+287 We should legalize marijuana. It's a victimless crime. No, you can't get high just by being in the same room as it. It's healthier than cigarettes. It would bring in tax dollars and take the funding away from violent gangs/organized crime, and maybe then our police force can work towards stopping domestic violence and other, more harmful crimes, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Anyone who votes this down is either painfully ignorant, or is taking it personally because they happen to know someone who smokes that they don't like. Anyone who has any idea at all what they're talking about know that the "war" on marijuana was lost decades ago, that it wastes billions every year, and that our law enforcement has plenty on it's plate without persecuting people whose worst crime is lack of motivation. Grow up and educate yourselves, instead of listening to the ancient propoganda they force-feed you at school.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I agree with everything but "It's healthier than cigarettes." We don't know the long term effects of marijuana just yet. Conflicting reports have come out of whether it predisposes you to lung cancer, strokes, or many other diseases. We just don't know whether it's healthier than cigarettes. Also, remember 50 or 60 years ago when people thought cigarettes were perfectly healthy, that could be the same thing with marijuana.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I also heard that it might cause schizophrenia >_< or is a gateway drug to other stuff...but hey, I still want to see how it would effect society and the economy if it was legalized. I want to try it too :D

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It doesn't cause schizophrenia, it makes those who are already susceptable to it more susceptable to it. And it's thought of as a gateway drug because it exposes people who deal higher drugs to them. If it was legalized, then that worry will go clean away.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No dude, it makes schizophrenea worse in some cases, not causes it. And out of everyone I know that smokes pot, 90 percent of them haven't tried and don't want to try anything else. What you hear is called propoganda, or in my opinion brainwashing.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Actually, marijuana is much worse for your lungs. The average joint has up to 40 times as much tar as the average cigarette but since people don't usually smoke marijuana as frequently as cigarettes, the long term effects aren't as bad.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Au contraire, most marijuana has no tar whatsoever. Cigarettes are filled with chemicals (carcinogens) which make it way way worse for you. Pot isn't typically mixed with anything.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Anything that's smoked has tar in it, it doesn't have to be chemically added to the marijuana. But that was a mistake in the amount, it should be about 7 times as much tar.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Marijuana has no tar in it, as mentioned by GrammarGirl. And pot cannot cause schizophrenia. I don't think it can really even enhance schizophrenia if you have it. LSD on the other hand......

by Anonymous 13 years ago

speaking from experience... I have smoked a cigarette before and smoked marijuana. thumb this down if you will, but with cigarette smoke it like clings to your throat and is nasty, whereas marijuana smoke just glides in and out.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

We're talking about long term effects here. As in, how will the marijuana effect you in 30, 40, 50 years?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

yea but there are about 6 types of cancer that THC cures

by Anonymous 13 years ago

.....if used properly.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

California is going to vote to legalize it or not in November. If i could vote, i would vote for it to be legalized. Thee reasons: 1. What you said. 2. I want to see how it would effect California. 3. i want to try it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Actually, there have been studies about the risk of cancer from smoking pot; they're just not done in the US, because the federal government keeps the one source of weed for research in the country under as tight a grip as the pentagon, and anyone looking to do research that might undermine their fragile little house of lies doesn't get any. Not using gov. approved pot = research not gov. recognized. It is amazing the lengths that this country has gone to in order to conceal the fact that all the statistics used to get it banned in the first place were partial truths, if not outright fabrications. Conspiracy theorists would have a field day with what our government has done with pot. The problem is, now real information is anyone's for the having, with a simple search, so it's falling apart. We'd do well to just man up, admit we made a mistake, and fix it NOW before it destroys anymore lives. Marijuana laws do FAR more damage than the non-toxic little plant could ever do alone.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There have also been reports saying it has no long-term effects by reputable scientists.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbc2NaLuv1A

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I didn't even have to click that link to know what it was. I love that song, so catchy.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

how about this one... i love it :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daRC0sQj5fw

