Should Recreational Marijuana Be Legalized?

[edwest]

CBD oil has been researched in the US by the FDA but there are still risks.

"Due to the lack of FDA regulation for most CBD products, seek advice from a medical professional before determining the best dosage.

"As regulation in the U.S. increases, more specific dosages and prescriptions will start to emerge.

“After discussing dosages and risks with a doctor, and researching regional local laws, it is important to compare different brands of CBD oil.”

 

[blackforest]

Organized crime is also really loving the illegal drug trade. They will unfortunately always have, (or develop), a niche.

Regarding your article, legalized alcohol is also bad for highway safety. Where does prohibition begin and end?

 

[edwest]

There is no reason to obey a law legalizing ‘recreational marijuana.’

 

[Canvas]

yes, and marijuana has very different effects on the user than alcohol, even when one is under the influence. In fact, it can be argued, in the short term a person under the influence of marijuana is less likely to cause harm than one under the influence of alcohol or many other intoxicants.

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

There is no reason to obey a law legalizing ‘recreational marijuana.’

How are you going to disobey a law legalizing marijuana use? Are you going to turn vigilante and start locking people up in your basement?

You do realize that laws legalizing marijuana don’t mandate that you start using it, right? Like if you have no interest or feel it’s wrong you’re perfectly free to simply abstain.

 

[edwest]

I will continue to remind people that ‘recreational marijuana’ use is wrong and harmful.

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

For sure. You’re obviously free to give your two cents, just like people are free to ignore you.

 

[Carmelite1983]

As a massive pothead for 17 years of my life, I can honestly say my life is better without it, even in moderation.

Never thought I’d ever say that, but after lots of prayer and a commitment to be as holy as I can, I definitely felt a push towards stopping.

And it wasn’t begrudgingly, I honestly couldn’t wait to be done so I could give all my glory to Him.

The ways my life is better without it far exceed the excuses to use it.

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

I’m glad you quit; it sounds like it was a real impediment to you. I don’t think anyone is arguing that there aren’t people who should avoid it. Just that there are people for whom it’s a relatively harmless indulgence instead of a major stumbling block.

For example, I like having a cocktail in the evening. I almost never go past one, and I don’t have any kind of problematic relationship with alcohol. Now, if I often drank more than I meant to, or came from a family with a history of alcoholism, that nightly cocktail might be a real moral hazard. As it is, not so much.

 

[edwest]

Relatively harmless is inaccurate.

https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/index.htm

 

[BoomBoomMancini]

You either haven’t been reading what I’ve written or you didn’t read your own link. Most of the health effects it cites reference chronic use (which no one is advocating) or use by people whose brains are still developing (again, which no one is advocating.)

And sure, weed carries with it some potential negative effects. Just like alcohol, or an extra large pizza. I’m not saying “everyone should smoke weed all the time.” I’m saying adults should get to weigh those effects for themselves.

 

[edwest]

The FDA should weigh the evidence as it does for any drug. In this case, it’s simply being released into the wild.

 

[GEddie]

The problem with comparing weed to alcohol is that our LORD Himself used it, therefore, it cannot be wrong. We cannot improve upon Him.

Unlike alcohol, we need to seriously weigh what benefit to anybody there is in non-medical marijuana. It’s not automatically defensible.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Shakuhachi]

Cigarettes also.

 

[Carmelite1983]

Not disagreeing with you.
In fact I’d be fine if it were legal.
I just think it gets in the way of our path to holiness (At least my path).
I would’ve never thought this a year ago. Thought it was completely harmless. I still think it’s more harmless than alcohol, cigarettes, and even aspirin.
Still doesn’t make it morally okay in my book.

And I can’t say it impeded me a lot, I still held an important job, and raised my family pretty well.
I just know that the more I prayed the Rosary every day and the more I went to mass as required, the more I felt compelled to quit.

I’m happier because I feel more complete, more like who I am meant to be.
Not because “well weeds bad I guess.”

 

[poche]

The question I had is not so much whether marijuana is sinful. Rather it is how do we live our lives if/when we ,live in a society with an economy that has an interest in marijuana as an important part of its economic well being?

 

[poche]

Does anybody think it would be morally acceptable to sell marijuana? How about working in a business that sold marijuana?

 

[ATraveller]

Smell is hardly a reason to make something illegal, or we would have banned a lot of things. Also this argument does nothing to CBD oil.

Originally, I wasn’t making an argument against legalisation with that. I was merely responding to a post, which wasn’t even about CBD.

But now I realize legalizing it means it makes it more socially acceptable.

If I were making an argument in that post, I would point out how recreational pot has been shown to induce mental illness. It isn’t a mere correlation at this point. There’s also robust evidence THC has teratogenic effects.

 

[leonhardprintz]

Originally, I wasn’t making an argument against legalisation with that. I was merely responding to a post, which wasn’t even about CBD.

But now I realize legalizing it means it makes it more socially acceptable.

If I were making an argument in that post, I would point out how recreational pot has been shown to induce mental illness. It isn’t a mere correlation at this point. There’s also robust evidence THC has teratogenic effects.

There aren’t enough studies to properly show what the direction of causality is for the correlation. Whether its because the drug itself can induce paranoia, or depression, or whether its because depressed people will tend to self-medicate (which is what it appears to me in my limited knowledge).

Its also particularly hard because any study based on studies of populations alone, will be seeing a mixed result due to the strength of THC varrying strongly between various sorts of pot. And that most pot has seen a very strong rise in the amount of THC content, while the CBD content has been lowered.

There’s a profound lack of study of whether it was because of a low CBD content that modern pot is so dangerous. I believe this question deserves to be studied, so we can find it out. Until then I don’t believe modern pot should be legal.

I do believe that CBD oil should be legal. There aren’t any good arguments to be made against it and its already becoming legal in a lot of countries. Denmark being one among them. And I’ve seen it being used to good effect by a lot of people.

 

[ATraveller]

There aren’t enough studies to properly show what the direction of causality is for the correlation. Whether its because the drug itself can induce paranoia, or depression, or whether its because depressed people will tend to self-medicate (which is what it appears to me in my limited knowledge).

But that body of science is growing with the examination and testing of proposed biochemical pathways and it’s pointing towards THC causing illness.

And that most pot has seen a very strong rise in the amount of THC content, while the CBD content has been lowered.

Because recreational legalization isn’t about medicine, it’s about getting high.

I do believe that CBD oil should be legal.

This isn’t what most people have in mind for recreation. It’s inhalation and consumption of the plant rather than an isolate of one particular compound. I’m neutral on CBD legalization. CBD isn’t the compound that persuades me to be against legalization. It’s the hallucinogenic ones, THC being the most prominent.