Legalizing Marijuana

[Seleana11]

What other positive effects would there be when it comes to legalizing marijuana in the United States? (I'm talking about besides just the fact that it would no longer be illegal for people to smoke it.)

[weedmant]

People that have medical conditions that marijuana can help treat will now be free to access that and will not have to risk getting caught smoking their medicine. You can make paper and oils from hemp. There would be a lot of great benefits from the legalization of marijuana!

[Hootie]

there will be less wars......

[meatw4d]

innocent people wouldn't pay ridiculous fines and end up in jail for stupid laws

[Rapidfire187]

If properly taxed, it could help the economy. I spend about $20 or more a week on weed, and if it was legalized then the prices would be lower, but there would be tax. I'd be more inclined to buy MORE weed if it was legal, and the government would be getting tax dollars from me. Just imagine how much they'd make from the people that like to buy an ounce or two with every pay check. They'd make a killing off it. For some reason I hear lots of people say "it's illegal because they can't tax it" but what the fuck does that even mean? Why wouldn't they be able to tax it? You can tax tobacco...you can tax alcohol...why couldn't you tax legal marijuana?

[bobhasbitchtits]

1. Our government would benefit two-fold: as Rapidfire said, they would tax it, and make money from the imports, exports, and both domestic and foreign sale of cannabis. Secondly, they would stop losing money to the corrections system with the some odd 40,000 marijuana offenders out of the system.
2. The people get cannabis on healthcare, insurance and even the elderly could get FREE cannabis on medicare. Imagine having one or more illnesses of any type from Glaucoma to Arthritis to cancer, then getting relief from the use of government funded, exceptionally high quality marijuana, perhaps for free.
3. Upon commercializing the cannabis market, growers everywhere are going to be clamoring for better products, cheaper methods and higher demand which is going to put quality through the roof and offset high prices.
4. The "everyman" grower or seller will never have to hide in the shadows again, in fact entrepreneurship in the cannabis market may be one of the most profitable, and enjoyable business opportunities that our world has ever seen.
5. Hemp is an incredible fiber. Clothing and an entire gamet of paper products could be made more efficient, more profitable and more enjoyable.
6. Hemp oil can be used as fuel for automobiles and it has a low emissions rating, making it cleaner and safer for our environment.
7. Our world would benefit from the relaxing, enjoyable effects of the smoked, vaporized or eaten cannabis plant.

:smokin:

[beachguy in thongs]

It would give people in rehabilitation centers, and retirement homes, the choice of a better medicine.

[g_dogg]

you can't overdose on it no matter how much you have

safer than smokin tobacco

not as addictive as alcohol or tobacco which is legal

salvia is legal even though it is a lot more dangerous than weed

doesn't make you violent, (like alcohol)

[Smurph]

Criminalizing something that is not a crime still makes real criminals. Decriminalizing marijuana will get rid of all of the real criminals it has created.

If cannabis were sold from a legitimate business that didn't have to risk punishment to purchase, stock, or sell the herb, purchasing weed would be safer. People actually kill other people because of bad deals (whether someone was shorted, money was stolen, or any other reason). If weed were legal, this would no longer happen.

[Nailhead]

Am I the only one that is against taxing marijuana any more than anything else you buy? I don't understand the ideology of why some things such as marijuana, cigarettes, and alcohol need extra taxes that other things we buy don't have.

Marijuana would generate plenty of money with just a simple sales tax, and with law enforcement no longer wasting time on pot smokers we would save millions with less incarceration, and the cops could focus on the more important issues. It would also be one less drug gangs and mobs could profit on, and lowering the price and greatly increasing the quality. Health risks related to smoking cannabis would be reduced as prices for vaporizers and cannabis infused food products would go down in price.

I can't think of any others, but I'm sure there are more.

[zerocool5878]

Honestly If the legalize it. I will NEVER buy it from a store. Tobbaco companys already have trademark names for there cannabis brands.

I am certain that phillip moris and others will add shit to make it highly addictive. I also belive that they will use fast burning paper to make you go through more. Maybe not at first but they will.

Not to mention the fact that the goverment will tax the SHIT out of it. Prob more then cigs. Thats BS.