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Pot heads should be crammed into prisons. America is already fat useless and drunk we don't want to add drugs to the list.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't know many overweight potheads.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

yeah! forget those insignificant murderers and rapists; prisons are for potheads!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hmmm... And to think people complain about their tax dollars going to the military...or to hospitals... Just imagine how much we would spend if we imprisoned everyone who smoked pot. (BTW all your live music would be gone. Perhaps not all, but most. Unless you like Christian rock. :P)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It does not, ever, "cause" schizophrenia; that is old propoganda from the "reefer madness" days. And it's not the "gateway drug" either. If anything takes that dubious honor, it is cigarettes or alcohol. Also, if you didn't have to deal with shady characters to get your pot, the likelihood you'd be in a situation to do other stuff or get hurt goes almost entirely away. Most people who smoke pot do not do other drugs; saying that just because people who get into "hard" drugs probably have smoked pot first, and that's why they became a crackhead, is as plausible as saying that crackhead became one because he drank coffee first. It's just stupid.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I wonder what it is that makes you so "useful", ridiculous name... your ability to make ignorant and hateful comments about people you don't know from behind a computer? I say, we have enough of those... let's throw idiot trolls in prison, too. @shmad: Alcohol kills more people and ruins more lives than all illegal drugs COMBINED. And what do you mean "throw their lives away", exactly? What, they didn't throw themselves into a career and make their whole lives about money? Because, contrary to what they tell you in school, your career and money are not going to be what makes you happy in life. Are we talking about legal troubles, perhaps? Because decriminalization would solve that problem, obviously. The chances that someone could actually "destroy their life" because of pot, and it *not* be related to legal problems, are very slim. So, if what you're talking about is the way your other relatives gossip and say hateful things about how they don't do much with their lives;...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Um.. Apparently people are too ignorant to realize that you can experience the effects of weed if people are smoking it in the same room as you. And they ALL overlook the fact that weed combined with legal substances (alcohol) and other broken laws (drunk driving) would lead to more bad decisions.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

lmao it's called Fish Bowling a room. you guys ever hear of that?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

In California it's called Hot Boxing:D

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No. Actually you can't. You'd have to be in a room the size of the car with the windows locked down and the A/C turned off with at least two people smoking to get a contact high. It's really, really hard to do, and you'd have to go out of your way to make sure other people would get high too. Also, making it illegal didn't fix the problem. Just like prohibition. It's getting sold. It's getting sold a LOT. There's a HUGE underground market for it. Maybe it's just me, but people that are stupid enough to get high and drive are stupid enough to buy it when it's illegal too. There's a ton of people who WOULD use it responsibly, and so instead of funding gang violence, we'd be funding education and healthcare reform.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Actually, you can test positive on a drug test from passive use. And, if you can test positive on a drug test for it, then it has effected you on some level.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Gee the paranoia in here is higher then the OP at the time of posting. It is a gateway drug as after a while you become tolerant of your dose and need more and then stronger. If you have any slight history of mental health problems they get brought out by the drug. Being under the effects do make noticable difference on your work. Just because it costs lots to fight does not mean it is a pointless war. Cancer cures. HIV and many more problems cost lots to fight. The only two groups of people who tend to fight for legalisation are those abusing it or those who just wish to stick a finger up at the Government.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Your first three points apply to alcohol, also. Would you propose making that illegal, also? Because the Prohibition worked about as well as law enforcement attempting to fight marijuana right now.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I'm part of neither group you mentioned by the way. I've never smoked marijuana but know many people who have, and I'm often frustrated with the government, but I don't want to "show them who's right". I just see an option to fix part of our economy. More tax dollars, more jobs, new companies, whole new market....Instead of importing it from other countries and buying it from people typically engaged in other forms of crime.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't care if they legalize it or not to tell you the truth. I don't smoke anyways..

