Talks regarding the decriminalization of marijuana have been around for many years, but only became mainstream in 2000 with the founding of the Marijuana Party of Canada. For the majority of that time, many believed that a change in the drug’s status was a mere pipe dream suited to a fringe group that would never hold any power, real or imagined, in this country.
That belief was shattered when Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau announced he plans to legalize marijuana if he becomes Prime Minister next year. With that in mind, the question has again arisen: Should marijuana be legalized?
The answer is unequivocally no. Though proponents of legalization point out that there is big money to be made through taxation of the drug similar to how taxes are levied on cigarettes and alcohol — this idea ignores some very basic facts. For starters, marijuana already has an established black market trade which will restrict the amount of tax the government can place on such a product. If store-bought marijuana becomes overtaxed, people will fall back on this already established underground market.
What’s more, since most street marijuana has other drugs mixed into it, one may not get the desired effects that they are used to when using the store-bought products, which may lead them back onto the street even if the pricing is more reasonable.
Teen pot use is linked to a likelihood of incomplete education, suicide attempts and brain damage.
In addition, we are only beginning to discover some of the effects that continual use of marijuana can have on the body. While we may gain funds through taxation, most of that money may very well go right back into dealing with the myriad of health issues that smoking pot can cause. According to the American Lung Association, marijuana contains 33 chemicals that are known to cause cancer, and due to the lack of filters on joints, deposits four times as much tar into the lungs as an equal amount of tobacco.
There is also evidence to show that marijuana use can cause a host of other problems. Recent studies out of Australia and New Zealand analyzed data on close to 4,000 people, comparing those who had used pot with those who had not, and the results were staggering. Researchers found that frequent pot use by teens is linked to a greater likelihood of incomplete education, suicide attempts, and damage to brain development. In addition, they found that certain cognitive functions can suffer permanent damage as a result of frequent use.
This aligns with what other researchers have already discovered — there is a correlation between marijuana use and permanent brain damage, especially during adolescent use, when the brain is developing. Last year, Northwestern University scientists, led by Matthew Smith — an assistant research professor in psychiatry and behavioural sciences — discovered that parts of the brain related to short-term memory “seemed to collapse inward or shrink in people who had a history of daily marijuana use when compared to healthy participants.” So it actually does destroy your brain.
Finally, let’s keep in mind that the reason Mr. Trudeau gave for legalizing the drug was “to keep it out of the hands of our kids,” as if legalizing and regulating the drug will make a difference. As mentioned previously, the black market for pot will always exist, and when I was in high school, nobody seemed to have a problem getting ahold of cigarettes or alcohol, despite their regulation. The potential benefits certainly do not outweigh the risks.
The CRAP obviously don’t like their propaganda shot full of holes, do they? Typical of Neo-Nazi Fascists.
Sorry, old person, but your piece is FULL
of logical fallacies. most cannabis on the streets is NOT mixed with other drugs. Ot is, however, FULL of unregulated chemical additives, which the kingpins choose based on profit, not safety.
And your think of the children argument falls
flat too: the New Zealand researchers are known Prohibitionists, looking for reasons to paint a scary picture of use. the truth: the negative consequences for the VAST majority of uses is nil, and in any case far less toxic and damaging.
As for the black market and the canard that taxation will leave the black market flourishing, you are right that a balance must be struck between taxation and market
prices. The rush to tax heavily – once again the only way prohibitionists will operate – encourages black market sales. Even so, Mexican farmers are rapidly switching to heroin and other business lines to replace declining revenues and profits. Those profits are now going to responsible citizens who pay taxes, employ local residents and (so far) check IDs vigorously. In your status quo only the violent sell, and never, ever check ID while introducing kids to other drugs. Did I mention that kids are one text away from supply in a Prohibitionist regime?
When you were in school those items were easy to access because your parents made it so. Yet those items are deadly, while cannabis is not. And guess what? With mobile phones, it’s even easier to access than alcohol and tobacco.
