Legalized

[FromTexas]

Got to run, I could be way more productive......

I understand. When you have nothing left to defend, you must move on.

 

[vraiblonde]

Bush is a former coke head and alcoholic who hasn't done any of that in 25 years, so let's leave him out of this.

Stoners suck - it's cocaine that makes you clear and productive. Pot is a relaxation drug and makes you lay around and go "Dude...".

It's stunning to me that liberal nutties want to get rid of cigarettes because of second-hand smoke and the like, yet are all for smoking pot.

Dur.

Anyway, I'm against legalization. I think it's stupid and it makes people stupid, and the LAST thing we need in this country is more stupid people. Now instead of a few dope smokers laying around, we'll have tons of them. Great idea.

 

[FromTexas]

Bush is a former coke head and alcoholic who hasn't done any of that in 25 years, so let's leave him out of this.

Stoners suck - it's cocaine that makes you clear and productive. Pot is a relaxation drug and makes you lay around and go "Dude...".

It's stunning to me that liberal nutties want to get rid of cigarettes because of second-hand smoke and the like, yet are all for smoking pot.

Dur.

Anyway, I'm against legalization. I think it's stupid and it makes people stupid, and the LAST thing we need in this country is more stupid people. Now instead of a few dope smokers laying around, we'll have tons of them. Great idea.

See, that is the thing. The people who are going to be those lay around, unproductive types were probably already that way to start with. I believe that is something you either are or aren't, and you are not going to change the overall make up of productive society much. It isn't changing much except making them more productive because they are taking over some of the tax burden from me. At least they have a use then. I can then be more productive with less tax burden (i.e. greater investments, buying more, bigger homes, etc...).

I think it would actually decrease pot smoking after a while. There wouldn't be the cool factor of smoking when its illegal. There would be greater peer pressure to not smoke (since people would know if you did now). You could also charge higher rates on health plans, etc... that employers offer moving a greater burden to them (like they do with smokers who they consider higher risk for medical issues). They would be more identifiable.

You could still restrict them from specific jobs, too, for safety reasons. The difference is instead of the large unknown masses smoking now without extra contribution to society, you would make them a tax/financial benefit instead of a cost.

 

[FromTexas]

Red krama: your less productive comment is unfounded and full of prejudice, and bush esentially admitted using coke during the 2000 campaign

Full of prejudice? And, where did Bush admit this? Have you considered putting down the bong for a moment so you could figure out what reality is before you going f****** with it?

 

[Midnightrider]

Bush is a former coke head and alcoholic who hasn't done any of that in 25 years, so let's leave him out of this.

Stoners suck - it's cocaine that makes you clear and productive. Pot is a relaxation drug and makes you lay around and go "Dude...".

It's stunning to me that liberal nutties want to get rid of cigarettes because of second-hand smoke and the like, yet are all for smoking pot.

Dur.

Anyway, I'm against legalization. I think it's stupid and it makes people stupid, and the LAST thing we need in this country is more stupid people. Now instead of a few dope smokers laying around, we'll have tons of them. Great idea.

so its ok to be a coke head, and an alcoholic, and to even smoke cigarettes (which BTW gives you nothing but cancer and has been shown to be almost as addictive as coke), but smoking weed is a terrible thing?

I say decriminalize (thats what they actually did- make it the lowest priority offense) you are not going to have any more pot smokers than you would have otherwise, like Texas said, numbers might even go down

 

[SamSpade]

Among the myriad reasons why I think it should remain illegal - which I've discussed many times before - is that once it is made *legal* - you can't cork that genie again. We tried with Prohibition - once you've made it legal, you can't turn around ten years later, saying "oops - we *really* should have thought this one out more".

I like to listen to Jerry Doyle on the drive home (he used to star in my all-time favorite sci-fi series). One of his short sound bites is encouraging the legalization of marijuana, and commenting about people suffering and dying. Let's be honest - marijuana is not a CURE for anything. It makes people feel better while they suffer. So do a lot of drugs. It's not a case for legalization.

I don't think usage will drop. It will skyrocket, especially among youth, who currently have limited access to it. NOTHING kept my eight-year-old friends from swiping mom's cigarettes and smoking them. Not "coolness" - nothing. So among other things, we will now have a powerfully addictive drug easily available to children.

Coolness won't wear off. It didn't change for cigarettes - coolness has RISEN for cigars - and people still drink. It's still cool to drink. Drunk driving isn't ending soon, and now we'll have stoned drivers on the road as well. At least with cigarettes, you could still drive.

It'll still be necessary to police stoned people - just cause it's legal doesn't mean your school bus driver should be smoking it - even BEFORE he starts driving your kids in the morning. So the courts will still be full of stoners - but their butts won't be in jail for *possession* - no, it'll be from USING it while driving the garbage truck through someone's living room (all the while, saying "Duuuuuude").

Usage will go up. Some will experiment, and some will UP their usage, because after legalization, they'll be able to spliff anywhere, without concealment. Many will up their usage a LOT - because prices will go down.

Am I exaggerating? Well this is unfortunately something we can't do by trial and error. We can only go through this door ONE time, and we better get it right.

 

[vraiblonde]

I believe that is something you either are or aren't

I disagree. Most people will abide by laws. If you make it legal, more people will do it.

The second pot becomes legal, you will start to see advertising for it, encouraging people to smoke up a particular brand. And people typically do what the media tells them to.

 

[FromTexas]

I can see your point, but I would strongly disagree with calling pot highly addictive. It is only psychologically addictive, and it is not physcially addictive like cigarettes and other drugs. Addictive personalities will have a problem with it, but they are the same people who will get addicted to alcohol and other things. Walking away from pot is just a matter of saying, "Screw that!"... You won't feel like crap after for doing it or suffer any real withdraw.

