at a time. There are really clever people out there who can forge a signature or two and have access to all the drugs they need. If it becomes legal to all Americans at any age, we could (not will, could) end up with a country full of addicts. That would cause trouble and force us to rely on another country for a steady supply of weed- if we go into nation-wide consumption, we can't just drop all of our crops for weed.
I'm not exactly sure how Marijuana works medically, but I do know that its illegal, and there are probably some good reasons for it's being so.

~sakura~ : Yea if we legalize marijuana, we might as well legalize crystal meth its all the same lol

BTowns : Ia already illegal to give others your drugs. You can't buy alchy or cigs for minors without going to jail if caught. I believe all drugs should be legalized. A major factor of people going for it is it being illegal. You guys heard of something called the Prohibition? The government made illegal all alcohol. That was one of the big factors of the mafia and all those guys coming into power. just legalize it and regulate it to death, like they are doing to cigarettes now. don't let people smoke it in public, blah blah. if people can get their hands on it easily, they won't want it anymore.

Bobbynibbles : True. and also if you legalized weed, there would be one less substance the cartels would fight over and be trying to bring into our country. And less amounst of tax dollars being wasted on a already retarded "war on drugs".