There are no panaceas. But Puritanism has been proven a false ideology and your views are squarely founded in it. Yours is a piece with little substance and lots of ignorance.
I smoked weed for about 3 months when I was 19, never was it laced and the only effects were the giggles, hunger, and dry mouth
, if anything its an antidepressant, a good apitite builder and has other qualities undescovered by me, also legalization would lower the price a 10th of an ounce street value is $10.00 , 1oz 160-300$ depending on the type of weed
Anecdotal report, I know, however I have been using cannabis intensenly (3 grams or so a day) since I was 14, now 17. My IQ (tested by the same educational psychologist) has remained a steady 145.
There is no pharmacological reason why cannabis should cause a decrease in cognitive function.
intensively*
Oh the irony…
If you really want to protect families from a drug proven to destroy lives and families, then you should be up in arms, protesting the legality of booze.
Alcohol is the number one cause for traffic fatalities and domestic violence by a huge landslide.
Why doesn’t that concern you even more?
Regarding “The Children”,
Let’s not use “The Children” as an excuse to prohibit and criminalize adult use of a natural plant far less dangerous than perfectly legal alcohol because nobody condones child use, and this is about allowing adults only to choose marijuana.
It’s our responsibility as parents by to educate our children on drug use. It’s not the government’s job to force Draconian Marijuana Laws upon every adult citizen under the guise of protecting “The Children”.
What message are we sending our children when it is easier for them to obtain marijuana now with it being illegal than it is for them to buy alcohol?
It doesn’t take the intellect of a genius to understand that stores card kids for I.D. Thugs and gang members do not. They also push the real hard drugs on children. Stores do not.
Marijuana legalization will make it harder for children to obtain it.
What message does it send our children when the President of The United States himself alongside a long list of successful people openly admit regular pot use at one time or another in their lives?
While we tell our kids how it will ruin their futures, and then insure so, by allowing our government to to jail our children and give them permanent criminal records when they get caught with a little Marijuana. Especially, if they are the wrong skin color or from the “wrong neighborhood”. Which in turn, ruins their chances of employment for life.
The Prohibition of Marijuana is the wrong message to send our children while we glorify, advertise and promote the much more dangerous use of alcohol like it’s an all American pastime.
The worst thing about marijuana and our children is what happens to them when they get caught up in the criminal justice system due to it’s prohibition.
Protect “The Children” and Our Neighborhoods Through The Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Nationwide!
The very dangerous message prohibition sends to our young people is that alcohol is safer that marijuana. This message leads to young people ODing on alcohol.
There is absolutely no doubt now that the majority of Americans want to completely legalize marijuana nationwide. Our numbers grow on a daily basis.
The prohibitionist view on marijuana is the viewpoint of a minority of Americans.. It is based upon decades of lies and propaganda put forth largely by The National Institute On Drug Abuse, commonly referred to as NIDA .
“While U.S. officials defend their monopoly, critics say the government is hogging all the pot and giving it mainly to researchers who want to find harms linked to the drug.
U.S. officials say the federal government must be the sole supplier of legal marijuana in order to comply with a 1961 international drug-control treaty. But they admit they’ve done relatively little to fund pot research projects looking for marijuana’s benefits, following their mandate to focus on abuse and addiction.
“We’ve been studying marijuana since our inception. Of course, the large majority of that research has been on the deleterious effects, the harmful effects, on cognition, behavior and so forth,” said Steven Gust, special assistant to the director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which was created in 1974.”
Each and every tired old lie NIDA has propagated has been thoroughly proven false by both science and society.
Their tired old rhetoric no longer holds any validity. The majority of Americans have seen through the sham of marijuana prohibition in this day and age. The number of prohibitionists left shrinks on a daily basis.
With their credibility shattered, and their not so hidden agendas visible to a much wiser public, what’s left for The National Institute On Drug Abuse to do?
Maybe, just come to terms with the fact that Marijuana Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that’s approaching much sooner than prohibitionists think, and there is nothing they can do to stop it!
Legalize Nationwide!…and Support All Marijuana Legalization Efforts!
