81 replies to this topic

[Kaf]

Pros to marijuana legalization:

Lots of money from taxes
Less crime commited over drug deals
Safer Drugs

Cons to marijuana:

More, violent people. Think about it. 80% of people who talk about pot dont ACTUALLY do it, but if given the chance, they would. Pot makes people violent. Thus, more pot = more potheads = more violence and recklessness on the road.

I for one am for the legalization of pot, but it has a downside.

[DodgyPhil]

A lot of people seem to be comparing Marijuana to Alcohol and Nicotine: it doesn't even come close.

Alcohol is so much more of a societal problem, yet it is still promoted as a fun thing to do. Being wrecked is considered comedic, and people regularly boast about being 'blotto'. I live In a suburban area of London where late night revellers regular throw up on public walkways and women get sexually assaulted. Moreover, I have a friend who lives opposite a pub that closes at 1am- it's a very rich area, yet his car has been repeatedly broken into, and his porch is littered with Indian takeaways and cans of Stella Artois. My dad is a former Alcoholic, who was forced to quit drinking at the age of 29, due to the destruction of his liver, a serious case of gout (crystals growing between the joints of the toe-- excruciatingly painful) and the fact that he now needs to take five pills a day to survive (luckily it's all paid for by the government, because Alcoholism is obviously not the fault of the user- yet the government constantly promotes drink awareness).
I don't know what it's like in other countries, but Alcohol is a massive social problem here in Britain. It's the number 1 cause of domestic and street violence. Drinking in public is legal- yet we Brits don't know how to handle it. The racial stereotype would suggest that the Poles should be falling over drunk in the street- yet I've seen a huge number of Polish builders drinking from bottles of Vodka without punching passers by and throwing up. We Brits can't handle our drink- and have some of the worst rates of Alcoholism, and the lowest age of drinkers in the whole of Europe (including Russia)!

As for Nicotine. My grandmother died at the age of 65 thanks to the god awful stuff, and the whole of my family smokes like nobodies business. My dad attempted to quit, and managed to stop smoking cigarettes for over 4 years- but he regular enjoys Cigars on special occasions (everyday).

I'd like to see the amount of violent crimes caused solely by Cannabis-- almost every report on "Cannabis induced violence" centres around young males who also took Cocaine and skipped meds- yet the fact they took Cannabis is somehow the main argument in the story.

http://www.thisislon...-grandmother.do
(read this article in its entirety and question why Cannabis is the main blame??)

I'd also like to see how addiction to Cannabis compares to the likes of Nicotine (the most mentally addictive substance on the planet) and Alcohol (the only physically addictive drug next to heroin). Short answer: it doesn't.

British marijuana is some of the cheapest in the world- only 3/4 as expensive as America and 1/2 as expensive as Holland. Unsurprisingly, we have some of the largest 'abuse' rates in Europe. In fact, almost twice as many people smoke Marijuana in England as in Holland!