Why is Marijuana illegal?

[Bible_Belt]

Are you kidding, PR? The UK commissioned a study that found stoned drivers were actually safer than sober drivers, believe it or not. Stoned people drive slowly and overestimate their impairment, thus overcompensating for it. Alcohol is the opposite, it makes a drunk person underestimate their drunkenness and also impairs the way that reflexes correct mistakes. If everyone went out to pot parties instead of bars, there would be hardly any deaths by DUI.

 

[PRMoon]

Are you kidding, PR? The UK commissioned a study that found stoned drivers were actually safer than sober drivers, believe it or not. Stoned people drive slowly and overestimate their impairment, thus overcompensating for it. Alcohol is the opposite, it makes a drunk person underestimate their drunkenness and also impairs the way that reflexes correct mistakes. If everyone went out to pot parties instead of bars, there would be hardly any deaths by DUI.

Yeah i don't think so cheif

Data has shown that people high on marijuana show the same lack of coordination on standard "drunk driver" tests as do people who have had to much to drink

http://www.marijuana-addiction.info/statistics.htm

I use to be pro legalization too but having it almost legal is sufficient enough.

Oh wait there's more!

Reaction time for motor skills, such as driving, is reduced by 41% after smoking one joint and is reduced 63% after smoking two joints.7


There have been over 7,000 published scientific and medical studies documenting the damage that marijuana poses. Not one study has shown marijuana to be safe.7

http://www.gdcada.org/statistics/marijuana.htm

I use to be pro legalization too but having it almost legal and a taboo is good enough. It's not like alcohol where we had speak easies and organized crime when pot was made illegal. Pot dealers (at least the street ones) are too docile to cause too many problems and as long as people know it's illegal but not really they keep it some what low key. I'm good with that scinerio.

 

[Dust 2 Dust]

It's illegal because the tobacco lobby which buys off politicians wants you to smoke cigarettes instead of weed. The government keeps weed illegal in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars from the lobbyists.

Remember, next time you buy a pack of smokes you're contributing to an illuminati fundraiser.

 

[Flabbergasped?]

All these conspiracy theories and "keep da black man down", "maintain government control" garbage makes me laugh. Marijuana is a drug that screws up lives. Yes, anything that makes you feel good that you want to do again can be construed as a "drug". TV, Caffeine, porn...whatever. However, weed is particularly detrimental in many other ways. Studies have proven this.

Think about it. There's people out there that blame police officers for the laws that congress and state legislators have implemented. There's people that believe President Bush and **** Cheney created an elaborate scheme to murder 3,000 Americans with jumbo jets as an excuse to go to war and finish "daddy's work"...and then managed to keep everyone involved quiet about the whole thing. There's people that drive down the street with their rap music and bass turned on full blast with their windows rolled down with no regard for other people's right to live peacefully.

Do you REALLY want these same people having full unregulated access to a drug that SEVERELY impairs judgment, perception, and can occasionally have hallucinogenic effects? I sure as hell don't.

That's probably the most racist thing I've ever heard. So the conspiracy theorists are dangerous, but the average joe isn't? Should people who listen to rap music not be allowed to drink alcohol, because it impairs judgment, perception, and causes loss of consciousness?

Just say you hate black people and cut the crap.

 

[Rhoto]

All these conspiracy theories and "keep da black man down", "maintain government control" garbage makes me laugh.

Crack keeps the black man down. Not weed. Read the book Freakonomics, it'll let you in on the subtleties of racism.

Marijuana is a drug that screws up lives. Studies have proven this.

Cite two please.

Think about it. There's people out there that blame police officers for the laws that congress and state legislators have implemented.

Those people are poorly educated and don't understand how our system of government works. Such people should be beaten.

There's people that believe President Bush and **** Cheney created an elaborate scheme to murder 3,000 Americans with jumbo jets as an excuse to go to war and finish "daddy's work"...and then managed to keep everyone involved quiet about the whole thing.