In the prohibitionist’s world, anybody who consumes the slightest amount of marijuana responsibly in the privacy of their own homes are “stoners” and “dopers” that need to be incarcerated in order to to protect society.
In their world, any marijuana use equates to marijuana abuse, and it is their God given duty to worry about “saving us all” from the “evils” of marijuana use.
Who are they to tell us we can’t choose marijuana, the safer choice instead of alcohol for relaxation, after a long, hard day, in the privacy of our own homes?
People who use marijuana are smart, honest, hard working, educated, and successful people too, who “follow the law” also.(except for their marijuana consumption under it’s current prohibition of course) .
Not the stereotypical live at home losers prohibitionists make us out to be. We are doctors, lawyers, professors, movie stars, and politicians too.
Several Presidents of The United States themselves, along with Justin Trudeau, Bill Gates, and Carl Sagan have all confessed to their marijuana use. As have a long and extensive list of successful people throughout history at one point or other in their lives.
Although, that doesn’t mean a damned thing to people who will make comments like “dopers” and “stoners” about anybody who uses the slightest amount of Marijuana although it is way safer than alcohol.
To these people any use equals abuse, and that is really ignorant and full of hypocrisy. While our society promotes, glorifies, and advertises alcohol consumption like it’s an All American pastime.
There is nothing worse about relaxing with a little marijuana after a long, hard day, than having a drink or two of alcohol.
So come off those high horses of yours. Who are you to dictate to the rest of society that we can’t enjoy Marijuana, the safer choice over alcohol, in the privacy of our own homes?
We’ve worked real hard our whole lives to provide for our loved ones. We don’t appreciate prohibitionists trying to impose their will and morals upon us all.
Has a marijuana user ever tried to force you to use it? Probably not. So nobody has the right to force us not to either.
Don’t try to impose your morality and “clean living” upon all of us with Draconian Marijuana Laws, and we won’t think you’re such prohibitionist hypocrites.
Legalize Nationwide! Support Each and Every Marijuana Legalization Initiative!
“Who are they?” ……”They” are the same people who pay the taxes and keep the lights on while the dope fiends and crack heads do their best to degrade society, that’s who “they” are.
Ford4ever,
“They”, the prohibitionists are an ever rapidly shrinking MINORITY of Americans who have no rational, logical explanation for their continued fear, demonization and vilification of marijuana which remains FAR SAFER than perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised, even gloried as an All American pastime, alcohol consumption.
Lets end this hypocrisy now!
Marijuana is not “dope”. By calling it that, you only make it that much easier for everyone to see your ignorance, along with the anger, and resentment you hold towards this natural plant and it’s users.
If anything, you can say that booze is the real “dope” because it makes people do the dumbest things, often become violent, and then blackout and not remember all the havoc caused by the booze, like true “dopes”
Go ask your local street drug dealer for some “dope”.
You’re not going to get marijuana, guaranteed!
Name calling and stereotyping. It’s all that prohibitionists have left to offer society since virtually every piece of marijuana propaganda out there has been thoroughly debunked, and completely dismissed by a smarter than prohibitionists thought public.
Nobody can provide a real reason to continue the “War on Marijuana” because there isn’t one.
You know, a little live and let live goes a real long way in ensuring a very long, stress and anger free life. If you don’t like marijuana, then by all means don’t use it. Allow others to make their own choices about marijuana.
The government has no business attempting to legislate morality by creating victim-less marijuana “crimes” because it simply doesn’t work and has already cost the taxpayers a fortune.
Marijuana should be legalized because 80 years of prohibition is an abject failure. Prohibition only works when people are afraid. You are running out of scare tactics.
I just read the article and all the comments. I know this is going to put me under internet comment attack. I think I should point out that the majority of the arguments made in the comments are filled with holes and often contradictory occasionally personally cruel to the writer. What everyone in the comments seems to be saying is that the writer should believe exactly as they do and since he doesn’t he is an old-fashioned person not worth listening to. Kind of playground-ish in my opinion. Freedom of speech is allowed but it does not mean turn off your brain before your speak.
