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Definitely yes.

Leaning towards yes.

Maybe.

Leaning towards no.

Definitely no.

Undecided.

Other.

Don't care. / View poll.

[NewsMuffin]

Personally, I would like to see it legalized, but I wouldn't use it. I mean, from what I gather, it is less harmful that alcohol and cigarettes.
This may be because some of my close friends smoke it, and I don't want them to get caught.
Also, my town has to be the highest town on the east coast. Seriously, there's nothing to do here, so all people do is smoke weed and get high.
Not me though. I'm a drug free person, and will continue to be so.

Also, tobacco companies would start growing and selling it, too. That way they wouldn't be pissed about legalized weed, and gain a huge profit out of it.

I wouldn't be suprised in the slightest if the tobacco companies all had secret South American weed farms to become Big Pot in a day should the government suddenly decide to legalize it.

Exactly.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I wouldn't be suprised in the slightest if the tobacco companies all had secret South American weed farms to become Big Pot in a day should the government suddenly decide to legalize it.

[Criptfeind]

I don't know that it should be the government, but I prefer that to amoral criminals.

What other options are there? Because pretty much anything that is not criminal is part of the government and anything not governmental is criminal.

Mixed feelings about it. In one hand I don't think consuming cannabis should be prosecuted, and, indeed, even going for sellers seems a big waste of time. On the other, I don't want it being consumed en masse. The ball is still out on the full effects of cannabis on health, and personally I don't believe it doesn't share at least some of the ill-effects of tobacco over the airways, to some degree.

True, some real long term study are in order. I know it is a lot of sacrifice but I volunteer.

@Cript That statement was a little out of context. Someone said they supported allowing every drug to become legal to create a power vacuum in organized crime. I said I wouldn't support that way of thinking, and that they would move on to something else.

Sorry man, that was a quote fail on my part, I was talking to him but I failed to make that clear.

[smigenboger]

No worries.


So does anyone really consider that if it was legalized, companies could bar employment from using it, and health insurance companies could jack up your rates, car insurance companies could if you have a history of using it and crashing, you wouldn't be able to drive under the influence, not allowed in public facilities or public property, etc etc?

If you can't drink in metroparks, you probably wouldn't be able to smoke in them either. There may be less drunks on New Years. I could go on, but it wouldn't be a country-destroying deal.

[fqllve]

What other options are there? Because pretty much anything that is not criminal is part of the government and anything not governmental is criminal.

None. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. I just prefer it.

So does anyone really consider that if it was legalized, companies could bar employment from using it, and health insurance companies could jack up your rates, car insurance companies could if you have a history of using it and crashing, you wouldn't be able to drive under the influence, not allowed in public facilities or public property, etc etc?

I've heard of companies banning their employees from smoking cigarettes.

[Leafsnail]

I don't really see why they would.  I don't think there's any company that demands their workers stay completely teetotal.

[Boksi]

Cannabis does have known negative health effects. It causes problems with short-term memory formation, impairs motor coordination, reaction times and judgemental facilities, can worsen(but not cause) schizophrenia and it's technically toxic, although you'd have to be injecting pure cannabis directly into your bloodstream to even approach a lethal dose. It doesn't cause addiction like nicotine, morphine or various other drugs, as it does not cause any withdrawal symptoms, but the feeling of well-being it produces can be somewhat addictive. Overall, it's not even as bad as tobacco or alcohol.

I've heard arguments that weed is a gateway drug. Certainly, almost all hard-drug addicts have used cannabis before in their lives, but I don't think it's quite that simple. Since cannabis is illegal, it means you have to buy it from drug-dealers. And since dealing in cannabis is already illegal, most of those deal in harder stuff as well. It only makes sense from a business perspective for the dealer to try and persuade the cannabis buyer to try harder, "better" drugs since those come with an increased profit margin. You see what I'm getting at? Legalizing cannabis would, in my opinion, actually decrease the usage of other drugs. Furthermore, it would deprive organized crim of a big source of money. So I'm all for legalizing the stuff.