Again, dumb and easily susceptible morons who can't think for themselves. They jump to frivolous conclusions about things they can't wrap their minds around. And don't get it twisted, we knew what was coming, its just that PNAC needed a "Pearl harbor equivalent" to rally the American people. Remember shock and awe?

There's people that drive down the street with their rap music and bass turned on full blast with their windows rolled down with no regard for other people's right to live peacefully.

Take the plate, call non-emergency, and stop complaining.

Do you REALLY want these same people having full unregulated access to a drug that SEVERELY impairs judgment, perception, and can occasionally have hallucinogenic effects?

Alcohol does that just fine. Chronic does not, in fact, I've never even come close to hallucinating, acted in poor judgment and drive perfectly when I am high. Literal text book driving, I'm far more dangerous sober.

So again, there is no legitimate argument against legalization.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Yeah i don't think so cheif

Data has shown that people high on marijuana show the same lack of coordination on standard "drunk driver" tests as do people who have had to much to drink

http://www.marijuana-addiction.info/statistics.htm

I use to be pro legalization too but having it almost legal is sufficient enough.

Oh wait there's more!

Reaction time for motor skills, such as driving, is reduced by 41% after smoking one joint and is reduced 63% after smoking two joints.7


There have been over 7,000 published scientific and medical studies documenting the damage that marijuana poses. Not one study has shown marijuana to be safe.7

http://www.gdcada.org/statistics/marijuana.htm

I use to be pro legalization too but having it almost legal and a taboo is good enough. It's not like alcohol where we had speak easies and organized crime when pot was made illegal. Pot dealers (at least the street ones) are too docile to cause too many problems and as long as people know it's illegal but not really they keep it some what low key. I'm good with that scinerio.

Those stats are completely made-up; that should be obvious. The US government lies out their ass about pot.

A lot of NBA players smoke pot before games. I know a few mma fighters who smoke before fights. Pot does not do anything to your physical reaction skills - all it does is calm you down mentally. If pot caused people to drive badly, given how many people smoke and drive, there would be fatal stoner-dui crashes all the time like there are with alcohol.

Not one study has shown marijuana to be safe.

Where are the corpses? Where are the mangled bodies? If it is so dangerous, and millions of people do it, then there should be some carnage somewhere.

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

Any goverment study on pot needs to be read with a grain of salt.

I would never deny that pot doesn't cause problems.

But goverment studies (or independent studies by institutes that get gov.funding) have to reach far and wide.

Not to mention if you compare the side effect of any prescription drug and even almost all over the counter drugs to the worst side effects of pot, pot would still come out ahead 99% of the time.

As for driving and smoking pot that is illegal. It's called DUI or DWI.

Pot does make some losers into bigger losers.

But so does video games, Mcdonalds, t.v., and alchohol.

Pot also doesn't kill people.

You know what else?
In countries where pot is decriminalized/legal, consumption tends to be less than in the U.S.

Like I said, I don't even smoke pot. But I have researched it and just can't understand why it is illegal.

It is such an arbitrary thing to outlaw. And it is so ridiculous the amount of time, money, and effort put into fighting it that could be spent fighting real crime that does effect people.

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

double post

 

[PRMoon]

Those stats are completely made-up; that should be obvious. The US government lies out their ass about pot.

A lot of NBA players smoke pot before games. I know a few mma fighters who smoke before fights. Pot does not do anything to your physical reaction skills - all it does is calm you down mentally. If pot caused people to drive badly, given how many people smoke and drive, there would be fatal stoner-dui crashes all the time like there are with alcohol.

Not one study has shown marijuana to be safe.

Where are the corpses? Where are the mangled bodies? If it is so dangerous, and millions of people do it, then there should be some carnage somewhere.

