Time for a rethink?

The US state of Colorado collected $2m (£1.2m) in taxes from newly legalised recreational marijuana businesses in January.

Colorado became the first US state to legalize the commercial sale of cannabis in 2012, and stores opened for business on 1 January 2014.

In total, 59 marijuana firms filed tax returns on an estimated $14m in sales.

Overall, the state collected a total of $3.5m in marijuana taxes if medical marijuana firms are included.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26523833

Let's face it, the war on drugs has failed dismally, if people want to get drugs they can easily and there's little risk involved. So surely the logical thing to do would be to legalize weed for instance, and take the money away from criminals whilst controlling who is sold what ie nobody under 18 can buy.

Is that something you'd agree with? If not, why not?

I do agree with it wholeheartedly in principle, However - the government will tax the arse off it and genetically modify it to lower the level of THC (the chemical that gets you stoned)

The amount of legislation and bullshit that will be around it, it simply wont be worth doing, people will not buy it and will carry on going to street dealers anyway.

Hollands drug laws have it sussed, but our government could never follow that model, they will not legalize it for any other reason that to tax it, and tax it some more after adding some tax...

Not this bollocks again........

Cannabis dependency ruins lives and turns people into boring, paranoid arseholes. 

Keep things as they are.

Far more difficult to become dependent on cannabis than alcohol, at least the supply to individuals could be controlled better if it was legalised and its not as if its a struggle to get hold of it at the moment. But the threads more about an acceptance of the current situation and looking for a way to improve it. Like taking the money away from criminals for a start.

Breadman wrote:Not this bollocks again........

Cannabis dependency ruins lives and turns people into boring, paranoid arseholes. 

Keep things as they are.

   Bad enough dealing at work with folk who stink of last night's sherberts then having to put up with a nob who gets Major Tom mixed up with Ground Control!!!!!!!

I think that says it all.

Not sure what your point is with that graph.

Come to your own conclusion. 

If you think Cannabis "ruins lives" then you surely must have a problem alcohol?

Yeah, of course it does.

But what's legalising cannabis got to do with alcohol ruining people's lives?

Drinking bleach is bad for you, so should we legalise that as well, just because less people die from it every year than alcohol related illnesses?

Stupid argument.

Breadman wrote:Yeah, of course it does.

But what's legalising cannabis got to do with alcohol ruining people's lives?

Drinking bleach is bad for you, so should we legalise that as well, just because less people die from it every year than alcohol related illnesses?

Stupid argument.

Think about it.

I had a debate with a friend about cannabis not long ago and his main argument was that it's not as bad as alcohol. I don't get how people can make statements like that. How exactly would you quantify it, if you were to do the experiment?
How would you determine what x and y are in terms of "x units of alcohol equals y grams of cannabis"?
You might find guinea pig A who smokes 4 grams of cannabis is better off than guinea pig B who drinks a litre of vodka, but not better off than guinea pig C who drinks a litre of lager.

I've seen the long term effects of cannabis abuse, and the many people that are convinced it's virtually harmless are kidding themselves as far as I'm concerned. That said, being tough on it doesn't necessarily solve anything.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

Breadman wrote:Yeah, of course it does.

But what's legalising cannabis got to do with alcohol ruining people's lives?

Drinking bleach is bad for you, so should we legalise that as well, just because less people die from it every year than alcohol related illnesses?

Stupid argument.

Think about it.

I have....and your argument's still daft.

It goes a lot lot deeper than "It's not as bad as alcohol." This kind of thing is a philosophical debate for me. 

But i'll let the scientists quantify the literal harm and they have.

You're telling me how I'm interpreting the graph and telling me what my argument is and then telling me I'm wrong. 

Thanks. 

I know how I feel about recreational drugs as a whole and I've said it many times on here. I always bring up harm to self and others because i like to see how people square that circle, It's interesting to me. 

and saying things like cheese and bleach can kill you is just irrelevant, they're not recreational drugs which is the topic of debate I could kill myself or someone else with just about anything.

Ok then, instead of being a smug bastard and telling me to "think about it", how about you actually spell out how you're interpreting the data in that graph.


Just so I understand your point.....you know, with me obviously being thick and that.......

Hipster_Nebula wrote:It goes a lot lot deeper than "It's not as bad as alcohol." This kind of thing is a philosophical debate for me. 

But i'll let the scientists quantify the literal harm and they have.

You are paranoid and talking to yourself. Have you been on the wacky stuff?

Soul Kitchen wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:It goes a lot lot deeper than "It's not as bad as alcohol." This kind of thing is a philosophical debate for me. 

But i'll let the scientists quantify the literal harm and they have.

You are paranoid and talking to yourself. Have you been on the wacky stuff?

Just responding to Doffcockers point.

I have known a couple of lads who have indulged heavily during my lifetime. One topped himself by overdosing when I was about 19 or 20 and the other has been smoking dope for the last 15 or so years as I know of. He now talks to himself on a regular basis at work and flirts from job to job. I avoid him whenever possible now.
I've known quite a few pissheads too, with less consequence to damaged health. Perhaps it's a law of averages thing re. your graph?

Ditto.

I've posted on here before about a bloke I know (can't call him a mate any-more because I've not seen him for about ten years) who was a successful solicitor who indulged at weekends.

Then he started smoking it once or twice during the week.

Then a bit more often.

And eventually he was skinning up on the fire-escape between clients.

Head's now up his arse, he's a nasty paranoid idiot and he's driven all his mates away.

All through this "harmless" narcotic.....