Should the gov't legalize marijuana?

Fed up!

I think it would be a huge boon for the economy. Imagine how many new farmers we'd have. Imagine people being mellow and buying more chips than this country has ever seen. Imagine how empty our jails would be.

Tha Kool

yes

carmel m

There are many pros and cons in the whole debate over marijuana legislation. I think it needs to be stated that though there have been no fatalities created by the use of marijuana the drug has been shown to double the chances of a 'normal' human developing a psychosis related disorder such as schizophrenia. Other medical studies have though shown that unless a person is genetically predisposed to psychotic disorders then the chances of such a disorder being aggravated by cannabis use are slim.

One of the biggest points that hasn't truly been addressed is that several thousand people die in Mexico alone every year due to the drug war being fought between the government and the drug cartels. Cannabis is the biggest product of the Mexican drug market with 10, 000 metric tonnes being produced in 2006 alone.(world drug report 2008)

An interesting point though is that a huge percent of funding for law enforcement and the criminal justice system is given for the enforcement of drug laws, remove marijuana the most widely produced drug in the world and this funding goes away....

Phradoe B

they should.

pros- paper, fuel, food, medications, clothing and textiles and the like

cons- look at alcohol

Matt

Yes, a thousand times over. To people who say it causes health problems, so does everything, try outlawing alcohol and see where that gets you (causes liver failure, and alcohol poisoning and is legal by the way) and to people who say that all anyone would do is smoke pot all day, do you think the law really stops them? If people want it bad enough they will do it, legality aside. If "pot" were legalized the revenue would help, but not only that, it could be regulated safely to protect citizens who do use it. It is ridiculous that it's still illegal (salvia anyone?)

panurge2

President Obama can't touch this with a "ten foot pole".

Lipstick on a Sick Swine

Absolutely. Lets put an end to the war on personal freedom.

Legalization of of marijuana could single handedly get us out of this bad economy. Here are some figures

Sales increases
Apple sales: +18%
Cigarrette: -7% (competition from the weed)
Frozen Entrees: +30%
Cheese Whiz+80%
Frozen Pizzas, Fast Food, and Potato Chips: +%420

Obviously those figures are posted for the lawls

::Edit::
To anyone who says that pot won't scratch the US debt:
Do you have any idea how much money the government wastes on enforcing and jailing people for pot? Pot is really a victimless crime, and its costing our judicial and prision systems BILLIONS.

Also, it needs to be said, that I do not smoke pot, and probably would not smoke pot even if it were legal

desotobrave

Of course they should. John Stuart Mill said it best:

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. "

Joey

Yes, we can tax it. The U.S. needs the money desperately.

Xavier M

It would have no benefit to society, why bother?

I have yet to see a single good reason for it. Fact is there isn't any good reasons...only good reasons not to.

Patrick B

Everyone who is saying no is using the reason that people will hurt themselves with it (memory loss, makes people brain dead, lazy, etc). What's the point of having freedom if we have to do what everyone else wants us to?

Pot smokers exist in every industry in the US. There have been numerous studies that shows that pot does not make people stupid or lazy. We already have legal drugs that are far worse for you. Marijuana has no recorded fatalities either.

The state of California predicted that they'd make BILLIONS in taxes if they fully legalized pot. If every state adopted the same policy, the federal government would stand to make hundreds of billions a year from taxing pot.

We waste billions on the "war on drugs" that has failed miserably. We could save a large percent of that if we legalized it. We'd also save money by not having to pay to incarcerate stoners. So we could make a lot of green by legalizing pot, and save a lot as well.

It would also be a boom to the economy by creating thousands of new jobs. We'd need to regulate it, market it, distribute it, grow it, package it, and sell it. Local growers wouldn't be able compete on a large scale against large corporate growers. You don't see that many local cigarette companies do you?

Or we can keep wasting money trying to keep people from putting a natural substance into their own bodies as adults.

yes it would benefit our country. taxing it would bring in so much more money. the government spends so much money keeping it illegal.

Libertarian and proud of it

Yes. The only arguments against it are that it is unhealthy and that more people will do marijuana. Well, marijuana is not unhealthy. It has never killed anyone. It does not kill brain cells, and it does not decrease intelligence or motivation. It isn't physically addictive. It doesn't make people so hyped up that they run out and kill someone. So obviously, it's not that bad.
And even it was unhealthy, that is no reason to make it illegal. Why don't we make Burger King illegal? How about we regulate how much exercise everybody gets? The government should have no say in what we do with our own bodies. If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, and they kill millions of people a year, why can't a drug that has not killed one person be legal?
It's actually a lot safer than alcohol. It is a much better alternative than beer, and it could probably help a lot of alcoholics. The only reason some people drink is because it's the only legal thing out there. Make weed legal, and they can have a safer alternative to alcohol.
It would lower crime. Gangs make a killing off of drugs. That's because they're illegal and not readily available in stores. If we make drugs legal, and you can buy them in a store, gangs wouldn't control the market. The price of drugs would go down. Gangs would lose control of the market and they would eventually not be able to make a profit off of it. They couldn't use that money to buy weapons, bribe cops and recruit new members.

once is once

Yes.

Country First Always

Ally 2

No.
Studies have shown that those who use marijuana suffer memory loss over time, we have enough medical problems with the chemicals we intake, and processed foods, we don't need to encourage more..

lscole488

No. Sounds like a win win situation to legalize it and generate tax revenue from the sales. But if you look at the damage it will do to our society in loss of life, ruined marriages and families, adding to people on welfare and disabilities, health problems ect, ect. This would be more costly than keeping it illegal.

stardancer

clubbama

Hard to tax something you can grow in a pot. LOL! Besides kids are screwed up as it is, lets keep dope out of it!

aroundthefur25

No way.

It's a much better idea to instead tax alcohol and cigarettes more. We don't need another bad legalized drug wreaking havoc on our country just because the economy is in a rut.

pepperachu

anyone who says that we will advantage in taxing it is so ignorant
the revenue in taxing marijuana wont even make a scratch on the US national debt
not to mention all the extra problems that is going to plague society
we will have a bunch of brain dead slackers who don't want to do anything but sit in there homes and get stoned

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