10-16-2003, 09:38 PM
Pot should not be legalized, since it's smoked, and smoke is carcinogenic. Regardless of the actual reason for illegality, the health hazard of the smoke alone is enough to keep it illegal (seeing as smoke is "the number one cause of death in fires" and all).
As for it's semi-related non-wacky counterpart.. Tobacco is only legal because it's so entrenched in the socioeconomic fabric, that they (the corporations involed in nicotine delivery) can manipulate anything they need to keep their profits up, including politicians. It would be in their interest to sell pot to people, since it opens up more pockets than otherwise possible, translating to more leverage over everything.
Given that aiding imperialism in its stranglehold on freedom most likely wasn't on the mind of the self-serving, self-proclaimed antiestablishment, proud potheads who decided to crusade agaisnt opression, most of them would never see it coming. Optimists? I doubt it. Dulled minds? Maybe. Transparent self interest manifested in wishful thinking? Sounds about right.
Somebody said they wished pot was legal to one of their friends while they were smoking up instead of attending math, and they liked the idea. "Think about it: No more hiding, we can all smoke up anywhere, anytime, and we can't be arrested." All sorts of evidence is provided to back up the case, totally disregarding anything that might actually be used in defense of it remaining illegal, instead countering fictional arguments like "it's more dangerous than any legal drug", "alcohol, morphine, codene, etc. are legal", and "it ruins the life of everybody who uses it, and all their family/friends no matter what". Nothing on how smoking kills 100% of people who do it, how the long term effects of marijuana use cause severe impairment in mental abilities and day to day functioning, how expensive soon-to-be exsmokers are to the medical system, or that tabacco companies are already hard enough to keep in line, without the added market share. Could that be because this holy march to freedom was really just a couple of strung out teenagers rambling between bouts of uncontrollable giggles? That it has no meat to it because it boils down to a bunch of people trying to make their lives more convenient while blindly selling themselves to the very people they hate most?
As for it's semi-related non-wacky counterpart.. Tobacco is only legal because it's so entrenched in the socioeconomic fabric, that they (the corporations involed in nicotine delivery) can manipulate anything they need to keep their profits up, including politicians. It would be in their interest to sell pot to people, since it opens up more pockets than otherwise possible, translating to more leverage over everything.
Given that aiding imperialism in its stranglehold on freedom most likely wasn't on the mind of the self-serving, self-proclaimed antiestablishment, proud potheads who decided to crusade agaisnt opression, most of them would never see it coming. Optimists? I doubt it. Dulled minds? Maybe. Transparent self interest manifested in wishful thinking? Sounds about right.
Somebody said they wished pot was legal to one of their friends while they were smoking up instead of attending math, and they liked the idea. "Think about it: No more hiding, we can all smoke up anywhere, anytime, and we can't be arrested." All sorts of evidence is provided to back up the case, totally disregarding anything that might actually be used in defense of it remaining illegal, instead countering fictional arguments like "it's more dangerous than any legal drug", "alcohol, morphine, codene, etc. are legal", and "it ruins the life of everybody who uses it, and all their family/friends no matter what". Nothing on how smoking kills 100% of people who do it, how the long term effects of marijuana use cause severe impairment in mental abilities and day to day functioning, how expensive soon-to-be exsmokers are to the medical system, or that tabacco companies are already hard enough to keep in line, without the added market share. Could that be because this holy march to freedom was really just a couple of strung out teenagers rambling between bouts of uncontrollable giggles? That it has no meat to it because it boils down to a bunch of people trying to make their lives more convenient while blindly selling themselves to the very people they hate most?