so when you claimed that the money should be obtained by a better party, who the hell were you referring to?? maybe im confusing your argument with gamma's.
Lets keep it in-house so that it generates legal jobs, taxes and income within the American economy. Farmers could get paid to produce instead of our government paying them not to grow it. Instead of currently illeagal growers and crooked politicians lining their pockets, the revenues could go towards additional law enforcement, public assistance, etc.
Did you read through your sources??? One was a movie review, another just had the word Gateway in it, another was my original source that said the Gateway Theory was false, two others mention but don't really talk about the gateway theory instead focusing on the correlation of drug abuse at an early age and its effects as you get older and two others debunk the Gateway theory. The other links that I did not comment on explained stuff like what it's like to be high, income for a user vs. non user etc.
"How the fuck am I going to tell you that that marijuana is not a fucking gateway drug?" Easy, I don't have to, YOUR OWN SOURCES STATE IT. I particularly liked the one about 1 in 5 high school 10 graders who used while by the tenth grade less than 1 in 4 high school seniors used marijuana. That's between 20-25% of 10th-12th graders using marijuana with the % increasing as they get older. The national average for all age groups is less than 5%.
I'm not quite sure how any of these "sources" prove your statements. Is using marijuana more harmful than abstaining from it? Yes, but on the same level as consuming alcohol.
sorry about the movie review, i guess i gave you the wrong link
the part i highlighted in red... whats wrong with that? you said 90% of high school students tried at least one drug (by the way, does that include alcohol?). 1-5 students is a pretty big difference. remember, not all kids admit to using marijuana or any form of drug period.
every source i stated had some form of information that i liked, and proved something i had said earlier. some were objected and presented both sides. i provided too many links and my previous statements are spread out through too many posts; in other words, im not going to go through every cited page to show my meaning behind it, and how it corrolated to my arguments.
so when you claimed that the money should be obtained by a better party, who the hell were you referring to?? maybe im confusing your argument with gamma's.
Lets keep it in-house so that it generates legal jobs, taxes and income within the American economy. Farmers could get paid to produce instead of our government paying them not to grow it. Instead of currently illeagal growers and crooked politicians lining their pockets, the revenues could go towards additional law enforcement, public assistance, etc.
well then i dont get it, if farmers are getting paid to not cropping it, why would they? what is the net difference?
anyways, gamma's point of view was getting drugs from foreign nations. which was not worth it in my book, that's why i threw in the comment about the foreign nations and governments.
i do not GIVE A FUCK what the FUCK YOU ARE. i just believe i saw you say you were arab somewhere. perhaps im confusing you with someone else. what a coincidence that you like arab food too i did not say that being arab would nullify any of your statements. i was merely upholding my foreign governments arguement, and that you would not know what it's like. WHICH YOU STILL DONT ANYWAYS. oh, and by the way, your "FACTS" STILL HAVE NOT ANSWERED HOW MAKING DRUGS LEGAL WOULD MAKE US A BETTER NATION.
I'm just saying, no need to play the race card, I didn't bring up yours. I actually know a fair amount about foreign governments though. I lived in the Middle East for almost 7 years, Jamaica for one, my parents currently live in the Middle East and I've traveled the world anywhere from dung huts in Kenya to the streets of Bangkok.
Anyhow the question is how do I think making drugs legal would make us a better country right?
First off, I don't think ALL drugs should be legal now if ever as I mentioned earlier. Meth, Cocaine, Heroine, etc all have much more severe effects than marijuana does.
Nobody knows exactly all the ramifications as there is not an exact model to draw from and therefor everything at best would be educated opinion. A person could reasonably draw parallels with Americas repealed prohibition. One of the first effects would be a mitigation of violence associated with black market activities. We don't exactly see a plethora of violence amongst gangsters bootlegging liquor on enemy turf. One of the sources you mentioned http://www.buyindies.com/listings/9/8/984595793750.html was a documentary of a guy involved in the marijuana trade. He is serving time because of a drug deal gone bad. This is the type of altercation that would no longer be taking place potentially saving innocent bystanders lives as well.
The estimated revenues and savings are estimated anywhere from 10-25 Billion dollars by legalizing marijuana. This would also free up law enforcement resources and manpoer to focus on more serious crimes (homicides, narcotic trafficking, human trafficking, robberies, kidnappings, etc.).
The revenues could be used for more drug education, law enforcement, public programs, whatever. The great thing about it is that only a portion of the population would be subject to this tax, the users who buy it. The users would also be getting a safer product as it would be highly regulated.
The last reason is this- what are we achieving right now? Marijuana use is not declining, lives are being lost due to the trafficking, the revenues do not get taxed or end up in the hands of the betterment of society AND these scenarios COST us billions of dollars each year? We've tried the same method for decades now with no success. It's time for a change.
the part i highlighted in red... whats wrong with that? you said 90% of high school students tried at least one drug (by the way, does that include alcohol?). 1-5 students is a pretty big difference. remember, not all kids admit to using marijuana or any form of drug period.
