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...

[Anonymous]

of course it should.

- how can a plant can be against the law? nature is against the law?

if anything should be illegal it should be alcohol. that is the worst drug going and it is perfectably acceptable in a lot of countries, and especially in ours.

[love*today]

This is what I don't get.....people lots of people smoke dope. The fact that it's illegal doesn't stop them and never will. So where's the harm in making it legal?
Do people really believe it's a gateway drug?!!?! Lol
Or do the people that are against it think it's a big nasty drug?!?!

Bloody hell, I remember back in my younger days busting my teachers smoking it, blew me away that a teacher would smoke it lol....know I know and meet people of ALL life standards that smoke dope......even my uptight snooty nosed **bleep** aunt!

[colic2bullsgirlore]

I don't think it's attitude I think it's a wiring problem...it's all in the dope...amine

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When a person takes an addictive drug — whether it be nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine — chemicals travel swiftly through the blood stream into certain key brain regions known as the reward system, which regulates our ability to feel pleasure. With drug use, the circuitry of this system becomes flooded with dopamine. This brain chemical, or neurotransmitter, activates specific sites on brain cells called receptors to increase pleasure and reward. Over time, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine by decreasing the number of dopamine receptors and the overall amount of dopamine in the brain.

Users must then consume more and more of the drug to achieve the same “high.”

Disruption to the brain’s reward system is only part of the reason why drug addictions are so difficult to overcome and why relapses can occur even after years of abstinence.

Neuroscientists discovered drugs also alter connections in brain circuits that govern learning and memory,

causing the formation of strong associations between the drug’s pleasurable sensation and the circumstances

under which it was taken.

http://www.brainfacts.org/diseases-disorders/addiction/articles/2011/addiction-and-brain-circuits/

[Anonymous]

[love*today]

Lol high fives that one duff!

You,d think all the PC people would be behind this because it would take all the dealers out of business....oh hang on, forgot....they all think if it's illegal then it doesn't happen!

[imastawka]

                                       

[the_great_she_elephant]

Well, somebody had to do it.

[love*today]

Lol stawka! Best game EVER!!

[just_me_karen]

I think research supports your point of view, patchoo, however it's not something that can be easily tested. Who knows how many people have a lurking mental health issue just waiting to be triggered.

If the govt legalises it, they're validating it and it will simply increase the number of people who'll try it. After all, if the govt says its ok, it must be. They are our leaders and their attitudes, whether we like them or not, follow the leadership. Look at the asylum seeker issue for example,

I'd much prefer to see programs similar to the anti smoking and drink driiving campaigns, that de-cool it. There are far too many young people in gaols for drug related crimes...and far too many young people who actually become druggies AFTER they're incarcerated...mostly due to the cool factor and easy availability (tennis balls full of drugs routinely thrown over fences lol).

[Anonymous]

lol. Bill and Ben!