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Drug Legalization

Should drugs be legalized?


  • Total voters
    49
I'm going to voice an unpopular opinion here - marijuana concerns me. Ive seen studies that link marijuana use to a drop in IQ by as much as 8 points. That is quite significant. Plus, we have loads of anecdotal evidence that shows marijuana users are less motivated than non-users.

I think a society in which marijuana use is rampant is a less prosperous society, and therefore we need to think in terms of how we can limit its use as much as possible.

Then factor in that legalized marijuana also attracts drug tourists, of which a certain number do not go back home. Instead, they stay and consume a variety of social recesources.

I would recommend Texas do the following for three time marijuana arrestees:
- If you have been arrested three times for marijuana, you get...

A free bus pass to Colorado, three months rent at an apartment complex in Colorado, and a voucher for a few dime bags.
 
And what about alcohol? That's legal, and yet amazingly not everyone is a drunk.

Alcohol isn't linked to lower IQ's or poor job performance.

I understand that everyone can make choices for themselves. I just think that first, we should make sure people are making INFORMED choices, and second, we NEED to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids and teenagers.

What's most concerning to me is how easily kids can get a hold of this stuff. For a developing brain, it's tragic, and it saddens me. We see this in Colorado.
 
Then factor in that legalized marijuana also attracts drug tourists, of which a certain number do not go back home. Instead, they stay and consume a variety of social recesources.

I would recommend Texas do the following for three time marijuana arrestees:
- If you have been arrested three times for marijuana, you get...

A free bus pass to Colorado, three months rent at an apartment complex in Colorado, and a voucher for a few dime bags.

In texas we just throw you in the hoosegow.
 
thats not even close to true. You need to get out more. There are a lot of people who don't believe that we should be spending police resources busting people for drugs. There are a lot of people, conservatives among them, that think it is a waste of money to lock people up for drug offenses. From a fiscal point of view it makes zero sense. Put the money spent clogging the prisons with non-violent drug offenders into treatment for those who want it or will take advantage of it.

As a conservative, I agree 100% with what you said here.
 
In texas we just throw you in the hoosegow.
What is a "hoosegow"? That aside, I think enticing them into becoming consumers of Colorado social services would save Texas alot of money.
 
Alcohol isn't linked to lower IQ's or poor job performance.

I understand that everyone can make choices for themselves. I just think that first, we should make sure people are making INFORMED choices, and second, we NEED to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids and teenagers.

What's most concerning to me is how easily kids can get a hold of this stuff. For a developing brain, it's tragic, and it saddens me. We see this in Colorado.

Which is why marijuana, like alcohol, shouldn't be legal for anyone under 21. I know a lot of people who want to see pot legalized, but I don't know any who want it legal for 9 year olds.
 
Keep them illegal, just lower the penalties for non-violent possessors of illegal drugs for more minor things like pot.
 
That's true, but I was more referring to drug-related crimes, where people rob to get money for their drugs,
If they were legalized the price would go way down and there would be no such thing as a $300/week cocaine habit. It would be more like a $10/week cocaine habit because that white powder is only expensive as it is because it is prohibited. Because it is cheap, people don't rob and murder for a cup of coffee. And harder drugs than caffeine would also be very cheap if they were legal.

or when they simply freak out from doing drugs.
That is an outlier argument. The vast majority of people who use drugs do not violently freak out.
 
Alcohol isn't linked to lower IQ's or poor job performance.

I understand that everyone can make choices for themselves. I just think that first, we should make sure people are making INFORMED choices, and second, we NEED to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids and teenagers.

What's most concerning to me is how easily kids can get a hold of this stuff. For a developing brain, it's tragic, and it saddens me. We see this in Colorado.

My point is that there is really no difference between weed and alcohol. Any of the things you say about weed, can also be said about alcohol, yet that is legal. Why? Because of the powers that be who decided one day that alcohol good, other drugs bad.
 
Anyone that wants to keep the 'War on Drugs' simply does not understand the situation and/or has ulterior motives and/or is not capable of rational thought on this matter.

Period.
 
Alcohol isn't linked to lower IQ's or poor job performance.

I understand that everyone can make choices for themselves. I just think that first, we should make sure people are making INFORMED choices, and second, we NEED to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids and teenagers.

What's most concerning to me is how easily kids can get a hold of this stuff. For a developing brain, it's tragic, and it saddens me. We see this in Colorado.

Ever hear of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? Ignoring two of the three gateway drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, is foolish and against current treatment. It's a matter of capitalism with cigs and booze, not to mention the stranglehold bigPharma has on this Nation and it's Military .
 
If they were legalized the price would go way down and there would be no such thing as a $300/week cocaine habit. It would be more like a $10/week cocaine habit because that white powder is only expensive as it is because it is prohibited. People don't rob for a cup of coffee because it is cheap. And harder drugs than caffeine would also be very cheap if they were legal.

That is an outlier argument. The vast majority of people who use drugs do not violently freak out.

Yes they do. Certain drugs cause paranoia and violent behavior as well as hallucinations. I type about people who are in the hospital ALL the time, EVERY single day who are on drugs. They kick your arse, but alcohol is just as bad.
 
What is a "hoosegow"? That aside, I think enticing them into becoming consumers of Colorado social services would save Texas alot of money.

Comes from the Mexican Spanish word "jusgado" which means "prison."

Texas and Mexico share a lot, culturally. "Hoosegow" is texas slang for jail.
 
Ever hear of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? Ignoring two of the three gateway drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, is foolish and against current treatment. It's a matter of capitalism with cigs and booze, not to mention the stranglehold bigPharma has on this Nation and it's Military .

Any woman who drinks whilst pregnant should be shot.
 
Which is why marijuana, like alcohol, shouldn't be legal for anyone under 21. I know a lot of people who want to see pot legalized, but I don't know any who want it legal for 9 year olds.

The problem is, kids can still get a hold of it.
 
Which is why marijuana, like alcohol, shouldn't be legal for anyone under 21. I know a lot of people who want to see pot legalized, but I don't know any who want it legal for 9 year olds.

Which caused a bit of a problem with our Soldiers during Vietnam .
 
My point is that there is really no difference between weed and alcohol. Any of the things you say about weed, can also be said about alcohol, yet that is legal. Why? Because of the powers that be who decided one day that alcohol good, other drugs bad.

Was there really a choice when it came to alcohol? We tried to outlaw it - we even had a constitutional amendment for a while outlawing it. The problem is, alcohol is too engrained in our culture. Americans, and before that Europeans, have been drinking alcohol for millennia. So outlawing it proved impossible.

That doesn't make alcohol good. However, in moderation, I can't say it's that bad either.

Marijuana is in a different boat there.
 
Any woman who drinks whilst pregnant should be shot.

Which solves nothing for those babies whose Mothers participate in the three gateway drugs, not to mention pharmaceuticals and hard-core illegal drugs, whether pregnant or after birth .
 
Which solves nothing for those babies whose Mothers participate in the three gateway drugs, not to mention pharmaceuticals and hard-core illegal drugs, whether pregnant or after birth .

I agree with you.

However, that's not really an argument to legalize marijuana.
 
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