But I’m going to ignore that call because it simply takes too much effort, effort which could be spent rolling a joint. Haha
What I can say is that I view alcohol and marijuana as basically on the same level- as far as substances go. I simply don’t understand why one is legal and the other is not. Personally, I enjoy both on occasion. I know many a-people who use marijuana and alcohol responsibly. While I would prefer both to be legal, I could also understand if both became illegal; something which might just happen if a certain someone (Palin…*cringe/sob/kick/spit*) took office.
I don’t know, I guess it’s like that old asinine saying, “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” Well, drugs don’t ruin lives, people using drugs ruin lives. We can’t overlook the fact that drugs have also contributed a lot to the world. In the words of Bill Hicks, “Drugs have done good things for us. If you don’t believe they have, do me a favor; take all your albums, tapes, cd’s and burn ’em. Cause you know what? The musicians who made that great music that has enhanced your lives throughout the years…real fuckin’ high.”
I agree. But legalizing it wont get people out of jail, in fact it will get more people in jail for tax evasion.
I agree about marijuana and alcohol, in fact I think the latter is a little bit worse.
The worst thing marijuana does is bronchitis on strong levels. And I also would like to point out that the law is not fair with marijuana, it tends to target African Americans. I guess I have mixed feelings.
Why one is legal and the other illegal is probably just because of historical reasons… But I am not sure exactly why, what I am sure about is that we do not need more poison to wear us down..
I strongly disagree that “Drugs don’t ruin lives, people using drugs ruins lives” and that drugs has given us positive things; therefore it must be legal. First off, drugs do ruin lives. I don’t agree that you can blame all the addiction on the drug addicts. There is a reason that they started using drugs, and this you can see if you look at their class and ethnicity (as Elizabeth was mentioning). The people who start using (especially heavy) drugs are not necessarily dumb or stupid, but they are the most sub-pressed and socially alienated in our society.
And secondly if cannabis has medicinal use, it might be an ide to legalize medical cannabis, not just legalizing or decriminalizing it for everybody.
To those of you who reads Norwegian; borgerskapets hus, rives ikke med rus.
Not every piece of legislation is supposed to save the world. The marijuana isn’t nearly as dangerous as the people selling it and earning money from it. If you somehow regulated marijuana you would take away a large portion of their income.
I love how people say “yay, the government can collect taxes off it”, because if marijuana is ever legalized they will no doubt complain about said taxes.
Alrighty. So this is a subject I am a bit torn on. I see the good arguments for legalizing as quite valid, although I think I will have to be against it, until society can handle it. What does this mean?
Well, today the social institutions that are supposed to deal with substance abuse are simply not effective. I do not think that introducing another drug into our lives can be acceptable until the people who can not handle it get picked up on, and gets help to overcome their problem. The fact that most people might be able to use marijuana responsibly does not mean that it’s going to be OK, because there are people who are not able to do this. Yes, I think that the majority of people should show solidarity with those who are weaker than themselves.
I will not support legalization of marijuana as long as I know that it will lead to cases of ruined lives. If even one family is torn up because of it, that is one child too many with a drug abusing parent, one spouse too many that have to watch their loved one fall apart. Alcohol ruins enough families as it is.
There are many many repercussions to legalizing marijuana. Where will driving under the influence fit in? Will there be an OK amount or will driving high absolutely be an issue? Will there be car accidents because of it?
We can’t be trigger happy when considering this. There needs to be a bit of thought involved.
First to Vegard:
So it’s OK that people become addicted if they get help afterwards?
Our society would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on something that could have been avoided.
Then to Elizabeth:
In Norway, if someone is stopped and is suspected of being under the influence of cannabis, they have to give a blood sample and the police will calculate how high you were compared to how drunk that would equal. I guess they have some formula to calculate it…
I think there will be more use of cannabis if it was legal, therefor it will not be controversial to draw the conclution that there will be more driving under the influence of cannabis.
My whole point was that until we can make sure people won’t get addicted, use too much of it and fuck up their lives, I do not think even discussing legalization is a good idea. And since we will never (as far as i can predict) reach a point where substance abuse will be a non-issue, the logical conclusion is that we never legalize.
I could in no way draw that (new) conclusion out of what you wrote earlier.
When you write things like “I think I will have to be against it, until society can handle it.”, it gives a pretty clear indicator that you are against legalization now, but you are willing to turn SOME time in the future…
I think that discussing legalization will always be a good idea, not to mention nececarry, for as long as some people are pro-legalization. Simply because ig everyone who is against legalization says that “it’s not a good idea to discuss this at this day and age” that will maybe lead to a stronger pro-movement. At least that’s what I think.
Discussions surrounding substance legalization will probably never disappear, no matter how much science proves the substances harms, and no matter how many times the laws against it is passed, so an open discussion is probably the best way to work against it, and I miss a lot of it in the media. I know that we learn in school, both in Europe and in the US that it’s bad for you and not a good idea to start, but then you look at the sitcoms and the movies and it’s totally legit to smoke weed. Grown-ups do it, and it’s suddenly okey. For as long as you have popular culture saying that it’s “a-okey” people will continue using, and weed very often leads to stronger substances, not to mention the incredible damages you can get from weed.
