You don’t raise a teenager in this country without having an ongoing debate, or at the very least, a discussion about the legalization of marijuana. And if you are one of those parents who has a young adult who always does what he or she is told, then you’ve struck pay dirt while mining the grounds of this thing we call parenting. Congratulate yourself or praise the heavens, because you are unique.
In my experience, even if your child isn’t in a debater and happens to share your opinion on everything, most likely he or she has friends or at least a peer or two who has been in trouble with the law because of something to do with pot, or weed, as it’s hipper to call it.
It’s one topic that continually comes up in conversation with my fellow parents, all of whom save a few, are in favor of it because we all have kids who, as I described before, know someone who has come dangerously close to having their futures derailed because of the contraband drug.
And I think it’s precisely because our generation grew up with pot–and aren’t scared of it. Many of my college friends smoked dope–most not regularly, but definitely once in a while. I personally never took to the drug because I can’t smoke. It’s physically impossible for me to breathe smoke into my lungs. (I also had surgeries on my vocal chords as a kid and the doctor warned that cancer was always a possibility.)
All that said, I am not here to present pros and cons of the legalization debate. Personally, I remain on the fence. What do you think?
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The “War on Drugs” has caused far more harm to society than the marijuana plant could ever have. It breaks up families, sends non violent people to jail and fuels the probation departments. A simple possession charge for a first time offender will cost over $2000 in probation fees. It’s the dirty secret which props up our local government.
Medicinal marijuana is now legal in CT but will be under strict guidelines. If it cures my 6 year long bout with on and off depression, then sign me up. I have had to shutoff most of the outside world just to get through these last six months. Meantime, the pills have made me a balloon. I need a new drug.
It should be but never will as long as marijuana prosecutions, arrests, and seizures remain a huge source of income for local, state, and federal governments.
Marijuana arrests puts huge money into the hands of law enforcement. From asset forfeiture to costing the average person arrested for marijuana possession over $2,000, marijuana is the government’s true “cash crop.”
Legalization would hurt funding of law enforcement, would hurt the private prison industry, and would cause corrupt bureaucracies like the DEA to go virtually bankrupt.
It is up to the people to mobilize and insist our representatives legalize marijuana.
I think marijuana should be decriminalized for small amounts at first and then eventually become fully legalized. I believe with responsible use, most people won’t use it as a “gateway drug”. The War on Drugs in Mexico has claimed over 50,000 lives and the violence is only going to get worse and come to this side of the border (if it hasn’t already) The legalization of marijuana will drive the drug cartels out of business or at least cripple them significantly.
Just legalize it…Its easier to get than a hamburger. War is lost, just tax it and control it.
Beyond all of the pros of Marijuana decriminalization itself, industrial hemp has remained illegal to produce in the U. S. because of it’s many indistinguishable characteristics to cannabis, in terms of hunting illegal crops. Science has reached a point where we can make so many materials from industrial hemp besides just clothing and rope. Papers, plastics and wood composites can now be synthesized from hemp that can be grown in vast quantities in fields not suitable for sustenance crops. Imagine replacing the crude oil we imports we use for ethylene with domestically grown hemp.
“Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country.” – Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President quote on Hemp.
Yes, it should definitely be legalized. If it is legalized and taxed there would be money for some of the issues that are hurting now. Example, how many schools could we build or teachers could we hire if pot was sold and taxed like cigarettes or alcohol? How many fewer youngsters would end up in jail? The cost of the so-called “war on drugs” could have paid for numerous services over the years. We should have learned from Prohibition. People drank more and crime went up when alcohol was prohibited. Legalize pot now!