Marijuana has been with us for some time now. It is an illegal substance. Many of the people who now control the country are young enough to have been exposed to marijuana and its effects, so they can bring first hand experience to bear on this question.

Should we legalize marijuana?

What would be the impact on our society of lagalizing marijuana? What are the negative effects of using marijuana? Tomorrow I will commission a study on marijuana so I can present more of the information on marijuana here so more of us can know about its detrimental effects.

Are there positive sides to marijuana use?

What would legalizing marijuana do to our economy? A significant part of the value in marijuana derives from the fact that it is illegal.

What impact would legalizing marijuana have on crime and the prison population?

Let's explore this and see what we can come up with.

Should we ban alcohol?

Studies have shown that the use of drugs such as Marijuana leads to cocaine use :rolleyes: : http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/record2010.24.html

If this drug is legalized it will have an effect worst than that of Alcohol.We already have many problems in our society due to the use of these substances and making it ok to use them will only add to our problems.

The rate of teen deaths due to drug use is already high and increasing :rip:. Permanent brain damage will also go up :dunce: and not to mention car accidents that results in physical and property damage.

That will mean an increase in car, medical and life insurance, an increase in taxes due to police work and road clean-ups, an increase in high school drop-outs which leads to more crime to support the resulting addiction to Marijuana, birth defects in newborns which will increase the strain on our already exhausted health care system and I am really tired of seeing red-eyed zombies on the streets of Nassau.

Go here for some read the facts on Marijuana: http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofax/marijuana.html

If marijuana is legalized, will more people use it, and will the people who use it consume more of it?

Are there too many of the nation's young men in jail for use of marijuana? Should using marijuana be something people should go to jail for? Up to what point does a person have control over their own bodies and what they put into it? Should society be able to tell you what to eat, drink, or smoke? Should society be able to tell you when, where and how to do these things? What freedoms should an individual have?

As more of our leaders are people who use marijuana or have had direct experience with marijuana, will the attitude of the legal system to marijuana change?

Isn't it true that anyone who wants marijuana now can get it anytime they want it? How affordable is marijuana? If marijuana was legal then the government could tax the proceeds of its sale.

More fundamentally, is the use of marijuana a sin? What should the nation's position be on the use of marijuana by rastafarians who, I am told, use marijuana in their religious practices? Are we not guaranteed freedom of religion? Or are these freedoms not protected when a person practices a religion that differs from the majority?

haha - this one never fails to amaze me. The only reason that marijuana is still illegal and alchohol is still legal is because we are scared of the US... and they in turn have their own fears.

The other day, the US state of Nevada attempted to legalise marijuana for primarily medicinal purposes. The US federal goverment then launched that ad campaign that showed children and adults talking about how they helped support terrorism and torture and other injustices thru their purchase of MARIJUANA. Of course now it is a big legal battle because the national government is not supposed to be so involved in the internal affairs of one state. The bill was overturned... and to make matter worse, the US government has made it harder for researchers to obtain permission to perform additional tests on the effects of marijuana. Right now they have access to cocaine, heroin, etc - all the crap that people know is bad already. But why deny access to a simple unpurified plant??

Because they are scared that all of their antiquated and biased studies showing that marijuana is bad for you, is addictive and will kill you will be overturned. They are afraid that it will be proven once and for all that ALCOHOL is x amount of times worse for you than marijuana could ever be. You can drink 1 whole bottle of rum and would be hospitalised and could die from alcohol poisoning. You have to consume like 1440 POUNDS of marijuana in one sitting to overdose, when it is virtually impossible to smoke even one pound. Further, any nurse or doctor will most likely tell you that they have NEVER treated anyone for any effects due to marijuana use, even heavy Rasta level use, or for any road traffic accidents, fights or other injuries due to its use.

As for those studies about health risks, they would probably find out the same thing about smoking too much lime leaf... smoke is just bad for you on the whole.

People need to open their minds and get the facts. Just because you agree that all this fuss over marijuana is unjustified does not make you a pothead or a user and you should not have to defend yourself as such. It just means that you don't have to take every word that your pastor, parents, teachers, goverment books says as gospel, because they have all been tainted by hypocrisy, willful ignorance (i.e. blinding yourself to the facts) and the fact that they are used to portraying marijuana as evil.

Now, das 25 cents - take it and spen' it!!

What affect do you think using marijuana would have on the crime levels? If marijuana is being used for medicinal purposes, can they use it in liquid form or take a marijuana pill? Why does it have to be smoked?

Legalizing marijuana may decrease the demand that it has now. Most people use illegal substances because they are illegal, or just of curiosity.

I feel that if it is legalized most people wont want to use it. The thrill of being caught with an illegal substance isnt there anymore. The price value of it would decrease and thus no profit of it would be obtained. When you look at it, somehow its a win lose situation.