*shrug*

[flyboy_fox]

You know, I am totally of the opinion that pot should be legalized.

I've never tried it, but I would.

I'm not squeaky clean, y'know.

Edit: Oh dear, I've really opened up a can of worms here, haven't I? :\ Apologies. But it's always awesome to get multiple points of view on an issue ^^

Comments

[moth-wingthane.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't say that if you could see what it does to some people :/

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

So ban alcohol and cigarettes and fatty food and cars and a million other things that have ruined people's lives. Pot is certainly no more harmful than cigarettes or alcohol. Most people who use it responsibly are fine. Some people will abuse it or have bad effects from it... but that's gonna happen with almost anything in life.

[k-yamato.livejournal.com]

Pot as in the drug pot? O_o;

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Yes. Pot as in marijuana.

[izzyneko.livejournal.com]

The only violence that occurs from pot is that from the underground market where people want their crack money from selling weed. Sometimes worse. If weed were legal, there would be no such violence.

And, of course, everything in moderation. Don't smoke while working, the same as don't drink while working. Did you know that the number of deaths from pure, untampered weed is 0?

Unless someone really hates you and soaks it in windex, you're fine. Or, of course, laces it with a more harmful drug. The only longterm effects weed has are those of slight spaciness, depending on how often you use it. However, these effects aren't permanent in the least and wear off anywhere between 2 days and 2 months, depending on how heavily you smoke.

And in regards to your friend being a 'schizo zombie,' there's probably other factors in his/her drug use that you aren't aware of. Educate yourself fully on a drug before you try it, as it is horribly illogical and stupid if you don't. Also, educate yourself fully before you part judgment. I mean no offense, but these are my opinions. :)

[way-past-cool.livejournal.com]

Rock on! :D It's a breath of fresh air to see another person truly educated about marijuana.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

*thumbs up* Awesome reply! :) Just when I was afraid of getting snowed under.

[tallycola.livejournal.com]

I love pot. My quality of life is greatly improved by it.

And I have a degree from a rather good (some might say prestigious) university, a fantastic job, and far more ambition than most people I've ever met. I have never had a negative experience with it.

So it works differently with different people. That's (one of the reasons) why it should be regulated, not outlawed.

I get annoyed with the "if you knew people who did it you'd want it banned" argument when I know literally dozens of people who do it who are intelligent, successful, creative, happy people. I also know dozens of people who are totally straight and sober who are completely miserable and whose lives are a mess. And vice versa. But my opinion doesn't seem to count because I smoke pot on what some might consider a regular basis, and am therefore on the road to Skid Row.

Whoa. Meant to keep that short and to the point!

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I know of FAR more pot-smokers who have normal unaffected lives than ones who've had a negative experience or have become all out 'dopeheads'.

I definitely agree with 'regulated not outlawed'. Wise words!

[izzyneko.livejournal.com]

More than dozens. Try millions. In both the high schools I've attended in the past, there were at least 5 kids with your exact case. GPA 4.0 and regular pot smokers. All of them, to my knowledge, continued on to college.

[sullmaster.livejournal.com]

Hard for me to really say on this one considering I understand where both sides are coming from. However, I have a better way I think of arguing for legalizing pot.

I don't think arguing that pot is less severe than alcohol and cigarettes really validates the point in legalizing it. Rather, why not argue that financially it would be a more effective decision for the government. Why I think it should be legalized? For the fact that so much money is wasted in regulating and monitoring it instead of other important matters. It comes down to the fact that it's up to the person in whatever they want to do and they in turn have to accept the consequences of their actions.

However, I can also understand why it should not be legalized. Why? It opens up a large can of worms about more drugs that could enter the market. If pot is legalized why not cocaine? Also, as a parent I would be extremely cautious of my kids if pot did become legal since it would become easier to access at school regardless of age limits. That's something that I would not like to have to worry about on a daily basis.

Since I'm so up and down on this issue, I really don't know what to think. As an overall neutral I'm mostly inclined to say leave it the way it is, but we'll see where this issue goes in the near future.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

>>If pot is legalized why not cocaine?

Because cocaine is a far more dangerous, and more highly classified to reflect that, drug. It's far more addictive, and, as a stimulant, has a risk of death or organ failure which has never been associated with marijuana (a sedative, and only psychologically addictive in 10% max of cases). Coke is a Class A drug. Pot is Class C. So to say "if we legalize pot, why not legalize coke too?" is like saying "If we legalize spanking a child, why not legalize stabbing them too?". It's a straw man argument.

Other than that, I mostly agree with the gist of your comment. There are many factors to consider. But I still feel strongly that it would make sense to legalize it. More sense than continuing to treat it on a par with FAR riskier drugs, anyway.

