article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1615000/1615840.stm

anyone think this is a good idea?

I personally think its a good idea, But I don't think it goes far enough, I think it should be completly legalized.

I don't see the point of keeping it illegal and it would make more sense if it was legalized as people then could by it legitamatly.

[This message has been edited by JuniorHarris (edited 09-07-2001).]

OAC

Walking down the street will result in my breathing loads of micro-particulates which are even more dangerous than a spliff - but cars aren't banned, and I have no choice if I want to breathe the car polutants.

Another thing, I see all of these people on television talking about how marijuana should be legalized because of its many "medical benefits". But in reality the people who use marijuana for so-called "medicine" use it because they want to get HIGH, pure and simple.

In fact, if a medicine was invented that used the chemicals inside of marijuana in a way that didn't provide the "pleasure" of being "high", then all of these medical marijuana druggies would NEVER use such a medicine since these druggies just want to get stoned and I can't believe they try to suggest anything different.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELVES! The first step to kicking your drug addiction is to ADMIT that you are a druggy in the first place. Don't make medical excuses, that will only prolong your immoral drug adiction.

Personally, I do not use any type of drugs ever nor do I drink, and it amazes me how pathetically low somebody's life must be if the only way they can find pleasure is to use drugs and drink like sailors.

There are millions of kids starving right now in the world and yet there are people suggesting what an "injustice" it is because we cannot openly smoke pot and get high in public.

Oh, what a rough life you have by not being allowed to get high in public. Just think how rough the kids in Afganistan have it by not having the right to eat regularly! Stop acting like a victim!

Frankly, I don't want my future children to have to see a bunch of society's outcasts getting high in front of them and smelling that awful reek of pot everywhere they go, nor do I want to smell it.

I don't want to have to smell that reek any more than I want to smell the reek of your unwashed, stinky socks.

For those that can't live without marijuana being legal, my advice is to get a life and use your brain for something to bring you pleasure in life, get a rewarding career or something. Do something positive for the world.

As for taxes, if you want it legalized for taxing purposes then why not legalize prostitution in every place too? These activities ALREADY go on in private just like people smoke pot in private.

Oh well, I guess pot isn't "as bad" as prostitution. Well, I have more respect for prostitutes than I have for druggies who have an uncontrollable need to get high every day.

My advice is to GET OFF DRUGS and lead a respectable life where you are able to get pleasure from a successful career, a loving family, and being a good active member of your community.

The "party scene" / "club scene" is just not glamourous, in fact, it is a place for society's rejects who just aren't able to "fit in" within the successful community of businesspeople and career people.

I urge you to get out of that scene and become respectable, then maybe you won't feel a need to get high every day and to legalize marijuana.

Oh what a pleasure it must be to be totally oblivious to the real world.

I suggest you spend some time researching what marijuana can do for AIDS and cancer patients before spouting off from the top of your high horse.

Morphine and other pain medications are far more addictive and potentially damaging than marijuana (which isn't even physically addictive). They too produce a "high", so the only reason anyone could possibly use them is to feed their horrible addictions, right? While you're at it, better get all the anti-depressants off the market, don't want any mood altering drugs available now do we...that would be immoral.

I agree, states are, and should be Independant on most issues and allowed to govern themselves as they see the need to do so.

As far a medicinal use: I watched many family members suffer severly (cancer), because the perscription medications did not keep the pain at bay. I really wish they had considered use of this to ease their transition to the afterlife.

As far a regulating it: Absolutely! I don't want to see people getting high on the street either, nor do I want to see School Bus Drivers getting high before (or during) driving.

*As a side note - this has a tendancy to cause laziness. If any of my employees were to slack off or continue not show up for work, they would be fired.

If it was regulated for non-medicinal purposes, I think we would see a very lazy workforce.

Make it legal and regulate/tax it and the govt will make tons of money and put the illegal marijuana drug trade out of business.

Medical use - marijuana has proven to be beneficial in treating AIDs, cancer and glaucoma. Anything that will help give a seriously ill patient an appetite to eat a little bit or ease their suffering should be available to them. I watched my mother-in-law waste away and die from cancer last year.

I don't really see marijuana as a "gateway" to harder drugs any more than someone who has an occasional beer or glass of wine is going to start downing a fifth of vodka or scotch a day. I remember in high school health education class the teacher told us if we ever took one hit of pot, we would become heroin addicts. That's a pile of BS.

There are laws against driving while intoxicated. I wouldn't want the cop dealing with a madman shooting at people to be high on marijuana or alcohol or anything that could affect their reaction time and mental judgment. (OK, caffeine and sugar maybe, let them have their coffee and donuts.)

But if someone wants to imbibe responsibly on their own time, I don't see a problem with that.

As for medicinal use, Pokemon's Conscience's response was very under-studied. There is already a chemical replacement drug for cannabis called Marinol. Marinol delivers THC, but it doesn't get you high. It's supposed to make you hungry in the way that THC can. Apparently, it works. But, people with cancer and AIDS who suffer from nausea cannot stomach the pills. Oops! Smoking as a delivery system for THC is still not best, but at least it doesn't add to the nausea caused by the available treatments to these illnesses.

As baffled mentioned, its not a physically addictive drug, and as medical science knows, it has medicinal value. It doesn't belong in a classification as a dangerous drug like heroin. No one in history EVER died from a cannabis overdose.

Whats hardest for me to believe is that US prisons are full of non-violent cannabis users serving mandatory sentences. What a waste of time and money for the DEA and the states that must house these otherwise productive people.