Marijuana legalization/decriminalization

[arti!]

Recent years there has been more and more talk about decriminalization or legalization of this harmless plant called marijuana - also known as cannabis, ganja (indian name), weed, pot, mary jane, reefer... As many of you already know, there is (currently) only one country in the world where you can smoke/buy weed legally (not including medical marijuana) and that is Amsterdam, but even there they aren't allowed to grow cannabis (so they have to buy on black market) and everything is somehow a ''gray zone'', and they have also banned cannabis sale to tourists recently (I'm not 100% if that law is already in action).

I've also heard of some country (small island country) somewhere in the world going to legalize weed, mostly to gain more tourist, but I don't know if they did it! The closest to a fully legalized marijuana was California few months ago, but the proposition failed (somewhere 55% against and 45% for legalization).

Now, I'm interested what the bettors of BA think about marijuana (and also other drugs), should we legalize marijuana or keep it this way? Feel free to express your opinion

PS: Some talking points:

TALKING POINT #1: Decriminalizing marijuana frees up police resources to deal with more serious crimes.

TALKING POINT #2: Far more harm is caused by the criminal prohibition of marijuana than by the use of marijuana itself.

TALKING POINT #3: Decriminalization does not lead to greater marijuana use.

TALKING POINT #4: Criminal laws prohibiting marijuana possession do not deter marijuana use.

(talking points source: http://forum.grasscity.com/legalizat...ng-points.html and http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3381)

[latso]

Decriminalize it why?

I haven't heard of an user being sentenced of even detained in the Eu for using MJ.

So decrminalizing it is a favore for the dealers and growers, who are the only ones persecuted for their actions.

But the dealers and growers also don't want it legalized coz the prices will drop 10 times and they will no longer make the profit they do atm.

So legalize it for who? To have half the population hating you for doing it?

No politician would do that and it brings no positives at all anyway.

Free police resources? it won't "free" anything, but create a billion of working hours for the politicians to create and vote a thousand laws about it, while they'd rather do smth actually useful instead.

[IGUANA]

No politician would do that and it brings no positives at all anyway.

Legalize it and tax it... see the positives for the budget there?

I could recommend you a nice documentary about this

[FiDu]

Legalize it and tax it... see the positives for the budget there?

I could recommend you a nice documentary about this

Taxing something is never good...

[di canio]

IMO, legalizing marijuana is not the wisest thing to do...This drog is harmless if you smoke it few times a month...But like all drogs, it gives you addiction, and on long term it affects your brain...You start to loose interest in life and dreaming all day long

[FunkyXL]

IMO, legalizing marijuana is not the wisest thing to do...This drog is harmless if you smoke it few times a month...But like all drogs, it gives you addiction, and on long term it affects your brain...You start to loose interest in life and dreaming all day long

if you dont mix marijuana with tobacco it is not addictive at all. this is proven by scientific studies, . as for the brain, yes long term it has some bad effects bad not to all people. I know a lot of successful people that use it for years and they are just fine, lawyers, doctors and businessmen! actually tobacco and alcohol is a lot more harmful.

http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/...juana-illegal/

[arti!]

Decriminalize it why?

I haven't heard of an user being sentenced of even detained in the Eu for using MJ.

So decrminalizing it is a favore for the dealers and growers, who are the only ones persecuted for their actions.

But the dealers and growers also don't want it legalized coz the prices will drop 10 times and they will no longer make the profit they do atm.

So legalize it for who? To have half the population hating you for doing it?

No politician would do that and it brings no positives at all anyway.

Free police resources? it won't "free" anything, but create a billion of working hours for the politicians to create and vote a thousand laws about it, while they'd rather do smth actually useful instead.

ofcourse users are aressted or at least fines (in slovenia fine for possesing is 48***8364;-250***8364 and decriminalization is not the favour for the dealers or growers, but for the normal users.

Yes dealers and growers dont like this because it will bring them less money, but f'em. If marijuana is legalized it brings tax for the country (more money for the budget) and instead of paying cops to go undercover to follow and search for dealers they could actually do something usefull for the community (patrol around prevent theft and stuff).

Yea right what do politicians do that is usefull? Most of the time they just ***** argue
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[di canio]

if you dont mix marijuana with tobacco it is not addictive at all. this is proven by scientific studies, . as for the brain, yes long term it has some bad effects bad not to all people. I know a lot of successful people that use it for years and they are just fine, lawyers, doctors and businessmen! actually tobacco and alcohol is a lot more harmful.

http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/...juana-illegal/

yes, but the thing is that the main public for this drug is composed out of teenagers who don't know when to stop...from my own experience I agree that this drug can be consumed for entertainment, but not in large quantities or very often...if we talk about examples, I know a guy that smoked this stuff 2-3 times a week and his life was all messed up; he was living in a semireality, acting like an idiot all the time...or another that passed from mari to coke or hero...
IMO, if you drink 1 beer/day or smoke 1 cigarette/day can't be compared with smoking pot every day...
But smoking weed from time to time can be really enjoying

[arti!]