An off-topic warning

[bluedragonami.livejournal.com]

Re: An off-topic warning

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Oh wow XD Thanks for the heads-up! I'm not too bothered... I have no idea who decided my journal is SA-worthy, but I don't think there's too much here for people to flame. And if I get trolls? Eh, I can ignore them. But I do appreciate being informed, so thanks :)

[izzyneko.livejournal.com]

Whether weed makes you lazy or not varies person to person. A definite disease today is lack of motivation in general. You don't need drugs for that. You have the flood of mental disorders, depression, obesity, and other detrimental topics that are becoming more common in society. It's all on the person's shoulders, weed is not the cause of this.

Other more damaging and unnatural drugs were created in labs, mostly in the late 1800s/early 1900s, and were thought to do good for society. If you ever watched Hooked: on the History Channel, they explain in a lot of detail how cocaine, heroin, and advanced methamphetamines came to be, and how they affected its users. Heck, cocacola was originally a mineral tonic made to coo your woes. There were bars at the pharmacy serving up cocacola. Of course, the active ingredient in this refreshing beverage was cocaine. Heroin was put in syrups in history as a patented "cure-all." The consequences became apparent not too long after. I'm only giving painfully brief summaries. If you want to know the whole story, try watching out for these shows, or look it up online.

Marijuana was outlawed very slowly. Propaganda was spread in the form of movies and ads. One ad had warned the general masses that weed makes its user go insane and murder the innocent. One big blow to the reputation of weed included an already mentally insane child murdering his parents, and weed got attached to it. It was a media storm. Movies such as Reefer Madness became popular, and suddenly everyone was afraid of the drug. This was in the early 1900's, so such response could only be expected. Weed was mistakenly labeled as a narcotic, and even as science proved otherwise, the general opinion remained that it's so friggin dangerous.

I smoked it. I got high. I giggled a bit. I came down. I aced a test the next morning. I don't really see an issue, here. Not for me, anyway. As I said, it depends on the person. If said person is toking up ten times a day, then that is his life choice to be high 24/7 and never get anywhere in life. But for the majority of us, we wanna go somewhere. Weed is for fun and recreation, just like alcohol.

Please, drink responsibly.
Please, smoke responsibly.

If anything I said is offensive, my apologies. But please, read up and know. Try to figure out more. If your friend is smoking too much and not doing anything with his/her life, give them a reality check. There are definitely many cases where people get too gluttonous with a good thing, weed is no exception. But I'll tell you right now, weed is not addictive. You won't be shaking violently for your next "fix."

[izzyneko.livejournal.com]

Oh, and a small add to this:

I have decided to avoid smoking until there is a legal alternative. I am a law-fearing citizen of the US of A. >.>

[sullmaster.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say something directly to this.

I never saw anything with your earlier comment as offensive considering your personal experience behind. it. For me it's the same thing with cocacola as you had mentioned, it's not a drug but I can't help but drink maybe a few cans everyday. But in response to buying weed, it may not be an addictive drug but it could become an addictive habit much like anything else. And weed is powerful enough to impair your vision or cause you to do actions you normally wouldn't like sex. All I'm saying from before is that if weed does become legal then only more drugs will make their way into the open market, and I can understand why the government is being very cautious about the matter.

It is good to see that a supporter can back up their claims with evidence, kudos to you on it. As for fearing the US government, I'm with ya on that ^^;

[sphix.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of a fence-sitter on this one... On one hand, if you legalize it completely, there are some serious risks involved, especially to minors (pretty much all of which have been covered here, no need for reiteration).

But if you keep the ban on it, look at how well Prohibition ended up. People will always keep up with the law. And human lives are being lost each day that this war on drugs goes on.

So, if it's regulated, we take a sizable chunk of the drug dealers in the world out (no need to go to a dealer when you can buy it at the gas station, right? That puts them out of business), but it needs to be a responsible decision that's made (when they're 21, if not higher).

With this, I believe that the smoking should be confined to designated areas (if something can be secondhanded, I think it should be done away from other people), with harsh punishments for driving or operating anything that can get you a DUI with alcohol, and punishments for underage smoking. I wholeheartedly agree with Lunar's BAC idea.

However, I believe the war on other, more harmful and violence-inducing drugs should remain where it is. I have two friends who decided MJ wasn't strong enough, and went on to other drugs that destroyed their lives.

It never ceases to amaze me, however, that despite the constant warnings about the dangers of smoking cigarettes (ever) and driving under the influence of alcohol, people do it every day, everywhere. I have never smoked anything, taken or abused any drug, or had even a drop of alcohol. I'm not saying this to be preachy, it's just that I have realized that I have an addictive personality and any of those would screw my life over in a heartbeat. If somebody decides to risk their life, that's entirely up to them, so long as it affects NOBODY ELSE.

