Who here supports marijuana legalization, but doesn't want to use it?

[Skunkle]

I don't smoke weed, but I support legalization. Not a whole lot of interest in trying it, though I'll probably eventually try it in edible form just to see what the effect is like.

My fear is that, it being illegal under Federal law, the Feds will just walk in and start running big stings. They've already done that in states where medical marijuana was legal.

And yeah, the states can make tax revenue off it. But people will still grow it at home. Hopefully, that, specifically, will be legal too - growing it yourself. Some users I know like to do that so they know exactly what they have.

[violiav]

I sort of think about it like at home baking. People have been baking and selling cakes from their homes for years to friends and family, but bakeries are still quite popular. Most people just don't have the time or inclination for make and decorate a cake at home. The same probably would be true for marijuana.

[EricKei]

And now, a potential new twist...

A proposal is in the works that would prevent the Federal drug laws from overriding state/local-level ones (specifically for marijuana)

[s_stabeler]

I'm not sure I like it, though more on precedent grounds than anything else. (the argument for this runs that Federal law shouldn't override the wishes of a state's voters. Main problem- if such a principle is established, ( state law being superior) then we are actually right back in the Confederation era. ( the main problem with the Confederation was the individual states ignored the (Con)Federal Government.)

[Rageaholic]

Count me in. The war on drugs is one of the stupidest things going on in this country. It's a blatant invasion of privacy, allowing cops to harass people for the possibility that they might be doing something that only harms themselves. And people who do get caught have even more rights taken away from them. (have to call every day to see if they have to piss in a cup).

And yet, I've never touched a joint, cigarette, and rarely drink alchohol (hate the taste). I don't think anything good comes out of it, but neither does government trying to get involved with peoples privite life. The war on drugs is no different than prohibition in the early 1900s, and we all know how well that turned out.

[HYHYBT]

The trouble with the Prohibition argument (which I generally agree with) is that a lot of the harm caused by implementing Prohibition was not undone by repealing it.

[powerboy]

the only time when I smoke weed, is when my back is just absolutely killing me and regular pain killers is not cutting it

[Panacea]

The trouble with the Prohibition argument (which I generally agree with) is that a lot of the harm caused by implementing Prohibition was not undone by repealing it.

Examples? .

[HYHYBT]

Well, the most concrete example would be the criminal organizations that sprang up to supply booze. Once in place, they expanded into other areas, and so weren't killed off when their original purpose was no longer needed.

[Andara Bledin]

Well, the most concrete example would be the criminal organizations that sprang up to supply booze. Once in place, they expanded into other areas, and so weren't killed off when their original purpose was no longer needed.

Of course they weren't. You can't just stop a chain reaction by taking away the initial ignition source, after all.

But you will force it to require a new fuel source, as it were.

All the war on drugs does at this point is put people who wouldn't be criminals without there being a war on drugs into our overpopulated prison system and rob the nation of their ability to be fully productive, and it provides a never-ending resource to the continuing problem that is the black market.

It's also worth noting that the crime lords that sprang up with Prohibition weren't created by Prohibition. They existed before it and it gave them more power to be worse than they already were. Which is precisely what the War on Drugs does for criminal cartels right now.

There is no way in which the War on Drugs makes this a better world.

^-.-^

[violiav]

That being said, there's no problem with encouraging people not to do x,y, or z, and having PSAs etc.
what bothers me is the drug testing by employers, now that's different thread, but some of them already yet for legal products, like tobacco.

[Rageaholic]

That being said, there's no problem with encouraging people not to do x,y, or z, and having PSAs etc.
what bothers me is the drug testing by employers, now that's different thread, but some of them already yet for legal products, like tobacco.

It's a blatant invasion of privacy. Why do corporations have to know everything about you? It's like nothing can be kept secret anymore.

As if you happen to get caught with weed, you end up losing even more rights. I've known people who've been put through the system. Basically, they're treated like little kids who can't be trusted to pee in a cup. All because they took some drugs.

And before I hear sob stories about how drugs ruin lives, how the fuck is this war on drugs helping matters? All it's doing is punishing people who have a problem. In some cases, the people who were on drugs are actually worse off afterwards.

Again, free country? HA HA HA HA!!!

[Rapscallion]

Again, free country? HA HA HA HA!!!

What do you mean I can't just murder someone who annoys me? How come that's considered 'freedom'?

Rapscallion

[Jaden]

Again, free country? HA HA HA HA!!!

The fact that you could type all of that without being arrested and/or questioned shows how free this country is. It's great to want to improve the country. Let's do it. I'll help. America certainly needs some improving. But don't start with the premise that we're not a free country. That's simply absurd. The fact that we have the ability to improve this country without martial law being enforced on us for the attempt is another reason why this is a free country.

[Greenday]

Again, free country? HA HA HA HA!!!

Go to some Middle Eastern country, rip on the government in public, then remind me about how much of a non-free country America is while you are thrown in jail, tortured, and possibly killed.