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Illegal and I, don't Mix... 3nodding

I second that!

Seriously, why not?

I mean, we know about the dangers of alcohol, the dangers of tobacco, etc but we don't outlaw them. That's not to say that 'Some dangerous substances are legal therefore all dangerous substances should be legalized', more to say 'Some dangerous substances are legalized ergo "they're dangerous" does not in itself account as a valid reason for outlawing something'

We know about potential dangers of a lot of substances and we don't outlaw them.

Some people can have an allergic reaction to drugs? Oh, that's nice, by the way, people can have allergic reactions to all sorts of things like nuts but we don't outlaw nuts.


People can overdose on drugs? You can overdose on caeffine, you can overdose on alcohol. Hell, you can overdose on carrots. Let's outlaw that too!



What happens when you outlaw drugs of any kind? Oh yeh, they tried that in the U.S.A in the 1900s with alcohol and that worked so well. rolleyes

'Marijuana is a gateway drug' Not exactly. 'Illicit use of alcohol and tobacco leads to illicit use of drugs such as marijuna (by the nature of it being illegal and therefore only available off of places that will expose you to other drugs) which then leads to illicit use of other drugs, by virtue of the same () reasoning.


Marijuana is harmful. Yes, it is harmful. To people who choose to use it. People should weigh the risks themselves. Fatty foods are unhealthy, correct? Bacon is fatty, yes? We should outlaw bacon, yes? Ummm...No. That's called 'going too far'. What we should be doing is educating people about ALL (both positive and negative) the effects of every single drug and educating people about the dangers of eating high-fat, high-cholesterol diets and the benefits and then let people make an informed decision about what they choose to consume.

If marijuana were legal, we wouldn't be able to regulate it. FALSE. Because marijuana is not regulated, there are no safeguards against contamination by pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic chemicals. In this sense, it is actually the fact that marijuana is illegal that causes the health danger. If marijuana were legal, steps could be taken to reduce the health risks associated with its use by avoiding contamination. In short, it's hard to carry out health-and-safety checks on illegal activities.

If marijuana were legal, more people would use it. Maybe. Then again, maybe it's the 'forbidden fruit' effect that makes drug-use so high.

Drugs can be contaminated with other drugs and there's no way to stop it. Well, if we're going to go there, alcohol can be contaminated with caf. - it's called a shandy. Are shandies legal? Yes. And there is a way to stop it - legalize it. That way, as part of their license agreement, you can check that they're not.

I hope this has given you something to think about.


My plan: Legalize everything but put plenty of ads on telly with 'Quit' and 'Use responsibly' similar to the 'Quit smoking' and 'drink responsibly' adverts we have now. Then do the same with the internet and leaflets - educational two-way ones though. Slap lots of 'WARNING: Take at your own risk' labels on everything. Then if despite all of the warning labels on things, people still abuse it and die, then as cold and as harsh as this sounds: Let them. It cleans up the gene pool.

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