His opinion, and those that share it has been personally cruel to millions.
I’ve never heard a good argument for keeping cannabis illegal. All the arguments seem to be about using cannabis. The beauty of Freedom of Speech is we are allowed to speak without using our brain, lol I do know what you mean though. Being dehumanized and/or chastied on a regular basis makes people say things they might not express otherwise.
While I don’t know about personally cruel (I’m entering my third decade now of writing for internet consumption, so you can comment about the awful things you’d like to do to my mother if you wish, won’t bother me at all), the writer has earned scorn and attack for putting his name on this piece, which is either poorly-researched or simply dishonest.
For instance, the Northwestern study that he gloms onto is quite the piece of fiction. If the author was aware of more recent studies he’d know that schizophrenia has been shown to be eight different genetic disorders, and if he were aware of other studies from December of 2013 he’d be aware of a much better study from Harvard that contradicts Smith’s findings. And even so, Mr. Simmonds made no effort to accurately portray the study, which emphatically did not find “a correlation between marijuana use and permanent brain damage.”
There’s an important word there Simmonds would do well to l — “correlation.” It is a different word from “causation.” For example, if you go to a Black Panther rally, every person you see will be black. That does not mean joining the Black Panthers will make you black.
What we know about cannabis and the subculture, though, tells us a bit about the self-selected samples that you wind up with when you attempt to study those who use cannabis. It causes euphoria, treats ADHD and PTSD, and is culturally known as the thing to do when you’re blowing off school or work.
So, which seems more likely? That there is some undiscovered mechanism in cannabis smoke that causes teenage brains to atrophy that doesn’t affect adults, or that the sort of teenagers who are least likely to graduate are also the sort of teenagers most likely to start smoking pot? No effort has been made by Mr. Simmonds or the supposed experts he cites to answer that fairly obvious question.
Congratulations Jen on not only having an undamaged and functional brain but for actually using it.
All political propagandas and lectures on political correctness aside… I’d rather legalise marijuana to a limited extent (with restrictions like”Don’t smoke marijuana whenever a minor a present”) in exchange of delegalisation of tobacco, cigarette, etc., which have proved link with lung cancer and other nasties.
I would not want to trade one prohibition or another.
Well, while what second-hand marijuana does to other people is still up for further research (except for those “the more knowledge you possess, the more anti-revolutionary you are” anarchists), it’s pretty much confirmed that second-hand cigarette does a heck lot more harm than second-hand marijuana. Therefore, it’s not remotely as simple as “trading one prohibition for another”. It’s replacing something lethal with something not remotely as lethal.
This piece is a satire –right? No one in 2014 could be this stupid … right?
I had to double check the web address to make sure I hadn’t followed a link to The Onion.
Unfortunately for Canadians, yes, they can indeed be this stupid. We need to vote these dinosaurs out.
You are simply dead wrong. It is alarming how gullible so may people can be, but ignorance is the most common trait of the self-satisfied, smug posers who advocate this nonsense.
We will just have to agree to disagree.
Just gotta feel sorry for fools like you. Just pathetic.
“What’s more, since most street marijuana has other drugs mixed into it,” What a bunch of ridiculous dribble. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Just an outright falsehood. I dare you to go out and test all the weed you can get off of the street and I challenge you to find any other drug component in any of it. Then come back and say that.
“Other street drugs mixed into it” This man is an idiot
I got pot that had cocaine in it one time, that’s why I need reliable access to a dispensary.
Sorry, but I highly doubt that. What purpose would someone have lacing weed with very expensive cocaine? Makes no sense at all and I’ve been smoking weed for a very long time. I’m betting you got a strain that brought out your anxiety. Some do that you know.
No, I got a bag of shake which is grinded up bud. And in it I saw tons of white flakes. I asked him what it was and he said “oh sorry, I’ll get you a new bag.” And I asked him if it was cocaine and he said yeah. It was just a dime bag. And this guy was selling me good bud at the time.
LOL! Whatever.
