Marijuana

[MeloMan15]

Well I go to school in Colorado and with that being said I have a lot of friends that partake in this activity a lot. This thread is not about if you have tried it or not, but do you still use it and if so, do you plan on continuing the trend in law school?

[J D]

Haven't tried it, and I think I can reasonably predict that I never will.  I don't see the point in criminalizing it, though; if you're going to punish the private use of a drug by an individual, I think it's safe to say there are far more dangerous substances out there that need controlling.

If you have tried/are using it, I would strongly advise that you quit before starting law school, especially if you think you might eventually like to try for a career in public life.  For more details, see Douglas Ginsburg. 

[Intuition]

Don't use it, don't plan on using it in LS. Simply too much to lose at this point.


Its criminalization is one of the biggest scams our government ever pulled.

[swordfish]

Haven't done it, but I plan on trying it and hopefully using in LS.  Why not?

[Intuition]

Has anyone ever researched the history of marijuana legislation in this country? Just do a google search on "Henry Anslinger".

[CatLogos]

  There is more money generated off illegal marijuana then there would be if it was legal. It is a plant, which can potentially grow wild in almost any climate. There should be no reason that the US spends so much money trying to contain something that grows naturally. Instead the money should be used for wise education on the matter. (i.e. health risks, side-effects) But, as mentioned before, the economy is fueled by black market sales. Over 75% of non-violent criminals spending billions of tax payers money in prison are convicted on drug charges. The majority of that 75% is from trafficking/sales of marijuana alone. 
     Marijuana wasn't the original problem. Hemp, it's sister species, was running down sales of big business cotton providers and chemical companies such as DuPont. There was also a very discriminating association with Mexican-Americans. It was an easy pitch for Hearst and Anslinger because those in charge (RWMs) during the 1930's didn't readily use marijuana. Now it continues because of economic benefits and self-induced stigma. (i.e. propaganda like Refer Madness)
     I have done quite a bit of research into the topic and I hope our generation of intellects will see the capricious nature of current US Marijuana Laws. Even though I don't believe the legalization of marijuana should take precedent over other important issues at hand, de-criminalization is key.
 

[Intuition]

  There is more money generated off illegal marijuana then there would be if it was legal. It is a plant, which can potentially grow wild in almost any climate. There should be no reason that the US spends so much money trying to contain something that grows naturally. Instead the money should be used for wise education on the matter. (i.e. health risks, side-effects) But, as mentioned before, the economy is fueled by black market sales. Over 75% of non-violent criminals spending billions of tax payers money in prison are convicted on drug charges. The majority of that 75% is from trafficking/sales of marijuana alone. 
     Marijuana wasn't the original problem. Hemp, it's sister species, was running down sales of big business cotton providers and chemical companies such as DuPont. There was also a very discriminating association with Mexican-Americans. It was an easy pitch for Hearst and Anslinger because those in charge (RWMs) during the 1930's didn't readily use marijuana. Now it continues because of economic benefits and self-induced stigma. (i.e. propaganda like Refer Madness)
     I have done quite a bit of research into the topic and I hope our generation of intellects will see the capricious nature of current US Marijuana Laws. Even though I don't believe the legalization of marijuana should take precedent over other important issues at hand, de-criminalization is key.
 

The potential tax revenue of legalized marijuana would be huge. When you combine this windfall with a more widespread use of industrial hemp, it becomes easy to see the value of this crop.

[CatLogos]

True...but like I said, it's a plant... If completely legal, anyone could grow it and taxing would be difficult. If partially legal, such as in Vancouver, it could be sold only in regulation shops and then have as many taxes as the stoners would pay.

[Intuition]

True...but like I said, it's a plant... If completely legal, anyone could grow it and taxing would be difficult. If partially legal, such as in Vancouver, it could be sold only in regulation shops and then have as many taxes as the stoners would pay.

I think that even if it was completely legal, there would be such a large supply of cheap marijuana (due to risk being eliminated as a factor in production costs) that few people would grow it. Large corporations could grow it so cheap that there'd be no market for homegrown marijuana.

[MeloMan15]

True...but like I said, it's a plant... If completely legal, anyone could grow it and taxing would be difficult. If partially legal, such as in Vancouver, it could be sold only in regulation shops and then have as many taxes as the stoners would pay.

Right now I would say that Vancouver is the model for that the U.S. could/should(however you feel about this subject) be.  If I have my facts straight, it is not completely legal in Vancouver(only in Amsterdam it is fully legal) but you can find it in some shops.  I feel that this is a safer alternative for the smokers as opposed to crude, unregulated marijuana that is being sold on the streets.  Overall, I don't know if this would be a good idea or not, but I feel certainly should be looked into...

As for being 100% legal and then not getting enough tax revenue because of the fact that anyone could grow it.  While this is true, I feel for many stoners that they would prefer the quick sale of a gas station product as opposed to months and months of growing it themselves.  The tax revenues would be high enough...then again, I'm not exactly sure how I stand on this subject but people here are making valid points...