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Wow, you *almost* sound like you know what you're talking about, Camallunt... except, apparently you don't even know what "gateway drug" means, to start... no one is saying people should be high at work or while driving, as well. If you had any idea, you'd know that people who favor legalization also favor regulation that is as strict, if not more so, than what is placed on alcohol. Also, it is a pointless war because for all the money spent, absolutely no real progress has *ever* been made. Fighting diseases doesn't even compare, on any level, so that was just retarded. No one goes to jail for having cancer. And your last paragraph is the most ignorant of all, because it classifies all use as "abuse"... what you don't know is thousands of perfectly average-seeming, hard-working, tax-paying, family-supporting people smoke pot sometimes. The idea that the most common type of "pothead" is the completely useless layabout is just as false a stereotype as any other, when you ar...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

...are dealing with real people. Also, two of the biggest professions that SUPPORT legalization are law enforcement and medical. So why don't you go spout your outdated ideas somewhere they don't have internet, so they can easily see how wrong you are.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You are a brilliant person.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Alcohol shoul be made illegal. I am sick of ppl who make 'i was drunk/high' excuse. And to who ever was quoting that alcohol kills more than all illegal drugs combined, shall we make heroin cocaine legal they don't kill as many as alcohol and alcohol is legal right?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They tried making alcohol illegal. The Prohibition. It failed, because nobody cared what the government said. Kind of like drugs now.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The people who abuse it will seek it out anyways. People who are self-destructive WILL find another way to destroy their lives and the lives of others. It's not the drug/alcohol that's poisoning them. They're already broken and groping for an excuse.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

xD thank you Cameron, even if that was meant sarcastically. I get a little fired-up over this issue... as people here are saying they've seen people's 'lives ruined' well, so have I. But not by a plant, oh no... by laws based on lies, supported by the ignorant, and enforced by the corrupt. It needs to STOP. You're absolutely right... we apparently learned nothing from prohibition. All organized crime in this country can trace it's roots back to Prohibition, and most of what we have now is rooted in drugs. By legalizing pot, we can decriminalize a very large and almost entirely harmless section of our population, and also start funneling that money back into our country, where it can do good things, instead of it lining some mexican drug cartel leader's pocket.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You're welcome, I wasn't being sarcastic. I completely agree with you.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You're exactly right again Cameron; laws that are obviously based on lies or that don't make any sense create what is referred to as "contempt for the law"... and it applies to marijuana laws now just as it did to alcohol ones back then. People don't want the government to be their daddy and tell them what they can and can't do "for their own good". People should be free to pursue happiness in whatever way they choose, as long as it doesn't infringe on anyone elses happiness. That reminds me, the igmo who mentioned "contact" high- just know it would take about 8 people each smoking their own joint at the same time in a closed closet with you to actually get you high. If you have felt or know someone who says they have felt this under less intense circumstances... it was most likely power of suggestion. The brain can create a "stoney" sensation, if you're expecting/worrying about it, regardless of actual intoxication. The human mind is amazing like that.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Here is a good idea for you: watch videos of people smoking weed and probably your brain will create that 'stoney' sensation. Everybody wins.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well said, shaanarora =) Might as well say eating cake leads to ice cream addiction xD And w/e tickles yer pickle, weird name. I don't have a reply button and I'm not even beginning to type that gibberish out.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well said, shaanarora =) Might as well say eating cake leads to ice cream addiction xD And w/e tickles yer pickle, weird name. I don't have a reply button and I'm not even beginning to type that gibberish out.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Aaaah, stupid refresh! @shmad: well, I just wanted to know what made you think those people's lives were ruined... I don't think being odd or spaced-out really qualifies. Being broke does suck, but that can happen for a myriad of reasons... I'd bet a closer look reveals a more expensive habit causing the issue, like drinking or gambling. Even if not, you have to realize that there are *so* many people that smoke; people you would never guess, who just have to keep it quiet out of fear of persecution. Not because they're doing anything dirty, or wrong, or hurtful to anyone; just because some laws set in place 70-80 years ago that were racist in nature, originally... when pot was made illegal, barely anyone knew what it was, only that the mexicans brought it with them *eyeroll*. Anyway, so a little research... it's interesting reading, and I guarantee you'll come away suprised.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Losers who need substance abuse to be happy. What can go wrong?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

