Should US Legalize Marijuana?

**Janszoon** · 10-29-2010, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Violent & Funky

I've heard "stoned" used to describe people high on drugs other than marijuana...

Such as?

Violent & Funky · 10-29-2010, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Such as?

I don't know specifically, but they always make the parents/teachers/various old people in movies use it to describe when kids use drugs... *shrugs*

Insane Guest · 10-29-2010, 01:23 PM

I think it's backwards. Stoned is something Ive heard and is always connected to Marijuana. High is a universal term.

duga · 10-29-2010, 04:28 PM

I have actually heard being drunk referred to as being high once. It threw me off because I obviously thought he meant he had just smoked. So this kind of stuff just changes depending on where you go.

VEGANGELICA · 10-30-2010, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Violent & Funky

What's wrong with a product's only benefit being pleasure?

Nothing is wrong with pleasure...it's the negative effects of drugs that I feel are the problem: addiction, increased cancer risk, problems with perception, interference with decision making, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanilla

You really think this is going to prevent hormonal, peer pressured teens to not smoke it all the time? I think the intelligence levels of people would drop rapidly. I could smoke it all the time if I wanted, but to be honest it's not my thing. Just because it's illegal doesn't stop people who want to smoke it from smoking it.

I wonder, too, Vanilla, what effect legalization of drugs combined with a huge public education program against using them would have on the number of drug users.

I think, judging by the decrease in the number of people who smoke cigarettes in the U.S., that teaching people about why not to use marijuana, prohibiting advertisements for marijuana, and taxing it could lead to there being fewer users over time, since this is what has happened with cigarette smoking in the U.S. (Smoking Rate Is Declining in U.S. ).

In the short term, though, I think you are right that marijuana legalization would lead to increased usage. I'd rather have people stoned on marijuana than dying right and left in Mexico due to the huge drug cartels there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xEMGx

I think it's backwards. Stoned is something Ive heard and is always connected to Marijuana. High is a universal term.

I agree: I always think of being "high" as what you say about someone who is under the influence of any drug in general (except alcohol). For marijuana specifically, I think of a person being either "mellowed out" with a little use, and "stoned" if heavily affected.

I think of people getting high off just plain cigarettes, though, because I always remember one of my high school friends who smoked telling me that it felt like her head was floating a couple feet above her body. So, literally, she felt high.

I never think of someone who is inebriated as "high." I think of a person who shows obvious signs of impairment due to alcohol as "drunk," and if the person is really losing mental abilities due to alcohol I think of her as "smashed."

**Scarlett O'Hara** · 10-31-2010, 05:13 AM

I often refer to people on weed as 'baked'.

Violent & Funky · 10-31-2010, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Nothing is wrong with pleasure...it's the negative effects of drugs that I feel are the problem: addiction, increased cancer risk, problems with perception, interference with decision making, etc.

Lots of legal products in this country can be described as having the same side effects...

VEGANGELICA · 10-31-2010, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Violent & Funky

Lots of legal products in this country can be described as having the same side effects...

The degree of harm caused by the product is what is important, though, I feel. Caffeine, for example, isn't too harmful, though it is addictive and can give people jitters.

Cigarettes, though, *are* very bad...so my point would be that I feel the pleasure gained from cigarettes isn't a problem (reduced stress, greater relaxation?), but the harm caused by them is. For me, the harm much outweighs the benefits of cigarettes, especially since I feel there are other ways, and ones that are healthful, to achieve what I hear are the "benefits."

I do agree with you that it makes no sense to have cigarettes be legal but marijuana illegal, since their negative side effects are pretty similar, right?

Violent & Funky · 10-31-2010, 12:29 PM

Right.

Also, I don't believe it is the government's responsibility to tell me what I can and can't put into my body, but that opens a whole different discussion...

Freebase Dali · 10-31-2010, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

The degree of harm caused by the product is what is important, though, I feel. Caffeine, for example, isn't too harmful, though it is addictive and can give people jitters.

Cigarettes, though, *are* very bad...so my point would be that I feel the pleasure gained from cigarettes isn't a problem (reduced stress, greater relaxation?), but the harm caused by them is. For me, the harm much outweighs the benefits of cigarettes, especially since I feel there are other ways, and ones that are healthful, to achieve what I hear are the "benefits."

I do agree with you that it makes no sense to have cigarettes be legal but marijuana illegal, since their negative side effects are pretty similar, right?

How are the negative side effects similar?

10-29-2010, 04:28 PM	#384 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	I have actually heard being drunk referred to as being high once. It threw me off because I obviously thought he meant he had just smoked. So this kind of stuff just changes depending on where you go. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...

10-31-2010, 05:13 AM	#386 (permalink)
Scarlett O'Hara Make it so Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 6,181	I often refer to people on weed as 'baked'. __________________ "Elph is truly an enfant terrible of the forum, bless and curse him" - Marie, Queen of Thots

10-31-2010, 12:29 PM	#389 (permalink)
Violent & Funky FUNky Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Midland, MI Posts: 2,482	Right. Also, I don't believe it is the government's responsibility to tell me what I can and can't put into my body, but that opens a whole different discussion... __________________ http://www.last.fm/user/ohio0808 sometimes I don't thrill you sometimes I think I'll kill you just don't let me fuck up will you 'cause when I need a friend it's still you

10-29-2010, 01:23 PM	#383 (permalink)
Insane Guest Music Addict Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: CA Posts: 1,322	I think it's backwards. Stoned is something Ive heard and is always connected to Marijuana. High is a universal term.