Opinions on Marijuana Legalization or on Cannabis in general?
Opinions on Marijuana Legalization or on Cannabis in general?
I can definitely understand peoples’ issues with it being consumed, especially in a political context, but how do yall feel about “weed”? I won’t hide my feelings, I am very much pro-weed, it’s not great that I started in my mid-teens but in my area it’s FAR from uncommon. I don’t smoke daily or anything, I’m not addicted to it (people say it’s non-habit forming but any drug can be addictive with enough frequent usage) but I do smoke and dab w/ friends often. That’s not why I believe in legalization tho, my main thing is you shouldn’t make a naturally occurring plant an illegal substance. I’d point to the DEA’s destructive (legal) burning of thousands of naturally occurring marijuana plants found in nature; This seems eco-fascist to me and to deny the uses of hemp as a production material seems dogmatic to me. The USSR used hemp for industrial purposes during the war and it helped in a major way. I’m sure most of us are familiar with the badge given for Hemp growers. If you have any criticisms, I’m more than open to it, but I feel that marijuana won’t be easy to get rid of in future society and would probably be put to use in different more productive ways.
I have fibromyalgia and a wack ass unnamed joint disorder - I can dislocate my shoulders and most of the joints in my body.... or they can be dislocated for me, if I hit something wrong, move in the wrong way... and it fucking hurts.
No medicine has helped me like weed has. I admit to using it every night, whenever I can afford it. I can actually recover from work and be ready to do it all again in the morning. I can work out without it destroying me, which creates a positive feedback loop wherein I wind up hurting less chronically.
I am grateful for it. I'm grateful I'm no longer worried about pigs breaking down my door just for lighting up, too.
Cannabis was made illegal by racism and cause the paper industry didn't wanna lose out profits to hemp.
It's quite literally medicine for me, it should be legalized completely.
Edit: I have autism and ADHD, the former of which there are no drugs to treat. It certainly doesn't make you "lazy" if anything it makes any kind of work bearable. I feel like these anti-cannabis stances are just regurgitated propaganda to keep it illegal, because it would do a lot more good than prescription drugs.
I think some comrades get so caught up in theory and societal structure that they forget that the primary goal of all of this is to have some fucking fun! If doing drugs on your days off is how you want to do that I support you. As long as you're able to be educated on the correct usage and side effects beforehand. And if you feel like it's becoming a problem and you'd like some help and support then the state should provide that for you. This is all much simpler and effective to implement than prohibition btw.
And of course, medicinal use is a whole other reason as you mentioned.
haha seriously tho, weed is such a minor vice, on the same level as unhealthy food, that it's not worth spending too much time talking about. There are harder drugs that actually do serious harm to communities that would have more worthwhile discussion about how socialist states should deal with them.
Weed isn't any more harmful than alcohol or tobacco which are legal pretty much everywhere. The harm that comes from policing weed far outweighs any actual benefit from doing so.
Prohibition doesn't work. Enforcement is costly and never ending. Those who want to get their hands on drugs will do so whether it's legal or not. The major difference when cannabis was legalized here in Canada is that you no longer have to maintain some sketchy contact and be forced to hang out with them on occasion in order to get your hands on it. It certainly hasn't broken down society.
Most of us live in places where alcohol can be purchased legally. Well, alcohol is a drug too. Why should it be treated any differently?
What are we going to do when the state withers away? Will all sections of society continue prohibition? We should instead focus on education and providing support to those who become addicts. The idea that we can solve all drug problems by banishing drugs from society is utopian thinking.
Prohibition doesn’t work. Enforcement is costly and never ending.
it does work, look former socialist states in Europe (never had a drug problem which instantly exploded in like a year when capitalism shown up which in turn strongly indicate it was purposeful).
It does not work in countries like USA where the government itself use drug cartels to put millions of people into jail slavery or where CIA turned entire country (Afghanistan) into one huge poppy plantation to achieve the mindbreaking result of USA with its 4,5% of world population consuming 80% of world's opioid consumption.
2nding this. All socialists countries went and still do go hard on dismantling the drug trade, not from the bottom up by criminalizing and imprisoning poor ppl, but from the top down by imprisoning the capitalist drug kingpins, and tearing down drug markets. Capitalist countries prop up the drug trade by using it to impoverish and decimate poor and minority communities, and take a cut of the proceeds.
Ppl are usually staunchly for legalization because they've only experienced how capitalist countries like the US use the drug war as a tool. They don't know what an earnest dismantling of the drug trade, done for the betterment of communities, looks like.
Weed specifically tho i'm ambivalent about... outside of medical use, the weed industry serves little to no societal value, but it's a pretty minor vice, maybe along the same level as unhealthy food.
I'm not sure that I agree that this is a result of prohibition. There are many factors that play into the cause of drug epidemics. The opioid epidemic for example is a direct result of the profit motive taking precedence over the good of society. The drug in question here is prohibited to those without a prescription. Many people also turn to drugs to escape the horrendous conditions that capitalism creates for them.
Additionally, prohibition creates unregulated black markets. The only way to do away with this is by regulating access through legal channels.