Legalization of Marijuana?

By the way, my out-of-state friends have no clue that this conversation is even happening on the Left Coast...

I'm kind of split on this. I think that I'd be okay if they legalized marijuana but only if they made cigarettes illegal. The thing about pot is that the THC in pot actually shrinks cancer cells. There is no medical benefit to tobacco. But what I don't like is those cannabis dispenser places. They bring down property value and I'm a home owner. So I'd rather see it legalized where you can go in and get it at the drug store for medicinal purposes or for pleasure just like you'd go and buy a pack of cigarettes.

You beat me to this topic; I was going to start just this post. On the other hand, with a screen name like Flowergirl, I'm probably better off not reinforcing the whole hippy-girl image that I was not really going for to begin with. I personally think that it is ridiculous that it has been illegal up until now. It hardly has the hugely negative effects of cocaine or heroine, and a lot of people that I know function much better partly high than when they are off weed. The worst part of it will just be some people sleeping through work and an increase in late night fast food sales.

I forget if I mentioned this on another blog, but I was listening to this historian on the radio talk about the Great Depression and how one of the reasons that Prohibition cam to an end when Roosevelt came to power was because they were looking for a new tax revenue source. So they legalized alcohol and brought those revenues into the public space. The historian than went on the say that he thought the US Government would do the same now during the recession--he expected marijuana would be legalized for that reason. I thought he was nuts, but then I started to here rumors about it coming down and all the economic advantatges and now I'm pretty much sold on it. I also think it is a waste of money to send marijuana dealers to jail.

Great anecdote, @Nightowl! I love how similar the answers are here. Realistically, I haven't talked to anyone who is against it or heard anyone make a compelling argument for why it should be illegal. On the other hand, as I mentioned earlier, my out-of-state friends have no clue that this is even going on, and I think there is some general opposition from those who just haven't been clued in to the whole argument. Regardless, I think that it is going to be a long time before we are all on the same page here. California is still light years ahead of other states, so I think this is going to happen at a state level, rather than a national level, for a long time.

My mother made me listen to those governship debates the other night (BORING!)--but apparently Meg Twitman is against it! She has to save the kids from buying their weed legally, I guess. Don't know what Brown's stance is, though, according to Moma Flower, he should be for it given his reputation for using it the last time he was governor.