What do you think is the real reason our country will not legalize marijuana? Studies have shown that more people use marijuana than any other substance and that sellers make more profits from selling marijuana than from any other drug. Many people argue that marijuana is a plant that can help or even cure diseases and that marijuana is a relatively safe drug. Many studies suggest that smoking cigarettes is worse for you than smoking marijuana. So, what do you think--why hasn't marijuana been legalized by now? What are the advantages and disadvantages to legalizing marijuana?
Dea'Shanay (1:00)
19 comments:
Why is marijuana not legal yet? Because politicians who could move forward a bill to legalize marijuana are afraid doing so would damage them politically. I think most reasonable people now realize that marijuana is no more dangerous to individual/societal health than alcohol is.
(more to come)
I believe the reason that the United States does not legalize marijuana is the fact that it is a drug. I feel that it should be legalized because there are many uses of this herb that are used for good. Many people argue that weed will lead others into doing more drugs. I believe that marijuana is a drug that calms you not speeds you up and like many other drug effects. Weed is very much different than many other harsh drugs. The government is just frightened to legalize a "drug" even though there are many good uses for it.
Darci W
I think the general reason our government won't legalize marijuana, is because they don't want to blatently allow a harmful substance to the public.However, alcohol and tobacco are all around more life threatening than marijuana.Also, the money that our government would receive from users would be a ton.They would no longer be putting people in jail,which would free up prison costs,and if they taxed marijuana like we do cigarettes and alcohol, we would only benefit from it.
-Tyler Ribbe
Marijuana will be legalized eventually. Its just a matter of time. It has a potential to reduce government costs as well as increase state revenues. This will approximately increase the revenue by 8.7 billion dollars. statse such as california are close to legalizing the drug. once other states see the budgetory savings other states will be likely to follow.
Rocky V.
I think marijuana hasn't been legalized because of the generation that is still in control. They see it as a harmful drug still and don't want to find out what will happen when it is legal. It has become a popular topic in the U.S today and i do believe one day it will be legalized. Then i think one advantage of legalizing marijuana would keep prisons from being overcrowded. Then for one disadvantage of legalizing would be since it is out in the public kids would start smoking at a younger age and would be able to get it easier than it already is.
Jared (1:00)
I believe the reason our country hasn't legalized marijuana is because once it becomes legal it won't be as popular for people to want to have. People get a thrill out of doing stuff they shouldn't be doing
I believe the reason for not legalizing marijuana is the the word--drug. If politicians were to pass a law does that mean they are drug addicts? It's like prohibition for alcohol--you know politicians drank but they kept fighting to keep it illegal. I have seen the positive results of pot on people with health issues and mental unbalance. I would much rather be sharing the road with someone under the influence of pot rather than someone under the influence of alcohol. It is better for someone with anger issues to indulge in pot smoking instead of consuming alcohol--which increases their anger.
