Pros/cons to legalize marijuana in a country
Pros/cons to legalize marijuana in a country
Question for those of you living in a country where marijuana is legal. What are the positive sides, what are the negatives?
If you could go back in time, would you vote for legalising again? Does it affect the country's illegal drug business , more/less?
OP, please change the title to make it less vague what the question is about without having to open it.
I’m happy with legalization and would do it again.
- the health impact is similar enough to alcohol and cigarettes so we should treat them similarly
- even before I agreed with legalization, the legal consequences seemed cruel and unusual, way out of proportion
- law enforcement needs to focus on things with more impact on our safety
- for-profit prisons? wtf
- I don’t know about medical benefits but how was pit so illegal that we could never even investigate such claims?
- smoking is a serious health hazard but now it’s easier to get marijuana products that do t involve smoking
The one thing I’d do differently is stricter regulations against secondhand smoke. Now that cigarettes have seriously declined, it’s easier to appreciate just how much they stink. But we’ve backslid: smoking pot stinks worse, and has a lot of the same second hand smoke hazard.
I am happy with the legalization. I’ve never smoked weed or even drunk alcohol despite being legally able to do so. And I still think weed legalization was a huge benefit for many reasons.
- Reduction of organized crime around weed.
- Cops are less able to do illegal searches on you because they “””””smell marijuana”””””
- Weed is shown to be vastly less harmful than alcohol, so I always found it hypocritical that we allow one but not the other. Especially since alcoholism is so much worse and far more prevalent than weed addiction.
- Less people rotting in jail for non-violent crimes.
- Better access to weed for medical reasons across the board, leading to an overall improvement in many people’s quality of life.
Like. Why was this bs ever illegal in the first place?
Logically, if tobacco and alcohol are legal, there's no health-related reason for marijuana to be illegal. Both alcohol and weed impair your judgement, and both smoking tobacco and smoking weed are harmful to your lungs. Everything else about alcohol or tobacco vs weed is worse. And giving criminals easy ways to make money is a bad idea.
So, as another response said, legalize it, regulate it, tax it.
It's sad to see a lot of the misinformation here that says there are no downsides to weed. In fact, weed has a ton of downsides that need to be considered in how marijuana is handled in a society.
If you are a visual/ audio learner, here's a well researched video on the downsides of weed, from a source that acknowledges their staffs personal biases lean towards legalization.
Kurzgesagt, "We Have to Talk About Weed
Basically, we need to recognize that due to having criminalized weed for so long, we are only now getting the research into the negative effects of weed, but as it's coming out we are seeing how weed is not all sunshine and rainbows.
THC potency has increased dramatically since the 60s, and that has led to increased risks of paranoia, psychosis, and panic attacks. It also increases the risk of Cannabinoid Hypermesis Syndrome, where ingesting weed will make you vomit, nauseous, and have horrible abdominal pain.
My roommate just got this and she is not having fun. Her doctor told her this may be a 6 month T-break, but it's also possible this is permanent, and best to avoid weed altogether.
I also am sad to see "weed is not addictive" being thrown around. Cannabis Use Disorder (weed addiction) is very real and a quick look up says 10% of users become addicted. Personally I consider myself stuck on a habit since I can control my use to keeping it after 8pm, but I still have trouble not getting high daily. I have a friend who is now 100 days sober, but when he had a relapse last year, it ruined his life.
That's not to say it's bad, I have another friend who needs weed to help him get through the day with his PTSD. We just need to recognize one person's medicine is another person's poison.
Most all of the major issues with weed tend to show up with people who began smoking in adolescence. I think a reason I'm somewhat I'm control and my other friend is not is that I started smoking at 22 in college, and he started at 16. I imagine if I waited until I was 25 I'd have no problem making it a weekend thing.
That said
My experience and the pain many have dealing with the health issues associated to weed are no where near comparable to the damage that criminalized weed has had on marginalized communities as weed has historically been used to target and oppress minorities by our US government. I also agree to the points that having a black market is FAR worse than having legal weed that needs regulation.
Personally I'm pro-legalization, but I think we need to be careful at how we are messaging weed to the youths and handling the negative consequences, as the myths of weed just being an innocent plant are super harmful.
I'm going to go against the grain here a little. First of all, it should absolutely be decriminalized. No one should spend time behind bars for using or selling it, obviously.
But it got legalized here back in 2022 and while it was great at first, weed sort of sucks now. Because of legal limits to how many plants you can grow, CBD disappeared. Every strain is somewhere between 20-30 percent THC and just makes your brain numb, doesn't get you high the same way. Everything is way more expensive because every few years they vote to increase taxes on it, so strains that were 5 bucks a g when it was illegal are 10-11 now. Edibles have concentration limits so you're paying out the ass now for 100 mg, which someone would before make in their kitchen and give away for cheap.
