Pros/cons to legalize marijuana in a country
Question for those of you living in a country where marijuana is legal. What are the positive sides, what are the negatives?
If you could go back in time, would you vote for legalising again? Does it affect the country's illegal drug business , more/less?
OP, please change the title to make it less vague what the question is about without having to open it.
Done, thanks 🙂
I don't care about health benefits/dangers of any vice, but I hate how ingrained vices are in our daily lives. I'm sick of beer ads, I hate online sports betting sponsoring every event (and rapidly turning a lot of friends into gamblers), my recently weed-legal state is already flooded with local ads and shitty shops.
I dream of a utopia where no vices are sold in a store or advertised. If you want to indulge you go to the equivalent of a Native American casino on steroids. It's a massive temple to hedonism, zoning for it is very restricted. You can do any drug you want there, everything carefully dosed and tested. There's complimentary trip-sitters and emergency services on call.
Things that aren't an immediate threat to yourself/others (mushrooms, lsd, mj, low abv drinks, etc...) can be sold for private personal consumption off-prem with a reasonable limit per person. You can't partake in public and can be asked for proof of purchase during transit.
There's no perverse vice tax that leeches money from addicts who can't afford it, the government's best financial interest is to keep people clean and spending money elsewhere. If you need something to routinely "take the edge off" you get easy access to medical services (mental/physical/otherwise) and a prescription from a real doctor.
Any time I hear arguments for full legalization of anything in the USA I just have nightmares of inane Budweiser-style weed/cocaine/heroin commercials.
Legalise it, regulate the growing and selling of it and kill the green market.
It costs more to police it. It is profitable otherwise. No one genuinely cares. I haven't smoked since college. It eventually gets boring. It's a business. That's it. Sorry there isn't a mystical description for it. It's money.
It's sad to see a lot of the misinformation here that says there are no downsides to weed. In fact, weed has a ton of downsides that need to be considered in how marijuana is handled in a society.
If you are a visual/ audio learner, here's a well researched video on the downsides of weed, from a source that acknowledges their staffs personal biases lean towards legalization.
Kurzgesagt, "We Have to Talk About Weed
Basically, we need to recognize that due to having criminalized weed for so long, we are only now getting the research into the negative effects of weed, but as it's coming out we are seeing how weed is not all sunshine and rainbows.
THC potency has increased dramatically since the 60s, and that has led to increased risks of paranoia, psychosis, and panic attacks. It also increases the risk of Cannabinoid Hypermesis Syndrome, where ingesting weed will make you vomit, nauseous, and have horrible abdominal pain.
My roommate just got this and she is not having fun. Her doctor told her this may be a 6 month T-break, but it's also possible this is permanent, and best to avoid weed altogether.
I also am sad to see "weed is not addictive" being thrown around. Cannabis Use Disorder (weed addiction) is very real and a quick look up says 10% of users become addicted. Personally I consider myself stuck on a habit since I can control my use to keeping it after 8pm, but I still have trouble not getting high daily. I have a friend who is now 100 days sober, but when he had a relapse last year, it ruined his life.
That's not to say it's bad, I have another friend who needs weed to help him get through the day with his PTSD. We just need to recognize one person's medicine is another person's poison.
Most all of the major issues with weed tend to show up with people who began smoking in adolescence. I think a reason I'm somewhat I'm control and my other friend is not is that I started smoking at 22 in college, and he started at 16. I imagine if I waited until I was 25 I'd have no problem making it a weekend thing.
That said
My experience and the pain many have dealing with the health issues associated to weed are no where near comparable to the damage that criminalized weed has had on marginalized communities as weed has historically been used to target and oppress minorities by our US government. I also agree to the points that having a black market is FAR worse than having legal weed that needs regulation.
Personally I'm pro-legalization, but I think we need to be careful at how we are messaging weed to the youths and handling the negative consequences, as the myths of weed just being an innocent plant are super harmful.
I think that this is a very balanced and thoughtful take that I agree with. As someone who has been smoking daily for the better part of 4 years now, weed has helped a lot but it has also hurt me a lot. At my peak i could easily kill a quad a day, although now I'm down to a gram a day if that. I would've been in a much better position financially if I never started smoking, and I'm sure my health would've been a lot better. That being said, smoking has helped me through some very difficult times and has given me community. I started smoking in highschool but stopped until I graduated and started again right before college. I've stopped having my own supply at points (not stopped smoking altogether but gone mostly sober), but especially in this day and age it's very helpful to have it. It doesn't help that where I am, a lottttttt of people are cali sober (me included).
