Here is a list of common things of incorrect things I hear people say:
- it is a gateway drug (btw this is ridiculous because there is no direct mechanism in the brain that would cause it to be a gateway drug,) it gives a different high than other drugs and so people would not do a different drug to get the same or better high , cocaine may be a gateway to meth but that is only because the highs they produce are similar.
- legalizing it will make everyone smoke all day and nothing will get done (this is FALSE because studies have shown that legalizing it wont increase use and this is indeed the case for the Dutch)
- one marijuana joint is the same for your lungs as a pack of cigarettes (this is misleading because cigarette smokers will smoke more cigarettes than the number of joints a marijuana user will smoke)
- it is addictive (it is not addictive, I have watched the show Intervention and none of them were addicted to marijuana, I have never heard of someone whos life was ruined by marijuana addiction, I have heard of people going in and out of rehab or living on the streets due to cocaine, alcohol, meth, heroin, and others , but I have never heard of a single marijuana addiction story ( i have heard of people missing marijuana but it has been shown that this is different than addiction).
- it kills brain cells (this is FALSE, this has never been scientifically proven)
- it makes people lazy (marijuana does not make people lazy, it makes people giggly or calm (depending on the setting and the person) or a feeling of floating but it does not leave you lazy once you sobered up)
-only losers smoke pot (not true at all)
- marijuana increases schizophrenia 40% (this has been shown to be not true)
- it may causes a bunch of miscellaneous problems in some people (this is exaggerated , nearly every single medicine will have rare negative side effects that sound bad )
I have yet to hear a good reason to ban marijuana.
Juneee!
February 26, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Wow, so many words!
Red Forman
February 26, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I think you went into a little to much detail
BAD KARMA
February 26, 2010 at 3:52 pm
id explain it to u but your brain would explode
♥§ŧEpĦªИiə [Sh*t Happens]♥
February 26, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I’m with you, dude!
but then what would be the fun in it?
It’s better sneaking around and not getting caught.
mιcнelle ❤
February 26, 2010 at 4:48 pm
I know, it should be legalized. But it won’t.
People who say it’s horrible and kills a lot of people are uneducated about the whole subject.
Genghis
February 26, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Well, I’m not against banning it and I do agree with most things you say here HOWEVER, my aunt has been smoking weed for a long time. She cannot live without it. She IS addicted to it. Also, her brain is shot…
blah blah blah squirrel
February 26, 2010 at 5:53 pm
people need to deal with there problems and not escaping them by getting all zombie-like
heart 4ever broken
February 26, 2010 at 5:54 pm
why legalize another drug?
when there are so many problems with other drugs that are legal
this drug wont fix anything it could just add to a drug users abuse
and people CAN get addicted to it just ask my high school buddy who hasn’t stopped smoking it and the little kids who smoke it with him cuz he thinks its “safe” for 10 year old to do i need to move seriously (-_-)
SEAX
February 26, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Because United States make more money with it being illegal. Fines, etc. This country makes billions of dollars because of that fact.
♥ Taylor Wuvs Joo ♥
February 26, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I don’t even do pot. Why get addicted to something in the first place?
BTW, it aint happening
OK
February 26, 2010 at 7:04 pm
Many of your facts are wrong, especially about brain damage. Read some medical journals. The evidence is overwhelming.
♥ஜღSnoopPuppyLuvღஜ♥
February 26, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Because many people will become pot-heads. And people everywhere will be doing it arounnd work(including people in political spots). So many people get addicted to it and would do anything for it.
And BTW, it does cause brain damage and has killed many people around the world.
My opinion.
Some kind of wonderful
February 26, 2010 at 7:51 pm
People are being killed because people can’t even drink responsibly. Now you think people should be allowed to be drunk and high?
Man
February 26, 2010 at 8:33 pm
1. It will boost the economy and improve society. Our law enforcement can focus on real criminals and we will save an estimated 9 billion a year in taxes that we have been paying to lock harmless potheads up.
