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Marijuana legalization [message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 11:48 Go to next message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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Colonel
Who thinks marijuana should be legalized? Decriminalized? Kept illegal? Who here has smoked pot?

Personally, I think pot should be legalized. It does less harm to your body than tobacco or alcohol, and yet those are legal. Areas where pot is legal have seen no increase in the use of harder drugs, showing evidence against pot being a "gateway drug." Also, if you can legally purchase pot, you put thousands of dangerous drug dealers out of business.

However, I believe you shouldn't be able to smoke (or be high) in public, just like laws pertaining to alcohol in public. You would also have to be 18 to purchase pot.

What do you guys think?
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164288 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 11:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
warranto is currently offline  warranto
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It may do less harm to the body, but it does more "harm" to the mind.

I would rather be driving with someone who is smoking tabacco than someone who is smoking pot. "Hey look at me! I feel like I'm flying!" *Crash* Sarcasm

Not to mention EVERY person that I know who smokes pot is a complete dunce while they are high.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164289 is a reply to message #164288] Tue, 26 July 2005 11:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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Colonel
Right, but what about alcohol. I would *MUCH* rather be in the passenger seat of a car being driven by someone high than someone drunk. Besides, driving while high is already a crime in and of itself (reckless endangerment).

Pot doesn't exactly do "harm" to the mind. There has been no reported case or study concluding that smoking pot kills brain cells.

"warranto"

Not to mention EVERY person that I know who smokes pot is a complete dunce while they are high.


Same with alcohol.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164294 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 12:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Jecht is currently offline  Jecht
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Of course not. Pot is the reason why many kids ruin their lives at an early age. Im glad my high school football coach threatened to kick us off the team if we got caught smoking or drinking. It made us all better people than the stoners sitting in a corner, seemingly half alive. Not to mention legalizing Marijuana will coax many young kids to think its ok. They are better off not.

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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164295 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 12:58 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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What if it were still illegal for minors?

The idea that legalizing pot makes it easier for kids to get is not well thought out. If I want to, I can get pot whenever I want. I just make a phone call and go and pick it up. If I want to buy alcohol (I'm only 18), it's much harder to get. Why? Becuase the people selling alcohol actually regulate who they sell to. A drug dealer doesn't give a shit how old you are. As long as you have the money, he or she will sell to you.

How does pot "ruin" one's life? I know plenty of adults who make tons of (legitimate) money who smoke pot. What sets pot heads who have "ruined their lives" apart from alcoholics who have "ruined their lives?"

I should also add that a pot addiction is by far the easiest to overcome. I smoke pot all the time, and on a $50 bet, I stopped for a month. By the end of the month, I wasn't itching for pot or anything. In fact, I barely thought about it.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164296 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 13:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Crimson is currently offline  Crimson
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Well, since I think all mind-altering drugs, including alcohol, are retarded AT BEST... maybe I'm not one to comment. The laid-back, don't care about shit attitude that people on pot express is actually QUITE dangerous. Besides, I used to know someone who killed a pizza driver while he was high on pot, and when the cops asked him why he did it, he replied "I don't know..." -- sure, he had other problems, but the non-caring attitude that he gained while on pot made him not care about the consequences of his actions. Now he has 20-25 years to think about it.

I'm the bawss.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164304 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 14:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Javaxcx
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If you want your fixes so badly, Amsterdam would be glad to have you. As for here in the heavily populated west, we need less people potentially putting others in real danger (I am considering pot and alcohol in the same category based on their ultimate resolve). I feel the same way about letting my neighbours own ridiculously large amounts of firearms. What happens when you start mixing your fixes together?

Sometimes it feels like you're the only sane person in the universe because you have an affinity toward your own soberred state of mind as opposed to an alternative.



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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164306 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 14:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Jecht is currently offline  Jecht
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i own alot of guns, they come out of their case only once a year though(hunting season)

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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164316 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 15:58 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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The ONLY reason tabacco and alcohol are legal is bacause of the history of them. People didn't think of the heath risks involved with them back when they were first developed, and it's much harder to make something illegal when it has thousands of years of usage behind it.

I know "Reckless endangerment" is a crime that being high would fall under, but being drunk even has it's own qualification under the law. Pot is only illegal while driving through circumstance, not by an act of law.

Pot doing "harm to the brain did not mean to imply a physical harm (hence the word being in quotes), what I was refering to was the distortion of reality that is inflicted on the person.

Quote:

Same with alcohol.


Hence the reason getting drunk is frowned upon by most people.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164317 is a reply to message #164316] Tue, 26 July 2005 16:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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"warranto"

The ONLY reason tabacco and alcohol are legal is bacause of the history of them.

