Decriminalized Weed

[SpeakersGoBoom]

<-- King of Procrastination

I have to do a persuasive speech tomorrow in speech class, and my topic is to argue that Marijuana should be decriminalized. I was having trouble at the time thinking of a topic, and someone in class said "dude, you should argue that weed should be decriminalized." It was a better idea than what I had (nothing) so i put it down, and realized later that i have no idea what im doing.

Im not arguing that pot should be LEGAL, im arguing that it should be DECRIMINALIZED, meaning that it isnt something that carries a jail sentence. If anyone has any facts about marijuana, the number of people who are in jail for it, etc, if you could post what you know/read (and, if possible, where you got the info from) thatd be great! Also, a friend told me once that there was an issue of a health magazine that had a cover story that said pot was better for you than cigarettes, which he said the goverment didnt allow it to be released. Anyone know anything about that? Thanks guys!

And yes, I'm aware that smoking is bad for you. But then again, so is speeding, but I doubt that stops any of us.

[ar0ck]

[GrandmasterCow]

Originally Posted by TransAm4Life

haha

[SpeakersGoBoom]

Originally Posted by SpeakersGoBoom

And yes, I'm aware that smoking is bad for you. But then again, so is speeding, but I doubt that stops any of us.

[formula4speed]

I don't smoke or drink or anything but I really don't see why its even illegal. Yes its bad for you, but so are cigarettes and double cheeseburgers, if you want to kill your body its not the governments job to stop you. You could say it impairs your ability to do anything, but so does alcohol which is not illegal. It even has legitimate medical uses (I know you can get an Rx for it) so what makes it worse than anything else? An age limit like they do for cigarettes and alcohol would seem more reasonable. I think that legalizing it would also drop prices for it, because the supply would more easily meet the demand which would be bad for drug dealers and that should make the government happy. I certainly don't think marijuana use would increase by much because lets face it, if someone wants to get it they can illegal or not. This is all just my opinion of course so don't take it to heart.

[Pat]

pot will never be legal, at least not in our lifetimes.

slippery slope, if they legalize pot, why not everything else?

here's my take on it though. if a major legitimate drug company has to pull on of their main drugs because it might cause heart problems, i highly doubt the government would actually allow anybody to actually process and mass produce drugs that are currently illegal.

i think that ideally, all drugs should be legal, and it should be up to the people whether or not they want to use them. however, since the average person is too stupid to decide for themself, i don't mind them being illegal. i really don't feel like i'm missing out on anything.

alcohol is enough for me

[j0n]

Originally Posted by SilverTransAm

alcohol is enough for me

agreed

[SpeakersGoBoom]

same here, and i dont even drink that much. i havent smoked since like, high school (yes, i know high school only finished a few months ago) but yea...im stuck with the god damn project.

[Trans Am Chick]

Originally Posted by SpeakersGoBoom

same here, and i dont even drink that much. i havent smoked since like, high school (yes, i know high school only finished a few months ago) but yea...im stuck with the god damn project.

u stopped smoking MONTHS b4 u met me even. well either way i dont think u want to argue that pot shud be legal... i think ur trying to fight that possession... should not have jail time... rather mayb some fines... thats wat canada was trying to do *i dunno if they did since i didnt get to finish reading the article while i was at school. but wen i do ill post the link.

[Fasterthanyou]

A few reasons why it shouldn't be legalized;
* Problems with memory and learning.
* Difficulty thinking and problem solving.
* Lowered grades in school or poor job performance.
* Weakened relationships with friends and family.
* Loss of coordination and risk of injury.
* Inability to drive safely or do complex tasks for up to 24 hours after use.
* Distorted senses of sight, hearing, touch, time, and depth.
* Reduced athletic ability.
* Elevated heart rate.
* Anxiety.
* Panic attacks.
I don't think jail-time should be a punishment but a fine would work. I also think that if you're caught smoking and driving or in public you should loose your license just like driving under the influence of alcohol.
Maybe even report your usage to your health insurance company or your empolyer. There is no reason anybody should be smoking pot with alcohol being legal. Not to mention alcohol is a detox agent that is good for your blood and body when consumed with a meal (obviously not a 6 pack, lol).
By having an Rx there is no reason people should be using a dangerous drug like weed without consulting a doctor, that's my feeling. I've never had to do it and think that people that do use it need a hobbie, like cars, or maybe a job .

[Amy]

I can tell you right now that it costs somewhere around 50,000/person in jail every year.

How many of those people are in jail for minor drug offences like marijuana? Probably a lot. While I think the penalities while driving under the influence should be strict, jail time? Unnecessary. Make people give back to the community and not drain the economy. We're paying their room and board basically. Do some research on my numbers. My sociology professor told me that and he's usually right.

[skorpion317]

marijuana is illegal because cotton growers lobbied to have it outlawed in the 1930's, i believe. the cotton growers were afraid it would encroach on their profits.

now, although marijuana is physically less harmful than cigarettes, it's mental effects are the main danger. I don't think it will be legalized anytime soon.

[ar0ck]

Actually $10,000,000,000 is spent by US courts for processing and pursecuting for minor drug offenses.

I still dont think it should be legalized. I know alot of kids that have went down the **** hole head first after taking one hit.

I myself have never touched it.