California alone expects to generate $14 billion a year from legalizing it and taxing it.
http://cbs5.com/local/california.legalize.pot.2.941827.html
2. “It makes you a loser in life”
Steve Jobs, creator of Apple Computers and your Ipod is a self confessed “hippie burnout”.
Michael Phelps’ athletic ability and motivation has obviously not been affected by marijuana.
Montel Williams is an activist for legalization, has a prescription for it, and hes more successful than probably anybody you know.
Governor Schwarzenegger smoked it on video in the 80’s, and now says its time that we start looking into the benefits of taxing and decriminalizing it.
Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg was asked if he ever smoked pot, he said yes. Then he was asked if he liked it and he said “you bet I did”.
Other famous people who have admitted to smoking pot and support legalization:
Brad Pitt
Charlize Theron
Kirstin Dunst
Jennifer Aniston
Morgan Freemon
Harrison Ford
Bill Maher
Justin Timberlake
Stephen King (author)
George Clooney
“So many people will become addicted to it and it will ruin society”
I live here in Silicon Valley. I’m a computer programmer. I’ve worked for Google, Cisco, and Sun Microsystems before starting my own business. I smoke marijuana (have had my prescription for 4 years now), and so did many of my colleagues. The people running this website you are using are most likely stoners. That’s the Bay Area, California, where everybody and their grandma has a prescription. Anybody who says it would ruin society has never been here or they might be a little more open minded. San Jose and San Francisco are the cutting edge when it comes to innovative companies and we embrace pothead culture out here, always have and always will.
3. Portugal decriminalized all drugs a while back. TIME MAGAZINE reported on it and analyzed whether it improved society or not. It was nothing but positive changes afterwards.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html
The following countries have decriminalized marijuana and none of them are suffering negative consequences from it or they would obviously go back to making it illegal:
Argentina
Portugal
South and Western Australia
Czech Republic
Germany
Peru
Russia
Uruguay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World-cannabis-laws.png
4. It takes away power from the bad guys. If the government legalizes it and taxes it, it puts a lot of drug lords out of business and our DEA can focus on the more serious drugs if they feel the need to continue our failed War on Drugs.
5. It doesn’t cause lung cancer like cigarettes do. THC actually kills cancer cells, which is why its safe to prescribe to cancer patients here in California. Donald Tashkin is the top cancer researcher for the Federal Government. He is the guy that studied cigarettes and gave his research to the government. The government then used that research to put warning labels on cigarette packs that you see today. This very same man heads the research center at UCLA and ran the LARGEST STUDY OF ALL TIME which he finished a few years ago, and concluded that marijuana does not cause cancer. There’s been lots of SMALL INDEPENDENT research groups with their own agendas that have said it does cause cancer, but they are always little firms involving a few volunteers. Tashkin’s study involved over 1200 volunteers, and every credible research institution has agreed with him (Harvard, Stanford, etc.). Next time somebody tells you “there’s all kinds of medical studies that say its does this or it does that”, ask them who did the study, ask them which credible oranization ran that study. That will end any argument right there and then. At least it should, but some people continue to be ignorant, even when presented with facts.
Pot Fights Brain Cancer, Supreme Court OK’s Medical Marijuana
http://www.examiner.com/x-8543-SF-Health-News-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Supreme-Court-upholds-Prop-215-okays-medical-marijuana
Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html
Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn’t Damage Brain
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20030701/heavy-marijuana-use-doesnt-damage-brain
Harvard Study: Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm
Marijuana Does Not Raise Lung Cancer Risk
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196678,00.html
Puff-a-Day Marijuana Helps Older Rats Remember
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/health/aging/2008/11/21/184247/Puff-a-day-marijuana.htm
Marijuana Might Cause Brain Cell Growth
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8155-marijuana-might-cause-new-cell-growth-in-the-brain.html