Thread: Legalize marijuana or.. don't

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

I have a debate tomorrow and I'm on the side of keeping marijuana illegal. I have done some research but does anybody have any crazy ideas that might help me earn some brownie points with the professor?

I like the term "decriminalize" better.

I stand to be correct but as I recall:


Before the 1930s Marijuana was not a big deal. During the 30s the US government went on a propaganda campaign - yes propaganda campaign - with films like "Reefer Madness" and other works of media.

I do not smoke pot.

But look at it this way: look at alcohol.

The number of assaults (fights), DWIs, shooting, stabbing, illnesses associated with alcohol.

If people want to smoke marijuana for personal and recreational use and do not harm or defraud anyone else, then they should be able to, IMO.

Why should the state tell an adult if they can or cannot smoke pot in their own, private home?

yes, the amount of money this country throws away fighting a drug that is far less dangerous than alcohol can be justified

change sides.

sorry i can't think of any reasons to keep it illegal. except if you go at the angle decriminalizing it will make it so younger kids have access to it? or how older people have enough trouble with their memory already... then again i heard smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer’s disease.

or you might want to consider how devastating it would be for the big drug companies if people start growing their own medicines

The only people who benefit from marijuana being illegal are dealers and law enforcement....

So if we legalize mj we will have unemployed drug dealers and drug enforcement officers. Unemployed people turn to alcohol. An increase in drunks with guns/cars will mean more gun deaths and drunk driving accidents. So you see keeping mj illegal keeps drunk gun weilding ex-dealers and DEA officers from running amok in the streets....

Originally Posted by maniclion

The only people who benefit from marijuana being illegal are dealers and law enforcement....

So if we legalize mj we will have unemployed drug dealers and drug enforcement officers. Unemployed people turn to alcohol. An increase in drunks with guns/cars will mean more gun deaths and drunk driving accidents. So you see keeping mj illegal keeps drunk gun weilding ex-dealers and DEA officers from running amok in the streets....

which is in turn more work the the ATF so its not so bad of a situation, but i like where your going with this.

In its stead we should ban coffee. Then we'll have a bunch of drug dealers selling 50 bags of ground coffee, "I got that Colombian slow roasted, bro. You can't get this stuff anywhere."

or a traffic stop, "I SMELL THE FOLGERS!! WHERE IS IT! GET THE DOGS!!"

wow, sucks to be you dude. I could argue against pot if I had to, but I wouldn't want to.

Just use the arsenal of ignorance and propaganda that the government, news, and religious nuts use, and you should be fine. The ground work has already been laid. Just use whats already there.

I'm not worried about presenting in front of a 100+ people, but it's scaring me that I'm going to have to debate something I don't believe in.

Excellent advice, kelju, that's exactly what I'll have to do.

I argued for decriminalization of pot in my public speech class last semester. I got a B+ for my speech, then came home and smoked a nice fat J.

Originally Posted by KelJu

Just use the arsenal of ignorance and propaganda that the government, news, and religious nuts use, and you should be fine. The ground work has already been laid. Just use whats already there.

Exactly.

Well that was easy.

You can make up so much bullshit in this style of argument. It's funny to me though, that a million dollar campaign like "The Truth" has three health risks on their website. Three.

I could start a more meaningful campaign about the negative effects of cheese, if I had the money.

Marijuana was banned so that police could more easily arrest political protesters, who were known to smoke it. That could be your premise: oppression.

@soxmuscle
damn. if i was in ur situation i'd have to say i couldn't participate in the debate due to conflict of personal opinion.

The opposer's of decriminalizing Marijuana, over here in UK, tend to follow the ..."Marijuana is a gateway into other drugs" argument.
Personally, i think other substances ae more guilty of this..tobacco, alcohol, etc.
Our city centre, here in Bristol, on a weekend, is full of party going people, who are more drunk , than stoned. More violence is associated with alcohol, whereas
Marijuana users tend to be quite the opposite..ie..relaxed.
The police, and hospitals, are pretty busy, on generally weekends, cleaning up drunken crowds etc.
Prisons have far too many pocession, and similarly charged inmates.
Wasn't cannabis available on prescription at one time?
There were a number of MS suffers, who swore by its pain relief effects, as well as others.
Politicians are just too paranoid to do the right thing, and allow informed individuals to choose for themselves.

