Should recreational marijuana be made legal in Minnesota? (insurance, house)

[Cruz Azul Guy]

A bill to legalize recreational marijuana recently passed in the Minnesota House of Representatives where it was dead on arrival in the senate thanks to Paul Gazelka and the Republicans. I’m wondering if those here support or are against legalization? If so, why?

[Tyryztoll]

Support. If the demon alcohol is legal there is no legitimate argument against pot being legal. I have always contended this. Once pot is legalized here the line begins with me.

[CARas2020]

I am all for legalization in EVERHY state. Iyt also needs to be decriminalized federally because it is BJULL$hit alcohol kills more people than pot has ever. To date NOBODY has died from pot.

[demtion35]

NO. It should not. It will cause too many problems. It will effect kids, and family. It will do serious harm, or worse, can effect employment, relationships, marriages, so many things, and it is dangerous, it impairs the user. It will be very dangerous.

It should not be legal.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by demtion35

NO. It should not. It will cause too many problems. It will effect kids, and family. It will do serious harm, or worse, can effect employment, relationships, marriages, so many things, and it is dangerous, it impairs the user. It will be very dangerous.

It should not be legal.

Just for the record, how is it “dangerous”.....particularly in comparison to alcohol, which brings much more severe levels of impairment?

Aside from that, you are aware that it would be regulated, yes? You act like they would be handing out bud packed bongs to kids as they come through the doors of their schools every day, or that employers wouldn’t have the same rules against showing up stoned that they do for showing up drunk.

[demtion35]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Just for the record, how is it “dangerous”.....particularly in comparison to alcohol, which brings much more severe levels of impairment?

Aside from that, you are aware that it would be regulated, yes? You act like they would be handing out bud packed bongs to kids as they come through the doors of their schools every day, or that employers wouldn’t have the same rules against showing up stoned that they do for showing up drunk.

How would recreational MJ be regulated?

I REALLY want to know. HOW is it regulated???

So, in this situation, if a worker, (Factory worker for example) gets injured on the job, many times if not always, they go to a clinic or hospital, where it is found out that he or she had been drinking the night before, and still had not sober long enough for them to work safely. They may be fired, and or face legal battles.

What if a construction worker injured a fellow worker on the job, by dropping a beam and it crashed off the back end of a low boy trailer, hitting several other workers helping to off load the load. That worker was found to be high on MJ, from smoking it a few hours earlier while on break. What would happen then?

There are many impaired drivers out on the roads, some drunk, some drunk and stoned. Some stoned out of their minds. What about impaired drivers who just got done smoking? Tell the truth, the state has enough to deal with having the drug laws as they are, making that stuff legal would only make things worse, and who has to pay for hospital bills, higher insurance rates, more cost, more cost, more cost, and death.

[Hiruko]

If I were in Minnesota, I would be very much 'wait and see' and 'let's be cautious.' There is a lot of evidence that suggests that legalization expands the market and increases usage among those who have no business using marijuana. It also fuels the black market because the "legal stuff" is priced and taxed much higher.

In my hometown, the city's marijuana tax revenue is being used to fund so-called reparations for African-American residents...

[CARas2020]

Originally Posted by demtion35

How would recreational MJ be regulated?

I REALLY want to know. HOW is it regulated???

So, in this situation, if a worker, (Factory worker for example) gets injured on the job, many times if not always, they go to a clinic or hospital, where it is found out that he or she had been drinking the night before, and still had not sober long enough for them to work safely. They may be fired, and or face legal battles.

What if a construction worker injured a fellow worker on the job, by dropping a beam and it crashed off the back end of a low boy trailer, hitting several other workers helping to off load the load. That worker was found to be high on MJ, from smoking it a few hours earlier while on break. What would happen then?

There are many impaired drivers out on the roads, some drunk, some drunk and stoned. Some stoned out of their minds. What about impaired drivers who just got done smoking? Tell the truth, the state has enough to deal with having the drug laws as they are, making that stuff legal would only make things worse, and who has to pay for hospital bills, higher insurance rates, more cost, more cost, more cost, and death.

Maybe research but not the ATF because it is biased. and look at how many people have DIED from marijuana that would be freaking ZERO. If you are driving impaired you can be tested for it just as you can be tested for alcohol. It is ridiculous that it is classified as a schedule 1. And it has medical purpose. I use it for peripheral neuropathy from chemotherapy

it is legal here in Oregon and how is it regulated you have to be 21 to buy it. The only thing is and I am sure there is some research I would think if you are a heavy user over time it can damage your lungs just like the sh%t in cigarettes which are 100% legal and kill thousands of people. But there are other ways to using not just smoking a bowl or a joint. It is NOT addictive and it has PROVEN medical uses.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Cruz Azul Guy

A bill to legalize recreational marijuana recently passed in the Minnesota House of Representatives ...

I’m wondering if those here support or are against legalization? If so, why?

As a natural state agricultural product -- it should be legal by default.

The only problem with legality, real legality, is there won't be much room for the states to tax it.
The Q then becomes one of which pseudo legality approach to take.
The approaches taken so far pretty much miss the mark.

[Milo Wolf]

A simple costs/benefits analysis, given the costs (both economic and social) and general ineffectiveness of prohibition compared to the costs of legalization, clearly point to legalization.

See also: Prohibition 1920-1933

The opposition seems to be the usual dire hair-on-fire laundry list of calamities that will ensue. This reminds me more than a little of the relatively recent hand-wringing over the myriad trials and tribulations that would befall society were same-sex marriage legalized. And? Nothing - except increased freedom and happiness for some people.

Besides, this isn't a discussion of theory. We know how legalization works. From Alaska to Maine to California, it is fully legal in 17 states and decriminalized in a few others. It's fully legal in Canada, that country which is more like the United States than any other (thus making the best available international comparison). It's decriminalized in much of Latin American, parts of Europe, and some of Australia. It is nominally illegal but rarely enforced in places like Germany and Finland.

The bottom line is that there just isn't any reason to think that decriminalization will lead to much more than the state having to spend fewer resources prosecuting and jailing people and that fewer people will have a scarlet letter on their record permanently hindering them as they go through life.

Note:
No, I neither use nor want to use marijuana. The whole "You must be a pothead!" response is common in these discussions, and it is a non sequitur. There are all sorts of things - smoking tobacco, drinking tequila, getting tattoos, riding motorcycles, etc. - in which I have no interest but which I most certainly don't want to see prohibited.

This is not a libertarian stance. Rather, it's just one of judicious practicality.