There are plenty of arguments for it. I lay out the ones that I believe in.
1. Self ownership. The basic concept that I own my body and no one, particularly the government, has the right to tell me what to do or not do with it. The government has no business telling me to lay off fatty foods, get my exercise, or get eight hours of sleep each night. Nor does it have the right to tell if I can or cannot injest marijuana.
2. Consistency. Alcohol, as we all know, is legal. Yet all of the bad things marijuana is blamed for or associated can be equally applied to alcohol, except in much much larger numbers. A lot of pro pot advocates argue that pot is not nearly as bad for the individual or society as alcohol. I won't even go that far. I'll just state that pot is certainly not worse than alcohol. And if pot is no worse than alcohol, why should one be illegal and the other legal?
3. Black markets are bad. Despite our laws, demand still exist for pot and it always will. Which means our prohibition of marijuana creates an illegal black market. What are the affects of this black market? Marajuana is unregulated. You often here stories of it being laced with other dangerous substances without the buyer's knowledge. That doesn't happen with legal products where consumers have legal recourse against sellers that commit fraud. Also, who profits from the black market? Organized criminal cartels. Alcohol prohibition helped turn the American Mafia into being a bunch of run of the mill ethnic criminal gangs into a multibillion dollar criminal empire. Drug prohibition is doing the same for many other criminal cartels, including the Mafia, urban street gangs, and drug cartels in Mexico and South America. Legalization would mean users no longer need to rely on criminals to get what they want.
4. Money. We waste billions in law enforcement expenditures to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate drug offenders. Imagine if those dollars could be returned to the tax payer. Or at least used to fund other more pressing areas of law enforcement. Plus, by forcing drugs onto the black market, that means the government doesn't collect one red cent from an industry that makes billions of dollars each year.
5. No harm principle. My decision to smoke a joint harms no one other than perhaps myself. Since my decision to use or not use does not infringe on the rights of anyone else, I should be free to make that decision on my own. Some will argue that drug use can lead to acts that are harmful to others, but the fact is drug use in and of itself harms no one. For those harmful acts it can lead to, we have existing laws that can deal with those issues. Driving while intoxicated is often cited as an example, but even if we legalize pot, we still have laws against driving while intoxicated. Legalization wouldn't suddenly make it OK to get high as a kite and then go out for a cruise.
I figured I'd start this thread here. I have been thinking a lot about legalizing marijuana. My current stance is that it should remain illegal, however I am open minded regarding this and I would like to hear more arguments from both sides. I believe this would be a great place for me to post this. Basically, my mind is open to keeping it illegal or legalizing it. I am considering changing my beliefs regarding marijuana. I would like to hear arguments from both sides and hope to expand upon my opinion (or change it).
Another reason is because criminalizing drugs means only criminals will sell it. Make it legal to sell and it is then able to be regulated and taxed. In fact, the last people who want to legalize drugs are those who now sell it illegally and can make more money on it because they don't have to pay for any business licenses, income taxes, or payroll taxes, and also don't have to worry about regulators from the FDA looking over their operations to make sure they don't dilute the product in order to stretch it out to make more money. By regulating it, there can be better safeguards on recreational drugs.
This argument doesn't really make sense to me, it seems that if the people who made the drugs had to get a license and pay tax on it, wouldn't that lead to a black market of illicitly made, and therefore cheaper, and possibly inferior quality drugs?
This argument doesn't really make sense to me, it seems that if the people who made the drugs had to get a license and pay tax on it, wouldn't that lead to a black market of illicitly made, and therefore cheaper, and possibly inferior quality drugs?
Everything in moderation
I shall now invoke the holy limerick.
Lifes a bitch
And Then you die
So **** the world
and lets get high
eace
That's not a limerick.
Dude, please don't tell me that you've come to such boredom, that you have to critisize what I call a... whatever the hell its called.
:lol: I am that bored, and just call it a poem.
What if I don't want to call it a poem?
What if I now want it to be a Solilequay?
Could that be aranged?
No, 'cause you spelt soliloquy wrong.:2razz:
It should be decriminalized, prohibition should be lifted. I hate the stuff, Every time I ever did it, It would literally put me to sleep. But that said. I am sovereign over my body, and thus, as a free man should have the choice to administer as I see fit.
My opinion is constantly evolving and I highly appreciate and respect everyone's opinion. I am considering legalizing marijuana and treating it similarly to how sudafed is regulated.
My opinion is constantly evolving and I highly appreciate and respect everyone's opinion. I am considering legalizing marijuana and treating it similarly to how sudafed is regulated.
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