Not to mention that there is one. On. Every. Street. Corner.
It's insane. Every business that closes down turns into a dispo and the added competition does not lower prices. Out town is losing cafes, art stores, all sorts of businesses because the cancer that is a dispensary keeps spreading. On a personal note, I've been trying to cut back for years and honestly I think if I still had to call "my buddy" to pickup i would have stopped a long time ago, but now it's in my face everywhere and tbh, it just sucks. It just gets you high. That's it. I can't explain it, it lost so much heart.
Now it's probably cleaner, safer, more ethical. But from a consumers perspective, it kind of sucks now.
Thailand legalized it not too long ago and I'd say it's 90% positive.
- loads of direct and indirect business opportunities
- reduction in alcohol related issues. Stones are generally much more chill than drunks and impairement for vehicle operation etc is much lesser.
There were a few populist issues like catching kids with weed etc but imo that's actually a positive as people starting to actually talk about kid safety when previously they had all these drugs and worse.
Personally I'd say the only danger is high concentrates which are illegal here and not very desired by the market either way. Mostly tourists and locals just want to smoke normal mid tier weed and enjoy the nature and thai food which is a win-win for everyone. I've seen some gravity bongs and a bit of oils (never seen anyone dab) but I'd say 90% of users just smoke mid tier 5$/g weed of 28% thc or so mostly mixed with tobacco too.
My favorite change is just the culture shift. Stoned tourists are just so much nicer and the party scene has changed a lot around this.
Legal weed as been huge for business here. Thai people are incredible entrepreneurs and were really quick to develop the industry to the point where the government tried to reverse legalization a year later but it was too late already.
Pretty sure weed causes far less harm than organised criminal groups.
Pro: Everywhere it's legal has seen a drastic reduction in the amount of violent drug-related crime, lower incarceration rates for non-violent offenders, and less abuse of prescription painkillers. Plus an incredible rise in quality when pot is regulated.
Con: Your straight edge friends who've never touched a joint in their lives start smoking regularly, since it's legal. Your 30+ year old friends will start talking like junior highschoolers who just smoked oregano for the first time and think they're high.
I don't care about health benefits/dangers of any vice as much as I hate how ingrained vices are in our daily lives. I'm sick of beer ads, I hate online sports betting sponsoring every event (and rapidly turning a lot of friends into gamblers), my recently weed-legal state is already flooded with local ads and shitty shops.
I dream of a utopia where no vices are sold in a store or advertised. If you want to indulge you go to the equivalent of a Native American casino on steroids. It's a massive temple to hedonism, zoning for it is very restricted. You can do any drug you want there, everything carefully dosed and tested. There's complimentary trip-sitters and emergency services on call.
Things that aren't an immediate threat to yourself/others (mushrooms, lsd, mj, low abv drinks, etc...) can be sold for private personal consumption off-prem with a reasonable limit per person. You can't partake in public and can be asked for proof of purchase during transit.
There's no perverse vice tax that leeches money from addicts who can't afford it, the government's best financial interest is to keep people clean and spending money elsewhere. If you need something to routinely "take the edge off" you get easy access to medical services (mental/physical/otherwise) and a prescription from a real doctor.
Any time I hear arguments for full legalization of anything in the USA I just have nightmares of inane Budweiser-style weed/cocaine/heroin commercials.
Thank you for all the answers! :) It seems like most replies are positive to legalisation. The (amount of) stores is mention by a few to be one of the negatives. Perhaps government-owned stores (Like those some Nordic countries have for alcohol) could be a better solution? They have trainer employees and very strict rules both for opening times and age controls.
Having lived in both, absolutely legalize.
I don't personally care for it and I get annoyed by the public smells, the tacky and run-down stores that make neighborhoods feel trashy. But that's all personal preference.
The one legitimate issue is that it is very difficult to regulate and enforce impairment. Someone driving or operating machinery high is just as dangerous as someone driving drunk. With alcohol, there are a number of different tests and impairment is well correlated with BAC. For marijuana, there is no quick and accurate way to assess how high someone is at a given time.
Pros:
- it makes weed cheaper, safer
- you know exactly what you're getting since there's no incentive to illegally lace weed with other dangerous stuff
- less need to prosecute drug possession "crimes" that hurt nobody
- It makes it less appealing to young kids because the dangerous aspect is removed
Cons:
- Weed smells bad to many people, there are complaints from a lot who visit about how open weed smoking make some places smell awful
- Legal Grow op greenhouses cause a lot of light pollution which is an annoyance for the local population
- Some weed smokers joke around saying weed was more fun when it was illegal.
