I honestly don't care if weed is legalized or not. But you it all depends on if you use it or not. I've done it and I can say that it didn't impress me enough to keep doing it. Sure if you like it, good for you. Do what you want. If you don't, then you don't. But think of it like this also. People tend to do things that they are told they aren't allowed to do. This is shown by little kids and teenagers. Let's say weed is legalized. Will more people do it because it's legal? Or will people do it less because every will be able to do it. Sometimes you can say smoking weed defines people. That's only if you look at it that way. Bottom line, we could experiment with it being legal, and if it doesn't work, take it way. 

To be honest I'm not even sure why this is a problem anymore.   So many people already do weed even if its against the law despite the concerns of the government.   Honestly for an economic standpoint we should legalize it and make the operation run like the liquor.   It will create more revenue and get rid of the debt we have, but then again we have to worry about what the drug lords would do with this new freedom they have.  There are so many pro's and con's to this topic that it's just going to sit on the fence until we have enough people believing in one side of the topic this will just remain on the shelf

I think it should because it cures you and a lot of more ways than cigarettes do. Cigarettes are worser than weed and its legalized so why not weed. Weed also clears the mind. Helps you to relax people are going to do it anyways why not.

My main issue with marijuana is the effects it has on short term memory when smoked frequently.
Marijuana doesn't cause mental problems, though I can see how it could help bring underlying mental conditions to light in certain people. (Though it can help in a lot of cases)
It also has the ability to let people form habits. So if you smoke then just sit there and not use your brain at all, of course
there's going to be negative effects. When I smoke, I enjoy doing things to spark my brain activity.
I'm all for smoking, but I think it should only be done every once in a while.
Anything in excession can be bad for you.

Should it be illegal? No.
Should it have restrictions? Yes, a lot of substances should.

I say treat it exactly the same as alcohol. This isn't important enough that the government needs to decide for the person. I have smoked before, and it wasn't a bad experience, but I still really don't understand the hype. Have it so kids can't use it; but let adults. Tax it heavily, of course, and only allow sell from licensed companies. All penalties of alcohol go to this one. No driving high, no getting high in public places, no selling to minors. Done and done.

Not just weed, but EVERY SINGLE drug there is. They are arbitrarily illegal, and prohibition has NEVER worked. All it does is filling up prisons, encourage organized crime and reduce our liberties. 

Prohibition was a failure; so is the war on drugs. Plus, for a good part of it, it's based on racism.

janus : I disagree with that. The majority of those drugs are potentially really dangerous, and not purely natural, but were made in untrusted labs by some guy who knows what he's doing, but is still putting semi-random crap into it. Tobacco is pretty bad, but something that has many more toxins and chemicals than that, with such extreme mood altering things, it's way worse.

Personally, I don't think there's a problem with marijuana, it's a plant for god's sake, there's not much that can go wrong with one thing, instead of the potential millions of ingredients that are in other drugs. The only two problems I have with it are that I'm incredibly asthmatic, and the smell of it is pretty strong. With marijuana based foods, those are good with me, because they're smokeless and they don't have a strong smell.

I think weed should be legalized and taxed because I think it would cut down on crime and cause less drug trafficking world wide.

Its bad enough children get there hands on cigarettes in schools... if weed would become available to adults... teenagers would also get there hands on it and well... that would be even worse for schools than current problems such as smoking.

@alexanyways

" The majority of those drugs are potentially really dangerous, and not purely natural, but were made in untrusted labs by some guy who knows what he's doing, but is still putting semi-random crap into it."

So the government should protect people against themselves?

"Tobacco is pretty bad, but something that has many more toxins and chemicals than that, with such extreme mood altering things, it's way worse."

According to what I read, nicotine is more addictive that most opiates, and some of them can have some use (morphine)

I've never understood why it's illegal. The drugs that the US government currently peddles (Alcohol, Tobacco, prescription drugs etc are way worse for your body than Marijuana ever could be.

Sure it's not for everyone, but there is no reason that it should be illegal. Honestly the government could make a lot of money on taxing that product just like they do for the other aforementioned products. Not to mention the money they would save by not having these people needlessly overpopulating the US court system

Thankfully the movement is growing with Washington and Colorado already legalizing it.

Weed should never be legalised , no drug ( except medicine ) should be legalised , people just do stupid things with drugs .

Yes, it has more benefits than downsides, and any banners or ads saying that marijuana has more dangerous effects than smoking or Alcohol is total bull ____ weed is a safer paper product than lumber so we would have more trees, and weed comes from the earth pure nothing else. The government brainwashes people into thinking that weed is deadly they can go die in F'n hole. I for 1 smoke it, even if it's illegal I have yet for it to harm me.

I don't do pot anymore but sure, legalise it but be sure to tax it. Also if you have a few plants to your own use, don't fine it.

And yes, it is a drug. I always hated when potheads would go like "man, it is a natural product maaan... it is not a drug". Ofcource it is a drug!  Just because it grows in the damn ground does not make it any less of a drug. You might as well say "crystal meth is not a drug maaaan... it is a synthetic product..." Drugs are drugs, some are legal, some are not. But if you wish to score some you always can if you wish to do so.

Otherwise I would not care either way but I believe it is the organized crime who benefits the most if pot is illegal. So it would be the best if people would be either allowed to grow it themselves or to buy it from a government controlled and taxed shop.

I must say, there are some very well informed opinions here. I'm glad that most forum posters have done their homework here. There's some particularly impressive stuff back on page one.

Yes, I agree that marijuana is a drug. But the definition of a drug is anything that changes body chemistry. Everything from LSD to deodorant. Really? Deodorant? Look on the back, it says "Drug Facts." That's because it changes the chemistry of that area to smell better.

Do I think that it should be legalized? Absolutely. Legalize and tax it. The amount of money the American government has spent on policing this plant since the Nixon administration is insane. Over the course of 40 years it adds up to trillions of dollars.


Here's what the government seems to think is the real issue, though. Are the people actually responsible and mature enough to handle the legalization of marijuana? I believe that, for many people, legalization wouldn't change much more than expense, convenience, and paranoia. Having said that, there are others that I have met that I would worry about. These are the unfortunate souls that would actually let their lives pass by because they don't care about anything other than the pot. But, then again, does legality actually stop these people from doing it? Not really....

The only conclusion presented is that we're left with two sides to pick:
   On one side we have tobacco, and alcohol, and prescription pills.
   On the other we have marijuana, holistic medicine, and a bad reputation.

It's not a matter of these being the only conclusions to draw; these are simply the conclusions that are desires to be presented.

I could really care less if it is legalized because if it is or not people will still smoke it. The reason I don't think it is legalized tho is because the government(in the United states) can't really tax it to make a profit on it if they was to sell it to local convenient stores. But if it does become legalized I feel it would only make it easier for minors to obtain the substance, and it would set back any kind of anti drug use laws back 10-20 years. To sum it up I think legalizing it would be a poor choice because their really is no money to be made to sell it legally and I due stress this, IT WOULD MAKE IT A LOT EASIER THAN WHAT IT ALREADY IS FOR MINORS TO OBTAIN AND ABUSE THE DRUG.