Wasn't pot available to people when the Americas were first being settled?

interesting link:
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarij uanaIllegal.html

Quote:

People didn't think of the heath risks involved with them back when they were first developed, and it's much harder to make something illegal when it has thousands of years of usage behind it.


Very good point. It's irrational, but that's just the way it is.

Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164321 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 16:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
mrpirate is currently offline  mrpirate
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Being "high" on marijuana is hardly what I would call a "distortion of reality." It makes you feel relaxed and happy, as well as a little hazy. It's really nothing special. I've never understood why people get so worked up about something that--to people who smoke often enough to know what it's like--is hardly an issue. Being drunk is far more serious than being high.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164335 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 18:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
warranto is currently offline  warranto
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SEAL:

Hemp was, but that was mainly for rope, not for smoking. ( side comment:the good idea ended up being used for bad -kind of like everything else). As for the concept of "being available", that may have been the case, but it was never used to the degree as alcohol and tabacco were.

mrpirate:

a "distortion of reality" referrs to anything that changes the way you think to such a degree that it could become harmful. Medicine that makes you drowzy does that, hence why you are not supposed to "opperate machinery" when you take it. Pot does it to the point that you are not as alert as you should be/don't percieve things as you normally would; as Crimson's post points out.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164337 is a reply to message #164335] Tue, 26 July 2005 18:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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So if people do it in the safety of their own homes, as permitted by the (supposed) law, what's the harm?
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164339 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 18:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
warranto is currently offline  warranto
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heh, the old proverb "Give an inch, they take a foot". It won't stay in the home, nothing ever does.

Besides, if you use that mentality, then you should be able to do everything and anything in the privacy of your own home. As well, anyone that happens to live there as well won't get a say. (Warning: lame commercial exploit) What happens if you get high, and decide to see if you're immortal, and grab the closest gun? Or, decide to see if someone else is immortal?
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164340 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 18:20 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Javaxcx
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Simple. Look at the possible motives for doing it.

When people take fatigue inducing drugs, generally the intent isn't to have a good time. It can be further implied that in most, not all cases of fatigue inducing drugs, it is to assist with sleep (this is referring to drugs *meant* exclusively for insomnia, not necessary drugs like Gravol where drowsiness is a repercussion of the ingrediants).

When people take marijuana, it is generally to have a good time. While in some cases it can be used as a painkiller, that is most definately not the reason the stoners I knew in high school did it. Compare it to alcohol. People use it to have a good time. That's fine. But sometimes, and more often then it should be, that involves someone doing something they definately should not be doing for the sake of the people around them. This is where the problems with marijuana come in. The question on the legalization, as far as I'm concerned, is why bother add another pinch of rat poison to the mix? If I had it my way, ethanol alcohol for pleasure would be quite illegal. I don't really care to have another death in the family as a result of someone under the influence-- and as such, I'd rather not add more influences to the system for the sake of the people around me.



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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164345 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 20:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Hydra is currently offline  Hydra
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Isn't it funny how the people advocating for the legalization of marijuana are often stoners themselves?
"It won't hurt you, man! I smoke pot all the time, man! It doesn't do a bad thing to me! You just need to chill out, maaaan!"


Walter Keith Koester: September 22, 1962 - March 15, 2005
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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164346 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 20:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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Did you expect something different?

And no one I know talks like Brian from Half Baked, etc. That "stoner-talk" you're using isn't really common amongst actual stoners.

[Updated on: Tue, 26 July 2005 20:20]

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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164348 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 20:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Hydra is currently offline  Hydra
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Just like slurred speech isn't common amongst drunkards.
From the drunkards' perspectives, at least.


Walter Keith Koester: September 22, 1962 - March 15, 2005
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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164352 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 21:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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You don't "decide" shit when you're high. Weed isn't LSD. You don't trip or anything. Its effects are far less than alcohol, in my opinion... I don't have any quantitative basis for thinking this.
Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164354 is a reply to message #164286] Tue, 26 July 2005 21:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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I'm all for chilling out, but pots not the way. They'll never legalize it. Stop trying. Every attempt to legalize pot and every discussion thereof is just another moment wasted that could have been spent relaxing normally. Things suck for everyone and you don't see everyone smoking pot.

You are also missing a key point. You want to legalize pot? You want to buy it at a store. Where does the store get it from? You aren't removing the drug dealers, you are just making what they do legal. Who owns the big marijuana plantations in south america? Do you think those druglords are suddenly gonna say here Walmart, you get this one. Target you get this one. No, the drugs still are purchased through them. And we're talking big money moving now. Money used to purchase weapons and mercenaries to terrorise the population of central and south america. That region would probably be more dangerous than the gaza strip.

