Question: What would be the pros and cons of legalizing Marijuana?

This is a question that gets brought up a lot lately. I guess that will continue as Marijuana use gets to be more accepted. I remember not too long ago that pot use was considered to be much the same as many other illegal drugs. Now, especially since it's been approved for some medicinal applications, very few people seem to be surprised when they hear about or see another person smoking pot.



Do I think Marijuana should be legal? Well really the question is - should ANY DRUG be illegal? The Libertarian in me would love to say that there should be no laws against drug use. And to tell the truth, I'd go along with that if people could be trusted to be responsible with drugs and alcohol. But I'm already scared enough to drive at certain times at night when statistics show more people are likely to be driving under the influence of alcohol. So while I think it is really unconsitutional to prohibit any drug use, it's not really practical to say anything goes. If we are all being honest, the laws against the "hard" drugs are there to protect everyone involved. Yes, I know the argument that if you made them legal then the excitement about breaking the law would go away and then people would be more responsible. But I can't say I see that's the case with alcohol even though it's legal. There would have to be a limit on the legal use of these other drugs, as there is with alcohol. That limit would still be broken and lives would still be shattered, as it is with alcohol.



So I guess the way I'm going answer this question is to say that legalizing Marijuana would have the same pros and cons as legalizing alcohol does...



Pros:

- More people would know what the limits are and would consider the consequenses of breaking those limits.

- Taking pot off the street and putting it into the hands of regulators would likely help more responsible people from getting into too much trouble with the drug. For instance, if pot could be categorized like beer, wine, hard liquor is now, people would know how much they can take to fall within the legal limits.

- Realizing that you have a problem with addiction to pot and getting help would be easier than it is now. In that at least you can admit it and people will be somewhat more accepting. Much like alcohol is now. Let's face it - if you admit a problem with something that is legal like alcohol or gambling, people look at you differently than if you admit a problem with something illegal like pot or cocaine.



Cons

- Well, think about all of the cons related to alcohol being legal. Again, lives are shattered every day by alcohol use. People are killed. Families are broken apart.

- I can't say I know much about the effects of marijuana use. For instance, how many joints would it take to have the general side effects of a can of beer? Or should that question be the other way around (how much beer = 1 joint)? Sure, it depends on the individual user's tolerance but you see what I am getting at. I'm left to assume that marijuana is generally stronger than your basic alcoholic beverage. That being the case, then we are introducing a more dangerous drug into our society. There would clearly be consequences to that.

- All of the drugs in this discussion are gateway drugs. A little bit of alcohol many times leads to wanting more alcohol, or stronger alcohol. So a little bit of pot would likely lead to wanting more pot, or stronger pot.



So in summary - in a perfect world, marijuana would be legal because people would take it responsibly. But we are not in a perfect world so it's probably best to have as few legal drugs as possible.