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here is my thoughts on the article in question. it relates to Erik's located here which coincide with my own i think. I've also commented on a few of the comments :x
here Mr. Halbert takes a view which i would feel one would mostly receive from those neurotic high school videos or public media in the united states.
1. Many people argue that this would reduce crime. "Reducing crime" means preventing criminals from committing crimes, not changing our laws to make what criminals do okay.
crime: An unjust, senseless, or disgraceful act or condition (among others directed at "law")
from this we could say reducing crime would be preventing any dishonest, disgraceful, or harmful acts toward anyone and anything. as commented numerous times in comments. drinking a beer isn't a crime, smoking a cigarette isn't a crime. Technically after many studies marijuana has proven LESS harmful then alcohol and cigarettes. Majority of european contries seem to have no problem at all with legalized marijuana.
2. Legalizing marijuana would not in any way reduce the rates of violent or any other type of crime. Say a police officer just pulled over a car and found marijuana under the driver's seat. If he gets a call that someone is being assaulted 2 miles away and he needs to respond, he is certainly going to give priority to the assault call. In fact, I would bet that just about every type of other crime would increase. Marijuana is a mind-altering drug. A person with common sense to begin with would lose all sense of normalcy, and chances are, right and wrong as well. Someone under the influence would most certainly be more likely to commit a crime as opposed to someone not under the influence.
the first half of this statement makes no sense. given in the case marijuana is legal finding it in someones car would not be of any offense, and I'm sure would have nothing to do with why the person is pulled over. yes, marijuana is mind-altering, but your view on this matter is driven completely from American media. as others have said crime rates for alcohol are way higher then any heard of for marijuana, but i guess you can blame that on the fact that marijuana is currently illegal and no one does it eh....
3. Another common statement: "marijuana is not harmful." This is completely flawed. If you have ever seen a person that has recently done marijuana, you know what the drug does to them. They are completely out of their mind. They can't focus their eyes, stand up straight, walk, run, drive, see clearly, make decisions, eat, drink, play cards, write, read, use limbs properly, make coffee, stay awake, type, operate a phone, or anything else that requires more than an IQ of 6 or so. If someone loses the ability to function properly for any period of time because of a drug, permanent damage will be done, and I'll bet that any doctor not under the influence himself would tell you that.
Even greater you contradict yourself from #1 here. if YOU could: not focus your vision (see clearly), not stand up, not walk or run, not drive, make decisions, eat, drink, play cards, *takes a breath*, make coffee, stay awake, drive, operate a phone, or anything else requiring an IQ higher then 6... How, just HOW, can you say the crime rate is going to go up. From what you just described the only thing a person could do is sit in a chair staring at a wall like some paralyzed 80 year old man with Alzheimer's.
4. Marijuana may not kill the user right away, but it does kill the 5 year old little girl riding her tricycle for the first time when she is crushed by a 1.5 ton hunk of metal operated by some worthless pothead. At least the pothead can take comfort in the fact that he won't remember the look on the little girl's face before killing her.
but you just stated above all stoners are zombies that cant add 1+1 much less operate a car door, the ignition, find the gas peddle, and put it in to drive. heaven forbid this stoner have a manual transmission! But this statement is NO different then alcoholic drivers, or people over the age of 55 with glasses thicker then 1/8". As pointed out by Erik, id have to check, but I'd agree that "Driving Under the Influence" would not pertain directly to alcohol and only alcohol. I think the easiest answer to this would be to see what Colorado has done on this situation.
Instead of legalizing pot we should crack down on it with ruthless force. Anybody caught with it should serve 1 year jail time for every ounce found on them.
Want to prevent crime? Scare the crap out of people so bad they won't have the nerve to even try it even once.
This is where i shun your views mostly. Why is the answer to crime, in effect, MORE CRIME. give people jail time? sure, as if our prisons weren't over populated enough already. as if prisons really teach people something besides confinement sucks... if anything there treated better then half the people not in prison, (this is a whole nother story.)
the scaring people is what i severely dislike in your view. as if scaring someone really teaches them something. besides filling there minds with fear, and hatred. not to mention id believe half the world would take scare tactics as personal attacks, and thus causing MORE CRIME. Its funny how the bad kids that do all these drugs get a ton of attention and scared to death, some even going as far as suicide. Just look at Iraq. But then again you have the majority of teenagers that are good.... and what do they get? that's right, nothing cause everyone is too damn busy complaining about all the bad kids. So far we have scared the @!$%# out of them, and they are scared. That's why everything is running smoothly and none of our soldiers are dieing.
Ben Esteban wrote:
The fact is that the issue is controversial. Health issues have recently been in controversy as some cancerous qualities of marijuana have been shown to be less of an issue than thought before. The benefits of marijuana, specifically the effects of THC are being researched and some interesting things have been found. The benefits to cancer patients are obvious, but more things are being looked into. THC also apparently helps brain cells grow, helps against cancer causing agents in Tobacco, and aids against anxiety.
look good news. But Ben i ask, if stoners cant do as much as move a muscle or talk or do any type of brain function, how on earth could it be expanding brain cells ?!@#$ ludicrously i tell you. This points out a large point of the inability to do research on the topic at hand. I hope all of newsvine doesn't turn into American media.
W. Andrew Loe III wrote:
It should be legalized, and dealt with as a social problem. Your argument holds no merit when we have other legal drugs. What about alcohol? We tried to make it illegal... failed pretty miserably, a whole underground world sprung up - oh wait! that's what is happening with marijuana right now! Deal with the root of the problem, educate people.
This is by and far one of the best comments Ive heard. alcohol is managed well socially. you drink everyday yeah you got problems and people tell you that. drink over the weekend with a few buddies while watching the Superbowl, its really no big deal. i can see marijuana taking the same path. But nope, scare the living bejeeses out of them, that'll teach them!!
Request to Author
If this an opinion, fine. if its going to be a biased, drape the greener side of the fence, one sided one angle viewed, American media whimmed article, we should try to state so :x. Please don't take this as a personal attack, albeit some points may sound as such.