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Weed is no "addictive", but it can be habit forming. Addiction is very specific and we don't typically use it correctly in day day speech. You won't have physical withdrawal symptoms like opioid, alcohol, or caffeine.
I would love see a study on lo g term effects. We won't due to ethics. So far every study is either users have no long term side effects but it can make existing problems worse, or weed makes you try hard drugs and we should all know that is not real.
As someone who recently had to quit cold turkey from being a heavy daily user due to job change and a drug test (I had 6 weeks to be clean), I can confirm that physical withdrawal symptoms exist and are not pleasant. Includes night sweats turning into nightmares, upset stomach with loose stools, and loss of appetite. Lots of warm baths to combat the fatigue of withdrawal. Heightened paranoia due to the situation.
Would not recommend. If you're a heavy user and need to stop/T-break, taper down first, or work with a mental health provider.
Weed is addictive and has physical withdrawal symptoms.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7146100/
We need to treat weed like we do alcohol. It's not the devil but it isn't a saint either.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll still smoke it.
If you think weed should not be legalized, then you should be consistent and apply the same to alcohol and tobacco. Both of these substances do far more harm than weed with far fewer medical properties.
Legalization has only positives
People who need something, to get through the day, will always seek for some kind of crutch.
When the legal range of available products (sorry, just learned, that the word "Sortiment" doesn't have a nice English equivalent) aren't helping ones issue, they'll look for other sources.
But unregulated sources can bring multiple problems with it.
First off, and the thing, I care about most:
we'd/we do hurt people looking for some kind of help.
Either by directly reducing their sources of crutches to untrustable and dangerous ones, with a product that's very probably not clean and could damage the user in unintended ways, they aren't aware about.
We need to provide a safety net for people with problems, and not stigmatize those who try to help themselves.
And I've never met an addict, that was just an addict for the sake of it, or the feeling of the first time was so great - ok, maybe once I did.
But in every other case, the only ones getting hooked are the ones, that finally felt good with themselves for once in their life, when they somehow introduced some drug into their system.
And that's why many of them say, it was that feeling of the first time, they always try to reproduce.
For a normal happy person, heroin wouldn't make much of a difference.
But if you're feeling unloved and alone, hurt and abused, when you're feeling lost and don't know what to do, than end yourself.
Well then, then heroin (or whatever helps your cause) will give you a new perspective of life.
This escape from overwhelming, oppressive, suffocation problems is it, why people get hooked on drugs.
There is just nothing wrong with recreational use, as long as it's just about boosting a good time or even better, use mind altering drugs in a ritual setting, to change your perspective on things and learn (again) that love and your lives ones are the center of your life - or discover, that there was always one thing, that you wanted to do.
Doesn't matter, if it gives you more options and happiness in life, it wasn't bad.
Bad it is for the people who cling to it, because only on it, they feel like functioning normal.
Those people have actual drug problems, and even with crystal meth the statistics say, that only a few percent (we're talking 1-2%) get addicted.
(At least that's, what I saw and remember - proof me wrong)
And we have to keep in mind what social stigma fucking crystal meth has!
The group of people doing it (and show up on those statistics) are mostly people, that are already looking for such experiences and have stepped over the border of social tolerance, but look for their own thing (either enjoyment or escape/help)
And there is pretty much no one, who ever just started with meth (or other hard drugs, like heroin) . In the most cases there was at least alcohol and probably cigarettes/nicotine involved - there are absolutely always exceptions, but that doesn't change much, what needs to change in our social system.
As tragic, as those exceptions are, those usually happen in groups, where people with problematic drug use already gather.
So, solving the problem of the mass, should also help to reduce those sad exceptions.
Ok, I've started a bigger second point, but the only thing left I have are those few words, trying to start describing an idea:
"Then we need to look into the individual"
Well,... I hope the first point is sufficient, and if I ever remember what I wanted to say else, I'll come back here ;-)
So kids, you see, don't abuse drugs, else you won't remember shit... - although my mother has the same problem, and never in her live did anything illicit.
