What are some problems that could occur if somehow the US would legalize marijuana?

TheOrange Evil

To be honest, marijuana isn't 'good' for you. In fact, if you use it a lot, you might have some health side effects. One government study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse said that marijuana reduces your immune system's ability to fight off diseases. And sure, marijuana can make you lazy and apathetic. You could also get into a car and kill people because your judgment is impaired. For all these reasons and more, I don't smoke pot.

All that being said, what I listed above could be true of almost anything, including perfectly legal substances like tobacco and alcohol. Ultimately, you don't ban a substance because someone... SOMEWHERE! might abuse it. Name one thing people haven't abused to some extent. Individuals should have the freedom to choose or not choose what they want to do to their bodies. If a person smoking gets in a car, drives recklessly, and kills a pedestrian, then you put him in jail for driving recklessly and killing a pedestrian. We shouldn't start banning things just because their use might harm someone. If that's the single criterion to warrant government intervention, then at some point we're going to have to ban everything outside of rubber rooms.

you smell like butthole

I guess if the government did decide to legalize we would just be having too much damn fun...

Douglas K

This is a serious question that deserves a serious answer!!!!
The #1 downside to legalizing weed is traffic jams caused by the hundreds of thousands of Dominoes Pizza delivery vehicles. Other than that I cant really think of a thing.

Jim H

Then law enforcement would have to buy their own.

Linda L

I really can't think of anything more dangerous that could happen than what is already legal.

Psychiatric drugs can prompt violent behaviors especially in children.

Alcohol while drinking and driving causes accidents and I've known more violent drunks than pot smokers.

If anything I see more positives.

Jails and prisons would be free of pot smokers leaving more vacancies for hardened criminals.

There would be less criminal marijuana smuggling activities and marijuana would most likely be taxed meaning more sales taxes to fund our public schools, state hospitals etc..

There are so many pot smokers now in the U.S and the ideas behind the original prohibition were racist ideas targetting african americans and mexicans. It was imposed without the majority of Americans consent.

I think marijuana should be legal. It could be treated like cigarettes where you have to be at least 18 to buy over the counter. I am unsure about the effects of smoking marijuana and driving but it could also be treated much like alcohol where it will be illegal to smoke pot and drive. You can go home to smoke.

We can take a look at places like Amsterdam and compare. What is it like in Amsterdam? How has marijuana affected the mass populus?

I think it's time to get rid of the prohibition imposed on us by someone way back who used distorted propaganda and racist issues to promote their ban!

Act D

lets see, the war on drugs would have to be declared the failure that it is.
the DEA (and other agencies) would lose much funding, as, wow what a coincidence, the $$ spent fighting drugs and the $$ collected by selling impounded items would dry up,
the corrections institutions of the US would have to lay off guards (or more likely the guards would have more reasonable demands placed on them, they are unionized!) as the # of inmates there for marijuana related crimes would drop the total # of inmates by a large #.
hmm, maybe i argued the wrong side of this after all. <grin>

pditty

Yeah, finding negatives to legalization is difficult. A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuseâ€™s Center for Addiction Research found marijuana to be the least additive out of six drugs, including caffeine, so count out the idea that it's addictive. It is physically impossible to overdose on marijuana, and the theory of marijuana being a gateway drug is just that, a theory, and most likely the association of marijuana and the black market is what makes it a gateway-if it is even that. Marijuana is the most illicitly used illegal drug being used by 20 million American, and despite the governments "war on marijuana" those numbers have not gone down over the 30 plus years it's been in place.

I am for the decriminalization of marijuana-which is what took place in Canada. Decriminalization would allow people to be in possession of a certain amount of marijuana, and even grow a certain number of plants for personal use. This would allow our law enforcement and judicial system to focus on more damaging drugs and stop overcrowding our prisons and jails with nonviolent marijuana users (the overcrowding that allows violent criminals to be released early), and save taxpayers countless amounts of money. Plus, when advertising and big businesses get behind a drug, it's always bad news (ie- cigarette and alcohol business targeting teens), which is what would happen if marijuana was legalized.

President Jimmy Carter summed it best-"Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use"

PS-I'm not even touching on the fact that allowing people to grown their own marijuana would eliminate it from the black market, which would stop the funding of terrorism that some anti-drug groups claim there is. I'm also leaving out the fact that this would stop people who use medical marijuana from being prosecuted by our federal government. (By the way, on a molecular scale marijuana and Maranol-the medical alternative pill form of marijuana-is the exactly the same).

bbj1776

The politician would lose money, Federal, state and local police would lose money and the nice property they take.
It would be legalize if they could find a way to tax it.
Right now to many rich people are making money from it and do not want to lose the income.

B.Kevorkian

Though safer by some measures than, tobacco, and safer than heavy use of alcohol, marrijuana is still far from harmless. Legalization would presumably increase the number of people who use it casually - though it probably wouldn't much increase the number of people who abuse it. That could have some health costs, overall.

It'd also impact the businesses of certain powerful organizations known for shooting people who cut into thier profit margins. That might have consequences as well.

LadyZania

Sorry, I really don't think there are any negatives, except for the paper industry, and the cotton industry , and other industries that make a lot of money from products that can be make cheaper, and better, and more environmentally sound with Hemp! *sm*

???

It would be a lot harder to railroad the population into a war by scaring them. That would kill off the military industrial complex within a decade. Cheney might have a smile on his face. Everyone would laugh at the likes of Pat Robertson, Bill o'lielly, Scum hannity and Pusher limbaugh.

samual821

the very small number of people that would start taking marijuana, if done responsibly, would be fine. Of course there will be some who take too much, but its the principle that matters. If you're an adult you should be able to do whatever you want, as long as youre not physically hurting anyone else... including your family. marijuana is no more or less a recreational drug than alcohol is. that's a fact.

pantagruel

see ya at the SEATTLE HEMPFEST !

eric R

the government would lose the billions of dollars they make off of the trafficking thats why its not legal

Jonathan B

positives-
1. you would have alot of happier people.
2. seeing as though it is used sometimes for medicine more people would use it for pain.
3. less people would be sent to jail

negatives-
1. alot more of it would be used on the streets
2. children would be introduced to it at an early age. (would you want your six year old coming home stoned? i did not think so...)
3. drug dealers would make alot more money and use it for indecent purposes

dumdum

Bush would be drunk AND high?

Goober

If you legalize marijuana today, everybody in the whole freakin country would be shooting heroin by the end of the year

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