Don't forget the epic fail case where a cop confiscates a bag of weed, smokes it in his home, calls 911 to report he's overdosing. (Which he was.) He was fired IIRC.
Whaaaaat? Can I get a source for this? This sounds like something off of Snopes. It's physically impossible to overdose off weed, you'd need to smoke so much that your lungs filled up with resin. Trust me, I've tried and failed.
I think people are delusional to think that crime will go down if it is legalized. Criminals do what they do because it is "against the law" and they get a thrill from doing it. Once marijuana becomes legalized, they'll start asking for ecstacy and crack to be legalized as well. If they don't get their way again, they'll do it on the black market.
No, this is pretty much entirely incorrect. Criminals do what they do because they WANT to and they don't care whether it's legal or not (so far as one can judge the motivations of an entire group collectively, which one can't, really). I occasionally smoke weed because I
like it, because it's a pleasant feeling that enhances my enjoyment of movies, music, and most games (edit: not to mention FOOD, you can get twice as much value out of a buffet if you toke up a doobie before you go), not out of some juvenile attempt to rebel against THE MAN. Also, "slippery slope" isn't a legitimate argument.
It's the same thing with legalized prostitution. If we legalized it, nationwide, it would no longer give people a thrill to do it. The next thrill would be child prostitution.
Once again, you are completely wrong. People go to prostitutes because they want to trade sex for cash with no strings attached. Heterosexual men (by FAR the largest customer demographic of prostitutes) are not attracted to children, PERIOD. People who are attracted to children are "pedophiles", not "straights". You don't go to a prostitute for the thrill of doing something illegal, you go because you want a quick, guaranteed beejay or whatever, and you'd rather pay the money up front instead of going through some relationship, dinner and a movie, "will she won't she" dance.
I support this as long as it doesn't get the same treatment as tobacco, with all sorts of chemicals put into it by large corporations.
Fortunately, it's a hell of a lot easier to grow weed profitably than it is to grow tobacco. In the comparatively rural area I live in, probably 5% of the Billy Bobs and Jethros I know have some growing in their corn fields or sunflower fields or out in the woods somewhere. Marijuana is a "weed", meaning it will basically grow anywhere.
The typical drug pusher however, the guy who stands out on the street corner to sell you crack, earns less per hour then working at Micky D's (which he might very well do as well.). They're in it for the hope of being the boss one day, they get paid like shit. The runners make even less.
Okay, I have to correct this. Drug dealing is hideously profitable. Even the lowest-level guys make two to three times what a McDonalds' worker does.
Around here, a pound of the cheap stuff ("regs" as it is called) goes for $600-$800 depending on who you buy it from. Ounces sell for $100. If you only sell 16 ounces a week (just over two sales a day, possibly taking you a half hour of work a day), then you are making a minimum of $800, or roughly twice what the average burger-flipper makes, while doing five percent of the work. However, only the laziest of stoner dope dealers sell a pound a week. If you live near a college dorm or any sort of construction site, anybody can easily sell a pound a day. Think about that, you can potentially make ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY selling weed at the lowest levels if you have a large enough customer base. If you're willing to do a little more work, breaking ounces up into quarter sacks or dime sacks, you can make even more profit. Not to mention, since this is on the black market, you don't have to pay a dime of tax, you only have to pay for the sandwich bags. No wonder so many people deal drugs, even with the risk of going to jail.
It only gets more profitable as you move up the chain. Also, the "harder" drugs are more profitable than marijuana, because most of those can be "cut" with impurities to increase one's profit margin.