So I can't say with confidence, that we can talk about causation.
But, what hurt my mind most, were social traumata (e.g. a Burnout), and drugs (and many exercises like meditation) exceptionally helped my mental state and ability to handle life and work despite my handicap.
As I said, as long as I work actively work a problem and use drugs in a ritual state, they are helping me.
As soon as I need them just to get through the day, then I'm having a problem, I'm trying to avoid.
I know, this is mostly about me, but talking with other users, I've mostly seen the same mindset.
Prohibition of vice does not work and only empowers organized crime.
End of argument.
Scientifically speaking, the pros outweigh the cons everytime.
Public Safety should not be done with the assumption that the public is made up of stupid children that would kill themselves at every possible opportunity (though some people are like that) rather it should come with the assumption that adults are smart enough and have the right to make decisions about them selves.
The government should work towards education so that the public can be better informed and only restrict extreme situations where a reasonable mistake can lead to unreasonable consequences or harm to others. And "Gateway drugs" is as stupid as saying that teaching people how to use a knife would lead them to seek out sharper and bigger knives until they stab themselves and die.
I love that rhetoric but it reminds me of reddit discussion about mother suing the zoo after she dopped her children into...I think it was hyena pen?
People got pissed that it was ZOO that was at fault, not her. There was a barrier if I recall correctly, waist-level one, and the pen was lower than the walk to separate animals from humans, but parents liked to held their small children over the barrier for...reasons. Well, she lost hers.
And people absolutely blamed ZOO for not idiot proofing more. As if it was us that should be kept in pens xD
There are no negatives.
Pros:
Cons:
I'm not a regular smoker, I think we are better off having it legal though.
Legalize all drugs. Move 100% of the enforcement funds into drug treatment programs. And then tax them and put that towards treatment programs.
You're talking about decriminalization, which is not the same as legalization.
Heroin should absolutely not be legalized, but it shouldn't be criminalized either.
No, I'm talking about legalization. I said legalized, I meant legalized. Drug treatment programs should be ubiquitous, available, and free.
I mean technically all kinds of opiates, some considerably stronger than heroin, are already legal. Access to them is strictly controlled but if you have the right piece of paper you can go to the local pharmacy and pick up all manner of extremely hardcore drugs.
Just nitpicking the semantics of legal/controlled/etc though. Ultimately we're all in agreement that drugs should be a healthcare issue and not a criminal one.
I have a hard time imagining making an argument where alcohol and cigarettes are legal and weed is not. In terms of harm it does to people acutely and over time. I understand the position of "nothing like that should be legal" and "everything should be legal" even though I disagree. But I think if you choose one, weed might be the least problematic?
No, it's not easy to test for driving. But alcohol is and TONS of drunk driving incidents happen still. I think that's more a function of not having non-driving options to socialize over alcohol.
Having lived in both, absolutely legalize.
I don't personally care for it and I get annoyed by the public smells, the tacky and run-down stores that make neighborhoods feel trashy. But that's all personal preference.
The one legitimate issue is that it is very difficult to regulate and enforce impairment. Someone driving or operating machinery high is just as dangerous as someone driving drunk. With alcohol, there are a number of different tests and impairment is well correlated with BAC. For marijuana, there is no quick and accurate way to assess how high someone is at a given time.
Someone driving or operating machinery high is just as dangerous as someone driving drunk
You have a source or anything to back this idea up?
I delivered pizzas in downtown Seattle for a couple years, and most of my coworkers were constantly stoned. Many weren't just hitting pens or joints, they would hit a fat dab with a torch lighter and then hop in their vehicle and make a delivery.
Both years I worked there, our delivery team got an annual award for having 0 vehicle accidents.
Obviously this is anecdotal, but if you run this same situation back with alcohol instead of weed, I am confident there would have been many accidents.
I probably overstated by saying it is equally dangerous with somebody driving drunk. However, there are lots of studies that show it causes serious impairment.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2788264
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9940647/
https://jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42238-023-00202-y
I certainly don't advocate people driving under the influence of any mind altering substances, and I believe if someone is found impaired at the time of an accident, the law should account for that.
