California has recently declared the grass legal in certain increments, as long as it's prescribed for medication reasons. The question is: is this a good idea? Should it even be legalized in the first place? Are there side effects to making it legal, and is it substance abuse?

List your stance here. I'll post mine later.

alot of folks have already wieghed in on this issue here --> viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1735

Whoops, my apologies.

If the mods feel this topic is useless, then it may be locked. If they feel it still has validity, then it can continue.

I think this topic deserves it's own thread. It's not a general topic like the other thread, it has specific issues around it that deserve it's own conversation, and I think that the topic would get buried in the other thread.

I say keep it open. I'll post my opinion once I finish these pot stickers. Haha...pot stickers. I'm not trying to be funny, but that is kind of funny.

95% of that other topic is talking about pot, its effects, if it should be legal or illegal etc etc - this thread MIGHT have some legs, but only if its very focused and very specific , example - only talks about medical dope and nothing else.

though I guess if you dont consider pot a drug it doesnt belong in the drugs thread eh? its a catch 22.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I have tons of subject matter in regards to marijuana legalization.

1. State rights vs. Federal legislation.
2. Who decides who gets to prescribe what.
3. Who decides who gets prescribed to.
4. Who gets to sell.
5. Who gets to grow.
6. What exactly defines "reasonable amount"
In Washington state, the law is so vague that it won't hold up in court. They say a person can have a four week supply(I think that's the amount). Well, what's a four week supply? An ounce? An eighth? A twomp?
7. Why can a person be totally within the law of the state, yet be busted for trafficking according to the feds?

There are a lot of issues around medical and legal marijuana that warrant it's own thread. It's far more detailed then many people think.

I'll post more, but I'm still eating. If this gets locked, I'll post it in the other thread. I just think this is a good topic because it has more to do with then just drugs.

Well lets look at the stats:

- Never has a case of an overdose ever been reported, you can kill yourself by drinking too much alcohol but can't by smoking a lot of weed.

- There are no carcinogens found in pot, meaning the chances are developing lung cancer and/or other lung diseases is extremely low, unlike cigarettes

- THC (or Tetrahydrocannabinol) is not addictive and is not toxic to the human body, unlike nicotine found in cigarettes
- It has been calculated that the US Government could save $7.7 billion per year if they dropped prohibition against pot. Considering that 88% of those arrested are those in possession of weed, but not with an intent to sell.

All in all, prohibition on weed just wastes tax payers money. Overcrowds our prisons. And stimulates crime growth through gangs and cartels that exist to bring weed in illegally.

Make weed legal, you free up our prisons. Save the government billions. And puts a stop to cartels and gangs peddling weed that could also be tainted with more harmful substances.

The whole debate over whether marijuana is "harmful" or not really comes down to who is using it. I know people who use it and manage their lives just fine. However, there are some that let it control them, and that tends to lead to interference with regular parts of their lives, harder drugs, and it can snowball from there. I think that part of the government's reasoning behind keeping weed illegal is that they can't pick and choose (on a person by person basis) who gets to use weed and who doesn't, because there are so many people, and some people handle it fine while some don't.

In my own opinion, I think that weed is ok for people who can manage it without letting it interfere with other parts of their lives. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case.

You could say the same thing about alcohol. People can become dependent on it as well. It's really a double standard.

As far as I'm concerned it should be legal. The government could tax it much like alcohol and cigarettes and eliminate dealers. Why this is even still an issue today, I have no idea. Too many old bastards in office I guess...

Indeed, its a horrible double standard. And you are right when the government could receive three huge benefits from legalizing it.

1. Saving that $7.7 billion dollars I referred to earlier
2. Eliminating dealers
3. Making a mint just taxing weed

There are many angles to look at this subject. For starters it might be worth looking at the origins of the criminalization of Marijuana spearheaded by the American government in the 30's. There were racial implications linking marijuana use to unwanted minorities (Blacks and Hispanics), as well as political pressure from the likes of Dow chemical and the lumber industry who were threatened by the widespread use of hemp which competed with their products. The laws and research provided by the US were adopted by many countries around the world which has mostly stayed intact to this day.

Then there are the medicinal applications of marijuana which have been documented for a few thousand years. I believe it was the Chinese which used marijuana in some form to treat menstrual cramps. More recently it has been used to alleviate symptoms of glaucoma, help chemotherapy patients deal with nausea and help alleviate pain in MS and AIDS patients while also stimulating appetite.

