Just want to say that those statistics are not effective claims for why marijuana should be legalized (the claim is "because alcohol is legal, marijuana should be too"). Alcohol is available nearly at any store, and is accessible to pretty much anyone of any age. Marijuana usage (of some type) is available in only 23(?) states. In states where it is illegal, it is expensive and hard to come by (people usually resort to illegally purchasing the substance). As a result, less people have access to large amounts of marijuana, meaning there are less people "high" on marijuana than there are people drunk every minute.

The legalization of marijuana would lead to a few things (in terms of those statistics): access to marijuana to all people would increase, meaning younger people have easier access to the substance (even if it was made for 21+ only, younger people would still have easy access). Producing of marijuana goes up, allowing more and more people to purchase it, causing its price to ultimately go down due to more and more being cheaply produced, further increasing its access to people. The amount of people "high" undoubtedly goes up, resulting in more daily fatal car accidents. Overdose, assaults, violence and crime go up in correspondence to the rising amount of marijuana usage; this results in more deaths caused by marijuana, completely altering those statistics.

More people will obviously die from alcohol each year than from marijuana because alcohol is accessible in more places than marijuana is. That's why I personally do not think those statistics are reasonable forms of support for why marijuana should be legalized.

tldr; "Marijuana should be legalized because alcohol is legal and more people die from it than marijuana" isn't a good claim

Just my two cents.  

Posted by Distorted_P2P

It WAS my solution for depression, that was the entire point of what I posted. I eventually got a medical card for it, it's also a lot healthier and builds less of a dependency, then your, "medical solution".

And I didn't say you should drive high, I just stated the obvious fact that it is WAY less dangerous than drunk-driving.

And no offense, but your friends must be ****ing ******ed if they can ruin their lives just because they smoked weed. People always are under the false assumption that weed is the reason people mess up their lives, but really it's the user. Because people typically associated with weed are morons (because of it's bad reputation) then they assume weed is the cause, when in reality it serves no part in the events, unless however the user is a really big idiot and just bases their whole life around weed.

Weed has been proven countless times to not be harmful to your mental, and barely to your physical. The test that said it can harm your lungs was performed so long ago and the subjects (monkies) were in a room deprived of oxygen and only THC being pumped in. Of course they'd lose brain cells, most of the rumors about weed (not all, it'd be ignorant to say that) are simply fabricated.

Posted by TWIZ

My brother is the best driver I know other than my dad, and he smokes it up while I'm in the passenger. He's just as good of a driver, if not better, since he doesn't road rage. In other words, it helps him act in reason of logic rather than anger, allowing him to function better.

I wouldn't doubt it if he ever smoked before an autocross race.

JS there are exceptions, so some topics cannot be generalized.

Rep+  

Weed isn't a gateway. It's the user who makes the dumb decisions to do ******ed drugs  

Posted by Colin

Great maybe he can drive good for him, but not everyone is your brother and saying driving while high is good and not a bad thing to do because it's "better" is not acceptable and will just make people think they are alright to drive when they aren't.

"Under no circumstance should someone drive while high or drunk, trying to convince young teenagers otherwise is stupid."

I see you've changed your generalized statement.

Anyway, I'm not exactly for it. I mean, there are healthier alternatives to most of the benefits people tend to link to weed. I think it's ridiculous to compare to alcohol, as it's a completely different drug, with completely different side effects, and completely different methods of dosing (if that's the right word).

Thanks for the reps anyway lol  

Posted by Its_Nanner

Weed isn't a gateway. It's the user who makes the dumb decisions to do ******ed drugs

Becauase people like you make it sound like the greatest thing ever so they try it (weed) and want to try more and more drugs to reproduce the feeling they got while high because weed can easily become an addiction.

You guys have to realize weed affects everyone differently and for some it can be damaging and this is why I am against legalizing it, I'm not going to bring up personal stories in my life on Graalians but I've seen more than enough to know weed can have negative impacts.

Even suggesting it as a fix for depression is bad, don't mix depression with mind altering substances it can be very dangerous for some people.  

