Wednesday, February 25, 2009

California to legalize marijuana?

This is a fun and interesting little find. Apparently there has been a bill proposed to legalize the sale and consumption of marijuana in the state of California for people of ages 21 and over. It would be monitored and regulated in similar ways to alcohol. They believe that making marijuana a legal and taxable operation will improve our economy. Not only will it be taxed, circulating more money through the government, but it will also cut back on the large amount of money invested in the drug war (billions of dollars in law enforcement costs). Marijuana, according to the news report has become a cash crop--more so than fruits, nuts, hay, cotton, and other various crops combined.

Some of the concerns with this bill is the predicted rate of smoking. It is estimated that smoking will increase a total of 32-40%. It is also argued that the "cost to society would be a lot more" if the bill was passed. The inherent concerns of whether or not we need yet another drug legalized is brought up as well. 

I personally believe this bill is a smart idea. I have been an advocate and supporter towards this opinion for quite some time now for various reasons. In a nutshell, I believe that although this bill will increase smoking and drug use, it will benefit society in the long run due to aspects such as health, how people act while on the drug, etc. (for the sake of not coasting off into a tangent about the morals of marijuana and whether it is ultimately good or bad, I ask that everyone tries their best not to preach an opinion about said topic or criticize anybody else's on theirs).

If anybody wants to see the video of this report, click the link of my blog post and it should redirect you. If not, it should be on the front page on CNN.com

5 comments:

Clayton K. said...

I'm not really sure how marijuana will positively affect people's health or will bring benefits because of the way people act when under the influence - as you say. But legalizing should help the failing economy because of the huge amount of money put into drugs like marijuana that could instead help boost the U.S. economy instead of some foreign economy, or a drug ring's bank accounts. If the drugs seized in huge drug busts were allowed to be sold, the economy would benefit a lot, instead of the drugs and their economic potential just being destroyed.

ballin4life said...

That would be good, but if someone could explain the differences between this proposal and the current system with the cannabis cards and everything? Would it just be that everyone (not just supposed medical patients) can go to cannabis clubs or would it be sold in like gas stations like tobacco?

And yeah if you're against legalizing marijuana then you support telling people what they can do with their own bodies (ie you're against freedom)

Also are there really that many people that don't use marijuana only because it is illegal and will start using it when it becomes legal?

Elijah Merchan said...

The difference between the system now and the one they propose is different in that with the bill, anybody at all over the age of 21 can buy it whereas now you must own a cannabis club card and go to a cannabis club to purchase it.

I don't think anybody would go so far as to be against freedom if they didn't support the use of marijuana.

There are also perfectly legitimate reasons for not supporting the use and vice versa. From my own personal encounters, the people who tend to stay away or not support marijuana are those that are ill-educated on the subject, those that have used in the past and simply decided it wasn't for them, those that find smoking disgusting, etc. There can be many reasons why somebody wouldn't use marijuana. Unfortunately, I have come to realize that most people who negatively criticize or take an opposing stance on marijuana tend to have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and end up sounding like one of the officers that spewed propaganda to us from the DARE programs in middle school.

I highly suggest everyone who finds this topic interesting to check out one of my personal favorite websites that takes a neutral and scientifical stance on substances: http://www.erowid.org
This website has a lot of valuable information on just about any drug or substance you can imagine. It poses an unbiased stance on the subject.

ballin4life said...

I'm not saying that anyone who doesn't use or support the use of marijuana hates freedom.

It's people that want to violently stop others from using it.

Kate Lin said...

Personally, I don't think smoking is going to go up that much. I feel like anyone who would smoke it if it were legal would smoke it anyway (illegally).

I have heard from several sources that it would indeed boost the economy. I'm not a huge supporter for it, but I don't see why it's not legal either. It's not any worse than tobacco or alcohol. Thus, if it's not worse than these two substances, why not legalize it if it would help the economy?