Marijuana.com

willium

I notice that in many arguments over legalisation/decriminalisation of marijuana for recreational use, people look to statistics showing how many people are killed as a result of alcohol, tabbaco and prescription medicine. The statistics show that many more people are killed each year than are killed from marijuana and other drugs. (sorry i dont have exact figures but im sure you have all seen them )
Has anyone ever thought that this just suggests that things such as alcohol and tabbaco are so harmful that they should also be illegal?
The fact that they are not illegal even though they are clearly more harmful than drugs such as Marijuana proves that the tax revenue is worth too much to the government.
What I cannot understand is why such money hungery governments dont want to legalise Marijuana to make even more tax revenue?

But i supose that why were all here though?? lol.

 

kcbennie

The reason that the argument that alcohol and tobacco are so dangerous poses no threat of those substances being criminalized, is because of the massive ramifications that alcohol prohibition caused the first time around. If you took away peoples booze and smokes, there would be anarchy like this country has never seen. As far as the possible tax revenue that is ignored by congress, that money is ignored because none of it would go into their personal pckets, unlike the lobby contributions that they get from big pharma, the tobacco industry, the alcohol industry, the logging industry, the oil industry, the cotton industry, the corn industry (ethanol). Did I forget anyone?

our government =

__________________
"My friend said 'Man, the weather is really trippy' and I said 'The weather's not trippy. It's just the way that you perceive the weather that is in fact trippy.' And then I though to myself 'I should've just said 'Yeah.''"

- Mitch Hedburg

hittwicebutdontcough

Well it is also fairly easy to get marijuana in the states. Especially in places like California, Colorado, and Alaska. Im 18 and it's easier to get weed then alcohol. Who knows, maybe if they start being hard on stoners and taking away our green then there maybe some anarchy in the U.S. We are not as alone as we think we are.

shibshib

The only true way to arguing legalization of marijuana is to not focus on how much more harmful other legal substances are (since this will inevitably lead to either the statement, "I don't think those should be legal either!" or "So you think more people should die?"

You should, rather, focus on the studies and realistic logic surrounding how safe marijuana is.

SlowRide

Well i think if people really knew why marijuana was really outlawed in the first place, and if these facts were presented to the right people, we could see some change. OBviously, its true that alcohol and tabacco are significantly more harmful, people just dont understand that the reputation of marijuana has been so misconstrued to cover up the real reason for its outlaw. MArijuana was outlawed due to HArry J Anslinger, who used the defense that "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."
But most people dont know, or care to know, the truth behind it all.

 

stonerStories

The reason is simple. Beer and cigs are pretty hard to make at home. Pot isn't.

They'll always be able to tax the things we can't make ourselves. But most people would want to grow their own pot, and that just messes up their whole money thing.

If you want to know the reason behind anything in theis world, just follow the money...or the lack of it in this case.

:>

shibshib

That is another weak argument... if the government/lobbyists were that worried, they would simply pass another bill regulating home use/growing like they do with other plants.

There is a certain type of tree around where i live that is a completely legal tree... you just can't grow them on your property. Somethign about their root systems being a problem on pipes.

I also doubt most people would want to grow their own. I mean, I know a lot of people want to... but I don't think its the majority. I myself would not want to spend that much time on it, or even learn the craft. I'd rather just buy bud. It's not a hobby.

Also, if you add on the fact that marijuana would be greatly reduced in price if it was ever legalized... it wouldn't be economical for people to grow their own... unless they did so on massive scales, or it was a hobby.

stonerStories

Permits are generally local things. It doesn't help the feds or the state at all.

And even if it were legal to own but not grow, it would be much harder for the gov to track down.

Buzzby

You don't think that busting 820,000 of us last year was being hard on stoners?

Prohibition doesn't work. It doesn't cut off the supply of the prohibited substance. It merely raises the price. There was plenty of alcohol available during alcohol prohibition.

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Buzzby

Really? Home brewing beer is a popular hobby. You can produce 200 gallons of it a year per household without paying any taxes. You can legally grow your own tobacco. The reason people generally buy beer and cigarettes instead of making their own is convenience and the fact that, even with taxes, their prices are easily affordable.

Most people buy their produce from stores, even though they could grow it in their own gardens. What leads you to think marijuana users would be any different? The fact that people can produce their own pot means that retail prices, including taxes, would have to be low enough that the added convenience of buying it commercially outweighs the cost.

There's no reason marijuana couldn't be taxed in the same way as alcohol and tobacco. The state would make a lot of money even if some percentage decided to grow their own. The money to follow in this case is that going into the campaign coffers of our representatives from powerful lobbies whose industries would be challenged by legal marijuana.