Ron Paul, others to introduce marijuana bill

[Lilavati]

My point was if it becomes as available as alcohol it will be misused. In the UK anyway. I also don't disagree with recreational and responsible use. Alcohol is easily the most misused drug in the UK.

Alcohol is the most misused drug in the US too. And, um, I don't know about the UK, but for a lot of people, particularly kids, its easier to get MJ than booze here. I can think off hand of half a dozen people in my neighborhood who probably either sell the stuff or know who does . . . and I don't use it and make of point of NOT finding out who does. So will more people misuse it if its legal? Sure. I suspect there will be an uptick in use, and that some of those people will be irresponsible. But, trust me, its EVERYWHERE here. It has been the biggest cash crop of my home state for YEARS. The lights I use to grow orchids? They were partially created to grow pot . . . though no one will admit that.

 

[RD]

My point was if it becomes as available as alcohol it will be misused. In the UK anyway. I also don't disagree with recreational and responsible use. Alcohol is easily the most misused drug in the UK.

You don't think it's misused now?

I agree that with widespread use, misuse will increase, but I'm having difficulty seeing that as something enormously troublesome.

 

[~Jessie~]

You don't think it's misused now?

I agree that with widespread use, misuse will increase, but I'm having difficulty seeing that as something enormously troublesome.

This. Who knows, people may drink less if weed is available legally. Misuse of weed surely is better than misuse of alcohol.

 

[Dizzy]

By my calculations the us doesn't have the social problems or the alcohol misuse the UK has. It's hard to compare countries when one is 100% different to the other. I work in a field I can be confident to see the effects of such a bill in close quarters if it was introduced here. Never even mind adult services.

Yet I would rather take the risk and do something illegally, as the risk to the individual is high, yet society is less so (based on other legal drugs). Is rather break the law and lessen the impact.

 

[Dizzy]

the UK can't even handle the change in licensing hours to match the rest of Europe in alcohol sales. We like to misuse drugs.

 

[Pops2]

Well, in the United States, they did already TRY making alcohol illegal. It was called "Prohibition" and it basically created organized crime. Great idea, wasn't it?

not true, organized crime predates prohibition. for example the five points gang in NYC was active in traditional activites like protection & prostitution prior to, during & after the civil war. the five points gang (multi ethnic) was created from the destruction of several smaller less organized ethnic gangs like the dead rabbits. prohibition just allowed organized crime bosses to become millionares. drug sales allowed them to become billionares, illegal MJ is still a significant portion of income for organized crime (although harder drugs represent a larger portion of their drug income). legalize it & crime can't compete w/ phillip morris.
side note, contrary to popular myth, alcohol consumption dropped by something like 60% during prohibition.

 

[InLimbo87]

"Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction" - Bob Marley

 

[cloudcandy]

I completely agree. IMO, alcohol and cigarettes are way more dangerous/deadly than weed. At least weed is completely natural and makes you feel good... cigarettes are chock full of tar and nasty chemicals.

You drink too much alcohol and could end up in the hospital with your stomach pumped... smoke too much weed and you'll be passed out on the couch.

Not to mention... you don't even need to SMOKE weed... they have vaporizers, and you can also cook with it.



Ever see Harold and Kumar go to White Castle? There was a commercial where a kid took one hit and ended up getting his dad's gun and killing himself.

Weed kills. Don't forget it. Just one hit and you're a crazy maniac out to kill.

I don't know if this has/hasn't been mentioned but yes in the short term no one goes out and start a fight etc.But you should also think in the long term,weed can cause long term mental illness in people with psychosis etc and schizophrenia,we don't even know what these long term effects can be.And in PRINCIPLE weed should be completely natural but this completely depends on what your getting and who from.There are all types of chemicals put into weed etc(Sorry I've forgotten the names of them)and these are what is causing problems.Although if drugs were regulated then I guess this would be controlled and therefore weed would be a lot cleaner.I'm speaking from the point of view of someone in England btw,in central London to be precise so maybe the situation is different in america.But I grew up with alot of kids who thought weed was "ok and now are out of their minds,violent and a danger to themselves(though you could argue this is due to their backgrounds however weed definitely has NOT helped keep their anxiety down!)In London you can never be sure you are getting 100% weed and there are alot of young children(13+) experimenting with it,we don't have a CLUE as to what effect this will have on their mental health.
I personally like the idea of drugs being legalized,so we can focus on the REAL criminals and start having FAIR TRADE drugs.The biggest loosers from the west's greed for drugs are the southern American countries that are living/dying from this.
Oh(and this is not related) but I watched a really intresting program the other day about young Afghanistani children hooked on opium which TBH made our drug use look pretty pathatic!
Unreported World - Series 2010 - Episode 12 - Afghanistan's Child Drug Addicts - Channel 4

 

[Laurelin]

I would think legalizing weed would make it safer in that respect. As in there would be quality standards for legally grown marijuana and therefore less risk of it being laced with something worse.

Honestly I don't really care one way or another. I don't smoke and wouldn't if it were legal. My honest thoughts are legalize it and tax it. I think spending a lot of money trying to catch people growing and selling weed is really dumb.

 

[yoko]

My brother was in a car wreck my first year in college the other car had three guys who were high and decided not to pay attention while driving because it was night and a back road. They may have done the same thing if they weren't high but I personally think that at least partially contributed to it.

My brother got a concussion so he doesn't remember anything. But his friend hasn't been able to hold a job or finish school because of how much he saw that night. He saw two guys in the other car die waiting for help.

I also worked at a very well known alarm company and most of those workers were high the entire shift. And I can tell you 100% you could see a difference in quality of work and decision making skills between smokers and non smokers

I don't personally care if it is legalized. But it should imo be watched like alcohol and should NOT be advertised as a legal high with no bad affects which I think is what would happen.

 

[joce]

I guess working in a psych ward I just see more than most

I don't care what people do in there own homes. I don't care what they do if they are doing it with a designated driver or safely walking home.

But if you knew the number of people brought into the hospital on your dollar for drug induced psychosis that is often just marijuana-and I know because other drugs would show on the screen, you might not be so happy about it. It makes some people paranoid,very paranoid. It makes some people out of their mind crazy. So they get to sit in the hospital a couple of days for it. I can not imagine how much that will increase if its legal!!! And its not because its bad drugs-its just how people react to it.

Job security for me though

Some idiot drinking here nearly wiped out an entire family. Idiots are idiots and they will get it legal or not.

Things are taxed now and we are still broke.

 

[Jules]

I am all for legalizing it, I am also all for legalizing prostitution. I do think the usage of weed needs to be restricted. I don't think it is horrible, but I also don't think the consumption is harmless for everyone.

 

[Romy]

At the very least, the bill as Ron Paul is supporting it needs to go through. If a state decides to legalize it for medical reasons, there is no flipping reason the feds need to swoop in and jail licensed state growers and folks with prescriptions.