If legalized I would grow my own. Sure they will come out with better shit. But Im good with whats already out there. WHen its legal If I cant get a seed of a strain then I wont smoke that strain then. I stilol got WW, g13, and all the other shit that makes me happy.

Just my 2 cents

[cody8892000]

if it was legalized there would probably be scientists making insane weed and whoever invests in little debbie snacks will become rich

[filmfollower]

if it was legalized there would probably be scientists making insane weed and whoever invests in little debbie snacks will become rich

I'm working towards a degree in Botany (and if everything goes well a PhD) so I hope to be that scientist :)


Benefits that other people haven't listed?

No more cartels (at least as far as marijuana goes). No more violence (hikers stumbling upon marijuana patches and getting shot or booby trapped). Etc etc.

One thing though, the black market and the drug cartels that run it (or at least parts of it) have such a good foothold now that the government would actually have to compete to keep its prices lower than what the black market could offer, otherwise people will not switch to a legitimate market.

AKA, if weed is made legal, and therefor black market growers grow tons and tons more knowing so and therefor are able to offer it a much lower prices than current, they will. And our government will have to compete with them.


Yet, after the legitimate market overtakes the black market, it should run just like any other commodity. :)

[shimmer]

Legalising cannabis would also help to define the line between hard drugs and weed. It would set an age limit (which I personally think is quite important) and would'nt allow such an easy transition from cannabis to other really harmful drugs. I think this is especially important for younger people who start off with little to no informaton about it.

[favrefan30]

"Honestly If the legalize it. I will NEVER buy it from a store. Tobbaco companys already have trademark names for there cannabis brands.

I am certain that phillip moris and others will add shit to make it highly addictive. I also belive that they will use fast burning paper to make you go through more. Maybe not at first but they will."

i never thought of it like that zero. i was always picturing in my mind companys growing it and just selling it by weights, like 1/8, 1/4, etc and you just packed a bowl or rolled your own but i didnt think of it like them selling already rolled joints or blunts or whatever like cigs. i definetly don't trust them anymore after reading that either and i think i'd stick to smoking my own grow as you said you know what it is and i'm content with the weed i'm smoking now:jointsmile:

[bongbro4]

Dudes,

Cannabis, Hemp, can be used for a number of profitable enterprise. The stalks can be made into paper fiber by adding a common ingredient, WATER. Not some chemical like it takes to made pulp out of wood. A tract of forest takes 25 to 50 years to regrow trees to harvest for pulp. Hemp can be regrown yearly. Minus the bumper crop years. The oil from the seeds can be used the same as soy oil in cooking. The fibers can be made into cloth. Cannabis, and hemp have a lot of
environmentally sound uses.

[Nailhead]

Legalising cannabis would also help to define the line between hard drugs and weed. It would set an age limit (which I personally think is quite important) and would'nt allow such an easy transition from cannabis to other really harmful drugs. I think this is especially important for younger people who start off with little to no informaton about it.

Millions of kids make a conscious choice to NOT use certain drugs, this is called intelligence and it is an endangered race in America, but it does still exist. I say anybody that wants to ingest harmful and dangerous drugs, let them. Let the dumb kill themselves off, it's not my business. The problem is too many people blame drugs for people's actions, rather than making them take responsibility for their stupid choices. For instance, some people have problems with drinking, they get agitated when drunk and start fights. Should we blame the drug that made them agitated or the person for being a stupid drunk that can't handle their alcohol? I say the latter!

It's all about personal responsibility people, the government should have no authority on anything we consume!

[blue_ox]

Once it is legal:

1. The police can work on other crimes and have less time in court prosecuting cannabis
2. free up the courts for more timely prosecution of serious crimes
3. lessen the prison population that is already over crowded
4. lower costs for courts, prison's, police, surveillance (over flights ... etc ) therefore lowing tax's or enabling tax's to be used in other needy areas like infrastructure, police, school's, fire .. etc
6. home growing is already a big grey market and would become much larger ( much bigger then home brew beer ) where seed and grow suppliers would be many and a very competitive market.
7. commercial growers ( old tobacco companies ) would naturally jump in and this would also cascade down to the tobacco farmers who have been looking for alternative crops.
8. "paraphernalia" would become mainstream again ( remember the 70's? anyone??) again growing another small business market for both manufactures and sellers

I could go on and on :bigsmoke: ... lol

[Bebob]

1. All the benefits of legal hemp (paper, fiber, oil, fuel, food)
2. A huge drop in the number of people in jail. Legalization would save the gov't millions on this alone, and when you add in the tax, our economy would do pretty well.

