why is weed illigal???

[Zazen13]

Marijuana, for the reasons you stated, is much like wine, and like wine, I suppose some people would choose to go it on their own.  I don't think you'll find such people are the majority.

Well, not really, I've made my own wine, it was pretty good. But, I got the same buzz from my own wine that I do from an $8 bottle of Merlot from the grocery store and it was a hell of a lot easier. Different strains of marijuana can provide a very different experience, this isn't true of alcohol or tobacco products generally...Obviously, those not concerned with quality of experience but just want to "catch a buzz" will just go to the store. But, the cottage industry of small scale growers who grow a wide variety of specialty blends will continue and thrive. They will be very hard to regulate and tax.

[Zazen13]

A small minority will always grow their own. We live in a *I want it now* society. The majority would buy from the stores just for the sake of convenience.

Waiting 3-5 months for your female plants to mature isn't exactly about *I want it now*. It's more about quality control and a discerning ganja pallet. It's a thriving hobby for a lot of people that has absolutely nothing to do with money. I know, I'm from Canada originally. I've seen more grow rooms than I've seen stars in the sky.

[Baitman]

But, the cottage industry of small scale growers who grow a wide variety of specialty blends will continue and thrive. They will be very hard to regulate and tax.

It would be like buying (tomatoes, cherries, any fruit or vegetable) from the farmer for your own us. You pay him in cash and he will claim it on his tax returns.

[Zazen13]

It would be like buying (tomatoes, cherries, any fruit or vegetable) from the farmer for your own us. You pay him in cash and he will claim it on his tax returns.

LoL yup..

[nimble]

For those with carcinogen concerns, and pretty much the only way to "smoke" bud:



Worth the cash to save your lungs.

[Baitman]

What about the cotton mouth

[Steve]

Wow, dude, you obviously have some personal issue with me.

Nope, I like ya, actually. You just think everyone who disagrees with you is somehow hateful.  Per your own admission in another thread, you don't tolerate failure in yourself. Being wrong is akin to failure.  Your inability to admit being wrong makes debates with you circular and unproductive until you beg off with some excuse or another.

[Steve]

It would be like buying (tomatoes, cherries, any fruit or vegetable) from the farmer for your own us. You pay him in cash and he will claim it on his tax returns.

Sure, there would always be under the table deals. Most of the same people who can buy from the farmer also live out where they have property to grow their own.

What about the millions of city people who don't have this access? Part of the expense of pot is the cost of doing business while at risk of getting caught breaking the law. The government could license distributors, add a nice sales tax, and probably still have the pot cheaper than what it currently sells for on the street. Think about it.

The big profiteers  might be Indian Tribes with reservation land.  No taxes... cheaper pot. That might be interesting.

[VansCrew1]

For those with carcinogen concerns, and pretty much the only way to "smoke" bud:

(Image removed from quote.)

Worth the cash to save your lungs.

there like 500$

[nimble]

there like 500$

And chemo is a lot more. IMO if you are going to smoke weed you may as well cut the damage it does as much as possible, and 400-ish is a small investment to do that.

[Zazen13]

Nope, I like ya, actually. You just think everyone who disagrees with you is somehow hateful.  Per your own admission in another thread, you don't tolerate failure in yourself.

Well, if I give that impression, I assure you it's not intentional. I love intellectual debate in real life and on discussion forums, debate would be absolutely zero fun if I was always right and/or everyone always agreed with me. Perhaps something is being lost in the translation to pure text. But, I assure you I am not casting down my opinions like thunderbolts from some ivory tower of perfectionism. If I was afraid or resentful of dissenting opinions I would not purposefully interject my thoughts and ideas into hotly debated discussions. In fact, I'll often purposefully choose contentious issues, especially if I find both sides of the argument equally attractive, it helps me resolve my own thought conflicts on the topic to join the debate and work it out as we go along.. Sometimes I'll even debate with a line of thinking opposed to my own personal opinion just to see if others can prove my real take on the subject correct by countering me by the same logic pathways that I did, reinforcing the truth of my logical thinking on the topic.

[VansCrew1]

And chemo is a lot more. IMO if you are going to smoke weed you may as well cut the damage it does as much as possible, and 400-ish is a small investment to do that.

