Decriminalization of marijuana DEBATE
 

Hey, I want to know the forum's stance on pot, knowing if you like the idea of having it decriminalized in canada or not.
If you do post why you like the idea or not and if you have anything to add FOR or AGAINST the decriminalization then feel free to do so.

Here are my reasons why i'd like to have it legal:

1) Having it illegal ruins more people's lives than it would theoretically (according to some of the goverment) if it was legal because it has been proven that it does not harm the body as much (sure 1 dose will amount to more cigarettes but the amount you take in is significantly lower than cigarettes because you do not constantly need a "refill" of THC like you would need with nicotine)

2) This is a very soft drug, the effects are felt strongly but the fact that almost any task can be done while being under it's effects, ofcourse people can't do EVERYTHING while high but that's why people just do it on their free time when they don't have to do anything.

3) This drug has barely contributed to any deaths, maybe some accidents involving clumsiness but nothing serious. Alcohol kills thousands of people each year, marijuana kills almost none.
Goverment has a commercial saying a certain high percentage of tested car accident victims have tested positive to marijuana, my own idea on that is that the only people they test is people they see obvious signs of pot use, (i wish the goverment commercials actually told the people the full statistics of howmany people get in car accidents and howmany people get tested instead of giving a percentage)

4) Why is marijuana illegal if alcohol isn't?, alcohol is significantly more dangerous than marijuana, it ruins your liver, you get hangovers (bad headaches and feeling of dislocation from the world) the next day, not being able to remember what happened while drunk, dizziness and confusion, stignamus (which blurrs your eyesight) all these are some NEGATIVE symtoms of alcohol even though there are positive ones but i'm using this as a pointer to prove that the negative effects of alcohol are much worse than THC and cannabidiols.

5) This drug is judged on many sites who tell you that the drug effects an important part of your brain which if you harm then it can harm you, this part is where you recieve information and how you percieve things, it does altar that part of your brain but does not harm it.

6) Cops spend way toomuch time trying to look for the pot smokers instead of fighting real crimes.

7) Alot of money is spent each year to enforce the anti-THC laws, couldn't this money go somewhere else?... like in your pockets, or something more useful than fighting a harmless intoxicant?

8) Some goverment officials call potent marijuana the "crack" of marijuana, making it look dangerous because he used the name of a harmful drug, in reality it is not a "crack" of marijuana but it is a more potent version of the drug, same effects but takes less time to consume because you don't need asmuch, this is simply proving that the goverment uses technical terms and skips words that would prove the drug to be harmless.

Please post your oppinion below and tell me if i made any mistakes anywhere

Have fun this is now a debate

- EX-Mania

Note: Tell us why you think it is good or not and if your posts don't tell us why it will be deleted because if you don't it will cause spam. *deleting spam*
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To keep it short, I voted no.

I'll post my thoughts some other time.

Well, you say people could do it in their free time. In all honesty, do you think people will only do marijuana in their free time? Look at alcohol, it could be a casual drink, but the drunks that kill the innocent people ruin it for everyone. Marijuana is addictive, just like alcohol and cigarettes. It could ruin someone's life through the addiction. ANY kind of addiction is bad. Marijuana truly reduces your reaction rate, although it increases your alertness, I know from experience.

Not to mention Marijuana decreases fertility in women and lowers mens sperm counts and ability to get an erection. It can even permanently cause impotence.

I honestly think that Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Marijuana should all be illegal and have high penalties for abusers. Like I said before, any addiction is bad.

might as well be legal, like 50% of people smoke it and it never kills anyone.

In my opinion, if marijuana were to become legal, then more people would start doing it, and if everyone would do it then lots more people would be killed. This is just my theory, but I'm sure others would agree with me too. Also, when a cop usually sees a person smoking marijuana, he will take immediate action. If marijuana does become legal, will the cops just let them go, assuming that they aren't doing anything bad.

What if the druggies start selling marijuana to little children? Would that be allowed since marijuana is legal? Would smoking marijuana be the "cool" thing to do in school? Would the teachers alow it? What if some children died because others were effected by it and the room that they were in was close to the bathroom which they smoke it in. This is not a risk I am willing to take.

No, marijuana should not be legalized.

What happened to my post?

Anyway, it was something like...

Marijuana isn't very addictive.

Well nongayman, weed is already being sold to kids, so is alcohol, making it legal wont make kids get it more than they already do cuz they are already getting some, and marijuana does NOT kill people, so it will not kill more people.. its like taking the number 0 and multiplying it by 1000.. its still 0.. number of deaths THC only related is at 0... 1000% more people might smoke pot but it wont cause more deaths...

Yes, but wouldn't it make the kids learn less because they are always high?

Yes it would stop their learning but it is still illegal for kids .. and at that age kids don't get into drugs OR alcohol so it wouldn't be likely that they would do it anyway... and the law would still enforce underaged smoking.

to tell the truth a few of my friends who are stupid, become smarter when they are high. their reactions and everything sharpen. but then i have another friend who becomes COMPLETELY retarded, but funny as hell.

and as for little kids smokin pot, a friend of mines little brother (6th or 7th grade) got caught stealin some alcohol and then to top it off he had a dub on him, not too good.

