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Forums - General Discussion - Marijuana legality?

 

Should marijuana/weed/reefer be legal?

Yes, it should be complet... 46 75.41%
 
Yes, but only medically 5 8.20%
 
No, it's a gateway/harmful drug 10 16.39%
 
Total:61
Machina said:

Yes. Legalise, regulate, tax. I'd do the same for most other drugs, and prostitution.

All drugs should be completely legal. Regulation does more harm than good, and taxation is theft. So I can't get behind those things.

Prostitution should be completely legal as well. 

There are no victims with any of these things, therefore they are not crimes by any reasonable definition. 



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VAMatt said:
Machina said:

Yes. Legalise, regulate, tax. I'd do the same for most other drugs, and prostitution.

All drugs should be completely legal. Regulation does more harm than good, and taxation is theft. So I can't get behind those things.

Prostitution should be completely legal as well. 

There are no victims with any of these things, therefore they are not crimes by any reasonable definition. 

Err, without regulation, making prostitution legal will cause plenty victims. Regulation has made the porn industry safer and reduced victims.
As for drugs, big pharma and big tobacco would love to sell you drugs without regulations.
Taxation pays for regulation.

How would you keep capitalism in check without regulation?

I lived in the Netherlands around the time prostitution was legalized. Heavily regulated, with positive effects.

Dutch cities that regulate prostitution in dedicated areas see a dramatic decline in rapes and sexual assaults, a new study finds. Proponents of legalizing prostitution argue that by regulating the flesh trade, sex workers are better protected.

https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/legal-prostitution-reduce-rape-holland/



SvennoJ said:
VAMatt said:

All drugs should be completely legal. Regulation does more harm than good, and taxation is theft. So I can't get behind those things.

Prostitution should be completely legal as well. 

There are no victims with any of these things, therefore they are not crimes by any reasonable definition. 

Err, without regulation, making prostitution legal will cause plenty victims. Regulation has made the porn industry safer and reduced victims.
As for drugs, big pharma and big tobacco would love to sell you drugs without regulations.
Taxation pays for regulation.

How would you keep capitalism in check without regulation?

I lived in the Netherlands around the time prostitution was legalized. Heavily regulated, with positive effects.

Dutch cities that regulate prostitution in dedicated areas see a dramatic decline in rapes and sexual assaults, a new study finds. Proponents of legalizing prostitution argue that by regulating the flesh trade, sex workers are better protected.

https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/legal-prostitution-reduce-rape-holland/

You've likely conflated correlation with causation. Almost certainly, the reduction in problems is related to the legalization, not the regulation.  I can't prove a negative, but common sense tells me it is likely the case. 

I have no interest in keeping capitalism in check with government. That's not really even possible. In all of the developed world, government and business are one and the same.  In many cases, it is literally the same people. In others, the people differ, but the locus of control does not.  It's like saying the police should investigate themselves (something we hear a lot about in the US lately).  It doesn't make any sense.

Regulation causes consumers to not look out for themselves as well as they should, as they mistakenly believe that government is doing it for them. I understand the concept of regulation being a good thing. But, in practice, regulation causes problems, it doesn't solve them.  



VAMatt said:

You've likely conflated correlation with causation. Almost certainly, the reduction in problems is related to the legalization, not the regulation.  I can't prove a negative, but common sense tells me it is likely the case. 

I have no interest in keeping capitalism in check with government. That's not really even possible. In all of the developed world, government and business are one and the same.  In many cases, it is literally the same people. In others, the people differ, but the locus of control does not.  It's like saying the police should investigate themselves (something we hear a lot about in the US lately).  It doesn't make any sense.

Regulation causes consumers to not look out for themselves as well as they should, as they mistakenly believe that government is doing it for them. I understand the concept of regulation being a good thing. But, in practice, regulation causes problems, it doesn't solve them.  

How are consumers supposed to look out for themselves without regulations protecting the public?

Yes the influence of big corporations on government and regulatory bodies is a huge problem. Getting rid of regulations isn't going to fix anything. Regulations are not the problem, the revolving door between politics and big business positions is the problem. Just like we separated church and state, business should be separated from the state as well.