- Harder to enforce impairment since weed takes much longer to stop registering on tests than you are affected by it
I'm not a regular smoker, I think we are better off having it legal though.
Prohibition of vice does not work and only empowers organized crime.
End of argument.
It costs more to police it. It is profitable otherwise. No one genuinely cares. I haven't smoked since college. It eventually gets boring. It's a business. That's it. Sorry there isn't a mystical description for it. It's money.
As an ex addict to (too many) substances (not marijuana) I can easily see a few cons regarding drug usage but the real pro, if I had to pick one, would be to remove all that money from drug dealers.
There are very few cons, all the negative effects of cannabis can be better handled when it’s legal.
Pro:
- people aren't criminalised for kinda nothing.
- you detach it from other drugs (the regular dealer will also have other stuff for sale - not an issue if you buy officially or grow yourself).
Con:
- despite what people claim, there are people that get highly addicted to cannabis. Probably similar to alcohol, you'd say? Well, in my unpopular opinion, alcohol also shouldn't be available the way it currently is (make it insanely expensive please).
- most people consume it with tobacco, so there's that to deal with.
Legalization has only positives
People who need something, to get through the day, will always seek for some kind of crutch.
When the legal range of available products (sorry, just learned, that the word "Sortiment" doesn't have a nice English equivalent) aren't helping ones issue, they'll look for other sources.
But unregulated sources can bring multiple problems with it.First off, and the thing, I care about most:
we'd/we do hurt people looking for some kind of help.
Either by directly reducing their sources of crutches to untrustable and dangerous ones, with a product that's very probably not clean and could damage the user in unintended ways, they aren't aware about. We need to provide a safety net for people with problems, and not stigmatize those who try to help themselves.
And I've never met an addict, that was just an addict for the sake of it, or the feeling of the first time was so great - ok, maybe once I did.
But in every other case, the only ones getting hooked are the ones, that finally felt good with themselves for once in their life, when they somehow introduced some drug into their system.
And that's why many of them say, it was that feeling of the first time, they always try to reproduce.
For a normal happy person, heroin wouldn't make much of a difference.
But if you're feeling unloved and alone, hurt and abused, when you're feeling lost and don't know what to do, than end yourself.
Well then, then heroin (or whatever helps your cause) will give you a new perspective of life.
This escape from overwhelming, oppressive, suffocation problems is it, why people get hooked on drugs.There is just nothing wrong with recreational use, as long as it's just about boosting a good time or even better, use mind altering drugs in a ritual setting, to change your perspective on things and learn (again) that love and your lives ones are the center of your life - or discover, that there was always one thing, that you wanted to do. Doesn't matter, if it gives you more options and happiness in life, it wasn't bad.
Bad it is for the people who cling to it, because only on it, they feel like functioning normal.Those people have actual drug problems, and even with crystal meth the statistics say, that only a few percent (we're talking 1-2%) get addicted.
(At least that's, what I saw and remember - proof me wrong) And we have to keep in mind what social stigma fucking crystal meth has!
The group of people doing it (and show up on those statistics) are mostly people, that are already looking for such experiences and have stepped over the border of social tolerance, but look for their own thing (either enjoyment or escape/help)
And there is pretty much no one, who ever just started with meth (or other hard drugs, like heroin) . In the most cases there was at least alcohol and probably cigarettes/nicotine involved - there are absolutely always exceptions, but that doesn't change much, what needs to change in our social system.
As tragic, as those exceptions are, those usually happen in groups, where people with problematic drug use already gather.
So, solving the problem of the mass, should also help to reduce those sad exceptions.Ok, I've started a bigger second point, but the only thing left I have are those few words, trying to start describing an idea:
"Then we need to look into the individual"Well,... I hope the first point is sufficient, and if I ever remember what I wanted to say else, I'll come back here ;-)
So kids, you see, don't abuse drugs, else you won't remember shit... - although my mother has the same problem, and never in her live did anything illicit.
So I can't say with confidence, that we can talk about causation.But, what hurt my mind most, were social traumata (e.g. a Burnout), and drugs (and many exercises like meditation) exceptionally helped my mental state and ability to handle life and work despite my handicap.
As I said, as long as I actively work on a problem and use drugs in a ritual state, they are helping me.
As soon as I need them just to get through the day, then I'm having a problem, I'm trying to avoid.I know, this is mostly about me, but talking with other users, I've mostly seen the same mindset.