I am not a naturopath but I strongly believe there can be a balance between it and western medicine. It has been proven in studies that a synthetic version of THC (the active compound in marijuana) is not as effective as its natural form. Why waste the money synthesizing this compound when you can produce it naturally fairly effortlessly? Marijuana will grow just about anywhere and requires no pesticides or herbicides. But this is a threat to pharmaceutical companies who make their money synthesizing compounds and will fight tooth and nail to keep marijuana illegal or at the very least not for medicinal purposes.

Further, hemp is the strongest natural fiber known to man, its seeds are second highest in vegetable protein next to soy beans, and its oils can be used to making diesel fuel among other applications. Seems silly that this plant is banned for production when it could literally help cloth, feed, and fuel the world.

All of the above does not even touch on the recreational use of marijuana which I will save for another time and reminds me of this quote:

"It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom. Keep that in mind at all times." - Bill Hicks

Pot is really less dangerous then alcohol, is serious dubbelstandards, jailing everyone who someone smokes alittle joint.
And heavier drugs its maybe good that theyre illegal, BUT only to limit the supply of them. Putting an heroin addict in jail doesnt help anyone and the society have to pay for it, help these people for gods sake. Once you started shooting heroin you need some serious help getting out of there, not just getting spit in the face and stepped over.

I think one of the biggest hurdles marijuana legalization faces(in the United States) is the fact that the people in power are made of mainly of people from my parents generation. They were fed loads of government propaganda about the evils of marijuana. What's really funny is one of the main arguments they used against it, the fact that it supports organized crime, is one of the main reasons it should be legalized.

I firmly believe that the change is coming. Wait until my generation is a little bit older and starting to go in to government. Hell, one of my best friends is the son of a senator and he wants his dad to push for legalization. Guess what my friends career choice is...politics.

I agree...but unfortunately...I just don't see it happening in the next 50 years sadly. Because for everyone of us, there are going to be 10 conservative minded people who were brainwashed by this propaganda by their brain washed parents.

Its going to be a hard hurdle to overcome. This isn't like Prohibition which last less than a decade, this is something that has been around for almost 80 years and rules that have been around for that long will be an uphill battle to overturn.

People in the UK, tell me... Is cannibis being upgraded to a class B drug? If it is it'll be chaos...

I think you'd be amazed what can happen in fifty years. Go back to 1958 and tell America that a black man will be running for president and you'll be called insane. In 1958, desegregation was only 4 years old. Before that you had many decades of colored and white water fountains. Go back to 1908 and say "One day, everyone will drink from the same water fountain" and you'd probably get shot. Change of such magnitude is gradual, and you can't see it on a day to day basis. It takes years to happen, and to those who are waiting for it, it always seems like it will never happen.

What you have to see is that the seeds (no pun intended) have already been planted. There are already 14 states with medical marijuana laws. What we have to our advantage is technology. We can run more tests faster then ever with more exact results. We can spread those results faster then ever before and on a world wide basis. Yeah, it's 80 years of history to fight, but we have weapons that those who fought Prohibition could only dream of.

In 2006 nearly 50 medical groups nationwide announced their support of legalizing marijuana for medical use through a doctor's prescription, obtaining it through a doctor's recommendation or researching it as a treatment option. Twenty-nine medical organizations, including the American Nurses Association, the American Medical Student Association and the American Preventive Medical Association, support allowing a doctor to prescribe marijuana to a patient. Eight medical organizations support patients' access to marijuana with a doctor's recommendation, including the Florida Medical Association, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.
Nine organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the British Medical Association, have issued statements supporting research of medical marijuana as a treatment option, and/or have published material supporting doctors' and patients' rights to discuss using marijuana and other treatment options.

That's just for starters, and just for medical purposes. It's going to be a snowball effect, once it starts gathering some steam, it won't stop. It's coming Beeslo, mark my words on it.

yea, I think its more of a matter of how long until its legal rather then if its legal, it might be 5 years it might be 100 but I am certain sooner or later it will be legal - regardles of my personal feelings on the subject.

Actually, I read that recently that it was passed that cannibus was being upgraded from a class C drug to a class B. Basically, you can serve serious jail time for being in possession of it rather than getting a fine like you guys used to...

Its fuckin' stupid, you Brits are going to feel what we've been going through when your jails start becoming over crowded...