I am writing this letter in concern over the consideration of legalizing and taxing marijuana in Oregon. I must say that I am having trouble finding information regarding this subject but I know that the vote is taking place in 2010. The citizens of Central Oregon deserve to be informed of this so they can vote and express their opinion.
Legalizing and taxing marijuana would stimulate the economy as it is the number one cash crop already in the U.S. The plan states that marijuana would be sold by vendors to those old enough to drink. So I say it’s time to legalize the herb! What the hell is wrong with puffin’ a little smoke and feelin’ good for a while? And not to mention marijuana can be used for other purposes.
Bottom line: if legalizing marijuana can save the dying economy in a huge way, produce fabrics, medicines and get you high without all the negative effects that every other drug has, why not give it a chance? There are bad drugs and good drugs (such as aspirin) and marijuana should be viewed as a good drug. I would really appreciate an article explaining the issue of marijuana legalization in Oregon because it’s a very controversial subject that must be talked about.
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2009.
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My friend, you may be one of the many pot users.
I would like to share the last 40 years of observation and statistics.
1) The number one reason that people in a local prison give for starting down a bad road is the occasional use of Marijuana. These people started with pot then moved on to other things for a larger high. Source: My wife counsels people in the prison system and deals with substance abuse.
2) Marijuana does effect the performance of drivers on the road. Source Oregon State Police.
3) Marijuana does effect the mental health of long time occasional users. Source: US Department of Health.
4) Legalizing Marijuana could increase gang influence over minors because they would now have a legal way to get it and then distribute it illegally to minors.
5) Organized crime would become the largest legal distributor.
Over the years I have heard the arguement to “Make Marijuana Legal” from many friends. Those friends that have used pot for the last 25 years are a shadow of the people they use to be. They speak slowly, forget what they are saying and usually are not able to hold a job (Not because of drug testing but because they cannot perform). The are in poor health and have been for years. I have never seen a good long term result for Pot or Marijuana use. Even the medical pain relief use is questionable as there are several other drugs that can meet the need.
I am completely against the legalized use and distribution of Marijuana as it hurts people, including many that are my friends.
What the hell is wrong with puffinรข โข a little smoke and feelinรข โข good for a while? – It changes you, alters you actions, your person. Same reason you shouldn’t sit down and drink a six pack every night. Anything mind altering, be it alcohol, prescription drugs, pot รข ” itรข โขs all bad for your mind when misused. Youรข โขre a better person without it. Over use changes your brain make up, and just about everyone who smokes pot over uses it. So many people say pot has no side effects, there wrong. You wake up with a hangover just like anything else, have a foggy/forgetful mind, and over eat. You smoke a bowl and justify sitting on your couch all day watching TV. It takes away from life, it doesn’t enhance it. Itรข โขs too bad people can’t be addicted to hard work, because the high you get after accomplishing goals, and pushing yourself, is a better high than any drug.
The anti-marijuana comments listed above are sadly reflective of what this country is and not what it should be. In “the land of the free” one would suppose that you are free to “purse happiness” in whatever way you wish (barring impinging on others ability to do so). If I choose to “smoke a bowl, and watch TV all day” that is my choice and is reflective of who I am and what I value. I cannot see how one can be so self-righteous that they must force their beliefs on others, it is un-American (or maybe it is).
If you hold the belief that smoking pot makes you stupid or lazy than you probably wont smoke pot. All the better for you if it is legalized and taxed – you will benefit of the “bad” choices of others. All while not infringing on peoples right to choose what they do with their money and time. You should also be glad that habitual marijuana use lowers sperm count. That’s natural selection in action! If you think Marijuana is bad, you should try to get as many of the fools who use it to do so as much as possible, in hopes that their lineages will be cut off. To me legalizing it all makes perfect sense.
Furthermore, decriminalizing marijuana means that regular law abiding individuals may partake without the necessary association with the criminal underworld. Imagine if tobacco and alcohol were illegal. I’m 100% positive that they would still be available, albeit more difficult and dangerous to acquire. Prohibiting a product that there is clearly a demand for heightens their appeal and sets up an “us against them” mentality that is the basis for crime and violence. The real issue here isn’t liberty or freedom, it is control. The anti pot advocates are afraid that their opinion is a minority and that if marijuana is legalized, our culture will deteriorate into a seedy lethargic cesspool. And this belief isnรข โขt unjustified. Look at all the alcoholism and other addictions in this country. Legalizing marijuana may create more users, but an addict is an addict and will fill their addiction with something. So if as a country we are okay with benefiting off of someoneรข โขs alcohol addiction or nicotine addiction, why is it so many of us are against marijuana.
รข Business manรข โขsรข ย says that marijuana รข effects performance of drivers on the road.รข ย Well so does alcohol but that is legal. รข business manรข ย says that many of his friends have suffered ill effects from habitual marijuana usage, and is (presumably) so full of pity that he would rather restrict their liberties and right to choose than let them decide on their own. I think that that is very condescending. It also points out the fact that even though prohibited – pot is still extremely accessible. So if people in our society choose to make these choices and do so despite our governments attempts to stop them, I say why shouldnรข โขt we prophet off of them? Clearly marijuana prohibition isnรข โขt working, so why not swim with the current and not waste valuable resources fighting against it?
Legalizing pot is INSANITY. Pot has so many health risks, developmental issues, cognitive set backs in the function of the brain, long term mental retardation and many more.
In addition until the police can pull you over and do a test to measure when you last smoked pot and can measure if it is toxic and has affected your driving it is insane to legalize it and tax it.
