Legalize weed in America?

[Roland_Deschain]

Now we have all heard this argument over and over again, legalize pot, blah blah blah. The problem with myself debating amongst people about this topic is that I am usually debating with a person who has never done nor even tried the drug itself so its a rather one side debate that is in vain. So if any of you people out there know that this is not a deadly drug than please pipe in.

First of all I would like to point out to those who think that Marijuana is illegal due to health and medical risks, well this is just not the fact at all.
It became illegal mainly to protect the timber industrys that america had invested a lot of energy into because hemp was poised to take over a lot of business, so they ran a smear campaign about it.

If you dont know these things please check out this web link for some intresting information...there are many other related sites you can view.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/ <READ

Now I am not saying weed is a great habit to have, I am not saying it is healthy for you, Im not saying that it isnt a waste of time or money.

What I am saying is that the american goverment loses less and gains more from it being legal.

I preposed a list of benifits that a country could gain from its legalization.

1. Give it a required medical license before the ability to use, that way you can regulate the amount people are allowed to have and the hospitols could earn some intrest as well.

2. Same as smokes, booze, gas. Tax it, make some money for our country as it becomes a recreational drug. Honestly America has done worse things for profit and this method would stimulate the economy in many ways.

3. If people are getting high than less people are drinking, Garunteed. It can be easily proven over and over again that drinking is, and will remain.....more dangerous than smoking pot. Boozel will Impair all of your senses and make you do things that you wouldnt normally do, and you can overdose. Booze will always be more dangerous. Weed will slow your reaction but usually you are more cautious, and honestly most of the time people will eat or sleep or just not drive it the first place.

4. Eliminate the Gateway drug. Thats right, almost all drug addicts to cocaine, heroine, meth, or any other sort of speed started by smoking weed and than just fell into the crowd of people who could offer them these drugs...if we eliminate the gateway drug, than we eliminate the gateway people. Would you rather have your kids getting weed from a hospitol and you know about it, or getting it from the crack dealer behind your back.

5. Smoking is way more unhealthy, Seriously it is. Smoking Ciggarettes give you more additives and more unhealthy chemicals than weed has, and its way more addictive. This is not a benifit more of a justification, if alcohol and ciggarettes can be legal with a Death toll that pot cant even see, let alone compare with, than why not legalize it...balance these things out.

6. Personal use. Food tastes better, sex feels better, and you sleep more regularly if you dont abuse it. Remember people there are no bad things, just bad habits. I have traveled around different places and smoked pot on and off the whole time. I would go as far as to say it brough me where I am...sometimes people need to forget about the things that burden them to figure out what they actually want.

7. America wastes a lot of money and resources on busting marijuana. A police officer will waste half of his day putting 20 year old in jail for a small amount of pot, are there not better things to do really? All of the people in prison which our taxes pay for could be released into working programs...because we couldnt keep them in prison for pot if it became legal. In general we would be profiting off of this drug rather than paying for it.

8. America would be happy. I know countless people who do not smoke but think this is a good direction. Why should we waste all of our money and effort fighting something that america wants and will have even with the risk it comes with being illegal.

From experience I tell you that this drug is not dangerous, it is feared by those who do not understand it, and those who can not distinguish the difference between drugs. Did you know alcohol was illegal before marijuana ever was?


I know some of these things are vague but I havent had too much time to think about it. Its just an Idea. So people what do you think. Legalize it? Keep it Illegal? why and why not.

 

[Emyunoxious]

As someone who is high right this moment, I think that not only should marijuana be legalized, I think it should be mandatory that ever man, woman, and child indulges in it at least once, preferably a dozen times, in their life. I cannot think of a single non-corporate reason to keep it illegal.

You make some very good points in your list.

This is the most positive post I have ever made. I should post high more often.

 

[Stoic Hero]

I don't have a problem with marijuana being legal, but under a few conditions:

It should be held under the same standards as alcohol. 21 to buy and no driving under the influence.

It should also be illegal to smoke (cigarettes or marijuana) anywhere where it might affect anyone that doesn't want to ingest it (restaurants, museums, hotels, schools, etc)

And that's about it. If those rules are kept firmly in place, I couldn't care less if it was legalized.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

And yes, I know Alcohol is more dangerous, and cigarettes cause cancer more, but marijuana still impairs people and what they do. Just cuz it's less bad than the others but still bad doesn't mean we legalize it. Just means we should make alcohol and cigarettes illegal too. :/

I agree Cali. Just because something isn't as bad as something else doesn't mean it should be legalized. However, where I disagree is that the arguments against legalizing marijuana are often made by people who partake of alcohol or smoke, and believe that it IS worse.

