Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Legalization of Marijuana and what we can learn from others
A somewhat interesting topic that is popping up lately is this marijuana legalization and taxation issue. Gov. Schwarzenegger has stated that he is open to debate. While this issue may seem kind of like a last resort kind of measure in order to fix the financial state of California, it brings up an interesting idea. Schwarzenegger says that as the debate for marijuana continues, we should look at other places outside of CA that have passed similar laws, and look at how they are doing. I think that this is sort of an underutilized method of reviewing legislation. There are many issues that are discussed that other places have already dealt with one way or the other, and as far as I know, other country's are sort of overlooked as sources of data. One example is the marijuana issue, the article says that Austria has done this, but that they are not so happy with it. Another example would be the issue of low voter turnout. This issue is often talked about as a problem with the political system, but I haven't really heard any kind of talk about somewhat simple fixes for this, such as automatic registration, or even, though rather extreme, mandatory voting. While I don't necessarily support forcing people to vote, (that could backfire just as easily as not) I do think that once our country gets back onto its feet, the actions and laws of foreign countries or states should play a somewhat larger part in decision making.
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First of all, everything that doesn't hurt people should be legal in any country that even poses as a democracy. It is not the government's decision to regulate what its citizens do, but the citizen's job to regulate its government. However, because all drugs have a certain stigma associated with them, if we had legalized drugs fifty years ago, then everyone now would take it in stride. The problem is that any action would only affect people who are adamantly against legalization, and that would alienate most of the already disenfranchised conservatives, which would create an even larger rift between the parties. I suggest that we do it anyway, and those opposed can try to get some taxes on it so that they can be appeased. But as for California, it is way past due for legalization, the proposed taxes ($50 an ounce I think) would make the state rich beyond belief, and make Humboldt and Santa Cruz counties wealthier than San Mateo.
Yes, legalizing marijuana would produce revenue for the state, and yes, making it illegal is an infringement on personal liberty, but we need to look at what this marijuana would be used for, and the status quo of marijuana right now.
Right now, marijuana is already legal for the people who actually need it: patients choosing the drug as an alternative medicine. The state could tax marijuana, but this would only make it less accessible for these patients.
The aforementioned patients are responsible, of age, and are given a regulated amount of the drug. What we don't need is more under-motivated potheads that abuse the drug. Yes, some recreational users are responsible, but, as with all drugs, the danger that general legalization would bring could be great.
Though I agree it is important to look to other countries and observe how they are handling the same pressing issues, we must keep in mind that we live in different worlds. What works in one place might not work for cultural, religious, or financial reasons in another.
Rather than trying to completely legalize marijuana for recreational use in states, we should be working to decriminalize medical marijuana federally. This is an achievable and realistic goal, and one that should be realized with all deliberate speed.
A recent field poll showed that 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana to raise revenues in the state of California, so i think its no mere coincidence that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is discussing the issue of legalizing medical marijuana. Personally, i don't think its a bad idea. Like Max said if they tax marijuana at $50 per ounce it would bring more than $1 billion a year to the state. This money would help California's current budget at least a little if not a lot.
Yeah I agree with Max that what doesn't hurt anyone should be legal. It can be taxed and therefore help out the economy. I did my research debate on marijuana and we found out that it is not harmful and helps patients with diseases like glaucoma. I understand if the drug was even addicting but it is not and can be regulated just like alcohol.
I believe that one reason that marijuana should be legal is because it is proven to be les harmful than alcohol, and alcohol is legal. There are hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths each year, yet there has never been a marijuana overdose death in history. The consumption of alcohol is also the direct cause of tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year.
Also, studies find alcohol use contributes to aggressive behavior and acts of violence, whereas marijuana use reduces the likelihood of violent behavior. Similarly, Alcohol use is highly associated with violent crime, whereas marijuana use is not.
Personally, I don't think that marijuana should be legal. It seems to me that making it easier for people to abuse any kind of substance is stupid. People can say that it is only used for medical purposes all they want, but I know for a fact that pot-heads who want to make it easier to smoke up will abuse this legislation. However I don't think that is the issue here, I think the problem is that the California state government is becoming desperate. If we are so hard up for money that we would be willing to legalize medical marijuana in order to tax that to help the state budget, then we are in a sad place. We are apparently in a place where we are willing to compromise our morals for money. I think that the idea of looking to other countries for solutions to our problems is the right way to go about this. There are many other countries who are setting examples that we should be following. Not neccessarily in the way that they are handling drugs, but in their use of green energy. If we are so very hard up for money I think there are other ways to make it. I do agree with what Max was saying earlier. Maybe the reason that I don't think marijuana should be legalized is because I have been raised thinking that it was wrong, and if I had grown up thinking that medical marijuana was a cmmon place practice, then I wouldn't have any scruples about it. I am fully willing to admit that maybe my ideas are old fashioned and I am not looking at this situation with an open mind, but that is simply what I have grown up thinking.
I see both sides of the argument. I agree with Aly that alcohol is a substance that actually can kill people, where I am pretty sure marijuana doesn't kill.
But I also see how marijuana could socially hurt the country, even if it gives us a economic gain. I also did my debate on marijuana last year, but against it, and there was the case of that girl for either Abbot or Carlmont where she overdosed on ecstacy and a report said that her friends, instead of calling 911, forced her to eat marijuana because they heard it cured cancer. Now those girls are STUPID but there are a lot of sutpid people. If we legalize marijuana will that give youth the impression that marijuana is now ok meaning that some other illegal drug is ok too, they just haven't legalized it yet? Will the next thing be cocaine?
