Why should marijuana be kept illegal
There is a movement on sites such as digg.com suggesting that marijuana (Cannabis) consumption should be made legal. This problem affects many countries across the world. Obama was recently asked in an on-line discussion by participants whether legalizing it could help the country get out of the economic crisis. This question has, at least in my opinion, the air of a joke.
Considering the money which tobacco and alcohol industries are making, what would happen with the legalization of marijuana, which may be more addictive than anything else of which law permits consumption? Let's look for a moment at those two legal vices. You could start by asking the question „what is the role of alcohol in society?“. It is found in the majority of cultures, evidence of its existence and consumption dating thousands of years BC. There is no apparent role, and its existence may be meaningless. It isn't banned simply because of inertia, and because banning it may lead to some degree of society destabilization – think US alcohol prohibition and Al Capone. To some people it provides comfort. To some people, it ruins life. And, in the case of smoking tobacco, it was at first a symbol of masculinity. Then, it was positioned as a symbol of women independence, and the producers doubled their potential market, since there are as many women as there are men.
But, back to the issue of cannabis, I'm not saying it makes people dumb but I can't say how much more intelligent it makes them either. If it's ever going to be legalized, I can only imagine the marketing campaigns following, and how much money and influence some producing companies would make. Would this help the world economy? Cannabis plantations would certainly provide a few jobs in agriculture, but would also leave illegal farmers from Elbonia without jobs potentially. Should it be legalized? I don't know.
POST#0066 2009-MAR-26
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Commentary (2):
COMM#12398 2009-MAR-30
Dragoş Ioniţă wrote:
Thanks for the comment!
Oh, no, I certainly didn't want to imply that marijuana consumers are necessarily dumb. You're right, it's cruel, just like saying alcohol drinkers are dumb. Sure, /your/ stereotypical dumb person may be a marijuana smoker. But there are cases I heard of writers and famous people using alcohol as a mean of overcoming shyness, and I don't see why that can't be the case with marijuana as well.
Without wanting to offend anyone, definitely ask your friend to reconsider their position, because in order for natural selection to be affected by whether a person does something or not, there should be a reproductive disadvantage deriving from that action (or lack of action). It would be interesting to know the mechanism by which your friend believes this applies to smoking pot. If it's just that it affects health, then how does that reconcile with the fact that marijuana is sometimes used as a medicine?
Thanks for the feedback, the post date is kind of hidden, it's on the top right corner in gray. It's a good suggestion to make it more visible!
COMM#12397 2009-MAR-28
sonia wrote:
You know, a friend of mine said about this subject that legalising is just a matter of natural selection: the ones dumb enough to try it are definetely too stupid to live healthy, too stupid to perpetuate our species. It's a bit cruel this point of view, but it's true and we can find it in the animal world too.
P.S. where's the date of this post? :D I can't see it.