VAMatt wants us being served arsenic in our soda pops and then saying, well you should have done your research, man.

Last edited by super_etecoon - on 03 November 2023

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DarthMetalliCube said:

Definitely. It's certainly a better/less dangerous drug than alcohol. Granted it doesn't do much for me other than make me paranoid/tense more often than not. Which is the OPPOSITE of what I'm looking for.. I never got how people say it helps them unwind, relax or whatever. ALCOHOL definitely does that for me for weed is the polar opposite. My mind goes a million miles a minute on the stuff and it tends to amplify/enhance entertainment (music and movies mainly) and makes things generally funnier/more interesting but that's about all I use it for, and even that's rare these days. But still, it's a relatively harmless drug other than making you sit around and be lazy for countless hours. And I suppose one could get somewhat of a mental addiction (though not a physical one) through the dopamine effects, but again, alcohol is 100x worse as far as addiction goes, take it from me.

Now if we're talking hard drugs that are actually damaging and which one can OD on (cocaine, heroin, etc) then that's a much different story. 

And don't forget far more carcinogenic cigarettes, which in some states, you can even smoke them in public and blow them in people's faces, but marijuana, which, again, has never kiled anyone? You can't smoke that anywhere in many states (a lot of the same states that allow cigs in public even), some even with a treatable condition. Make it make sense.

Well, apparently, Ohio is, or rather, the Ohio voters. They just passed recreational marijuana with a ballot initiative, 56.9% voting in favor.  

Oh, and ironically, most states that have some form of legalized marijuana don't allow public smoking. Hmm, maybe those illicit states aren't concerned about people's health after all. After all, second hand tobacco smoke kills about 50k people per year while reefer is still going strong at 0.

Last edited by KManX89 - on 09 November 2023

I probably have a slightly uncommon opinion on this. I think it would make sense for a lot of countries to decriminalize marijuana.
The scam of medical marijuana should be exposed though, and it should not be allowed to market marijuana as medicin or prescribe it as such. The medical use is severely overrated. If someone came up with a pill that had identical effects to marijuana, never in a million years would it get approval by any drug agency. Too many drugs outperform marijuana and with far less side effects. The idea that something is natural should not lead to an easier path through the drug approval system.

The drug should remain illegal, due to effects such as psychosis and anxiety, as well as deaths indirectly caused by the drug (car accidents, suicides etc). But I support either a decriminalizion or reduction in punishment to a small fee for the user. A legalization can also make sense in the case of a national emergency, to remove the market for drug cartels.



Well I think Marijuana isn't really that dangerous and should be legal, I do hate the smell. So preferably it shouldn't be legal in public spaces.



Please excuse my (probally) poor grammar

I enjoy seeing people think burning and inhaling pot doesn't have cancer implications. Pyrolysis isn't a strong suit for some.

Pot smoke is loaded with benzo[a]pyrene and nitrosamines.  

There is a deficiency in controlled studies.  But no reasonable person can honestly think inhaling known carcinogens is risk free.  

Last edited by Chrkeller - on 29 November 2023

Chrkeller said:

I enjoy seeing people think burning and inhaling pot doesn't have cancer implications. Pyrolysis isn't a strong suit for some.

Pot smoke is loaded with benzo[a]pyrene and nitrosamines.  

There is a deficiency in controlled studies.  But no reasonable person can honestly think inhaling known carcinogens is risk free.  

There are some studies https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/marijuana-and-lung-cancer-risk

However the big difference is, you inhale Marijuana smoke a couple times and you're done. Far different from smoking multiple cigarettes a day to chain smoking a pack or more a day. Plus extracts and edibles are a better way to get a consistent dosage without any risks for your lungs.

My wife has trouble with her lungs in this is a magnitude bigger problem than a few people exhaling some Marijuana smoke outside
https://www.lung.org/local-content/mn/learn-before-burn
She can't work outside when people are burning stuff or wildfire smoke blows in.

But yes, it's not risk free. It's just far less of a risk than habitual cigarette smoking and there are many alternatives that not involve smoking at all.