Writer's Block: 420 friendly?
Mar. 9th, 2010 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I honestly think that it IS a good idea to legalize marijuana. I've been told that you get much less intoxicated after using marijuana than, say, drinking alcohol (which is perfectly legal in most areas of the US). I think that you have a risk of losing some brain cells after extended use, but it's not addicting (or so I am told); overuse of alcohol can cause liver problems and can also kill brain cells. (Drunk driving also = bad for the health of you and others). Plus, if it's legalized, then the government can regulate it - and tax it. As the experience the American government had with prohibition in the 1920s demonstrated, by making something forbidden, it increases the allure, and can actually cause more deaths. Think of the stories of violent run-ins with rumrunners, the creation of organized crime focussed on procuring alcohol, the numbers of people poisoned through drinking badly made moonshine or deliberately poisoned rubbing alcohol... Bad stuff. It's much safer for everyone if the stuff is just legalized - then it's quality will be regulated by the FDA, and, of course, be taxed.
But maybe this is just a Canadian speaking.
I honestly think that it IS a good idea to legalize marijuana. I've been told that you get much less intoxicated after using marijuana than, say, drinking alcohol (which is perfectly legal in most areas of the US). I think that you have a risk of losing some brain cells after extended use, but it's not addicting (or so I am told); overuse of alcohol can cause liver problems and can also kill brain cells. (Drunk driving also = bad for the health of you and others). Plus, if it's legalized, then the government can regulate it - and tax it. As the experience the American government had with prohibition in the 1920s demonstrated, by making something forbidden, it increases the allure, and can actually cause more deaths. Think of the stories of violent run-ins with rumrunners, the creation of organized crime focussed on procuring alcohol, the numbers of people poisoned through drinking badly made moonshine or deliberately poisoned rubbing alcohol... Bad stuff. It's much safer for everyone if the stuff is just legalized - then it's quality will be regulated by the FDA, and, of course, be taxed.
But maybe this is just a Canadian speaking.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-10 06:57 am (UTC)I say we legalise it. Treat it like alcohol, i.e., you're not allowed to buy it before you're 18 (and theoretically, not using it, but we all know how well that works...), no driving while high, that sort of thing. Tax it and regulate it. Quite frankly, I think there's too much police effort focussed on marijuana. Legalise it, so the police can focus on harder drugs and other crimes.
Of course, this is also a Canadian speaking. (Not that it's legal here, either...)