Should Cannabis be legalized, regulated, and taxed for those over 21?

[leibowde84]

Remember, a schedule 1 narcotic is one that has NO MEDICAL USES. Thus, it cannot be medically tested. Just the fact that the substance can help children with epilepsy drastically reduce the amount of seizures they have on a daily basis seems reason enough to remove it from Schedule 1.

All I ask is, if you have an opinion on this, back it up with statistics rather than subjective, personal experiences. We all know about the possibility of abuse and availability to kids, but please make sure to weigh that agains the harms that prohibition has caused (black market, drug cartels, billions spent on law enforcement, lives ruined with a criminal record, etc.).

 

[Father Heathen]

It makes no logical sense for cannabis to be illegal when far more unhealthy, addictive, and dangerous substances like tobacco and alcohol are not. On top of that, it's an affront to the ideal of liberty to punish people for something that neither victimizes nor violates the rights of others. It's like locking people up for eating junk food (it's harmful to your health, afterall.)
Legalization, regulation, and taxation is the only sensible course.

Sources: norml.org & erowid.org

 

[Poisonshady313]

In 2012 the CDC put out a survey that shows more high school kids smoke pot than cigarettes. Obviously, being completely illegal hasn't had the desired effect of keeping it out of the hands of underage users.

Drug dealers have two aims. 1. Get money. 2. Don't get caught.

Store clerks have two aims. 1. Get money. 2. Don't break the law, or else risk losing the ever so profitable ability to sell cigarettes, beer, lottery tickets, etc...

Give the power to sell pot to the people who check IDs and refuse to sell to minors, and you'll see a positive change in underage pot use.

 

[HonestJoe]

Remember, a schedule 1 narcotic is one that has NO MEDICAL USES. Thus, it cannot be medically tested.

It can be and is medically tested, as it should be. There is no reason to primitively remove cannabis in general from the schedule before (or even after) clinical treatments developed from or based upon it are developed (indeed, a couple already have). Welcome to CMCR

The major issue I have with cannabis in particular is that there is a massive push for "medical marijuana" as a cover to make it more available for recreational use. A clear distinction needs to be drawn between to two regardless of what the proposed outcome for either is.

I've no huge objection to decriminalisation or even legalisation for recreational use but I don't believe either would make any significant difference to most of the issues related to it. Heavy restrictions and/or taxation would support a continuing black market but greater freedom would support things like continued use by children and other vulnerable people.

Prohibition certainly hasn't been the magic answer but I'm not convinced such an answer exists, however much some proponents might like to imagine it does (and we know how detached from reality their imaginations can get ).

 

[bain-druie]

There is no medical reason for cannabis to be a Schedule 1 drug, and good reasons it's medically ideal for testing and appropriate use; not least among them the fact that there is no lethal dose. (That is, it's not physiologically possible to absorb enough of the drug at once to cause death.) It is a clear case of politics that cocaine and opiates, in contrast, are Schedule 2. Potential uses for cannabis in medicine are numerous; as well as being effective in treatment of seizure disorders, it has well-proven palliative effects in alleviating pain, anxiety, and sleeplessness. The importance of rest and a lack of stress in the recovery process [whether it's recovery from injury or acute illness, or even chronic illness] would be difficult to overstate.

I'm not jumping on any hysterical bandwagons about THC curing cancer; at least not until there's scientific evidence widely collaborated for such a conclusion. Nonetheless, it has great potential use in medicine.

*Edit* Forgot to include a source - Marijuana Overdose

That said, cannabis is like any other psychoactive agent in that it will always carry the danger of addiction, especially to those with addictive personalities. That, however, is a separate problem; when alcohol with its much higher level of lethal potential [not to mention less-than-lethal health affects, in particular liver problems] is legal, there is no logical reason for cannabis not to be.

 

[sun rise]

I voted for decriminalization. Almost any substance can have medical uses. And there is and should be medical research into the ingredients. Any drug that has medical benefits and is prescribed under the supervision of a doctor to treat an illness is fine with me.

But as someone who saw a PhD go up in smoke due to excessive drug use, I know first hand that it's far from harmless. The will and energy sapping qualities caused me to just want to spend my life smoking dope (and there's a reason it's called "dope") instead of everything else. And in spite of the propaganda, you can have withdrawal symptoms if you've been a heavy user. Fortunately I woke up to what the drug was doing and quit.

I also don't want to see business pushing yet another drug putting profits ahead of the harm the drug can do including negative changes in the brain - see the Time story I referenced below.

But I also think it's stupid to throw people in jail for using it.

Recreational Marijuana Smoking Causes Abnomralities in Young Brains
Marijuana - Marijuana Use and Effects of Marijuana
The Health Risks of Smoking Marijuana

 

[leibowde84]

I voted for decriminalization. Almost any substance can have medical uses. And there is and should be medical research into the ingredients. Any drug that has medical benefits and is prescribed under the supervision of a doctor to treat an illness is fine with me.

But as someone who saw a PhD go up in smoke due to excessive drug use, I know first hand that it's far from harmless. The will and energy sapping qualities caused me to just want to spend my life smoking dope (and there's a reason it's called "dope") instead of everything else. And in spite of the propaganda, you can have withdrawal symptoms if you've been a heavy user. Fortunately I woke up to what the drug was doing and quit.

I also don't want to see business pushing yet another drug putting profits ahead of the harm the drug can do including negative changes in the brain - see the Time story I referenced below.

But I also think it's stupid to throw people in jail for using it.

