Yes I think marijuana should be legalize just because it will lower the crime rate and it is much better for you then cigarettes and you can get them everywhere they should be illegal. Marijuana also helps sick people get better so yes they should legalize weed.

Marijuana ought to be legal and taxed like cigarettes, and I have really good reasons why.

Looking at Colorado in particular, the taxes that went to the schools in what I think was a few months was a couple million. Taking the money from marijuana sales, even ten percent, is a huge boost. 

Also, the girl scouts would go on sooooo many trips if they just set up shop near the dispensaries. This has been proven, look it up.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not going to kill your lungs like tobacco. There's less additives, it's just the plant. It's also been proven that continued moderate to mild use will improve lung function. It will drop at first, but it will pop up fairly quickly.

Also, Prohibition. You'll notice that when alcohol was banned, illegal sales went insane, and crime rates got huge. When it got legal again, crime rates dropped again and the sales died. If we make things illegal and "bad", the younger generation just takes a bigger interest in it. Especially when they decide to rebel. Someone raised with less taboos will have a harder time rebelling because there's nothing to rebel against. If your parents are taking everything and making it common knowledge, you can only rebel by making them considered immoral, which makes the next generation think it's so cool. That generation then becomes the common kno- you see my point. 

You may ask, why don't they just rebel every other generation? You're close, but it doesn't quite work that way, the cycles are random. More than likely what will happen with this is marijuana becoming completely legal and normal until someone finds a corrupted (or completely honest) reason to make it a bad thing again, and the cycle will repeat! 

Back to reasons.

You also literally CANNOT overdose. You will get sick and purge it from your body before you can get close. 

This last bit is a mix of fact and opinion. It can cause cancer, it raises your odds, but here's where the opinion starts: I don't care. I really don't. So much gives you cancer nowadays that trying to avoid it is nearly impossible. Not to mention, I'd rather live life doing fun things and die earlier than eighty. After sixty eight, life just doesn't seem worth living if you aren't rich and able to travel. Why isn't life measured in what you did right instead of the years in which you screwed up?

momoisme :
1. Agree'd
2. Agree'd
3. lol yeah thin mint sales would sky rocket (I buy 6 boxes every 2 weeks, why? Munchies!)
4. Haha, tobacco funded studies say otherwise
5. Neutral
6. Neutral
7. Never puked from usage, but away from that. A lot of misleading statements are made like saying "60% of rehab patients are addicted to marijuana" you mean when a cop catches you smoking and you're sent to prison?
8. Neutral

Also the government tries and tells you marijuana wasn't the reason they are imprisoned, the truth is: an average of 750,000 Americans are arrested for possession alone, not usage or dealing or violent crimes or theft or any of the above, we are draining our tax money over someone who had marijuana!

Cradily is love : Aye.

While the potential to curtail unnecessary prison sentences is a great benefit, I believe that there are some negative consequences to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

Probably the most debated thing about marijuana in the last century is whether or not it's a gateway drug. This is something that was always vehemently debated in my various drug and alcohol rehabilitation stints. No doubt it will be denied and argued here as well. If you're not clear on exactly how it gateways let me clear it up for you. You're at a party or hanging out with friends and smoking weed. Somebody shows up or stops by and they have some liquor, meth, LSD, cocaine, heroin, etc. You have never tried this other thing before but you think to yourself 'Well, if getting stoned feels great maybe this other thing will feel great too."

Those were my EXACT thoughts 21 years ago.

People will no doubt say, 'It isn't like that for everyone' or 'I'm not like that' but SOME people are like that and those are the people that have the potential to take apathy, crime and/or violence to the extreme. In the process they warp their own young personalities into something originally unintended and reign destruction onto the ones they love most.

It's because of the possibility of those people that I would prefer it if marijuana were not legalized for recreational use. Would people still have access to it if it weren't legalized recreationally? Yes, but not to the same extent. There will be people exposed to it at a younger age than they would have been because it's socially acceptable and more available.

