Is there a single reason pot should not be legalized? (brainwash, Jesus)

[OhioUberAlles]

Originally Posted by bill545

I hope you're kidding.

People here seem to love silly analogies. I bet those gun control debates are a hoot

Well where do you want to draw the line? People get behind the wheel while sleep deprived, while drunk, in any number of bad ways. There exist legal mechanisms to punish them if they are caught or if they harm somebody while in such a condition. If the legalization of drugs went hand-in-hand with strict laws about their use in regards to operating vehicles/machinery, with equally tough enforcement, wouldn't that suffice?

[stanman13]

^^^ I believe that is what should be done.

[joey2000]

Originally Posted by stanman13

I prefer my government to stay within its legal bounds, thank you very much.

So does most everyone else. But that's an extremely vague and subjective thing.

Our Constitution was written the way it was for good reason. Unless it is constrained, it has the alarming tendency to grow at rates unseen elsewhere in the universe. It also has an even more alarming tendency to usurp power at every possible opportunity.

Well I'm glad you'e not paranoid or anything.

I do not under any circumstances subscribe to the theory that the government should "Take care of me"; that should be left to the States or to the People, respectively.

um "the states" are still a government FYI and lol @ "the people" taking care of you (whatever that even means). Do you seriously think state gov't is any more trustable or competent than the federal gov't?

[stanman13]

The more of the government that is under local control the better off we are. State government is more easily held accountable for its actions than federal government.

I am not paranoid. Just look around you. Use your powers of observation.

[joey2000]

Originally Posted by stanman13

The more of the government that is under local control the better off we are. State government is more easily held accountable for its actions than federal government.

Because.......

Sorry, that is IMO a delusion w/no basis in fact.

So if your state banned pot you're OK with it vs if the feds did it?

[Kereczr]

Originally Posted by linicx

The major reason pot should not be legalized is simple. It alters the rational thinkinb process in a way that is faster, more potent, and much different than alcohol. It's addicitive and the after effect is much longer lasting than alcohol.

Pretty much every single point you made here is a** backwards. Are you being sarcastic or, god forbid, are you being serious?

[Kereczr]

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

90%+ of crack, heroin, meth, cocaine, etc addicts started their drug habit smoking marijuana

Nope, care to post any proof? Of course not, because you're wrong.

[killer2021]

Here is one:

We can grow hemp!!! That would create MILLIONS of jobs nearly overnight! We can use the oil as fuel, we can use the fiber to make paper among 25,000 other products. You can make homes and even cars from it! All of which biodegrades.The petrochemical industry would collapse because most of the stuff made from petrol can be made with hemp. Hemp is biodegradable. That means paper and plastics biodegrade. Petrochemical plastics do not biodegrade. Hemp is one of the fastest growing plants on earth and can be grown anywhere in the US that supports plant life. It is drought resistant. It requires little to no fertilizer. It requires little to no pesticides.


YouTube - Hemp - The Environmentally Sustainable Alternative (Part 1)

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by bill545

Because.......

Sorry, that is IMO a delusion w/no basis in fact.

So if your state banned pot you're OK with it vs if the feds did it?

Even if your states' voters ok it for example for medical use in California.. the DEA says they aren't beholden to state laws and can still arrest you, seize your assests etc... the Constitution was written to keep federal government small.. again as the other poster said to provide more governmental accountability to the public at state and local levels.

I believe a wise man once said.. absolute power corrupta absolutely. This would apply to the feds as well as the current CEO's who cried for bailouts.

[NWPAguy]

Originally Posted by leftydan6

Why not just make it illegal to use in public places? Why force everyone to live the same joyless life you have just because you don't like their vices?

That's be great but we'd have to come up with a clear definition of a "public place". Frankly, I don't care if people smoke in their own homes as long as people who dwell in other houses don't have to smell it when they're not in the smoker's house. I used to live in a row home community and my neighbor was definitely not happy about always having to smell her smoking neighbor's putrid fumes. And by the way, my life is far from joyless. I love how you think you know me and my life... let's talk about ignorance, shall we?