I dont think smoking weed everyday is bad. It ofcourse depends on many things - how much u smoke and how long youre high. For example if u smoke all day and dont have a job theres a problem because you'll run out of money. But if u smoke at evenings and watch a film or sth its not bad. I smoke unleast 3 times a week and I have good grades and everything
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[George_Hanson]

I haven't heard of an user being sentenced of even detained in the Eu for using MJ.

[MilosS]

I dont think smoking weed everyday is bad. It ofcourse depends on many things - how much u smoke and how long youre high. For example if u smoke all day and dont have a job theres a problem because you'll run out of money. But if u smoke at evenings and watch a film or sth its not bad. I smoke unleast 3 times a week and I have good grades and everything
Posted via my Mobile Device

this

I know a lot of people with good jobs also having families and smoking weed from time to time

nothing bad at all if you do it in proper way - not exaggerating

no need to add it's proven that alcohol is way more harmful than smoking weed - if you do it in same measures.

[zizek]

the only problem there is is the one when you run out of weed.

as most of us (who smokes everyday) prob smoke it in the last 3-5 hours before going to sleep, it's hard to sleep with no weed.

as goes for the legalizing it:

- it really depends on current laws of some country. if it's more liberal, like here for example, there will be no real diference. price would be the same, definitly not cheaper. i get 5g of skunk for 35eu. cant see how would i get better prices in store. as it goes for the possesion, i get bothered by police in about 0.5% of the time smoking outsite (and even then i must have done something wrong, like exposing too much on purpuse, arguing with the police, or anything like that) ... and of course 0% when smoking it indoors. plus u can have 2 plants of yours and u wont get anything besides those 100eur ticket for having it. so ... basicly you can have it nonstop as long as you dont go to the police station and say "i have plants".

- but if ur (corrupted) country's laws are fcked up like those in croatia for example where it's like the same if you posses heroin or weed, then of course you have to cheer for the legalisation ... but i guess you're also 100's of years behind getting there, lol.

[FunkyXL]

IMO, if you drink 1 beer/day or smoke 1 cigarette/day can't be compared with smoking pot every day...

actually smoking 1 joint a day is the same as beer and cigarette

the only problem there is is the one when you run out of weed.

as most of us (who smokes everyday) prob smoke it in the last 3-5 hours before going to sleep, it's hard to sleep with no weed.

....

yeap if you are used to it, its really hard to sleep without it. thats actually the biggest problem

5g for 35euro? In Cyprus 5g costs 125!!

it seems you don`t have any problems with legalization in Slovenia, it sounds that is almost legal. In cyprus a year ago you could get arrested for smoking 1 joint! now they stopped it but we are far of from most EU countries.

[zizek]

funky, PM me ... haha j/k :P

yeah, i have a feeling each country can choose 2 ways of being profitable:

- giving 500eur tickets for a joint because its already from historical view more of radical country who wants to act though and stuff OR because its just corrupted.

- legalize it and getting taxes.

third option is chasing big fish, spending money and not getting anything in return. that's like OUR country.

a friend of mine from croatia whos studiing in slovenia was caught in croatia with a single joint and got 500eur plus every 3 months for a period of 1 year she had to report herself at the test to see if she has any THC in blood. If yes, she would go to jail. that's a bit funny, because she has double-citizenship and here in slovenia IT ISN'T illegal to smoke, so how can one country even limit you to that stage when it applies its laws to another country. i mean THC in her blood could simply mean she smoked in slovenia, that's it. bottom line. there's something wrong. maybe not in a law, but in the fact such a law can even be accepted(?) ... but she never really bothered to push things that far. she just didn't smoke. that's a way, too.

[latso]

Legalize it and tax it... see the positives for the budget there?

I could recommend you a nice documentary about this

globaly the use is so minimal, that taxing it would bring close to nothing compared with alcohol and tobacco

The other point - how do you rate how strong is one piece of it?

Alcohol and cigarrettes you have ways, but how to do that with weed?

There are hundreds of sorts of weed, there are hundreds of ways to "improve" it, to make it stronger with not decrminalized stuff in it.

Every cop should be a small labratory on the streets.

Big save for the budget and free time for the cops to patrol...

I have a few freinds who changed from smart ppl with potential, to dumb ppl with a minimum of 6 numb hours per day.

I have also other friends who smoke 2 times per week watching a movie, or relaxing and they never had (and never will) problems with autorities.

We already have enough problems with alcohol being legal due to historical reasons, which grew it into an industry that can't be stopped now or the world will half colapse, so i really don't see a reason to have another problem on our hands.

Just take drink and drive/smoke and drive situation and you have enough reasons for both to be banned.