Yes but im sure there's someone that will argue with you about it. But if you dont know the risk's about it you should not be doing it. It's like people that smoke tobacco. They know the risk but they still continue to do it not only hurting themselves but the people around them with second hand smoke witch is more deadly. Im not going to really get into it but people that smoke weed say a few times a month are no as bad off as people that smoke weed every day. It's the persons choice and it's there life they have to live with the consequences.

[SpazMan]

Oh dear, I was a card carrying member of NORML for years. I also worked in a pharmaceutical research laboratory where we were conducting extensive research on various drugs and their affect on human  behavior and brain chemistry. I had access to restricted Government and private research reports and data on Marijuana (I cannot disclose specific data). <If you do not enjoy my comprehensive posts stop reading now.>

Marijuana is in fact considered a hallucinogen and a barbiturate (due to its effects rather than its actual chemical composition). The THC content largely determines its hallucinogenic effect, but the most powerful marijuana doesn't even compare to weakest concentrations of LSD-25 or mescalin. Marijuana, unlike almost every other drug is a victim of a property implied by one of its names, "weed". It can grow almost anywhere and can flower several times a year in a wide variety of soils and climates. It is one of the few vegetable based narcotics that can be grown casually by private citizens in sizeable quantities. As Skyrock pointed out, Marijuana criminalization was used as a tool to further politically motivated restrictive government immigration and deportation policies against Hispanics. Later enforcement, especially in the deep south and inner cities, used marijuana criminalization to target African-Americans.

There is proof that like cigarettes, raw, unprocessed Marijuana vegetable matter contains carcinogens, free radicals and tar. But, 75% of smoked marijuana is unfiltered, unlike cigarettes. If commercially produced in the same fashion as cigarettes but without all the extra chemicals tobacco companies add to their products, it would be a much lesser source of cancer causing agents. There is some very strong evidence that Marijuana use does temporarily  deleteriously effect short-term memory, cognitive reasoning and fine motor control, much like alcohol use. However, unlike alcohol, other than simply the fact that you are smoking unprocessed, unfiltered vegetable matter, the active ingredients have no permanent adverse affects on any organ or system in the human body. Marijuana is not a poison like alcohol which is the reason there is no "hang-over".

From a behavioral perspective Marijuana and alcohol have much less in common. Alcohol's "intoxicating" effect is mostly a result of the altering of a brain region called the reticular formation. This part of the brain is responsible (among other things) for filtering sensory input. It throws out sensory information it deems "unimportant" only allowing the important stuff to pass though it to other parts of the brain. For example, I am wearing socks right now, but unless I choose to focus my attention on them my reticular formation filters out the "feel" of them on my feet and ankles. So, if the reticular formation is a filter allowing only important sensory input to pass through, alcohol clogs the filter. More and more sensory input is discarded as irrelevant in proportion to the level of alcohol in the blood to the point where the user passes out in blackout fashion. During the latter phases of acute alcohol intoxication no sensory input is recorded at all in the memory as it has all been discarded. I am sure no one needs any explanation or examples of how dangerous that could be in many situations.

Marijuana, although it's a lot harder to isolate particular brain regions affected, has almost the entirely opposite effect. Marijuana actually increases both the acuity of the senses and the actions of them, in terms of associations derived by their interpretation, in the brain. To put this another way, it creates a connectedness between sensory perception, memory and cognitive thought that expands awareness of the single object of attention in a multifaceted way incorporating both left and right hemispheres. The problem with this, and why marijuana intoxication is dangerous to operate a motor vehicle on, is because this increased brain activity focused upon a single object of attention takes away from "peripheral" awareness of everything else around you. Your situational awareness, as it were, is reduced to the point of nonexistence as you can focus extremely intently but on only one object at a time.

The other necessary comparison between alcohol and marijuana is its affect on the emotional state or mood. Both, have an euphoric effect, but the euphoria of alcohol is relatively short-lived compared to the length and extent of intoxication. After a certain point the euphoria wears off and the misinterpretation of improperly filtered information allows for extreme, if not violent, expressions of uninhibited emotional behavior. As intoxication wears off the lower alcohol level in the blood stream in the brain depresses mood creating an anti-euphoria state further exacerbating wavering emotional stability.

