[Melchior]

QUOTE (orbitalraindrops @ Friday, Apr 5 2013, 02:17)

One of my mates has been smoking non stop since he was 14 and he still acts like a 14 year old. Could be something else to blame. But a high marijuana intake on a developing brain can't be good imo.

I don't know, I think my daily weed use might have actually helped me mature emotionally and philosophically, when I was eighteen.

[El_Diablo]

QUOTE (orbitalraindrops @ Thursday, Apr 4 2013, 10:17)

a high marijuana intake on a developing brain can't be good imo.

no you're right.

that's why legal marijuana needs to be treated with the same respect as legal alcohol and legal tobacco.
you can't sell it to anyone under the age of 18 (at least) and you can't use it while driving, etc etc.

there is definitely plenty of sound research to support the fact that ANY drug is bad for the developing mind.
children shouldn't use drugs because their brains are still physically growing. there is hard evidence linking premature drug use to the premature onset of all sorts of mental problems like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

these problems do not occur in people who wait until they're adults to start smoking pot.
but the same thing goes for alcohol consumption. anything that f*cks with your mind and is bad for children.

QUOTE (Melchior @ Thursday, Apr 4 2013, 11:55)

I don't know, I think my daily weed use might have actually helped me mature emotionally and philosophically, when I was eighteen.

no see?
there's the difference.

you said you were 18.
that's much safer. the danger is only prevalent when you start too young, before you're 18.

[GrandMaster Smith]

QUOTE (sivispacem @ Thursday, Mar 28 2013, 23:19)

QUOTE (GrandMaster Smith @ Friday, Mar 29 2013, 03:30) Marijuana is one of the less harmful drugs out there, my statistics may be a little off but iirc cigarettes and pharmaceuticals alone kill more people in one year then all those hard illegal drugs do combined. Your statistics are correct I believe, but slightly misleading. Cigarettes and prescription drugs do indeed kill more people, but both are used by a much higher percentage of the population than any or all illicit substances. Numbers of habitual and problem users are also higher. The real question is whether legal substances kill more people per head of population taking them than illicit ones- which I've never actually been able to find any statistics to demonstrate one way or another. I imagine in the cases of certain illicit substances- cannabis, MDMA, the Phenethylamine series, et cetera- the fatality rate per habitual user is significantly below that of prescription drugs. In other cases- heroin and crack cocaine, for instance- it is probably much higher.

That is true, I hadn't really thought of it in that way.


For the discussion at hand of marijuana though the numbers really speak for themselves.


Not one death has directly been related to marijuana... not one. Think about that.. More people die from peanuts than they do from marijuana lol.. to overdose you'd have to consume your own body weight in weed.. which would be impossible since after about your first ounce you'd be fast asleep haha.


Weed is a joke to imprison people for, they're ruining peoples lives by making it illegal and taking these people away from their homes and families for a non-violent 'crime' that only effects the user. Weed should be regulated just like alcohol so we can keep it out of the hands of children. I believe only a fully mature mind should partake in consuming marijuana, using drugs during your teen years increases chance of addiction tenfold.

Get it off the streets and out of the hands of children. Regulate it, tax it and create revenue.

[Stefche]

QUOTE (El_Diablo @ Friday, Apr 5 2013, 11:09)

QUOTE (orbitalraindrops @ Thursday, Apr 4 2013, 10:17) a high marijuana intake on a developing brain can't be good imo. no you're right. that's why legal marijuana needs to be treated with the same respect as legal alcohol and legal tobacco. you can't sell it to anyone under the age of 18 (at least) and you can't use it while driving, etc etc. there is definitely plenty of sound research to support the fact that ANY drug is bad for the developing mind. children shouldn't use drugs because their brains are still physically growing. there is hard evidence linking premature drug use to the premature onset of all sorts of mental problems like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. these problems do not occur in people who wait until they're adults to start smoking pot. but the same thing goes for alcohol consumption. anything that f*cks with your mind and is bad for children. QUOTE (Melchior @ Thursday, Apr 4 2013, 11:55) I don't know, I think my daily weed use might have actually helped me mature emotionally and philosophically, when I was eighteen. no see? there's the difference. you said you were 18. that's much safer. the danger is only prevalent when you start too young, before you're 18.

Would you say it's safe to use between the ages of 18 and 25, given that the human brain doesn't stop fully developing until 25?

[GrandMaster Smith]

QUOTE (Stefche @ Thursday, Apr 4 2013, 18:48)

Would you say it's safe to use between the ages of 18 and 25, given that the human brain doesn't stop fully developing until 25?

I would say then it's probably best to wait till after you're 25 if you don't want your developing brain to get used to having a regular intake of drugs.

I feel adults of 18 and above should be free to make their own decisions though, if they want to use it and face the consequence of possible psychological addiction later in life then that's their own issues to face.