However, and this is anecdotal, I grew up in a house where I knew from a very young age that my parents were smokers. There were far fewer days that my parents were not high. They performed all necessary driving without issues. They maintained focus and followed all (other) driving law and never got into accidents. I don't partake at all now, but when I did, I drove regularly and never felt unsafe. There were instances where quick reaction time was necessary (swerving to miss an unexpected obstacle on a dark windy road in the rain, accidents involving other vehicles in front of me, etc.) and my conscious effort to focus on the task was way more important than whether or not I was high.
Now I ride a motorcycle and am much more aware of what is going on with drivers around me. The amount of people I see in their cars on their cell phones or busy talking to their friends or just generally not paying attention, I want to say that is the bigger issue. Alcohol disables your ability to choose that focus, and at least for me or the people I've been in a car with, cannabis does not. I've ridden in cars with friends that touch their phones while behind the wheel and it has always made me feel much less safe.
But this is just my experience, and I wanted to share. You aren't wrong and I know it makes more sense advocating driving without influence, but to say it is just as dangerous as alcohol seems a stretch in my eyes.
Impairment is impairment and being tired or distracted by phones/technology is often even worse than being intoxicated or high but we tend to love using BAC because it is easy to measure. Locations that legalized weed didn't have an increase in impaired driving last time I checked, because most people don't go out driving when they are high while people often drive intoxicated after drinking at bars.
BAC is also well correlated with impairment. Obviously it varies from one individual to another, but it is related strongly related enough to have fair and consistent enforcement.
AFAIK, blood tests that measure the presence of marijuana are relatively cheap, but measuring the concentration is slightly more difficult and is not well correlated with impairment. That means enforcement is problematic and subjective.
run-down stores that make neighborhoods feel trashy. But that’s all personal preference.
The dispensaries around me are really nice looking and always spotless
Look, I feel the same about liquor stores and mattress stores, to name a few. There are some nice examples, but most I don't like to see.
Again, that's my opinion and does not deserve any legislation. I'm glad other people feel differently. Businesses serve the needs of a community, not the feelings of internet randos. OP asked for our honest opinion and that's just mine.
I live in suburbia and the cannabis stores cater, in part, to suburban moms. They are clean, well lit, and the staff are very approachable. It's fascinating to see.
I don't partake, but it's been legal in my area for a couple years now and I haven't seen any negative effects on society. More gaudy smoke shops is about it. They remind me of the payday loan places. I'm sure some people have a dependency on it, it can form a habit like anything else.
Legalize it
Tax it
Regulate it
Is this still a discussion on 2025? I always thought this was a no brainer, just blocked by demonization and the lack of examples of places that legalized and nothing bad happened. We should be discussing how to deal with other drugs. Marijuana is pretty much solved
The widespread legalization, overwhelmingly positive reception, and complete lack of any of the dangerous consequences we were warned about makes you wonder what else "They" were wrong about.
Yes legalize. It shouldn't have been banned to begin with. It makes more sense to ban alcohol than cannabis if we're just talking from a public safety perspective. It was actually banned because the lumber industry wanted to chop down trees for paper rather than letting hemp take the lead.
That's a new take for me, I've heard it was an aspect of Reagan's war on drugs, it was an obstacle in the Vietnam war, it was amn attack against the black and Jamaican community, was big pharma wanting to clear the way for over the counter pain killers, and that the tobacco companies weren't allowed to grow it so they made sure no one else would.
Thanks for adding to the list lol
It's been legal in Canada since 2015ish. Haven't noticed a difference, but now I can get better regulated gummies which is nice for my asthma.
There are some minor downsides, you can't walk 5 minutes in downtown Toronto without smelling weed. I can tolerate it just fine, but some people hate it. Otherwise it has been great.
As an ex addict to (too many) substances (not marijuana) I can easily see a few cons regarding drug usage but the real pro, if I had to pick one, would be to remove all that money from drug dealers.
I would rather my money went to drug dealers than to capitalists exploiting addiction. I reckon we only finally got legalization because of government corruption and kickbacks. The idea of fucking Fantino (you probably don't know him, non-Ontario people) making bank after a career of using his power as a police chief to fan social stigmas and demonize users in the press all those decades is more than I can stand.
I would rather my money went to drug dealers than to capitalists exploiting addiction.
Those are the same thing, just with different amounts of revenue.
