Thread: Marijuana/cocaine should be legalized in the U.S

Originally Posted by unrest

I'm suprised you can get an internet connection in a cave... on Mars.

Kids are already smoking marijuana as much if not more than they drink alcohol. Part of the reason is because it is so incredibly easy to find on the street. In some parts of my city, just walking down the street, people offer to sell me weed and it's not like I look at all like a stereotypical stoner or anything. In high school it was even easier to find it. A lot easier than finding a person of age to buy us a case of beer.

Drugs are not going to go away. Consider all of the money and effort put into the "War on Drugs" in the USA and how little effect it is having on the market. They are still easily available to anyone and public acceptance is growing. Drugs (particularly marijuana) are mainstream now. Prohibition failed but the leaders of the country refuse to acknowledge that for fear of losing points in the polls. The best possible course of action right now is to take the product out of the hands of criminals, regulate for safety, and focus on honest education about drugs.

Imagine the world`s public opinion of your country if it legalized drugs, it would be a laughing stock...

Originally Posted by Spartiate

Imagine the world`s public opinion of your country if it legalized drugs, it would be a laughing stock...

Please explain.

Originally Posted by unrest

Please explain.

Drugs are universally percieved as bad. If the US, which pretty much appointed itself as "example of a model country", legalizes it, its credibility will go way down and its foreign relations, economic and political, will suffer.

Originally Posted by unrest

I'm suprised you can get an internet connection in a cave... on Mars.

Kids are already smoking marijuana as much if not more than they drink alcohol. Part of the reason is because it is so incredibly easy to find on the street. In some parts of my city, just walking down the street, people offer to sell me weed and it's not like I look at all like a stereotypical stoner or anything. In high school it was even easier to find it. A lot easier than finding a person of age to buy us a case of beer.

Drugs are not going to go away. Consider all of the money and effort put into the "War on Drugs" in the USA and how little effect it is having on the market. They are still easily available to anyone and public acceptance is growing. Drugs (particularly marijuana) are mainstream now. Prohibition failed but the leaders of the country refuse to acknowledge that for fear of losing points in the polls. The best possible course of action right now is to take the product out of the hands of criminals, regulate for safety, and focus on honest education about drugs.

Sorry when did I say kids are not smoking it?

Originally Posted by Spartiate

Drugs are universally percieved as bad. If the US, which pretty much appointed itself as "example of a model country", legalizes it, its credibility will go way down and its foreign relations, economic and political, will suffer.

I'm not sure if I can agree with that. I do realize that there would be some negative consequences to legalizing drugs but what they are and how dramatic the change would be cannot be foreseen. Let me ask you, do you think avoiding these risks justifies a pointless and expensive war against a class of citizens who (suppliers excluded) are really hurting nobody? How much longer can we keep it up anyways?

Somebody has to take the first step to drug reform.

Originally Posted by Adam

Sorry when did I say kids are not smoking it?

I believe your point was that people drink and smoke tobacco because it is legal and easy to get (which is wrong, they do it because they enjoy it) and that more people would smoke marijuana if it was legal. I countered by saying that marijuana is as easy if not easier to get than alcohol and that the sheer number of people doing it proves that they aren't too concerned with the legality of it.

I think you are wrong. If I wanted Marijuana, I wouldn't know where to go! If I wanted alcohol I would walk to the local shops.

You cannot base every town, city, country on your own area - not everywhere is like where you live....

If it was just as easy for me to pop to the shops to get a bottle of wine as it would be to pop to a dealer to score an eighth I would agree with you, but surely anyone can easily see alcohol and tobacco IS more readily available than pot - how you can say it is easier to find a dealer to sell you drugs than to pop to a shop with a licence to sell alcohol is beyond me...

EDIT: and no, not everyone smokes and drinks because they enjoy it - some people do it just to get drunk, I mean how many people do you know who would actually drink a pint of beer because they like the taste, rather than get a glass of juice for example?

