Legalization of marijuana/weed in the US

[Habib]

Hi all,

Just wanted to hear your thoughts about the legalization of weed in the US and if you support it or not.

Me, personally, I support it. I've never smoke or drank before in my life, but I believe that they should legalize it because of the following:

1) The US government probably spends over $15,000 annually for maintenance on one prisoner. Multiply this by the number of people behind bars for marijuana possession and there is easily billions of $ that the government is spending that could have been used to do something more sensible like building roads, creating anti-drug programs, etc.

2) Studies have shown that there is not much difference (in the long-run) between people that smoke weed and people that don't smoke weed. Of course, weed has an immediate effect, and I don't think that anyone would jump on the drivers seat after just smoking a joint. And of course everything in excess is bad, but then that's true for not just weed, but for everything else, like KFC, Wendy's, McDonalds, chocolate bars, french fries, etc.

3) I think it is a sheer waste of time for police officers to be looking for marijuana possessors, when there are more worthwhile things that could be done with their time, like looking for murderers, and other more dangerous crimes. If they stop looking for people with weed they can devote more time to looking for criminals doing more dangerous things.

4) If they legalize weed, companies can actually make it. This means that they can make it cleaner and they can do a much better job at regulating it by taxing it, just like the way that they tax cigarettes and alcohol.

5) Cigarettes kill way more people in this world. If that is legal in every country, why can't weed be? Cigarettes have killed way more people by causing cancer.

My thoughts. What do you guys think?

[AYHJA]

My response to this argument is always the same...Whenever someone can tell me a specific and logical reason as to why weed is illegal and alcohol is not, I'll be a huge advocate for keeping it illegal...

I don't smoke, and when I did smoke, I was never much of a weed smoker...But to each his own...I'm sure alcoholism is a much more dangerous disease than whatever they call it when you're a big time weed smoker...Stoner maybe..? Ionno...Plus weed has tons of other useful purposes...I can't think of no other use than recreation for alcohol...

They should legalize weed and let the sales pay for healthcare...

[Aemeth]

it has nothing/very little to do with the "smoking weed" situation...

http://www.thc-ministry.net/untoldstory/hemp_5.html

[Habib]

Marijuana Myths[center][/center]

Myth: Today's marijuana is more potent and more harmful than it was many years ago.
Fact: There is no medical evidence that shows high-potency marijuana is more harmful than low-potency marijuana. Marijuana is literally one of the least toxic substances known. High-potency marijuana is actually preferable because less is of it consumed to obtain the desired effect; thereby reducing the amount of smoke that enters the lungs and lowering the risk of any respiratory health hazards. Claiming that high-potency marijuana is more harmful than low-potency marijuana is like claiming wine is more harmful than beer.

Myth: Smoking marijuana can cause cancer and serious lung damage.
Fact: There chance of contracting cancer from smoking marijuana is minuscule. Tobacco smokers typically smoke 20+ cigarettes every day for decades, but virtually nobody smokes marijuana in the quantity and frequency required to cause cancer. A 1997 UCLA study (see page 9) concluded that even prolonged and heavy marijuana smoking causes no serious lung damage. Cancer risks from common foods (meat, salt, dairy products) far exceed any cancer risk posed by smoking marijuana. Respiratory health hazards and cancer risks can be totally eliminated by ingesting marijuana in baked foods.

Myth: Marijuana contains over 400 chemicals, thus proving that marijuana is dangerous.
Fact: Coffee contains 1,500 chemicals. Rat poison contains only 30 chemicals. Many vegetables contain cancer-causing chemicals. There is no correlation between the number of chemicals a substance contains and its toxicity. Prohibitionists often cite this misleading statistic to make marijuana appear dangerous.

Myth: Marijuana is a gateway drug--it leads to harder drugs.
Fact: The U.S. government's own statistics show that over 75 percent of all Americans who use marijuana never use harder drugs. The gateway-drug theory is derived by using blatantly-flawed logic. Using such blatantly-flawed logic, alcohol should be considered the gateway drug because most cocaine and heroin addicts began their drug use with beer or wine--not marijuana.

Myth: Marijuana is addicting.
Fact: Marijuana is not physically addicting. Medical studies rank marijuana as less habit forming than caffeine. The legal drugs of tobacco (nicotine) and alcohol can be as addicting as heroin or cocaine, but marijuana is one of the least habit forming substances known.

Myth: Marijuana use impairs learning ability.
Fact: A 1996 U.S. government study claims that heavy marijuana use may impair learning ability. The key words are heavy use and may. This claim is based on studying people who use marijuana daily--a sample that represents less than 1 percent of all marijuana users. This study concluded: 1) Learning impairments cited were subtle, minimal, and may be temporary. In other words, there is little evidence that such learning impairments even exist. 2) Long-term memory was not affected by heavy marijuana use. 3) Casual marijuana users showed no signs of impaired learning. 4) Heavy alcohol use was cited as being more detrimental to the thought and learning process than heavy marijuana use.

