Marijuana and the billion dollar revenue

[IndecentValues]

Well guys, this is about the legalization of marijuana and the taxation of it.

As many of you may or may not know, with the legalization of marijuana would come the taxation of it. It WOULD be the simplest way out of the budget crisis, offering around $3 billion in revenue. This is because of the million marijuana smokers around the country, (Not including myself). The medical effects of it really do not seem like it would be worth the legalization. Although it has been argued back and forth of the negative and positive effects of marijuana's legalization, here is how it is in my opinion.

Good Effects:
-Removes unease in the sick patient
-Provides a $3 billion bailout
-Drops the amount of cigarette usage

Bad Effects:
-Lowers immune system
-Has over 400 carcinogens
-3-4 Blunts=16 cigarettes in one day
-Lowers concentration, motor skills.
-Causes paranoia and other physcoactive effects.

These are what I am aware of currently, I know there is much more but will others care to add on and tell what their opinion of the legalization is?

[mrkillboy]

I smoke a pack of cigs a day. And I toke on a regular basis. So, I wouldn't mind seeing it legal.

[chris_cr33p]

yeah the debate is the money we would get for it

[Monk3y]

Personally I'm against the usage of marijuana but I do approve of the legalization of it.

[Dust]

I'm sure sticking pine cones up your ass is bad for your health but that isn't illegal.

OT: pro legalization

[TACO]

I'm sure sticking pine cones up your ass is bad for your health but that isn't illegal.

OT: pro legalization

:) providing the Lulz

<3 Javi

[D Moralize]

I'm sure sticking pine cones up your ass is bad for your health but that isn't illegal.

OT: pro legalization

basically this, we might as well get the money for it

[IndecentValues]

Maybe so, but they are worse than cigarettes for health reasons. We are only making the cancer and lung issue worse.

[Sinstar94]

I don't think relatively small amount of money the Government would take in off of taxing would make a big difference in the deficit. Ultimately, we're talking about trillions of dollars and taxing pot would not generate enough revenue to outweigh the medical cons. Then if you legalize marijuana and tax it, you'd have drug addicts seeking for more dangerous drugs to be legalized. And don't give me that "They'll do it anyway so you might as well legalize it." bs because by that logic some guy somewhere is going to get hold of gun and kill somebody so should we legalize it because he'll do it anyway?

You may think I'm really conservative after all of that but I'm really not.

[Dust]

could you point me to the facts you have about weed being worse than cigarettes, i'm currently ignorant about that.

[Eclipse]

Vaporize > blunts

[Dust]

as far as I know, no one has been hospitalized due to marijuana overdose

[vontoxic]

could you point me to the facts you have about weed being worse than cigarettes, i'm currently ignorant about that.

quoted for similar interest.

[SocksWthSandals]

Simplest way out? 3 billion a year? 14 trillion divide by 3 billion gives you how long that will take. Not counting interest

Sooooo now where do we go from here?

[Joe Fries]

We know that you won't be hospitalized for smoking too much, but anytime that you inhale burning plant matter, you're not doing your body a favor. Vaporizing seems to eliminate these negative effects, but the THC is still affecting your brain.

A good way to look at the issue is to think about it in terms of alcohol. People are addicted to Marijuana, but if I could use some theory from the Categorical Imperative (kinda), I would much rather have every person using marijuana than drinking alcohol. The effects of alcohol on the body are much worse and could happen much quicker. For example, alcohol causes liver damage, birth defects, and many instances of rape, not to mention drunk driving deaths per year.

Yet alcohol is legal. Why? As far as I know, Hemp, itself, is illegal in the U.S. because of marijuana. Hemp is considered a miracle crop in many cultures and can be made into clothes, food, jewelry, etc. HEMP is the king of cash crops.

Too bad our government is so corrupt now that legalizing marijuana has become a pipe dream.

[Eclipse]

We know that you won't be hospitalized for smoking too much, but anytime that you inhale burning plant matter, you're not doing your body a favor. Vaporizing seems to eliminate these negative effects, but the THC is still affecting your brain.

