Marijuana education

Here's my interpretation of marijuana. Please let me know if you agree/disagree (please have something to back it up with, otherwise I'll perceive it as empty and ignorant):

1) The health effects of smoking pot recreationally are no worse than those...

of drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes (probably not close to as bad, if used responsibly)
2) If legalized and taxed, the economy would benefit tremendously - both through taxation and by ending the money-draining war on drugs
3) The debate against legalization of pot seems to focus on problematic pot smokers vs One-Glass-of-Red-Wine-ers, instead of either pot-heads vs alcoholics or responsible users of both categories.
4) The individual (and responsible) consumption of ANY drug ought to be legal (oh where oh where has my freedom gone??)

Thanks everyone, I look forward to some answers!

No problems there for me either...

Prohibition has already been proven to be unsuccessful...

Agreed

Yep... the problem lies not with the drug itself, but with the individual's lack of self control...

I agree so long as it is only legal for adults.

agree!..but you know how it is..the government wants you numb

I bet the people that made it illegal never tried it!

corporations is what made it illegal so they could eliminate weed from the competition
people would grow their own medicine and this could put corps out of business so they made up lies about it for their own selfish needs

These are some of the comments I have copied from a forum

-pharmaceuticals are known to kill more people than illegal drugs

-marijuana is the number 1 cash crop in the world
it serves as a natural medicine and has many other uses
thats why they prohibited it so big companies can make more profit
thanks to bad journalism

-can also help aids patients, aids diminishes appetite
have them smoke a joint and they regain their appetite counteracting the illness

-no one can die from smoking cannabis and has been no known deaths compared to everything else including alcohol, tobacco, etc..

I myself have asthma and smoking opens up my airways making it easier to breathe with no side effects
when medically legalized in my state I look foward to becoming a patient for prescription marijuana. 12 states have already legalized it along with other countries in the world and more following
my job is to educate people that are not aware of the plants uses

re-legalize!

-I did most of my research through websites, books, magazines, and the news
norml.org
high times magazine
etc..

- theres more to it than just getting high
and I believe legalizing it would make this a better world to live in

-God bless the whole crop!

- and for people that dont smoke, you dont need to smoke it to support it

-all the better reason for the government to legalize..
couple reasons why it should be legalized:
-will be removed from black market and stop empowering gang members
-medical reasons
-would be sold like alcohol, remember alcohol was once prohibited too (in stores away from children, have to be 21+)
-would be a law that you cant drive while intoxicated on weed
-prison population would lower (prisons are overcrowding with nonviolent offenders)
-keep patients from being convicted
-would provide millions of jobs for people
-would make us an independent country (fuel, etc.., debt free america)

people with an addiction (including hard drugs) shouldnt be thrown in jail, they need help
theres more people in jail with mental illnesses than there are in mental institutions

the list goes on

- the War on Drugs is a failure, its a war on its own people. policies need to be changed
we pay billions in taxpayers money to keep the war going and neither side is winning
thats just a waste of our tax money
I wonder what they do with all that money..
those greedy bastards just sell drugs back onto the street, you can even check urself on that
there was a time when there was a cia operation transporting drugs overseas into america
the government also provided Rick Ross with plenty of heroin to go around, course making money from it

the truth must be exposed, theyre dirty work must stop!

-Of course we can do something about it, we all just need to unite
screw the federal government
remember slavery?
if no one stood up im pretty sure it would still be going on
people were tortured, beaten, killed and thrown in jail but that didnt stop them standing up for their rights
eventually slavery was abolished
same with alcohol prohibition
eventually became re-legalized

- its like theres some kind of conspiracy going on
I sense the government is up to no good and trying to control us.
credit cards, money, and now they have chips that can be implanted in skin for uselful reasons but if in the wrong hands well were pretty much fuct
they hiding the truth from us
its dangerous to be right when the government is wrong
they got theyre privacy but we dont. they want to know everything were doing on our leisure time

get up stand up!

- marijuanas not anti-establishment because its illegal, its illegal because its anti-establishment

all facts stated have been double-checked and confirmed
want to learn more?
norml.org
americandrugwar.org
hightimes.com
lets all make this a better place to live in!