Myth: Marijuana is a significant cause of emergency room admissions.
Fact: The U.S. government reports that marijuana-related emergency room episodes are increasing. The government counts an emergency room admission as a marijuana-related episode if the word marijuana appears anywhere in the medical record. If a patient tests positive for marijuana because he/she used marijuana several days before the incident occurred, if a drunk driver admits he/she also smoked some marijuana, or if anyone involved in the incident merely possessed marijuana, the government counts the emergency room admission as a "marijuana-related episode." Less than 0.2% of all emergency room admissions are "marijuana related." This so-called marijuana-causes-emergencies statistic was carefully crafted by the government to make marijuana appear dangerous.

It was pretty interesting. It's from the site you posted.

Source:

Code: Select all

http://www.thc-ministry.net/untoldstory/hemp_6.html

[AYHJA]

Thinking about smoking a little weed, Habib..? :laff:

[Habib]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, lmao, nice one Ayhja :D

Well, reading these articles definitely doesn't help in terms of pulling away from the temptation! Haha, it sorts of gives you confidence and encourages you. To tell the truth, I have thought about "trying" it a few times, lol but I'm just too innocent of an old guy (19 years old, soon to be 20) SO far...no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking, virgin, etc.

Trying to see how far I can go with that. :p

[Aemeth]

Heh, sounds like you got a cautious head on your shoulders...That is good, because to enjoy certain things in the right way, you need a degree of maturity. These young cats are crazy, right Ayhja? Heh

(I'm 20 Habib...lol)

Here are my opinions for anyone who cares:

Don't drink until you fully understand that you don't have to drink to "escape" something, as the fundamentalists propose. AND you have drinking buddies who share this mentality. I drink with some guys at school, and we purely drink just to lighten moods, have fun and unwind. That's all. It is a blast. I also have been at parties where the opposite is true. It's not bad, just not how I would want to start drinking. I try to explain this to my mom and she insists that I am trying to escape something and alcohol is just a cheap fix, etc. Nah mom. Lol

Considering weed was banned for such blasphemous reasons, saying you shouldn't do it because it is illegal (and God ordains government...?) holds no weight with me. Ive never smoked anything other than hookah, which sucked lol, but that's bc I don't like the idea of inhaling anything. Though I rarely get around to it, I don't have a problem with weed, especially for spiritual reasons.

Sex: Wait till it is with someone you can HONESTLY say you would we willing to spend your life with (no infatuation-been-together-8-months shit). I am an emotional passionate person and casual sex is too problematic for my Atmosphere and Kweli-flooded brain lol.

Sorry for the long post I just relate to you a lot Habib and have been going thru similar thoughts the last year or 2. Maybe my words will help :)

[Habib]

Thank you for the comment and concern, Aemeth.

All of what you said is true. Well, I never gave a though to ever drinking alcohol because of I was always disgusted by the terrible smell. The only two times that I went to a club here, there has been some point where some hot drunk girl came to me and start dancing, and wanted to start kissing -- as much as good looking as they are, I had to resist due to the terrible smell from the mouth.

As for sex, man...I'm not even on that level yet. LoL, my FIRST blowjob, I lasted 5 seconds or so, and till date, I think the best I could ever stay is 3 minutes.

Ha, so many hot girls here in my university here in Canada though -- crap, a lot different here than where I grew up in Oman.

[AYHJA]

Dude, just keep getting head, lol...If you can get away with just getting head and not fucking, keep getting head..! Sex is overrated, trust me man...It's good, but like Aemeth said, it really is worth it to wait...Shit will change from 20 to 23 and from 23 to 25, etc...You don't know what you want wifey to be like...You will be different, want different things...The idea of living with someone and starting a life with them is often far more pleasant than the actual deed...My personal rule of thumb is not not sleep with anyone you can't imagine being pregnant and having your child...Shit happens...If you can't see an accident happening an this girl being in your life forever, leave the dick where it be...

Wow, a 5 second BJ...Man, I'd give my baby toe to get a hoover like that...You probably need to jack off more Homez...You have to learn to control that to a degree, because believe me, if the head gave you a rush, the first piece of pussy you get might blast her across the room...Having sex never gets old, I get excited every time like its my first time man...It's awesome, but very overrated...

[Habib]

LoL Ayhja, you are a very funny man, you entertain me.

Well, I never believed or agreed with the idea of jacking off. I don't like/make any involvement or self-contact with my dick UNLESS in these circumstances: peeing, taking my bath.

It is just so weird man, and gay! :)

But yeah, I'm not exaggerating the 5 second stuff, lol. It felt too good I don't know how it happened. It was a good friend of mine though (a friend with benefit) so she was cool with it. But she gave me a weird "WTF?" type kind of look.