Peg B.(1:00)
The obvoius answer to why it isn't legal yet is that it is all a big money game when it comes to the United States government.The disadvantages to legalizing it, for me anyway, are mostly health related.The short term effects of using it are many, problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, loss of motor coordination,increased heart rates, and trouble with thinking and problem solving. Even worse are the long term effects of using it, such as CANCER!! Marijauna has some of the same carcinogenic ingredients as the chemicals found in ciggaretteS. Only 5 joints equals the full pack of ciggs, there are incidents of obstructions of lungs and airways, and pneumonia, and it impairs the ability of T-cells in your lungs immune system to fight off infections. Under U.S. lawsince1970, it has been a schedule 1 controlled substance which means, in it's smoked form-IT HAS NO COMMONLY ACCEPTED MEDICAL USE! However there are still dummies out there trying to scream "medicine" and not doing adequate research to back up their claim. Data has shown that"pot"smokers show the samelack of coordination on the standard drunk driving tests as the people who were drinking. It effects your concentration, coordination, and reaction time-JUST LIKE ALCOHOL. When the government found that thc, the active ingredient in marijauna,also known as tetrahydracanabinol,had medicinal quality, it meant in pill form to ease nausea, and some pothead somewhere started screaming "its like medicine dude" from the rooftops and people just ran with it like the dummies that they are. Do your research people. The effects are just as bad as ciggarette smoking, its just that most researchers assume that you will smoke less pot than you would ciggarettes. Yet in rel life, people who arent studying up on the subject end up smoking pot daily and then suffer the repercussions of it later. DUH!! Is it a gateway drug? No, not necessarily, however, all you dummies out there who think its ok to smoke it end up feeling ten feet tall and bullet proof after awhile, somewhat more bold than before, and that lil devil sittin on your shoulder tells you"well pot aint as bad as they said, so i bet such and such ain't bad either!" DUH AGAIN! while it may not be completely bad...it isnt good either. I love some of the other comments for this particular passage. It is so easy to tell who gets high and who doesn't. I can't wait to see what condition some of them are in in 5 or 10 years from now, when their tolerance level has gone up so much that half of every paycheck goes to supporting their drug habbit and they wonder why they are always broke. That is if they even have jobs. It really does kill any good amount of motivation a person might have . And I really feel ssorry for the people who use itto be"social". QUIT FOOLING YOURSELVES! Are those the types of people you want to be social with? wait til you owe the $100 bucks for that last ounce they fronted you and they threaten to burn your damn house down or beat you up. does that sound social enough for you? WOO HOO! Lets socialize!!As far as the benefits go, it makes a pretty good rope. There used to be a rope factory somewhere along route 45 between thomasboro and rantoul, and lots of young potheads who here those old stories still scour the area between the tracks and the highway looking for a plant that may have been missed. The thing is, they arent even smart enough to distinguish between a male or female plant. One gets you high, the other is used for rope because its fibers in the stalk are so strong.As I originally stated though, it is all a big money game. The government has over 3000 acres of marijuana growing in the state of Alabama, with armed guards guarding it every 20 feet, and they crop it 3 times per year and sell it to people in the field of medicine. They are making so much money from it themselves that if it were to be legalized, the price would go down and they would make less money off of it.M.S.Humes
For the person who made the long comment at the bottom, well some of your stuff is right, marijuana does have harmful effects on the body no one is saying its good for you. Its not really a medicine but it can be used for something to treat things like glaucoma and nausea. Some patients who have cancer get prescribed THC in the form of a pill or in a form of food. But you seem to be stereotyping all potheads as crazy drug people that act like they got sucked into the crack world. You are putting a view on all potheads from potheads you see on TV. Not all people who smoke pot are "dummies" who feel like they are ten feet tall and lose all the motivation they have. Those are people we call "burn-outs" people can be like that that even if they are sober, not every pot head is alike ya know.
And you are right some serious potheads in 20 years may have a terrible memory but you wont see them on a death bed with a ventilator in their throat or getting a kidney transplant. Pot isn't good for you but its not terribly bad either.
Nikki (1:00)
i think marijuana should definitely be legalized. yes, it is still a drug, but if there is any drug that is the safest, marijuana is it. cigarettes kill you; alcohol kills your liver and kidneys, cause fatal car accidents, beatings & such; pills wreck your liver as well; the harder drugs like crack, cocaine, heroin, etc., well they are worse than anything else. i think if the government were to legalize marijuana, a lot of the crime rate would go down, but hey, maybe the obesity rate would rise. oh well, if people are too fat to get up and go out and kill someone, then murder rates would go down as well, haha. ok, seriously though, i think if they legalize it they should package it, tax it, and sell it like they do a pack of cigarettes. it seems to me the only reason the government hasn't legalized it, is they make a lot of money off of it already by busting people, throwing them in jail, and slapping hefty fines on them. they have the idea that if you bust a weed smoker, they will most likely lead you to dealers of the harder drugs, and that's what they really want off the streets. i think if it was legalized, this country would be a MUCH happier place, bottom line. i get some of my best ideas when i smoke, maybe congress should sit around and pass around a few blunts, joints and bongs during one of their sessions...maybe they will come up with a plan of how legalization could help solve our national debt problem!