I don't agree with recreational marijuana use. I've had it personally affect my life negatively and wouldn't advise people to smoke it.
If it's medically needed and a doctor approves, sure but smoking it everywhere just because you can and because it looks cool is not the move.
I also don't think people should get thrown in jail for it, maybe rehabbed but not thrown in jail for it.
I don't like marijuana at all for myself (tried it twice with different methods of delivery) and found it to be extremely unpleasant.
I don't see why that should affect other people's ability to choose for themselves to enjoy it or not though. Why should they go through rehab just for enjoying something that's not negatively affecting them?
If I've had pineapples personally negatively impact my life, should I get to say you can't have any?
You're kind of gambling on the fact it doesn't instantly kill you or you don't get addicted to it. I'm just saying that people shouldn't take the risk to do marijuana unless it's medically prescribed to them.
Skill issue
Pro: Everywhere it's legal has seen a drastic reduction in the amount of violent drug-related crime, lower incarceration rates for non-violent offenders, and less abuse of prescription painkillers. Plus an incredible rise in quality when pot is regulated.
Con: Your straight edge friends who've never touched a joint in their lives start smoking regularly, since it's legal. Your 30+ year old friends will start talking like junior highschoolers who just smoked oregano for the first time and think they're high.
Your straight edge friends who've never touched a joint in their lives start smoking regularly, since it's legal.
That's not what straight edge means
Yeah, straight edge people still don't drink or smoke cigarettes, even though they're legal. I doubt anything would change regarding the straight edge crowd.
I tried it first when I was 30+, and tried it a few times at parties. Got a good laugh once and then a weird trip once... All other times were just meh, and since I never smoked anything, my throat hurt. The result was, that I stopped and then convinced my friends to stop it as well
I think it's much easier to handle when you are an adult.
So, additional plus - when it's legal, it's easier to restrict access for a certain age group (let's make it at least 21+. I heard it's particularly dangerous for teens)
I love that since it's become legal where I live I don't really have to maintain any shady contacts with lazy guys who always say they're on their way.
I just swing by the shop on the way home and pick up whatever I want with access to 10x the variety and quality of product. I love it and I'm happy it's working so well everywhere it's tried.
Legalize all drugs. Drug addiction is a health issue, not a legal one.
Drug addiction will become a much larger health issue if all drugs are legalized.
There are very few cons, all the negative effects of cannabis can be better handled when it’s legal.
Here in the Netherlands we have the "Gedoogbeleid", which translates to Tolerance policy. It's somewhere in between Decriminalized and legal. U are allowed to purchase and have up to 5 grams with you. And using it is okay in your own home and in places that don't disturb the public. But it's still partly illegal, as in no indoor growing and carrying more than 5g... It's a weird setup.
It's also a weird construction because technically the coffeeshops themselves are not allowed to buy the bulk amounts of weed to sell in their shops. So everything has to come in sneakily through the backdoor....
Lately legalization has been getting a good push, and now shops are buying their flowers from legit, government approved "Wiet boeren" weed farmers.
True Legalization Pros:
Cons:
As for how it affects the overall drug trade. Our number 1 export in the Netherlands is XTC. But that's a whole different beast. As for weed drug trade, it does decrease it. In smaller townds without shops u will always have you local dealers. But weed really isn't drug to be afraid of as in violence and crime surrounding it.
Weed is very habbit forming. Addiction might be too strong a word for weed. But oh boy is it habbit forming. Ppl who deny this, are in denial.
They're also in denial about it making you dumber if you smoke frequently. When I still smoked, it became obvious to me that my thoughts were slower and I'd have trouble finding the right words when I started smoking nearly every night. Took a T break and cut back to weekends only and the problem went away.
I don't know much about the effects of legalization on society as a whole, but I personally feel I have benefitted from weed being legal. I find weed to be useful in helping me sleep and manage stress. That said, people should also be educated about the potential dangers of weed. Using it too often can lead to neglecting one's responsibilities, and people underestimate the danger of driving while stoned. I also find, since I've gotten proper therapy, I don't need weed as much as I used to.
On principle, I think drugs should not be treated as a criminal issue. At most, drug addicts should be made to get treatment. Governments should focus on education and treatment instead of harsh punishment. People who are on drugs should feel safe admitting to what drugs they're on in the event of an emergency.