So perhaps some public education would go a long way toward making people understand that it's on an equal status as the other two, and get rid of this lingering image that it's a "hard" drug. Because to be quite honest, I know ALOT of people who do it occasionally, and aren't addicted to it all.

 

[Servo_Non]

The way I've always looked on the whole legalize or don't legalize weed situation, and I'm from Britain so I'm coming from a more worldwide sense on the subject than a view on a specific country, is that as long as the correct restrictions were in place then it shouldn't be made illegal. As Stoic Hero said, having an age restriction, and restrictions on where you could smoke it, would work very well. It is also not an addictive substance, granted there is a dependancy factor to it but that is down more to an individual. Anything can have a dependancy factor. People can build a dependancy on coca cola (which probably does more damage than people think considering it can strip the rust from a penny) but not an addiction. People who smoke weed can start, stop, do it, not do it, as and when they please.

Having a legal high available, and one that in comparison to the chemicals and harder drugs that can be bought almost anywhere by anyone, could help to reduce the number of people taking substances such as cocaine, heroin, excstasy etc.

I know there's an argument that marijuana can cause mental problems such as paranoia but in comparison to the damage which can be caused, as already mentioned above, by cigarettes and alcohol (two more vices of mine) it is a lot safer. Already it's used for medicinal purposes on prescription for conditions such as glaecoma (so?) and arthritis which shows that it can be a useful substance. I know for a fact as well that a lot of people I know who take harder drugs wouldn't if they could get weed legally. There wouldn't be any point because legalising it would undoubtedly mean it would become cheaper than it already is making it more appealing a drug to users than the others.

It would also make a big dent in the pockets of drug dealers. I would have thought that weed was the most common, or close to the most common, illegal high used in the world. If this was taken out of the equation of a drug dealers bank roll it would, I think, severly reduce the illegal drugs market. If it was legalized it would also mean that what you could purchase was clean weed. So many dealers cut it with other substances, either for a stronger high, to add an addiction factor or to simply make the person come to them specifically for their weed. I'd be happier knowing for certain that the weed I was smoking didn't have coke, bleach, heroin, hell they could add any number of chemicals and substances to it and I dare say they're likely to do a lot more damage than bud or resin taken straight from the plant, packed and sold.

I;'m hoping my points have come across as coherent, although I sometimes loose my chain of thought slightly. But anyways, I feel it should be legal. It's so widespread anyways that even if they don't legalise it, people who smoke weed will still smoke weed. Even if they did it for no other reason, they could allow the police to do the work they really need to be doing, rather than stopping people randomly for casual use of marijuana.

There don't seem to be any bad points to it. Yes, it could mean that kids could get hold of it, but children can get hold of bleach and drink it, ask a stranger to buy smokes or alcohol for them, it's an inevitability whether ti's legal or not.

As for the psychiatric problems, I have yet tyo see some conrete proof that these are caused by marijuana or the active chemical, THC. If you take into account that many weed smokers who have these problems are on harder drugs as well then it could be down to any number of reasons.

And besides, I know I'd rather smoke weed than cigarettes. In comparison with cigarettes, I could easily smoke 20 Marlboro a day, but weed, one or two joints, maybe one or two more for parties. It seems to make sense, and they should take a leaf out of the Netherlands' book. It doesn't seem to do them any harm.

 

[Roland_Deschain]

QUOTE: CALICO
And yes, I know Alcohol is more dangerous, and cigarettes cause cancer more, but marijuana still impairs people and what they do. Just cuz it's less bad than the others but still bad doesn't mean we legalize it. Just means we should make alcohol and cigarettes illegal too.




Lets be honest though. sure it impairs your senses, but so does coffee and cough medicine and anything with caffeine, but we will not make those things illegal will we? And honestly does marijuana really impair you in a bad way? People will usually become less violent or more kind or sensitive, sometimes it even makes you drift off thinking about stuff that you need to fix about yourself. As long as you can have the common sense not to do it while driving than your fine. The difference between a car crash or not can also be the difference between talking on your phone or performing other tasks while driving...it slows your reaction by maybe that much. And if you have had waaay to much to smoke than chances are you will not be in a car...but in front of the Television. The idea that people do stupid rediculas things when they are stone is a overplayed stereotype that is exageratted to an extreme.

