What If Marijuana Were Legal?
by With so much talk about legalizing marijuana, I think it is time to face the cold hard truth and realize legalizing it will not solve anything, but make more problems in the long run.
There has been lots of talk lately about legalizing marijuana. Is that really the answer to the growing drug problems in the United States? If we legalize marijuana, would not that lead to eventual legalization of other drugs, like heroin, LSD, PCP, meth, cocaine and so forth? Now very few people would want to see those drugs legal, but seem to think marijuana is no big deal.
Smoking marijuana and driving, is the same if not worse then drunk driving, because of impaired motor skills. No big deal, right? Well if you are a family coming home from church, you might, because in a blink of an eye, you could all be hit and killed by an impaired driver.
Here are the most common reasons people give for wanting to legalize drugs and why they are wrong:
- People have the right to use whatever they want, it is their body – absolutely, and if they could stay home while doing it that would be great, but they go to work, drive and get in the way of law abiding citizens trying to live a good clean life.
- I have the right to do whatever I want in my own home – depends on the drug. LSD can cause flashbacks, years after the fact. So, let’s say someone took LSD last week in the privacy of their home during their week off from work, no big deal, right? What if that person is driving your children to school? What if that person is a doctor or lawyer?
- Drugs only hurt the user – Yeah unless they drive in that condition or work in that condition. Then there are the women who use drugs while pregnant, tell me that baby is not getting hurt? Over 100,000 babies are born every year addicted to drugs. Withdrawal can kill an adult man; now imagine a newborn baby going through it. Anyone hear of second hand smoke, you think it does not do anything if you just inhale a little meth or crank smoke? Then there is the increase in crime (which hurts us all), for instance, according to a 1994 Newsweek report on child abuse, “Drugs now suffuse 80 percent of the caseload; sexual and physical assaults that once taxed the imagination are now common.”
- Legalizing Drugs Will Lower Crime – If illegal drugs cause problems, can you imagine the crime rate going down just because drugs are legal? Sure, the drug related crime rate would go down, while everything else went up, like sexual assault, murder, assaults, etc. Why? Because drugs effect a person’s mental state. The violent behavior caused by drugs will not magically go away, much less stop because the drugs are legal. Legal drugs are not going to make a person less violent than illegally purchased drugs, because it is the same drug with a different label. Therefore, crimes committed because of drugs will increase, not decrease, as the number of drug users will increase with the legalization of drugs. The psychopathological behavior that drugs cause will not go away because drugs are legal; they will only get worse and spread faster than the flu ever could. The people committing these violent crimes are career criminals who will not stop their illegal activities once drugs are legalized they will just find new sources of illicit revenue.
- Legalizing Drugs will take the thrill out of Drugs and people will not use them - past history shows us how wrong we are in this type of thinking. Did alcohol use decrease when it was legalized? No. When abortion became legal, did abortions decrease? No. When an action becomes legal, the number of people carrying out that action increases. Drugs will not be any different
If one examines the arguments behind drug legalization, it becomes apparent that legalizing drugs will not solve any of our Nation’s drug problems. The only thing that will is tougher drug laws, real punishments like longer jail time, and forced drug treatment; yes, I said forced. Some people start using drugs due to peer pressure, makes sense they will stop for the same reason. Will they need help, yes and we should do everything possible to help them. However, legalizing drugs would be a disaster for America and be a huge kick in the stomach to those who have lost loved ones in the War on Drugs. We need to continue the fight and fight with everything we have, this is a war we cannot afford to lose and our children’s lives depend on it.
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Post Commentloca
On May 14, 2009 at 9:30 am
that all good to know but….yea
Irene Daniels
On May 16, 2009 at 7:27 pm
good writing
Ignorance Begets Stupidity
On May 18, 2009 at 4:40 pm
*If they legalize marijuana, they wouldn’t just say “here ya go, have fun.” There would still be laws. Just like alcohol. You have to be 21 to drink it, and it’s still illegal to drink and drive. You can also get a ticket for public intox. They should legalize marijuana but do it in a delicate fashion. Legalizing marijuana would hurt the drug cartels business big time and it would help our nation get out of debt. Not to mention that when they market it, they could tax the hell out of it just like cigarettes and that creates even more revenue. And think of all the money we would save not having thousands of 18 year old jonny’s sitting behind bars taking up tax payer’s money because they had a lil sack of weed in their pockets. It’s just common sense. Do it in your own home and be smart about it.
Faith
On August 14, 2009 at 6:40 am
there are so many things wrong with this article I don\’t even know where to begin.
why are you getting off topic about LSD and crank and meth? It makes no sense. Marijuana is completely different from those drugs.
And as to people driving while impaired….uhh what about drinking? Are you going to say we should ban that? I think we all know how well prohibition worked for America.