Originally Posted by leftydan6

I guarantee you that the "stoned people" you've seen were either complete burnouts who were living on the streets, or were on something other than pot. You'd be surprised how many people are actually on weed in regular situations.

Maybe I would be. And when they die of lung cancer at an early age because a joint contains approximately 7 times the carcinogenic chemicals found in a tobacco cigarette, I'll know who WASN'T smoking pot regularly.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

There's a thing called "ignorance" and you are definitely cursed to have a lot of it.

I sure am glad other people read this forum. I pretty much don't have to hurl childish insults at you... you dig your own hole uncommonly well.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

One can have intelligence and still enjoy laughing and having a good time.

I laugh and have a good time on a regular basis. So do many people who don't have much intelligence. Marijuana is not required for having a good time. Society has degenerated to the point where we feel that we have to poison our bodies with intoxicating chemicals in order to have a good time. What do lots of people do on the weekends? They go to bars... where they can smoke and drink. They go to clubs... where they can smoke and drink. They go to the beach... where they spend their time drinking if not smoking. If people couldn't smoke and drink, lots of 'em would feel like they couldn't have a good time. Come on... I was in college once... and I was pretty well broke most of the time... but yet I always had fun without smoking and drinking. It takes creativity... which, of course, is waving bye-bye to America even as we speak.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

Would you say that a room with a Yale graduate, a woman with a master's degree, a man with advanced professional certifications in addition to his top-notch education and someone who passed the California Bar Exam with a score in the top 5% is full of unintelligent people?

Even if you hadn't proven their lack of intelligence with your subsequent statement, I would have to say "I don't know". Intelligence, in my mind, is more about making good decisions and using what brain power you do have to its fullest extent than it is merely having a lot of brain power.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

Well, that scene I described with people sitting in a room, watching TV and smoking weed would have included those four. I'm sorry, but I guarantee you that you're not as intelligent as any of them.

You're right. I'm actually MORE intelligent than any of them because I obviously make better decisions. I don't care who scored what on what test or who got what degree... we really don't know how difficult the tests were or how rigorous the academic programs were. All you gave were fancy-sounding names. I'm smart enough to stay away from pot. They aren't. All of their degrees and whatever will not save them from the inevitable ills that come from smoking pot if they do it on a regular basis. They might just escape relatively unscathed if they smoke pot only very rarely.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

Yes, but your BMI (body mass index) is 27.7, which makes you overweight. I am 6' and 164...my BMI is 22.2, which makes me right in the middle of the "normal" range, so I am clearly healthier than you are.

Do you smoke pot? If you do, do you tell your doctor? See, last time I got a physical, my doctor said I was in perfect health and I needed to change nothing about my life. If your doctor knew you smoked pot, I guarantee you would not have gotten such a glowing report. Your doctor would have told you that you're in good health *BUT* you need to stop smoking pot.

Oh, and by the way, I CHOOSE to be overweight. I had it happen once where I got really sick as a kid and lost my appetite... wound up losing 15 pounds, which was almost 15% of my body weight at the time. If something happened to me (illness or survival scenario), I could survive losing 15% of my body weight and not land in the hospital. You couldn't.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

I coach and play basketball and baseball, can do 1000 crunches and 400 pushups in one sitting and never go a day without doing some kind of activity. I've been sick only 4 times in my life, and I eat huge amounts of candy all throughout the day. I'm not sure why you went on that rant about how great your (overweight) body is...were you trying to impress me?

Do you smoke pot?

Originally Posted by leftydan6

Marijuana is far safer than KFC, as no amount of Marijuana can kill you, but if you shovel enough KFC down, you will die.