Pros:
Cons:
Legalize it
I voted to legalize it because it's stupid to arrest people for it. That said, I hate the constant smell in public, and people seem to get addicted to it quite easily. It's a pox on society, imo. At the end of the day, we have much larger problems on our hands.
This so much. I walk my dogs by a gradeschool and I smell it in the air every morning. Gradeschool. They aren't even teenagers yet. At 8am. Every. Day.
Bonus points for the deluge of infused product packaging litter everywhere.
This is my problem. I don't really ever do it, but I don't abstain completely. My son in law thinks it's the greatest thing in the world. I don't really care as such, but my kids are surrounded by it and I worry how it will affect them. If it weren't for kids being around it all the time, I'd be fine with legalization. Hell I signed petitions in support of legalization. But I wasn't anticipating huge billboards fucking everywhere. Or the sheer ubiquity of vape pens.
Legalization is fine but I do want to see some further laws around public use and display. It has always been that I don't care what you do within the walls of your own home, but I would very much like to keep that activity there.
There are no cons
Agreed. Although there are many pros, I like the tax revenue. Washington brings in ~$500m, much of which funds health programs here.
Eh, I don’t know anyone who managed to get themselves to Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome without legalization. Easier access to high quality highly concentrated doses has been increasing prevalence.
Wow I'd never heard of that and it's really interesting. It reminds me of a few different periods of my life when smoking heavily would make me really "gaggy" and sometimes make me unable to eat for an hour or two after. I've thrown up a few times from just "hitting it too hard" but never considered it could actually be a known thing.
I can't think of a single negative consequence of legalizing marijuana here, while the positives are numerous such as earning the state more money and people having alternatives for pain management that isn't a highly addictive opioid.
Pro:
Con:
Agree with the pros, not really with the cons to the extreme that you describe.
The important factor isn't whether someone can be addicted (otherwise you're banning nearly everything), it's the harm that addiction causes. As a general rule of thumb physical dependencies like alcohol are more harmful than habitual addictions, but that obviously isn't the whole story.
Caffeine addiction is the same category as alcohol and tobacco but causes so little harm that I don't think anyone is seriously opposed it. On the other end of that scale is something like meth or other hard drugs, generally understood as destructive and has few serious supporters encouraging use. Breaking these addictions is almost always hard and physically taxing, in some cases can even be lethal.
Marijuana addiction is in the same category as most things that make you feel good or form habits so it's harder to nail down a proper scale, but the lower end is probably something like video games; a debilitating addiction is possible but uncommon and most people would oppose a blanket ban on the basis of "can be addictive". Gambling is on the other end can definitely ruin lives. I'd say that's a little worse than coffee. Breaking these addictions is more like breaking a bad habit, it can feel hard for the addict but generally isn't going to kill them.
True to an extent, but looking at it from an individual's perspective, it can be devastating. I've seen people stop to function as human beings because of this.
What I am genuinely concerned about is the scale. So far, we don't have too much insights into the long term effects of this, both on individual and on society level. Cannabis addiction can cause long term psychological issues, and it will be years before we will truly understand what this means for us.
In my experience, most people definitely don't consume tobacco with marijuana. Some people smoke on the side, but mixing is quite uncommon in western Canada.
That being said, I am definitely highly addicted. I think anyone with chronic pain, trauma, or mental health disorders or probably at a higher risk. Not to mention the risk of psychosis for a very small portion of people.
Alcohol is way more addictive than cannabis
Cons: capitalism is already ruining it with monoculture strains and subsequent crop loss from one little thing wiping out everything. Industry trade groups are forming to be the next generation of lobbyists. For now, they're on our side by focusing on legalization, but they won't be on our side forever.
That's a bad reason to make (or keep) something illegal. Having legal weed does nothing to stop enthusiasts breeding their own strains or propagating 'heirloom' varieties - because they were already doing that illegally since forever before it was legalized.
Put another way, swap weed for alcohol. Should alcohol be banned because Anheuser-Beusch ans InBev exist and lobbies the government for favourable legislation? No... Fighting against the crap legislation is a better idea, and who would be better positioned to do that than an industry growers union or an independent growers union or similar.
Making something legal or illegal doesn't magically make it immune to capitalism, it just goes back to a black market where you have no protections as a buyer nor as a seller.
