Term paper about legalization

[Rjenkins]

i am doing a term paper about the legalization of weed...what is your input..i think it shoudl be legalized..but i htink amaerica would go down the drain..because everyone would sit at home and smoke pot.. haha my points are

1-should be sold like tobacco 18+
2-uses medicly
3-you can only have so much at one time
4-how amsterdam runs with it legal

gimme your input on the topics and what you think...thankss

[budsmoker only]

http://boards.cannabis.com/cannabis-com-lounge/94488-reasons-legalization.html this thread has a lot of good info... hope it helps..

[Yr0c]

Wow.

Oh, and one thing, take a look at alcohol, it is a mind state altering drug, and causes more 'drug related deaths' than anything besides tobacco. So, if Weed is a non addictive drug, helps with stress and such, and all it really does is make you feel better and hungry/thirsty...what the hell is so wrong with it being legalized. Damn propaganda by the government. FUCK THE GOVERNMENT! ANARCHY ALL THE WAY BABY!.

(The only 'bad' side effect of Weed is the Short Term Memory loss that's really it)

[theamazingkane]

Wow.

Oh, and one thing, take a look at alcohol, it is a mind state altering drug, and causes more 'drug related deaths' than anything besides tobacco. So, if Weed is a non addictive drug, helps with stress and such, and all it really does is make you feel better and hungry/thirsty...what the hell is so wrong with it being legalized. Damn propaganda by the government. FUCK THE GOVERNMENT! ANARCHY ALL THE WAY BABY!.

(The only 'bad' side effect of Weed is the Short Term Memory loss that's really it)


I'm not so sure about the short term memory loss. Marijuana doesn't have the toxicity capable of doing anything more than stimulation of certain brain activity, which is completely incapable of causing ANY damage to your nerve endings or brain cells. While your high, you might have short term memory loss. When your sober, that will go away, and there is no credible medical proof indicating any capability of marijuana causing permanent short term memory loss.

Raising awareness of the consequences of drug prohibition | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) (http://stopthedrugwar.org/) This is a good site for legal information,
Medical Marijuana ProCon.org (http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/) This is a good one for medical information.

[Yr0c]

That's what I meant, you usually don't remember everything that happens when you're ripped...

[DeepFriedBrain]

Have a look at Jack Herer's 'Emperor wears no Clothes', he's been writing the why's and how's for over 30 years.
This book should be in schools,
ElectricEmperor Friendly Warning!!! (http://www.electricemperor.com)

[dutch.lover]

Im not going to tell you how to write your paper, but I thought I would make a suggestion as to the approach of paper. just a thought but, instead of writing about how cannabis would be regulated under legalization, talk about WHY it should be legalized, or HOW to get it legalized.

those topics are rarely covered in an intelligent manner, so your paper would be more unique!

talking points: mention MJs negative stigma and address reefer madness propaganda or even the prohibitions' roots in racism; dispute myths about harm MJ does to the body (and mind) and research how it actually helps the body (and mind); and maybe even talk about what the US would have to benefit from the legalization of it (financial gains mainly).

[Coelho]

Im not going to tell you how to write your paper, but I thought I would make a suggestion as to the approach of paper. just a thought but, instead of writing about how cannabis would be regulated under legalization, talk about WHY it should be legalized, or HOW to get it legalized.

those topics are rarely covered in an intelligent manner, so your paper would be more unique!

talking points: mention MJs negative stigma and address reefer madness propaganda or even the prohibitions' roots in racism; dispute myths about harm MJ does to the body (and mind) and research how it actually helps the body (and mind); and maybe even talk about what the US would have to benefit from the legalization of it (financial gains mainly).

very good idea, dutch! :)

[theamazingkane]

If I were you, I'd also make comparisons towards alcohol prohibition and the costs, both socially and economically, that prohibition brought on the nation in conjunction with the incredible amount of money that's spent in a futile effort to "prohibit" marijuana usage.
In addition, mention how criminalization has no effect on the available supply of marijuana, it merely inflates the prices substantially while de-legitimizing what could otherwise be a legitimate business like the sale of hard liquor or ciggerettes..
Try and give mention how removing the sale of marijuana from reasonable business and health regulations by criminalizing the drug only encourages individuals who don't consent to the laws in the first place to engage in an illegitimate black market, substantially increasing the available profits to be made from the drug while increasing the danger and risk that takes place with each transaction.