Posted by CM

Just want to say that those statistics are not effective claims for why marijuana should be legalized (the claim is "because alcohol is legal, marijuana should be too"). Alcohol is available nearly at any store, and is accessible to pretty much anyone of any age. Marijuana usage (of some type) is available in only 23(?) states. In states where it is illegal, it is expensive and hard to come by (people usually resort to illegally purchasing the substance). As a result, less people have access to large amounts of marijuana, meaning there are less people "high" on marijuana than there are people drunk every minute.

The legalization of marijuana would lead to a few things (in terms of those statistics): access to marijuana to all people would increase, meaning younger people have easier access to the substance (even if it was made for 21+ only, younger people would still have easy access). Producing of marijuana goes up, allowing more and more people to purchase it, causing its price to ultimately go down due to more and more being cheaply produced, further increasing its access to people. The amount of people "high" undoubtedly goes up, resulting in more daily fatal car accidents. Overdose, assaults, violence and crime go up in correspondence to the rising amount of marijuana usage; this results in more deaths caused by marijuana, completely altering those statistics.

More people will obviously die from alcohol each year than from marijuana because alcohol is accessible in more places than marijuana is. That's why I personally do not think those statistics are reasonable forms of support for why marijuana should be legalized.

tldr; "Marijuana should be legalized because alcohol is legal and more people die from it than marijuana" isn't a good claim

Just my two cents.

Well not every person is just going to get up and buy a joint.

Laws that prevent minors from using legal drugs are enforced and legalizing weed won't exactly plunge the nation into anarchy.  

Posted by 5hift

Well not every person is just going to get up and buy a joint.

Laws that prevent minors from using legal drugs are enforced and legalizing weed won't exactly plunge the nation into anarchy.

Must spread

Posted by Colin

Becauase people like you make it sound like the greatest thing ever so they try it (weed) and want to try more and more drugs to reproduce the feeling they got while high because weed can easily become an addiction.

You guys have to realize weed affects everyone differently and for some it can be damaging and this is why I am against legalizing it, I'm not going to bring up personal stories in my life on Graalians but I've seen more than enough to know weed can have negative impacts.

Even suggesting it as a fix for depression is bad, don't mix depression with mind altering substances it can be very dangerous for some people.

I was using a personal experience to express my point, the irony of the matter however is that you not three posts ago brought up two different personal experiences.

And please state these personal experiences, because if you ask anyone who has tried it, I guarantee most of them will describe it with enthusiasm. And unless you live in some kind of afterschool special I bet my ass you don't have a negative experience.

Other than your meth head friends who started doing intense drugs because they smoked something that supposedly makes everyone paranoid already, and I guess hardcore drugs that **** you up are the result of paranoia, right?  

Posted by 5hift

Well not every person is just going to get up and buy a joint.

Laws that prevent minors from using legal drugs are enforced and legalizing weed won't exactly plunge the nation into anarchy.

A large amount of people who don't smoke marijuana now will very likely make some type of purchase of it.

"Hey, look at this thing that everyone is talking about, I'm going to try it out. Also, it's legal!"

Also, enforced laws are great and all, but underaged drinking is illegal as well, and how many minors drink each year? It's a lot of them, and marijuana will not be an exception.

It's easy enough for enforced laws to be avoided; really, all a teenager has to do in order to even gain access to alcohol is to just take it from mom and dad's alcohol cabinet. I'm not saying every minor would do this, but that's just an example of how accessible it is - marijuana will become the same.  

Posted by Colin

I have been high before numerous times and in a vehicle with a driver who was high, stop thinking you guys are good at driving high because you aren't you just think that because you are HIGH.

I don't want to live in a society where a go to solution for your problems and bad feelings is to go sit around and do drugs (which can act as a gateway into other drugs and bad behavior - as shown by you), you act like weed was the only option you had when you voluntarily turned down an actual medical solution to your depression.

You guys hype weed and act like it's the greatest thing out there that magically makes everyone go happy feel good better people but it doesn't.

I have seen so many friends get into this stuff and end up ruining parts of their life they end up regretting.

Under no circumstance should someone drive while high or drunk, trying to convince young teenagers otherwise is stupid.

Anyone who actually needs it can legally get it with the way the current system works, and IMO should be how it stays.

