How I Feel About Pot
I’ve never smoked pot, or even a cigarette. I think it’s a stupid thing to do, and I think less of people who do it. I know people will probably start arguing about that in the comments, and that’s fine.
At the same time, I think that governments banning marijuana is beyond stupid.
Let’s be realistic. Marijuana is probably better for the population than alcohol. I can see arguments each way, but to me it comes down to how it affects other people. Stoned people aren’t exactly a danger to society. If anything they help the economy - especially the fast food sector. Which one is worse for you is pretty much irrelevant - people can do whatever they want to their bodies as far as I’m concerned.
Yet alcohol is legal and pot isn’t. This makes no sense. We can’t ban alcohol, because we know from experience what a disaster that is, so really the only right thing to do is legalize marijuana.
Then, like everything else, let’s tax it. That way instead of spending untold millions of dollars on trying to get it out of our cities, we can earn money from it. As you may know, the US is in terrible financial shape. Turning a liability into an asset wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for us.
Crime would go down too. I doubt there are many deranged potheads committing crimes, but it is a big money business for drug dealers and they do commit actual crimes. Take away their business, or force them to go legit, and now you don’t have to worry about them.
I’d personally be in favor of legalizing ALL drugs. How about if we treat our adult citizens like adults and let them make their own choices and live with them? Want to get liberal and hippie? Make all of the tax money on cocaine go to state sponsored rehab programs.
There is absolutely no way to force drug users not to do drugs. It won’t happen ever, no matter how many scary cops we send into the ghetto. Why try? Why not accept peoples’ desires and try to use their tax money to fund education?
And I’m not talking about the insanely bad “look… I smoked pot and now I killed my baby sister” ads that we have now. Those ads are so ridiculous that it actually makes me think “well, these anti drug people are total morons. Maybe drug users are the smart guys here.”
Instead let’s send the message that pot is bad for your lungs, but that the real negative effect it has is that it makes people lazy, is a waste of money, can lead to dependence, and tends to make people do stupid things and eat junk food. In other words, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s probably not something you want in your life.
Give people good and accurate information to make a decision, and maybe they’ll make good decisions. Lie to them and force your morals on them, and maybe they’ll rebel.
(30 votes, average: 3.6 out of 5)
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July 14th, 2008 at 10:26 am
wow probably the worst post you have ever made
its cool that you dont smoke pot, its cool that it should be legalized & taxed
BUT to go as far as saying ALL drugs should be legalized and taxed, and that we should just not do it, and should just be “adult” about it… wow
i dont think you have ever been around a crack head, or someone who has had an addiction to heroin.
its terrible man, not everyone is as righteous and smart as you are, if people had a bad life, and turned to drugs, does that make them bad? i dont think so
you should think more before vomiting out another post for the sake of meeting targets.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:55 am
While I agree with you on the pot issue, legalizing ALL drugs seems proposterous. I think it’s pretty obvious that a large majority of the population cannot be “adult” enough to resist easily accessible temptation.
If grenades and bombs were available over the counter, you can bet people (especially young people) would abuse them. Similarly, having hard drugs so easily accessible would tempt people who wouldn’t otherwise even think about doing drugs. It would lead to the degredation of our society. Out of sight, out of mind, and thus they should remain (other than weed) illegal.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Tynan, I’m a (mostly) vegetarian health nut myself, but I find pot to be a genuine creativity booster. I haven’t used it in a long time, but I don’t think you should be afraid to try it. If you ever watch adult swim late at night, I assure you that a lot of that wasn’t written after a day of sipping tea and playing croquet.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I’m all for legalization of pot. But why tax it? To regain our freedom and prosperity we need less taxes and less government, not more.
As for hard drugs, I agree that some people are not “adult” enough to resist easily accessible temptation, but that applies to alcohol, television, easy credit, and flag-waving propaganda as well. By that standard we should lock people up before they are even born because they might give in to temptation.
Consider suicide… it’s legal, but how many people kill themselves? Not too many. And when it comes down to it there’s nothing you can do against it anyway unless you want to outlaw bridges, knives, medications, ropes and electricity.
Only honest education can make a real difference. If everyone knew that hard drugs gave them a worse fate than death, most people would stay away from such drugs. Those who don’t, only have themselves to blame, and compared with the current alternative (violent drug dealing thugs making billions, governments having an easy excuse to monitor everyone’s financial transactions, massive corruption spreading throughout society as drug money bribes government and police officials, a “gangster” culture being pushed as the coolest thing by the movie and music industries) this should be a pretty easy decision.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Legalize everything, let the stupid weed themselves out.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I have been around a lot of different drug users. The hard, addictive drugs are very scary. The way it rots your body is disgusting. Weed/pot/whatever has yet to be proven addictive. It’s cheap, easy to grow and if on it, will make you a better driver. People while driving under the influence of weed, drive really slow like old people.
