Well, Eks, as far as I can tell, you haven't made too many points aside from the fact that marijuana is only psychologically addictive. That is true, however, psychological addiction is just as powerful as physical addiction. It is simply different.
As for whose business it is, not mine. Yes, you are 100% correct. If you read my post, I'm simply explaining why marijuana will never be legal. If it were up to me, I wouldn't care. I'm not for or against marijuana legalization, it doesn't effect me, so I don't care one way or the other. I mean, I'd love to have legal marijuana taxed and have that extra money in the system, but I also know that when you make something legal it is a given that more people will do it. Believe it or not, there is a significant population that will actually not do something because it is illegal, so you can count on more users if it ever does become legal. More tax money, but I'm not so sure more pot smokers are actually good for the country. As you pointed out, though, it's really not my concern.
The reason I hate marijuana legalization advocates is because they pull ridiculous arguments out. They'll tell you about the medicinal value of marijuana, they'll show you 5,000 uses for hemp....it's all BS. I'd have a lot more respect for people if they just came out and said, "I like it, it doesn't hurt you, so why not?" That's really all the argument that is necessary.
I do know that the US is only 300 years old and that laws can be changed. They were changed. I assume you're familiar with the 18th and 21st amendments to the Constitution. They are the strongest arguments against legalization of marijuana. No matter which side of the argument you are on, the truth of the matter is nobody is 100% certain what would occur if marijuana was to be legalized. We can guess, but nobody really knows. What we do know, however, is once something is legal and people get used to having it, it is very difficult to make it illegal again. Especially with an addictive drug (yeah, yeah, it's only psychologically addictive, so let's just say we have psychological addicts if it makes you feel better) when its users will pursue illegal means to obtain it if it becomes illegal again, just like they did with alcohol. So people are afraid to try legalization because they know that if it turns out to be a very bad idea, it's very difficult to put the demons back into Pandora's box.
Fine, not everybody strives to be a Fortune 500 executive. That was merely an allegory for success. Marijuana definitely reduces ambition and the desire to work hard. It makes you lazy, we all know that. If that's what you want to do, it's find with me, I don't care. I'm just saying it's a good reason not to do it. I'm sure you can point to a million people who are successes and smoke pot, but there are 50 million more who are at home watching Two and a Half Men, eating Twinkies, and listening to Phish. Actually, I think bands like Phish and Widespread Panic are the best reasons on earth to impose the death penalty on marijuana users, but that's neither here nor there.
Interesting point that many executives use cocaine. I don't doubt you on that. The difference is, drugs like cocaine and meth actually make you go out and achieve instead of stay home and do nothing. Does that make them better drugs? Of course not, we all know they are much worse. But that's where lines can blur and it can be difficult to say something is bad and something else is not. Therefore, if marijuana becomes legal, why not cocaine? Why not crystal meth? At least then I'd be able to buy real Sudafed when I have a cold and not get hassled.
As a final note, I'd like to share a hidden danger of marijuana with its users. While no causal effect has been officially proven, there seems to be a strong correlation with marijuana and depression. Also, it can be a trigger for schizophrenia and other forms of generalized psychosis. If you have ever known anybody who has suffered from severe mental illness, you know that there is absolutely nothing more debilitating. Even addiction can be overcome, but the reality is that a great deal of mental illness can never be cured or even effectively treated...we don't even have names for a lot of it yet. People tend to pay great attention to their physical health but ignore mental health. If you ever lose your mental health, you will realize how important it was to have, or at least the people around you will. I recently lost a close friend to severe mental illness which was triggered by taking the pure pharmaceutical version of GHB prescribed by a competent physician to treat narcolepsy. Even under these controlled circumstances, the trigger in his brain still went off. So no matter what you do, please, please be careful with your mental health.
By the way, did you know that if you take ecstasy more than 8 times, you are pretty much 100% guaranteed to suffer a major depressive episode later in life? Be careful out there. There are tons of lies the government will tell you to keep you off drugs for sure, but there are even more lies the drug dealers will tell you for you to keep them on your payroll. Just be smart and make good decisions, you know what is right for you and what you can handle.
