First let me say that I don't smoke anything nor do I encourage any one to. I personally think that if you smoke (marijuana or tobacco) then your a ding-a-ling.
BUT
I think it should be legalized. Simply because if the government could tax it they'd make so much money! And it may lessen drug related violence. Although now that I say that it makes me think that drug related violence may not be so big concerning marijuana. But still, it couldn't hurt. :|

Snacky said:
"But still, it couldn't hurt."
Exactly, the people who get it now are gonna get it regardless, and the glaucoma patients would be thrilled. Also, in our poor economy, it would be a much better stimulus than giving money that will just cause us more debt.

So you guys are saying peoples sicknesses by the choices they make themselves is okay as long as we can benefit from it? I'm all for vaporization cannabis in a controlled environment as a medicine, but otherwise its just abuse.

@kitkat: we make money off of the abuse of alcohol and no one seems to care and it had no medicinal properties. Cigarettes are also legal and it has been proven countless times that those kill you, so why not legalize weed?

The point with cigarettes and alcohol being legal and people not really batting an eyelid on the effects that those substances have on their health, is simply because they've been around for a very long time now, so we're used to them and accept them, humans are extremely stubborn when it comes to change.

If tobacco was only just discovered now, it would be just as illegal as any other drug, but because it's been smoked for hundreds of years everyone just shrugs and carries on (let's not forget that it's a multi-million dollar industry too >_> those tabacco companies would sabotage any serious attempts at making it illegal )

But I agree that if cannabis was legalised it would probably have big financial benefits via taxation, and would create jobs, and maybe have some control over the quality of the product being sold.

Can't see it ever happening though, tobacco give you lung cancer yes, but smoking it doesn't have the same mental side-effects that smoking cannabis does. The stuff might become legal to sell, but would you want people toking up during their smoke breaks at work? Companies wouldn't want their staff smoking dope during work hours, it would affect productivity and quite possibly staff safety. You want some stoned kid operating heavy machinery round you?

There's so many things that could go very wrong if people could just wander down to the paper shop and buy a pack of cannabis cigarettes =_=

And what would they cut it with? It would have to be tobacco, surely? So saying it's "healthier" is bullshit. Inhaling any burning substance into your lungs is bad for you.

I mean there's many other ways that people take the stuff I know, but people like to smoke it, so that others can see/smell they're taking dope :roll:

I've heard that in order to overdose on marijuana, you'd have to smoke an astronomical amount.
A doctor once told me this.

@Jellysundea: you are right about the whole cannabis in the workplace thing. That wouldn't go over well at all. It would make the most sense that employers would ban it from the work place period. I agree that there is a down side. But putting people in jail for smoking weed is ridiculous.

I never said it was not unhealthy, I said it was healthier than smoking cigarettes.

There's many other ways of taking the stuff though, so why do it in a way that causes damage to your body?

Have you ever smoked weed?

Nope, I've never touched any drugs and I don't smoke either. I'm just an annoying opinionated person :P

Kah Hilzin-Ec look at what the Dutch do, they bake it into cakes and cookies. A friend of mine mixes it into hot chocolate :lol:

THC (Chemical in Marijuana which gets you high) is a fat-clingy chemical. Which means it sticks to fat cells. You can boil it and let the chemical go into the butter. Scrape the outter layer of the butter off. redo it over and over. You can use that to cook with.

Though, honestly. If it is legalized it is. It will have the same restrictions as alcohol does. I do not see why people are so scared of it. I mean fucking hell. I am able to buy cigarettes in a 'third world' country. Yet, people are bitchin about pot and the harm it does to my body. How about we get rid of soda because of the carbonation, or fast food because of all the grease.

Fatty food and carbonation in drinks don't effect your mental faculties though. Though it wouldn't do the Western world as a whole any harm if both fast food and soda were made illegal ;)

but alcohol and cigarettes do harm and are not illegal. They do harm to your body and mess with your mental faculties.

Oh my god! They do! I will run out and stop drinking and smoking immediately. After I finish this cigarette and finish my sip-n-go.

Marijuana is not nearly as dangerous as alcohol. Yet, it is illegal. Can someone explain that too me with an answer other than "Because it is."

They don't but they can lead to an ungodly obesity that can result in a lot of health risks. Clogged arteries, heart problems, death. My point is that there are a lot of things that no one even considers could lead to health problems later on.

Because the people in Washington are afraid of the people who think it should be illegal.

Or if you want it simpler, because the government is stupid, =3.

Do you know why they think it should stay illegal?

Well, there is always the whole it's a gateway drug thing, but that's not true. Then there's the it permanently kills brain cells, which isn't true, or at least not successfully proven. Also, cannabis can stay in your system for, I think, either a month or a few weeks because it sticks to the fatty cells and so it effects you longer than beer or cigarettes. But I think that mainly it is that if it were legalized, more people would smoke it more regularly and children would see parents smoke it and they would start young and we don't know about the effects on children.

Alcohol permanently kills brain cells, but as I already mentioned; people are used to and accept alcohol and tobacco because they've been around for thousands of years. Same with the fatty unhealthy shit that gives people heart attacks, it's a social norm so it's accepted.

The effects wear off faster than a good night of drinking. At least all my experience with both.

I smoked pot when I was 12. :| Most people who smoke pot are teenagers. At at least that is the age alot of people start.

They want it to stay illegal because people are scared of change. Regardless of the bullshit campaign "Change" everyone was all into for Obama. No one wants change. They are too scared of things being outside the norm.

Well, depends on what you want to legalize. I'm ok for recreational smoking.

But the problem is, once it's legal, the Grow-ops will become massive. Government funded corporations!
Like we don't have enough greenhouse gas as is.

If that's not enough, look at cigarettes. Look how much shit they have.

I live in Vancouver, we have a thing they call "B.C. Bud". EVERY SINGLE POT SMOKER HAS HEARD OF THIS. Mixed results, most says "It's the greatest thing EVAR".

You know what makes it so great? The crystal meth and other additives.

Tobacco is unhealthy just by smoking it. But once the huge corporations started mass production, they added all the tar and stuff.


I think it's illegal because the government wants to avoid this. Or not. Maybe in America. I live in Canada, my brother's a cop, and he honestly doesn't care if a guy has 2-3 joints on him, as long as he's not smoking and driving.


It's not the use they care about, it's the distribution. Holland or whatever has a good system with brown cafes and other such establishments, where it's just like Alchohol. You can't smoke it outside, but you can drink inside, and then they take your keys. I think.

@Bartuc: I'm not for illegal marijuana. You asked me why I thought the government wanted it illegal. Yes I think change is part of it, but many people are simply afraid that it might be the next tobacco, or that poor innocent children will ruin their future.