Keep telling yourself that. You get all excited when the UK commissions one convincing argument saying pot is good where as the US has done significant scientific study on marijana for decades. Corpses? There are tons of people who have car accidents solely on marijana. My friends are paramedics and they see medical reports. That's more then enough carnage for me. There is a legal limit on how much Marijana can be consumed while driving in Nevada (.02 nanagrams ppm) and you can have less then an ounce and as long as you haven't committed any other crime at the time, it's just a small fine and a misdemeanor.

Trust me it's almost legal here but there is a distinct lack of motor coordination and tunnel vision that exist on various levels for various people. If you make laws where there was a limit it would be undetermined and besides there is no "Field test" for marajuana like for alcohol. So you'll have to go to jail if you're obvious, suspect or the the cop doesn't like you. Once you're their they'll have to draw blood (which right now would take a month for a toxicology report). Drawing blood will show your concentration of blood which, depending on your weight diet and usage, may almost always be high, smoking that night or not. So you get what would then be a felony for driving under the influence.

Trust me legalizing pot will only make things worse for the average pot smoking citizen. Having it ALMOST legal like it is for most people then it's okay. The only thing you have to do is beat drug test and you're fine. You don't have to smoke up in movie theaters, or the grocery store, or the gym, or your office, or your school. But it's likely people already know any way and you're no worse off then it being a legal product. Anyone can smoke pot if they want to but some people choose not to do so.

 

[Bible_Belt]

My friends are paramedics and they see medical reports.

What do they do, drug test the corpse? Then if they smoked pot in the last few days that must have been the cause of the wreck?

Go to the Caribbean, mon. Pretty much everyone is stoned all the time, and no one is dying from it. People drive cars and get by just fine. I know plenty of people here in the states who are never not high. All of them drive everywhere they go; some of them operate heavy machinery for a living. On a low budget redneck construction site, if you are the one guy who is not high, then you are the oddball.

I just don't buy that pot impairs motor skills. The government will tell any lie about pot. A few years ago, buying a bag of weed made you a terrorist. The Office of National Drug Control Policy has some of the most ridiculous ads on TV. Their Super Bowl ads are always rated at the absolute bottom - our tax dollars at work.

On a side note rant, every time I walk into Home Depot and see the sign that says "Welcome to our drug-free workplace. If you use drugs, don't bother to apply" and then go into the store to be ignored by every orange apron there, at least the ones who don't rudely tell me that they can't help me because it's not their department and walk off, I wish they hired people on drugs. They could not possibly get worse employees than what they have under the current policy. At least stoners are polite and incompetent.

 

[PRMoon]

My friends are paramedics and they see medical reports.

What do they do, drug test the corpse? Then if they smoked pot in the last few days that must have been the cause of the wreck?
.

A toxicology report plus drugs and drug parafanila is standard for any legal affair.

Go the Caribbean, mon. Pretty much everyone is stoned all the time, and no one is dying from it. People drive cars and get by just fine. I know plenty of people here in the states who are never not high. All of them drive everywhere they go; some of them operate heavy machinery for a living. On a low budget redneck construction site, if you are the one guy who is not high, then you are the oddball.

You can not compare the road ways on a caribbean island with that of a us highway. there are hundreds more cars traveling at a much greater varient of speed and reaction is crucial. Tunnel vision is not. All of the construction sites on the multi billion dollar construction sites have random drug test because legitamate testing was done previously by the insurance companies.

Like I keep saying I use to think the same way you do but there is an overwhelming amount of evidence done over and over again that marijana use has an adverse effect on the human body. Most people simply don't know where to look or when they find the information from a an acreditied source it's some how bogus. I'm not saying people who smoke pot are bad or anything like that but there are times and places to be stoned/drunk/coked up or whatever your vice is and there are times and places to be straight and sober. More stoned drivers on the road because of legalization is not a good thing anyway you cut it. It impares some but not all but those some are still putting themselves and other peoples lives in danger. Do we really need to take that kind of chance just so we can get high at the park?