I don't think the people of the world can afford to smoke marijuana, we're already stupid enough.

Once you legalize it, it will be really easy for the Teens to get their hands on it. They'll be smoking different stuff out there in the school ground, or just outside of school.

You did say that more people will take this drug if it is legalized, which is true; but at the same time, the people who took it wouldl probably take even more. Because it is legal, it's easy to get.

Like speed limit, most people drive at 70 when a sign is painted 50 on it. People will overdo it, probably.

Also, pot has a lot of negative effect on people, be it physical or psychological. Probably social. Sure, there is no or close to no death, but there are quite a number of marijuana-related problems.

So, no, don't legalize it.

Physical problems ... sperm count gets reduced, the number is very low... there is a slight chance of impotence but there are other medicines that can help in that uhh.. domain lol..

Psychological: there are cases of schizophrenia (pronounced skitzofrenia) but those cases are very mild and dissapear quickly.

I'd rather not use any drug thats gonna fuck with my penis.

Big words :P

TetraHydroCannabinol will remain in the fatty tissues after use. For people who use it occasionally, that won't be a huge problem because those THC will be out of body in within a week.

Slow sperms count for men...ya, and it might affect hormone levels.

For women, it may affect menstrual cycles.

When used during pregnancy, THC might increase the risk of a miscarriage and stillbirth. There will also be psychological influence to the child of a pot-using mom.

*goes and washes dishes...-_-*

its not like its hard to get pot right now anyways. around here, its like a bigillion times easier to get pot than to get alcohol. i live in a town of like 1200 people, the high school is maybe 300 kids. out of the 300 id say 250 have smoked pot and 100 do it all the time. i dont think legalizing would make it much easier than it is to get it right now, around here anyways.

the odds of anything happening are so low that they are barely worth mentioning, yes it is possible but the drug is barely comparable to alcohol's negative effects, if alcohol is legal, then weed surely as hell should be. id say that alcohol is around hmm.. 200% more dangerous than pot. with all the driving accidents, poisonings and liver problems im surprised they havent made alcohol illegal and/or pot legal.

Whether or not alcohol is more dangerous is irrelevant, and I haven't shared my view on alcohol yet. And, just because this more dangerous substance is legal doesn't make a less dangerous one to be more acceptable.

Also, alcohol is dangerous if it is "overuse". Which is like, two glasses? Depends on what people drink, in order to affect people's judgement and such.

It will probably make people take even more pots if it is legalized, just for the fact that it is "acceptable" in the eyes of the public. This is one thing to legalize and have it ran by government, or only for medical usage, and it's a totally different issue to have to legal, say everyone can get them from store.

One thing is, would it benefit the majority of the public if it is legalized? Or will it just create more problems (and brings in new rules, regulations etc.)?

Bring up the alcohol issue isn't a good thing, because we can see how substance abuse is damaging the community, and letting in another "substance" would probably make it worse.

explain why it would be SO bad for the public? no one is forcing them to smoke pot, if someone wants to they can. if it's legal sure maybe more people would smoke it, what exactly would the downfall be? personally i think pretty much anyone who wants to smoke pot does, legalizing it would just make it so they didn't sit in the basement at their moms house all day passin the blunt to the nigga on their left.

what im trying to say is, the only hold back on smokin the shit is you cant be walkin around in public doin it, that is the only thing about it.

--edit--
might as well throw in this picture from engrish.com
http://www.engrish.com/household/image/pottray.jpg

People have decisions to do it, and again i use the alcohol example, people have free will to drink, people have free will to smoke cigarettes, people should have free will to smoke, if they smoke they know what the consequences are and it's up to them to decide if it is worth it, if they want to then they should do it un-opposed by the law, if they don't want to and if they want to stay on the safe side then nobody's stopping them.

Think of how amsterdam works, everybody goes to the coffeeshop to smoke up a few joints everyday, they're not complainin.. it is just as casual as drinking a beer. if the whole world would look at pot this way then it would be amuch better place, people earent going to stop doing it if it is illegal, it just poses problems for the people who do.

Pot is 100% not addictive. You may become mentally reliant on the drug, but in no way, shape, or form is it addicitve. I'm not positive on the stat, but it is something like this:

It would take a few hundred pounds of burning marijuana and straight inhallation of marijuana smoke for 3 days without a single breathe of fresh air to have an overdose or become addicted.

Some may say, well, then there is a chance that it is addicitve, but in reality, those numbers are not possible to achieve.

I personally don't think that marijuana is bad, but I just wish it isn't as serious an offense as it is now. :(

Well, I will throw in my two cents. First, I did vote 'no' to this.

And what Titus just said, that may be true to get a physical addiction, who knows, but mental addictions can be just as bad.

But, I don't see any real reason to leagalize it. There is really NO reason to leagalize it. All people want it to be legalized for is so they can go get stoned every day and escape reality. There is no REAL reason for it to be legalized.