A good way to look at the issue is to think about it in terms of alcohol. People are addicted to Marijuana, but if I could use some theory from the Categorical Imperative (kinda), I would much rather have every person using marijuana than drinking alcohol. The effects of alcohol on the body are much worse and could happen much quicker. For example, alcohol causes liver damage, birth defects, and many instances of rape, not to mention drunk driving deaths per year.

Yet alcohol is legal. Why? As far as I know, Hemp, itself, is illegal in the U.S. because of marijuana. Hemp is considered a miracle crop in many cultures and can be made into clothes, food, jewelry, etc. HEMP is the king of cash crops.

Too bad our government is so corrupt now that legalizing marijuana has become a pipe dream.

Thank you William Randolph Hearst

[Benjak]

This is how I see it. I think if it can be used for medicinal usage, then it should be legal for that purpose only. I watched an episode of Dr. Oz the other week about it and it proves that it can be used for medicinal purposes for diseases like MS (Multiple Sclerosis). But for recreational use I would have to say no. I live in a small town in VT and many people here smoke. It's bad because many of them go to jail for selling, or become losers and turn to harder drugs. (no I am not saying people who smoke are losers)

I myself, stay away from it all. It's not worth it and I have seen too much bad things around my school and where I live for me to want it to be legalized.

Hope you all liked my input :)

[-ironman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuHuo-H_NhE

This guy changed my view on it and before watching his videos i felt marijuana should be legalized for the money.

[Danimal04]

This is such a complicated subject. The raw facts of the matter depend on the opinion of the individual. Alcohol is an extremely destructive substance. In fact probably the most destructive in existence. The British government released a study earlier this year stating that alcohol was the MOST socially destructive drug in their country. Each year in Russia over 500,000 people die every year purely from drinking themselves to death (this doesn't include drunk driving accidents, drunken violence, and homicide) only from literally drinking so much for so long until they die... take a lesson Charlie Sheen. Marijuana is not a physically addictive substance unlike alcohol and many other drugs. I don't see stoners out in the streets at night fighting each other in front of bars or physically abusing their girlfriends aka Nicholas (drunk ass) Cage. How many people have you ever heard of getting in a fist fight while high on marijuana or abusing their girlfriend... it doesn't happen. Meanwhile go to any bar in any major city at 2am and you will see grown men somewhere beating the piss out of one another over NOTHING or some dip shit guy slapping his girlfriend in the middle of the street. If it were up to me marijuana would be legal and alcohol would be illegal... and no I'm not a pothead.

[ReFlex]

Too bad our government is so corrupt now that legalizing marijuana has become a pipe dream.
could not have said this any better

[Justin21]

There are so many Pros and Cons for legalizing it. I think the affects of the drug cartels in mexico are having a major impact on the legalization process, even though I dont think that would affect whats going on one bit. Im neither for it or against it I just think that you are responsible for what you put in your body, not the government. You can go buy a 2$ bottle of tylenol and ingest it all and you'll die, but with the whole legalizing is just so more political than most people realize.

[SullyVan]

I dont smoke either so doesn't matter to me:P

[EGOisSICK]

1st law of Marijuana was to produce it (for the hemp) The government then made it illegal because they were racist, believe it or not, and thought it made African-Americans step on white guys shadows, this was frowned upon back then. A quote from one of the previous legislators “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” Then during WW1 or WW2 they legalized the growing of HEMP, not marijuana. For the base fact of rope and so forth. After the war it was back to the depths of the streets. So thats the history, but is it bad for you? I wouldn't say bad, but it does have negative effects. The one thing you have to look at is the fact that NO ONE has ever gotten lung cancer from just smoking pot, NO ONE as ever died from weed, and NO ONE as lost there mind smoking it. The last thing i wanna post is that it is a mental addiction and not a physical, which means that it is 10x easier to quit. Yes marijuana has the most young people in rehab for it, but its because the judge gives them the opinion of rehab or jail. You pick which one you want to go to.