On another note some people would rather enjoy the time they have more, perhaps the effects of the drug itself outweight the health risk. Its a perception thing really. So as long as what I do is not bothering others than should not be a problem wether its legal or not.

 

[Servo_Non]

The idea that people do stupid rediculas things when they are stone is a overplayed stereotype that is exageratted to an extreme.

I very much agree with that. If anything it calms people down and mellows them out. Lord knows that what happens with me. I don't want to go up and start a fight or jump of something high or anything like that, nor does anyone else I know who smokes it.

But sadly the case with drugs is that one that DOESN'T make you act overly stupid (such as motivators like cocaine or extasy) gets lumped in with the general stereotype that drugs make people to crazy things or get violent or the rest of the endless list of non-truths.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

Its still a drug. Its illegal here too in NL by law, but goverment accept it via coffeeshops etc. This way they can regulate it.

Anyway I stopped smokin 2-3 years ago and Im proud of it..It made me even more lazy back then which made me screw up 3 schools..its counter productive..all we did was chill....I had enough..

It kills your IQ..memory loss short term, you sluggish..also it kills your body nuitrians hench you need to compensate with munchies..extra food..

When you quit you'll gain weight..USA is too big to regulate that business and make the most dumber than dumb...

I say legalize it cause yes booz is 100 times worse when it comes too intoxication.

 

[Harlequin]

It kills your IQ..memory loss short term, you sluggish..also it kills your body nuitrians hench you need to compensate with munchies..extra food..

That's one of the main reasons I'd be against it. I'm sure a few of us know a couple of guys who have been abusing weed for so long they're off their rockers and can only really talk to you when they're high. A few of them actually become anti social paranoid schitzophrenics who are a danger to society - but those are extreme examples. Regardless, weed can definately turn your brain to mush and it's not as if drink can directly effect those around you like smoking.

But in truth, any substance abuse is irresponsible and quite frankly, childish.

 

[Servo_Non]

But there is a big difference between substance abuse and casual usage. If someone si going to take it to extremes and smoke 30 joints a day then on their head be it, but for a casual user like me who has maybe 1 or 2 a day and that's WHEN i have it I don't think you could call it abuse.

Considering the weekly, never mind daily, alcohol limit is constantly abused by 99% of all people who drink, then I would see that as more of a substance abuse than a casual joint every now and then.

EDIT: When you start bringing up the extremes then its coming down to the same sort of thing as the difference between an alcoholic and a casual drinker. It's totally different worlds.

 

[Rydia]

I am for legalizing weed. Obviously making it illegal has not stopped anyone from acquiring the drug.

Yes it may be bad for your body, but so is alcohol an tobacco. Yet those are still legal. Yes people can do crazy and dangerous things when they are high, but they can do crazy things when they are drunk. There are over the counter medications you can get a prescription for that can impair your judgement and thinking. I was once on meds for anxiety that stated that I was not allowed to drive or lift heavy objects. It also made me a little loopy. And I've since gotten off it and and on a different drug.

Legalized weed can also be regluated.

I'm not good at debating or summarizing so here is a list of reasons to legalize weed.
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/60959/

 

[Doc Holliday]

I might've missed something but pot impairs people's judgment and how they operate the things in the society around them such as cars, cooking, taking care of kids, etc etc.


Why would we legalize it again?

I can see it for health issues and to save more money rather then spending it on arresting marijuana growers/dealers, but it's still a danger.

And yes, I know Alcohol is more dangerous, and cigarettes cause cancer more, but marijuana still impairs people and what they do. Just cuz it's less bad than the others but still bad doesn't mean we legalize it. Just means we should make alcohol and cigarettes illegal too. :/

Ah, but that's the first step towards fascism; you inhibit what people can and can't do with their own bodies and you're dictating to them what they should and shouldn't do with their own personal property, that's fascism. Alcohol WAS made illegal in the twenties in America, and it never worked, prohibition just made it possible for shady characters to become gangsters to sell alcohol. If it's legalised, there's no longer a black market for it and people don't kill each other over it.
Legalise drugs and you'd see crime go down a hell of a lot.

Moreover, I don't see why any drug should be illegal, it's a person's choice what they do with their own body; if they want to go and dope themselves up on meth, crack or just weed, let them, as long as they're not harming others, I don't see the problem. If it's legal, it can be regulated, it can be taxed and the people who partake in its consumption can be monitored.