The taxing issue is flawed as when it is legalized, then the cost of a ounce will drop down to 30 bucks, hence not produce the revenue anticipated. Further it is going to cost society a lot more in treatments, health issues and permanent costs than the tax revenue will ever generate. The argument is essentially legalizing alcohol again as to have two alcohols.
Marijuana Syndrome is a book written by some of the best researchers and when you are done reading this book you will never hold a joint or bong to your mouth ever again. It is frightening.
I know of 55 year olds in Bend that have smoked dope their whole lives and are today as mentally challenged as they were when they were 14 as their brains stopped growing. They act like children and have never developed into adults in their mental capacities.
Make it as illegal as meth and heroin. The argument that it is natural is BS. as is Opium and Coca. We do not see them legalized because they are natural. Nor do they sell mescaline caps in stores either and they are also natural.
Finally why use drugs at all? Why drink at all? If you have to have a drug or a drink to feel good, then there is something wrong with you as a person.
Let Oregon become some neutral zone for stoners and you will see most big companies bail out of here in the truck load.
Finally what about my rights to work in a safe place without some bozo smoking the devils lettuce and act like a moron? What about my right to drive on safe roads and not get hit by some dirtbag smoking out of his bong rather than paying attention to where he is driving? Where are my rights? To say the stoners are to have more rights than a non stoner is INSANE.
You people wanting it to be legalize know there are plenty of drug treatment centers that can get you off of the pot.
IN this process take away all of the medical marijuana cards from people and criminalize it even more. Make someone caught with an ounce do a year in prison. This will get the message across that we in Oregon do NOT condone drug use.
This would be all well and good if we would take ownership of our vices, but we don’t, much less a stoner. How many potheads do you know who take responsibility for their actions? Then would come the class actions, “Dude, I didn’t know pot was eating my brain, I should get some kind of cash or something cuz no one told me.”
And the whole “and tax it” sentiment is just an appeal to the non smokers as if the tax would even make a dent in the regulatory, healthcare, and legal costs, let alone put any extra coin in the coffers. So your bottom line really is more like a bottomless pit.
I think that the “captain” has some good points. but I don’t think that anyone is saying that if marijuana is legalized it would be alright to smoke while at work or while driving. Once again, alcohol effects your ability to work and drive yet it is still legal to purchase and consume – just not while doing those things! The same would go for marijuana.
The issue here isn’t the negative effects of marijuana on a persons mind or body, but the right of that mind to choose to do what it wants to that body. I get the feeling that nobody wants to argue that topic because they know that infringing on anothers right to pursue happiness is anti-American!
Oregon is already considered the ‘Legal Pot’ state anyway. Unless you are caught with large amounts i.e. over an ounce, nothing happens to you. So the state is already and getting fuller by the minute from pot heads across the country. I’ve many people that moved to Oregon simply because of the pot here. They wanted to get involved with growing/selling and just smoking pot all day every day. Oregon is perfect…tons of killer herb, very little laws in effect in case you get busted, and with an already weak economy and jobless state, it’s perfect for the stoner that doesn’t like to workand sit around getting high all day. I say make Oregon the Amsterdam of the US. Legalize it and give us a place in the US where it’s safe to go blaze our brain cells out of our minds. Fast Food will rise in demand, Oregon will become the new ‘fattest’ state of the country, and more jobs will open with high demand of fast food.
The only difference is who takes your money. Drug and alcohol abuse will damage a person. Whether it’s legal or not. Legalizing marijuana isn’t about forcing everyone to smoke pounds of weed. It’s about choice. If I have a problem sleeping or having anxiety attacks I can go to the doctor to get a xanax prescription. The feds, doctors, and big pharma have no problem with it. However, if I smoke some Marijuana a couple nights a week I’m a criminal. I have a hard time believing that the prescription medication is less damaging than Marijuana. There’s just alot more power and money behind the pharmaceutical industry.
The taxation argument is a weak one because, as written, once the prohibition ends, supply increases and prices drop. Basic rule of economics. It may be the ‘number one cash crop’ today but that is because it is forced to be that way.
But we have to look at the wasted money costs of the so-called War On Drugs.
Since Nixon’s pronouncement in 1969, we have spent over a trillion dollars on the war. Today drugs are stronger, cheaper, and more widely available than ever.
This year the government–Federal and States–will spend $50 billion to fight drugs.
Two million people are in prison. Fifty percent of Federal prisoners are there for drug related crimes and 20% of state prisoners sentences are for drug related offenses.
It costs about $450,000 to put a drug dealer behind bars.
There are 250,000 cases of drug-related HIV/AIDS in the US.
Efforts to destroy the supplies of Coca and Opium have had the opposite effect–reduced supplies led to higher prices, increased violence, and a required greater effort to fight the war.
The vested interests in continuing the war are governmental–prison guard unions, the prison industry, and others who reap benefits from the war.
The only effective means of dealing with the problem is counseling and treatment–always the least funded, first to be cut, and most widely denigrated. Yet the prison recidivism rate in this country is the highest anywhere–we believe in punishment and no rehabilitation. Our prisons are universities of crime and the petty criminals who survive it and get out are hardened, cynical, and incapable or rejoining a civilized society that is all too willing and anxious to turn its back on them.
Gee, a complex problem that defies simplistic solutions!!
Captain Justice writes that ‘Legalizing pot is insanity!!’ Meanwhile, as most of the insane do, as a society we will continue doing what we have always done and expect different results.
Why smoke that stuff at all? Give me one good reason. If you have to smoke it to mellow out, relax, be happy, take away the stress, then try healthy food, exercise and get a hobby.