It might be different where you come from, but I guarantee you, if you changed all alcohol on the face of the planet to some foul tasting drink, okay well not that bad, but not nice either, people would still drink it to get wasted!

honestly i think being caught with marijuana (or any drug for that matter) should be a death sentance required crime. it would stop the drug problem realy quick and kill quite a few of the worthless cowardly peices of shit

Originally Posted by Jdog

honestly i think being caught with marijuana (or any drug for that matter) should be a death sentance required crime.

I suppose that would include the drugs: caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, aspirin, etc? Why is the first illegal and the rest not? Do you have an opinion on that?

Originally Posted by Jdog

honestly i think being caught with marijuana (or any drug for that matter) should be a death sentance required crime. it would stop the drug problem realy quick and kill quite a few of the worthless cowardly peices of shit

This is a rather aggressive and obtuse statement, ignorant IMO.
But that is his view.
Many people have seen drugs ruin their lives and others.
A lot of drugs lead to heavier drug use.

Regardless whether or not we agree with that standard does not open it up for demeaning statements.

Like many of the drug discussions or topics, maybe the content is the answer in in itself.
~Why are these drug labeled topics riddled with lower case discussion. Almost every one gets moderated.
~Why do members so poignantly express their views towards others who oppose drug use? This kind of shows you something doesn't it?

Originally Posted by Adam

I think you are wrong. If I wanted Marijuana, I wouldn't know where to go! If I wanted alcohol I would walk to the local shops.

You cannot base every town, city, country on your own area - not everywhere is like where you live....

Point taken. But you must realize that drug use is very prevalent in a lot of places and that a large number of kids are exposed to it at an early age (especially in their high school years), so your original point that more people would do it if it was more available is broken.

If it was just as easy for me to pop to the shops to get a bottle of wine as it would be to pop to a dealer to score an eighth I would agree with you, but surely anyone can easily see alcohol and tobacco IS more readily available than pot - how you can say it is easier to find a dealer to sell you drugs than to pop to a shop with a licence to sell alcohol is beyond me...

I'm sorry I should have been clearer, I meant that it is as easy if not easier to get than alcohol for high school kids (which is the age when a lot of people's drug habits start to form). From experience, in a typical high school, finding a person of age who would buy alcohol for a minor was harder than finding a dealer who had weed.

EDIT: and no, not everyone smokes and drinks because they enjoy it - some people do it just to get drunk, I mean how many people do you know who would actually drink a pint of beer because they like the taste, rather than get a glass of juice for example?

It might be different where you come from, but I guarantee you, if you changed all alcohol on the face of the planet to some foul tasting drink, okay well not that bad, but not nice either, people would still drink it to get wasted!

Right, people *enjoy* to get drunk.

And you fail to realize that alcohol already is foul tasting.

Originally Posted by Jdog

honestly i think being caught with marijuana (or any drug for that matter) should be a death sentance required crime. it would stop the drug problem realy quick and kill quite a few of the worthless cowardly peices of shit

It is easy to talk hard from behind a computer screen.

Aren't you the coward?

Point taken. But you must realize that drug use is very prevalent in a lot of places and that a large number of kids are exposed to it at an early age (especially in their high school years), so your original point that more people would do it if it was more available is broken.

I know it is, but I think the exposure is not as prevalent as you say. From my high school only the minority stoners smoked pot - and for that matter, most in my area that I know of. I think geographically its a hard one to call - yes it is more widely used at a young age, but not as much as you think?

I'm sorry I should have been clearer, I meant that it is as easy if not easier to get than alcohol for high school kids (which is the age when a lot of people's drug habits start to form). From experience, in a typical high school, finding a person of age who would buy alcohol for a minor was harder than finding a dealer who had weed.

Hmmm again, depending on demographics I think this would vary - it is still classed a drug which does put people off, especially younger people.

Right, people *enjoy* to get drunk.

As much as people enjoy to get fucked out their heads on drugs I am sure..

And you fail to realize that alcohol already is foul tasting.

Alcohol is foul tasting? That's very subjective. That's like saying food doesn't taste good. It's too general a statement. I mean given the choice of inhaling smoke, or drinking a cocktail in a bar, I know which I would choose... You clearly are opposed to drinking, have yet to taste many alcoholic drinks, and are pro drugs, so we would never see eye to eye on a subject like this anyway.