Holy moses, long comment coming up! Part is a rehash of the same old discussion we have each time. Part is new. No offense taken for tl;drs.
For those saying that cannabis is somehow immoral, I would ask you to please provide evidence for this. I’m serious. I would like to see your specific claims as to why a consenting adult smoking a plant in their home is equal in scope to the abusive crimes of having sex with children. If it is not equal, then why, @TenaciousDenny, are you bringing this strawman into the argument? I will kindly ask you to refrain from making such baseless accusations in the pretense of having a rational discussion.
Simply look at how cannabis became illegal in America, most of your guys’ country. This is well documented fact (yes, never trust a Wikipedia page, but if you’re really interested find the references and read it for yourselves). The campaign in America was based on racism against Mexicans, and any “evidence” brought forth about the awful destructive capabilities of marijuana are absolute lies. Reefer Madness, my friends. Look more into why the plant was banned: it’s non addictive, provides relief, you can grow it in your back yard, the hemp fibers can be used for all sorts of things. All of these are verifiable facts. In fact, up until the 1920s, cannabis was one of the world’s most grown and cherished crops. Then it was grouped in with the rest of drugs which actually DO do serious damage to you and demonized.
I will now answer your questions point by point, @TenaciousDenny, in a non-accusatory or inflammatory fashion. Ah, logic and cool heads prevail :)
should all other drugs be legalized as well?
No. Other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, meth, are seriously dangerous drugs that have serious long term repercussions. Cannabis and Psilocybin mushrooms are both grown completely from seed and not chemically processed in the least bit. They have been demonstrated to not be habit forming, not have serious long term negative effects, and is generally better for you than smoking cigarettes. Note, all smoking is bad. The active medical ingredients in cannabis can be consumed orally via cooking it in oil or butter then using that butter in baked goods, in a tincture, in a spray, and via a vaporizer which burns only the active ingredient, thus you don’t inhale the plant matter.
You may bring up the gateway theory, so I’ll go ahead and debunk that now. It doesn’t exist in the way you think it does. Yes, some people who try cannabis go on to try other drugs. But a lot of that is cauesd by them hearing the government tell them all their lives that weed is bad and will rot your brain. They become disillusioned with the government, and assume that other drug warnings are similarly fake. When in reality, other drugs can and do fuck you up beyond anything. We’ve all seen the faces of Meth photos (Google it if you haven’t). There needs to be information coming from the government that admits that the previous stance on cannabis was not justified. But getting the government to admit it’s wrong is a pretty hard thing to do!
Where do you draw the line between what should be legal and what shouldn’t be? And what about prostitution?
Here is how I do this. If the act involves two consenting adults, who am I as a non involved third party to judge or disallow their actions? The simple answer is you have no right to judge or allow/disallow behavior when it does not affect you. Bottom line. End of story. Two homosexual people having homosexual sex in their house does not affect me or you, thus we have no right to deny them their freedom. Come on, it’s in your constitution is it not, everyone’s guaranteed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedom? So long as your rights are being respected, you have NO right to judge other people’s behaviours.
Prostitution falls under this, so long as the prostitute is a consenting person. Sadly, nowadays this is sometimes not the case. But this is because the activity is hidden and illegal. If there was a Prostitute Registry Board where a girl or guy could register if they wanted to, and have a profile on the webpage or whatever, there would be far less pimp and ho situations. Proof for this is seen in the consequences of alcohol prohibition and the explosion of the size of the mafia. Please read into that for further details.
Legalizing all of these would definitely stimulate the economy, but bring down the “moral compass” of America, if you will.
What moral compass? I’m serious, please show me this compass. Because I’ve never heard of anything like it beyond your Constitution, which (and I’m a Canadian so forgive me for not knowing this off the back of my hand) clearly separates church and state – which is where most of the “moral compass” argument stem from.
Bottom line is my morals are not your morals, so why are we obliged to live by each other’s rules? The simple answer is we are not. If I enjoy hiring a prostitute and smoking cannabis while having sex with multiple people at the same time in the privacy of my home, and this does not affect you in the least bit, please tell me why you are justified in telling me my actions are somehow “immoral” and harm you.
The economy is in a desperate place. It needs to be stimulated. The economic impact of legalizing production and consumption of cannabis can only be imagined. We’re talking billions of billions of dollars here, not only in tax, but in business creation, and best of all your police can stop apprehending victimless crimes, your prisons can stop holding these people who do nothing but smoke a plant, so much money and resources could be saved. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
For those saying that pot “rots your brain”, such as @futurelaker88, I’m sorry to say you have been successfully affected by your government’s propaganda. Cannabis does not rot your brain in any sense of the word. It does not destroy brain cells beyond your regular activity in life. If you say these things you NEED to provide scientific data to back up your point. Otherwise, you are not contributing to the rational discussion, but merely rehasing the talking points instilled into you.
Every single adult pot smoker I know, and I am one, are fully functional and strong contributes of society. I am a university graduate who is employed at one of the largest technology companies in the world. Your evidence is sadly subjected to confirmation bias, as well as “correlation does not equal causation”. Just because your friends who smoke pot do not actively live out their lives as you somehow think they’re obliged to, does not mean that their smoking pot is what causes this behavior. It could be that these people like hanging out in their basements watching MTV, and that pot smoking happens to fit into these activities nicely.
And the last point I always end this comment on. Alcohol. Alcohol kills many people each year, causes billions of dollars in damage, and is a massive problem for many people in the world. Why is this illegal, and helped by the government in some cases (Ontario’s alcohol stores are all government-run, for instance), when so many deaths happen? Let me say this loud and clear. Marijuana itself is not lethal. You cannot smoke yourself to death, you will pass out before you can eat that much. Caffeine is more toxic. Alcohol is way more toxic. Every other drug is more toxic. Cannabis is not. Explain this to me, and then explain why cannabis should not be made legal.
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