The Legalization of Cannabis

[Codeine]

http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/marijuana...jreformbill.htm

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/318/alaska.shtml

Here are two countries (Alaska being the only state in the U.S close to legalization of Cannabis at this time) at the brink of legalizing Cananbis. There is in fact a shop in Vancouver, B.C where you can purcahse cannabis, bubblehash, and budder. The latter being more potent forms containing much higher levels of THC than regular cannabis. I don't even think Canada will get Alaska's level of freedom anytime soon, which is infuriating.

Why are they even illegal in the first place? It sickens me to read things like "The Canadian government hopes to send the message that marijuana is harmful and illegal" - well, yes, it is illegal, but harmful? Marijuana is MORE safe than legal drugs we already have (alcohol and cigarettes). Much more safe. The level of tar i cannabis buds is 33% lower than in what you would find in cigarettes, and besides, 90% of cancer patients get it from the radioactivity of cigarettes, not the tar amount. Alcohol impairs liver function, and destroys brain cells. And how is pot harmful again?

What are your opinions on the legalization of this wonderful drug? Or drugs in general? I personally think all drugs should be legalized; whatever a person wants to submit to themselves is their choice.

[Zach]

Pointing out the wrongs of other drugs to justify another drug is not a real arguement.

[Lefteris_D]

Originally posted by Neco@Sep 3 2004, 01:48 PM
Pointing out the wrongs of other drugs to justify another drug is not a real arguement.

Which drug causes more damage and which less is irrelevant. The fact that they do cause damage and people are still stupid enough to use them is a good reason to ban them.

[TGS]

As opposed to alcohol and cigarettes which cause no damage at all right? In Holland it's legal and I occasionally smoke a joint or two and I feel perfectly fine.

[ScotchGuy]

How deadly is the substance abuse epidemic? Here are some interesting statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse regarding the death rate attributable to various drugs in an average year.

Tobacco kills about 390,000. LEGAL

Alcohol kills about 80,000. LEGAL

Second hand smoke kills about 50,000.

Cocaine kills about 2,200. ILLEGAL

Heroin kills about 2,000. ILLEGAL

Aspirin kills about 2,000. LEGAL

Marijuana kills 0. ILLEGAL

There has never been a recorded death due to marijuana at any time in U.S. history. It is nearly impossible to die from marijuana consumption, THC is a very safe chemical, it's much safer and less addictive than nicotine or alcohol, so why is it illegal?

At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.

Also:

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was the NUMBER ONE annually renewable natural resource for 80 percent of all paper, fiber, textiles and fuel, from 6,000 years ago until about 125 years ago. Furthermore, it was used for 5 to 50 percent of the food, light, land and soil reclamation, and even 20 percent or more of all medicine. Everyone, from the educated to the uneducated, the farmer to the townsperson, the doctors and the scientists used CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA products and depended on them.75 to 90 percent of all paper used from at least 100 AD to 1883 was made of CANNABIS/HEMP. Books, (including Bibles), money and newspapers all over the world have been mainly printed on CANNABIS/HEMP for as long as these things have existed in human history.

One hundred and 25 years ago, 70 to 90 percent of all rope, twine, cordage, ship sails, canvas, fiber, cloth, etc., was made out of CANNABIS/HEMP fiber! It was replaced by DuPont's newly discovered petrochemical fiber (nylon) beginning in 1937. By comparison, CANNABIS/HEMP is 4 times softer than cotton, 4 times warmer, 4 times more water absorbent, has 3 times the strength of cotton, is many times more durable, is flame retardant, and doesn't use pesticides. Fifty percent of all pesticides are used on cotton, yet cotton uses only 1 percent of the farmland in the U.S! CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is the most health giving plant on Earth and it doesn't require pesticides or herbicides! It is the healthiest plant for human consumption, and for the Earth itself.

Anyway, prohibition makes no sense, the US should have realized this after the prohibition of alcohol, the outlawing of alcohol created an organized crime syndicate of national proportions and, overnight, made criminals of hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

Smoking marijuana is a victimless crime if I ever saw one. We should allow people to do whatever they want to themselves, the law should come into play when they harm someone else.

In summation only a complete twat would think that cannabis should remain outlawed. There are simply too many reasons why marijuana should be completely legal.

[onewecallgod]

Originally posted by ScotchGuy@Sep 3 2004, 05:07 PM
Tobacco kills about 390,000. LEGAL

Alcohol kills about 80,000. LEGAL

Second hand smoke kills about 50,000.

Cocaine kills about 2,200. ILLEGAL

Heroin kills about 2,000. ILLEGAL

Aspirin kills about 2,000. LEGAL

Marijuana kills 0. ILLEGAL

im sure coke and heroin would kill more if it was more easily available.

[El Fugitivo]

They would certainly cause more deaths, but they would just as certainly have a lower rate of death among users. Legalization doesn't just make it okay to do a drug without going to jail, it makes it okay to do a drug without worrying about the quality and immediate danger to your health that that drug might cause. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather drink a commercial product like Southern Comfort than some hillbilly's moonshine, with god-knows-what put in it.

You might say, yeah, well, people who do a drug even though they know it could kill them, and then complain when it kills them (obviously I'm talking about drugtakers as a collective here) because it's spiked with bleach or pcp are dumbasses. But the fact is that most people are going to get introduced to street drugs relatively safely, maybe from a trusted friend, and their addiction to said drugs will lead them to the point where they're willing to risk their life every day trying to get high on some junk they got off a street corner. It is not fair to blame them for actions they do while under the influence of that drug (and when you are addicted to something, you are always under it's influence, even when it's not in your system) even if they knew that the consequences could be terrible when they were first offered it. 'Common sense' politics be damned.

[Zach]

Marijuana kills 0. ILLEGAL

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moking marijuana is a victimless crime if I ever saw one. We should allow people to do whatever they want to themselves, the law should come into play when they harm someone else.

Irresponsible and for all anyone knows, false.

High drivers are just as dangerous as drunk drivers.

Last time I checked, drunk drivers killed.

[El Fugitivo]

The point was that marijuana doesn't directly cause death. No fatal illnesses are caused by the inhalation or ingestion of marijuana. Saying that marijuana kills because it inhibits people's judgements is like saying higher education kills or absent-mindedness kills. People commit suicide all the time because of pressures from work, school, or the social lives, and someone could just zone out while driving (I've done it a number of times) and smash into another car or a pedestrian.

[ScotchGuy]

WHAT?

Who said that people smoke and drive around? That's not what this is about. I'm certain that if marijuana was legalized that it would still be illegal to drive under the influence of it.

Smoking marijuana in and of itself is victimless, killing someone while driving under the influence of anything is not. Just because you smoke does not mean you drive...