do you know what the word abuse means?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

maybe modern music would be somewhat ok

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How can weed be cancer causing when there are states that use it to help with cancer patients & other health issues?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I, personally, think it should be legalized. I have never smoked, and I never plan on smoking, but I think it'd be beneficial to legalize it. -More tax money to the government -More jobs [people could grow it] -And it does help cancer patients. It's better for you than alcohol, because you don't become addicted, and stopping suddenly won't give you serious problems [with alcohol, quitting suddenly can kill you]

by Anonymous 13 years ago

the ones who vote yes are just smokers <3

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Incorrect. I voted yes, and have never smoked.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I've never smoked it, or plan to, and i voted yes. Lets just put it this way: People have the right to be stupid.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I didn't bother reading all these comments but what I always say is, yes please legalize it because some people's personalities just need it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Pot is unhealthy and has psychological effects. You don't need chemical stimuli to have a good time.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Did you hear anyone saying that you need it to have a good time?No. It's just for fun.If you haven't tried don't talk about it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I've never tried it because I happen to like my brain cells. And if you don't need it to have fun...then why use it? Pot changes people. And not for the better.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You also don't need friends to have fun so why have them? Unless YOU tried can't say how is it affecting your brain but yea you could believe what they say in school. But in the end how is legalized marijuana affecting you?If you don't like it don't do it.Same goes for alchool it's just that drinking makes you violent as opposed to marijuana which just makes you happy.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I have seen how it affects people, including people in my family. If your idea of being happy is sitting around with bloodshot eyes and acting like an idiot, then you really need to get out more.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If your idea of being happy is sitting around with bloodshot eyes and acting like an idiot, Correction: If your idea of being happy is sitting around with perfectly normal eyes and having so much fun and laughing a lot then ...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

why don't you tell that theory to my stand partner, who comes high to band a lot. She certainly isn't having fun and laughing.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Pot has some positive effects too...reggae music, for one...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

NO. If marijuana was legalized, then people would be high while driving. Which is bad, in case you hadn't realized.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Haha, people that are high on pot are gonna be driving 10 mph under the speed limit, They won't be much of a hazard. Alcohol is way worse when driving.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

thats like saying if alcohol was illegal people would stop drunk driving

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I wish they would legalize it so all the potheads would shut up.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It should be legalized for the same reason that alcohol and smoking are legal. The anti-marijuana laws just promote a nanny state in this country. If someone wants to destroy their lives with marijuan, that's their choice. If they want to smoke every now and then just to chill, that's their choice too.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

uhh all these people are being stuupid. no one said you need it for a good time. anyone who's smoked probably does it to chill and relax because for the most part it just mellows you out. i agree, people who actually abuse it make it seem terrible, but honestly you cant judge it until you've experienced it. doing it casually or every once in a while is fine (to me at least) as long as you dont let it control you. aderrr.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

People who are high are safer on the road than people who are drunk. If you're drunk you run stop signs, and if you're high you wait for them to turn green.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You actually can get high from being in the same room as someone smoking it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Legalizing marijuana to stop illegal use of the drug is like giving my purse to a thief because I don't want him to steal it. So I don't believe that that is an effective argument... just saying.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Wow kid who said a smoking driver waits for a sign to turn green, you didn't make a point except that you're an idiot. High drivers may focus better but being high slows your reflexes. You don't react as fast as you normally would. I've smoked enough to have an opinion on it. I'm not saying it should or shouldn't be legalized, cause I don't know enough about what would happen to make an opinion but I will tell you what I know.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Take a joke dude. The whole 'waiting for the stop sign to turn green' is on a sticker.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@StephenieisAmazing: You can actually check your "facts" before you post them as such; it is theoretically possible to get high off second-hand pot smoke, but *extremely* unlikely, as you would have to hotbox an extremely small space in order to do it, with lots of smoke. Sitting in the same normal-sized room with people smoking a joint, or even joint after joint, will not do it, unless someone's blowing smoke directly in your face, and even then you'd have to be actively trying to inhale it. If you think you got high, it's just your imagination, I guarantee.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I know people who have failed drug tests after being in the same room as someone smoking marijuana. (I know you may say that these people were lying to me and had actually smoked themselves, but these are people I know well and trust.) Therefore I think there has to be some effect.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@Addycat: your opinion. I know plenty of people who got happier and calmer after discovering pot.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

