Decriminalization of marijuana DEBATE

Pot is 100% not addictive. You may become mentally reliant on the drug, but in no way, shape, or form is it addicitve. I'm not positive on the stat, but it is something like this:

It would take a few hundred pounds of burning marijuana and straight inhallation of marijuana smoke for 3 days without a single breathe of fresh air to have an overdose or become addicted.

Some may say, well, then there is a chance that it is addicitve, but in reality, those numbers are not possible to achieve.

I personally don't think that marijuana is bad, but I just wish it isn't as serious an offense as it is now.

Well, I will throw in my two cents. First, I did vote 'no' to this.

And what Titus just said, that may be true to get a physical addiction, who knows, but mental addictions can be just as bad.

But, I don't see any real reason to leagalize it. There is really NO reason to leagalize it. All people want it to be legalized for is so they can go get stoned every day and escape reality. There is no REAL reason for it to be legalized.

However, there are many reasons to not legalize it, as people have posted before. Also, being stoned affects your driving in a negative way so there will be many "stoned driving" accidents on top of all the drunk driving accidents.

But the bottom line is, marijuana is NOT a good thing for everying to be smoking all the time and there is no real reason to legalize it.

I think that people should be allowed to smoke it inside the privacy of their own homes. It should not be smoked in public places where other people can get hurt, there shouldn't be any "marajuana bars" or anything like that where a whole bunch of unknown people can just come, sit, chill and smoke, but if you and a couple friends do it inside your own home then it's fine. I think they should legalize it as long as you smoke it inside your own house, and you aren't allowed to do certain activities, such as driving, until the effects wear off a little bit.

In response to hellmonkey's post, legalization is so we can smoke freely without having to worry about getting busted and going to jail, it is our body and our decision but by having the cops tryin 2 bust us for smoking a joint hurts more than having it legal, we want it legal so we can actally relax and not be considered as outkasts as soon as we smoke it, we don't to do it "escape reality" you will notice that if you tried the drug, but we do it so we can have a good time and explore new ideas ect ect, it is a recreational drug with almost no problems except for it's illegal status.

[QUOTE=EX-Mania]Think of how amsterdam works, everybody goes to the coffeeshop to smoke up a few joints everyday, they're not complainin..[QUOTE]

Move to Amsterdam then.

if the whole world would look at pot this way then it would be amuch better place, people earent going to stop doing it if it is illegal, it just poses problems for the people who do.

[sarcasm] People won't stop murdering even though it's illegal, lets make it legal so they don't have to suffer. [/sarcasm]

actually i read a book called the big book of misinformation... it said that Amsterdam and Holland in general *pot smoking central* have 44% less murders than the U.S. so it doesnt really hold water when you say marijuana will cause deaths . Maybe auto deaths but that is their fault for getting in car stoned. I vote yes.

It's only the fault of the guy that gets in the car stoned, what about the innocent people that will die from it?

Posted Yes -- I say get rid of cigarretes >_>

I am VERY happy to announce that MARIJUANA IS NOW LEGAL IN ONTARIO@#!@#!$@#!@# YES@! AND I LIVE IN ONTARIO!!!! *brb as i go smoke a bong infront of the cop station*

Is it really? Those dumbass Canadians have all their shit confused.

lmao pull out a blunt and ask a cop if he has a light.

yea i think it should be legal but it should have rules and regulations, much like tobacco and alcohol. age, etc. i think it should also be illegal to smoke and drive because ive done it before and barely avoided several accidents. not cool. especialy w/ a stick shift.

I don't smoke anything (or drink alcohol, for that matter.)

BUT, it should be legalized, with this restriction: ANY, and I mean ANY, crime committed by someone under the influence of THC (I'd like it to apply to alcohol, as well) has double the penalties.

Speeding? Double points on your license and double fines. No jail time (This is different from Alcohol, though)

Robbing a 7-11? Double jail time / fines, all bail money is doubled as well.

I heard a few stoners say how no one who smokes marijuana commits any more crimes than anyone else (Other than the crime of possession of marijuana, of course.) If this is true, then the double-penalty wouldn't affect too many people.

In conclusion, I say if you want to smoke it, you'd better earn it by not committing any crimes. (Actually, the crime rate might go down if this is implemented.)

Bah, too long of a rant. Hope it makes sense, even though I'm a bit tired at the moment.

neutral because it doesnt harm anything much but on the other hand i wouldnt want half the people around me all doped up and retarded...

MArijuana wont make people go out n hurt people more... so there shouldnt be double penalty, when ur stoned u dont become violent or wanna do things like steal things... alcohol on the other hand shouldnt be double penalty because u dont know what ur doin asmuch so its not the persons fault.

So if you drink alcohol and go kill someone, it's not your fault? That's bullshit.

I don't think he was saying that. I think he meant that it is more likely to happen when drinking that smoking. That doesn't mean it is justified what so ever.

For the alcohol thing, the person is not in full control of what he is doing so if you are not in control why should you be penaltized 2x harder?
But pot, it does not make you do things like that, link to it's effects are here.

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabi..._effects.shtml

If you ARE in full control while smoking pot, you are responsible for your own actions. Basically it's more of a "You can smoke what you want, just stay out of trouble" thing. Under my idea, pot is still looked down upon by the law, but you can't be punished unless you do somehing wrong.

It's kinda the same way seatbealts are enforced in cars (at least here in PA, USA) - You are required to wear your seatbelt. However, you cannot be pulled over for "not wearing a seatbelt". The fine is only added if you are pulled over for any other reason (speeding, running a red light, etc.) and you are not wearing a seatbelt at the time - even if the crime has nothing to do with seatbelts whatsoever. It's basically just more funding for the police department.

It wouldn't even have to be a double penalty, just a fixed fine of some sort. The "smoking pot" fine would be added to any penalties/fines aquired.

The only reason I support decriminalization is because we have too many non-violent criminals in prison, and there's no room for the multiple murderer or rapist. Most have done no crime other than smoking pot itself.. those people should be released.

Having no control over yourself is no excuse for killing someone while you're drunk. You shouldn't drink in the first place.