Would it or would it not boost the Americas economy by legalizing marijuana?
In my opinion many people who make arrogant comments about marijuana have never smoked it or most likely tried it once and didn’t enjoy the experience due to fear. I believe that it would be beneficial to legalize and tax marijuana for many reasons. 1. All of those hundreds pounds of marijuana that are seized by the government or police officers can be tested in labs for impurities and sold+taxed this would greatly benefit the economy. 2. Legalizing marijuana would greatly reduce drug related crimes because of the fact that it would eliminate the need of a marijuana user to have to deal with questionable characters known as the drug dealer. 3. It is the most popular illicit drug in America. 4. It is the leading cause of drug related arrests in America. 5. It is less harmful than aspirin which is a drug.( you can overdose on aspirin but it is impossible to overdose on marijuana.) I also believe the reason why many people who use marijuana are perceived to be lazy or unintelligent is because of the fact that marijuana is so frowned upon by society leading the main people who use the drug initially to be underachievers and ones who could care less about societies expectations. Maybe the side effects of paranoia and anxiety derive from the illegality of the drug.
But what do you think? And if you have nothing intelligent to say or feel the need to make a comment about my life which you know nothing about don’t waste my time/yours.
No, it wouldn’t boost the economy. Eventually, the government regulations would tax it into oblivion, just like they are tobacco, and for “the greater good”.
i don’t want my family driving with stoners on the road. i DO know what i’m talking about!
More tax revenue, more farm income, less money for criminals = a boost.
It will boost the economy short term but reduce productivity long term in my mind. It’ll also produce a culture of laziness and ignorance. I know plenty of stoners.
Granted the herb affects people differently, many people I’ve seen benefit from it in terms of focus, but for the overwhelming majority, it renders them mental giants.
I believe it’ll increase the incidence of at-work accidents, mistakes, etc. that’ll ultimately cost the rest of us at the register.
I also believe fatalities relating to driving while intoxicated will increase.
Until I see reliable studies that point to the contrary, I have to reason to believe otherwise.
There are more important things than money. I have no problem w/ people who smoke weed responsibly…it’s the remaining 5% of them that wish to glorify their “enlightenment” publicly that pose a problem.
I don’t buy the Government propaganda about weed, but I also don’t buy that 100% of stoners will smoke responsibly. It’s really a cost-benefit assessment.
I’d just prefer the Government reduce spending to make ends meet. It’s what the rest of us call reality — expenses must be met w/ incoming revenue. If they’re not, then it’s time to cut back on spending.
I’d also remove marijuana from class-A drugs. Equating it to crack, meth, pcp, coke, etc. is far-fetched.
An interesting comparison chart begging the question about physically harmful effects of Cannabis to other substances — some legal, some illegal:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_%28mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence%29.svg
Decriminalize it and let people grow their own legally. Making it generally available might hurt our production a tiny bit. Let it be a state issue for general availability. Taxation in any significant amount wouldn’t help much and would generally force people to grow their own- that’s the funny thing about weed, it’s just so easy to produce in small quantities for ones own purposes.
Yes, marijuana is good.
If not the economy at least moral.
I don’t think it would help the economy. Though, we do waste a lot of money on drug enforcement, and a lot of money that now goes to drug lords could be directed toward legal industry if marijuana growing became legal, and it would certainly generate tax revenue. But, I could be wrong. It might generate more tax revenue that I would anticipate. But, we would still waste tons of money on drug enforcement – they would just focus their wasted efforts somewhere else. Perhaps it would create jobs – but drug dealers already view it as a job, and they don’t currently pay taxes. It is hard to predict what that change might lead to.
Would it be beneficial to the economy? A little. Probably about the same as a $0.05/hour raise would be to you and me (with a 40 hour week, that only comes to an extra $2 a week).
When Prohibition was repealed alcohol use and alcohol related deaths both went down, as did gang related violence. There is nothing to suggest that legalizing recreational drugs subject to the same regulations as are in effect for alcohol would not have the same effect. Additionally, over 75% of the total U.S. prison population are there for non-violent drug related offenses, most possession for personal use. Freeing up the that amount of prison space and police/court time would make enforcing crimes where people actually get hurt a lot more doable. As has been observed many times, especially by Law Enforcement personnel, people don’t peddle things in schoolyards that people can buy legally in a store, there’s no profit to made that way that could justify the risk. When I was in High School back in the ’60s one of the reasons kids used drugs was that, being illegal, they were easier to get than booze, that is something I still point out to people who claim the supposed “War on Drugs” is being won.
Again we have several issues here:
1 – You are answering your own question
2 – Why do you need 10 other peoples opinion?
3 – You are putting conditions to other people’s opinion about your life?
4 – You talk about wasting time and write a half page answer to your own one line question?
Kitchen psychology: “the side effects of paranoia and anxiety derive from the illegality of the drug”
All in all, it should be legalized and handled the same way like alcohol: DWI and you go to jail.