This is the part where we wait about ten seconds for the people to solidify their answer to the question of "Did he REALLY just say what I think he just said?"... and then enjoy the laughter.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

Marijuana is widely accepted (in states and countries with medicinal laws) as medication for cancer patients who have trouble eating. A friend of mine had a brain tumor that caused him to drop to 95 pounds on his 6'2" frame. He was given a few months to live. A doctor said the only route they had left was to give him marijuana to combat the nausea and lack of appetite and hope that it could help him recover. 6 months later he was up to 165 pounds and he's survived another 4 years since then with the tumor. He would have died if not for the appetite stimulation and nausea suppression of marijuana.

I am not denying that marijuana has certain medicinal properties which at times outweigh its risks. Isn't that true of all drugs? I am not opposed to the use of marijuana for medical purposes. What I am opposed to is how Americans would twist and contort "medical purposes" so that they could get marijuana when they didn't need it. After all, we do have unscrupulous doctors who write prescriptions for just about anything if someone will pay them enough to do it.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

And who enjoys music more than stoners? Look at the "Jam band" circuit and you'll see how many stoners appreciate music. Look at "Bonnaroo", and you'll see a multi-million dollar music festival attended almost exclusively by stoners.

Normally the people who make music enjoy it more than stoners. I should know. I'm a professional musician.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

The Puritans were the same psychos who murdered innocent women for being "witches".

They didn't know any better. Back before Columbus, the Spanish were the same psychos who believed the earth was flat. In both cases, now we know better.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

They clearly did not enjoy their lives too much, did not create much in the way of art, music, culture or philosophy. All they did was live a sad existence and they forced anyone who didn't agree with them to live the same way.

Have you talked with a real Puritan lately in the name of substantiating those opinions? Or, could it be that they are merely opinions concocted out of the fear that your argument was rapidly running out of ammunition?

Originally Posted by leftydan6

And if they didn't have problems with "deviant behavior" why did they have to live by such strict rules? Why would women be stoned to death for adultery?

The strict rules are what prevented deviant behavior. I guarantee you that if the punishment for adultery was being stoned to death, adultery was nearly nonexistent in Puritan society. (In Saudi Arabia where the punishment for stealing is getting your hands cut off, how high do you suppose their theft rate is? Is it close to America's, where the punishment for stealing is a trial where you can hire a lawyer who is a real sleazebag and will argue that your abused childhood should make the judge go really easy on you?)

These days, there is usually no punishment for adultery in American society... and look at how prevalent it is. I read that by age 20, 95% of men and 90% of women have lost their virginity... and only a very small percentage of those people are actually MARRIED by age 20. Read this study: http://www.publichealthreports.org/userfiles/122_1/12_PHR122-1_73-78.pdf (broken link)

One of the stats in that study shows that 95% of Americans by age 44 have had premarital sex. So basically when there is no direct punishment for something like that, it becomes prevalent. I guarantee you that the percentage of Puritans who had premarital sex was a single-digit number... most likely one that could be expressed on one hand.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

I live how a person should.

By whose standards? Yours? Don't make me laugh. If you live by how the Bible says you should live, then we'll talk about how great your philosophy of life is. Oh, by the way, if you're thinking about lampooning me over my obviously Christian beliefs, save your effort. As I always say... if you're not willing to listen to the truth, then you bet your eternity on your belief and I'll bet my eternity on mine. You will be shown the truth eventually.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

I work an honest living, keep myself physically and mentally fit, enjoy the time I have because there is no afterlife and we only have 80-100 years to live life,

That has to be a sad philosophy. When you die, you die. That's responsible for a lot of the rampant hedonism we have in this country today. I prefer my Christian philosophy... where the after-death reward for having lived a TRULY good life is ETERNAL life in heaven. Wouldn't you love to live forever in a problem-free world? I know I would.

Originally Posted by leftydan6

but you would certainly allow for someone to break down my door to take away my joint.

No, I wouldn't. However, I would allow for the victim's relatives or friends to do whatever they wanted to do to you (up to and including shoot you dead) if something you did in your marijuana-induced stupor resulted in someone's death. If we instituted revenge-based punishment in this country, rather than punishment doled out by corrupt judges and mitigated by corrupt lawyers, we'd see a lot less crime... and a lot less people willing to become intoxicated.