Weed is the only drug that I think should be legalized. Tax the growers for the plants they grow, not the buyers.
I have only tried it a couple times and the high I felt, I didn’t like. I was very aware of my heart beat, breathing and didn’t like it. I haven’t touched it since.
Search the internet. No harm has come from weed. Harmful for your lungs? You can eat it!
July 15th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I agree with you 100%, Ty. It sucks if weak people become addicts and destroy their bodies, it really does. But “freedom of choice” is more important than “freedom from hurting myself”. And it’s already illegal to break into somebody’s house and steal their TV for drug money, making drugs illegal only raises the prices and makes it more likely that people will:
a) hide their addiction instead of seeking help
b) resort to other crimes in order to pay for it.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I think the term “freedome of choice” is a little misused. Why do we just live then in total anarchy and let primal evolution take over? Because we are smart enough to realize that we have to protect us from ourselves.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:20 am
A cocaine addiction will cause the addict to feel extreme unspeakable pain if their need is not met.
A habitual marijuana smoker might lose sleep and have
shaky hands, but they will not feel physical pain without
smoking.
That is if you are a heavy smoker/eater.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I’ve read that a large amount of negative junkie behavior comes from the consequences of the illegality, the high prices from the illegality and the ‘junkie culture’ that surrounds it. Junkies take junkie doses. Meth (adderall) can be an effective treatment for ADD, but the amount that ADD sufferer’s take is a minor fraction compared to the typical junkie dose. Remove the illegality and you remove a big chunk of the pain that comes from being a junkie. And it is significantly easier to get off the addiction if your substance is illegal, since recovery substitutes and rehab programs are not put under schizophrenic and arbitrary limits due to the dichotomy of the drug being illegal and needing to provide it for a proper addiction recovery program.
A lot of legal-industry (police,millitary,lawyers,prisons,etc) jobs are created from the illegality of drugs, so there is a big self-interest in the legal system to keep drugs illegal as a result.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:29 am
“Legalize everything, let the stupid weed themselves out.”
and the award for the most ignorant comment goes to…
its nothing to do with stupidity more to do with desperation.
if your in a situation where their is no light at the end of the tunnel, and your living in a ghetto, where all you see is drugs and people getting killed and raped, like living in hell
your telling me you wouldnt want to feel good, and get a feeling of ‘escape’ from it all.
now dont tell me “if i was in their situation, i wouldn’t take drugs, i would get a degree, and become a millionaire and travel the world”
because YOU are NOT and have never been in a situation like that.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:53 am
From an european guy point of view, with most friends using some kind of drugf ( may it be alchool, coffee, or illegal stuff) I agree with Tynan 100%
and browsing internet i found this:
10 reason to legalise drugs:
http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugten.html
ciao!
July 18th, 2008 at 2:36 am
“and I think less of people who do it”
Why are you so condescending? Do you think that your attitude towards people is productive in any way?
July 18th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Some comments have said that the harder drugs are very bad indeed. I think they’re right. They say the drugs should remain illegal because of this harm. I think we must also look at the harm caused by drug prohibition - the people killed in wars between drug-peddling gangs, or the people killed in wars between gangs and the police. Some innocent people who have been killed are listed here: http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/08/17/drugWarVictims.html
There are other harms too: people die rather than call for medical help in overdoses; people avoid calling the police about all kinds of crimes when they have narcotics in their homes, etc. And there is the massive financial drain of drug enforcement (and as Tynan says, the opportunity cost of tax money not gained).
If the goal is to reduce harm, an informed decision must be made as to whether prohibition’s harm is greater or less than the harm of drugs.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
“Legalize everything, let the stupid weed themselves out.”
and the award for the most ignorant comment goes to…
its nothing to do with stupidity more to do with desperation.
if your in a situation where their is no light at the end of the tunnel, and your living in a ghetto, where all you see is drugs and people getting killed and raped, like living in hell
>>>The US has more opportunity that any other nation on the planet, literally. No matter how bad they say the economy is…its easy as shit to live here.
your telling me you wouldnt want to feel good, and get a feeling of ‘escape’ from it all.