Legalize all drugs to defund the cartels.
Have proper regulations in place to actually prevent minors from accessing them and guarantee there are no harmful additives. Make rehab free so that people don’t get stuck in there.
If morphine was legally obtainable, no one would be using fentanyl. Stop the arms race now.
Never smoked anything in my life, having one side of the family wiped out prematurely by nicotine, all of them.
Lived in Colorado. The pros outweigh the cons a million to one. The biggest positive was the massive reduction in DUIs, since people drink in bars but smoke weed at home. There may be a reduction in harder drugs, too, given how much easier and cheaper it is to get weed. The tax revenue from weed sales is huge (was bigger, though) and because the laws were changed after Colorado turned liberal-ish, the money was mostly allocated to great causes.
Government loves having a law that can be selectively enforced and is broken by a lot of people. Taking it away is a huge plus, especially in times where the government is looking for easy ways to control the population. Even before now, White people caught in possession or smoking marijuana rarely got more than probation, while some Black people were three-striked for the same.
The only downside is that it still smells bad, and I am still not sure that hacking up your lungs is all that sane or safe.
Yes, it appears that young humans can have very negative reactions to weed, and that it can affect their brains negatively. That would absolutely be a problem if legalization increased week use among teenagers, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Never smoked anything in my life, having one side of the family wiped out prematurely by nicotine, all of them.
Well one good thing is that you don't need to smoke anything.
Con: I am stoned all the time
Pro: I am stoned all the time
I'm in this comment!
Pro: way more variety of edibles I can't make myself (like fruit gummies), and I know the strength before I consume.
Not really a con, but a letdown: legal retailers can't really compete with drug dealers prices, so it didn't hurt the illegal drug industry or generate as much taxes as hoped.
Unmeasured edibles in the olden days, oh boy... I don't miss it.
In Germany (where you can now get it via a club or as medication) it is a little bit cheaper since the legalization in some clubs.
I'm in Canada where it is legal everywhere.
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Since weed is so crazy inexpensive to grow, drug dealers have just dropped the price to where legal growers can't compete due to the price of bureaucracy and process and things like having to actually test for potency and label appropriately.
My shop sells $30 ounces. Never met a dealer slinging that cheap.
If you can, then they can, because they don't have to pay for the bureaucracy, no need for testing and accurate labeling, etc.
My state has 10 million people and made over $300 million in tax last year distributed around $100 million each divided between roads, schools, and local municipalities/community organizations.
Decriminalisation is the way IMO.
I don't want lots of people taking up smoking even. But being punished for smoking weed? Ridiculous.
weed smokers are not cool anymore, like wow bro you're going to go home and follow the law. Lame
I think that the pros are obvious. It should simply be legal, and other comments have given good reasons.
However, there are some cons that I haven't seen mentioned yet.
It impairs you, so any activity where that is a problem, like driving, may need extra attention or public education.
For smokers, inhaling smoke is dangerous.
Pros: I don't have to sneak around like a criminal just to get a plant.
Pros if properly managed, takes away profits for criminals and helps prevent grow ops causing a lot of problems in communities.
Con Managed poorly fucks over consumers and propogates the criminals by creating a bigger market for them
Pro new tax revenue to pay for services
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)
It's not completely safe. Regulation makes sense. Especially for protecting developing brains from long-term negative damage.
If you look at it as an illegal drug, it's obvious that it doesn't work to criminalize. It seems much more appropriate and effective to legalize, regulate, and have information and support programmes in place.
In Germany, it was legalized, but only in a very limited form, to get it through the coalition government. I think the current form is too bureaucratic, too restrictive. The most important thing is that it legalized holding personal consumption belongings.
Background: I haven't used weed in decades, I have no personal interest in its legal status.
I can't think of a single bad thing that has happened. People are more open about smoking, you can smell it in the street sometimes. I live in a tourist destination, there are ads everywhere for dispensaries. I assume getting high is at least part of the attraction for visitors.
Also, I assume it has had a negative effect on illegal drugs - why bother? - but I wouldn't know anyway.
Yes, I supported it at the time, have not changed my view.
I'm all for legalization everywhere worldwide but we got bigger fish to fry currently here in the US.
