• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Should marijuana be legalized?

Should we legalize pot?


  • Total voters
    113
Boy its amazing how you dopers can rationalize putting poison in your body........I don't care what you do but when you get out on the highway spaced out you endanger innocent people, in addition when you crack you car up and don't have any money my taxes have to pay for your care...................A lot is involved when you dopers get high whether you admit it or not.
just for the record navy, i have never smoked weed...with that being said, if you are worried about taxes, i would think you would be all for legalizing it, as your tax money, my tax money, is spent to jail alot of people whose only crime is smoking weed...why should our tax money be going to lock these people up? you conservatives/republicans always screaming taxes are way to high, well hells bells, here is a way to save the taxpayer alot of money!!! legalize it, and tax the snot out of it, like we do alcohol and cigs!!!
 
You don't have a right to all substances under the sun.

Only because of a moral agenda that has yet to solidify a proper argument against marijuana use. If I have a right to use and abuse alcohol, what gives you jurisdiction to throw me in prison for using a substance that is, by any rational measure (and as a scientist, you should know this) magnitudes less harmful than alcohol or tobacco?

My reasoning is that drugs like oxycodone, morphine, and others are tightly controlled under the law due to their effects (highs) and abuses (using the medication for a high and not fore treatment). Marijuana is a schedule I drug, which makes it illegal.

One of the absolute worst manifestations of marijuana prohibitions (on par with elevating criminal punishments for crack vs. powder cocaine)

Oxycodone and others listed are schedule II which means they are legal but tightly controlled. By your logic should people have the right to pick up any schedule II drug and use it for any purpose?

So long as they, themselves pay for it and pay for all consequences (medical emergencies, addiction, etc.) associated with its use.

What about all medications that are legal only with a prescription? Just because you tack on the word "right" to something really doesn't make it your protected right.

Read the Tenth Amendment and get back to me on that one. If you wish to control marijuana on a federal level, you may petition your representatives to propose an amendment to the constitution. Until then, it is a violation of our Bill of Rights.
 
Last edited:
how, um...petty!



so now we are going to sink to insulting the military huh? Were you involved in the burning of the American soldier in effigy by a bunch of lefties at a rally in Portland?
 
We were a group of Chief Petty officers (Senior enlisteds for those who have no clue about the military)........We were suppose to go back to the ship and try impress on the young people how drugs can **** you up and that is what we did.......
so, you were a chief petty officer...what right did that give you to private medical information?
 
This thread is deteriotating preet fase so I will bid you farewell with my final words...........Dope will never be legal in this country..............
 
What difference does that make...........did I strike a nerve?

Yes, you're talking like it's 1942 and no one knew anything about marijuana and not like it's 2012...do some research that was done recently and I think you'll be surprised...

for example...

"People who smoke marijuana for recreational or medical purposes might now breathe easier. Scientists report in the Jan. 11 Journal of the American Medical Association that occasional cannabis users don’t experience any loss of lung function.

In a 20-year study that included lung tests and a specific accounting of marijuana use, scientists also found that people who smoke more than 20 times a month and accumulate many years of use might have a slight drop in lung capacity over time. But the researchers are unsure of that finding since it was based on scant data."

Light Pot Smoking Easy On Lungs - Science News
 
This thread is deteriotating preet fase so I will bid you farewell with my final words...........Dope will never be legal in this country..............
don't run away navy, stick around....
 
Was this not you?

If a doper gets behind the wheel of a car and is in and accident and kills several people including himself??????????

Bye Bye, when you guys come up with some logical thinking let me know........
 
Last edited:
If a doper gets behind the wheel of a car and is in and accident and kills several people including himself??????????
are you in favor of banning alcohol?
 
If a doper gets behind the wheel of a car and is in and accident and kills several people including himself??????????

Bye Bye, when you guys come up with some logical thinking let me know........
get your happy arse back here, quit with the theatrics...do you favor banning alcohol? yes? no?
 
If a doper gets behind the wheel of a car and is in and accident and kills several people including himself??????????

Bye Bye, when you guys come up with some logical thinking let me know........