 

[FromTexas]

I disagree. Most people will abide by laws. If you make it legal, more people will do it.

The second pot becomes legal, you will start to see advertising for it, encouraging people to smoke up a particular brand. And people typically do what the media tells them to.

Making it legal doesn't mean you have to make advertising it legal. You could prevent even having signs up advertising your cost being lower than competitors. A person could just come in and request it. Also, it may keep more of those liberal voters at home because they will be too lazy to come to the polls.

Of course, just decriminalizing it means its not really legal, so it still can't be advertised or easily sold. However, that means no booming tax revenue. It would reduce enforcement costs, though.

 

[vraiblonde]

Also, it may keep more of those liberal voters at home because they will be too lazy to come to the polls.

They'll just have someone else vote for them, like dead people and household pets do.

 

[dustin]

Usage will go up. Some will experiment, and some will UP their usage, because after legalization, they'll be able to spliff anywhere, without concealment. Many will up their usage a LOT - because prices will go down.

I can see life insurance and health insurance prices skyrocketing. Taxpayers end up paying more in the end than what they would get out of a "sin tax" I would think...

Although I do admit legalizing it in one large city which has broad demographics does have some good to it because then one can compare all the affects it has on Denver statistics such as crime rates, city health, motor vehicle accidents, etc. to what it was like in Denver before the legalization. This would give American citizens the information it needs as to what can happen to a large city in the US once marijuana is legalized. Instead of he says/she says and what could happen.

 

[SamSpade]

so its ok to be a coke head, and an alcoholic,

You didn't do well on reading comprehension tests in school, did you? Be *honest*.

If someone USED to drink, but hasn't in many years - like, 25 or 35 - I'd be hard pressed to call them a cokehead or alcoholic. If someone could say the last time they tried cocaine, Apollo 11 had just landed on the moon - gimme a break. You still bite your nails? Wet the bed? Eat bugs?

It's not ok if YOU'RE STILL a cokehead.

 

[SamSpade]

I can see your point, but I would strongly disagree with calling pot highly addictive. It is only psychologically addictive, and it is not physcially addictive like cigarettes and other drugs. Addictive personalities will have a problem with it, but they are the same people who will get addicted to alcohol and other things. Walking away from pot is just a matter of saying, "Screw that!"... You won't feel like crap after for doing it or suffer any real withdraw.

Psychologically addictive is still addictive. Abused women stay in bad relationships because of psychological addiction - it's not no big deal. It's just as difficult to overcome.

And I take it you didn't smoke a lot of dope in college. I did. It was hard to quit, because a) it was way too easy to do when you had nothing else to do and b) life without it was crap. Once I moved away from where it was easy to get, I could put it behind me.

 

[FromTexas]

I can see life insurance and health insurance prices skyrocketing. Taxpayers end up paying more in the end than what they would get out of a "sin tax" I would think...

Although I do admit legalizing it in one large city which has broad demographics does have some good to it because then one can compare all the affects it has on Denver statistics such as crime rates, city health, motor vehicle accidents, etc. to what it was like in Denver before the legalization. This would give American citizens the information it needs as to what can happen to a large city in the US once marijuana is legalized. Instead of he says/she says and what could happen.

That is true. Have a trial city that doesn't matter much. We are just talking about Denver.

 

[dustin]

That is true. Have a trial city that doesn't matter much. We are just talking about Denver.

Denver Shemner
Thank goodness it's not New Orleans.

 

[Midnightrider]

You didn't do well on reading comprehension tests in school, did you? Be *honest*.

If someone USED to drink, but hasn't in many years - like, 25 or 35 - I'd be hard pressed to call them a cokehead or alcoholic. If someone could say the last time they tried cocaine, Apollo 11 had just landed on the moon - gimme a break. You still bite your nails? Wet the bed? Eat bugs?

It's not ok if YOU'RE STILL a cokehead.

actually i did really well, got good grades, good SAT scores and went to a good college.
ALSO i understand that an addict is always an addict, and an alcoholic is always and alcoholic, they are just reformed, or in recovery.

So, by your logic, if someone murdered a person 30 years ago, they are no longer a murderer because they haven't done it in so long?

 

[Larry Gude]

Just because...

...I enjoy pissing on parades and own a Hippie Killer T shirt:

If it is now OK to carry around an ounce of dope, does that make it OK to carry around a pint or 5th of Jack? A case of beer?

 

[Midnightrider]

thats pretty much already ok, in fact you could drive all day long with a Keg of wiskey in your backseat and it wouldn't matter as long as your not drinking it at the time.

 

[vraiblonde]

ALSO i understand that an addict is always an addict, and an alcoholic is always and alcoholic, they are just reformed, or in recovery.

If Bush hasn't done drugs or drank in 25 years, I think we can safely say he's not an alcoholic or coke head.

But AGAIN, this discussion has nothing to do with him, so let's move on.

 

[Toxick]

Now instead of a few dope smokers laying around, we'll have tons of them. Great idea.

A few?

Come, now.

I also think that those who WOULD smoke dope, already DO smoke dope. I use myself as an example: If they were to come out tomorrow morning and say "Free Legal Dope for ALL!", I would still not smoke marajuana.

The only things that anti-pot laws do, are make people hide it, and it puts tons upon tons of people into jails where they take up the space that could be used to contain the real dangers of society.

It diverts time, law-enforcement and resources away from areas that would greatly benefit from more attention.