The war on drugs

[DanS]

Some drugs just cannot be tolerated in a society because of the knock-on effects. Crack destroyed whole neighborhoods in DC and you still see amped-up desperate people walking the streets from time to time.

A big argument can be made about mj, but provisionally I'm of the opinion that few enough people use mj that it can be outlawed without too much negative impact on society.

[KrazyHorse]

few enough people use mj

???????????

[DanS]

????????????

[KrazyHorse]

Marijuana is by far the most-used illicit drug.

And it's already outlawed.

What the **** were you trying to say?

[DanS]

What percentage of society use mj on a regular basis? Fact is that few enough people use it that it is practical for it to be outlawed. At least you can throw the dealers in jail.

Too many people drink alcohol for it to be outlawed, even if you wanted to do it. And society has developed in such a way to mitigate some of the nasty knock-on effects of alcohol consumption.

[Jon Miller]

The majority of people I know have tried it.. among people I know who have graduated college most are not habitual users (most don't use at all.. and of those who do, most could count the number of times they used it on one hand, and of those who were frequent users, most are not now).

JM

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by DanS
What percentage of society use mj on a regular basis? Fact is that few enough people use it that it is practical for it to be outlawed.

In any given month ~6% of the age 12+ population uses it. During any given year, that's probably more like 10-15%

[DanS]

Right. The figure that I remember is 5%, but in any event, it's small enough that -- practically speaking -- you can outlaw it (or at least enforce the dealing laws) without throwing half of your population in jail.

[KrazyHorse]

The lifetime use rate for marijuana among the US 12+ population is 36.9%

[Jon Miller]

I would have thought it would be higher...

In my highschool it was greater than 50%.

JM

[DanS]

That number doesn't change the argument.

[KrazyHorse]

Marijuana laws are just strange to me because I have never seen somebody as ****ed up on marijuana as I see people ****ed up on booze every weekend at the bar.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by DanS
That number doesn't change the argument.

I'm just providing the figures for later reference.

And enforcement of marijuana laws (and most drug laws) is a joke.

The chances of:

a) getting caught and

b) having anything serious done to you

because of marijuana are ridicuolously low. They're also completely unevenly enforced (jurisdiction to jurisdiction).

[Jon Miller]

I have seen marijuana have a negative effect. And know MJ addicts that say it has a negative effect.

However, yes, alcohol does negatively effect far more people than MJ.

JM
(a large part of the problem with alcohol is that it is sociably acceptable, and it is socially acceptable to blame your poor choices and actions on the alcohol.. so people use it as an excuse (when it isn't))

[KrazyHorse]

I don't disagree that weed has its negative effects.

But from what I've seen of people smoking weed (and from my very limited experiences with it) it's not really much of a high.