Pros:
- funny green plant
- I like it
- I'm high and forgot the 3rd
Cons:
- N/A
Legalize it
Here in the Netherlands we have the "Gedoogbeleid", which translates to Tolerance policy. It's somewhere in between Decriminalized and legal. U are allowed to purchase and have up to 5 grams with you. And using it is okay in your own home and in places that don't disturb the public. But it's still partly illegal, as in no indoor growing and carrying more than 5g... It's a weird setup.
It's also a weird construction because technically the coffeeshops themselves are not allowed to buy the bulk amounts of weed to sell in their shops. So everything has to come in sneakily through the backdoor....
Lately legalization has been getting a good push, and now shops are buying their flowers from legit, government approved "Wiet boeren" weed farmers.
True Legalization Pros:
- Good alcohol alternative. It's one of the better substances to abuse.
- Better byproducts of flower. So more room for edibles, hash, concetrates and all the good stuff.
- Quality control, now you have some traceability where your flower is coming from. They put de Wiet Boeren on the bags with a qr code to see your flowers origin.
Cons:
- The wallet doesn't like the flowers.
- Weed is very habbit forming. Addiction might be too strong a word for weed. But oh boy is it habbit forming. Ppl who deny this, are in denial.
As for how it affects the overall drug trade. Our number 1 export in the Netherlands is XTC. But that's a whole different beast. As for weed drug trade, it does decrease it. In smaller townds without shops u will always have you local dealers. But weed really isn't drug to be afraid of as in violence and crime surrounding it.
Legalize all drugs. Drug addiction is a health issue, not a legal one.
giant megacorps can definitely beat out some random shady dealer (indirectly from mental outlaw)
It's two years old, but here is what Statistics Canada has to say about it: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/231016/dq231016c-eng.htm
There are no negatives.
Legalize all drugs to defund the cartels.
Have proper regulations in place to actually prevent minors from accessing them and guarantee there are no harmful additives. Make rehab free so that people don’t get stuck in there.
If morphine was legally obtainable, no one would be using fentanyl. Stop the arms race now.
I voted to legalize it because it's stupid to arrest people for it. That said, I hate the constant smell in public, and people seem to get addicted to it quite easily. It's a pox on society, imo. At the end of the day, we have much larger problems on our hands.
Decriminalisation is the way IMO.
I don't want lots of people taking up smoking even. But being punished for smoking weed? Ridiculous.
I don't know much about the effects of legalization on society as a whole, but I personally feel I have benefitted from weed being legal. I find weed to be useful in helping me sleep and manage stress. That said, people should also be educated about the potential dangers of weed. Using it too often can lead to neglecting one's responsibilities, and people underestimate the danger of driving while stoned. I also find, since I've gotten proper therapy, I don't need weed as much as I used to.
On principle, I think drugs should not be treated as a criminal issue. At most, drug addicts should be made to get treatment. Governments should focus on education and treatment instead of harsh punishment. People who are on drugs should feel safe admitting to what drugs they're on in the event of an emergency.
I think that the pros are obvious. It should simply be legal, and other comments have given good reasons.
However, there are some cons that I haven't seen mentioned yet.
It impairs you, so any activity where that is a problem, like driving, may need extra attention or public education.
For smokers, inhaling smoke is dangerous.
Never smoked anything in my life, having one side of the family wiped out prematurely by nicotine, all of them.
Lived in Colorado. The pros outweigh the cons a million to one. The biggest positive was the massive reduction in DUIs, since people drink in bars but smoke weed at home. There may be a reduction in harder drugs, too, given how much easier and cheaper it is to get weed. The tax revenue from weed sales is huge (was bigger, though) and because the laws were changed after Colorado turned liberal-ish, the money was mostly allocated to great causes.
Government loves having a law that can be selectively enforced and is broken by a lot of people. Taking it away is a huge plus, especially in times where the government is looking for easy ways to control the population. Even before now, White people caught in possession or smoking marijuana rarely got more than probation, while some Black people were three-striked for the same.
The only downside is that it still smells bad, and I am still not sure that hacking up your lungs is all that sane or safe.
Yes, it appears that young humans can have very negative reactions to weed, and that it can affect their brains negatively. That would absolutely be a problem if legalization increased week use among teenagers, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Pros if properly managed, takes away profits for criminals and helps prevent grow ops causing a lot of problems in communities.
Con Managed poorly fucks over consumers and propogates the criminals by creating a bigger market for them
Pro new tax revenue to pay for services
Pros: I don't have to sneak around like a criminal just to get a plant.
