Personally, I don't prefer the terms "War on Pot" or the "War on Drugs". It seems to me when we talk of those things, we're actually talking about a war on people who do those things. We shame them, talk about them by name in talks as examples of what to stay away from, etc. True, smoking pot may lead to some terrible, terrible things. Loss of senses and mental degeneration are just a few. But so many of us disagree on whether or not pot/drugs/etc. can have positive benefits, so we just say as a general rule, "stay away from this". But what if we were to focus more on education? I like that you're bringing attention to this. It's a good warning to those who want to use pot recreationally instead of responsably. But I wonder if legalizing it would cause more good than harm. When we tried Prohibition, it didn't work. People liked drinking too much, and brewed their own beers, etc. and there were serious consequences. It didn't last. I feel this ban on Marijuana may well be the same.

While the counsel not to abuse drugs always rings true, recent incidents have shone a different light on the issue. Reports claim marijuana to be a "wonder drug" for certain people with disabilities, such as severe joint pain and degenerative diseases. I wonder if that may be true. But still, it is troubling that many abuse it and end up harming their lives. The problem with the law is that if we make a law forbidding something and people go against it, they may find themselves disgusted by other laws that actually benefit them, should they be followed. Yet the law isn't so much the problem as the actions of the people. People on both sides need to be more understanding and forgiving. Laws exist to benefit the people, but if the people revolt against those laws, they may need taken away. A good type (or in other words, an example that brings light to other things) is Moses breaking the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The people showed that they didn't want God's will, so the Commandments were taken from them for a time. This was not to remove blessings from them, but to protect them from rebelling against the good. If they knew the good and turned against it, then they would be unhappy because they had chosen the bad, knowing that they had done so.

Such it is today. We have many rules that protect and uplift if followed. We have others that do not. And we have those that may help some and hurt others if followed by each. We need to be more forgiving. We are so quick to cast blame at each other when we see someone and believe they have slipped up, messed up, hurt people. But don't we do this, too? All of us slip up from time to time, maybe even often. So really, it's not so much the laws that need changed, but our culture. Don't get me wrong. Some laws do need changed. But laws are a means to an end.

As supernerd pointed out, basically what we have right now is a prohibition of marijuana instead of alcohol. People are going to consume it whether it's legal or not, but the only difference is that by keeping it illegal we're creating an underground market for it which is also clogging up our courts and prisons. A lot of non-violent criminals are sent to prison for possession. Consumption will probably increase a bit after it becomes legal (because it'll be new and exciting) but just like anything else, it'll eventually kind of normalize. 

The big thing about legalization in my opinion, is that we'll be able to tax it - this means more funds that we give towards drug addiction and rehabilitation programs, as well as campaigns towards not  driving under the influence. 

It's still super early. I'll try add more to this later lol.

the real answer is how much suffering will everyone go through if marijuana is legal, we are talking about people who could die in 100 ways. we can see the results and its not good, the chances are it could be us that had died. alcohol is already strict but doesn't kill, marijuana is adding into the road crashes, the more problems you add to the road, the more death it brings.

If you ask me, the rise in crashes as a result of this won't be a lot when you take into account how many crashes there are already happening for other reasons. Sure, more people will get injured and possibly even killed, but it's not like we didn't already have a high number of crashes already.

Obviously driving high would be illegal though, just like driving drunk, so no matter whether marijuana is legal or not, it would be illegal to drive with it.

Basically there's ways to prevent it, and there's ways it could horribly go wrong, but that's always been the case.

zanderlex : it will only give more people to mess up. drug deals will always overpay, this gives customers reasons to fear the cops because being caught will lose it. driving while being "high" is very bad idea because you will get notice much faster but people who are drunk have a level of possibly getting away with it. marijuana can instantly make the mind go crazy while with alcohol it takes about a few or more to make the person unable to drive.

First, I am from a country where marijuana is legal. (although that word gets thrown around a bit to much)

I honestly don't see what the big problem is, alcohol is legal, and we have rules for that and driving, so if you have the same with marijuana I don't think its too much of an issue. and from what I know car crashes or other stuff like that isn't a major issue here.

(Don't take this as me saying that marijuana should be legal or some stuff like that, thats for another time.)

Your question/point is a valid one I feel,

I feel the only reason why it is not legal though is because major corporations can not make a large sum of money out of it. It would not surprise me if a lot of the major alcohol companies were against it simply due to the chance of losing income.

After all a lot of people still drive under the influence, and cause lots of deaths a year. Why is alcohol not banned... Well you tell me...

