Marijuana

[Deagonx]

Plus, if you legalize a gateway drug, then it would increase the consumption meth, crack, cocaine, and heroin.

'Cept it's not a gateway drug.

[ArtDrake]

'Cept people that use it tend to end up using harder drug.

'Cept I don't think that "gateway drug" is the right name for it.

'Cept the cause and effect relationship isn't adequately described with that name.

'Cept I still know that marijuana has detrimental effects that people smoking it shouldn't impart on others without their consent, in the same way that outdoor smoking and outdoor hydrogen sulfide release (or large quantities, at least, of the latter) ought be banned.

[Deagonx]

'Cept people that use it tend to end up using harder drug.

This is only caused by its illegality.

[ArtDrake]

This is also caused by pressures in the environments in which people live, and
conflict between public information and experience, and by
hyberbolic distortion of gain and loss, and by
mistrust of authority, and by
forced association with other figures that use both marijuana and hard drugs, inducing a desire to "try" the other drug, and by
disillusionment with the high of marijuana, along with
dissatisfaction in that the high does not produce effects as claimed by other trusted users...

The list goes on. Illegality isn't the only reason.

[Deagonx]

If Marijuana makes people happy, why not let them do it?

Even if YOU say they are throwing their lives away, its their life to throw away, no?

Very many marijuana users have lived very successful lives. Obama has openly admitted to using more than once.

[ArtDrake]

I thought as much. As soon as I get a good argument on any point, you default on the basic freedoms arguement until you can think of something better.

Fine. Destroy your own body. Destroy your own life. Quash your own ambitions, don't get a promotion, and don't succeed. Get a job at WalMart until you're seventy, don't give a rat's furry arse, and toxify your own house.

But don't pollute my atmosphere with that nasty shit, don't tell my kids that it's a good idea, don't tell me that it's good for me, and don't you come, wheezing, hacking, and coughing, to a hospital looking for a place to put your sorry corpse when you have multiple cancers of the lungs, a severe psychological addiction to marijuana drug and god knows what else that it would take months to get you off of, bronchitis from prolonged smoke inhalation, tumorous growths all along your upper chest area, and convulsions from withdrawal that shake you so hard you'll wish you were dead. The worst bit is -- you just might be.

So go forth, and be nothing but a statistic. I'm saying goodbye to this conversation. Even if you don't listen to me, and even if not all of these happen to the letter, I can only hope you listen now, so years down the road, you don't just wish you had.

But if you don't care enough about the future to do anything about it now, then you've just become more evidence of animalistic hyperbolic gratification.

[Deagonx]

Ahh, so you ignore my last sentence?

People who smoke marijuana have led very normal, successful lives.

People who smoke marijuana do NOT go through withdrawal

But, its all ok right? In your second to last sentence you said not all of them happen to the letter. None of them happen to the letter.


So goodbye, and continue scrutinizing people for doing what they like to do. With no harmful side effects to their lives.

[SmartyPants]

Buying marijuana opens up teens to the black market. If marijuana was legal they would not need to get in touch with those shady people.

It is naive to think that teens would avoid shady characters if marijuana was legal.  In college, prescription drugs are illegally sold and traded more then alcohol and weed.

Since you clearly avoided addressing my comment, I feel compelled to talk about it even more.  You claim that we should make marijuana legal, because so many people feel compelled to use it and they have to get it by shady means.  The percentage of people who illegally use perscription drugs is increasing much faster then the percentage of people who use marijuana.  With your logic, we should make all perscription drugs legally available to everyone, so people don't have to get them by shady means.  While we are at it, lets get rid of a bunch of other commonly broken laws.  From now on, there will be no speed limits, alcohol will be available to anyone who can reach over the counter to pay the cashier, and shoplifting is acceptable in stores nationwide. 

Very many marijuana users have lived very successful lives. Obama has openly admitted to using more than once.

1) Obama is a shitty president, so I wouldn't want to emulate him.
2)I bet money that if Obama continued to smoke pot like he did as a kid, then he wouldn't have gotten into Harvard law school, the US Senate, or the White House.  Even President SuperLiberal figured out that he couldn't succeed in accomplishing his goals if he wasted his time smoking pot.  Instead of gaining happiness by working towards accomplishing something meaningful, some people would rather stay home and smoke weed to gain an artificial happiness.  If you legalize marujuana, then widespread use of marujuana will create a more apathetic society.