Are these not personal experiences?  

If you're using the argument that marijuana shouldn't be legal just because alcohol is, because alcohol is harmful too, I expect you to be against alcohol legalization. Otherwise I don't understand your points.  

Posted by CM

A large amount of people who don't smoke marijuana now will very likely make some type of purchase of it.

"Hey, look at this thing that everyone is talking about, I'm going to try it out. Also, it's legal!"

Also, enforced laws are great and all, but underaged drinking is illegal as well, and how many minors drink each year? It's a lot of them, and marijuana will not be an exception.

It's easy enough for enforced laws to be avoided; really, all a teenager has to do in order to even gain access to alcohol is to just take it from mom and dad's alcohol cabinet. I'm not saying every minor would do this, but that's just an example of how accessible it is - marijuana will become the same.

So you're saying that because some kids will take it that it should be illegal? What about bleach, rat poison, other dangerous household needs, are you saying these should all be illegal because some kid might take it from their parents?

It's insanely easy to get weed either way, some people don't like breaking the law though, are you saying they should be denied something that could possibly help them because some kid would steal it?

Yeah. Makes sense.

Posted by Yog

If you're using the argument that marijuana shouldn't be legal just because alcohol is, because alcohol is harmful too, I expect you to be against alcohol legalization. Otherwise I don't understand your points.

Most people saying that is simply using alcohol to express that we should be able to make our own decisions, or supposedly.  

I'm totally against legalizing marijuana. However I don't support the drug war or possession being a criminal offense.

I also can't believe anyone honestly thinks that driving under the influence of marijuana
A. shouldn't be a crime
B. doesn't endanger other people on the road
C. improves your ability to operate a vehicle

As someone who has had to suffer being driven by people under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana (two separate events), I can say that driving high improves your driving just about as much as driving drunk.  

Posted by Distorted_P2P

Must spread


And please state these personal experiences, because if you ask anyone who has tried it, I guarantee most of them will describe it with enthusiasm. And unless you live in some kind of afterschool special I bet my ass you don't have a negative experience.

Me stating I've done it and was in a car with a high driver is not stating a personal experience - it's me answering a question you and Goten asked.

You guys have heavily flawed logic and I don't need to go into detail about personal things because I can already tell you will all have stupid replies about it, but, I can tell you that I feel better when I am not high and being high for me is boring because I already feel great regardless of being in an altered state or not.  

Posted by Distorted_P2P

So you're saying that because some kids will take it that it should be illegal? What about bleach, rat poison, other dangerous household needs, are you saying these should all be illegal because some kid might take it from their parents?

It's insanely easy to get weed either way, some people don't like breaking the law though, are you saying they should be denied something that could possibly help them because some kid would steal it?

Yeah. Makes sense.

Well firstly I never even said marijuana should be illegal. I just said that the claim "marijuana be legal because alcohol is" doesn't work because of multiple factors that I already described.

Secondly, your analogy with household cleaning items doesn't make sense because drinking bleach will hospitalize you. Marijuana has a chance of not, and children take alcohol from their parents with the intent of having fun/looking cool. A child with intent of drinking bleach or rat poison should probably see a therapist.

And thirdly, again, never said that. Also I don't know what weed will do for you medical wise that an actual prescribed drug won't do. Most people do weed with the intent of feeling good - not curing their depression.

So, yeah, it does make sense.  

Posted by MrSimons

I'm totally against legalizing marijuana. However I don't support the drug war or possession being a criminal offense.

I also can't believe anyone honestly thinks that driving under the influence of marijuana
A. shouldn't be a crime
B. doesn't endanger other people on the road
C. improves your ability to operate a vehicle

As someone who has had to suffer being driven by people under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana (two separate events), I can say that driving high improves your driving just about as much as driving drunk.

How can you say that? Because some ****head crashed his car under the influence? Yet there's millions of people who drive a day stoned and don't crash their cars, yet it's insanely likely that under the influence of alcohol you will crash.

I can't believe I have to keep reiterating this, but I don't see anyone here blatantly saying that driving under the influence of Marijuana is good, we're simply stating that it's easier as a positive as opposed to alcohol.