Discuss the costs of trying to house nonviolent marijuana offenders in prisons, and the toll that this takes on society in comparison with the entirely benign effects of marijuana.

If you really want your paper to be easy, just by the book [I]Why Marijuana Should Be Legal.[I] It's by Ed Rosenthal & Steve Kubby, it's about 11.95 and will contain just about all that you need to know for your paper.

[Markass]

lol it's sad to see so many young people who think things will 'go down the drain' if it's legal...FUCK no it wont! Then our lives can't be put on lay-a-way for 10 years because we get popped for picking up an ounce from the local drug dealer. Look man, I don't drink. I don't like it, nor the way that it makes me feel. I smoke marijuana, it isn't a risk to my health, it is not capable of killing me, and I use it to deal with my back pain. The effects are pleasant and not nasty like those from pain medications.

The Blog | Walter Cronkite: Telling the Truth About the War on Drugs | The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-cronkite/telling-the-truth-about-t_b_16605.html)

Marijuana Law Reform - NORML (http://www.norml.org)

Roadside Sobriety Testing Increases Support For Taxing, Regulating Marijuana, Study Says - NORML (http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7197) check this one out..it's a good one

find some information...you don't seem very knowledgable of statistics or anything that would make a convincing report...Find the scientific evidence..

[TheSmokingMonkey]

Be sure to compare/contrast with alcohol.

Note that taxes could be collected from the sale of the product, and no more money would be spent "fighting the drug war" for marijuana.

More kids smoke weed than smoke cigs or drink alcohol - because weed is easier to get. Regulation REGULATES. Duh.

Weed is not a gateway drug - you can find statistics to back this up if you search on Google Scholar.

There is no lethal overdose for weed but there is a relatively low lethal dose for alcohol and if you ate two cigarettes' worth of tobacco you would die (not smoking though cause most of the nicotine is burned off into the air).

hope that helps, I love Google Scholar for papers. It's my favorite.

[TheSmokingMonkey]

Yes, all that loss of productivity of workers being locked up or unemployed due to felony weed charges would be saved if we were to treat users like normal human beings instead of criminals.

It would free up the court system to deal with "real" crime, and would alleviate the burden on the prison system, thereby allowing more efficient punishment for violent crime.

[TheSmokingMonkey]

I have heard the argument made (I am not sure of its veracity) that kids who smoke weed are more likely to try harder drugs because they become accustomed to dealing with the black market, whereas if it were legal, that might not be the case.

[suhl]

the country wouldnt go down the drain because everyone would sit at home and smoke pot. you can get it if you want it now pretty much anywwhere in the country and the people.....i am not even going to go on with this if you really believe the country would just stay home and do nothing then you are going to fail the paper anyway because you are a retard with no critical thinking skills

[GetMoney420]

whats so horrible about ppl sitting at home getting high what would they be doin if they couldnt smoke. And talk about all the fucking oney the government would make if they quit tryin to get rid of weed and started sellin us there shit

[TheAtomicPunk]

You need to research the facts and slam it into peoples face. For example:
American Deaths Yearly:
Tobacco: 390,000
Alchohol: 80,000
Cocaine: 2,200
Heroine: 2,000
Aspirin: 2,000
Cannabis: 0

[LittleLefty90]

I only saw the topic and didn't read anything else so bear with me ( fore I am also doing Homework )
1 New studies are being done to see if weed helps with Attention Deficit Disorder
2 Tests done on British television shows have shown that people actually have driven better(in a closed enviornment) stoned rather than sober
3 The legalization would allow cops to deal more with hard drugs and get the real problems off of the streets rather than dealing with us low key criminals
4 Cannabis can be used as a new natural resource in fields such as clothing etc....
5 The more man smoke herb the more Babylon fall

:rastasmoke:

much love to all and I hope I haven't just repeated what everyone has already said.

[Polymirize]

Dutch and Markass both had some key suggestions...

NORML has some good info on reform and the concept of "responsible use"

I'd also suggest addressing some of the harms that are brought about by current laws with regards to cannabis. How prisons are filled with non-violent drug offenders for example.
You could discuss how cannabis is one of the largest global cash crops and yet we spend millions each year prosecuting people for it.

[dutch.lover]

^^those are great points to bring up too.

man, if we all got together we could write one fine-ass cannabis paper.