[Deagonx]

Smarty, why would we legalize damaging drugs, such as cocaine and meth when they are prone to cause psychotic breaks? They can get other people killed. This does not happen on Marijuana.



Yes, Obama is a shitty president. But you seemed so god damn left wing to me that you must like the guy.

Apathy: Lack of interest


It doesn't get much more apathetic than this. So many people do it now, all we are doing is causing unneeded harm to the people who do it now. They aren't going to stop, it is a waste of our jail space, and a waste of time.

[ArtDrake]

(If they aren't ever going to stop, it's called addiction)

Mostly, I'd like to retain Observer status on this discussion, giving thoughtful comments whenever neccessary, but not engaging too much into the argument.

im2smart4u is most certainly not left-wing. That's why I disagree with him so much. I'm the left-wing person around here; I just think freedom in moderation comes after order in moderation. However, you both would appear to be religious, most likely Christian, and that skews the politics a bit. I'm not, so I only have my personally developed ethical and moral code, which I make no claim of being superior to any other code of conduct, personally developed or given by religion.

[bugfartboy]

Might I ask, hating to get off topic, at what point have I claimed to be superior?

[SmartyPants]

Yes, Obama is a shitty president. But you seemed so god damn left wing to me that you must like the guy.

A)Doesn't the "god damn left wing" defend marijuana legalization.
B)I once been called a conservative redneck because I said all the global warming stuff is exaggerated, yet I have never been called a liberal before, so I'm curious where you got that idea.

im2smart4u is most certainly not left-wing. That's why I disagree with him so much. I'm the left-wing person around here; I just think freedom in moderation comes after order in moderation. However, you both would appear to be religious, most likely Christian, and that skews the politics a bit. I'm not, so I only have my personally developed ethical and moral code, which I make no claim of being superior to any other code of conduct, personally developed or given by religion.

Politically, I consider myself a center-right independent with libertarian views.  I wouldn't consider myself religious.  At a young age, I completed sunday Catholic school and then attended church every sunday.  After turning 13, my family only went to church on Easter and Christmas.  The reason I defend religion so vigorously is not because I am a strong believer, but because I deeply respect my friends who use religion to try to become better people.

Smarty, why would we legalize damaging drugs, such as cocaine and meth when they are prone to cause psychotic breaks? They can get other people killed. This does not happen on Marijuana.

A)I was clearly mocking you.
B)I didn't mentioned cocaine or meth, so that was an out-of-blue, false accusation.

Apathy: Lack of interest

Really?  Did you have to look up the definition?

It doesn't get much more apathetic than this. So many people do it now, all we are doing is causing unneeded harm to the people who do it now. They aren't going to stop, it is a waste of our jail space, and a waste of time.

It sounds like you agree that marijuana makes people apathetic, yet you also want to make it cheaper and more available.  It almost sounds like you are encouraging widespread lazyness.  This is one of the reasons we struggle to compete with China's work force.

[Deagonx]

You said you didn't mention cocaine or meth. But you did, you said all illegal drugs.


Yes, I did.


I sincerely hope you dont want us to be more like China. You act as if legalizing marijuana is going to make everyone lazy? Majority of people in America already do it, we are just wasting jail space.

[ArtDrake]

Actually, he said "perscription drugs."

And you may or may not want to check your statistics on the marijuana use. Do you mean past-month users, or do you mean within-the-last-year users, or do you mean people that have ever used the drug?

There is, of course, a difference between those who have used the drug and those who use the drug, and I hope you appreciate that difference.

[SmartyPants]

You said you didn't mention cocaine or meth. But you did, you said all illegal drugs.

I said "all perscription drugs".  I don't know if this is a fact, but I think doctors write cocaine and meth perscriptions.

You act as if legalizing marijuana is going to make everyone lazy? Majority of people in America already do it, we are just wasting jail space.

And a majority of people in America are lazy.  Do you see the correlation?

Apathy: Lack of interest

Really?  Did you have to look up the definition?

Yes, I did.

Maybe if you put the bong down every once in awhile, then you feel more motivated to read a book and learn simple vocabulary.