Guns don't kill people. People kill people (and themselves)

Alcohol doesn't kill people. People kill people (and themselves)

Marijuana doesn't kill people. Period.

The vast majority of DUI-related accidents where the driver tests positive for marijuana also involved a significant use of alcohol. Show me the statistics of DUI-related accidents resulting solely from marijuana usage.
 
If we tried to stop everything that could impair a driver to the point of causing fatal accidents prohibition would be back in full swing and we saw it worked as well as the prohibition on pot has. No doubt if someone gets too messed up to drive safely and kills another person that is wrong, but to think it is prevented by a law making a substance ANY substance illegal isn't clear headed thinking. It also is false to think locking up petty drug USERS will somehow protect society, especially when so many legal prescription drugs, cough syrup, hell's bells even huffing paint is readily available, when the costs for incarcerate are high but then again, just how many deaths from car accidents related to pot do we have on the record?

Perhaps it is a generational thing, old folks saw pot as what the 'lesser' folks used, civilized people used PBR or Jack to get blitz'd.
 
Not if its not available.....If you would into a store and buy it you would have a hell of a lot more crazed people out there....

That's the point: It is available. Samsmart is right. The same people who would do heroin after it is legalized are those same people who would do heroin while it is criminalized.

No one with any brains or desire to live is going to inject themselves with heroin just because it's legal. Anyway, an addictive drug like heroin or nicotine should only be available by prescription to people already addicted. People can take pot or alcohol (most people anyway) or leave them. There is no chemical dependency.
 
That's the point: It is available. Samsmart is right. The same people who would do heroin after it is legalized are those same people who would do heroin while it is criminalized.

No one with any brains or desire to live is going to inject themselves with heroin just because it's legal. Anyway, an addictive drug like heroin or nicotine should only be available by prescription to people already addicted. People can take pot or alcohol (most people anyway) or leave them. There is no chemical dependency.

Even if there was dependency to THC, it has very little harmful effect unless it is abused A LOT. Caffeine is more harmful to long term brain function than THC and Amphetemines! Yet people drink cup after cup of coffee and drink can after can of soda! It is hipocrisy to say that you would not poison your body while you sip a steamy cup of joe.
 
Last edited:
Even if there was dependency to THC, it has very little harmful effect unless it is abused A LOT. Caffeine is more harmful to long term brain function than THC and Amphetemines! Yet people drink cup after cup of coffee and drink can after can of soda! It is hipocrisy to say that you would not poison your body while you sip a steamy cup of joe.

I'm not sure that moderate levels of caffeine are harmful. In fact, there is evidence that coffee is good for you:

A growing body of research shows that coffee drinkers, compared to nondrinkers, are:
less likely to have type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia
have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes
 
Well, cough, cough.


Yes we should legalize it. The punishments for it are extreme.Locking someone up for marijuana amounts to chopping someone's hand off for stealing or executing someone for speeding. Legalizing might increase usage since legality increases access, but its not like trying to legalize hard drugs or certain prescription drugs for recreational use. That said I don't believe for a second that the government can get rich off it in taxes due to the fact many people would be growing it themselves.Nor do I believe that every sick person could smoke a joint or eat some special brownies and be cured of some ailment or be alleviated of pain.I also don't believe it will stop the cartels in Mexico due to the fact the cartels are not going to start allowing competition just because something is legal.
 
Yes we should legalize it. The punishments for it are extreme.Locking someone up for marijuana amounts to chopping someone's hand off for stealing or executing someone for speeding. Legalizing might increase usage since legality increases access, but its not like trying to legalize hard drugs or certain prescription drugs for recreational use. That said I don't believe for a second that the government can get rich off it in taxes due to the fact many people would be growing it themselves.Nor do I believe that every sick person could smoke a joint or eat some special brownies and be cured of some ailment or be alleviated of pain.I also don't believe it will stop the cartels in Mexico due to the fact the cartels are not going to start allowing competition just because something is legal.

You have it right up to the Mexican cartels part. There is no way they could compete with legal growers in the US, not unless the taxes were extreme.
 
You have it right up to the Mexican cartels part. There is no way they could compete with legal growers in the US, not unless the taxes were extreme.
Or prices.
 
