Weed - should it be legal?

[i-need-a-martini]

Uruguay has just changed its legislation and is now the first country in the wrold to sanction the growing, selling and smoking of marijuana.

They have done it to put the illegal drug trade and drug traffikers out of business.

Personally I think it makes sense. If nicotine is legal than there is very little difference between the 2.

Your thoughts?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/uruguay-becomes-first-country-to-legalise-marijuana-trade-20131211-hv59x...

[imastawka]

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@darksideofthemoon wrote:

Right on stawka... it's a great pain reliever and is used for terminally ill patients..  

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259482.php

In fact it has a lot of uses other than smoking it and losing your brain.

Hemp is used to make twine, rope, nets, canvas and 

Paper can be made from it and building materials.....  to name just a few things... in fact any country that de-criminalises it stands to make a whole new industry out of it.

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I have previously mentioned hemp.  Guess no-one knew you could make things from it.

It was used to make ropes for ships back in the days of tall ships.  George Washington

grew it on his farm.

I recently watched a young man make paper from it on a tour of the Burnie Makers

Workshop. Fascinating stuff.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

How can 5 years make such a differnce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness

gotta luv those hypocritical yanks

Hemp was used extensively by the United States during World War II.

Uniforms, canvas, and rope were among the main textiles created from the hemp plant at this time.[108]

Much of the hemp used was cultivated in Kentucky and the Midwest.

During World War II, the U.S. produced a short 1942 film, Hemp for Victory, promoting hemp as a necessary crop to win the war.

Anything for a win

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_for_Victory

The film was made to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort because other industrial fibers, often imported from overseas, were in short supply.

The film shows a history of hemp and hemp products, how hemp is grown, and how hemp is processed into rope, cloth, cordage, and other products.

Before 1989, the film was relatively unknown and the United States Department of Agriculture library and the Library of Congress told[citation needed] all interested parties that no such movie was made by the USDA or any branch of the US government.

Two VHS copies were recovered and donated to the Library of Congress on 19 May 1989 by Mia Farrow, Carl Packard, and Jack Herer.

The only known copy in 1976 was a 3/4" broadcast quality copy of the film that was originally obtained by William Conde in 1976 from a reporter for the Miami Herald and the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church of Jamaica.

It was given in trust that it would be made available to as many as possible.

It was put into the hands of Jack Herer by William Conde during the 1984 OMI (Oregon Marijuana Initiative).

The film 20 years later is now available anywhere on the Internet.

As it was made by the US Government, it is public domain and is freely available for download from the Internet Archive.

[chuk_77]

in the 90's hemp pants were all the rage. My mum wouldnt buy me some. She thought it would be an excuse to smoke them 

there was no telling her, so i went hemp pantless

[icyfroth]

Our gardener always treats weeds to a dose of roundup

[buzzlightyearsgirlfriend]

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@just_me_karen wrote:
I can only guess you've never met anyone suffering from drug induced psychosis?

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Lovely people aren't they?

I find them particularly amusing and personable when they combine pot with alcohol and other drugs. Life of the party. NOT.

[acacia_pycnantha]

I think it's the alcohol and the "other drugs" which cause more of the problems.

That said, I resent that anyone, including the govt, can tell me what I can or cannot ingest.

 It's my body, after all.

[azureline**]

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@acacia_pycnantha wrote:

I think it's the alcohol and the "other drugs" which cause more of the problems.

That said, I resent that anyone, including the govt, can tell me what I can or cannot ingest.

 It's my body, after all.

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yes but that same body may become a liability to the health system or the legal system.

[acacia_pycnantha]

In that case, it's rather irresponsible (or hypocritical?) of the govt to allow the sale of tobacco and alcohol, wouldn't you say?

[acacia_pycnantha]

And it's only a drain on the legal system; on the courts and the prisons because of the law which makes pot illegal..

[buzzlightyearsgirlfriend]

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@acacia_pycnantha wrote:

I think it's the alcohol and the "other drugs" which cause more of the problems.

That said, I resent that anyone, including the govt, can tell me what I can or cannot ingest.

 It's my body, after all.

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So if your significant other told you that what you ingested was a problem and made you act like a tool, a fool or become abusive you would resent that and keep on using/ingesting?

For me it's not about what people use or ingest, it's the behaviour they exhibit and are in denial about. Behaviour that hurts other people. 

Behaviour that hurts themselves and their loved ones or the people they claim to love.

Addictions and substance abuse hurt more people than simply the user or the addict. 

The ripples spread.

It's not just your body you are damaging.

If what you use affects other people you are damaging your relationships with them.

Sometimes forever.