Marijuana Legalization?

[ensbergcollector]

for those that are for legalization, what do you say toward the studies that say marijuana use leads to a much higher percentage of harder drugs use than those who never used marijuana. That might be my biggest issue with legalization (not that i am hard core against or anything)

[RedGoneWILD]

for those that are for legalization, what do you say toward the studies that say marijuana use leads to a much higher percentage of harder drugs use than those who never used marijuana. That might be my biggest issue with legalization (not that i am hard core against or anything)

i think this is a notion perpetuated by the federal government....I don't think there's really any scientific data to prove this....the conclusion is based on saying a certain percentage of hardcore drug users have used marijuana before....without looking up the stats, i'll use 80%....but by the same reasoning, i could say milk is a gateway drug, because probably 99% of hardcore drug users have drank milk before

I don't buy the gateway drug theory for a minute, as I've posted previously...but if I did, I'd say alcohol & tobacco are more of a gateway drug than cannabis

Anyway, since this has been bumped...I would recommend watching the documentary In Pot We Trust

[OnePimpTiger]

Here's my take on it, for what it's worth (I think I might've even posted it before, maybe in this thread):

The way I can understand it being seen as a gateway drug is that it gets you high, it feels good, and you want to find other things that give the same or better effects. Added into that is the legality of it. Some people stick w/alcohol and cigs for that buzz, they don't cross to illegal substances. Others may try pot and see that they like it and, since they're already doing illegal drugs, why not go farther. But here's the rub, if marijuana is made legal, then it would fall into the same category of alcohol and cigarettes. People would no longer have that "I'm already breaking the law, so why not go farther" mentality. Pot gives you a buzz, but so does alcohol and cigs...they're all in the same boat. The only thing that separates them is the legality. If that is changed, they would be on equal playing fields and pot would be no more of a gateway drug than the other two.

[haybierman]

I'd argue that marijuana remains illegal not because of the drug itself or its ramifications, but rather because of the culture that is associated with it.

Alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs are legal because those who make and maintain the laws socialize within the circles that use these intoxicants. Conversely, I doubt there are many stuffed shirts on Capitol Hill chomping at the bit to legalize a drug that is associated with the underside of hip hop, shiftless college-rock apathy, and hippie culture.

You can't take any legalization argument seriously when the pro-legalization side can only mutter "Me and my boys just wanna get our smoke on" and for God's sake, stop calling it weed! Calling it marijuana will at least show those you are trying to convince that you can form a sentence using words that have more than one syllable.

Marijuana culture brings with it a certain air of stupidity and laziness and until users can shake that image and portray marijuana users as productive members of society, you will not see legalization.