Originally Posted by maniclion

The only people who benefit from marijuana being illegal are dealers and law enforcement....

So if we legalize mj we will have unemployed drug dealers and drug enforcement officers. Unemployed people turn to alcohol. An increase in drunks with guns/cars will mean more gun deaths and drunk driving accidents. So you see keeping mj illegal keeps drunk gun weilding ex-dealers and DEA officers from running amok in the streets....

The Drug Enforcement officers can be focus on a bigger drug problem like Meth.......
Personally I think Weed is okay.......I would much have someone be stoned than drunk any day.I worked at a hospital and the drunks that come in are the worst......

Originally Posted by RexStunnahH

The Drug Enforcement officers can be focus on a bigger drug problem like Meth.......
Personally I think Weed is okay.......I would much have someone be stoned than drunk any day.I worked at a hospital and the drunks that come in are the worst......

My response was just satire, of course drug enforcement officers would continue to have a job and drug dealers would just change to different substances. I already know a few cops who admit they could care less about weed anymore, they have their hands full with meth to waste time with a mild high inducer....

weed is illegal because the government knows there is no way to control and tax it like they can alcohol.

alcohol brings billions of dollars into the government via taxes, if they could do the same with weed they would.

No one dies from smoking weed, it's not physically addictive, it does not make people violent, whereas alcohol addictive, makes people violent and kills thousands of people every year. I think we would be much better off if weed were legal and alcohol illegal.

100+ people is pretty rough, especially given the side you're on. To prepare for your debate, I would focus the majority of your time on preparing your rebuttals; get ready to respond confidently to their main points. Also try to discredit their sources when they provide statistics. Prepare for questions.

Originally Posted by Prince

weed is illegal because the government knows there is no way to control and tax it like they can alcohol.

alcohol brings billions of dollars into the government via taxes, if they could do the same with weed they would.

No one dies from smoking weed, it's not physically addictive, it does not make people violent, whereas alcohol addictive, makes people violent and kills thousands of people every year. I think we would be much better off if weed were legal and alcohol illegal.

I agree 95%. If you can tax tobacco, I think you can tax weed. I think it is too late to reverse the propoganda that has been put out for so many years about how pot is evil. Just like it is too late to reverse the trend of smokers. Getting people to stop smoking tobacco is just as hard as making people believe that pot is no moire dangerous than tobacco.

Originally Posted by KelJu

I agree 95%. If you can tax tobacco, I think you can tax weed. I think it is too late to reverse the propoganda that has been put out for so many years about how pot is evil. Just like it is too late to reverse the trend of smokers. Getting people to stop smoking tobacco is just as hard as making people believe that pot is no moire dangerous than tobacco.

right, but it's a bit more difficult to grow tobacco and make your own cigarettes, where as growing weed and smoking it in a pipe is pretty easy to do.

True most MJ smokers are really relaxed and have little to no anger issues.

Originally Posted by cjm

The opposer's of decriminalizing Marijuana, over here in UK, tend to follow the ..."Marijuana is a gateway into other drugs" argument.
Personally, i think other substances ae more guilty of this..tobacco, alcohol, etc.
Our city centre, here in Bristol, on a weekend, is full of party going people, who are more drunk , than stoned. More violence is associated with alcohol, whereas
Marijuana users tend to be quite the opposite..ie..relaxed.
The police, and hospitals, are pretty busy, on generally weekends, cleaning up drunken crowds etc.
Prisons have far too many pocession, and similarly charged inmates.
Wasn't cannabis available on prescription at one time?
There were a number of MS suffers, who swore by its pain relief effects, as well as others.
Politicians are just too paranoid to do the right thing, and allow informed individuals to choose for themselves.