It's a constant struggle knowing that I can drive one state away and legally purchase an ounce or two? of weed. It's even harder knowing that there's a liquor store on every other corner in my neighborhood. Please, don't put weed on every third corner too!

If you take anything away from this post it's that putting chemicals into your body for the purpose of creating a good feeling is unnecessary. There is a balance to our highs and lows that is natural and does not need to be altered.

Did I ramble? Yes, probably. *steps off soapbox*

thephantombrain : The most hilarious thing about your WHOLE post is that if you replace marijuana with "alcohol" every single one of these points would be true, if you're drunk your judgement is impaired thus you can more easily be convinced into trying other drugs. People also say that they're perfectly fine drunk and would never do that. And that younger age argument is about as valid as a coupon from 30 years ago, I can easily go in my fridge right now and drink one of my dad's 40 ounces, so by your logic, I'm being exposed to alcohol at an early age, so it must be illegal! you put many unnatural chemicals when you drink, yet marijuana contains 1 natural chemical. Also if we're on the subject of "dangerous chemicals" Paint gets you, should we ban it? Glue gets you high and many 3rd world countries use it, should we ban it? Helium gets you high (no pun intended) should we lock those dirt bags who posses helium? you could argue that they all have utility and they aren't sold to get you high, enter hemp, a marijuana variant that isn't grown to get you high, can you get high from it? Theoretically you could but the amount is needed is large, still. I know you'll find an argument to spit back, and I eagerly await to prove you wrong.

Forgive my repeating if any, please, as I skimmed the replies (just throwing in my two cents).

I believe marijuana should be 100% legalized for medical use, no questions.

Marijuana for recreational I would be fine with if it is regulated just the same as alcohol and cigarettes.

In a way, marijuana is the combination of alcohol and cigarettes; the former alters your state of mind, and the latter pollutes your lungs while relaxing you (from my understanding of why people smoke, anyway). Therefore, why not treat marijuana like the two? Put an age limitation on it (probably 21, due to its mind-altering properties), and make driving under the influence of marijuana just as bad as driving under the influence of alcohol. All the police would need is a test (which exists, as parole officers have such tests for drug criminals). Any other alcohol related crimes (public drunkenness for example) can be tacked onto the smoking of marijuana.

I'm not too strongly for the legalization of weed for recreational use, but I don't see it as big of an issue as many are making it out to be.

Don't take my word for it just because I lived it. I didn't lie when I said those were my exact thoughts 21 years ago.

I will clarify that I think legalization for medicinal use is fine. Just like alcohol and helium for medicinal use is justified. Paint and glue are great for construction and craft projects. Hemp has many varied uses.

I'm not going to "spit back" anything because I've said my piece and I worded it the best way I knew how.

hilarious, spit back, by my logic, prove me wrong? Your entire post sounds incredibly hostile.

thephantombrain : I'm sorry, I think I'll use the "I was in the zone" card for the hostility, and "proving you wrong" and "spitting back" was more of me being eager to hear what you had to say, I meant to disrespect to you and I value your opinion.

Ok, I always hear the negative effects it has on some people.
And they'll always admit it doesn't effect everyone that way
but it effects some a certain way, so it should be outlawed.

And I'm not going into the various possible effects that are discussed
but my point is
that some people are lactose intolerant
that some people do stupid things when they have too much caffeine
that some people develop psychological addictions to sugar (and caffeine)
that some people loose all motivation when they start playing video games
that some people withdraw when they watch a lot of television
that some people get paranoid when they read certain books

and that's not even getting started on the effect that many over the counter medications cause.
I could keep on for days, but my point is that marijuana shouldn't be criminalized because some people can't handle it.
And if you think so, you better get busy adding a whole bunch of other things to that list
including the Internet itself and all forms of social media.

And personally, believing marijuana is not ok, but alcohol is just fine, is plain ridiculous.
Alcohol has a stronger affect on your mind. It's more damaging to your body. It's more likely to make you aggressive. It's more impairing. Far more addictive. Ect. Ect.