Honestly my mindset is this. Yes, there will be crime related to weed, legal or not those crimes will carry on. Making it legal does not simply make everyone into pot addicts either. All it will do is essentially give people who smoke pot the reassurance they will not be swarmed on by police and it gives them a chance to socialize in public easier.

That is all.

Vexxen :

Well, in the early 1900s, they tried to ban alcohol, but that resulted in much, much bigger crime rates than when alcohol was legal. I bet nobody wants that to happen again.

LunarDarkness2 : Well naturally, If you have ever dealt with someone with an addiction to anything, Then making them go "cold turkey" will lead to stuff such as crime and death.

Also I know what you are referring to, but my knowledge is not what I would call "decent" on the subject. However It would not surprise me if a lot of the crime recorded was simply due to police trying to enforce the prohibition.

Also that is a different situation to this one as well.

The drug is currently illegal... Although it's one of the lesser evils when it comes to judicial law. With most people getting a slap on the wrist, unless they are clearly farming it and selling it.

As for studies that prove nothing is wrong with Weed, I am skeptical, but that is because I try to be skeptical about everything.

However, The amount of incidents that you hear are caused by marijuana, compared to the people that actively smoke it is, very small indeed.

To me it just seems like a massive smear campaign against the drug. Like ones you'd find about politicians and the like.

And who pays for these campaigns. Well it should be obvious.


Before I end this post I do however want to point out one thing that people seem to forget. Businesses care more about money than morals most of the time, there's very few companies out there that do, and usually they are the ones in such a strong financial position that a loss wouldn't matter at all.

If weed became legal, The other companies that feel threatened will try their hardest to protect their own products by writing poorly about weed.

Just because something is better for us does not mean that we will actually get to see it.

mastergame : This is my opinion also. I was thinking that it should be legalized, but should be treated like a D.U.I. WE could call it a D.W.S. Driving While Stoned. BTW I don't smoke the stuff myself despite my profile pic so this is not a selfish opinion. I think the Gov. should stay out of our homes, and body I heard someone say, and I agree.

When it really comes down to it, the only people that law effects are the ones that really care about following it. People who have been smokers won't quit the stuff when it's legal and I would guess that some, but not many, would try it, and some of those, like it. As long as it's considered a D.U.I., I don't see a huge difference between it and booze. Consumables could be an issue because of the delay and a lot of people may be mislead by this to eat more, resulting a higher high than they can handle, but the real key here is education. Tax, regulate and educate. It could only be beneficial, economically speaking because of the massive amount of revenue in both the private and government sectors. It would open up all kinds of opportunity in agriculture, there would be gourmet confectionery chefs, and dry up the black market. It would even make it safer because of quality control and people wouldn't get stuff laced with other, more dangerous substances.

Here's the deal: 40 fatalities to 85 fatalities in 2014 is sad. People shouldn't die by car wrecks. And those numbers are from people with high levels of THC in their systems, according to the article.

Here's a fun fact: Over 50% of all fatalities with impaired drivers found alcohol paired with THC in the drivers' system. So there's debate that pot had less to do with a crash than alcohol.

Here's another fact: Over 120 deaths in Washington St. were directly related to alcohol intoxication.

So now there are competing numbers that suggest alcohol is still a much larger problem compared to marijuana. Instead of nit-picking after the small stuff, why not go get the major offenders, specifically people who drive after drinking?

Some people that do pot can be on their third strike and go to jail for life, do you think someone who smokes pot deserves that?
Not many people complain about alcohol being legal, even though it causes massive amounts of car deaths, can Poison you, and generally causes a lot of problems. 
I mean Gary Johnson was actually questioned if he could act as President under tough situations if he's high on pot, but many Presidents have drank a lot of alcohol, and even held events specifically where everyone got intoxicated.
Also the usage of weed doesn't really go up that much when it's legalised, if people want something they can usually find it illegally pretty easily, at least with it being legal it's easier for addicts to get help.

People who do pot kind of get disproportionate retribution for their crimes if you ask me. Like, if a dealer was selling to kids, yeah that guy should go to prison. I don't get why people just not make ads like they do with drinking and driving. Just crudely place a blunt over the bottle in the ads, and it'll just work out great.

But really, why are much worse subsistences allowed? 

That's just....I've kind of figured out more crashes happen because of those sort of thing or stuff. You can never know nowadays of what teens who drive fast cars can do. I've been on the road with either my mum driving or a friend and it is without a doubt that we always see a teen driving really fast and unsafe. The thing that worries me the most is that I get to see who are in those cars and usually its a group of 4 or 5 people...and I always think doesn't the driver see that he is putting them in danger or something? Its just sad when you think about it. Teens most often causes more crashes. Because 1 they are either drunk whole driving 2 it can be to do with some type of medicine what they took. '-'