<p>Today in class we were talking about why marijuana should be legal. Some people said yea others said no. </p>
<p>Should it be legal?</p>
<p>Now why would we make it legal? I find that ludicrous.</p>
<p>go watch that episode of family guy, lol.</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing. It shouldn’t be legal. Because then people will take advantage of it. On the other hand its much safer than cigarettes and thats legal.</p>
<p>Legalize it then put a tax on it.</p>
<p>Uhh, if you want to take advantage of pot you probably already have, seeing as a bag of it is extremely easy to get</p>
<p>" On the other hand its much safer than cigarettes and thats legal."</p>
<p>No it’s not.</p>
<p>If we’re going to start legalizing things, let’s start with what’s constitutionally guaranteed. Firearms.</p>
<p>^Thank you.</p>
<p>Say marijuana is legalized. Doesn’t mean everyone will be toking. I like seeing the benefits of legalization as getting some tax $ (a broken California budget comes to mind), free up some prisons/jails, get some more jobs in harvesting and manufacturing weed for public consumption.</p>
<p>Cigarettes are legal and I will never smoke that crap. If weed is legal, not everyone is going to go line up to their nearest marijuana shop to get some herb.</p>
<p>I live in Colorado, a state where marijuana has been legalized. I found an article in the local paper that reported Colorado generated more than $20 million in the taxes from dispensaries this week end. That money can be spent on schools and hospitals. If that’s not incentive to legalize a harmless plant, I don’t know what is.</p>
<p>ok, its not as bad as cigarettes, but its not * harmless*.</p>
<p>1st: marijuana is illegal
2nd: People still use marijuana
3rd: In concordance to 1 and 2, prohibition does not stop the use of marijuana
4th: Since nothing can stop the use of marijuana, the harms of its use must be mitigated
5th: Prohibition leads to black market, closeted drug use, and arrests
6th: Harm reduction has been shown to be more effective in regards to safe drug use than prohibition i.e. Portugal’s Decriminalization
7th: Since Marijuana’s has more intense negative effects being illegal, it should be legalized or at least decriminalized.</p>
<p>Note: My argument has nothing to do with “harmless marijuana”; I am not trying to defend its use, but advocate safety for the public at large.</p>
<p>I’m for legalization of marijuana. There is absolutely no reason we should be making it illegal. </p>
<p>It’s sort of funny in a way. Here is this random object that we just decide to ban, even if it has absolutely no illegal connotation at all. What…smoking it will kill you? Cigarettes, alcohol, fast food, and more already do kill you. And our culture even endorses these things, and to a rather large degree. So how can you say that using marijuana is bad and then simply go back to smoking cigarettes or eating fast food? It makes no sense at all.</p>
<p>It’s a choice people take if they would like to use marijuana. Instead of keeping it illegal, it should be made legal and taught that it has harmful effects, much like how we make sure to educate children about other drugs. Sure, it’ll probably fail. But that doesn’t mean everyone is going to be using marijuana.</p>
<p>On another note, it’s a rather big industry…the selling/purchase of marijuana illegally, so to speak. What better way to get the economy back on its feet than making it legal and taxing it? Sometimes, people place way too much significance on tradition. That’s most likely the only reason why it still is illegal today - because it was illegal ever since _______. And honestly, that is just pure stupidity.</p>
<p>Its like trying to ban masturbation… its just irrational. People are going to obtain it anyway. Jails are beimg clogged up with people in posession of a plant.</p>
<p>I’ll play devil’s advocate:</p>
<p>Marijuana should be legalized because it will hurt the cartels. Yes, those drug cartels down in Mexico that have been responsible for over 23,000 deaths in the past 5 years. The same cartels that provide drugs to street gangs all over the U.S. Those street gangs, in turn, make millions off of selling those drugs and use the profits to further spread violence throughout the U.S. </p>
<p>Legalizing marijuana will help put a dent in the profits of the cartels and street gangs in the U.S.</p>
<p>It should be legalized. Alcohol and tobacco are just legal because of convention. People only started smoking pot after our society started seeing substances as a bad thing and having laws against minors drinking and smoking. If people smoked pot as often as they drank several centuries ago, it would be legal now.</p>
<p>I’d say legalize it and legalize ALL other drugs. (yes, the legalization of marijuana has led to a slippery slope argument that I’m seeing more and more of, but it is a very reasonable one). </p>
<p>See [Decriminalizing</a> Drugs in Portugal a Success, Says Report - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html]Decriminalizing”>http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html) .</p>
<p>Yes, I know that the U.S. is NOT Portugal. But punishing people for simple possession simply forces a whole group of people into prison for victimless crimes (and costs the US huge amounts of badly-needed money to keep them there). There are other ways of discouraging drug consumption without such a blatant (and inefficient) violation of civil liberties.</p>
<p>Opium wars anyone?</p>
<p>Remember why China was all, **** off Britain? Marijuana isn’t really addictive, but it does make you stupid under its influence. At least cigarettes kick your brain into high gear.</p>
<p>A strange point people seem to have: just because something worse is legal, should that mean something ‘bad’ should be legal too?</p>
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<p>This.</p>
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<p>And this.</p>
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<p>And this.</p>
<p>However, the jury is still out for me on whether marijuana really is in the “stupid but doesn’t necessarily harm others” category like alcohol is.</p>