Bad things that could happen if marijuana was legalized?

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The biggest reason that I support decriminalization (more so than legalization) is the insane number of people serving extensive sentences for non-violent marijuana crime. It costs more to house a prisoner than the average annual wage in the US for every single one of them. Not to mention the massive costs for law enforcement for crimes that hurt few.

The only real reason I can think of for legalization: regulation = control. Abolition = no control.

Legalize it, decriminalize it, whatever, but by now it should be obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that the war on drugs has been ineffective and has ruined countless lives for little to no actual gain.

Answering my oppinion toward differents questions in this thread:

"-Cartels could start pushing stronger drugs such as meth and crack cocaine to keep their profits up." - They can only sell you what people want. There are many people that want Marihuana, because of it being similar dangerous as alcohol (dont get me wrong, alcohol can be dangerous in my oppinion if misused, and that goes as well for Marihuana, but if you enjoy it from now and then, just like with alcohol you hardly have any negative side effects), but rather few that want meth, crack or whatever. So some f****d up people use it, but the majority of people would not care if cartels are pushing crack or not. Its simply a chemical s**t product, ruining your body, so I´d never taste it, anyway how much someone pushes it.

"-Possibly more accidents that lead to emergency rooms and similar issues." - Just like with alcohol, you simply have to create laws that forbid using marihuana in certain situations. (During work, when driving, ...) Nope you might not get it, if one of your coworkers, might drink an half glass of beer every now and then during lunch. But if someone does so regularly, then you normally recognize that sooner or later. With Marihuana it will be quiet similar. If you are stoned every day of work, then maybe your chef wont force you to do a test, but he will simply fire you sooner or later the normal way.

"-How would someone be tested for driving while high? If someone (probably just people that smoked it a lot) were tested they would test positive even if it was a few weeks ago that they smoked marijuana." - I dont know how exactly it is down, but here in Europe in the Netherlands Marihuana is legal. So I dont know how, but around the borders to the neighbor countries of netherlands, police forces are regularly testing for drivers, that have smoked within the last 24 hours. So if you are german, and did visit the netherlands, then it is not forbidden, that you smoked Marihuana in the netherlands, but if you have done so during the last 24 hours and are driving home to germany with your car, then you get sued. So there must be a possibility to recognize "fresh smokers", or they could not do so.

"The worst thing of all. The smell. It will cause medical costs to increase on the long term, chronic smokers who have no reason to not smoke a ton of weed. It will be no worse than alcohol in terms of intoxication rates." - You dont need to smoke it, thats simply the way you do, if you are in a hurry. You can digest it as well, cake cookies and cakes with it, spice your pizza, as well that vaporizing gets more and more common. A vaporizer is an device that causes with hot steam the ingrediences of the marijuana to get into the air, and you simply inhale that.

"It causes cancer." Nope. The pure tobacco and the use of no filter, that marijuana smokers use, causes the cancer. As described, you dont need to smoke it.

"I don't know if they would drink less. People like the mystique of alcohol and some would drink and ingest pot at the same time or on different days. Yep, brownies are another option. Just whatever so long as it's not smoking." - In my country its still official forbidden, but as long as you only do it for homeuse and privately, they are very tolerant about it. In general you could say that there are people that more prefer alcohol on festivities and people that prefer marihuana. It simply has different effects. Alcohol normally makes you more socially active, causes you to do more chatting or to be more spontanous and do less thinking. Its more of an "active" drug. Marihuana causes you to get more relaxed, you are far more into thinking about what your opposite says to you. It does not mean that the meaning of "Marijiana gossip" was more useful then that of "alcohol gossip", but the way it is exchanged is more "philosophical". And different people simply prefer different ways of enjoying festivities.

"If medical marijuana was made legal what would stop everyone with a backache to get access?" - "why should anyone with a backache be stopped from accessing marijuana?...it works great as a painkiller for backaches.": Works as well great with my typical PMS probs I had once a month. ^^


In general Marihuana is just like alcohol, nothing that people should have extreme oppinions about it. Neither is it completely harmless as extreme "pro-activists" describe it, nor is it the stepdoor to drug-addiction. Just like alcohol it does not have real negative side effects if used from now and then on special occasions, but should not be a part of your daily life. So just like you should care not to be al alcoholic, you should as well care not to become a pothead. But there is a long way between "consuming it from now and then" and "alcoholic/pothead".

Supposedly they can swab your mouth and see if you have smoked within so many hours,I don't know if this would work if you ate a brownie.Look at how many people are driving around zoned out on script.
Years ago I read an excerpt from Lancet that mentioned cannabis users in Jamaica lived longer than the non users.

Bad things that could happen following the legalisation of cannabis:

1) Children in Africa keep dying of malaria and waterborne diseases
2) Terrorists attack 32 major cities, killing millions
3) The universe undergoes heat death

The thing I'd be worried about happening as a result of legalisation would be increased self-medication in inappropriate contexts. Cannabis is already seen as a miracle cure-all by many people, and the sellers would probably hype this "property". This would stop people getting the best treatment possible. However, this already happens all the time.

The only reason I smoke is so I can tolerate all the alcoholics.

Large corporations could lobby the government to ban people from growing their own cannabis or something to that effect. Just one negative possibility I see....though even if that did happen I am sure many people would still grow their own plants.

More on the stupidity of the war on drugs.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/78817 ... n-drug-war

Small town police won't be able to afford their riot gear and SWAT teams:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/10/261476346/side-effect-of-legal-pot-police-budgets-take-a-hit