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Should marijuana be legal?
serious crayons:
I just read an op-ed piece by conservative San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders arguing in favor of decriminalizing marijuana that I thought made some excellent points:
--- Quote ---It seems pretty obvious that the last three presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- once smoked marijuana. OK, Clinton claimed he didn't inhale. Bush refused to say whether he ever used drugs; instead, he coyly alluded to mistakes in his youth. Obama didn't play games in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father" -- he wrote about using marijuana and cocaine as a kid.
The big question: If all three men nonetheless managed to become president, why can't Washington decriminalize marijuana?
Or better yet, legalize, regulate and tax it. At what the White House billed last week as an "experimental" town hall meeting with questions submitted online, the most popular questions were about marijuana. President Obama chose not to answer any such question directly. Instead, the president volunteered that "there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high, and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation." Then he quipped to laughter, "And I don't know what this says about the online audience."
His answer to his question: "No, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." Fair enough, legalizing marijuana isn't a strategy to improve the economy. But there are reasons to legalize marijuana, such as the 872,720 marijuana arrests made in America in 2007 -- more than 775,000 were for possession, not sale or manufacture. Those individuals who are convicted may have criminal records and may have trouble obtaining financial aid for college -- even if some day they could grow up to be president.
And what can America show for its drug laws? The World Health Organization found that 42.4 percent of Americans had tried marijuana -- the highest ratio of any of 17 countries surveyed. WHO researchers concluded that drug use "does not appear to be related to drug policy, as countries with more stringent policies (e.g., the United States) did not have lower levels of illegal drug use than countries with more liberal policies (e.g. the Netherlands)."
In short, drug laws don't work, but they cost the federal government alone some $3.7 billion annually, according to Harvard economist Jeffrey A. Miron.
column continues here:
http://townhall.com/columnists/DebraJSaunders/2009/03/31/obama_just_say_no
--- End quote ---
Meanwhile, Louise posted an article about new research suggesting that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, can kill brain cancer cells.
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,35137.0.html
So I'm interested in hearing people's opinions on whether marijuana should be legal in the U.S. and elsewhere. If you'd like to expound on your opinions about legalizing other drugs, feel free to do so.
Brown Eyes:
Interesting poll Bud! I voted for "I've never smoked it, but think it should be legal."
southendmd:
Just a thought, Katherine: is it important to ask people whether they do/did smoke, rather than just their opinion on the legalization issue? The way the poll is worded might scare away some folks.
David In Indy:
I used to smoke it years ago, although I was never a big fan of it. It tended to make me feel a bit paranoid and nervous and I didn't like that feeling. Also, I would get incredibly thirsty and then hungry. :P
Many of my friends still smoke it though and I really don't see anything wrong with it. The effects of marijuana are no different than the effects of alcohol. In fact, marijuana is probably better because it tends to calm people down and makes them relax. Alcohol often makes people very violent and do foolish things while drunk.
I think they should legalize it. Our prisons are overflowing and locking someone up because they were found smoking pot/purchasing it seems very stupid to me. Since alcohol is legal, marijuana should be legal too.
In my opinion.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: southendmd on April 03, 2009, 01:53:40 pm ---Just a thought, Katherine: is it important to ask people whether they do/did smoke, rather than just their opinion on the legalization issue? The way the poll is worded might scare away some folks.
--- End quote ---
Good point, Paul. I'm interested in the use issue, too, and figured people might not mind answering, because the poll responses themselves are anonymous. I don't think anyone can see who voted what, except maybe Phillip and/or John.
However, on the chance that some people still might be uncomfortable with that, I added some options that don't require confessing use or non-use.
--- Quote from: David In Indy on April 03, 2009, 02:15:46 pm ---Many of my friends still smoke it though and I really don't see anything wrong with it. The effects of marijuana are no different than the effects of alcohol. In fact, marijuana is probably better because it tends to calm people down and makes them relax. Alcohol often makes people very violent and do foolish things while drunk.
--- End quote ---
I agree, David. I once reviewed a book about the history of recreational drugs, including marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, caffeine, kaht, etc. One theme that emerged very clearly was that drug laws in all cultures have much more to do with societal power structures than with the health effects of the drugs themselves. In other words, alcohol is legal because it's produced and consumed by people with economic and political power, whereas marijuana is produced and consumed by relatively powerless or marginalized people.
That could change, of course, if marijuana comes to be seen as an important source of revenue.
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