>>>Probably not. I’ve been in some low places in my life and I have never once done drugs, not even alcohol. I choose to face my problems head on, not avoid them or drown them in drugs/booze.
now dont tell me “if i was in their situation, i wouldn’t take drugs, i would get a degree, and become a millionaire and travel the world”
>>>Well I just did. Is that a common course of action? Obviously not. I was born into a middle class family like many Americans, we had out tough times, bankruptcy, debt collectors, baked beans for months straight, etc… Im thankful though, and also aware I had zero choice deciding what type of family I was born into, and what nation I was born in. No one decides how they are born, and into what circumstances.
because YOU are NOT and have never been in a situation like that.
>>>On the contrary I just got back from backpacking through South America. I’ve been in some pretty fucked up situations, and seen the way most of these countries live, doing anything they can to make ONE DOLLAR a day. Does that compare to living there first hand? No, never said it did either.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
don’t lie tynan, you know you smoke ganja all day every day.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I agree that America should re-adopt the personal liberty it was born with. Everyone adult should be free to make their own decision about drugs and be personally responsible for the consequences of it. If you choose to live in shit and die by drugs, that’s your own choice, not the government’s. By making drugs legal you remove the power and mystique it, the dealers, and the law holds over people. It frees up tax dollars for education. Better education will likely reduce the amount of users.
I don’t use drugs, it’s not productive and is a waste of money.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Liberal hippies don’t make ridiculous nonsense claims about the evil marijuana satan. I don’t know who makes them, frankly; I think it’s just power-needy prudes, or ass-covering demagogues. But it’s not liberal hippies. Most liberal hippies are likely to smoke pot. Drugs are, after all, a hippie stereotype. Frankly I think you misunderstand the word. Maybe both.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:13 am
Actually I fully agree with you Ty.
legalise ALL drugs. Tax the crap out of them AND an important addition…make ANY crime commited whilst under the influence and/or in response to needing to get more drugs punishable by execution/hard labour to the value of twice the monetary value of lost assets to the victim/s of the crime and/or their family.
Also allow people who are considered legally sane, able and regularly train in the safe use of firearms to carry loaded weapons at will and be able to use them for self-protection and/or reduction of crime. But if you point it you should shoot or be arrested for attempted murder so it’s a clear line.
It would be messy and violent for a while…but 2 or 3 generations down the line the average IQ would be higher and people would be a lot more polite.
Spend the tax money collected from drugs on IMPLEMENTING the punishment of all crimes. Enforcement of laws is the best deterrant.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Hey man, a few thoughts about the topic.
Certain drugs need to be illegal since by nature they increase the likelihood of violence. Take PCP for example. It makes people want to fight, take off their clothes, and insensitive to any pain to the point they’ll smash a car window with their fist because they can’t feel it.
As an EMT, I see this a lot…it never ends up in the news, but people spazzing out and getting violent happens a lot….the problem with that? It affects other people.
Just like drunk driving wouldn’t be a problem, if it didn’t affect other people.
ALSO, it’s just bad for society. Looking at it big picture, a country would want its citizens to be more productive so the country is more properous…don’t want it to end up like opium problems in China back in the day.
AND also, law/government eventually sets mark for what’s ethical or not (example: racist segregation laws)..”it can’t be THAT bad for me if it’s legal” thing. Many many don’t pay attention to this, but much more do.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Tynan,
You write a lot about self-discipline. You write a lot about adventure and getting the most out of life. It seems incongruent to me that you would uphold a blanket anti-drug-use policy instead of experimenting, if for no other reason than to see what all the fuss is about. I mean, you did waterboard yourself.
If you are as self-disciplined, intelligent and adventurous as you appear to be, it is unthinkable that you will exhaust your life before ever taking a hit or three of Acid(LSD). You’re too smart not to. Do some research. Seriously consider it.
Don’t outsmart yourself.
With Respect,
Ryan
August 7th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
pot is a fairly safe drug. i like they way you’re thinking about this, i don’t agree that all drugs should be legalized, some are just too freakin crazy. drugs like heroin and methamphetamine cause some pretty terrible stuff, and crack is a huge cause of violent crime. the claim that legalizing and taxing drugs would reduce crime is not fully valid, because there will always be people selling the stuff under the table and not paying the taxes, plus the fact that drug rings are already established and it will take more than legalizing their product to tear them down. it is most definitely a step in the right direction though, and pot dealings are among the most peaceful anyway and are rarely the cause of violence, and if it was legalized the government could save a lot of money giving people the freedoms they deserve. the right to bear arms seems a much more dangerous right than the right to inhale a mellowing chemical, and the right to bears arms has been granted since the birth of our nation. marijuana is a drug that actually mellows you out, boosts your creativity and when used responsibly can only cause harm to the user (lung disease, etc.) and not other people. people that smoke marijuana dont go around killing people and causing havoc. many people would be willing and able to pay a tax for the right to blaze, and we this nation should let them.