P.s I am not a racist just pointing out facts of yester-year

[Dust]

http://www.absolutedespotism.com/stories/110415495/laws-arent-about-you


The Government outlawed all the legit crimes (like robbery and non-consensual fisting) a long time ago, so why the fuck are they still passing laws?... Well, because most laws aren't about you, they're about paying off campaign contributors. When those contributors happen to be gigantic companies, the “pay off laws” are usually designed to protect them from competition. Successful companies obviously don't want to compete, they hate the free market. It's the little guy, the small businessman who needs a free market.

Example: Marijuana's probably bad for you, but so is shoving pine cones up your ass. The reason marijuana’s illegal and pine cones aren't, is because you can't use pine cones to make paper... But in the 1930’s a new machine called a “decorticator” made it profitable to produce paper from hemp. So profitable that Popular Mechanics called hemp the “New Billion-Dollar Crop” and reported "10,000 acres devoted to hemp will produce as much paper as 40,000 acres of average [forest] pulp land." Well a lot of people, including newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, owned a shit load of timberland, and because people don't like it when new technology comes along and fucks up their business, Hearst started calling hemp marijuana, and launched a newspaper campaign to ban his competition. It worked, and even though the American Medical Association was against banning marijuana (seriously), in 1937 it was outlawed. (Sounds a lot like GE, NBC, "Green Week", and the incandescent light bulb doesn't it?)

So thanks to people like Hearst, marijuana was outlawed to prevent competition from hemp. Naturally, marijuana growers just moved their crops inside to hide them from the Government. However, there's a reason why you don't grow plants inside, you need artificial light, and a lot of it. That requires a shit-load of electricity. How much? Well this week a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that 1% of all the electricity used in America goes to power the lights used for growing marijuana indoors. Thanks to the Government, your paper costs more, your electricity costs more, and your taxes are higher (to fund the “War on Hemp Paper”)

Goddamnit... illegal does not mean "unavailable." Illegal doesn't mean "doesn't happen". Illegal doesn't mean "The world will now be the way we wish it were". That kind of naive thinking is perpetually getting us fucked-over by politicians who are just trying to pass laws that benefit their contributors. Making X illegal is simply a threat, "If you do X, the Government will come to your house, kick your door in, and drag you off to prison." There's no magic involved, all the rules of the universe still fucking apply. So from now on, every time a law’s proposed in Congress, ask yourself "Who's the 'Hearst' for this law? Who’s this law paying off?"

hehe^

but seriously I believe this 100%

greed = the reason for a lot of shit in this country

[Antidote]

as far as I know, no one has been hospitalized due to marijuana overdose

There have been a few. Most of the time though it's because they have a mental addiction to it and already have health problems. I've also heard of cases in which it lowers your immune system with certain people (not sure if that's a fact).

My opinion though is the whole "it's bad for you so it should be illegal" argument is BS. If it is going to be illegal for that reason then alcohol and smoking anything should be illegal. Until that happens then I believe it should be legalized and we should be making money off of it at the least.

I don't smoke simply because I don't find the joy in losing my motor skills for a period of time. That's just my opinion though.

[ITCHY]

http://www.absolutedespotism.com/stories/110415495/laws-arent-about-you



hehe^

but seriously I believe this 100%

greed = the reason for a lot of shit in this country

I'll agree with this statement and the quote its referencing.

[zig8]

i smoke and ... yea it should be legalized. there are so many other substances that are legalized and regulated that are worse for you, so...

but in my opinion it won't ever get legalized because authority uses it as a means for bypassing a lot of constitutional rights people have when making arrests. for example, they pull you over and want to search your vehicle without a warrant? all they have to do is say they smelled marijuana...

would be a beautiful day when i could grow a few plants in my backyard for personal use. a beautiful day.

let's not even get started on how detrimental the drug war is to our society, how expensive it is, how it sends hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders to prison, and how keeping marijuana on the black market is worse than just legalizing and taxing it.