However, there are many reasons to not legalize it, as people have posted before. Also, being stoned affects your driving in a negative way so there will be many "stoned driving" accidents on top of all the drunk driving accidents.

But the bottom line is, marijuana is NOT a good thing for everying to be smoking all the time and there is no real reason to legalize it.

I think that people should be allowed to smoke it inside the privacy of their own homes. It should not be smoked in public places where other people can get hurt, there shouldn't be any "marajuana bars" or anything like that where a whole bunch of unknown people can just come, sit, chill and smoke, but if you and a couple friends do it inside your own home then it's fine. I think they should legalize it as long as you smoke it inside your own house, and you aren't allowed to do certain activities, such as driving, until the effects wear off a little bit.

In response to hellmonkey's post, legalization is so we can smoke freely without having to worry about getting busted and going to jail, it is our body and our decision but by having the cops tryin 2 bust us for smoking a joint hurts more than having it legal, we want it legal so we can actally relax and not be considered as outkasts as soon as we smoke it, we don't to do it "escape reality" you will notice that if you tried the drug, but we do it so we can have a good time and explore new ideas ect ect, it is a recreational drug with almost no problems except for it's illegal status.

[QUOTE=EX-Mania]Think of how amsterdam works, everybody goes to the coffeeshop to smoke up a few joints everyday, they're not complainin..[QUOTE]

Move to Amsterdam then.

[sarcasm] People won't stop murdering even though it's illegal, lets make it legal so they don't have to suffer. [/sarcasm]

actually i read a book called the big book of misinformation... it said that Amsterdam and Holland in general *pot smoking central* have 44% less murders than the U.S. so it doesnt really hold water when you say marijuana will cause deaths . Maybe auto deaths but that is their fault for getting in car stoned. I vote yes.

It's only the fault of the guy that gets in the car stoned, what about the innocent people that will die from it?

Posted Yes -- I say get rid of cigarretes >_>

I am VERY happy to announce that MARIJUANA IS NOW LEGAL IN ONTARIO@#!@#!$@#!@# YES@! AND I LIVE IN ONTARIO!!!! :D:D :D :D :D :D :D :D *brb as i go smoke a bong infront of the cop station* :D

Is it really? Those dumbass Canadians have all their shit confused.

lmao pull out a blunt and ask a cop if he has a light.

yea i think it should be legal but it should have rules and regulations, much like tobacco and alcohol. age, etc. i think it should also be illegal to smoke and drive because ive done it before and barely avoided several accidents. not cool. especialy w/ a stick shift.

I don't smoke anything (or drink alcohol, for that matter.)

BUT, it should be legalized, with this restriction: ANY, and I mean ANY, crime committed by someone under the influence of THC (I'd like it to apply to alcohol, as well) has double the penalties.

Speeding? Double points on your license and double fines. No jail time (This is different from Alcohol, though)

Robbing a 7-11? Double jail time / fines, all bail money is doubled as well.

I heard a few stoners say how no one who smokes marijuana commits any more crimes than anyone else (Other than the crime of possession of marijuana, of course.) If this is true, then the double-penalty wouldn't affect too many people.

In conclusion, I say if you want to smoke it, you'd better earn it by not committing any crimes. (Actually, the crime rate might go down if this is implemented.)

Bah, too long of a rant. Hope it makes sense, even though I'm a bit tired at the moment.

neutral because it doesnt harm anything much but on the other hand i wouldnt want half the people around me all doped up and retarded...

MArijuana wont make people go out n hurt people more... so there shouldnt be double penalty, when ur stoned u dont become violent or wanna do things like steal things... alcohol on the other hand shouldnt be double penalty because u dont know what ur doin asmuch so its not the persons fault.

So if you drink alcohol and go kill someone, it's not your fault? That's bullshit.

I don't think he was saying that. I think he meant that it is more likely to happen when drinking that smoking. That doesn't mean it is justified what so ever.

For the alcohol thing, the person is not in full control of what he is doing so if you are not in control why should you be penaltized 2x harder?
But pot, it does not make you do things like that, link to it's effects are here.

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabi..._effects.shtml

If you ARE in full control while smoking pot, you are responsible for your own actions. Basically it's more of a "You can smoke what you want, just stay out of trouble" thing. Under my idea, pot is still looked down upon by the law, but you can't be punished unless you do somehing wrong.

It's kinda the same way seatbealts are enforced in cars (at least here in PA, USA) - You are required to wear your seatbelt. However, you cannot be pulled over for "not wearing a seatbelt". The fine is only added if you are pulled over for any other reason (speeding, running a red light, etc.) and you are not wearing a seatbelt at the time - even if the crime has nothing to do with seatbelts whatsoever. It's basically just more funding for the police department.

It wouldn't even have to be a double penalty, just a fixed fine of some sort. The "smoking pot" fine would be added to any penalties/fines aquired.

The only reason I support decriminalization is because we have too many non-violent criminals in prison, and there's no room for the multiple murderer or rapist. Most have done no crime other than smoking pot itself.. those people should be released.

Having no control over yourself is no excuse for killing someone while you're drunk. You shouldn't drink in the first place.