This is just so stupid.
bgrg
On September 23, 2009 at 3:36 am
that is the most ridiculus things i have ever heard how are you going to compare a plant that the founding fathers smoked to crack meth heroin meth and lsd the decloration of independence was writted on hemp paper and think of the benefits we as the american people would get from such a movement lady you are just wasteing your time its only a matter of time before its legal with or without a doctors note i have terrible tremours in my hands and pot always helps me relax and no i do not do any other drugs
Neil
On October 22, 2009 at 3:24 pm
This article is wrong in so many ways!
Birri
On November 14, 2009 at 8:07 pm
This article is on the right track. And marijuana might not be same to other dangerous drugs but its still a drug, that can DAMAGE your BODY system in MANY WAYS and risk others’ lives. Marijuana should never become legal!!!!!
Dr Matthew Creed
On September 27, 2010 at 8:50 am
Are you kidding me? You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I, my entire family, and most my friends, have smoked marijuana for well over 20 years each, daily, and none of us do any of the things you say we do. We smoke at home when work is said and done, we write music, poetry, paint, then we go to bed. Go to work the next day, make the world a better place, come home to take our minds to a better place. None of us are crazy, sex-mad drug addicts. Ignorance is the world’s biggest killer, not drugs. Educate yourself from neutral, credible SCIENTIFIC sources before writing a ridiculously biased and flawed argument. Not myth and social stigmas. People do stupid things regardless of whether they’re under the influence, so don’t blame the bloody drugs.
Rick
On September 27, 2010 at 10:30 am
Literally dozens of very thorough studies have been done studying the effects of even long term, recreational cannabis use by adults over the years. Many of those studies were commissioned by the government (here and abroad). In nearly all of those studies, the recommendation has been that cannabis use does not cause aggression, sexual crimes or any other social ills. Those studies have shown that it is the prohibition of the substance that causes almost all the social ills.
The DEA’s own judge in a statement several years ago made this commend after an extensive review of the scientific literature. “Marihuana in its natural form is the safest, therapeutically active substance known to man.”
Prohibition exists not to protect society, but to protect big business that would lose money if it were legalized and the drug prohibition warriers would not have enough to support their obscene budgets if it were legalized.
Peter Pumpkineater
On September 27, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I’d much rather smoke marijuana than the paint chips this dumbass has been smoking. Check out this little grammatical gem:
“Smoking marijuana and driving, is the same if not worse then drunk driving, because of impaired motor skills. No big deal, right? Well if you are a family coming home from church, you might, because in a blink of an eye, you could all be hit and killed by an impaired driver.”
Let me quote part of that one to break this down: “Well if you are a family coming home from church, you might..” …might…what? She needs to go back to school and learn what a verb is, then she needs to learn how to use it in a sentence.
ian biglow
On September 27, 2010 at 6:49 pm
OMG IF I SMOKE MARIJUANA TODAY AND DRIVE A CAR NEXT WEEK I WILL STILL BE HIGH?
Alice
On September 27, 2010 at 7:04 pm
I\\\’m… speechless.
This is ridiculous.
Blakidz
On September 27, 2010 at 7:48 pm
HeyBrii, do you use caffeine? Alcohol? Pain-Killers? OTC drugs? Prescription drugs? Did you know that ALL of those can kill you from overdose, and yet cannabis can\’t!
Also, this whole article is ridiculous. How about talking about cannabis when WE are talking about cannibas. Stop trying to compare cannabis and harder drugs, they are different. Cannabis is far safer than alcohol, tell me, would you rather see a country using cannabis or alcohol? I say cannabis, because if people used it instead of alcohol we would have a DECREASE in sexual assaults and other unwanted crimes.
M i k e
On September 27, 2010 at 9:30 pm
If the combination of stupidity and misinformation in this article is the product of a weed-free brain, I think I’ll start smoking a pound a day.
Sam Baker
On September 27, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Your bias is based on outdated facts and misguided thinking… Marijuana legalization will do far more for society then keeping it illegal.Tougher laws for possession is stupid… drug possession should not be an avenue for prison..All the people in the 60’s that smoked grass and were busted for possession would not have gone onto make the products provided the services they do today because they would have a criminal record holding them back. I did notice that you didn’t even hit on it’s valid medicinal uses… reports of it curing cancers in the 70’s how it helps patients of various illnesses cope and maintain a better life. I understand this is a sobriety site and you need to tout your line of thinking but you are only promulgating the old outdated wrong facts. I urge people to educate yourselves outside of this sites and learn the truth about this issue.
Raymond
On September 29, 2010 at 3:13 am
You need to do some actual research instead of making fact-less claims on driving while under the influence of cannabis!
http://www.ukcia.org/research/driving2.htm
Check this out “The foremost impression one gains from reviewing the literature is that no clear relationship has ever been demonstrated between marijuana smoking and either seriously impaired driving performance or the risk of accident involvement.”
YOUR WHOLE ARTICLE IS A COMPLETE FARSE.
Santiago
On January 30, 2011 at 10:22 pm
It should, be legal