Should Marijuana Be Legal?

[Smallc]

I'm not arguing against legalization though - never have!

The problem being, of course, that Harper is.

[Hal 9000]

The problem being, of course, that Harper is.

Yeah, but he has talked about decriminalizing.

[Smallc]

Yeah, but he has talked about decriminalizing.

Two years ago. Certainly not now. The Conservatives are on the wrong side of quite a few social issues on the radar at them moment, unfortunately.

[eyeball]

As I said before, if someone votes Liberal for economic reason, fair enough, but if ones sole purpose is to vote Liberal based on marijuana laws - they are truly a nitwit.

Perhaps, but adding jumping up and down on people's backs for no good reason to a list of good reasons for not voting for a party that will happily do so is a very smart thing to do. So what's your problem?

[Canada_First]

I want pot laws in Canada like those of Spain. Legal to grow, possess, consume. No limits.

[Canada_First]

I want to fight for good policy. Putting drug dealers out of business is much smarter than wasting time and money dragging them through the criminal system.

You'll never put areal drug dealer out of business. They'll just move to another drug. People who don't make thier money legally won't suddenly wake up and get a 9 to 5. That pie in the sky thinking that's not based in reality Imo.

[Smallc]

You'll never put areal drug dealer out of business. They'll just move to another drug.

Though far too many people do coke, you'll never get as many people to buy coke as weed. They're already selling that anyway.

[Canada_First]

Not as stupid as voting for the CPC for their economic record.

tge CPC us the only party showing any form of control at all.

The other 2 main parties are promising everything to everyone with no plan to pay for it. Doesn't that sound crazy to anyone else?

I do agree that we need a change from Harper but is Mulcair really the best choice for Canada right now? Does Canada need to increase immigration to 500k a year and raise spending by billions?

[On Guard for Thee]

tge CPC us the only party showing any form of control at all.

The other 2 main parties are promising everything to everyone with no plan to pay for it. Doesn't that sound crazy to anyone else?

I do agree that we need a change from Harper but is Mulcair really the best choice for Canada right now? Does Canada need to increase immigration to 500k a year and raise spending by billions?

And where did you get those numbers I wonder?

[Canada_First]

Though far too many people do coke, you'll never get as many people to buy coke as weed. They're already selling that anyway.

You'd be surprised. You have the young kids doing E, Special K and Oxys. Teens and young adults graduating to heroine and coke and rock. Mostly white guys do powder while blacks who will gravitate towards rock.

Plus nowadays Crystal is starting to show up with young people too.

Throw an assortment of Rx drugs in there and you can see that one has many sales choices.

[Canada_First]

I'm African. I know about drugs. They do a drug called Tik over there. Nasty shit. Makes them very crazy.

[eyeball]

Mixing up pot laws with coke laws is like mixing up pellet gun laws with sub-machine gun laws.

[eyeball]

I'm African. I know about drugs. They do a drug called Tik over there. Nasty shit. Makes them very crazy.

Hmmm, we give Tik to our combat-pilots.

[Smallc]

You'd be surprised. You have the young kids doing E, Special K and Oxys.

I promise, I know far more about that than you would ever want to imagine. Most people never move past weed, or return to it. Organized crime will lose their main business with the loss of marijuana sales.

[dre]

I promise, I know far more about that than you would ever want to imagine. Most people never move past weed, or return to it. Organized crime will lose their main business with the loss of marijuana sales.

The real shame here is the myopic focus on marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized and taxed... no question about it.

But we need to look at other drugs as well. Cocaine, meth amphetamine, and heroin should be decriminalized, and criminal persecution should be replaced by midemeanors with small fines attached (similar to parking tickets or seatbelt fines)... money that could be used to make treatment readily available. And the entired recreational drug consumption management file should be taken out of control of departments of justice and moved to departments of health.

This would drastically reduce consumption, and drastically reduce the ammount of drug related deaths and drug related HIV transmission.

At this point it should be clear to everyone that the conservative approach of making drugs a moral and cultural issue, and crackin down and getting tough is not working... drug addiction should be treated as a health issue.

Decriminalize ALL of it... How on earth have we been so stupid for so long.

Edited September 10, 2015 by dre

[Hal 9000]

Perhaps, but adding jumping up and down on people's backs for no good reason to a list of good reasons for not voting for a party that will happily do so is a very smart thing to do. So what's your problem?

I don't have a problem per se', but I can tell you that legalizing marijuana won't appreciatively change anyone's life too much.

Looking at how it is now; i've been in campsites, parks, ski hill, concerts, festivals...you name it with groups smoking pot - we weren't obnoxious, cops saw it and did nothing. I've smoked in a car, boat, house and never had a cop see me. I've had police show up at my house where I was growing - nothing. None of these things will change - or will they?

Now, we all want to equate smoking weed with alcohol - sell it and tax it. But wait, don't we also have to compare it to cigarettes too? OK, so as alcohol, we have to consume it at a licensed establishment, but...you can't because that would cause second hand smoke (even vape shops are being hassled). So, go outside with the tobacco smokers? Nope! Like alcohol, It weed be allowed outside in public. In fact, some cities want to completely ban outdoor cigarette smoking. So, that leaves home and private functions - just like it is now.