[Morgacht]

I don't think relatively small amount of money the Government would take in off of taxing would make a big difference in the deficit. Ultimately, we're talking about trillions of dollars and taxing pot would not generate enough revenue to outweigh the medical cons. Then if you legalize marijuana and tax it, you'd have drug addicts seeking for more dangerous drugs to be legalized. And don't give me that "They'll do it anyway so you might as well legalize it." bs because by that logic some guy somewhere is going to get hold of gun and kill somebody so should we legalize it because he'll do it anyway?

You may think I'm really conservative after all of that but I'm really not.

I'm "conservative" most of the time and I agree with most of your facts however I think a side of the issue that should be looked at is will the legalization of pot help with the drug cartel issue. As you clearly point out, the deficit isn't going to be erased by legalizing pot and taxing it, we need a major overhaul to government, removing wasteful spending etc. etc.. However if legalizing pot and possibly other drugs would help to take down the drug cartels that currently run Mexico ( which run through our country causing severe border problems, especially in Arizona ) and the drug lords in America then I'd say I'm for it. I actually wouldn't be able to officially vote for or against it without more extensive research but I do believe that the drug ring problems are something to strongly consider during this type of debate because if legalizing drugs would all but solve this problem then it seems like a small price to pay to lower crime and murder rates.

[Planko]

Weed is less unhealthy than cigarettes, broseph. You are listening to your 5th grade DARE teacher and the typical stereotypes of weed too much. Marijuana has no negative health effects other than overall slowing down of one's body when high and some times loss of short term memory when you are high. The THC in weed acts as an active ingredient against the tar it forms in your lungs. ZERO PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM MARIJUANA. Marijuana in moderation is healthy. Smoking a blunt once a week is health, just like drinking a glass of wine is. The only problem is people who think they are awesome and smoke everyday of the week cause then nothing in society would get done and too many people will be high.
That's why I think we should legalize weed at age 18 and tax it. However, there should be some way to stop someone from smoking so much that they have no drive to do anything constructive.

[RagingChickens]

I'm "conservative" most of the time and I agree with most of your facts however I think a side of the issue that should be looked at is will the legalization of pot help with the drug cartel issue. As you clearly point out, the deficit isn't going to be erased by legalizing pot and taxing it, we need a major overhaul to government, removing wasteful spending etc. etc.. However if legalizing pot and possibly other drugs would help to take down the drug cartels that currently run Mexico ( which run through our country causing severe border problems, especially in Arizona ) and the drug lords in America then I'd say I'm for it. I actually wouldn't be able to officially vote for or against it without more extensive research but I do believe that the drug ring problems are something to strongly consider during this type of debate because if legalizing drugs would all but solve this problem then it seems like a small price to pay to lower crime and murder rates.

What you said here is basically what I see the problem as. 3 billion dollars is nothing to the government. Have you seen their budget? It's not about the money. The violence associated with drugs like marijuana would be the biggest problem that would be resolved by legalizing it. But marijuana is just one of many many drugs. And if that becomes legalized, there is just going to be another, more deadly drug to replace it. There are a lot of pros and cons to this, it's a very complex argument.

[R3DISF0RAW3S0ME]

It seems that mostly everyone that's posted on this thread has at least one piece of good argument, and that's great. I've only smoked a few times, and the last time wasn't the best high for me. But honestly, overall, Weed should be legal. What the government should do is regulate it the same as they regulate alcohol (except obviously I believe the age to smoke should be 18. And drinking should be 18 as well. I mean, our boys can go die for their country, but can't drink with their family before heading off???) For example, I think that if Weed was legal and a person high decides to drive and gets pulled over, they should be arrested for a DUI. ya know?

[Letthe]

Medical cards should be recognized in every medical marijuana state.

@ RED, while driving under any influence is not good. Being stoned does not impair you neeeearly as much as alcohol , but you shouldn't be driving anyways.

[Danimal04]

I forgot to mention potheads are ten times more likely than drunk asses to eat Doritos, Hot Pockets, and drink Dr. Pepper thus supporting MLG!!! Munchies on the reg.

