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Yes, marijuana is a gateway drug, but so are tobacco and alcohol. It seems hypocritical to have legalized booze, while having marijuana remain illegal.
Marijuana can certainly kill a persons motivation and energy levels if one habitually smokes it, but it's far less dangerous than alcohol IMO. The really bad side of marijuana abuse tends to take form in one still living in their parent's basement in their mid 20's and playing online video games all day, while the really bad side of alcohol abuse tends to to take form in going to jail or death.
We legalized it here in WA a few years ago, and it has had a negative impact on society despite raising considerable tax revenue. I know people that blow half their paychecks on the stuff that previously only smoked once in a blue moon. I see little pot-shops popping up everywhere, and the prices have dramatically been lowered since recreational use was legalized, which makes having a really bad habit much easier for young people that wouldn't have when one still had to purchase it illegally from a drug dealer or take a huge risk by growing it.
Like I said, it seems hypocritical to allow booze and not marijuana. You'll get these Dumbazzes that will call it cannabis and try to make it not sound like it's just a recreational drug, but for 95% of the people that use it, that is all it is. I consider marijuana a soft drug and have no problem with it being legalized because one thing that it does not seem to be associated with is crime in the form of theft or violence like you see with hard drugs.
That might be true in some States, but my experience in Oregon is it's not. Even before it was legal, the sellers I dealt with only sold pot and pot products, not Meth, Coke, Heroin, pills, etc. Those are hard drugs, pot is not a hard drug.
Now that it's legal, what dispensary would also sell illegal drugs? None that I know of.
This was my experience in WA as well. All the big time pot dealers I knew before legalization only sold pot. Most of them where either old hippies or musicians where I have lived.
I think it's more the middleman type of drug dealers that tend to have multiple products. In places like WA and OR, most the big time dealers are growers, so they're not really middle men. I'm sure if one is buying a dime-bag from some creep that hangs around downtown, there is a chance of being offered something besides pot, but the guy that you would buy an ounce from at the beginning of the month for dirt cheap typically grew the stuff.
As mentioned above alcohol is the gateway drug.
But alcohol goes back to biblical times and before.
Clean drinking water historically has been a sickness issue. So some forms of beer were invented/discovered. And wine. So people could drink fluids without getting sick.
But alcohol today can/may have a devastating effect to society/people.
The US attempted to ban alcohol and that didn't work.
Ganja does have some medical benefits. It is a drug though and can have some negative affects.
I say legalize it and tax it. But there should be the same anti use programs/education the same as those anti use programs/education for alcohol.
Personally I don't use any alcohol or ganja. So I don't have any dog in this debate.
Legalize it. Tax it. And put the hidden drug dealers out of business. Or at least for ganja. Place the authority resources onto the other drugs such as heroin speed and whatever else is out there.
If prohibition didnt work with alcohol, why in the world would they use the exact same approach with drugs though?
Plus, it didnt take them long to realize alcohol prohibition wasnt working, and to ultimately drop the law, the drug war has been going on for decades...why is it so hard to come to the same realization today?
Breaking the law to get the pot is the gateway to future crime. One you cross that line it's easier to do so again. Legalize it so people don't have to break the law to get it.
Either you use marijuana to get over your inhibitions on taking drugs in general or you do not. Are there people who may not think as much to use harder drugs after becoming comfortable with marijuana? Of course. But you could say the same about someone on anti depressants or painkillers that learned how to pop pills from having pills prescribed to them. I don't think anyone looks at those drugs as gateway drugs, even though a lot of people that abuse heroin are known to have gotten their start on drugs from what some shrink prescribed to them.
If prohibition didnt work with alcohol, why in the world would they use the exact same approach with drugs though?
Plus, it didnt take them long to realize alcohol prohibition wasnt working, and to ultimately drop the law, the drug war has been going on for decades...why is it so hard to come to the same realization today?
It is all about money. Once the money made through legalization surpasses the money made from the prison industrial complex you'll see things start to change on that front.
Obviously, those who favor legalizing marijuana, are those who want to use it themselves and probably already do, illegally. You couldn't expect them to have any other sort of opinion about it or to rationally evaluate all the things involved and the complications that would result.
Marijuana warps the minds of its users, to think that it's a good thing. I've seen several old friends who have used it regularly, whose lives have been on a downhill slide, ever since they started. And they don't even know that it has happened.
Obviously, those who favor legalizing marijuana, are those who want to use it themselves and probably already do, illegally. You couldn't expect them to have any other sort of opinion about it or to rationally evaluate all the things involved and the complications that would result.
Marijuana warps the minds of its users, to think that it's a good thing. I've seen several old friends who have used it regularly, whose lives have been on a downhill slide, ever since they started. And they don't even know that it has happened.
Actually no. I am a firm believer in decriminalization. Not for myself either I just think that some things need to change.
There is a certain segment of people who are so hopelessly brainwashed on the subject that they believe any use of this plant constitutes abuse. 80 years of government brainwashing will do that to a person who refuses to look beyond it. The stigmatization is so strong that it has even prevented the usage of hemp in our society.
Ironically, many who fall into that group will post their biased, inaccurate views about marijuana, turn off their phone or computer, then retire to the den for a cocktail. They don't even think twice about their hypocrisy.
Last edited by Raddo; 06-02-2018 at 12:23 PM..
Reason: typo
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