It was an honest mistake made by someone who was really lit at the time 😉
Brilliant reply.
It was the appropriate response to such an obvious lie.
“Photos by Don Goofy?” How about, “Written by someone Damn Goofy?”
Good stuff!
Correction: according to the American Lung Association, combusted smoke contains 33 carcinogenic by products of combustion, itself; Cannabis Sativa containa only unique anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties, which are effective enough to offset the carcinogens of combustion.
Prohibitionists are the real criminals! Hemp rope always was the best….
Dustin simmonds how on earth did this paper filled with lies ever get published or is it published… I don’t understand… what is this crap… Apparently you can write a series of lies without labeling it fiction and use these lies to further brainwash seemingly intelligent individuals in a world where truth is easily located…. if one chooses truth! I have seen so many choose to just live in a world filled with lies to avoid controversy and maintain status quo…I have grown to hate these people over the years more and more and completely understand why some people decide to detach themselves from the ignorance that seems to run rampid in society.
Crack pipes do not produce combustion byproducts when used properly
Almost every sentence in this article is factually wrong. The first sentence says that discussion of marijuana decriminalization was never serious before 2000? Did he forget about the LeDain commission in 1971? Throughout the years decriminalization of marijuana has come up again and again, it didn’t just start in 2000.
Other incorrect assertions include incredible statements like “since most street marijuana has other drugs mixed into it” which is absolutely false, and the general misrepresentation of the studies that are quoted. This is lazy, shoddy writing.
Tha AMA strenuously opposed FDR’s original 1937 “Definition of Marihuana”, the day before it all began! (They complained about the attempt to keep the whole Hearing secret, yet)
Airplanes have only existed for 100 years.
The horse and buggy, a few 1000 years and possibly +5000
Reefer madness 2.0. You loons do understand we all have the internet, right? You can’t just throw random nonsense on the wall anymore, none of that crap will stick.
Potheads will often seek to convince others that their harmful behaviour is harmless. The producers of illicit drugs should be dealt with more severely than is currently the case.
You’re like a small child who only knows what the parents teach. Open a book for fk sake.
Marijuana helps me with my ADHD and autiusm and I can’t find good marijuana anywhere now for over a year, and one time my pot was laced with cocaine. And multiple doctors won’t prescibe it either. Plus decriminalizing it still puts money in the hands of criminals, the marijuana might still be laced, the dealer also sells other drugs, and it sends a mixed message on the usage of the drug. Either legalize it or don’t. There’s no point in decriminalizing it.
“So it actually does destroy your brain.”?
Who is stupid enough to believe that claim?
Computational biologist Lior Pachter, a professor at the University of California, posted a blog concerning what he considers to be flaws in the Northwestern study, and later told the Huffington Post that the study “reeks of dishonesty.”
Gregory Gerdeman, a biologist and neuropharmacologist at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., also noted that the study might have been unduly influenced by its funding agencies, which included the Office of National Drug Control Policy. “If you’re getting money from the drug czar’s office, that money’s not going to continue if you don’t end up publishing something that at least supports the general story of the danger of drug use,” said Gerdeman.
actually there are recent studies that show smoking pot only once can permanently change the way your brain looks… unless you are claiming the medical images they received were wrong.
“show smoking pot only once can permanently change the way your brain looks.”?
Not buying it….
A teen who consumes alcohol is likely to have reduced brain tissue health, but a teen who uses marijuana is not, according to a 2013 study.
“Researchers scanned the brains of 92 adolescents, ages 16 to 20, before and after an 18-month period. During that year and a half, half of the teens — who already had extensive alcohol and marijuana-use histories — continued to use marijuana and alcohol in varying amounts. The other half abstained or kept consumption minimal, as they had throughout adolescence.
However, the level of marijuana use — up to nine times a week during the 18 months — was not linked to a change in brain tissue health.
The study was conducted by researchers at UC San Diego and was published in the April issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.”
Then you are willfully ignorant. I have a friend who is a psychiatrist and he tells me he and his colleagues are dealing with teens who have early onset schizophrenia due to their use of marijuana; quite the “harmless” drug!