[IndecentValues]

Lol @ danimal.
About everyone has posted a good arguement..
But, on the money issue: although it is still a large deficit it is something THAT WE NEED. regardless of how much it was, if it is invested correctly by the government, (lol yea right), it could slowly build up the economy that we have been lacking in.

about the cigarette v pot thing: the only REAL big difference in the two relating to health that makes marijuana worse FOR THIS COUNTRY ALONE is carcinogens. The amount of carcinogens in marijuana is around 2x as many as cigarettes, really only making worse in that sense.

I think we can all agree that the countries politics are corrupt, but we can ultimately do nothing about it until we have some of the great political minds such as JFK to rise up in this country.

[uC Borgie]

I have never smoked pot before and don't really plan on doing so anytime soon. Its just not me. I believe it should be legal only because the violence/crime/drug cartel/health issues. If the US implemented a system similar to Amsterdam where the punishment for DUI are very harsh and yes, you would still get people that will do it but the amount will be much less. Marijuana is not addictive in any way physically, its no different than porn, and is easier to quit. Cigarettes are 10x worse than weed only because they are extremely addictive. The amount of money spent on drug busts in this country are insane and the money spent on court and such for small amounts of weed are ridiculous. Weed will not be legalized until 15 years or so from now when most of the people our age are running the country( sorta, government does whatever the f*** they want so it won't matter) but that is when it will have the best chance of legalization. I'm 17 and I see people drink, smoke cigs and weed, I would much rather a person under the effects of weed than someone under the influence of alcohol because the physical impairments are 100's of times worse with alcohol. Another reason weed is not legal is because it costs a lot more to patent and sell a plant or herb in the medical field. There is a plant that cures 98% of cancer but not a single drug company will even think of selling it because the revenue will not be great enough.

Greed runs this country, and if the economy ever wants to improve then the government needs to drop the greed and be truthfull to the people. I was reading a story on a CEO who's stock went up a lot and he got a 450% pay increase and the general worker only got 2%, that in my mind is ridiculous. greed is the deadliest sin and will be the end to America

[Gruntly]

Well guys, this is about the legalization of marijuana and the taxation of it.

As many of you may or may not know, with the legalization of marijuana would come the taxation of it. It WOULD be the simplest way out of the budget crisis, offering around $3 billion in revenue. This is because of the million marijuana smokers around the country, (Not including myself). The medical effects of it really do not seem like it would be worth the legalization. Although it has been argued back and forth of the negative and positive effects of marijuana's legalization, here is how it is in my opinion.

Good Effects:
-Removes unease in the sick patient
-Provides a $3 billion bailout
-Drops the amount of cigarette usage

Bad Effects:
-Lowers immune system
-Has over 400 carcinogens
-3-4 Blunts=16 cigarettes in one day-Lowers concentration, motor skills.
-Causes paranoia and other physcoactive effects.

These are what I am aware of currently, I know there is much more but will others care to add on and tell what their opinion of the legalization is?


lol...so who's smoking 3-4 blunts a day?

Pro legalization...I'll come back to this later...when I'm not in school

[Letthe]

lol...so who's smoking 3-4 blunts a day?

Pro legalization...I'll come back to this later...when I'm not in school

Not everyday.
THC kills cancer cells.
Tobacco gives cancer.

[ScottySunHands]

Sure, pot has some bad stuff in it. So does McDonalds (Probably worse for you than pot..just sayin). I have smoke bunches of pot in my time. Pot isn't an addictive thing. It's habitual. So essentially you become mentally addicted to smoking pot. Because it becomes habit (I speak from experience). I have had some really good and really bad trips. The bad trips were pretty terrible, I wont lie. As for paranoia, the only thing I was ever paranoid about was not being able to eat and not being able to find my bed so I could end this terrible high. The potential revenue is there. It would be entirely beneficial. It most definitely should be regulated in the same aspects of the way alcohol is now. I feel it's a pretty selfless crime at this point. Legalizing it would in fact clean up the black market and things of that nature.

I didn't really feel like getting too organized with my points. If this continues on, Ill post again with some more validity.