And, in the end, if you can get through that tangled mess of opinion without a map, kudos! Interesting can of worms, Jai... Still friends, right? ^_^

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Hey, even if you had a totally opposite view on the issue rather than neutral/undecided, we'd still be friends :) I respect you far too much to let a difference of opinion damage that.

I totally agree that smoking should be confined to personal space/designated areas. Personally, cigarette (tobacco) smoke makes me feel sick, and I'd LOVE for it to be illegal in public places. I'm very glad that, here at least, they've banned it in indoor shopping malls and most indoor public places (with the exception of designated restaurants/bars). But if people wanna smoke in their own home or a designated smoker's area, I think that should be permitted.

Also, I agree on 'hard' drugs remaining strictly illegal. I'd only legalize marijuana because I don't believe it's any more harmful than tobacco or alcohol and I believe people should be allowed to make informed choices. I don't believe it's a gateway drug. Why? Because it's a sedative, not a stimulant, and solvent abuse (glue, aerosols, etc) is FAR more similar in effects to 'harder' drugs - they carry the risk of cardiac arrest/instant death/organ failure etc, which is common to harder drugs but not associated in any way with pot.

So that's my stance. But I'm open to debate on the issue, and I appreciate your intelligent response above ^^

[helios-inferno.livejournal.com]

Wow, interesting discussion..
One for which I would almost give you a tour in the Netherlands.
(it may be a stereotypical view drug use is so high etc. but we do have coffee shops and partially legalised use of drugs including medical marijuana)

In any case, presuming you only want to legalise soft drugs and not hard drugs, i'll give you a bit of my perhaps rather negative view..
For legalisation has a few things you might want to do it for, as for example the medical puposes of marijuana, mainly used for certain brain related medical conditions to which it is thought to have a positive effect.
However never been proven as of yet, and thus a lot are still skeptical over the medical use.
Even so, I would concider legalising it for this purpose, but it should only be available through a docter's reciept through aapothecary just like all the other drugs.
Way it's now, ofcourse it's not allowed to use drugs wen young, but it takes one trip toany highschool or major city like amsterdam to spot at least one guy smoking and severly under age if I may add.

Thing is, legalising means making it more "publicly" available, alcohol and cigaretes are especially unhealthy (it has been more prominently proven with alcohol) during stages of development. (ranging from early development as baby, till around your 18-20 age. This due to puberty being a stage of development as well even if you may forget this)
It's safe to assume drugs will have a similar more serious effect on younger individuals.

We already have a problem with alcohol/cigarettes being given to younger children through their older friends. Sometimes even an adult that does this, even though it is partially their choice doing this, it happens more often then i'd be willing to admit.

[helios-inferno.livejournal.com]

When you look at soft drugs/hard drugs, the major part of concern compared to alcohol/smoking is that drugs affect the brain in a more predominant way then alcohol or smoke.
Plus alcohol, has a specialised enzyme produced in the liver breaking it down (Alcohol Dehydrogenase) while other drugs (even though the can be degraded) have no specific mechanism to break them down.
Another point is that the effects of drugs, like almost every other mental state afecting drug, never really got clearly identified.
As in they don't know what happens exactly, they have no idea what such drugs do to the brain and thus you can't say for certain if it does indeed has a more positive then negative effect even with those used in medicine.
(besides as they don't know what is responsible for the therapeutic effect in the drug you also have the problem of a "polluted" drug in general, containign chemicals/substances that may only cause damage or other adverse effects.)

So basicly one of main reasons is simply it not being known what they do exactly. At least alcohol and cigarettes are a "known" poison, and you know exactly what your getting yourself into when you use it.
Then you also have the thing of hard and soft drugs, being soft drugs those you do not get addicted too and normally have less dangerous effects then hard drugs.
If we want to legalise the soft drugs, since some of them have therapeutic effects, we will also have to run the risk that we may encounter complications later on..
Things now seem relatively safe, just like alcohol and cigarettes where once thought to have no effect on health. In alcohol it was thought to be healthy once, now we know it's only in limited use.
More recently it has been discovered that (soft)drugs, even after only one use, already seem to decrease the vasculair system of the brain.
It is not proven that one time use will also cause problems, but it's very likely...
It is only of recent studies this was found out, and not yet linked to any desease, but with my own research in Alzheimer, it is very likely this could lead to Alzheimer if not a similar defect on a later age.
(please note Alzheimer is normally an "old age" desease, normally get it somewhere in your 60's and in rare occasions in your 30's/40's with genetic defects. This does not mean this is something your looking out for in retirement, as this desease is very serious.)
Though this is but a hypothesis on my own accord and may or may not be truthfull. It is however that Alzheimer is becoming more and more freqeunt, though this may be related to people getting older as well.
But doesn't mean their are other perhaps more serious effects it can have on health.

It is also to note that even if serious effects on health are perhaps no concern to the patient at the moment he uses drugs every day, it will be a concern to everyone else later on.
This due to costs in healthcare.