[StOnEdMoNk]

hell yeah i definatly agree and also alot of crime would die down with the sales aspect even tho the most a stoner is gonna rob is a vending machine lmao LEGALIZE IT!!!:thumbsup:

[Reefer Rogue]

We all know it should be legal, but when will this day come, if ever...

[beachguy in thongs]

We all know it should be legal, but when will this day come, if ever...


Hopefully, it comes too soon. How else would it come?

Oh, yeah. Not at all.

[domluvz2toke]

AKA, if weed is made legal, and therefor black market growers grow tons and tons more knowing so and therefor are able to offer it a much lower prices than current, they will. And our government will have to compete with them.


Yet, after the legitimate market overtakes the black market, it should run just like any other commodity. :)

If weed were made legal it would not be legal to grow it yourself,i know seems like it doesnt make sense right, but i think penalties would actually increase big time to improve the governments control over the taxes. Maybe if you paid a big time grower fee you could cultivate yourself. All the government wants is complete control over everything that happens. If they made it legal to make money off the taxes and made it legal to grow it they would cancel eachother out and everybody would just have free weed (which would be peace on earth) but lets face it that is not going to happen because money is worth more than happy people.


On that note the black market prices would not compete with government prices, as the government would produce in such bulk that even with taxes it would be much cheaper than todays street prices, why would the government get into a business it cant win in? they would find a way to keep the prices lower than street prices.

And to the person who said they think the government would make it addictive with additives, they have natural cigarettes with no additives and would do so with marijuana, the government does not need to get people hooked. Its like having a great product, the product will sell itself, as it does already.

input is accepted and viewed with an open mind:rasta: very open mind

[Frickr]

if it were legalized, the majority of people would only buy from well established brands that they know and "trust" for quality. people can brew their own beer, but does every one do that? the majority buys it of the shelf, because its easier, and you get a great product with consitant quality. when you grow, you may not always get a good crop. and its also very expensive to get a good growing setup. there will be people that would grow their own, and like microbreweries, there would be little shops that had their own specialties and strains. places that sold it would have to pay for a license, and that money would go back into the communitie. i think that the money that comes from the tax of the mass produced, should be used to fund education of the more dangerous and hard drugs. where in school are they talking about the dangers of the pills that are on the marker that people are dying from. living in rual north dakota, which has tried to apply for a federal license to grow hemp, but has been declined, know the benifeits of growing hemp. if every farmer were to grow a half to a whole field of hemp, and process that into fuel, they would have enough fuel for all of next years crop. saving them thousands of dollars a year. the biofuel produced would be able to get rid of our dependecy on foriegn oil. frankly, all i see is profit and prosperity for everyone and everyone benifiting from just one plant. a cheap medicin, cheap fuel, funding for better education, lower taxes, less of our population just sitting in prison wasting our hard earned money, a new market, a new pastime, and a healthier alternative to drinking.

[Zcomp]

Just in this year we
would have made $13 billion if we taxed it like alcohol.
could have save $50 billion in prosecuting and jailing fees.
would have imprisoned 10,000 less people.
would have arrested 1.8 million less people.
Its all plain to see on the Oregon Norml website.
Oregon NORML | National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (http://www.ornorml.org/main.php)

[8182KSKUSH]

Never gonna happen folks.:( Too many local governments as well as the fed ALREADY are making money on it being illegal. Hello? All the siezures of property and money? All they have to do is wait for other people to acquire what they want and then they take it free and clear. It's gonna be a tough case to sell that legalizing would make the government money, they are already getting a 100% profit margin through criminalization and enforcement, and there is soooo much more out there that they don't have enough man power or people to reap all the benefits. Too many people are dependant on the status quo, and changing it would be far more complicated than maintaining it. Truth is that if no one had or used it, then law enforcement agencies would shrivel up and die on the vine so to speak. You see the circle?