by Ayoob » Mon 11 Feb 2013, 04:58:56
The #1 reason I would like it legalized is to kick the legs out from under illegal drug running gangs. There have been social experiments done several times where legal marijuana disrupted the meth and heroin trade because marijuana was "good enough." It would suck vast amounts of money out of the criminal underground. Marijuana is kind of safe relative to alcohol and any kind of IV drugs. It's good for anxiety, sleep, cancer patients, pain, and other uses. It grows like a weed.
There is the sticky question about children getting their hands on it. The funny thing is that kids can get their hands on marijuana easier than they can get alcohol today. I would prefer to have some way to keep teenagers from using marijuana due to how it affects the development of brain function. However, the cost benefit is so strong for legalizing that I think parents should just be vigilant about supervising their children.
As always, if the parents don't care, the kids will do what they want.
I wish we could just establish an age at which people become adults and can do as they wish. Drinking alcohol, use marijuana, join the armed services, drive a car, get a full time job with benefits, get married, all that stuff. Pick an age, have a ceremony to celebrate Adulthood, and hope you did a good enough job with them for the first 14-16-18-21 years to set them free.
For my daughters, it's going to be 35.