And as far as it being a "gateway" drug....
I like what a comedian once said
"You might find that many of these addicts have also drank milk in their lives.
You might say that milk is the gateway drink"

Marijuana is not a gateway drug in my opinion. People who moved onto harder drugs were headed down that path anyway, with or without marijuana. That just happened to be their first stop on the path to self-destruction. 

I should also go ahead and mention that I don't smoke marijuana. Mainly because It drains me of all motivation. So i take responsibility for myself and choose not to smoke it. That doesn't mean I think everyone else doesn't have the right to make that decision for themselves without the threat of going to jail however.

i agree with the legalization the reason why marijuana is called the gate way drug is because people have to go through some shady characters in order to obtain in and then one day that shady character offers you something a little stronger and then bam you find yourself a drug addict not true in all cases but in a lot of them so at least they wil be able to buy it in a safe controled environment

it wil also help the economy to a point at first there will be a boom but since it is legal everyone willing to go out and buy the equipment will be able to grow there own supply droping sales of the marijuana dispensers and all the dealers who sell it now illegally will be out of a job witch may result in them turning to some other type of crime

I don't agree with the legalization of marijuana. Do you know that marijuana has 4x more poison than tobacco and its potency increases every year. Also marijuana has made people lose memory, lack of motivation, mood changes, growth problems, and more bad effects. I don't tolerate legalization. Lastly even though it is legal in some states, but truly it is federally illegal.

DemonBigj781 : No just no, do research, elementary school posters lie.

DemonBigj781 : 
1. It isn't poison, unless it is laced with poison, in which case, it is no longer pure marijuana. 
2. Potency doesn't just increase. You'd have to add more of another type of substance to see a substantial difference. Or mixing strains of stronger marijuana, potentially. However, you could still, feasibly, get a weaker strain. 
3. A lot of other substances do the same thing, and marijuana is generally less effective in those departments unless you over-consume, as with just about everything in excessive amounts. This also doesn't happen with all strains of the drug, and certain chemicals within can help prevent and/or nullify these effects entirely. 

clifton123 : "increased drug flow with kids"

I forget which country legalized all drugs -cocaine, meth, heroin, etc- but they found a drastically lower drug abuse rate once it was legalized, plus they severally damaged the income of less than desirable organizations.

baileyface544 : by that logic, all pharmaceutical drugs should be banned. Antacids, anxiety meds, pain meds, and especially chemotherapy should be banned. See where that doesn't sound so appealing?

As for me, personally, I believe it should be legalized for a bevy of reasons, namely for economical and medicinal purposes. It should be legalized for everyone 21 & older, much like booze. That said, I think those without medicinal reasons to smoke should be limited to a to a certain amount per month. Anybody can become addicted to anything (and I do mean anything), so this would help people from becoming sloth incarnate. The medicinal uses are absolutely incredible though, and that's the main reason it should be legalized

EDIT: Sorry Bailey, I misread your post. My bad, man

tornadocam : I drank a glass of water before trying estacy, LETS MAKE WATER ILLEGAL FOR OPENING THE DOORS TO ESTACY!

Rasenganfan2 :
edit: All good, I just reread your entire post and saw the part in the end. Originally only read the part addressed to me, and was about to mention that you were stating my point 
Sorry

Cradily is love : Hey, I really just want to warn you. I can get pretty fiery, so if I accidentally say something that hurts...my apologies. I know my weakness. Personally, I am for the medical uses. There are a lot of people that are in the hospitals in severe pain that really should be able to have something to help them like that...especially for the elderly. I am 100% against the legalization for normal recreational use. I would like to keep all my systems running and functional, thank you very much. And I don't want something that interferes with my gaming! I really feel that it is wrong to have it legalized for everyone. But I guess, if you're going to do it, you're going to do it. This, I guess just makes things easier on the police, as they only have track down all the other drugs. Personally, I cannot wrap my head around why someone would want to take this stuff when it messes with all your senses. (I really do not want to find out for myself either, thank you!)

Cradily is love : i would have to say coke is worse than mariquana XD the drug is not at all bad i dunno why they ever banned it but i think whatever made that way was a bunch of lies