Legalization of Marijuana

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This was what I posted on another site. So if you see things like "Flood" and stuff like that, don't be confused.

Should the United States legalize marijuana? (TL;DR at the bottom)

Personally, I think it's a good idea. And no, I'm not one of those people who just want to roll a joint and smoke it. In fact even if they make it legal, I would never use it. (Can't even be around smoke, plus the stuff smells odd to me) There are many reasons why I think it should be legal.

It's safer. Smoking pot is safer than smoking a cigarette. It's not 100% safe, but it sure is a lower risk of developing lung cancer. In fact this link says it probably pales in comparison to the risk of cigarette smoke.

It's cheaper. Look how much money we spend on fighting marijuana! $42 Billion! Much more if you count the cost of the War on Drugs. Then how much money are we spending on people in prison for pot? According to the DEA, it's about 1-10 years in prison for possession of marijuana. It costs about $58,000 to keep someone in jail for a year. Or $290,000 for a five year sentence. (Median sentence for marijuana) And how many people are sent to prison for marijuana possession? 6,200 people. That is $1,798,000,000 costing the Federal government each year sending people to prison for marijuana.

Taxing would earn you a bunch too. This link says that the high-grade weed would cost around $20. Tax it by say, 7%, and the government would earn $1.4 per purchase of weed. According to this study, 42% of the people surveyed have tried marijuana. Apply that to the US population, and approximately 131,040,000 people have tried it in the US. Not surprising. Tax it and you would earn $183,456,000 for those greedy tax collectors.

How many other things can cannabis be used for? It helps cancer patients. It helps reduce nausea, pain, and tumor size of cancer patients, as well as many other medical uses. (It's sometimes prescribed by doctors themselves!) Hemp can be used for many things! It can be used for building materials, oil, nutrition, lotion (Something to get you Flood worked up about), textiles, paper, and much more! The uses are endless. Tax this and you'll get billions!

But what about crime? Would crime go down? Certainly. If a drug dealer charges $50-100 for marijuana, (This guy does) and your local Walgreens charges $20 for the best stuff, why would you go to the drug dealer? Cause he has nice looking dreadlocks and a sexy .45 tucked away? You wouldn't have to worry about buying from a shady drug dealer when you can get more of the better stuff for less. The drug dealers go out of business, and the cartels lose money, a lot considering most deal marijuana. Less money for cartels equals less cartels equals less violence and crime.

Less money would be spent on the War on Drugs to fight these cartels which would put more money in the government, which would get us out of this financial problem. Then we can use hemp to make products instead of fossil fuels, meaning cleaner air. Cleaner air would mean less people with lung cancer, and the people that do get cancer could be helped a little by marijuana. Yet we keep sitting here spending money fighting this drug, when we can earn money legalizing it. Just make restrictions similar to alcohol or cigarettes and less kids will get into it while their brains are developing, unlike now when they can get it from drug dealer who sells unrestricted.

So Flood, do you agree or disagree?

TL;DR: We lose too much money fighting marijuana, when we can earn money legalizing it.
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MarcoM
http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/567118/1/1/100/belg-rijdt-rond-met-geweer-in-maastricht.html

Belgium with sawn off shot gun threatens police and has heroine on him.

Nice, these border regions.
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Perhaps Google translated incorrectly, but it sounds like the threatening was actually just insulting language and that the whole incident was a result of a traffic stop and not unprovoked, as your wording would indicate. As I read the translation the drugs sound completely irrelevant to the events, other than it was just another charge.

As pointed out though, no clue how an illegal drug being carried by a man committing multiple crimes is related to the legal state of marijuana. If he were carrying legal marijuana he would have less legal charges against him. Weird thing though, marijuana is illegal here and we too have criminals with guns and heroin. So I can't even make a correlation.

By the way, there is a drug thread for all your non-marijuana related news stories.
 
Well, I don't know if it's completely useless...

Legalization of marijuana in Washington, Initiative 502, is currently ahead in the results right now.
 
I agree that if they set laws like they do for alcohol it should be legalize. Let's be honest and look at the facts of pot and you decide.
 
Stimulus-related effects aside, it has too many societal benefits to continue to be classified being as dangerous as heroin. Time to send the boogeyman back to the 1950's.
 