It's not like Marijana is going anywhere anyway. There are local growers getting foreign seeds and cross breeding creating new forms of hydroponic etc etc. Even though pot is "illegal" there is a very real and very present culture already well established in this country. Things do not need to change it is at status quo as it is.

 

[thederekeffect1]

Let me flip this around on you. Why isn't alcohol and tobacco ILLEGAL? It's the question I pose to every stoner who brings up this debate.

 

[PRMoon]

Let me flip this around on you. Why isn't alcohol and tobacco ILLEGAL? It's the question I pose to every stoner who brings up this debate.

Alcohol was illegal in america once. It didn't work. What can I say?!

Tobacco was a cash crop way back when in virginia and the carolinas and that "old money" found it's way into the heart of america's government some time ago. Even after tobacco companies got suied for ciggarettes, they get to cash in on the gum or pill to get you off of ciggarettes too! Tobacco is bullit proof as far as legality goes.

By the way if anyone else follows main scale cocaine trade like I do (What can I say everybody has a hobby) alot of the best stuff is making it's way in larger amounts to the UK!

 

[Killer_Demo]

All these conspiracy theories and "keep da black man down", "maintain government control" garbage makes me laugh. Marijuana is a drug that screws up lives.

i think YOU need to lay off the crack pipe there kid....

 

[Squiggly Sponge]

Just replying to the title, haven't read through yet. But a possible reason is because it's a natural substance that can be grown by anyone, but it cannot be taxed by the government - unlike alcohol and tobacco which can be.

 

[Squiggly Sponge]

Crack keeps the black man down. Not weed. Read the book Freakonomics, it'll let you in on the subtleties of racism.

Good book. In heavy agreement with that, crack managed to do to black people what white supremacists could only dream of doing.

I'd tend to say Economics explains (almost) everything - including the illegality of marijuana. If the government has no way to recoup (i.e. tax) the use of it, then there will be no way to account for the negative effects of them.

If the government would somehow have been able to be the sole provider of every illegal substance, then sell them at a high enough price to offset the damage (costs) caused by their use... they probably would have done that instead.

 

[Demystify]

I can't talk to girls at all when I'm stoned. It ruins my game.

 

[GitFiddler]

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=9677700

"Stoned cop calls 911" Funny as hell!

 

[Derek Flint]

My friends are paramedics and they see medical reports.

What do they do, drug test the corpse? Then if they smoked pot in the last few days that must have been the cause of the wreck?

Go to the Caribbean, mon. Pretty much everyone is stoned all the time, and no one is dying from it. People drive cars and get by just fine. I know plenty of people here in the states who are never not high. All of them drive everywhere they go; some of them operate heavy machinery for a living. On a low budget redneck construction site, if you are the one guy who is not high, then you are the oddball.

I just don't buy that pot impairs motor skills. The government will tell any lie about pot. A few years ago, buying a bag of weed made you a terrorist. The Office of National Drug Control Policy has some of the most ridiculous ads on TV. Their Super Bowl ads are always rated at the absolute bottom - our tax dollars at work.

On a side note rant, every time I walk into Home Depot and see the sign that says "Welcome to our drug-free workplace. If you use drugs, don't bother to apply" and then go into the store to be ignored by every orange apron there, at least the ones who don't rudely tell me that they can't help me because it's not their department and walk off, I wish they hired people on drugs. They could not possibly get worse employees than what they have under the current policy. At least stoners are polite and incompetent.

Well, when you open your own business, you can hire all the stoners you want. Great country, huh?

It might also change your mind on Marijuana laws and being stoned on the job, especially when you have to pay out for the idiocy of some stoner who did something that lost your company a major contract, or injured a customer.

But seriously, I don't think Marijuana should be illegal despite the fact that it does in fact affect memory and basically make people stupid, as do other drugs including legal drugs.

 

[HandyAndy]

Hai faive!!