Uh oh…I feel the call to try to convince…
But I’m going to ignore that call because it simply takes too much effort, effort which could be spent rolling a joint. Haha
What I can say is that I view alcohol and marijuana as basically on the same level- as far as substances go. I simply don’t understand why one is legal and the other is not. Personally, I enjoy both on occasion. I know many a-people who use marijuana and alcohol responsibly. While I would prefer both to be legal, I could also understand if both became illegal; something which might just happen if a certain someone (Palin…*cringe/sob/kick/spit*) took office.
I don’t know, I guess it’s like that old asinine saying, “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” Well, drugs don’t ruin lives, people using drugs ruin lives. We can’t overlook the fact that drugs have also contributed a lot to the world. In the words of Bill Hicks, “Drugs have done good things for us. If you don’t believe they have, do me a favor; take all your albums, tapes, cd’s and burn ’em. Cause you know what? The musicians who made that great music that has enhanced your lives throughout the years…real fuckin’ high.”
Finding out that you enjoy using pot and alcohol on “occasion”, explains a lot.
I agree. But legalizing it wont get people out of jail, in fact it will get more people in jail for tax evasion.
I agree about marijuana and alcohol, in fact I think the latter is a little bit worse.
The worst thing marijuana does is bronchitis on strong levels. And I also would like to point out that the law is not fair with marijuana, it tends to target African Americans. I guess I have mixed feelings.
Good evening, U.S.-Americans.
Why one is legal and the other illegal is probably just because of historical reasons… But I am not sure exactly why, what I am sure about is that we do not need more poison to wear us down..
I strongly disagree that “Drugs don’t ruin lives, people using drugs ruins lives” and that drugs has given us positive things; therefore it must be legal. First off, drugs do ruin lives. I don’t agree that you can blame all the addiction on the drug addicts. There is a reason that they started using drugs, and this you can see if you look at their class and ethnicity (as Elizabeth was mentioning). The people who start using (especially heavy) drugs are not necessarily dumb or stupid, but they are the most sub-pressed and socially alienated in our society.
And secondly if cannabis has medicinal use, it might be an ide to legalize medical cannabis, not just legalizing or decriminalizing it for everybody.
To those of you who reads Norwegian; borgerskapets hus, rives ikke med rus.
Not every piece of legislation is supposed to save the world. The marijuana isn’t nearly as dangerous as the people selling it and earning money from it. If you somehow regulated marijuana you would take away a large portion of their income.
@Simon: Jeg er enig, men for et stygt komma!
I love how people say “yay, the government can collect taxes off it”, because if marijuana is ever legalized they will no doubt complain about said taxes.
Alrighty. So this is a subject I am a bit torn on. I see the good arguments for legalizing as quite valid, although I think I will have to be against it, until society can handle it. What does this mean?
Well, today the social institutions that are supposed to deal with substance abuse are simply not effective. I do not think that introducing another drug into our lives can be acceptable until the people who can not handle it get picked up on, and gets help to overcome their problem. The fact that most people might be able to use marijuana responsibly does not mean that it’s going to be OK, because there are people who are not able to do this. Yes, I think that the majority of people should show solidarity with those who are weaker than themselves.
I will not support legalization of marijuana as long as I know that it will lead to cases of ruined lives. If even one family is torn up because of it, that is one child too many with a drug abusing parent, one spouse too many that have to watch their loved one fall apart. Alcohol ruins enough families as it is.
Veg
I agree somewhat.
There are many many repercussions to legalizing marijuana. Where will driving under the influence fit in? Will there be an OK amount or will driving high absolutely be an issue? Will there be car accidents because of it?
We can’t be trigger happy when considering this. There needs to be a bit of thought involved.
I really don’t know which way is better. GRAH.
First to Vegard:
So it’s OK that people become addicted if they get help afterwards?
Our society would have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on something that could have been avoided.
Then to Elizabeth:
In Norway, if someone is stopped and is suspected of being under the influence of cannabis, they have to give a blood sample and the police will calculate how high you were compared to how drunk that would equal. I guess they have some formula to calculate it…
I think there will be more use of cannabis if it was legal, therefor it will not be controversial to draw the conclution that there will be more driving under the influence of cannabis.
My whole point was that until we can make sure people won’t get addicted, use too much of it and fuck up their lives, I do not think even discussing legalization is a good idea. And since we will never (as far as i can predict) reach a point where substance abuse will be a non-issue, the logical conclusion is that we never legalize.
Do not jump to conclusions, kind sir
I could in no way draw that (new) conclusion out of what you wrote earlier.
When you write things like “I think I will have to be against it, until society can handle it.”, it gives a pretty clear indicator that you are against legalization now, but you are willing to turn SOME time in the future…
But hell, if you are on my side! Wohoo!
I think that discussing legalization will always be a good idea, not to mention nececarry, for as long as some people are pro-legalization. Simply because ig everyone who is against legalization says that “it’s not a good idea to discuss this at this day and age” that will maybe lead to a stronger pro-movement. At least that’s what I think.
Discussions surrounding substance legalization will probably never disappear, no matter how much science proves the substances harms, and no matter how many times the laws against it is passed, so an open discussion is probably the best way to work against it, and I miss a lot of it in the media. I know that we learn in school, both in Europe and in the US that it’s bad for you and not a good idea to start, but then you look at the sitcoms and the movies and it’s totally legit to smoke weed. Grown-ups do it, and it’s suddenly okey. For as long as you have popular culture saying that it’s “a-okey” people will continue using, and weed very often leads to stronger substances, not to mention the incredible damages you can get from weed.