Recreational Marijuana Smoking Causes Abnomralities in Young Brains
Marijuana - Marijuana Use and Effects of Marijuana
The Health Risks of Smoking Marijuana

The question isn't "what will the harms be if we legalize marijuana?" It must be "what good has prohibition done?" We must compare the harms you describe with the murder that prohibition of all drugs has caused in our surounding countries and our own.

 

[leibowde84]

I voted for decriminalization. Almost any substance can have medical uses. And there is and should be medical research into the ingredients. Any drug that has medical benefits and is prescribed under the supervision of a doctor to treat an illness is fine with me.

But as someone who saw a PhD go up in smoke due to excessive drug use, I know first hand that it's far from harmless. The will and energy sapping qualities caused me to just want to spend my life smoking dope (and there's a reason it's called "dope") instead of everything else. And in spite of the propaganda, you can have withdrawal symptoms if you've been a heavy user. Fortunately I woke up to what the drug was doing and quit.

I also don't want to see business pushing yet another drug putting profits ahead of the harm the drug can do including negative changes in the brain - see the Time story I referenced below.

But I also think it's stupid to throw people in jail for using it.

Recreational Marijuana Smoking Causes Abnomralities in Young Brains
Marijuana - Marijuana Use and Effects of Marijuana
The Health Risks of Smoking Marijuana

Junk food, soda, cigarettes, porn, social media ... all of these things can have negative effects if abused. Do we really have to punish those who can use things responsibly in order to protect those who can't. Or, can we treat citizens as adults and allow people to make stupid decisions?

 

[Laika]

Voted Decriminalised. Decriminalization would help reduce the U.S. prison population which has exploded as the result of mandatory sentencing for drug related offenses. I don't see a point in potentially ruining someones life over it and getting them involved in something more serious. even if cannabis is a gateway drug, prisons are still basically a place to go where you learn how to beak the law regularly.
I am not in a position to assert that Cannabis should be legalized as I'm not well informed enough. What little I do know is that there have been no deaths as the result of Cannabis use. Otherwise, I'm on the fence and taking the side of caution.

 

[sun rise]

Junk food, soda, cigarettes, porn, social media ... all of these things can have negative effects if abused. Do we really have to punish those who can use things responsibly in order to protect those who can't. Or, can we treat citizens as adults and allow people to make stupid decisions?

I don't consider a fine as real punishment.

But the real question is a libertarian one. To what degree do we tolerate the social costs of people making stupid decisions? The unhealthy lifestyles of some people raises my health insurance bill, for example.

And the question is where to draw the line. Dope? Heroin? Nowhere?

 

[Deidre]

It will remain illegal, cuz there's more $ in it remaining illegal.

 

[leibowde84]

I don't consider a fine as real punishment.

But the real question is a libertarian one. To what degree do we tolerate the social costs of people making stupid decisions? The unhealthy lifestyles of some people raises my health insurance bill, for example.

And the question is where to draw the line. Dope? Heroin? Nowhere?

Your reasoning makes no sense, as, if it were valid, you would be in favor of making junk food, motorcycles, sky diving, and other dangerous habits illegal. I don't understand why marijuana gets special scrutiny when junk food doesn't.

 

[sun rise]

Your reasoning makes no sense, as, if it were valid, you would be in favor of making junk food, motorcycles, sky diving, and other dangerous habits illegal. I don't understand why marijuana gets special scrutiny when junk food doesn't.

So where do you draw the line?

 

[leibowde84]

So where do you draw the line?

They should all be legalized, regulated and taxed.

 

[Poisonshady313]

I don't consider a fine as real punishment.

But the real question is a libertarian one. To what degree do we tolerate the social costs of people making stupid decisions? The unhealthy lifestyles of some people raises my health insurance bill, for example.

You already completely tolerate the costs of people making stupid decisions, it just impacts a different bill. Taxes pay for prisons, feeding and providing medical care for inmates... many of whom might never have ended up in a hospital as a result of their substance usage.

The money is going to be spent on these people one way or another. The question is, how will they be treated? Like criminals? Or like patients?

 

[leibowde84]

You already completely tolerate the costs of people making stupid decisions, it just impacts a different bill. Taxes pay for prisons, feeding and providing medical care for inmates... many of whom might never have ended up in a hospital as a result of their substance usage.

The money is going to be spent on these people one way or another. The question is, how will they be treated? Like criminals? Or like patients?

Or we could tax cannabis sales and make money.

 

[sun rise]

You already completely tolerate the costs of people making stupid decisions, it just impacts a different bill. Taxes pay for prisons, feeding and providing medical care for inmates... many of whom might never have ended up in a hospital as a result of their substance usage.

The money is going to be spent on these people one way or another. The question is, how will they be treated? Like criminals? Or like patients?

The OP question had three choices, not two.

 

[Poisonshady313]

The OP question had three choices, not two.

Fines or jail time still boil down to treating pot users like criminals, so all three choices were accounted for.

 

[Altfish]

It will remain illegal, cuz there's more $ in it remaining illegal.

How does that stack up?
There is much money to be made/saved by legalising cannabis (and other drugs): -
1. Sell it in shops and reap the tax income
2. Savings on police time chasing minor drug dealers/users
3. Saving on police time chasing thieves who need to steal to fund their habit.
4. Saving on court times
5. Saving on prison space and costs

You also have the opportunity to talk to and discuss the issues with the drug users who when buying the product are not afraid of being arrested.

 

[Sunstone]

I think if you're going to legalize cannabis, you need to cap its THC content at around ten percent or less. An acquaintance of mine is an ER doctor who was also a proponent of legalization here in Colorado. In the twenty years he worked ER before legalization, he didn't see even one case of THC overdose. But within a few months after legalization, he was seeing an average of one THC overdose a week. The difference? With legalization, THC levels in cannabis soared.