But like everything else, all things in moderation. If you smoke occasionally, and dont let it take over your life, it isn't a big deal. If you smoke everyday non stop it's going to be pretty detrimental to your health and social life.

(Also take into account that pot has different effects on people. I could handle the high pretty well for about 3 hours then I'd pass out, but, my sister would take like 3 hits and just want to go to bed because she would get a bit paranoid. A seasoned smoker is less likely to become paranoid in my opinion. The high could also be affected by your mental state. IE if you're stressing out on something I'd say you are more likely to become paranoid. It's like learning to drive, compared to someone who drives for a living.)

[Moyizzo]

Maybe so, but they are worse than cigarettes for health reasons. We are only making the cancer and lung issue worse.

The effects of smoking are known going in by the user. Similar to how the risk of football injury is known to the football player. Marijuana is a plant that isn't nearly a horrible for you as some of the leading prescription drugs.

[mrkillboy]

Tomorrow is 420. Nuff said.

[Gruntly]

Tomorrow is 420. Nuff said.

and what a great one it was...i think ;)

--------------------------------------

OT: Are there any arguments that are against legalization? I'd like to hear more from that side of the discussion.

[Coma]

You would have to smoke nearly 3 times your body weight at one given time to overdose on marijuana. I wouldn't even make it to my current body weight without passing the fuck out, lol. On the other hand, smoking anything isn't healthy at all. But if you vaporize pot, it's much more healthier. LEGALIZE IT!

[MichaelMongrel]

The only thing that needs to be, and has been said already, is that Cigarettes are legal and much worse for your health. So there is no logical reason to keep Marijuana illegal.

[Letthe]

At least legalize the growth of hemp in the US.

[forefront]

I didn't really read this whole thing, and I don't really care about the legalization of marijuana either way. What I CAN tell you is that $3 billion per year in revenue, as much as that may seem, doesn't even touch our national debt.

The debt is currently $14,351,855,925,040.33 (or over $14 trillion), and increasing at $3.94 billion per day since Sept. 8, 2007. Getting rid of the national debt is not as easy as introducing some "miracle product" to the market. It will take a drastic change in the way Americans as government and residents, spend and save money.

[Miiiklo]

Legalize Today! 4real tho if that blunt stat is true then im fucked cuz i smoke a pack of Marb smooths every day on top of at least 3 blunts and a few bowls lol.

[Eclipse]

I didn't really read this whole thing, and I don't really care about the legalization of marijuana either way. What I CAN tell you is that $3 billion per year in revenue, as much as that may seem, doesn't even touch our national debt.

The debt is currently $14,351,855,925,040.33 (or over $14 trillion), and increasing at $3.94 billion per day since Sept. 8, 2007. Getting rid of the national debt is not as easy as introducing some "miracle product" to the market. It will take a drastic change in the way Americans as government and residents, spend and save money.

Last time i checked though that statistic of a $3 Billion dollar revenue, only concerned the state of California. Now multiply that times 50 you get a $150 Billion dollar revenue. Also i go with this saying. At least its doing something. But the only real reason why Marijuana will not be legal is because of the PAPER INDUSTRY. Hemp which is a raw material that comes from Marijuana does not need ANY kind of chemicals to make it into a good paper product, however the Paper Industry has invested Trillions of dollars on chemicals, that are only used to make paper. You get rid of Paper you lose billions of jobs.

[Letthe]

Last time i checked though that statistic of a $3 Billion dollar revenue, only concerned the state of California. Now multiply that times 50 you get a $150 Billion dollar revenue. Also i go with this saying. At least its doing something. But the only real reason why Marijuana will not be legal is because of the PAPER INDUSTRY. Hemp which is a raw material that comes from Marijuana does not need ANY kind of chemicals to make it into a good paper product, however the Paper Industry has invested Trillions of dollars on chemicals, that are only used to make paper. You get rid of Paper you lose billions of jobs.

Hemp Paper!

[MichaelMongrel]

It's a waste of the police's time when they are out to punish a harmless activity.