<p>Shakespeare, Sigmund Freud, Francis Crick (discovered DNA), Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates have all used drugs at some point in their lives.</p>
<p>I live in a state where recreational marijuana was legalized for 21+ and it has not made a difference at the high school level so far. I personally do not choose to use it, but many teens and adults where I live do. They have done it before it was legalized and they’ve done it after. It may be easier to obtain now, but it’s still illegal if you’re under 21. The laws are very much similar to that of alcohol use. I have not really seen much of a difference in the amount of users. Now you can just go to a store and buy it as opposed to going to a dealer. So no, high school is really not crazy. It’s the same old place. There will always be those kids who do a drug deal in the parking lot regardless of the laws. There have been some benefits to the legalization, such as the taxes it creates. It also has boosted tourism. </p>
<p>I like your idea, Bardinator. I’ve seen this drug do a lot of damage to a lot of people. </p>
<p>@Pikidikitiki HIGH hopes… heh heh</p>
<p>My state hasn’t even legalized medical marijuana yet 
But there sure are a lot of smokers at the high school… xD</p>
<p>@Bardinators You can’t possibly really feel that way. Life in prison for people who use drugs? Your end goal is a society of people who don’t make ‘stupid’ decisions. But imprisoning people like that is a stupid decision in and of itself. Possibly, I could see you throwing your support behind the legalization of all drugs. It would not take long with heroin, crack, meth, etc. legal and all for the weak to be weeded out. Nonetheless if you want to just let people spend their entire lives in captivity because they used some sort of substance, I think you are completely crossing a line as far as being humane goes. To say everyone who uses drugs makes stupid decisions (I will give you many, maybe most) is a generalization and your ideas for prisons would be filled to the maximum with pot smokers and recreational drinkers. I’m not gonna go so far as to say that’s the flat out equivalent of jews in concentration camps, but it’s too close for comfort. </p>
<p>Um…I hope that everyone knows that arrests for simple drug possession are the number 1 reason we have the highest incarceration rate in the world, many over a drug (cannabis) that is far less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol.</p>
<p>This is getting really controversial… Agree to disagree? :)</p>
<p>@Pikidikitiki </p>
<p>Duuuuuuude…that’s like…soooo trueeee</p>
<p>Regular Marijuana user’s IQ on average is 8 points lower than average person (source NBC)
Don’t say all the geniuses who took it, for every person famous there are 100 that are poor because of it.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is making the argument that drug use is better than no drug use, but rather that people make their own choices and are entitled to that. People do it as is regardless of illegality, whether it be anything from heroin and meth to cocaine to weed, alcohol, and cigarettes.</p>
<p>As far as jailing goes, people should go back to the reason we have a prison system in the first place. We don’t lock people up for bad decisions, we are supposed to be locking people up that are dangerous to others. Most drug users are not dangerous to anyone but themselves, and this is the most true of weed probably. Alcohol has drunk driving and rape, cigarettes have second hand smoke, harder drugs have obviously dangerous behavior, and weed has a bunch of people sitting around on the couch with a few cases of driving under the influence, much lower than alcohol. If we are looking at drugs in terms of crime and punishment, weed should be the most legal via the actual reason for illegality.</p>
<p>This isn’t about saving people from themselves, its about protecting others. The one argument I do see is that drug users encourage / enable others to begin using, and could be wrong if it uses misinformation or pressure. But to determine that for legality would be a nightmare.</p>
<p>As far as the current state of affairs, </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is part of it. However, a much bigger force is in play beyond morality of drugs. For anyone who is interested, watch “The House I Live In”. Especially @Bardinators . It shows very well how little drug laws and societal safety are related, and much more importantly the injustice behind it.</p>
<p>To Bradinator again, I think the biggest thing you have to learn on the subject is that intelligence is not directly correlated with choosing to do drugs. Usually the conditions that foster drug use are in correlation with the level of education. Poor school rampant with drugs and poverty versus a prep school with some light party drug use: which do you think will foster more regular drug users?</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about this. I definitely wouldn’t mind it being legal, but if it does become legal, dealers lose money. The main reason dealers make money is because weed is illegal, so they’d lose both customers and profit rate</p>
<p>I hate drugs…but honestly, nothing will change at the HS level. Users will be users; losers will be losers.</p>
<p>I get there are a lot of pro-pot people, but I know that they tend to do worse later in life.</p>
<p>BTW I support legalization on Constitutional grounds, but I think schools need to be vigilant against student drug use. </p>
<p>"I have mixed feelings about this. I definitely wouldn’t mind it being legal, but if it does become legal, dealers lose money. The main reason dealers make money is because weed is illegal, so they’d lose both customers and profit rate "</p>
<p>Are you saying you lament the loss of illegal sales?</p>
<p>I have long thought that it should be legal for adults and grown, sold, and taxed by the government. The government has profited handsomely from other vices; alcohol and gambling (lottery.) Like the lottery it’ll become an idiot tax. Having it illegal has only served to introduce otherwise decent citizens to drug dealers, gangs and exposure to worse, heavier drugs. It’s also caused a lot of skepticism toward laws. " If this law is dumb what others should we not follow?"</p>
<p>If it becomes legal and sales are confined to adults IMO it will be harder for kids to buy it. The tremendous profits will not exist for illegal growers/sellers and they’ll move on to a new profitable business. </p>
<p>I’d rather the government get money than dealers…</p>
<p>Yeah, the thread is getting pretty controversial, and in many cases it’s obvious neither side will convince the other of their correctness. Nonetheless, I love threads like this. Challenges people to think, and they can voice their opinions no matter where they are on the spectrum. If you ask me, this totally beats a stupid ‘chance me’ thread any day of the week.</p>
<p>Marijuana is viewed as a “harmless” drug, but if you google “cannabis and schizophrenia” you’d be surprised at the number of studies linking them. Regardless of its legal status, it’s a bad idea for young people.</p>
<p>@scholarme Fair enough, but there’s credibile people who say the exact opposite. </p>
<p>“New research from Harvard Medical School, in a comparison between families with a history of schizophrenia and those without, finds little support for marijuana use as a cause of schizophrenia.” And this is as recent as Dec. 2013, so basically within the last 8 months.</p>
<p><a href=“Cannabis and Schizophrenia: What’s the Link? | Psych Central”>http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/12/10/harvard-marijuana-doesnt-cause-schizophrenia/63148.html</a></p>
<p>The article agrees that there is a correlation, and does not rule out the possibility of it being a trigger for someone with family history.
</p>
<p>True, I’m with you there. All I’m getting at is, there’s always someone who says one thing about weed, and someone else who says another thing. Even at the highest levels of medicine. There’s also studies from Northwestern U that I think you would find interesting for sure. Essentially they end up taking the side that it does link to schizophrenia, so it’s all worth thinking about. </p>