If everyone smoked the world would be a much chiller place :)

Instead of wasting money monitoring and prosecuting offenders, let's turn that frown upside down! I'm a supporter of legalizing marijuana and allowing for regulation and taxation of the industry. You'd think Frito-lay would be all over this.

People can do what they like if the negative effects are cast upon themselves and not others

Not at all. Just make it illiegal to sell to minors, and restrict minors from puchase and use...how is this any more harmful than a cigarette?

Feel free to discuss mind altering affects, but NOTHING in the world has a more negative affect on the mind than nicotine...trust me, I use both. I never waited for a guy to finish a joint so I could swoop in a finish the last few drags.

Recent studies that were highlighted in the BBC3 UK documentary "Should I smoke Pot?" showed marijuana is actually more dangerous than I previously believed. The really interesting point the documentary highlighted was the risk of psychosis from taking the drug where the THC content was very high. In one session a test subject rated a 14 for psychosis, it was highlighted that a 1 or 2 was normal and above a 4 was generally considered to be in the ballpark of the schizophrenic.

Why am I bringing this up when I'm against criminalising the drug? The answer really lies in how people get hold of marijuana in the first place. People will, no matter what the law tries to enforce, use marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes. With that said these users have no real access to quality control over their drug. They can get hold of very high THC content skunk which can quickly make them paranoid and prone to all the negative effects of psychosis. Where they may be better choosing a much lower THC variety imported.

If the drug were controlled, distributed legally and taxed. The levels could be monitored, the dealers, many of whom are dealing in harder drugs and offering those up too would be out of business overnight. This would sever the link some users have who are suggestable to moving onto harder drugs. Also de-criminalising the drug will make it easier to treat people who do end up abusing it and need help. If you have a drink problem today, you can turn to friends and family as well as your doctor. If you're a "druggy" you're very unlikely to get any help from anyone, making any problem you might develop possibly worse.

With everything legal and marijuana available in cafes (as they are in Amsterdam for instance) the public can be educated on what the real side effects of the drugs are, what the benefits are and have the ability to choose wisely on various strains to find one that suits that person. Just as I might end up finding out I prefer shandy when I go to bars. A mixture of beer and lemonade which makes it less alcoholic.

Finally I think the children would benefit too. If it became socially acceptable to smoke pot in special cafes open only to adults then children would not have easy access as they do now with all the street dealers around.

C'mon it's 2008.

It's a waste of time, money, and resources. Certain positions should be banned from intoxication by it, just as a doctor can't show up to work drunk. But the substance itself is less a threat than illegal guns.

I could easily write a book, on all the reasons why this prohibition should end.

Simply though... This prohibition hasn't had any effect, it hasn't accomplished or even gotten close, to it's own goals. And more and more evidence is piling up, showing that legalization doesn't make things any worse off than they are now. So all we are doing by having this prohibition, is arresting and jailing and violating the private rights of our citizens. Prohibition also creates a black market, that we could easily destroy via legalization... Along with the crime and violence that comes with that.

In my mind, no one else should have any greater authority over your own body, than you. And no one should have the right to tell you, that you can't do something that you want, to yourself. We are adults living in a free country, Why do we not have the right to make such choices? As long as we act responsibly, and don't harm others, what is our crime?

At the very least, We shouldn't be locking people up, for non-violent non-victim "crimes".

BTW, I believe decriminalization will not solve the important issues. Only the selfish or the misinformed support decriminalization over legalization. Legalization is the key to regulating it to make it safer, and to taxing it, which could GREATLY improve our economy right now.

Why ban something so innocuous?

I think the biggest reason that marijuana is illegal is a cultural one. If you've never smoked it, it's hard to describe how it makes you feel. The best way I can put it is that it relaxes you enough for you to notice the world around you. It slows the momentum of life so that you are more aware of your environment. This leads me to my next part. It's going to require a leap, so follow me. The only function of our government is to maintain a robust economy. Most everything can be understood under this one assumption. The main goal of our government is to keep us preoccupied, to keep us serving the economy by producing and consuming. Our government is a client of corporations. It's another tool that large businesses use to reach their goals. They invest in government like they invest in a business venture, with the expectation that it will make them more money.

A requirement of this ever churning, ever expanding economy is the passivity of its participants' inquiries and the maintenance of their blind actions. This brings me to my conclusion. When you smoke marijuana, you start to think more about the requirements of your brain and your mind (What do I truly NEED?) You start to ask questions like, "Do I really need that many THINGS?", "Is it natural to be obligated to a flourescently lit office building for 40 hrs every week of your life to basically move paper from one place to another, to be treated like a child whose time is monitored, and reprimanded by a "boss"?" "Do I get meaning from my life or am I just a cog in the wheel of this economy, eg. is it essential for the universe to contain operating services clerical specialists?" "Why can't I grow a plant in my backyard, but I can be on numerous synthetic prescription medications?"

There are other reasons that marijuana should be legal or at least decriminalized, but I believe this is the biggest obstacle: We might actually wake up and analyze what our lives are, what consequences our behaviors have on ourselves, our neighbors, and the rest of the world. We might stop consuming.

If the U.S. were to legalize weed it could take us out of this recession due to the fact that they will tax the hell out of it. More people could get jobs because they wouldn't have to worry about drug tests. And it would make more jobs for people: farming it, selling it, bong and pipe sales will go up, etc.

Prohibition is doing more harm then marijuana. The government is wasting to much money on enforcing it, people are going to jail who shouldn't, people are being killed by poisoned marijuana and chemical relationships because its not being sold in a safe environment, in a safe way, but rather on the streets, and its not doing any good, also it can be sold to minors as easily as it can be sold to adults. Also the government loses a lot of tax money off the sale of marijuana.

No, no, no, no, no. Listen, I don't know how many times I've said this, in however many debates, but marijuana's legalisation would be a step in the right direction. To put the kabosh on pot would be a bad decision, it would fling us into the past, in one sense or another. America's economy would benefit from the sales, and people who are already addicted haven't anything to worry about! If people go out and fuck up their lives because they haven't enough self-control to smoke only on occasion, well, that isn't the government's problem.