Cons: capitalism is already ruining it with monoculture strains and subsequent crop loss from one little thing wiping out everything. Industry trade groups are forming to be the next generation of lobbyists. For now, they're on our side by focusing on legalization, but they won't be on our side forever.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)
It's not completely safe. Regulation makes sense. Especially for protecting developing brains from long-term negative damage.
If you look at it as an illegal drug, it's obvious that it doesn't work to criminalize. It seems much more appropriate and effective to legalize, regulate, and have information and support programmes in place.
In Germany, it was legalized, but only in a very limited form, to get it through the coalition government. I think the current form is too bureaucratic, too restrictive. The most important thing is that it legalized holding personal consumption belongings.
It doesn’t matter. I’ll still smoke it.
My state has 10 million people and made over $300 million in tax last year distributed around $100 million each divided between roads, schools, and local municipalities/community organizations.
I have a hard time imagining making an argument where alcohol and cigarettes are legal and weed is not. In terms of harm it does to people acutely and over time. I understand the position of "nothing like that should be legal" and "everything should be legal" even though I disagree. But I think if you choose one, weed might be the least problematic?
No, it's not easy to test for driving. But alcohol is and TONS of drunk driving incidents happen still. I think that's more a function of not having non-driving options to socialize over alcohol.
Legalize it. There are no cons.
Well there is technically one. And it's the only reason it's illegal anywhere. And that is that Big Pharma can't monopolize it for profit.
Edit - keep downvoting. You know I'm right. Pharma lobbyists bribing corrupt politicians. It's the exact same reason the IRS can't just tell us how much we owe or are owed. Base, rank corruption.
Background: I haven't used weed in decades, I have no personal interest in its legal status.
I can't think of a single bad thing that has happened. People are more open about smoking, you can smell it in the street sometimes. I live in a tourist destination, there are ads everywhere for dispensaries. I assume getting high is at least part of the attraction for visitors.
Also, I assume it has had a negative effect on illegal drugs - why bother? - but I wouldn't know anyway.
Yes, I supported it at the time, have not changed my view.
Context first:
Canadian and I'm high more often than not, so this will be biased. I didn't really vote to legalize exactly, it was just part of a campaign that promised voting reform. Only one of the two happened :( I didn't use weed previous to Justin's legalization campaign.
That said, I'm pro decriminalization of everything for the end user, and almost all manufacturing for most drugs except the notorious ones wreaking havoc in society. Opioids and meth mainly.
I do think we need to consider unwillful sobriety centers for these specific types of extremely damaging addicts, but that's a tough conversation society needs to have that it won't. Ideals over reals. They suffer in the street causing havoc and ruining public transportation all the same meantime. Then you have the Cons basically wishing them to die ignored in an alley without any aid at all and getting in the way of any action. Getting off topic here.
Question for those of you living in a country where marijuana is legal. What are the positive sides, what are the negatives?
Positives:
Not sending functional or good enough people to prison for dumb cruel reasons.
The big fear was the youth smoking more over time didn't materialize.
Freedumb!1! I like vaping THC quite a lot, selfish positive :)
Cons:
Mainly it's a few glaring flaws in the Liberal Party rollout. There's still government enabled social stigma.
Given not a word was said about it in our recent election that I heard about, I'm pretty sure weed being legal is a complete non-issue for pretty much everyone voting except the nutters like MADD. Yet politicians are still afraid to finish the job properly.
Apt name calling themselves MADD, but I don't mean what it stands for. Treating weed like alcohol for a DUI isn't scientifically backed and it's puritan/prohibition minded moral panic theatrics. Then there's the fact you can still get fired for smoking on a weekend off work if your boss drug tests you week(s) later. That's fucking bullshit.
Basically I just follow the data. Minimum age is too low. Getting high is bad for developing brains, I think it shouldn't be legal to consume until the brain is done development. Age 25. That's unpopular, I don't care. I say the same for alcohol. That'd also kill most of the alcoholic binge drinking party culture, because 25+ hangovers and being out of grade school/college.
If you could go back in time, would you vote for legalising again? Does it affect the country’s illegal drug business , more/less?
Sure I would. It's been fine.
Big dent, not totally dead. I mean we can grow our own too. Black market is still cheaper, but they're not selling me 510 carts. I don't smoke weed anymore it's disgusting. Smell, smoke, tar, cleaning, bleh. Vape. Dry toaster vape instead if scared of glycol. That works well and I used to, but it's pretty wasteful/inefficient for a chronic user I find compared to 510 carts. Plus I can control dosage way easier. I hate being too stoned by accident. I couldn't do this when it was illegal, so my bad habit is made a little less harmful made legal. I got options now.