Now, getting back to parks, ski hills etc., You can't drink alcohol there either and the police have no issue walking up and handing out a $3-500 fine (I've received one of those)for doing just that, and surely they will be instructed to do the same for marijuana. All those times where a cop walked by because he didn't want the hassle of an arrest and possession charge could be exchanged with a simple public consumption fine - guaranteed.

As for kids, Trudeau says they will have less access because of regulations - utter bullshit! The dealers (or bootleggers) will get to the kids and they'll still be smoking just as much. And, as was mentioned above - dealers will still deal and growers will still grow.

Legalize or don't legalize - I don't care, but lets not pretend that life will change in any positive way.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Hal 9000

[Hal 9000]

The real shame here is the myopic focus on marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized and taxed... no question about it.

But we need to look at other drugs as well. Cocaine, meth amphetamine, and heroin should be decriminalized, and criminal persecution should be replaced by midemeanors with small fines attached (similar to parking tickets or seatbelt fines)... money that could be used to make treatment readily available. And the entired recreational drug consumption management file should be taken out of control of departments of justice and moved to departments of health.

This would drastically reduce consumption, and drastically reduce the ammount of drug related deaths and drug related HIV transmission.

At this point it should be clear to everyone that the conservative approach of making drugs a moral and cultural issue, and crackin down and getting tough is not working... drug addiction should be treated as a health issue.

Decriminalize ALL of it... How on earth have we been so stupid for so long.

Isn't it funny that when talking about health we always hear that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We strive for prevention, to catch something early, to work out and keep our blood pressure down/our cholesterol low etc.etc., but the argument for hard drugs is; we'll collect money from you and when you finally OD on smack, we'll be waiting.

[eyeball]

I don't have a problem per se', but I can tell you that legalizing marijuana won't appreciatively change anyone's life too much.

The point is to change the government's attitudes. It's utter indifference to established norms regarding individual liberty that it's otherwise upholding elsewhere is morally antisocial and completely antithetical. In fact I can't think of anything that would appreciatively change a lot of people's lives more.

[Hal 9000]

The point is to change the government's attitudes. It's utter indifference to established norms regarding individual liberty that it's otherwise upholding elsewhere is morally antisocial and completely antithetical. In fact I can't think of anything that would appreciatively change a lot of people's lives more.

I can, I would like to walk around with an assault rifle and my .45 semi. Just to, you know express my liberty.

[Smallc]

The real shame here is the myopic focus on marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized and taxed... no question about it.

But we need to look at other drugs as well. Cocaine, meth amphetamine, and heroin should be decriminalized, and criminal persecution should be replaced by midemeanors with small fines attached (similar to parking tickets or seatbelt fines)... money that could be used to make treatment readily available.

You'll get no argument from me. I'm just quite willing to settle for this at the moment.

[Smallc]

Isn't it funny that when talking about health we always hear that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We strive for prevention, to catch something early, to work out and keep our blood pressure down/our cholesterol low etc.etc., but the argument for hard drugs is; we'll collect money from you and when you finally OD on smack, we'll be waiting.

People are doing it now. It really makes no difference.

[cybercoma]

Mixing up pot laws with coke laws is like mixing up pellet gun laws with sub-machine gun laws.

It should all be legalized and treated as a medical issue when people get out of control with it. Look at opium or heroin. It's a brutal, nasty drug. Yet we use it for medical reasons and people don't get hooked and out of control on it. They cycle off it just fine. It's when people get addicted and out of control with the stuff that it's a problem, just like alcohol. There are tons of people who consume it responsibly. But then when someone loses control of it, it can be brutally disastrous. We treat that as a medical or mental health problem though. We tell them that they need to seek "help" or get "treatment." We don't respond to alcoholics by taking everything from them and throwing them in prison. Likewise, we shouldn't treat any other addiction that way either.

[cybercoma]

The real shame here is the myopic focus on marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized and taxed... no question about it.

But we need to look at other drugs as well. Cocaine, meth amphetamine, and heroin should be decriminalized, and criminal persecution should be replaced by midemeanors with small fines attached (similar to parking tickets or seatbelt fines)... money that could be used to make treatment readily available. And the entired recreational drug consumption management file should be taken out of control of departments of justice and moved to departments of health.

This would drastically reduce consumption, and drastically reduce the ammount of drug related deaths and drug related HIV transmission.

At this point it should be clear to everyone that the conservative approach of making drugs a moral and cultural issue, and crackin down and getting tough is not working... drug addiction should be treated as a health issue.

Decriminalize ALL of it... How on earth have we been so stupid for so long.

Exactly this!

The things associated with the illegal trade should will still be illegal. Mugging people, assaulting people, killing people, driving under the influence of narcotics, etc. will all still be illegal. Organized crime, racketeering, money laundering, human smuggling, these things will still be illegal. Drugs and drug addictions should not be under the purview of the criminal justice system. We should be getting the end users the help that they need when their addictions get out of control.

[cybercoma]

I can, I would like to walk around with an assault rifle and my .45 semi. Just to, you know express my liberty.

That's almost exactly like legalizing drugs.

[cybercoma]

Isn't it funny that when talking about health we always hear that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We strive for prevention, to catch something early, to work out and keep our blood pressure down/our cholesterol low etc.etc., but the argument for hard drugs is; we'll collect money from you and when you finally OD on smack, we'll be waiting.

This ignores the fact that programs like InSight have recovery help in the same premises and they let people know every time they come in that if they want help to quit then it's there for them.