Marijuana has a much longer lasting Euphoric period. It can be as long as the intoxicated feeling itself and is rarely associated with a "crashing" of mood as the level of THC affecting the brain subsides. Rather than information being over-filtered, marijuana actually deepens the interpretation of information increasing its impact on emotions. This is why a funny joke on marijuana is hilarious to the point a wetting oneself, whereas normally it would just be worth a chuckle. This is true of any interpretation, a sad movie while intoxicated by marijuana may make a grown man weep openly when he would not otherwise shed a tear. So, it is far less likely for someone intoxicated by marijuana to display negative emotions or violence as the experience of profound empathy has the opposite effect of alcohol induced sensory distortion and misinterpretation.

There was a recent study done by British researchers that indicated marijuana if used habitually by those with psychiatric problems could increase the chance of them becoming acutely symptomatic. It even seemed to indicate that those with no diagnosed psychiatric ailment, but were predisposed in some previously unknown way, were more inclined to manifest that condition after prolonged habitual use. There was no evidence to support the degradation of mental stability in those considered "normal" though. So, I guess from that one could say, based on this research, habitual marijuana use is definitely not going be recommended for everyone, but then again no drug is.

There are many reasons marijuana remains illegal, take it from someone who has read Government reports on the subject, very few of the reasons are specifically in the, "best interests of the citizenry". I will just list some here...

1) Possibly lowers worker productivity, unlike the stimulating effect of nicotine.
2) Is far too easy to grow and cultivate, therefore regulate and tax.
3) Concentrations of the psychoactive substance THC varies widely therefore has unpredictable effects.
4) In its raw form it can cause cancer.
5) It is extremely cheap to produce and process so even if taxed market forces would make it relatively economically insignificant.
6) Govt seizure of private property indirectly associated with marijuana indictments exceeds the street value of the drug seized itself more than 100 fold.
7) Some conclude that anyone who would smoke a joint today would likely shoot up heroin tomorrow...the "Escalating drug use pattern theory".

Wow......   Thanks for the time and information sir.....

[nimble]

Im not going to really get into it but people that smoke weed say a few times a month are no as bad off as people that smoke weed every day.

Agreed on that, guess it all depends on how much you smoke or how much you have in the bank. I just personally prefer the volcano.

[Steve]

Well, if I give that impression, I assure you it's not intentional. I love intellectual debate in real life and on discussion forums, debate would be absolutely zero fun if I was always right and/or everyone always agreed with me. Perhaps something is being lost in the translation to pure text. But, I assure you I am not casting down my opinions like thunderbolts from some ivory tower of perfectionism. If I was afraid or resentful of dissenting opinions I would not purposefully interject my thoughts and ideas into hotly debated discussions. In fact, I'll often purposefully choose contentious issues, especially if I find both sides of the argument equally attractive, it helps me resolve my own thought conflicts on the topic to join the debate and work it out as we go along.. Sometimes I'll even debate with a line of thinking opposed to my own personal opinion just to see if others can prove my real take on the subject correct by countering me by the same logic pathways that I did, reinforcing the truth of my logical thinking on the topic.

Well see, I like debates as well.... even heated ones. I'm the type of guy that can get in a heated exchange, then have a good laugh about it with the opponent later. I see nothing wrong in  debating with passion. I'm not talking about vicious personal attacks here... just good clean jabs.  

As for pot regulation... it would definitely have it's warts, IMHO. Something along the lines of moonshiners meet roadside vegetable stands, ya know?
I believe that the majority of people wouldn't have access to such clandestine distributors, though.

I think it would reduce crime on the border, at least some... no market for mexican pot here. At least no market for illegal pot. Remember, we could probably grow it and sell it here cheaply enough that sneaking pot across the border would not be very economical.

I would thinkg one problem that would have to be solved is crop size. Imagine if a farmer grew 1000's of acres of pot. I'd think some enterprising criminals might come up with a way to help themselves to some harvest.   Solution: small, well guarded crops? Government owned farms? I think the latter is a bad idea.