Signal52
Stimulus-related effects aside, it has too many societal benefits to continue to be classified being as dangerous as heroin. Time to send the boogeyman back to the 1950's.
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Right
 
The vote to decriminalize passed here in Grand Rapids, Michigan by a pretty healthy margin. I have to admit that I'm very surprised, and pleased, with the final result. Considering the traditionally Conservative nature of the area, this is pretty out of character.

With Colorado and Washington State passing legalization, I imagine it is only a matter of time before Michigan goes the same way.
 
YSSMAN
The vote to decriminalize passed here in Grand Rapids, Michigan by a pretty healthy margin. I have to admit that I'm very surprised, and pleased, with the final result. Considering the traditionally Conservative nature of the area, this is pretty out of character.

With Colorado and Washington State passing legalization, I imagine it is only a matter of time before Michigan goes the same way.
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I used to live in Michigan and i am actually moving back in a few weeks.

I have heard from family and friends up there that there are already many distribution centers up there so yeah pretty much agree.
 
I just find it odd that there's such a debate about it. It's just such a benign drug.
 
So, anyone live in Colorado? Why shouldn't we move there?
 
Did a quick search and didn’t find this video in here. Well worth listening to regardless of your political affiliation:

 
I hope Illinois passes a similar law, but knowing how Chicago acts, they would oppose it in the city.

Chicago might as well be it's on state.
 
FoolKiller
So, Colorado passed recreational use.

This should be interesting, seeing as how under Obama the DEA has been raiding legal medical marijuana shops.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/26/local/la-me-medical-marijuana-20120926

Will these state laws mean anything when the federal government refuses to recognize their sovereignty?
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Astute observations and questions from FoolKiller.

My state of Washington also passed a legalization act. But I have mixed feelings about it. People will acquire and use it whether or not it is legal, we know that, so that is not really an issue. The Big Issue is legalization of industrial hemp, an issue state and national government does not address, most likely because their corporate donors and bagmen fear grass roots competition to their protected monopolies and cartels. As long as legislators are corrupted by big money, they will avoid the big questions.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve
 
Omnis
So, anyone live in Colorado? Why shouldn't we move there?
Click to expand...

I don't know why you shouldn't move here. I did.

Cost of living? Not bad.
Pretty mountains? Check.
Income Tax? Flat, and decently low.
Sales Tax? Technically low but the counties have some say.
Housing? Good market.
Stuff to do in the summer? Rocky Mountain National Park.
Stuff to do in the winter? Skiing everywhere.
Personal freedoms (like legalized personal-use pot)? Check.

Seems pretty good to me.
 
Danoff
I don't know why you shouldn't move here. I did.

Cost of living? Not bad.
Pretty mountains? Check.
Income Tax? Flat, and decently low.
Sales Tax? Technically low but the counties have some say.
Housing? Good market.
Stuff to do in the summer? Anywhere in the state.
Stuff to do in the winter? Skiing everywhere.
Personal freedoms (like legalized personal-use pot)? Check.

Seems pretty good to me.
Click to expand...

Fixed. ;)

I really miss my home state, only moved to AZ for schooling and then got stuck here. I'm not much of a winter person though, prefer the nice temps in the summer, green everywhere and all the lakes & adventure opportunities. 👍
 
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How about the guns in Colorado?

Moving to the US just got an even better idea.

/Dutchredneckstoner.

:D
 
Danoff
I don't know why you shouldn't move here. I did.

Cost of living? Not bad.
Pretty mountains? Check.
Income Tax? Flat, and decently low.
Sales Tax? Technically low but the counties have some say.
Housing? Good market.
Stuff to do in the summer? Rocky Mountain National Park.
Stuff to do in the winter? Skiing everywhere.
Personal freedoms (like legalized personal-use pot)? Check.

Seems pretty good to me.
Click to expand...
What's the job market like?
 
Danoff
Not too shabby. Would depend on the field of course.
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Just curious. I know that was a large part of why you were in CA.


On topic:
From this article.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/marijuana-legalization/index.html

But Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper warned it's too soon to "break out the Cheetos" since his state must still navigate federal laws before citizens can legally buy and sell cannabis.

The Drug Enforcement Administration quickly tried to spoil their Rocky Mountain high, issuing a statement Wednesday morning saying the DEA's "enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged."

"In enacting the Controlled Substances Act, Congress determined that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance," the DEA statement said. "The Department of Justice is reviewing the ballot initiatives, and we have no additional comment at this time."
Click to expand...

Feds aren't ready to give up just yet.
 

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