Prove that you ‘have a friend that is a psychiatrist’. You are a liar.
Research from Harvard Medical School, in a comparison between families with a history of schizophrenia and those without, finds little support for marijuana use as a cause of schizophrenia.
“The results of the current study suggest that having an increased familial morbid risk for schizophrenia may be the underlying basis for schizophrenia in cannabis users and not cannabis use by itself,” note the researchers.
The research was published in December 2013 in Schizophrenia Research.
Source: Schizophrenia Research
Your colleague. He likes easy money? He’s a sick fkr of a liar and should be publicly shamed for the scum that he is.
What studies?
My above 130 IQ believes it. LOL
Does the author also advocate against the use of medicinal cannabis, considering his belief in the “health risks”? Marijuana has an ever increasing list of conditions, diseases and related symptoms that it is consider effective to treat, including cancer, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, glaucoma and pain management. If cannabis use is considered legitimate for these reasons, why is it less legitimate or more dangerous when it is used recreationally?
As an individual who uses marijuana to manage anxiety and insomnia as well as a recreational drug [as opposed to drinking alcohol], moving from Edmonton to Vancouver has shown me the importance of legalization. Though Vancouver has not legalized the sale and use of recreational cannabis, the tolerance and non-enforcement of federal prohibition has created a better environment for the purchase of marijuana. I no longer have to schedule meets with “dealers” or people I am not personally familiar with. I can purchase marijuana in a brightly lit shop, with clearly labelled varieties and with knowledgeable staff who are able to help me find an ideal product for my needs. I am able to purchase cannabis which is organic – the use of pesticides in growing cannabis IS a legitimate concern.
Luckily, we have neighbours in the South who have taken the path of legalization and can provide a framework in which we can analyze the benefits. Taxes from recreational marijuana sales are projected to bring 25 million dollars to Washington’s state tax revenue. With figures such as this, it is hard to believe that the tax imposed on recreational sales is encouraging purchasers to instead buy from the “black market”. It also would not make sense for someone selling marijuana in a state in which it is legalized to continue to sell in an illegal fashion and open themselves up to criminal persecution. Does the liquor tax in British Columbia foster an underground alcohol market? As with any business in a market, competition will control prices and find an appropriate balance for the consumer and the seller.
Finally, I love me some opinion articles. However, looking at the articles Dustin continues to submit and which continue to be published in the Peak, it appears that he selects controversial topics [abortion, legalization of marijuana, prostitution, Israel] in order to play the devil’s advocate. This doesn’t make for enlightening or progressive reading.
The author certainly advocates against man butt sex. We can be assured. I’m neutral, but personally aversive.
“If store-bought marijuana becomes overtaxed, people will fall back on this already established underground market.”
This is true of any commodity, regardless of whether or not a black market has been established. If the legal price exceeds the black market price by too much, the black market grows. Happily, cannabis is so cheap to grow that a legally regulated market can easily compete with the black market, and still raise tax revenue.
According to one Canadian study from 2002, a tobacco smoker costs us $822 / year in social costs, a drinker costs $165 / year, and a cannabis smoker costs $20 / year. So we only need to raise $20.00 per consumer per year to offset the social costs, and that’s assuming consumers do not switch to using edibles and vaporizers in favour of smoking, as they have in Washington and Colorado.
No, most black market cannabis is not laced with other drugs. Lacing cannabis with other drugs makes no sense from a dealer’s perspective. Putting cocaine or methamphetamine in cannabis, for example, without charging extra for it, and hoping clients do not notice or taste the adulterant, would be like hiding 12-year-old scotch in beer.
“as if legalizing and regulating the drug will make a difference.”
Teens consistently report that cannabis is easier to obtain than alcohol. That is not to say that teens refrain from using either substance because they can not obtain them. Once a substance becomes relatively easy to obtain, availability becomes a non-issue. What actually reduces use, and more importantly, prevents use from becoming abuse, is education, treatment, harm reduction and social customs and fashions.