I never quoted 90%. It could have been in a link I source but that # sounds way too high and we would have a full fledged epidemic on our hands. From what I remember, the national average is around 3% of our population currently smokeing marijuana. About 50% have tried it up from 33% in 1983. 20-25% of high school students sounds rather high when compared to the national average.
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every source i stated had some form of information that i liked, and proved something i had said earlier. some were objected and presented both sides. i provided too many links and my previous statements are spread out through too many posts; in other words, im not going to go through every cited page to show my meaning behind it, and how it corrolated to my arguments.
well then i dont get it, if farmers are getting paid to not cropping it, why would they? what is the net difference?
I'm not sure about the exact number as it was in a documentary I saw and haven't researched it yet. Regardless of the amounts, it should be a night and day difference because if they had contracts with the Govt to supply product, they government could turn around and sell the product. Essentially it would be a self supporting business whereas currently I think we are allocating a portion of our taxes. This results in no return and cutting funding in other areas all while somebody else is getting rich.
i NOW understand where you are coming from, and what you were saying. I agree, if we HAD to legalize marijuana, the best way to do it would be in the process you described. hands down. in contrast to gamma's idea, which was far-fetched and too difficult. economically speaking, you have made your point. BUT, does it justify the problems that could come attatched? i believe that if marijuana is legalized, there will be a huuuggeee increase in the consumers, much like the prohibition. the idea whether marijuana is a gateway drug is in the eye of the beholder. i read an article from WebMD saying that they think it's not a gateway drug, yet their own reasoning was ludacris. i wish i could've saved the link, but i didnt so everyone could see it. also, i say marijuana is much more addictive than alcohol, but you believe the contrary. i've NEVER heard that alcohol is mentally adictive. i think that should be-thought out. it makes no sense what-so-ever. marijuana is a rush in the blood stream, and in the brain. both physically and mentally. sorry but i just dont see how alcohol could be mentally adictive. i dont think anyone LIKES to be drunk. well perhaps a few odd characters. but being drunk is not appealing as being HIGH is. i had a cited link that stated that marijuana use was declining, did you see that? i also saw a couple of more like that, dont remember if i cited them or not. i agree, it's time for a change. just to WHAT that change is, i'm not sure yet. i am pretty sure the government will never legalize marijuana. so i think we should find a more realistic solution. at least for now.
aside from the marijuana talk. you know what ticks me off?? how come the legal drinking age is 21, when 18 year olds are allowed to enroll in the military!
i say marijuana is much more addictive than alcohol, but you believe the contrary. i've NEVER heard that alcohol is mentally adictive. i think that should be-thought out. it makes no sense what-so-ever. marijuana is a rush in the blood stream, and in the brain. both physically and mentally.sorry but i just dont see how alcohol could be mentally adictive.
My fault, I couldn't think of the word at the time. I meant physiological not mentally.
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aside from the marijuana talk. you know what ticks me off?? how come the legal drinking age is 21, when 18 year olds are allowed to enroll in the military!
All I got to say Smoke your arguments have no weight or bearing. Do some research before you get in to this discussion.
+1
Gotta agree with Rice, some of things your saying is outta wack.
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i say marijuana is much more addictive than alcohol,
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marijuana is a rush in the blood stream, and in the brain. both physically and mentally. sorry but i just dont see how alcohol could be mentally adictive.
The same way pot is mentally addicting.
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i dont think anyone LIKES to be drunk.
Have you ever seen "girls gone wild"
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but being drunk is not appealing as being HIGH is.
Disagree. It's a different "high"
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how come the legal drinking age is 21, when 18 year olds are allowed to enroll in the military!
Sorry for sending this topic completely off topic...I bare full responsibilty for this...
However...Smoke you are completely wrong in so many ways, just because something is legal doesn't mean that it has to be used. But the main point is that 80% of people have tried pot, therefore, 80% of people could have been arrested and charged with possesion, does that seem fair to you?
I personally have seen the effects of drugs first hand and can tell you what each drug does to your brain and body. I have and still use certain drugs on special occasions. But yet I don't spend money on them and am purely a recreational user. I will use if I see the need to use, but at the same time have the will power to turn them down.
The people who get addicted to drugs are always lacking self-esteem and feel that this is the only way that they can get by. I was curious when I did drugs and wanted to learn first hand the effects so I could make my own decisions as to what I liked and disliked and for what reasons. Also, I can describe the effects to my children when presented with this situation in the future...But there are people who lack self-control, do you blame that on drugs, NO, you blame that on the person and no one else.
Peace out.
