Marijuana Debate - Douglasville, GA

If marijuana is legalized then we will not see prisons going up in our backyard. The government thinks they can make more money by criminalizing marijuana than they can off decriminalizing and taxing it. Building prisons is a corporation and without inmates a prison is worthless.

This was made illegal for illegal reasons, so why are we still enforcing it? I'm not a pot smoker, but from what I have seen the laws against it destroy far more lives than the actual pot. Why would "free" people allow this kind of blatant government control to continue?

I guess you guys either A. do drugs or B. don't do drugs and don't know anyone affected by them. Marijuana leads to other drugs, leads to laziness, impairs your driving, your ability and clouds your mind. It causes you to commit other crimes, for which you would be arrested for. The list goes on and on.

NO way!

yes

Wow wrote:

I guess you guys either A. do drugs or B. don't do drugs and don't know anyone affected by them. Marijuana leads to other drugs, leads to laziness, impairs your driving, your ability and clouds your mind. It causes you to commit other crimes, for which you would be arrested for. The list goes on and on.

So the government should say that nobody can use it because it makes people lazy or have clouded minds? How about letting a person decide for themselves whether they want to ruin their life?
How about this: pot being legal for consenting adults and if they become worthless slobs, they are NOT eligible for government assistance. Then the adult can make the decision based on the possible consequences. IT'S CALLED PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
We shouldn't need the government stepping in for our conscience.(Nor do they have the consitutional authority to do so.)

People say they want liberty, but then they beg the government to take it away.

Yes, if you commit other crimes or drive impaired, you should be arrested, just like if you commit a crime just for the thrill of it or drive drunk. Whether the crime has its genesis in drugs should be irrelevant.

Absolutely! This is the 21st Century and this makes the most sense. No pass it to me, dude!

Wow wrote:

I guess you guys either A. do drugs or B. don't do drugs and don't know anyone affected by them. Marijuana leads to other drugs, leads to laziness, impairs your driving, your ability and clouds your mind. It causes you to commit other crimes, for which you would be arrested for. The list goes on and on.

And alcohol doesn't do a lot of the same things? I'd rather be on the road with someone that was stoned than a drunk. If the politicians were pot heads instead of drunks, pot would be legal and alcohol wouldn't.

Same as another thread started here.

It all boils down to work place issues. If someone gets hurt on the job and they test positive for pot they can be denied compensation. Pot stays (is detectable) in the human body longer than booze.

This is just plain stupid. People that are high can't function. We don't need more non functioning adults in our society. We don't need more impaired drivers on the road. We just don't need it!

Wow wrote:

I guess you guys either A. do drugs or B. don't do drugs and don't know anyone affected by them. Marijuana leads to other drugs, leads to laziness, impairs your driving, your ability and clouds your mind. It causes you to commit other crimes, for which you would be arrested for. The list goes on and on.

I was pretty clear about not using the stuff. I was also only talking about pot, not "drugs" in general. I don't believe so easily that drugs "cause" people to commit crimes and yes, I have known many addicts and yes, I agree most of them started with cigarettes, then pot, then either coke or narcotics. I lost a friend to heroin who went through the whole cycle. Thing is though, obtaining pot put him in touch with a black market he might have avoided had pot been legal. Instead his pot dealer also had coke and pills for sale, something that legal pot sellers avoid. In his case addiction became the center of his existence and I had to back away from him. Learning he died was not a surprise. But he was not the rule since most addicts don't kill themselves. Death from illegal drugs is not as common as we are told by media sensationalism. Most addicts keep their habit to themselves.

My real point in posting to this thread is that the laws against pot are useless. All they do is create a paycheck for law enforcement while causing more damage to people's lives than pot is even capable of doing. If we were talking about coke or heroin I might agree with you. But pot is benign and doesn't kill.

We can't keep using arguments from the 70s and 80s, like you have presented, or we can count on an escalating drug problem. Why? Because we are literally lying to our children with that kind of reasoning and look where it has gotten us so far. When I talk to my children about pot I make it clear that the laws against it are dangerous and can ruin a career fast. I also explain that it connects people to a network of very dangerous people who make a living by enhancing people's addictions with harder drugs.

I don't lie to them and say that pot will cause them to try heroin and go on a killing spree. Why? Because if I did that my kids would eventually learn the reality of it all and see me as either a liar or an uninformed dolt. As a parent I can't afford that. So I tell them the truth.

Also, saying "the list goes on and on" is a cop out. Say what you mean and spell it out. CF

The war on drugs has failed. Stop criminalizing people that smoke a plant. Next thing you know they will be penalizing folks that use tarragon in stew.

ANON ME wrote:

This is just plain stupid. People that are high can't function. We don't need more non functioning adults in our society. We don't need more impaired drivers on the road. We just don't need it!

Even if it is true that pot users cannot function in our society (debatable), should that not be their choice instead of the governments. It's a question of individual liberty vs govt control.

There are many things that we don't need that are not illegal.

ANON ME wrote:

This is just plain stupid. People that are high can't function. We don't need more non functioning adults in our society. We don't need more impaired drivers on the road. We just don't need it!

In 1970 Major Leauge pitcher Dock Ellis threw a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. Just sayin'

Hey! Don't bogart that joint.(Just couldn't resist!):)

I wish they would legalize it! It is a plant for crying out loud!!! So is tobacco, but I can buy cigarettes legally at any store. 420!!!!

Are you kidding me?

Marijuana, in my opinion, is not as dangerous as alcohol or tobacco. It is also less addictive than both of them.

Charles Farley wrote:

<quoted text>
and yes, I agree most of them started with cigarettes, then pot, then either coke or narcotics. I lost a friend to heroin who went through the whole cycle.. CF

Charles- Credible study after credible study has shown that smoking pot has nothing whatsoever to do with the progression toward Heroin, LSD, or any other hard drug use. Unfortunately for truth, the urban legend that marijuana is a threshold drug lives on. Pot heads are Pot heads. Druggies are druggies. One is not an adolescent of the other.

Wow wrote:

I guess you guys either A. do drugs or B. don't do drugs and don't know anyone affected by them. Marijuana leads to other drugs, leads to laziness, impairs your driving, your ability and clouds your mind. It causes you to commit other crimes, for which you would be arrested for. The list goes on and on.

If that's you're argument then how do you justify alcohol being legal? Alcohol has the same effects that you mentioned but is much, much more addictive and harmful to your health. By the way I don't smoke it but ONLY because it's still illegal!