Legalize it and kill millions in Latin America. Go Potheads.

The government isn't responsible for making you feel good. They protect you and yell at you for being a dumbass. If you want a hug get one from a shallow heartless girlfriend.


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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164376 is a reply to message #164286] Wed, 27 July 2005 02:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Jecht is currently offline  Jecht
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"Doitle"

The government isn't responsible for making you feel good. They protect you and yell at you for being a dumbass. If you want a hug get one from a shallow heartless girlfriend.


Is it just me, or does this kid always come up with the best quotes EVER?


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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164393 is a reply to message #164286] Wed, 27 July 2005 05:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
glyde51 is currently offline  glyde51
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I completly disagree on this subject.

Marijuana is in fact much more harmful to the body than cigs because of the fact that you smoke it unfiltered. A cig's filter really does help to get rid of some of the harmful stuff.

Not only that, but unlike a cig, Marijuana is much more addictive. It also makes people forget reality, and it helps to make children pay less attention in class, or adults less attention in work. Not only would it cause people on jobs to have cravings for it, they're much more likely to act like jackasses until they get some.

Marijuana users are fucking annoying. You want to relax? Go find a passtime that's not addictive. You fucking people make me angry.

That's my take on the subject.


No. Seriously. No.

[Updated on: Wed, 27 July 2005 05:53]

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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164397 is a reply to message #164286] Wed, 27 July 2005 06:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
mrpirate is currently offline  mrpirate
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It's not fucking physically addictive you retard.

And while America may never legalize marijuana (land of the free), Canada may decriminalize it, which I think would be a good move.

EDIT: Forgot the word "physically." How embarrassing... and slightly ironic.

[Updated on: Wed, 27 July 2005 15:08]

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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164399 is a reply to message #164286] Wed, 27 July 2005 07:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
bandie63 is currently offline  bandie63
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Pot is not addictive physically, but is is addictive mentally. That means that it's not like cigs where you get all pissy when you don't have one, but you only THINK you need one. That means that it's a lot easier to overcome.

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Re: Marijuana legalization [message #164400 is a reply to message #164348] Wed, 27 July 2005 07:14 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Fabian is currently offline  Fabian
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Hydra wrote on Tue, 26 July 2005 23:33

Just like slurred speech isn't common amongst drunkards.
From the drunkards' perspectives, at least.


Nope. Not just like that. Alcohol actually is a direct cause of slurred speech. "Stoner talk" is a stereotypical way of talking that is not only exagerated and uncommon, it's not directly caused by pot.

Quote:

You are also missing a key point. You want to legalize pot? You want to buy it at a store. Where does the store get it from? You aren't removing the drug dealers, you are just making what they do legal. Who owns the big marijuana plantations in south america? Do you think those druglords are suddenly gonna say here Walmart, you get this one. Target you get this one. No, the drugs still are purchased through them. And we're talking big money moving now. Money used to purchase weapons and mercenaries to terrorise the population of central and south america. That region would probably be more dangerous than the gaza strip.


Wrong, wrong, and wrong. If pot were to become legal in the United States, it would actually be produced here (or at the very least, by American companies). In fact, Marlboro has already copyrighted "Marlboro Greens." Why would a company want to rely on overpriced, dangerous drug lords that are inconveniently far south when they can legally grow their own supplies at fractions of the cost? Drug lords would be put out of business when huge, industrial companies have the capacity to mechanize the process because they would stand no chance of competing.

Quote:

The government isn't responsible for making you feel good. They protect you and yell at you for being a dumbass. If you want a hug get one from a shallow heartless girlfriend.


The government isn't responsible for making us feel good, correct. However, I feel the goverment should give people the oppourtunity to do what they want so long as it doesn't harm or get in the way of others who don't want to take part. The government isn't responsible for making us feel good, yet they are fine with people "feeling good" with tobacco and alcohol.

Quote:

Marijuana is in fact much more harmful to the body than cigs because of the fact that you smoke it unfiltered. A cig's filter really does help to get rid of some of the harmful stuff.


Wrong. Marijuana being sold on the streets doesn't have added chemicals and poisons. It's just a plant. As a scare tactic, anti-drug campaigns will tell you that dealers put chemicals like rat poison in their pot, but that's a rare occurance (most dealers want to keep their clients happy, and won't lace their pot with things that their clients don't want). Legalizing pot will allow the pot that goes into the market to be regulated by the FDA, giving people even more assurance that the pot being sold is pure.

Tobacco being "filtered" doesn't make up for the fact that tobacco is still far more harmful to your health than pot.

Marijuana much more addictive than tobacco? How uninformed ARE you?
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