So it impairs peoples judgement? So do a lot of things. So do nerves, adrenaline, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine, but so what? If it makes them that tiniest bit happier; let them have their comforts without being hounded on by the law. People wouldn't have to go pretty much bankrupt to fund their own habits and they wouldn't be killed over not paying or kill to pay. Obviously driving while high would be illegal so they're not really a danger to other people and weed doesn't make you a danger to anyone really, it just makes you tranquil.

Trying to make marijuana illegal because it makes people stupid is pretty much like banning stupidity itself; it just won't work.

 

[Rydrum2112]

It kills your IQ...

It does not permanently reduce your IQ, unless you are abusing it to an extreme. And pretty much anything to the extreme will have deleterious effects.

I might've missed something but pot impairs people's judgment and how they operate the things in the society around them such as cars, cooking, taking care of kids, etc etc.

Why would we legalize it again?

I can see it for health issues and to save more money rather then spending it on arresting marijuana growers/dealers, but it's still a danger.

If used appropriately pot causes no harm to anyone and is no dangerous.

Why would anyone really care if a person wanted to be high for a little while? It's their life let them enjoy it.

Legalizing it would not only save money from lack of enforcing but the taxes garnered would be a huge boost.

 

[Roland_Deschain]

Anyway I stopped smokin 2-3 years ago and Im proud of it..It made me even more lazy back then which made me screw up 3 schools..its counter productive..all we did was chill....I had enough..

When you quit you'll gain weight..USA is too big to regulate that business and make the most dumber than dumb...





But thats the thing, its only counter productive if you let it become. And truth be told..some people could use to slow down their roll. Now I have to say it may affect people differently, I actually am diagnosed with OCD......which means the prescription drug for me is actually speed in a pill form (Aderal, Ritelin, Paxil, Clonadine) to slow me down because I am already naturally high in my mind, what weed does too a person like myself is sometimes clarity compared to just the normal, I find myself making smart decisions and think with a peaceful carefree attitude. So really it depends on the type of person doing the drug, some people have an overly addictive personallity and this is another benifit of actually controlling it with the government....a bartender can cut you off....so can the hospitol.

Also I dont think america is too big to control it, if it was legal there would be less to control on the terms of other drugs, and we would have more time for focuse on serious crime, a slap in the face for wannabe cops getting their quota and job done by "just" busting kids for having some pot.

It would be very beneficial for america to legalize it in my opinion. A reminder that this thread is not mainly here to discuss the health risks and if they are real, that has been debated many times before. The goal of this thread is too discuss wether the benifits and prospects of its llegalization outweight the health risks.....no one has even stepped into the idea of how useful hemp would be as a resource for paper, clothing, cleaning products, and how our forests would stand longer with an alternete supply or materials.

 

[blakstang98]

I might've missed something but pot impairs people's judgment and how they operate the things in the society around them such as cars, cooking, taking care of kids, etc etc.

Pot has never impaired a person's judgement or made them less able to operate equipment. The only thing it really does is slow a person down, which is not determental to anything, unless it involves moving quickly.

Plain and simple, because of what I stated above, I'm all for legalizing weed. Many posts have already hit on the points I'd mention, like how it would lower crime because there wouldn't be a black market for it, the country could regulate it and tax it appropriately and most importantly how its not at all harmful to a person. To quote Kat Williams "nobody ever died from smoking weed; you might have thought he was dead but he'll wake up eventually and eat everything in your house." /paraphrasing

And from a medical standpoint, it can be helpful as well. Like Ambassador said, it'll calm a hyper person (I won't say an ADD or ADHD person because I think it's a made-up illness). And for people that have degenerative illnesses, it'll help reduce their pain, believe it or not because it'll make their muscles less tense.

Again what others said too, when comparing it to alcohol, it's certainly the lesser of the 2 evils. That's not necessary to legalize it because alcohol is, but rather the other points I made and the fact that it has little to no judgement impairment, unlike booze. It's a pretty risk-free drug, if it was legal, that is.

 

[Rapture]

I can't agree that it should be legalized.

1- Its a gateway drug to other drugs. People who start at pot can start to get sick of its effects and wonder if there's something better out there and move on to meth or cocaine, or etc...

2- The effects may not be seen initially as far as mental acuity, but over time you can't tell me that sitting around stoned all day is going to make you any more intelligent. I'm not labeling every person who smokes weed a "stoner" because we all do "recreational things" but when its all you want to do, all day long...its more or less taking control of your life and has become more of an addiction in my eyes. Alcohol is no different.

