It has been going on for far to long and needs to stop. Marijuana is not any more harmful than driving down the road eating a hamburger. Canada is moving towards legalization and will possibly legalize as soon as March 2003. How far behind will the US be?

Marijuana can be used medically to help people who really need it. Some people are in extreme pain all day and pot is the only thing that soothes them. Why no let them have some peace before they die!

Recreationally marijuana is much safer than alchohol. It is an excellent way to relaxe after working (or school if thats your thing). It opens your mind and lets you look at things from an angel that you wouldnt normally percieve. (no i am not saying it gives you amazing insight into anything just that it gives you another view). It is mentally addictive, i wont try to deny that, but what is so wrong with a little addiction? I am addicted to food, water, air why not pot as well?

Hemp comes from marijuana and quite frankly, hemp could be what the world needs to save its trees. From hemp you can make rope, paper, clothes, and a huge list of other things. And who knows? Mabey we could find an energy source somewhere inside this amazing plant.

What are your thoughts and comments on this and how can we get this done? We are the next generation of politicians and voters. Lets change it.


P.S. think of all the jobs it would create!

Blame William Randoph Hearst, the man that Orson Welles's Citizen Kane is based on. Besides being a yellow journalist, Hearst owned several large paper companies - paper made from trees, that is. Sounds redundant, doesn't it? Keep reading.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, paper was actually sometimes made out of hemp, marijuana's benign, "high-less" cousin. (Hemp does not contain enough THC as marijuana; consequently, you can't smoke it or get high off it in any way.) The hemp paper industry was Heart's major obstacle to obtaining even more obnoxiously huge wealth than he already had. Hearst (or one of his cronies) came up with a brilliant way to get Congress to illegalize hemp: Get them to illegalize marijuana by illustrating it as a monster worse than alchohaul.

Congress was swayed by Hearst's arguments, and marijuana was made illegal, as well as hemp. (Hemp products are not illegal to sell or own in the United States; just to grow and make.)

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Britan and Canada are both on their way to decriminalization (www.cannabisnews.com). It's looking more and more like we're on our own...well us and China...

No matter whether or not marijuana is legalized, people are still going to do it. It'd just be available for more people to use.

But yes, marijuana CAN be harmful. It's kind of like alcohol. If you smoke too much marijuana, your judgement can be impaired. Same thing applies to alcohol. Take it at your own risk, but you're still responsible for your actions.

Merry Holidays, everyone.

I agree that it would be safer if marijuana was legalized, particularly as it being against the law doesn't really stop anyone from using it anyway. In terms of the way it makes people behave it's better than alcohol, nobody gets violent after smoking pot. I wouldn't say it 'opens up your mind' much though, there's some indication it causes mental problems. I think you're just using this as a political way to say it makes you hallucinate. I would also say that addiction is never a good thing! The truth is we know very little about the dangers of marijuana precisely because it's illegal. There's no point in keeping it illegal, it just makes it more dangerous, but don't be too quick to sing the praises of a drug we really know very little about. When (or if) it is legalized they will probably find it is linked with just as many health problems as cigarettes or alcohol and certainly worse than a hamburger.

I totally agree with you here.

However, the United States government makes a KILLING off of drug prohibition - seriously.

If you make something illegal, the profit margin goes up because of the black market.

I had a horrible experience with the stuff myself, but that doesn't give me a right to tell someone what they can't or cannot do with their body.

Besides, the federal government has no authority whatsoever in making drugs illegal.

Instead of marijuana, you might as well throw in everything else.

What you do in your own home is your business.


Besides, how are we honestly going to expect people to abide by drug laws when our own damn government is the one doing most of the buying, selling, trading of it?

CIA anyone? The "C" doesn't stand for "crack" for nothing lol.

But yeah, marijuana should be legalized and taxed just like alcohol and tobacco.

I would also like to ad how much safer it would be to buy/smoke marijuana if it was legal. No longer would it be a gateway drug because you wouldnt have to visit a dealer to get it. No longer would you have to worry about it being laced because it would be standardized. And no longer would you need to risk violence.

Legalize!