Alcohol vs. Marijuana

Why is alcohol legal, why is marijuana not?

I offhand want to say that in my entire life I have been pretty frequently exsposed to some form of drug or another, and in the cases of marijuana and alcohol, I have some issues with the way the law sits.

I can attest from personal experience to an endless degree the extreme difference in danger levels between the 2. Driving not included (unofficially, the case still stands.)

Alcohol in my past has been the "source"?, nexus, catalyst, axis of evil, what ever, its been involved and or contributed to so much violence it really isn't funny, not too mention really bad judgement.

Marijuana however, during the same times of turmoil, was much more readily associated with peace, tranquility, laughter. This isn't me spitting out stereotypes its my life experience. There are always exceptions but cliche's and stereotypes come about because they tend to be based on fact, "experience".

I have been told and even specifically remember at the age of 3-4 when my mom (dad was too mean) would get mad or stressed I would run and grab a bong, and tell her to hit it.

Kids aren't stupid, for the most part, instinctually speaking especially.

Anyway, another thing that I think is very interesting about this topic is that for one, it appears our forefathers got high, and two, alcohol was made illegal here once, and it was such a violent and bloody ordeal, again, it really isn't funny.

What does that tell you?

I agree and understand that addiction to anything is a problem, but drugs and alcohol usually are symptoms and not a source, they can be a source quite easily through abuse.

One point I want to address is the term gateway drug, I have finally heard one point that made some sense but it deals with addiction not marijuana (there is a difference). The point that made sense is people chasing a high, once they build a tolerance they may attempt to advance, hence gateway, but then there is always booze which can always get you fucked up, so why would it be a hard drug, (because booze sucks) and......

There is another argument for Marijuana as a gateway drug and this one makes some sense too, its just that its actually the law making it illegal that makes it a gateway drug, when someone wants some weed, because lots of people do, they need to first commit an illegal act to do so. This poses a problem, well, where do they go? A dealer, well they are just the saints of the earth right, most are just normal people with an unofficial pharmasutical liscense, an understanding that there is a serious market for drugs and work can be hard to find, let alone enough to provide for yourself or a family.

So already that makes it a gateway to illegal activity, then there is the fact that some drug dealers aren't nice people, and they do get you hooked on other stuff, or you have to go to dealers who sell more than just pot, because you there isn't a legal avenue and so you are forced to be exsposed and possibly tempted, especially if you do have addiction issues. I've had psychiatrists tell me I can smoke all the pot I want on medication or in general, its alcohol that really fucks you up. I don't necessarily agree but there is something there.

I honestly believe that the biggest problem with pot is abuse, and that is generally due to other problems entirely, the next biggest problem is health, and then a demotivating effect it can have.

But compared to the amount of bad and harm I've seen, and heard of, from alcohol, I am flabbergasted at its legality to begin with, then especially in the face of such intolerance towards drugs, and the illegality of marijuana.

Either Alcohol should be illegal, or pot should be legal, untill someone gives me good reason to believe otherwise.

Marijuana has a more direct effect, plus its not something we've been doing since the middle ages, like beer.

But there is no good reason, private smoking should be fine, its far far less dangerous then beer in terms of driving, poison and violence.

Actually marijuana use is pretty old, but ya I don't know the specifics.

I dunno if you guys realize this, but marijuana has been around since religion. Most religions in India some way incorporate marijuana, and China was the first place in the world to use it and record its use, im not sure how long exactly, but its over 1,000 years ago. and if i remember correctly beer has been around for 400 years? The reason its illegal in america is because there were 2 main groups opposed to the use of this wonderful plant, a man named Ainslinger(sp) and pharmeceutical companies. The Ainslinger guy owned a lot of major newspapers and the forests to make the paper that supplied his newspapers, thus he needed to keep the forests his main source of paper and profit without any other "new" types of paper, and the drug companies which couldnt exactly prescribe a certain amount because everyone has different tolerancies and there are TONS of different strains of marijuana. They wouldnt be able to turn a profit if marijuana became the new pencillin could they? anyone could grow their own marijuana and use it instead of tylenol or any other drugs to cure head aches, muscle pains, MS...and the Ainslinger guy was making pretty good money of his trees that supplied all this paper and so if it was found out that cannabis, as it was called before it was criminalized, was a better quality paper and more efficient paper producing plant than trees hed be effed...no money for him! so he made up a story because at the time there were no media watch dog companies and he said that a kid high on marijuana killed his whole family with an ax and circulated it nation wide because of his vast influnce. He also made a movie (Reefer Madness) which depicts the awful crimes sonters commit, like rape, murder, vandalism, assault, and permanent insanity, he fed all this bullshit to congress, but instead of calling it cannabis like everyone knew it as he called it marijuana and all the congressman were horrified at the effects and worked quickly to criminalize it (Marihuana Tax Act, 1937). So all of you have that asshole to thank for the shit we have to go through to get weed and how much we have to pay, but if everyone starts voting for marijuana reform we can make a difference! lets put the power back in our hands!