Melinda
I do not think the country should legalize marijuana. I do not think that making it legal will solve any problems. Yes, the drug dealers make a lot of money off of selling the drug but I think this is only because it is illegal. While some people believe that medical marijuana is a good solution for patients struggling with diseases such as cancer and AIDS, I do not think that there is enough research to show that it is really helping them. I am sure that there is another drug that could be used to help cancer patients with the pain and AIDS patients with the hunger.
Morgan Russian
I believe marijuana should be legalized in this country. It is without a doubt safer than alcohol and alcohol is legal. It is often used as a medicine and can have many beneficial contributions to the body. Hemp is also another reason that marijuana should be legalized. Hemp can grow anywhere and is one of the strongest materials on the planet. The legalization of marijuana is a very political issue and too long of one to go into over this blog. All in all marijuana is safer than alcohol and hemp is one of the most useful plants on this planet so why is it still illegal?
Brett Scott (11:00)
I guess I do not have much of a background with this topic because I have never done drugs. The nice thing about alcohol is that after work you can stop by the bar or a friends house and have a beer or two. With that little amount of alcohol you are not impaired, where as if you stop by a friends house to smoke a joint than you are high and should not be on the road.
Clayton B. (11:00)
I think marijuana is not legal because the government doesnt get anymoney or tax for the sailing of the drug. If the government would be making money then by all means they would love the drug to be legal, but however no one in the government wants to be known for making the drug legal. I think marijuana is just as dangerous as alchol because it does harm people just like alchol does and if your not carful with the consumption of eather it can seriously harm your body.
tyler farmer (11:00)
Marijuana is a drug and you say it isn't bad well then how bad is coke, meth, or steroids for you. I mean does anybody know the long use effects of weed? Whats so bad about coke it makes you feel good to does it not? I mean doctors even use steroids so why not let athletes use them in significant doses? I mean if you legalize marijuana then you are gonna want something else legalize. Also if you did legalize weed pot heads wouldn't have anything to talk about any more that would be a plus. Also it marijuana that is the gate way drug cause after you see how good if feels to get high on it you want to try something a little better and stronger. I really don't believe it can cure diseases. But I feel like after you make it legal just make coke and other drugs legal to.
Micah
I don't think that marijuana should ever be legal. Legalizing it would not lead to people wanting something else legalized. It would start a pattern that would only get worse.
Landon W 11:00
I don't see why marijuana isn't legalized, people hear drug and they think crack and heroin but they forget that alcohol is a drug too and its consumed everyday. Marijuana can actually help medically so why not use it?? we want to make our country healthier, so why not legalize it so that it can happen? And cigarettes are worse than marijuana, they tar your lungs while marijuana doesn't. I don't see a problem with legalizing it.
~Lauren (11:00)
I think that because people think it's so bad right now, that politicans don't want to risk their votes by legalizing it. Today, something so small can be made into something terribly big. When there are other big problems besides this one. If it's legalized, there will be young users who want to start. But it might slim down, because like alcohol, their given a responsibility, and they use it well.
-Daniel D (1:00)
Weed is not a very dangerous drug, i don't think in any sense. I think they don't wnat to legalize it because they are not sure how they are going to control it. For example they don't want everyone going around smoking and being high all day. yes it has its positive affects in some cases but it definitly affects people differently and it could backfire and change things a lot if people were always getting high. I feel cigarettes are really bad and if people smoked weed as much as cigarettes it definitly would be worse. It would be worse i think because you cough when you smoke so i assume it's tougher on your lungs, but i would like for weed to be legalized.
-jake rone-
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