I
think all drugs should be legal, but I'd be happy to start with marijuana. It's up to the individual to decide what
he/she wants to do with their own body. There is nothing more personal than your body, and it's your business, and nobody
else's. If you commit a crime (drug related or not) then it is up to you to answer for your actions. If you murder
somebody for drugs, you should be charged with murder. If you rob somebody for drugs, you should be charged with robbery.
Motive and intent should not be considered.
If marijuana was legal, and cheap
enough, you could eliminate the carcinogens altogether, and use it in its most effective way. The cancer-causing
agents are created when the substance is burned and smoked. Ingestion is the best way to use marijuana. It doesn't promote
the respiratory problems that way, and the buzz is a body buzz rather than just felt in your head and chest. One of
the reasons that people use bongs to smoke marijuana is not simply because you get a bigger "pull" from the bowl, but it cools
the smoke, filters a lot of the impurities, and removes some of the carcinogens. If you're going to smoke pot, that
is the "healthiest" way to do it.
The reason pot won't become legal is paradoxically
the same reason it should be. Anybody can grow it. Any time anywhere. Companies wouldn't be able to monopolize
and commercialize it. That's why alcohol is legal. Not everybody is going to build a distillery or a brewery.
Budweiser doesn't grow on trees. You have to go to the store to buy it! (Why anybody would actually pay money
for Budweiser, I'll never know). Anybody can germinate a few seeds, plant them and stick them in their window.
Another reason it won't become legal
is because when you create a black market, the price is driven up. This means big bucks for the people who peddle these
items. The CIA would lose an awful amount of money by legalization. They make most of their money on cocaine
and crack cocaine, but I'm sure they see some marijuana revenue as well. They would lose their entire market, and
the cost of drugs would drop dramatically.
This failing war on drugs must end. There
are too many non-violent "criminals" in prison for victimless crimes. If there's no victim, where's the crime?
The U.S. government wishes to keep the alcohol industry happy by maintaining this hopeless endeavor. So much that they
are willing to violate the Bill of Rights in the process. The Supreme Court ruled that urine testing is not a violation
because it is searching a bodily fluid that you are going to expel anyway. It's still unreasonable search and seizure!
I am guaranteed by the Constitution that I will be SECURE IN MY PERSON!
Pot users shouldn't be fired from their job
because they used a month prior to the test, either. I think that if somebody shows up for work high, they should be
fired for that! Employing a test that goes back as far as a month is no mistake, either. I'm sure that if they
did the research, they would be able to come up with a urine test that could accurately determine whether or not the subject
is under the influence at the time of the test or not. They choose not to do this, because this is a war against a lifestyle,
minorities, and the poor. What is the difference between somebody who smokes pot occasionally, and someone who is "mildly
depressed" who gets valium prescribed to him/her? Social status. Prescription drugs are more dangerous, and are
abused more often than a lot of other drugs. Let's not confuse use and abuse here, either. Many believe the two
terms are interchangeable. It couldn't be farther from the truth.
The cops and the gov't always talk about
drug dealers this, drug dealers that... I know how to get rid of EVERY drug dealer in the country! Legalize it,
and let everybody grow their own! You just eliminated the need for pot dealers! It could still be illegal to buy/sell,
but if everybody had a few plants going, they could sustain their own use quite easily. AND IT WOULD BE FREE!
Nobody would be "breaking into their neighbor's house to steal his TV to get a "fix".
As if marijuana were actually addictive.
I used it for many years, mostly every day. The place where I work has a random drug test policy. If it weren't
for my family, I would take a lower paying job where I didn't have to subject myself to the test, but since I have dependents,
I quit smoking pot. I had ZERO withdrawl symptoms. I quit with no problems at all. I've been trying to quit
nicotine for years, now, with no success. Tobacco doesn't just grow anywhere, so people aren't going to grow their own
tobacco. That is why the more dangerous, and more addictive tobacco is legal, yet marijuana is illegal. Too many
people maintain the "Reefer Madness" mentality to be able to make an educated decision on this.
We've had decade after decade of propaganda
to program our minds to believe otherwise. It's time the people wake up and smell the buds. And before you start
with the "Gateway Theory", understand this. This is simple logic. I know a lot of anti-drug lobbyists don't like
to use logic, but the rest of the citizenry may use their brains independently. A = all people who use drugs. B
= all people who use hard drugs. C = all people who use marijuana. A completely includes B and C. B includes
some of C. C is NOT entirely inclusive of B. Therefore, it is not proven that all marijuana users move on
to harder drugs. Marijuana is the most harmless of all illegal drugs, and therefore is the most frequently used.
Someone who does harder drugs such as cocaine, heroine, or PCP is more likely to be a marijuana user. Not the other
way around. You could apply the anti-drug lobby's "logic" to another situation. A = all people who are
vegetarians. B = all people who eat lettuce. C = all people who eat asparagus. A is inclusive of some of
B. A is inclusive of some of C. Therefore, asparagus causes people to become vegetarians. Now the Beef industry
is going to sue asparagus farmers! Abbie Hoffman once said, and I'm paraphrasing, "If you stand on the street corner,
bus A drives by. A while later, bus B drives by. There is no evidence to suggest that bus A caused bus B to follow".
Pot is a social drug, too. People do use
pot alone, but if there's a group, and somebody pulls out a joint, there's going to be some unification within that group.
(Sometimes) Intelligent conversation will bloom, and things are bound to get interesting.
People don't get violent on marijuana like they
do alcohol. People tend to get passive and peaceful. So much for the marijuana spawns violence theory. There
are possibly a few which are affected negatively by marijuana. Just as with alcohol, marijuana isn't for everybody.
A much higher percentage of alcohol users get violent when alcohol is taken into the body.
Another myth about marijuana is that it makes
people paranoid. Well... it's not paranoia when they ARE out to get you!
Do I have anything negative to say about marijuana?
Yes. Don't try to retain any information while you are under the influence of pot. I would strongly urge anybody
attending classes and trying to learn something to refrain from using pot during class or while you're studying. During
your free time, what better way to wipe the slate in your mind, and relax?
As for kids using pot, I think it should be
treated the same as alcohol. Kids are going to rebel against their parents. They are going to do things you tell
them not to do. It's only natural. But we should be honest with them. I intend to do this with my daughter
when she gets old enough to understand. If you tell a kid that marijuana is evil, and they'll become violent, stupid
and uninhibited, when they try it and find out that you were lying to them, how can you expect them to believe you when you
talk to them about heroine or crack? You have to be honest with kids, and let them draw their own conclusions about
things. Don't underestimate them. Kids are a lot smarter than you think.