I have been Christian for about 3 years and I've been smoking cannabis for about five months now. I never really felt like it was an issue with God because it is His plant. Though most Christians see it as a drug, the Bible does not percieve it that way at all.

"The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." -Genesis 1:12

Wine comes up in the Bible a lot and is still drank for religious occasions in many churches. However, the Bible also reminds us to keep it sacred:

"Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. " -Isiah 5:11

The Bible also says that in the future, the government will restrict certain things created by God:

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

I never knew about that anslinger guy, but now that verse makes more sense to me. Thank you.

Who is to tell me that I can't smoke cannabis if I am taking it with thanksgiving from my God? Just like people thank God for their dinner, I thank God for providing me with something to help me relax after a long stressful day. Why is that a crime?

i only got one thing to say n this is what my cousin always says when u bring up that alcohol is legalized and weed isn't (in the us)which is quite funny to me
man made beer god made pot who do you trust?

Amen to that!

**Note :: The laws here (Scotland) are pretty slack on weed. As long as yer not shipping copious amounts of it around the country, it tends to not be a big deal ... ***

Angel, do you have the addiction/abuse statistics for your country please?

I was a pot smoker for over 15 years, and only tried coke once. Out of all my aquaintences, only one went onto harder stuff, but he was a knucklehead anyways. I seem to recall that most of the pot and other drugs being illegal were started by religious special interest groups in the states, (remember Prohibition?) starting with opium during the late 1800's. I'll have to look into that.

Marijuana should be legal period. It has been proven to have no long term affects and is the less dangerous drug out there. Now how bad is it really? It will cause some short term memory loss but this effect is temporary and wears off completely. Pot has no long term affects on the brain. The solitary thing that is bad about it is it being illegal and taking the chance of getting busted with it and possibly being sent to jail. Marijuana makes people more relaxed and helps reduce tension after a hard day from work or school. It heightens the imagination and improves creativity. It makes you think outside the box instead of inside. Marijuana also has some medical benefits such as reducing problems with glaucoma and is prescribed by other doctors to patients who have canceer which helps reduce nausea from chemotherapy. Another reason why it should be legal is to save the huge cost in tax dollars wasted in prohibiting pot and enforcing drug laws that have no benefit to society. People who disagree with Marijuana use are most likely uninformed with the true facts or the morally superior who enjoy looking down their noses at the less fortunate and get a sadistic thrill in putting people in jail. Police departments get a lot of funding to fight Marijuana and those funds could go to something really important such as cops who should be going after robbers, racists, and murderers firstly instead of something as harmless as Marijuana. A myth stating 90% of drug addicts smoked marijuana first so therefore smoking Marijuana leads to harder drugs. Well this is brilliant isnt it!! Based on that reasoning, watching television, voting for a democrat, had a pet, had sex, owned a bicycle, chewed gum,participated in sports, celebrated Halloween, had a religious experience, told a lie. Using the same reasoning, all thse activities must lead to harder drugs. How about there are over 400 chemicals in every marijuana plant? Not true. There are approxiamtely 327 (somewhere around that #) but this varies in each plant. Compare this to an American cigarette which has over 700 chemicals added to it. Another example of so called logic : when a user begins to feel that he or she needs to take the drug to feel well, that person is said to be addicted to the drug: Everything that feels good is addictive and there's a 12 step program out there for every 1 of them. Since they know that pot isnt addictive, they try to redifine the word "addiction" and try to make pot fit the new definition. The fact that they need to twist the definition indicates that they know that pot doesnt fit the traditional definition of addiction. Why do the anti-pot organizations have to twist logic to justify their opinion that pot is a dangerous drug? Obviously, teens arent going to take the message seriously. Drug addiction occurs when the drug affects the body in a way that causes the body to become dependent on the drug and causes a negative reaction when the drug is removed. Telling lies about what drugs are addictive and the real affects and the reality of the drugs is not going to help solve the drug problem, especially with Marijuana. From a philosophical point to view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves and the government only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions endanger someone else. This does not apply to Marijuana since the individual who chooses to do marijuana does so according to his or her own free will. The government also may have a right to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. But this argument does not logically apply to marijuana because marijuana is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco. In conclusion, individuals deserve the right to decide whether or not they should use marijuana. The government should not tell individuals what to do as long as they do not harm others.

