Should Pot Be Legalized? (page 14)

beksbks

Will no one rid me of this troublesome Doe???

John Doe

The only reason I annoy you is because I'm right.

Homerovah the Almighty

Just to let you guys know I'm starting to lean closer to the yes side.

For the reasons that many have voiced here , just for the financial burden that it creates and perhaps the financial gain of legalization.

Yes there probably would be an increase of people who would abuse it, but then again the money gained in taxation could be put

to use rehabilitating folks that are overly abusing the product.

The other problem is though what politician is willing to pull the trigger and start the support of legalizing it.

I think the only way to accomplish this is to convince the general public first , that this is a better approach

to whats going on right now, you have to convince the people first then work on the politicians and the law makers.

minimus

I know a drug counselor in an inner city and he says almost EVERYONE who is on hard drugs graduated from pot initially.

GromitSK

Maybe they would have gone straight to hard drugs if there was no pot? :)

Homerovah the Almighty

I know a drug counselor in an inner city and he says almost EVERYONE who is on hard drugs graduated from pot initially.

This is another pressing concern with many regarding the suggestion of making pot a legal substance, what worsens the situation

is the pot today is not the pot of the hippie generation, its allot stronger and its potential effects on to people is a little

more profound than the 60's stuff. back in those days you had you your typical home grown which was generally quite mild

and you had the stronger stuff from the orient like Tai stick which was stronger and more expensive.

Now days everything is strong.

So if marijuana is legalized there is the posing problem that the other hard drugs are still going to be around for

users to experiment with. Maybe would should take place then is the stiffening up the trafficking of hard drugs

( I mean serious long and hard sentences 20yrs. etc. ) together with the legalization of marijuana , just to get the point across.

Right now in Vancouver alone there are thousands of crack addicts, heroin addicts and Meth. addicts roaming around

in the east corridor of the city and everywhere for that matter and its become a serious social issue,

not to mention the drug gangs shooting at and killing one another out in the streets, trying to knock off the competition

in the trafficking game. Something really has to be done here and now, people are feeling that this city is not a safe place to live

any more. The 60's drug culture of peace, love and understanding has turned its self 180 degrees in the opposite direction, now

its money , greed , hate and murder.

minimus

Still, as with alcohol, I think people should have a choice. There are always some that will abuse their privileges.

Many addiction medicine specialists (MD's) feel the correct approach is to legalize, control and treat for all illegal drugs. Since most addicts will find a psychoactive substance regardless of the presence or absence of currently illegal substances.

I think that depending on the approach, most people in society would reap a benefit. A few assumptions:

1. Pot smokers are a substantial minority of the general public in statistical terms.

2. The current laws, if successful, would criminalize a substantial minority of the population.

3. (Assertion from a PRAGMATIC theory of law) If any behavior is engaged in by a substantial minority of the population or more then continued prohibition and penalization is not an effective way to either run society or address the negative externalities of the behavior.

If you have a moral theory of government you would think both pot and alchohol should be illegal in some way, but I don't think moral theories of government can be defended logically. The only rational means of rejecting legalization is the unfounded claim that the negative externalities are worse under legalization than under prohibition. If you side-by-side the known information almost anyone sees the quality of life being prima facie better under legalization.

Homerovah the Almighty

Strong and substantial theories in support of legalization Spook, but the problem merely lies in the fact that the majority of the

population is against the legalization of marijuana and it would have to be fore-fronted by are political leaders.

Trying to convince the general public that this is a better way to address this issue is probably the hardest task.

Thing is too marijuana attracts attention to itself in a big way by nature of its very strong odor, something that alcohol

doesn't do. Think about weddings, parties of different varieties, will bars want to get the OK to be a pot smoking free establishments.

The list of incidental occurrences of its acceptable uses has to be all considered.

And another thing how will the growers farm and cultivate the product in a now legal environment.

There is indeed a lot to be considered when everything gets throw on the table and say well lets just legalize the thing.

Should Pot Be Legalized?

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