Yes, heavy, long-term cannabis use may cause health problems, especially for young people, however, there is no evidence that criminal prohibition makes cannabis less prevalent nor popular for any age group. Consider, for example, tobacco. Smoking rates have been dropping for decades across all age groups. Teens are about twice as likely to try cannabis than tobacco before they graduate from high school. No one, including Trudeau, is proposing legalizing cannabis for minors.
I can beat the guy on an IQ test. The damage is minimal and transient at best.
Legalize liberty
Cannabis is SAFER than Alcohol.
If you want to talk about prohibition. Please consider making Tobacco a schedule II controlled substance. This way, it will be out of harms way.
Cannabis Oil Kills Cancer.
It is unethical to criminalize this plant. It needs to be completly removed from the drug schedule.
Please take time and actually talk to someone who consumes cannabis and finds benifit from it.
It is not right to tell someone what they can or cannot consume.
I don’t know if I should be saying this, but I am a teenager and I smoke marijuana. It helped me with depression and anxiety, which in turn, helps me to focus on school more. I just don’t see how cannabis is related to suicides. If marijuana is legalized next year, I will be of age to buy some.
These people feed amphetamines to 5 year olds. I would take their claims with a grain of salt….just like everybody elses
“These people?” The medically trained, professional “people”? Yes, I wouldn’t trust them either. Maybe they could be trusted if they “fed” marijuana to 5 year olds.
Ever heard of Epidiolex?
I think the author has some valid points but these points are mixed with hyperbole and assertions without any evidence. The idea that Marijauna is mixed with other things seems to be grafted from the discussion of harder drugs. Dustin where is the evidence for this? Where is the evidence that the black market will continue? This has not been happening in Colorado. I am all for a reasoned discussion on legalization but when it is mixed in with assertions that seem to be made up and lack evidence it takes away from the entire discussion. We need rationale discussion not knee jerk arguments.
“Impurities” are a pro-legalization argument.
All products have higher rates of impurities in unregulated markets (black markets).
How much money did they pay you to sell out, huh, Dusty?
What a pile of crap. Legalize it.
Prohibition is what really causes people to become skitzophrenic. Until the world accepts that people recreationally smoke marijuanna the users will have some kind of paranoia whether it’s from police, family members, or friends. If everyone accepted it maybe teens would use it during other times of the day instead of during school hours. The only reason a lot do it during school is because their parents are usually working during the day and that’s the only time they can do it without getting caught and in trouble. If people accepted it paranoia wouldn’t even really be a side effect anymore. A lot of your risks marijuanna causes are only risks because of prohibition and our government is to fucking stupid to see that. I’ve smoked weed almost every day for four years and I’m only 17 my lowest mark in school last semester was 78%, I still know how to use my brain and still am one of the nicest kids you will ever meet even though I am a pot head. And some day I do see a lot of people saying sorry to me for every time they have judged me. I’d rather fall asleep on my couch from smoking to much pot then die from drinking to much alcohol, or smoking to many cigarettes. Also marijuanna wouldn’t be prescribed to cancer patients if it caused cancer because that would speed up the growth of cancer cells instead of neutralizing or slowing the growth which cannabis does. Also when you smoke marijuanna out of a bong it’s a lot easier to punch a cone of straight weed, then weed and popper (tobacco) that’s because weed decomposes really easily because it’s 100% earth! popper on the other hand is hard to punch and doesn’t decompose easily because of all the added substances and chemicals to the tobacco. There is way to much evidence supporting marijuanna to even have an article about this written. Buddy needs to smoke a bowl and rethink everything he/she just wrote
Such rhetoric. Schizophrenia is genetically controlled. No one develops it without inheriting the predisposition.
OP is trolling
So am I!
Prohibitchionists drink toilet water.
Lets put Hostess in jail for causing obesity and heart disease. That will solve the problem!