No, if they ever decide to legalise it..it should not be (the way it is legalised here) just be available through the famed coffeeshops, as everyone can get it that way.
I don't see these, due to the dangers, as a social drug/poison much like alcohol or smoking. And even though that's a point to argue upon, I think it's best to only use it as possible medicine and only through a apothecary at best, at the very least till they can make a better picture of it's effects.
Please also note that i'm also not a very supportive guy about the used psycho-drugs to treat all kinds of brain illnesses as well as for help during therapy with a psychiatrist.
This for the same reason as not being know what the used drugs do exactly.
And basicly I still have a fw more points, but I think they have already been announced somewhere in the long list of comments of which I did not take the time to read all of them.

[rosebuster.livejournal.com]

I've already replied under LunarOcean, so please read it, but I looked at your entry again:

I've never tried it, but I would.

And I'd like to say once again. Please don't. You're not the kind of person I'd imagine doing this. It's just not for you... And you're already so cute without it. And such a good friend. You have everything. You don't need it. *hugs* ^_^

[sphix.livejournal.com]

Motion seconded. Jai needs no drugs to be uberamazing. :D

[shaboba330.livejournal.com]

*sigh* Why do people have to be so closedminded about drugs? =_=

Jai, I'm with you all the way. I go by the mindset "don't knock it until you've tried it."

[lunarocean777.livejournal.com]

The comments I've read here haven't been very close minded. Just cause they don't agree or aren't the most libertarian of thoughts doesn't mean they're stupid and pointless :P

[twitchytwitch.livejournal.com]

I'm more concerned with alcohol and cigarettes (second-hand smoke, I CAN NEVER ESCAPE IT. Seriously, everbody here smokes. /EVERYBODY./ I have never met an adult who doesn't. ... ;_; ) anyway, that stuff is WAY more lethal than silly pot. :P
Yet pot's the one everybody's so bent out of shape over. O_o

[twitchytwitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, and please don't do it, Jai! ^^;; PLEEEAAASE be one person I know who isn't a little kid who doesn't do drugs or any of that unless they're needed? xD;

No chem lab self testing for TRod.

[teamrodent.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, You can sign Packrat and me as rec. drug free, as well.

[leonskennedy827.livejournal.com]

Well, this certanily is an interesting discussion

I'm sorry but I have to disagree though, I think drugs if at all possible (Some are needed to save lifes and such) should be avoided, I'm sorry, but I just do

Some may see me as closeminded, but well, there's my 2 cents here

Not trying to cause a row here though

[delako.livejournal.com]

*grunts* I had a long reply written but I just couldnt stop writing. So I figured to just delete it cause nothing I say will really matter

Ill be graduating from Pharmacy school in May, and seeing how pot and other drugs of abuse have hurt my roommate who will also be a pharmacist makes me hate them to the end. When I confronted him about it all he thanked me for being such a good friend, and that none of his other 'friends' would have ever told him this, because all they wanted was to get high with him..knowing he'll be a pharmacist soon and could easily score whatever they wanted.

I am just hoping he can stay away from those folks for the rest of his life.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

*Nods* I entirely respect that. If any type of drug has messed your friend up in any way, I hope too that he will stay away from it and anyone involved in it.

However, I remain of the opinion that legalizing pot will in fact make it safer. I have seen enough people suffer and die from abusing cigarettes and alcohol... I've seen people become diabetic from eating far too unhealthily and basically killing themselves through obesity. ANYTHING in excess, or taken by a person predisposed to ill-effects from that particular thing, is going to cause problems.

I believe that legal age and amount restrictions should apply, but I equally believe that adults should be allowed to make informed choices about what they put in their bodies if it is something that is mostly safe in regulated amounts - which pot is. FAR more safe than cigarettes, as nicotine is greatly more addictive, and cigarettes contain MANY cancer-causing agents and tar. Pot contains some elements that may also be health-damaging, but as of currently, it is classed as a Class C drug (compared to Class A drugs such as Cocaine), and is less harmful than some prescription medicines. It is not physiologically addictive (like nicotine is), and only psychologically addictive in up to 10% of cases (again, far lower than cigarettes), there are no withdrawal symptoms, and MANY people smoke it very casually (once or twice a week, or even monthly or less) with no ill-effects.

There are people who drop out from life to smoke weed, but there are also people who drop out from life to drink or live unproductive lifestyles... neither of which are illegal.

At least if pot is legal, people can talk more openly about the risks and be more informed, rather than sneaking underground to indulge in it without feeling able to ask questions. I also believe that pot DOES have medical advantages that could be far better researched an utilised if it were legalized. And the purity of pot if it were available commercially and regulated would insure it was FAR less dangerous than the stuff available on the black market now.

Anyway, thanks for your input :) Where do I know you from...? Do I know you at all...? ^^;