Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

Something I'm curious about... I do a lot of reading and things like that on my lunch breaks at work and thought I'd put a question out there on the issue of legality revolving around marijuana.

I don't know if you've all tried it or whatever, and not sure on your knowledge of the topic, but I'd like for there to actually be, you know, an intelligent conversation on the topic rather than having comments of "drugs are bad, m'kay".

Below is a little topic for your reading on common myths about cannabis;
http://listverse.com/science/top-10-common-myths-about-cannabis/
Although I don't completely agree with the list, it's an interesting read, the comments are more informative.

Personally, I think it should be legalized. It has a lot of positive effects (yes, there are still negatives, I acknowlegde that) but I find pot to be no more harmful to you than say alcohol or regular (highly chemical filled) cigarettes. Yes, it is a mind altering substance, but so is alcohol. A lot of people drink to forget their problems or unwind, much the same as pot smokers.

I think a lot of problems regarding the obtaining of marijuana would cease, as would the statistics on hard drug linkage to pot smokers, seeing as users would not have to go to a dealer where other substances may be available.

Provided, I think it should be legalized and taxed in the same way that alcohol is. Due to it being a mind altering substance, the legality issues from alcohol usage (drink driving etc) would apply.

I dunno, I could write more but my lunch break is over. I'll let you all talk. I need to go back to stressing out over insurance.

Also the medical effects are probably a good indicator of a positive effect, although if needed it can be legally obtained for such uses.

So we all know how it works, and some effects of it, cannibis contains Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC for those of you playing at home)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol wrote:THC has mild to moderate analgesic effects, and medical cannabis can be used to treat pain. The mechanism for analgesic effects caused directly by THC or other cannabinoid agonists is not fully understood. Other effects include relaxation; euphoria; altered space-time perception; alteration of visual, auditory, and olfactory senses; anxiety; disorientation; fatigue; and appetite stimulation (colloquially known as "the munchies"). The mechanism for appetite stimulation in subjects is believed to result from activity in the gastro-hypothalamic axis. CB1 activity in the hunger centers in the hypothalamus increases the palatability of food when levels of a hunger hormone ghrelin increase as food enters the stomach. After chyme is passed into the duodenum, signaling hormones such as cholecystokinin and leptin are released, causing reduction in gastric emptying and transmission of satiety signals to the hypothalamus. Cannabinoid activity is reduced through the satiety signals induced by leptin release. It also has anti-emetic properties, and also may reduce aggression in certain subjects.

On the matter of whether or not it can be deadly...

Toxicity

There has never been a documented human fatality from marijuana. Information about THC's toxicity is derived from animal studies. The toxicity depends on the route of administration and the laboratory animal. Absorption is limited by serum lipids, which can become saturated with THC, mitigating toxicity. According to the Merck Index, 12th edition, THC has a LD50 (dose killing half of the research subjects) value of 1270 mg/kg (male rats) and 730 mg/kg (female rats) administered orally dissolved in sesame oil. The LD50 value for rats by inhalation of THC is 42 mg/kg of body weight. One estimate of Cannabis's LD50 for humans indicates that about 1500 pounds of marijuana would have to be smoked within 15 minutes. This estimate is supported by studies which indicate that the effective dose of THC is at least 1000 times lower than the estimated lethal dose (a "safety ratio" of 1000:1). This is much higher than alcohol (safety ratio of 10), cocaine (15), or heroin (6).

oh, and as a side note, i'm not condoning the use of marijuana. And yes, I have tried it. I just thought it would be a good debate topic, because I know that some people that use this forum will be for the legalisation, and others will be completely against it.

Seeing as studies are rather divided on the matter, I thought it'd come down to personal opinion...

Just what I wanted, an ACTUAL debate.

Seriously... no one?

Ahh... I'm gunna keep going with it anyway.

I guess the issue with the government is not the effects of marijuana or anything, it's more likely to be the tax that they can't place on something that grows naturally, with virtually no difficult processes.

Alcohol and tobacco are pretty easily taxed as their suppliers are limited due to the difficulites that come with thier makings. I guess since hemp/cannabis whatever you want to call is it such an easily grown plant/weed it can be grown by anyone and therefore the government isn't going to get much of a cut... at all.

That's just typical "the government only cares about money" ramblings though.

For something a little more educational I might look at the ratios related to Alcohol and Marijuana deaths... but when I've actually got time to sit down and research.

*sigh* Fine i will join lol

Mary Jane is not bad, like alcohol it can warp ones perception and cause them to do dumbass things.
Unlike alcohol however it does not cause a stupid friggin hangover!

My vote is for the ol' mary jane

In Amsterdam it isn't legal they just kinda look the other way and consintrate on cracking down on the more harder drugs.

I think that there would be places were you can go and do it in a safe enviroment. But as for it being fully legal (although i did select yes on the poll) I think if they did that all of a sudden a lot of people would take advantage of it and wreck it for everyone.

I say yes to legal but there would have to be a massive limitation to who can use it.

Ok we can start with the easy stuff like sauce and cigies that you must be at least 18 to purchase weed you might even go as far as 21 to make it a bit more safer.

If you were to grow it would be a max of like 2 plants per person or house this would stop the over use of lamps in houses and the mass amount of electricity that would be used to grow the plants.

The government would be able to tax weed as a tradable goods.

We would have sam laws on smoking and driving. so the police would have to have a rating system like that of drinking .05 for example a toxic level reader to tell how much someone has had or when they last had it.

It would be made that you could not smoke in public at all. must be done in the comfort of your own home or your friends or a shop that specialises in the sale of weed products like hash brownies and cakie.

It's basically taking the laws we currently have, and just amending them to apply to marijuana...

it's an interesting topic, but as far as our government is concerned, it's gunna be hard to tax, considering it's so readily grown... even if they were to place limits on the amounts grown who's going to monitor that?

The smoking in public places thing is going to be exactly the same as if they were to be treated as cigarettes.

i wonder if we'd ever see the decriminilization of marijuana in our lifetime...

I think we should have a "joint meeting", just for funzies!

yes. yes we should.

woop woop

someone finally voted for no? i'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter. this debate is incredibly one sided atm.

it was prob just a non conformist they dont even really care lol

damn rebels and their misdirection.