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Sunday, January 26, 2014

5 Reasons Marijuana Should Remain Illegal

How did we end up in a world where Big Gulps are being banned in New York while the welcome mat for potheads is being rolled out in Colorado? How is it that cigarette smokers are pariahs, while people smoking weed are being cheered? This is despite the fact that potheads are almost universally recognized as unmotivated, low class, degenerate – and, yes, smelly failures. Even the ones that get somewhere in life, like Barack Obama, usually turn out to be mediocrities.

Moreover, we all recognize that smoking is a dirty habit that makes you die younger and while drinking is a potentially dangerous habit that leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths per year, but we want to condone pot use on top of that? That’s like saying you’ve got a bad back and a bad shoulder; so why not break your knee cap to top it all off. How many lives are we willing to flush down the drain because a significant number of Americans tried pot a handful of times in their lives, got away with it and now feel guilty about it? One hundred for every person in prison? 1000? 10,000? There’s a reason pot was made illegal in the first place and quite frankly, the only reason alcohol and cigarettes are legal is because they’re so deeply ingrained in our society that we can’t get rid of them.

There is certainly a financial and human cost to keeping marijuana illegal and we can see it in our prisons. But, there would be an even larger cost to making it legal.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Totally disagree with this post, even though I am 60 and really don't want to smoke this anymore.

It does no harm, except at work performance, and driving, but private use and 10 plants should be legal. Period.

Anonymous said...

This post is pure propaganda, like Communist pravda. It is not a "gateway drug" as the propaganda suggests.
Marijuana should be legal.
It's prohibition was based in racism in the first place. That is the reason it was deemed illegal.
Alcohol does significantly more damage both physically and socially than marijuana will ever do.
It is natural, it is not fermented, enhanced or synthesized in any way like beer, wine and liquor.
If the prohibition should continue on marijuana, alcohol in all it's forms should be illegal also. Period.
Urge your lawmakers to vote YES on decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in Maryland or suggest they prohibit alcohol also.

Anonymous said...

It'll make all the white women want to sleep with the black jazz musicians.
that's what Salinger told Congress to get it made illegal.
Isn't this supposed to be a free country?
the rate of drug addiction is the same as it was 6 trillion 'war on drug' dollars ago.
make it legal and teach your kids to have common sense.

Anonymous said...

It will make you rip off your clothes and jump out of 3rd story windows. "Rightwinger" never disappoints. Thank you John Hawkins.

Anonymous said...

The only way it's a "gateway drug" is that one must go to a heroin / cocaine store in order to buy it. Legalize it, it's nothing but a natural plant.

Anonymous said...

The biggest reason I can see is that you can't smoke anywhere, practically.

Anonymous said...

I'd be all for making alcohol illegal, and pot legal. Far less problems with the latter.

Anonymous said...

8:09 you are a moron.

Anonymous said...

9:19 Great facts, thanks for posting WHY you disagree. Good job, your brain must be hurting coming up with such a witty, and clever message.

Alcohol has killed more people (a lot of innocents due to drunk drivers), and damaged more lives, than marijuana. I'm the moron? OK. Get a job.

Anonymous said...

is this REAL MEDICAL HELP?
*it lowers testosterone level
*it messes up some peoples brain chemistry
*it slows down the thinking process
*inhibits behavior

REAL MEDICAL HELP true alternatives
yes, there are other herbs to help reduce a queezy stomach like peppermint and ginger. The public is naive to believe pot is medical. Acupuncture helps and helps with Pain control.

Anonymous said...

Also it decreases your white blood cell count, these are the cells that fight off infection.

Anonymous said...

11:07 You just described alcohol, nicotine and soy, as well. All LEGAL. So forget the medical aspect, as it's typically used with illnesses/diseases where people lose their appetite, where marijuana helps them eat... what is wrong with it as a recreational drug? While remembering my first sentence.

Anonymous said...

You need to do research before spreading misinformation/ propaganda. Smoking isn't the only way to use marijuana. Marijuana was used to instill fear and paranoia from 1930-1937 by Harry J. Anslinger so he could gain national attention in order to form and head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics which later developed into the FBI. It has been well documented that Anslinger purposely and knowingly created campaign of propaganda/lies in order to sway votes to advance his career.
Today, the amount of tax revenue alone, created from the legalization of marijuana, could be used for countless programs and services. That reason aside, the medical benefits are countless. Most don't intoxicate at all and those that do are exponentially better than the pain killers fueling the countless addicts out there today.
I know I'm just some commenter on the internet, but the information is there for those who seek it and for those who don't accept stereotypes as hard fact because some idiot threw it up on his small town blog.