Ive been pretty straight edge my entire life. I have drank before, but I commit myself to being the Designated driver. So I stick to one or two "pussy drinks"

[Trans Am Chick]

hes not looking to have it legalized. theres a difference in decriminalization. nd legalization. hes saying that we shudnt have our tax money pay room and board for ppl caught with marijuana. that instead they shud have fines community service etc... i kinda agree with him actually having them be similar to dui charges... hes still trying to say its rong to do it. hes looking to reevaluate the consequences... thats all. we shud make the ppl pay for wat theyve done. yes. but in other ways that may be more effective to rehabilitation and less on the average citizen who doesnt do sumthing like that...

i think im talking in circles... lemmie kno if u do or dont understand wat im trying to say..

[Fasterthanyou]

Originally Posted by Trans Am Chick

hes not looking to have it legalized. theres a difference in decriminalization. nd legalization. hes saying that we shudnt have our tax money pay room and board for ppl caught with marijuana. that instead they shud have fines community service etc... i kinda agree with him actually having them be similar to dui charges... hes still trying to say its rong to do it. hes looking to reevaluate the consequences... thats all. we shud make the ppl pay for wat theyve done. yes. but in other ways that may be more effective to rehabilitation and less on the average citizen who doesnt do sumthing like that...

i think im talking in circles... lemmie kno if u do or dont understand wat im trying to say..

I THINK you're trying to say we need to through users and abusers in the slammer... but I'm not sure. j/k
I know what you mean but without severe consiquences the law becomes "soft" resulting in more pot heads driving and causing bodily harm in public than before. I'm all for the decrease in juditial court hearings but there is the arguement that maybe we just need to crack down harder to keep them from getting to the court level.
I'd like to see abusers have to report to insurance agencies after being caught. This would mean having to go on their criminal record JUST like DUI. This is my only beef. Because I don't drive drunk and I don't smoke pot but I don't want normal "smart" people doing weed bringing my insurance rate up. See my drift? This is where I'm leaning towards the criminalization of it... keep it contained. I also understand that the $$$$$ in taxes spent on these cases are coming out of my pocket. That's where you need to do some SERIOUS number crunching and compare all the pros and cons in a weighted list.
Also, since you need to make a persuasive speech, you can uses the whole "weighted" thing to your advantage. This way if you're math concludes one thing you can say that it might conclude the opposite depending on your beliefs. Good luck with the speech. I had to do one about animal testing years ago, I was for it but gave both sides of the story to let somebody choose. This is where the media sucks, they think they're right and everybody else is wrong instead of understanding that they're both wrong, or both right!

[skorpion317]

idk, putting them in jail might be an effective deterrent...I used to work in construction. The owner of the company had hired a lot of ex-cons (i guess as part of an outreach program or something). This one guy i worked with had been caught hauling 300 lbs. of weed across the NJ-NY border. He went to jail for 3 years. At lunchtime, he would tell me and the other guys stories about when he was in jail...it was some messed-up **** I'm NEVER gonna do anything bad enough to get me thrown in jail.

[SpeakersGoBoom]

According to one of the sites lexi sent me, at one point in virginia i believe, marijuana possesion carried a mandatory 40 year prison sentence. Murder in the first degree carried a mandatory 15 year sentence, and rape had a mandatory 10 year sentence. Doesnt anyone but me see somethign wrong with that?
Also, a lot of problems with weed dont actually come from weed. granded, abusing pot over an extended period of time does deteriorate your brain, but then again, alcohol does the same thing. Anyway, a lot of problems come from when pot is laced with some other drug. kinda like back in prohibition when people would mix whatever tehy could find in their bathtubs and call it alcohol. When prohibithion ended, the governemt was able to set standerds for it, and it became much safer. the same could possibly be said for weed. Also, organized crime had a lot to do with alcohol distribution in the 20s, as they have a hand in distributing pot today. Make it legal, and you take away their profit. How will you take away their profit for sure? if weed can be purchased out in the open, for a certain price, then drug dealers cant charge astronomical prices for it. see where i'm going with this?
Also, all of the points listed about the downside of marijuana applies to alcohol as well.

[ShitOnWheels]

Those of you who say pot is horrible and the mental effects are really bad haven't done their research. I have, multiple times over the past 8 years for different term papers in high school. I don't have all the sites I used for these papers because I don't have time to find them. But all you need to do is google marijuana and you will never run out of credible sites to look at.

As of the last time I checked, there have been NO deaths in car accidents where the driver was high. Asprin kills more people than pot...should be ban aspirin now too?

As for the effects, there is very little evidence that some of the major problems said to be caused by pot are true. Like someone said, it is usually the weed that is laced with coke, crack, lsd etc that cause the problems. Weed is not physically addicting (but you can get mentally addicting if you aren't careful).

And whoever said that they have seen people dive head first after one hit must have seen someone take a laced hit. I have never seen nor heard about someone getting horribly ****ed up from one hit. Yes, you can become paranoid from one hit, but to have it affect the rest of your life immediately is quite uncommon.

Anyways, I need to get to class. we can continue this discussion when I get home and can pull up all the sites and data I used, but it won't help whoever has to do the speech.

[SpeakersGoBoom]

while the debate may continue later today, its usefulness will not. The project is due at 1:40. Time to start!

[SpeakersGoBoom]

FINISHED! Anyone who wants to read my outline, send me a PM with your e-mail address, and I'll e-mail it to you. Its pretty good, at least I think.