Marijuana Debate - Mountain View, MO

I personally believe that 'pot' or marijuana shouldn't be considered a drug under any circumstances. For it comes from the ground, yah it gets you high. But so does medicines Dr's give us when we're in pain or had surgery. Yes their illegal if you don't have a perscription for them but pot comes from the ground, God put it on earth for a reason. Not saying that reason is to be smoked but hell, we don't know his reason's for anything.. So whose to say it ain't to be smoked? They think it may help prevent cancer or something like that or help eye sight. Well hell legalize it then.!! Crime rate would go down also.:)

it is good for your eyes

It is a drug end of story.

You do realize that if marijuana were to be leagalized it would be subject to state and local taxes, just like tobacco. If you're selling it then the Department of Revenue (IRS), are sure to get their cut. Just a reference, in Chicago the price of one pack of cigarettes $8.00 per pack. I don't smoke anything, but I do believe you should able grow/posess a per determined amount for personal use.

what about poppys? or how about Jimsin weed, they both grow in the wild.

i think weed should be legal.

What about poppy's or Jimsin weed? This forum has nothing to do w/ Jimsin weed or poppy's. & To FYI I understand that they'll tax it but hey maybe then our state/country won't be so f-en poor. You know how much they'll sell & get rid of if it's legal? How much money say checkered flag for instance would make? Our crime rate would go down so much, less juevniles going to jail and well just crime rate. But I personally believe that there should be an age limit on it just like alcohol & tobacco. A lot of teenagers use it & get stupid. So... Make it legal for adults. Say 18 or older?? Makes sense to me.

here are some other drugs, caffeine, sugar, tobacco, alcohol, and so on...

potheads are losers

Water is a drug... You can get drunk if you drink too much water and it is addictive as well. But it doesn't make you stupid like MJ does, or impair your judgement, or turn you into a living slug. So your analogy of other substances is so far off that it is literally out of the world!

So all you that think it should be legal would be okay with smoking a joint with there child? It usually something that starts out as a teen habit but most grow out of it(grow up)and get a life. Everyone that defends it always throws n things like,'oh, but who dies in car wrecks from potheads?'. Well,if these people that smoke don't have it they get angry and violent. I'm talking about everyday potheads. People also die from drug deals gone bad, someone discovering weed patches, trying to smuggle into US.Does everyone forget about that.IT'S A GATEWAY DRUG!!!!

It's only a gateway drug if you let it be. I've tried pot, dont like it. I've never done anything else. There's people all around this town that just smoke pot but people think their dopeheads and worthless. People need to grow up and realize that there is a difference between dope and marijuana. HUGE difference.

dope is dope

I think it is kind of like alchol. Too much and it is a bad thing, but some can make a nice time. I do not think it should be allowed at work, same as alchol, plus it is a good thing for people who have cancer or other problems. Then it could be taxed, sold , and people growing it for a legal income. But my opion it would need regulated like alchol, no smoking while working, driving ect.

If the words "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on.
o Terence McKenna

pot for medicinal purposes is ok but not for recreational use. many people who use it regularly are more likely to suffer from depression and mental and emotional issues because they are addicted to the feeling. they don't know how to enjoy life w/out it. it also causes memory loss, sometimes severe. i've known people who started smoking it a few times a week, and w/in a few months they couldn't remember things that had happened to them before they started pot. not just the bad memories but good ones too. and they had no desire to do anything, but smoke pot. also, some dealers lace that stuff w/chemicals to make it stronger. i think your best bet is just to leave it all alone.

nope to dope wrote:

It is a drug end of story.

So is aspirin.

"But it doesn't make you stupid like MJ does, or impair your judgement, or turn you into a living slug. So your analogy of other substances is so far off that it is literally out of the world!"

Drugs effect different people in different ways, I'm sure all of you know this and have witnessed it, if not personally.

Grown Up - Who said anything about smoking a joint with their child? You. Also, think someone is going to die from a drug deal gone bad if it is sold at Signal? lol. As for a gateway drug.. no more than anything else. And they point all that out because alcohol IS legal, and simply put, cigarettes and alcohol are worse than marijuana.

friend - No lacing going on if it is sold in stores. Well, can't say that for sure, but you get my point. lol. As I said before, it effects different people in different ways, just like a sleeping pill, anti-depressant, or any other form of drug, legal or illegal. As with anything else, alcohol for example, moderation is key, no?

"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson

Nicotine, the active ingredient in tobacco smoke, has long been known to be highly addictive. In fact, doctors and pharmacologists are not in consensus as to which is more addictive-- nicotine, or Crack. Physical addiction occurs when a chemical becomes essential for the body or metabolism to function. In other words, a substance is said to be physically addictive if extended use results in a build up of tolerance in the body to the extent that discontinuing use of the substance results in negative side effects. Called "withdrawal symptoms," these consequences can include anxiety, stress, trauma, depression and physical conditions such as shakes or nausea. It is to avoid these consequences that an addict will keep using his or her substance. In addition to being addictive, nicotine is also a toxin (i.e. lethal if ingested in sufficient quantities.) Nicotine has been shown to have a negative effect on the heart and circulatory systems, causing a constriction in veins and arteries which may lead to a stroke or heart attack. In fact, nicotine is so poisonous that smokers who ignore their doctor's advice and continue to smoke while using dermal nicotine patches have managed to overdose and die of heart seizure.

Many people think smoking marijuana is just as harmful as smoking tobacco, but this is not true. Those who hold that marijuana is equivalent to tobacco are misinformed. Due to the efforts of various federal agencies to discourage use of marijuana in the 1970's the government, in a fit of "reefer madness," conducted several biased studies designed to return results that would equate marijuana smoking with tobacco smoking, or worse. For example the Berkeley carcinogenic tar studies of the late 1970's concluded that "marijuana is one-and-a-half times as carcinogenic as tobacco." This finding was based solely on the tar content of cannabis leaves compared to that of tobacco, and did not take radioactivity into consideration.(Cannabis tars do not contain radioactive materials.) In addition, it was not considered that:
1) Most marijuana smokers smoke the bud, not the leaf, of the plant. The bud contains only 33% as much tar as tobacco.
2) Marijuana smokers do not smoke anywhere near as much as tobacco smokers, due to the psychoactive effects of cannabis.
3) Not one case of lung cancer has ever been successfully linked to marijuana use.
4) Cannabis, unlike tobacco, does not cause any narrowing of the small air passageways in the lungs. In fact, marijuana has been shown to be an expectorant and actually dilates the air channels it comes in contact with. This is why many asthma sufferers look to marijuana to provide relief.
Doctors have postulated that marijuana may, in this respect, be more effective than all of the prescription drugs on the market. Studies even show that due to marijuana's ability to clear the lungs of smog, pollutants, and cigarette smoke, it may
actually reduce your risk of emphysema, bronchitis, and lung cancer. Smokers of cannabis have been shown to outlive non-smokers in some areas by up to two years. Medium to heavy tobacco smokers will live seven to ten years longer if they also smoke marijuana. Cannabis is also radically different from tobacco in that it does not contain nicotine and is not addictive. The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC, has been accused of causing brain and genetic damage, but these studies have all been disproven. In fact, the DEA's own Administrative Law Judge Francis Young has declared that "marijuana in its natural form is far safer than many foods we commonly consume."

Go Ozark Moose. Finally someone who includes facts instead of senseless rambling. Good for you!

i don't think pot is dangerous. if it were there wouldn't be doctors perscribing it to people who are already sick. duh.