I’m not sure that legalization would be good for society. There are already far too many young people skipping classes and dropping out to indulge in weed. It would be pretty hard for honest vendors to compete with the current criminals and low-lives who don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. Our youth don’t need more exposure to a drug that is highly amotivational. However, I am a proponent of decriminalization, as I don’t see responsible marijuana use as being any more dangerous than responsible alcohol use.
I think legalizing marijuana across the board would create so much revenue that individual taxes would go down. So much money can be generated. The amount of money we waste prosecuting marijuana users is ridiculous. From the courts, to the jails, and all the time we waste apprehending these people can cost tax payers a ton of money…complete wasteful spending. I think the fact that it’s illegal has nothing to do with consumption. Some people simply dont like it, just like some people hate alcohol and the effects of being extremely sick the next day. Not to mention you can actually die detoxing from alcohol. Millions of people already smoke it. And as an experienced pot smoker I have never had any issues that changed my mannerisms for the worst. I have never engaged in something I normally wouldn’t do. Marijuana has never hindered my judgment. My kids would never have to worry about my behavior. But a drunk father is a different story….those people ruin families and fuck up pretty much everything. Alcohol without A doubt can completely change your personality and the way you behave. It ruins your judgement and could ruin your life. Just because pot becomes legal for recreational purposes doesn’t necessarily mean consumption will go up. It just means that the people who enjoy this crop will buy the same amount of it legally. And if consumption happens to increase then perhaps alcohol purchases would decrease. I have never in my life heard nor met another person who refuses to smoke pot because it’s illegal. Some people just don’t like it. It’s so popular that if the best strands of pot are available I think other drugs would slowly diminish. People who partake in heroine, cocaine, meth and other life threatening drugs is a choice they made. They dont belong in jail..they belong in rehab. Perhaps the best marijuana legally available could help them with their life threatening drug habits. I mean haven’t you ever heard that marajuana is one of the best remedies to help with the negative effects of other drugs? I know this first hand. I used to have a big problem with prescription pain killers. Physically addicting. Why? Well my Dr perscribed them for a shoulder problem I had and it became a serious problem. Granted they make medications to help with this problem but those are just as addicting, and could cause even more problems. Pills for pills for pills. Marijuana took that edge away. It also helped with the restlessness, the nausea, the headaches, insomnia, the anxiety, the moodiness, the laziness, the lack of motivation and the physical sickness that comes with opiate use. Marijuana cured it all. It helped with every symptom. I believe it can help with almost anything. I have smoked a lot of really good marijuana in my day and in no way shape or form have I ever felt out of control. I have never suffered from physical withdrawal symptoms. My performance at work never became a problem. My energy increased and everything was great. People who judge the use of cannabis as juvenile, or pathetic, or negative, are just ignorant. They have no idea the benefits it produces. They say it causes short term memory loss?….well so does ageing. Kids can do more damage to your brain than marijuana could. Your job can cause pernanent damage to your brain. The stress of life can be more dangerous than cannabis. Alcoholics go to meetings. That’s a disease. Rehab is popular for opiate abuse, and other addicting god cc awful drugs. Rehabilitation clinics exist for almost every substance out there. But, how many people check into rehab for marijuana use? None. I am willing to bet that the people who are against the legalization of marijauna have never even tried it. They have no frame of reference nor should their opinion count. I mean whats the worst that could happen? Take a look around. It couldn’t get any worshuie. The most dangerous substance to fear are the sociopaths running this country.
cannabis is LESS harmful than the alchohal that you were obviously drinking large amounts of when you made this, the psychological effects are actually helpful for anger management and do not cause suicides or other bad things and if we just make it illegal for minors there’s no real reason not to legalize it.
i have to agree with Dustin weed shouldn’t be legalized it is not “all natural” it is a gate way drug that leads to other drugs it is the reason my older brother got in trouble and got sent to prison
– sincerely
a 14 year old girl
Absolutely correct. Doctors are dealing with the disastrous effects ( early onset schizophrenia ) of teens using this so-called “harmless” drug. If you smoke this crap, you end up with a mind as confused as Justin Trudeau’s.
Bullsht
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