im just gona move to hawaii or cali problem solved

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I've smoked before and driven. I'm not dead, nor was it that difficult to drive. My close friend graduated in the top ten percent of his class with an international baccalaureate diploma, and he smokes marijuana almost everyday. Yes it should be legalized. I feel sorry for people who believe all the crap they tell you in school. Maybe college will enlighten you.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

pot also kills millions of brain cells, so if we legalized it, that would make pretty much everyone else in america, as stupid as you dipshits who think we should.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@ 451003 : My friends who smoke are incredibly smart actually, you "dipshit". And I mean smart as in getting full scholarships to the colleges of their choice and pursuing careers in biology and the medical field. Shut the fuck up about that bullshit theory already.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

people dont like marijuana cause the govermnent lies

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@Anonymous(#451289): Anyone who says they got dirty on a drug test from nothing but "contact" is a biiiig fat liar, sorry. Unless they consider sitting in the middle of the circle and sucking up everyone's hits "passive" *eyeroll* You can actually take a real hit or 3 from time to time and still pass drug tests; marijuana builds up in your system, and disappears very quickly without that buildup. If you had any clue what you were talking about, you'd know that. Believe me; I *do* know. And for anyone who claims smoking pot makes you dumb- ha. I would pit my brains against any of yours, any day, and I've been a mostly-daily smoker for years.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because, of course, you automatically know you're smarter than people you've never even met, simply because you disagree with them. -end sarcasm-

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@Addycat: no, I don't *know*; I'd be willing to test it, anytime. Saying I'd pit my brains against anyone's is all that means. So, try being snarky when there's a real reason to, instead of assuming things and helping prove me right.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How about we just get rid of everything that can be smoked,and dispose of alcohol. The world would be a better place.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Uhm you all are retarted. Car accidents caused by people under the influence of any such substance can be horrific. You're also giving burnouts the right to potentially turn your your family into vedgetables. Red asphalt anyone?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah, but alcohol is legal, and drunk driving is still illegal. People who drive high are still slightly safer than those who are drunk. It's illegal to drive high, and it would still be illegal if marijuana is legalized. Again, the people who are irresponsible enough to drive high are already using it....Making it illegal doesn't fix that problem, as unfortunate as it is.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's ok, GrammarGirl... some people are so doggedly convinced everything their teachers and parents tell them is right that not only do they simply have no interest in learning the truth, it makes them angry when it's in their face. News flash, kiddies- pretty much everyone who wants to smoke, does. There is no reason to believe that legalizing would cause any kind of increase in car accidents; especially since studies done in the UK show that people driving under the influence of pot are almost indistinguishable from sober; the only part where there was any measurable difference was manuvering a figure-8 turn. I dunno about you guys, but where I live, I've never even seen one of those. Marijuana does *not* cause traffic fatalities. I challenge you to find one, single, reputable statistic that can attribute acute marijuana intoxication with even one death. You can save yourself the trouble; there aren't any. You can't OD, and those ridiculous commercials talking about drivers...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

... in accidents testing positive leave out one crucial detail; just because you have it in your system does NOT mean you're high. A regular smoker with a normal metabolism will test dirty for a month without smoking... so those commercials are totally misleading, and their stats irrelevant. Basically, what I'm saying is- educate yourself, or stfu about subjects you know nothing about.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

People who smoke pot are complete fags. They depend on weed to have a good time.

by Anonymous 13 years ago