emilysmith wrote:The real world example in Holland provides clear evidence that legalization does NOT create more users. There are more habitual marijuana smokers per capita in the UK, California, and New Zealand where cannabis is still illegal.
Begging the question of what the hell is wrong with the Dutch!
The best reason to legalize marijuana, or any other drug, is to take the power from violent organized crime in one swoop. Criminals also ensure that no drug (except marijuana) is pure because baby laxative and other substances are much cheaper than the drugs themselves. Drug users, particularly addicts, have mental health issues and should not be treated like criminals. Throwing them in jail and forcing people to interact with the criminal element in order to obtain drugs has far more negative societal repercussions than drug use, alone.
Absolutely 100% agree.
Marijuana is, basically, harmless.
Smoking anything can be bad for your throat and lungs, but it's nothing like a pack-a-day cigarette habit. Especially if you smoke good, strong weed where a hit is like one or two puffs. So aside from inexperienced users getting in car accidents and making bad decisions, I agree that marijuana is pretty safe in the short term.
It is literally impossible to overdose on, and it has not been reliably linked to any mental health problems. The two studies that linked marijuana use to schizophrenia failed to correct for alcohol abuse, poverty, or residence in a dense urban environment, which all are very significant factors.
Additionally, no study has ever tried to determine whether marijuana users with mental health problems already had issues and were merely seeking to self medicate. Considering how much the US government has tried to prove how harmful the drug is, the empirical evidence is still remarkably silent.
Good points. Yet people take for granted that it does all those bad things.
Sure, there are many irresponsible people who appear lazy as a result of marijuana use, but that doesn't account for all of the extremely successful people who are habitual users. To acknowledge all of the stoners who sit on their couch and do nothing while ignoring the people with advanced degrees who use regularly is an inherently flawed point of view.
Sure, like me. But I wouldn't want my kids doing it until they mature into responsible adults. I feel like it's something I have earned the right to, but they haven't, and it might seriously get in the way of their learning and mental/emotional maturation. Plus, it does make you do stupid things, you can't deny that, and teenagers don't need to enhance their natural talents toward irresponsible risk taking.
Marijuana is extremely effective in treating IBS. It relaxes the digestive system and was used in ancient history merely to prevent gas. Insomnia is treated better by marijuana than most sleeping pills and does not carry the same risks of addiction. Obviously, glaucoma and other problems can be treated by marijuana, as well.
Recently, it has been shown that marijuana has ingredients that cause autophagy in some types of cancer cells. It has also been suggested through studies that THC (which attaches to anandamide receptors in the human brain) promotes neurogenesis in some area of the brain. Where other drugs cause damage to neural networks, THC promotes the growth of new cells.
I guess there's no harm in thinking those things are so. I'm pretty skeptical of the significance of all of that hype.
Ultimately, more deaths are caused my cigarettes, alcohol, and fast food than anything else. The number of deaths caused by illicit drugs doesn't even make the chart. Prescription medications cause far more deaths than heroin or cocaine. Even aspirin is more deadly than heroin. Deaths from marijuana? 0
If we, as a society, are going to allow people to kill themselves (and others in some instances) with cheeseburgers, alcohol and cigarettes, then we should certainly allow them the liberty to use a safe substance in the privacy of their own homes.
The status of marijuana has been used as a means to oppress the Mexicans and then the Hippies. Drug legislation, in general, assures that most urban environments can be raided at any time by the police. The rights of the individual can be ignored by the police as soon as they smell a joint.
It is not a war on drugs. It is a war on personal freedom.
Your social arguments are better than the medical ones.