Yes let's not try to make anything better until we solve all the major world problems good plan /s
Pro
But Bill Maher is a walking testament to why it matters a great deal how often you come back to the surface.
Legalize it. There are no cons.
Well there is technically one. And it's the only reason it's illegal anywhere. And that is that Big Pharma can't monopolize it for profit.
Edit - keep downvoting. You know I'm right. Pharma lobbyists bribing corrupt politicians. It's the exact same reason the IRS can't just tell us how much we owe or are owed. Base, rank corruption.
Context first:
Canadian and I'm high more often than not, so this will be biased. I didn't really vote to legalize exactly, it was just part of a campaign that promised voting reform. Only one of the two happened :( I didn't use weed previous to Justin's legalization campaign.
That said, I'm pro decriminalization of everything for the end user, and almost all manufacturing for most drugs except the notorious ones wreaking havoc in society. Opioids and meth mainly.
I do think we need to consider unwillful sobriety centers for these specific types of extremely damaging addicts, but that's a tough conversation society needs to have that it won't. Ideals over reals. They suffer in the street causing havoc and ruining public transportation all the same meantime. Then you have the Cons basically wishing them to die ignored in an alley without any aid at all and getting in the way of any action. Getting off topic here.
Question for those of you living in a country where marijuana is legal. What are the positive sides, what are the negatives?
Positives:
Not sending functional or good enough people to prison for dumb cruel reasons.
The big fear was the youth smoking more over time didn't materialize.
Freedumb!1! I like vaping THC quite a lot, selfish positive :)
Cons:
Mainly it's a few glaring flaws in the Liberal Party rollout. There's still government enabled social stigma.
Given not a word was said about it in our recent election that I heard about, I'm pretty sure weed being legal is a complete non-issue for pretty much everyone voting except the nutters like MADD. Yet politicians are still afraid to finish the job properly.
Apt name calling themselves MADD, but I don't mean what it stands for. Treating weed like alcohol for a DUI isn't scientifically backed and it's puritan/prohibition minded moral panic theatrics. Then there's the fact you can still get fired for smoking on a weekend off work if your boss drug tests you week(s) later. That's fucking bullshit.
Basically I just follow the data. Minimum age is too low. Getting high is bad for developing brains, I think it shouldn't be legal to consume until the brain is done development. Age 25. That's unpopular, I don't care. I say the same for alcohol. That'd also kill most of the alcoholic binge drinking party culture, because 25+ hangovers and being out of grade school/college.
If you could go back in time, would you vote for legalising again? Does it affect the country’s illegal drug business , more/less?
Sure I would. It's been fine.
Big dent, not totally dead. I mean we can grow our own too. Black market is still cheaper, but they're not selling me 510 carts. I don't smoke weed anymore it's disgusting. Smell, smoke, tar, cleaning, bleh. Vape. Dry toaster vape instead if scared of glycol. That works well and I used to, but it's pretty wasteful/inefficient for a chronic user I find compared to 510 carts. Plus I can control dosage way easier. I hate being too stoned by accident. I couldn't do this when it was illegal, so my bad habit is made a little less harmful made legal. I got options now.
Why only Cannabis?
I get you, but we also have to start somewhere.
Fuck legal weed. Legalization is great, that's fine. But I'd pay more for black market weed to avoid having my addictions financially exploited by the exact same people who demonized, criminalized, and prosecuted cannabis users for the first 40 years of my life. Fortunately I don't pay more, I pay less.
Nah. Regulation is key.
Anyone who's had to sit on a stranger's mysteriously moist couch in a filthy dark apartment for an hour waiting for "his guy" to buy an underweight bag of shitty flower knows that being able to walk in, and buy exactly what you want when you want it is FAR superior to that bullshit.
I just wanna note that we're basically blind when it comes to the health impacts, positive or negative, of cannabis right now. This will change in the coming years, but for now it's impossible to tell what the cons are.
Edit: Turns we're not blind, just mildly visually impaired.
not sure I agree with you. we've had generation after generation after generation of people smoking/using cannabis. Whatever ramifications using cannabis has would have shown up by now.
Were scientific studies conducted on cannabis users before legalization? Because if not then it's gonna be hard to notice anything but the most obvious stuff.
Edit: The answer is yes but not as much as one would like.