Or prices.

Why would prices stay high? If Joe Blow down at the corner market wants to sell pot at outrageous prices, everyone will just go to Moe's down the block. It's called competition and a free market.

As long as the government stays out if it, doesn't outlaw it or impose outlandish taxes, the free market will see to it that prices stay low.
 
Why would prices stay high? If Joe Blow down at the corner market wants to sell pot at outrageous prices, everyone will just go to Moe's down the block. It's called competition and a free market.

As long as the government stays out if it, doesn't outlaw it or impose outlandish taxes, the free market will see to it that prices stay low.

DId the prices in California go down once it became legal for "medical" use?
 
Yes we should legalize it. The punishments for it are extreme.Locking someone up for marijuana amounts to chopping someone's hand off for stealing or executing someone for speeding. Legalizing might increase usage since legality increases access, but its not like trying to legalize hard drugs or certain prescription drugs for recreational use. That said I don't believe for a second that the government can get rich off it in taxes due to the fact many people would be growing it themselves.Nor do I believe that every sick person could smoke a joint or eat some special brownies and be cured of some ailment or be alleviated of pain.I also don't believe it will stop the cartels in Mexico due to the fact the cartels are not going to start allowing competition just because something is legal.

You said yourself that "many people would be growing it for themselves". This undercuts your belief that it would not stop the cartels. Having said that, there will always be some degree of a black market for it, with legalized distribution though it would reduce this to a shadow of its former self, much like there is still bootleg moonshine, however the illegal alcohol black market is miniscule compared to what it was during prohibition. A substantial reduction of this black market is a good thing, lets let it dwindle and put controls on the vast majority of distribution and take efforts to keep it out of the hands of kids. Sure kids will still be able to get it to some degree, but it would be much more difficult than via a black market distribution which increases availability to children. It is all about mitigation of harm.

One other point to touch upon regarding the cartels involvement of marijuana, they are dealing for the part in lower grade marijuana, and are willing to take the risks to smuggle it in because of the extremely high profit margin that is to be had. The two crucial keys to get them out of the trade is to offer a superior product at a lower price. Undercut their market and their profit motive and the risks associated will cease to be so attractive to them from a business standpoint. And yes I know there are people who will claim "ohh no! we cannot allow potent pot to flourish", this argument is specious though it does not take into account that people will titrate their dosage, much like someone drinking scotch will consume much less volume than someone drinking beer. With pot (for those concerned with harms others inflict upon themselves) this would equate to less carcinogenic smoke being consumed..instead of smoking multiple bowls or an entire joint or a blunt the user would take a couple of puffs and have the effect desired and call it a buzz. One other point with the potency of marijuana.. why is that pot that has 25% THC is considered such a demonic thing compared to pot that is say 8% while at the same time there is Marinol available by prescription that is 100% THC? Surely this is the most evil of all evils for those adhering to the potency argument.

There is a fine line that needs to be balanced between price and taxation, the primary strategy needs to be maximization of reduction of the black market distribution coincident with revenue to offset the costs to soceity, namely treatment and education (minus self defeating propaganda arguments). Once the shackles of the monstrosity of a criminal problem we have created and the black market domination have been shed then we can and should focus all of our efforts on tackling the issue of our drug problem minus the distractions. Youth education and prevention is the key to a long term strategy of reducing overall usage.. and legalization can accomplish a reduction of usage rates.

One final tangential thing I wanted to address here, as far as many people growing it themselves, what the controls on this end up being is a wide open question, what I think would be the appropriate way to go about this is a licensing fee renewable annually. Want to grow your own? fine pay up.. if you do not, then you are potentially facing charges for tax evasion (essentially the same charges bootleggers for alcohol face when busted). Also as part of the licensing requirement, the facility has to be secure to prevent children from poaching and getting their hands on it, which would all but eradicate "hobby" outdoor growing. If someone was to want to grow their own, then it would have to be indoors, or in a secured greenhouse. We need to take steps to make sure kids cannot get their hands on it.. and these steps also need to be taken for commercial production. An unguarded field of marijuana is a wide open invite for kids to get their hands on it illegally.
 
Back
Top Bottom