Do you think cannabis should be allowed for medical and personal use?

[goodsmash]

delete

[bryant.coleman]

If tobacco and alcohol can be allowed, then why not cannabis?

[Mike Christ]

If tobacco and alcohol can be allowed, then why not cannabis?

Because it doesn't kill you any faster

[dank]

Cannabis cures cancer.  It should have never been made illegal in the first place, in fact it was a common medicine until the 1930's, only to be demonized by a large push of emerging industries such as synthetic fiber companies like DuPont, timber industries and pharmaceutical companies, all of which cannabis had (and still has) the capacity to replace with safer, healthier, more sustainable solutions.  You could be living in a hempcrete house at a fraction of the price and with increased structural integrity, driving a hemp biodiesel fueled car with a negative carbon footprint, and powering our entire country's electrical grid through renewable hemp oil grown on just 6% of continental land.

Really, all drugs should be legal.  Making drugs illegal does not prevent people from using them, in fact less kids have been using drugs in Portugal since they were all decriminalized and made legal to purchase small amounts of a few years ago.  Drug induced deaths cut nearly in half.  Legalizing drugs removes dangers of overdosing due to potency fluctuations, allows people to seek treatment openly and eliminates huge black markets associated around illicit substances.  More people have died in a single city in Mexico, due to drug trade related deaths, than Afghanistan, per year.

But the powers that be would never want this to happen.  The private prison industry makes too much off incarceration of nonviolent drug users.  The pharmaceutical industry makes too much off their poisonous concoctions.  The very integrity of the government would shatter if psychedelics were made legal, as they open people's minds to the true state of reality.  The would show people that a government is not necessary towards a positive impact on humanity at all, in fact it's counter efficient.

More people die from aspirin each year than ALL illegal drugs combined.  Figure that one out.  The motivation to keep drugs illegal is not about concern for your health, it's about control and profiting off the loss of freedom of others.

If we do not have the freedom to choose what goes in our own body, one may ask, are we free at all?

[_Miracle]

Yes.

[TrailingComet]

Absolutely yes

[nickenburg]

Yes,
I live in The Netherlands so for me its normal.
Cannabis is great for medical use, and to just chill.
I like it how 2 states in the U.s, are now even further then the netherlands totally legalizing pot.
Because in the netherlands its still illegal to grow weed in big amounts and under lamps.
And selling and buying big amounts is still illegal to, so the shops that sell weed still buy weed from criminals.
I hope they are going to change that soon.

[Ekaros]

If tobacco and alcohol can be allowed, then why not cannabis?

Exactly.

I have the view that what should be available should be based on real scientific research. And in that case alcohol might be on wrong side.

There are also many other drugs which effects on health are marginal. And as such they should also be allowed. On other hand there is also really harmful drugs around.

We should have common criteria which we judge on what drugs and mixes of drugs we should allow and what to control or try stop distribution and production.

[Mike Christ]

If tobacco and alcohol can be allowed, then why not cannabis?

Exactly.

I have the view that what should be available should be based on real scientific research. And in that case alcohol might be on wrong side.

There are also many other drugs which effects on health are marginal. And as such they should also be allowed. On other hand there is also really harmful drugs around.

We should have common criteria which we judge on what drugs and mixes of drugs we should allow and what to control or try stop distribution and production.

Problem is, even if you ban certain items, people still get them if they want them; it just makes it more profitable to the person taking the risk in selling the banned item.  The only way to truly ban an item is to instill a level of control equivalent to INGSOC.  We should not make attempts to control what anyone does with their body, as they only resist harder each time; rather than what should be available, we should use this research to determine whether it's good for us or not, and decide accordingly.  However, we have had this information for some time now, and readily available online, and people, though fewer than before, still choose to partake in activities which harm them; therefore, we can deduce the problem to child abuse (scientific research shows us that people who are abused more are more likely to become smokers and alcoholics and drug-abusers, as their ability to reliably reason is damaged), which is carried on by tradition (i.e. people who adopted the habits before they became enlightened, applicable both to abusing children and substances, e.g. there was a time when cigarettes were considered a gentleman's item.)

Ergo, to truly rid the world of alcohol abuse, smoking, and drug abuse (and a plethora of other problems for that matter, including marijuana being illegal for no reason), you must advocate not regulation, nor changes to how regulation occurs, but peaceful, competent parenting.

[Elwar]

Cannabis is the devil's weed, it will make you go crazy and kill people!

This has all been scientifically documented in a movie about the reefer.

Beware!!!

[bryant.coleman]

Cannabis is the devil's weed, it will make you go crazy and kill people!

What load of BS? Do you have any proof to back up your claims?

[Elwar]

Cannabis is the devil's weed, it will make you go crazy and kill people!

What load of BS? Do you have any proof to back up your claims?

Yes. This documentary has been shown to be 100% scientifically accurate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azf320JDdqU

[KonstantinosM]

Why should it be illegal?

People should be able to do whatever they wish with their bodies. From a health perspective, THC usage has been linked with fried short term memory. It should be used carefully like most medications and warning labels have to be printed, just like for alcohol and cigarettes. If not on the package, the seller should have to inform a new client of the risks.

Once the client has been informed they can buy as much as they want. Smoke as much as they want. Shove as much as they want up their anus. Why should the state be involved?

[DanielVG]

all drugs should be legal.
I am most scared of alcohol and nicotine.
The worst experience i had was drinking too much whiskey.
You can smoke as much as you want it is hard to get a similar experience.
All drugs do damage, none of them is good for your health, but that doesn't mean you can't learn or have personal growth from them.

[chaff]

Why should it be illegal?

People should be able to do whatever they wish with their bodies. From a health perspective, THC usage has been linked with fried short term memory. It should be used carefully like most medications and warning labels have to be printed, just like for alcohol and cigarettes. If not on the package, the seller should have to inform a new client of the risks.

Once the client has been informed they can buy as much as they want. Smoke as much as they want. Shove as much as they want up their anus. Why should the state be involved?

Yes, exactly if someone wants to take something that will outright kill them in 2 seconds, they have the right to do that. Your body is your body and no one else has the right to tell you what to do with it as long as you aren't hurting someone else by ingesting it.

[Spendulus]

If tobacco and alcohol can be allowed, then why not cannabis?

If we can buy cans of bacon, why not canned cannabis?

I urge the Union of Concerned Procrastinators to agitate for equal canning rights for cannabis....

Sometime later.

[Spendulus]

Why should it be illegal?

Weed criminalization is a bit unique, actually.  In many cases, we can look historically at something being abused, people getting concerned, passing law regulating it or against it.

Prostitution, many drugs, alcohol, nicotine are examples.

Weed this is not the case.  It seems to have been carried in the tide of criminalization of other drugs.

[Hazir]

Ban of weed is outdated relic, ganja it is less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes. It should be allowed for anyone who can purchase alcohol legally.

[salstimda]

no, i don't think it should be allowed. but then i also think breathing shouldn't be allowed, or eating food.

[cryptasm]

Dank's nailed it, prescription drugs kills more than the 'illegal' ones.