We currently spend billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who happen to like to get high while using marijuana. These people get locked up in prison and taxpayers have to foot the bill. We could save billions of dollars every year as a nation if we stop wasting money locking up people for having marijuana. If marijuana were legal, the government would be able to collect taxes on it and have alot more money to pay for effective drug education programs and other important causes. Also, it should be legal because prohibition does not help the country in any way and causes a lot or problems. We tried prohibition of alcohol and that failed miserably. We should be able to learn our lesson and stop repeating the same mistake. Marijuana has been around a heck of a lot longer than alcohol and is used as medicine as stated above. The hemp plant is a valuable natural resource. Legalizing marijuana would eliminate the confusion surrounding hemp and allow us to take advantage of hemp's agricultural and industrial uses. The federal ageny NIDA uses this chart to show the number of death's from selected substances in a typical year:
Tobacco....................................340,000-395,000
Alcohol (excluding crime/accidents).............125,000 +
Drug overdose (prescription)........................14,000-27,000
Drug overdose (illegal)..................................3,800-5,200
Marijuana...............................................0
Now, y cant the government look at these facts and make it legal. The only reason why its not legal is because people make money off of busting people with pot and people are scared of coming out and telling the truth which will get u labeled as a "druggie" and therefore people wont take u seriously. Harry J Anslinger is the person who got marijuana to be illegal by stating untrue facts of marijuana and it is these facts that people hear and this is how they form their conclusion of marijuana being harmful. It's unjust imo.

Come to think on it, I do not recall ever coming across an angry pot smoker, angry drunks, yes, but not smokers. We are having troubles here though, since we are near the border, and the "Jamacan" pot dealers are shooting everyone to get control of the trade in the area.

If they make it legal, that would probrally stop those drug related murders in a heart beat. Besides, hemp is quite usefull for other things than good rope and smoking.

TheIrishPagan said :: "Angel, do you have the addiction/abuse statistics for your country please?"

What kind of stats you lookin for? I have many, but you would have to be a bit more specific, and I will see what I can post up here for you.

Meanwhile .. try this link ..

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/news/January2005.htm

There are a few items on there which u might find interesting

Funny how socity works 10% of usa's population consume 50% of the liquor.

I , however dont think weed should be legal as long as liquor is.

If people where going to bars to get drunk and stoned their would be far more car accidents

Their is reali no way to make liquor illegal their are 2 many addicts (alcohal withdraw can be fatal, unlike crack withdraw)

I have to disagree

Tobacco....................................340,000-395,000
Alcohol (excluding crime/accidents).............125,000 +
Drug overdose (prescription)........................14,000-27,000
Drug overdose (illegal)..................................3,800-5,200
Marijuana...............................................1

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1922744,00.html

The worst thing with cannabis is lung cancer and getting caught

You cant get caught if its legal and you cant get lung cancer if u smoke thru a vaporizer ( a farly common heating contraption that makes thc vapor instead of carbon monxide smoke)

quote:

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I would suspect an immediate rise in crime so that drug dealers can keep control.

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I seriously doubt that.

I believe if marijuana was legalized you would probably see an entirely new area of legitimate business start up. Groceries, shops, and gas stations could start selling the stuff just like alcohol and tobacco and other products, and the government would probably have to make regulations and tax laws just like with everything else. People wouldn't need to go to "gangs" to buy it anymore. I don't know, that's just how I would see it happening.

I believe the high crime rates are often the result of people having to go to drastic measures to get their illegal drugs.