3- We have enough people driving drunk today. Do we need people who are stoned going out and driving and killing people out on the roads too?

4- If its legalized I don't want to be walking past people who smell like it. Smoke from cigarettes is bad enough, odors from pot literally smells like skunk to me which makes me want to gag.

5- Think of the children -You know that when they see people adults or people they are close to smoking cigarettes that they don't know any better and think its "cool" or something that they should be doing...now think about them seeing people they look up to smoking pot. Do we want our children going around and smoking pot?

 

[blakstang98]

Most drugs that weed supposedly gateways to are far more expensive. Unless a person is well established enough, they probably won't be able to afford a greater drug, let alone try it.

Well, smoking weed would be like smoking a cigarette, its just there. People aren't doing it to become more intelligent or be more stupid. Hence I never included intellegence in my arguement, it has no effect on it.

Like I said earlier, being stoned doesn't effect driving. If anything, it makes them a better driver because they're more focused. It's not even a comparison to driving drunk really.

I will agree with the smell. I don't like the smell of it. Cigarette's I don't mind, but weed is a much stronger smell. Someone mentioned using the same restrictions that apply to cigarettes, which I think would be fine, considering its not allowed and/or frowned upon in public places. I can argue about why I don't believe in that either, but thats a debate for another thread.

Being a product of 2 (cigarette) smokers myself, I never did want to smoke them, and never did. Sure, a child might follow in their parents footsteps, but its unfair to say that they will by default. And if marijuana isn't so bad, then what's the problem really?

 

[Doc Holliday]

I can't agree that it should be legalized.

1- Its a gateway drug to other drugs. People who start at pot can start to get sick of its effects and wonder if there's something better out there and move on to meth or cocaine, or etc...

2- The effects may not be seen initially as far as mental acuity, but over time you can't tell me that sitting around stoned all day is going to make you any more intelligent. I'm not labeling every person who smokes weed a "stoner" because we all do "recreational things" but when its all you want to do, all day long...its more or less taking control of your life and has become more of an addiction in my eyes. Alcohol is no different.

3- We have enough people driving drunk today. Do we need people who are stoned going out and driving and killing people out on the roads too?

4- If its legalized I don't want to be walking past people who smell like it. Smoke from cigarettes is bad enough, odors from pot literally smells like skunk to me which makes me want to gag.

5- Think of the children -You know that when they see people adults or people they are close to smoking cigarettes that they don't know any better and think its "cool" or something that they should be doing...now think about them seeing people they look up to smoking pot. Do we want our children going around and smoking pot?

1) So what if it's a gateway drug? If people want to ingest harder drugs, that should be their prerogative; it's their own body and for the state to have enough power to decide for them what they can and can't do with their own body as I said in a previous post, that's the first step towards fascism. What next? No porn because it can lead to people into fetishes such as child pornography?

2) I don't think anyone really takes weed to become more intelligent, they do it to escape from life's problems; having never smoked the stuff myself I can't say how it feels, but I know people who do, and the effects never seem very permanent..

3) People will get stoned whether it's legal or not; people will drive stoned whether it's legal to get high or not.

4) No offence, but the government doesn't make decisions based on what people do and don't like the smell of and too damn right, aswell, why should your personal preferences come into it? Unless real evidence can be given, there is no reason to ban weed; especially for a reason as silly as not liking the smell.

5) Ah, the children, everyone's favourite thing to use in arguments like this. If you want to 'think of the children' I propose we ban coffee, tobacco, alcohol, petrol, board markers, sugar, fatty foods and breathing. After all, all of these things can have adverse affects on people. It's the parent's job to educate their child on the dangers of drugs, not the states. And I'd rather see lots of pothead children than kids in drug gangs, drunk kids or kids smoking tobacco.

 

[Rapture]

1) So what if it's a gateway drug? If people want to ingest harder drugs, that should be their prerogative; it's their own body and for the state to have enough power to decide for them what they can and can't do with their own body as I said in a previous post, that's the first step towards fascism. What next? No porn because it can lead to people into fetishes such as child pornography?

2) I don't think anyone really takes weed to become more intelligent, they do it to escape from life's problems; having never smoked the stuff myself I can't say how it feels, but I know people who do, and the effects never seem very permanent..

3) People will get stoned whether it's legal or not; people will drive stoned whether it's legal to get high or not.

4) No offence, but the government doesn't make decisions based on what people do and don't like the smell of and too damn right, aswell, why should your personal preferences come into it? Unless real evidence can be given, there is no reason to ban weed; especially for a reason as silly as not liking the smell.