[The Transcendent Tyrant]

Cannabis does have known negative health effects. It causes problems with short-term memory formation, impairs motor coordination, reaction times and judgemental facilities, can worsen(but not cause) schizophrenia and it's technically toxic, although you'd have to be injecting pure cannabis directly into your bloodstream to even approach a lethal dose. It doesn't cause addiction like nicotine, morphine or various other drugs, as it does not cause any withdrawal symptoms, but the feeling of well-being it produces can be somewhat addictive. Overall, it's not even as bad as tobacco or alcohol.

I've heard arguments that weed is a gateway drug. Certainly, almost all hard-drug addicts have used cannabis before in their lives, but I don't think it's quite that simple. Since cannabis is illegal, it means you have to buy it from drug-dealers. And since dealing in cannabis is already illegal, most of those deal in harder stuff as well. It only makes sense from a business perspective for the dealer to try and persuade the cannabis buyer to try harder, "better" drugs since those come with an increased profit margin. You see what I'm getting at? Legalizing cannabis would, in my opinion, actually decrease the usage of other drugs. Furthermore, it would deprive organized crim of a big source of money. So I'm all for legalizing the stuff.

Huh, have you seen any actual scientific evidence of this? Link to studies, please. Everything I see is always, "Well, there seems to be a correlation but we don't have any hard evidence."

The gateway drug concept is epic. Especially when it's used as an argument for NOT legalising cannabis. =p "Oh, well, cannabis is a gateway drug, so it shouldn't be legalised."

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Reefer legalization is a very complicated topic. I happen to know, for a fact, that cannbis does not cause long term health problems, as my father has smoked for a solid 30+ years. But I do know that across-the-board legalization is not the solution. We need to legalize it for medical and recreational use, and charge a token tax on the item, unless it's medical weed, then dispensaries SHOULD be getting subsidies for providing a medical service to the needy. But that's my opinion.

Many rich white folks scoff at the idea that weed is, really, really, really harmless. I'm willing to argue this to the very end. Adverse health effects are caused by the smoke, not the actual drug itself. Get a vaporizer and any adverse effects to lungs are ignored.

[ChairmanPoo]

Huh, have you seen any actual scientific evidence of this? Link to studies, please. Everything I see is always, "Well, there seems to be a correlation but we don't have any hard evidence."

As I said, the ball is still out on the extent of the ill effects of cannabis. That being said, define hard evidence. If you have a correlation, and it makes sense within the known science, then you have a decent case for "X is bad".


For  what it's worth, last year when the subject came up in psychiatry class we were told that it makes schizophrenia appear earlier than it normally would, but doesn't increase incidence per se. Make of this what you will.

[Grakelin]

Make of that what I will? What I make of it is

[CITATION NEEDED]

[ChairmanPoo]

Make of that what I will? What I make of it is

[CITATION NEEDED]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[The Transcendent Tyrant]

As I said, the ball is still out on the extent of the ill effects of cannabis. That being said, define hard evidence. If you have a correlation, and it makes sense within the known science, then you have a decent case for "X is bad".

For  what it's worth, last year when the subject came up in psychiatry class we were told that it makes schizophrenia appear earlier than it normally would, but doesn't increase incidence per se. Make of this what you will.

Something along the lines of, "THC is definitely a direct cause of these troubles." Without something like that, you get lots of trouble and lots of people manipulating the results of correlations to support themselves.

The funny thing was that, when I was in college, we got warned about drugs. We got a bunch of pamphlets handed out, one of which was about cannabis. There was not a single negative effect on it. I asked the teacher about it and he looked at me like I was stupid. I demonstrated the fact that every single person in the class considered the effects either positive or value neutral and his mind was blown.

In psychology, we did a bit on cannabis. The original study on whether or not it caused schizophrenia concluded that "cannabis may be causing the schizophrenia, but it is more likely that it is the circumstances that these people are raised in that causes the psychological trauma required". It's been blown out of proportion since.

[Neonivek]

My Largest issue with any legalisation is mostly that it will cause a super influx of use... and it isn't as generally respected as a driving inhibitor as alcohol is.

So I sort of expect all sorts of terrible things upon legalisation. Though where I am it has a sort of odd legal status that I cannot honestly describe.

[Criptfeind]

Make of that what I will? What I make of it is

[CITATION NEEDED]

I always know that I have come out on top on this forum when people can't think of a way to refute my statement and decide to ask for citation instead.