Also if we were to legalize marijuana what would the age be? 18? 21? Older? From what I know there are a lot of 15, 16, 17 year olds that are smoking so it would still be illegal for them.
Tricky tricky. But if marijuana was legal that would be pretty cool.
No offense to anybody that states that they did research on the topic of marijuana for debates last year, but we all went through that and I worked as much as anyone else did researching my topic, but can any of us really say that the research we did in 1-2 weeks even scrapes the intricacies behind the politics and effects of substances like marijuana? My stance on what the government's actions should be towards drugs is that the government should be responsible for protecting citizens from harmful products (use your logic to define harmful, obviously you can argue harmful to be fattening food, but that's just ridiculous). The main issue being whether marijuana is actually harmful enough to require restriction.
There's also a saying, a little knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge at all. And again, no offense to anyone here, but what most people here may have is a little knowledge of marijuana not being dangerous without actually stopping to realize its actual dangers. Although, I'll admit to having just about no knowledge in regards to its effects. The point being, though, that maybe 1-2 weeks of on and off research isn't quite enough to clearly justify that marijuana isn't harmful or that its effects don't justify banning. If a mass of scientists come out of repeated experiments and declare marijuana to be free of harmful effects with overwhelming support from the scientific community, then I'd be convinced. Otherwise, it'll take more than just a bit of scattered research to convince the general public that's been led to believe that marijuana is dangerous for quite a while.
P.S. - To everyone that's saying we can regulate marijuana like alcohol if it were legalized, we're not really 'regulating' alcohol at all except for the age limits and other basics, and even that does just about nothing. If you legalize marijuana, you'd better be prepared to accept it as part of our culture.
I agree that with it doesn't hurt anyone why make a law against it. Considering that California is in need of revenue this drug might be a good way to get it.
I honestly don't know much about Marijuana and if it is a hallucinogenic or not but at this very moment we, I believe that it could open up a new source of income which in these times is a very good thing.
And the best way to see effects of anything in my opinion is by example, so seeing other state's legislation and the effect is a good thing.
I think the chances of marijuana being legalized completely right now are nonexistent, so the groups who are looking to legalize it should suggest certain regulations that they would be willing to deal with so that they could increase their chances and support with from the older people.
Though having partial regulations will seem wrong to those that believe marijuana use should be legal and unrestricted, under such conditions where the complete passage of something (that is likely to pass in the future) would be impossible, I think it's better to inch towards that goal gradually than to wait decades until that goal can be realized in one move.
Hmm...this is a tough issue. Personally, I don't have any strong opinion on the legalization of marijuana, and arguments for both sides sound relatively reasonable to me. I do believe that legalizing marijuana and then putting a tax on it would bring a considerable amount of money to California, and with the economy as it is, our state really could use the boost.
On the other hand, marijuana, although safer than other drugs, still isn't entirely safe. There are many negative health effects, and one statistic states that a heart attack is four times higher within the first hour after smoking marijuana than if you weren't to smoke it at all. Doesn't sound super safe to me. Besides, it distorts perception and coordination, so there would be more drivers on the road who aren't at their full ability or attentiveness.
Legalizing marijuana definitely doesn't positively impact society although it may benefit our economic status. I do believe though that we could learn from other countries who have legalized marijuana. Since we don't know firsthand what would happen, we can look and see which countries changed both positively and negatively from legalization and then make a decision from there. The U.S. is a powerful nation but no one said we shouldn't take advice from others, especially from those with more experience in this situation.
I agree with Max, and I also think it would be good for the state to legalize marijuana because if it did, not only would it generate revenue, but it would save the state time and money combating illegal marijuana dealers because it would effectively shut the black market on marijuana down.
I think that marijuana should be regulated the same as alcohol. There should be a legal "smoking age" of 18 or 21. This way we could decrease the amount of under-motivated teenagers that often become taken over by the drug, and leave most of the using to older more responsible people. We could also make stronger punishments for minors like the "zero tolerance" policy for alcohol to even further decrease the use with teenagers. Because after all teenage misuse if what everyone is afraid of and not so much with adults. This would be a way to still collect a tax on the drug and still keep it regulated amoung minors and young adults.
Taxing marijuana, that's a funny idea. Realistically lets think, marijuana is grown illegally throughout the country and in other forign ones. There are people who make livings off of selling it illegally. So to tax weed you need to have regulated farms that are approved to grow it (which isn't a problem), but, what about the bad boys. Suddenly there out of a buisness and they're going broke. What are they going to do? keep growing marijuana (its not like with the taxation comes stricter law enforcement for growing it) and sell its for extremely low prices, prices that are half of what the government would be selling it for. It's drug capitalism if you think about it. Trying to Tax marijuana could be done but it would cost LOADS of money to..
-Increase legal enforcement on growng.
-Create government approved farms.
-Adapt a license for selling it.
-Create new laws for illegal drug dealing.
-New laws for where it can be used
It's a really long process thats not on the pressing agenda and it's hard to see a time when it will be.
The issue of legalization of marijuana has become more widely debated now, and rightly so. With our economy in a recession, the revenues generated by it would be ENORMOUS. Other states/countries have implemented similar policies, and although we can look to their example, we can't copy what they do. Our state is different from other places, and I think I can safely say that California has a higher usage of marijuana (on average) than other parts of the country. Maybe if say... Oklahoma or Nebraska legalized it, it won't make a difference at all, but it would change our state drastically. As for the places where weed is legal, I've heard that those countries have a lower crime rate than we do in the U.S. Whether that's because of marijuana or other reasons, I don't know, but that's the trend that people have observed.
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