5) Ah, the children, everyone's favourite thing to use in arguments like this. If you want to 'think of the children' I propose we ban coffee, tobacco, alcohol, petrol, board markers, sugar, fatty foods and breathing. After all, all of these things can have adverse affects on people. It's the parent's job to educate their child on the dangers of drugs, not the states. And I'd rather see lots of pothead children than kids in drug gangs, drunk kids or kids smoking tobacco.

Yes, it should be someone's prerogative to destroy their bodies at will. However I don't see it morally respectable to have the "thats okay or anything goes" attitude if you will, that we have in society today. Promoting sex, drugs and violence should never be socially acceptable...in my opinion. So if we legalize weed, should we also legalize meth, cocaine, or LSD as well? Where does your limit as far as toxicity reside, exactly then?

...and the effects not being permanent...it may not last a lifetime but people who do take it have less recollection of their memories

http://www.nida.nih.gov/researchreports/marijuana/marijuana3.html

...and they have reported decreased blood flow in the brain for at least weeks after using...

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20050207/marijuanas-effects-linger-in-brain

So the effects do linger, the research has just not proven how long.

Just because someone can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that they should. I don't understand why it would be said that its okay for someone to go and drive drunk or stoned and kill someones family simply because they can, sorry.

No, the government doesn't decide on what should be illegal/legal based on how something/someone smells. But just like second-hand cigarette smoke, there's second-hand smoke from marijuana. When you want to inhale toxins through your respiratory system thats your business...but when I can't avoid it, it becomes a problem for me. Although I would personally try avoiding the smoke, you still get whiffs from people walking by because the smell is so irritatingly strong.

...and what on Earth is wrong with thinking of the children, anyways? Someone has to. They are easily affected by the world around them and while it is disintregrating quite quickly and things aren't getting any easier for them, do we need to make it any easier for them for them to be able to make the wrong decisions in life at an ealier and earlier age?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Yes, it should be someone's prerogative to destroy their bodies at will. However I don't see it morally respectable to have the "thats okay or anything goes" attitude if you will, that we have in society today. Promoting sex, drugs and violence should never be socially acceptable...in my opinion. So if we legalize weed, should we also legalize meth, cocaine, or LSD as well? Where does your limit as far as toxicity reside, exactly then?

...and the effects not being permanent...it may not last a lifetime but people who do take it have less recollection of their memories

http://www.nida.nih.gov/researchreports/marijuana/marijuana3.html

...and they have reported decreased blood flow in the brain for at least weeks after using...

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20050207/marijuanas-effects-linger-in-brain

So the effects do linger, the research has just not proven how long.

Just because someone can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that they should. I don't understand why it would be said that its okay for someone to go and drive drunk or stoned and kill someones family simply because they can, sorry.

No, the government doesn't decide on what should be illegal/legal based on how something/someone smells. But just like second-hand cigarette smoke, there's second-hand smoke from marijuana. When you want to inhale toxins through your respiratory system thats your business...but when I can't avoid it, it becomes a problem for me. Although I would personally try avoiding the smoke, you still get whiffs from people walking by because the smell is so irritatingly strong.

...and what on Earth is wrong with thinking of the children, anyways? Someone has to. They are easily affected by the world around them and while it is disintregrating quite quickly and things aren't getting any easier for them, do we need to make it any easier for them for them to be able to make the wrong decisions in life at an ealier and earlier age?

I've stated before, I'm up for legalisation of every drug, there's no black market that way, and people have the freedom to do what they will with their own bodies. We shouldn't criminalise something that someone does to their own body simply because it's bad for them. Also; what's bad with promoting sex? I think education should be given in sex, drugs and violence. Particularly something like violence, which people just use in a blasé way.

The next point is pretty much the same as the last; so it's potentially harmful, so what? It's their bodies.

You misconstrue my point on drink driving; my point is that whether weed is legal or not, people WILL drive high, just like people drink drive and they would if alcohol was legal. I never said it was a good thing to do.

Restrictions should evidently be placed on where people can and can't smoke weed, just like tobacco, but I don't believe it should be banned outright simply because people might get a whiff of the smell, just like tobacco can't be banned because of second-hand smoke.

Nothing is wrong with thinking of the children; but it seems a lot of people use the children as an excuse. Of course I don't believe in actively promoting children making bad choices in life; but once their parents have brought them up, it should be THEIR choices to make, not the states. Parents should educate children, the state shouldn't dictate.