I do believe education is key though. If we properly educate children on hard drugs I feel most of them wouldn't make the choice to begin using in the first place.

[Melchior]

QUOTE (El_Diablo @ Friday, Apr 5 2013, 10:09)

no see? there's the difference. you said you were 18. that's much safer. the danger is only prevalent when you start too young, before you're 18.

Oh you misunderstand, I was responding to orbital who was saying his friend stayed 14 forever because of daily weed use. I was saying I matured quite dramatically in a lot of different ways while using weed daily when I was eighteen, and I started daily use at sixteen.

[Belaphron]

Of course they should be legalized, along with all the other drugs. There's not much more I can add to what has already been said previously. But simply put if the government is aiming to reduce drug use then prohibition is absolutely the wrong way to go about it.

Making criminals out of addicts, sending them to jail is ridiculous they should be treated not incarcerated. The deaths as a result of gang related violence is also unacceptable, it all comes down to who do you feel more sympathy for the innocent kid walking the street caught in the cross fire or the drug user who made a choice to put it in his body.

[A loaded rifle]

Ofc it should be legalized, however, their should be some limits as to what 'extreme' the legalization is for the lack of a better word, set to.

• Age Requirment of 21
• Unable to drive, operate a firearm, or be in public while intox.
• Small amount of tax, like with cigarettes.
• Encouragement for private growing and selling by citizens, not the federal government.

The tax should, imo, be set to like 7 cents per dollar.

[GTASAddict]

In my opinion, marijuana should be regulated much how alcoholic beverages are regulated. The illegalization of this drug deters those whose habit spiraled out of hand from seeking the help they so need. We don't deny alcoholics those privileges, so tell me a justifiable reason why we should decline potheads these benefits? Don't get me wrong, I don't condone drug consumption of any sort (be it Alcohol, Caffeine, Tobacco, Marijuana), but I have no right dictating how others live their lives as long as it doesn't harm others. Sending potheads to prison doesn't cure their habit, it only intensifies it while they languish in prison. Ultimately, the advantages (as I mentioned and those mentioned previously by others) outweigh the supposed disadvantages cited to justify illegalization.

[The Imposter]

I'm from the United Kingdom and i think weed should be legal.

The reasons for this is it's less harmful then Tobacco and Drink and their is no anger, You drink sometimes you get violent you smoke and get addicted when you haven't got any you get angry sometimes.

I'm sure most people have done weed and it makes me personally feel the opposite of anger and hate, I just lie down eat Pringles and laugh.

Also I'm sure they would Tax it which means a lot more money for the government, It would also make more jobs i.e space cake shops

But yeah i think they should make it legal but from 21 and over as it can mash up your brain if you smoke it while your brain is still developing and it stops and 21. Same for don't drive while high.

Also weed is semi natural so some people could say god made it a treat for us

Anyway that's me done, Let me know if they make it legal.

[Raavi]

Virtually all narcotics, and weed in particular are essentially innocuous as the only one that potentially encounters a negative effect is the user him or herself. There is no gain whatsoever in imprisoning someone using taxpayer money, for using a plant one purchased for recreational/medicinal purposes. The governments and namely the US government engendered this entire drug war/exponential rise in drug crime themselves. It's quite logical really; if you prohibit the people from purchasing/using a certain product you essentially 'create' a group of individuals that want to make money of off selling these prohibited products to people i.e you create dealers and all the (violent)crime that ensue from their presence and business. It's the "their loss, your gain mentality"; "the government doesn't optate to profit from this thriving market, fine but I will". Just look at the times of the prohibition, people still wanted to consume alcohol, the need/demand was still there it so they did so via less-than-licit ways up until the government finally decriminalized it again. Same would apply to any product. Say I prohibit people from purchasing and eating candy- I guarantee you a day or so later you would have candy dealers. It's just how this world works. And the argument of it being addictive is also fundamentally erroneous as in essence almost everything can be classified as an addiction and everyone is addicted to multiple non-criminalized things; You watch TV every night: You're addicted to TV. You spend hours a day on the internet: You're addicted to the internet. Some of these addictions can even be much more 'dangerous' than marihuana ever will be. Now they can bring all these drug related crimes down to a minimum by simply legalizing it. Make it readily available. Something the government and their treasury would profit from, both in the short and long. Instead of burning ridiculously high amounts of money by criminalizing it and policing/enforcing this and imprisoning millions of people.

This post has been edited by Raavi on Wednesday, May 22 2013, 18:16

[MadClownBadDub]

QUOTE (Raavi @ Wednesday, May 22 2013, 18:14)

Virtually all narcotics, and weed in particular are essentially innocuous as the only one that potentially encounters a negative effect is the user him or herself.

Quality post all the way through, but this piece was golden. Truer words have never been spoken, and this should be the backbone of any solid argument for the legalization of mind altering substances.