reddude333 said:
I would agree with Joey regarding the legality factor. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't smoke weed regardless of its legality but the fact of the matter is, I haven't even considered doing it because I know its illegal. Just like I don't drink alcohol on the primary basis of that I am underage. I realize this isn't the crux of his argument but it is quite a valid point.
I'm in two minds about this and always have been. Weed is no better or worse than alcohol really. So why ban it and not alcohol? It doesn't make much sense.
If you've ever bought drugs, you'll know it can be a pretty horrendous experience. You're breaking the law, which means you're dealing with criminals. These people are drug dealers and you certainly come across exactly what you'd expect at times. Sleazy, nasty people with guns and secret knocks on the lookout for police and rivals. Even removed from it (I don't buy any more and haven't for years, but I bought off friends and family because I hated it), you still know it goes on.
It's stupid for the kind of people who buy weed. They tend to be younger people after a bit of fun, or people who just use it occasionally for relaxation or a social setting. They're not hardcore drug addicts who rob the neighbourhood to get a fix. Quite often they're relatively clean cut people. It seems at odds to throw them into the sleazy underworld.
Only we know it's illegal, and therefore there are risks associated.
Personally, I think a lax approach (maybe decriminalisation) is required. It's pretty harmless and there's very little (if any) direct harm caused by potheads generally (certainly it costs considerably less to police than drinking). However, I don't think it should be legalised completely. It's a harmful substance and legalisation encourages the use of that. Not only is it physically harmful, but it's mentally an issue for people too. Not everyone has the ability to cope with pot use.
Joey said:
To some extent no, because everything is a learnt experience. But the sheer popularity of alcohol worldwide is ridiculous. As is the same with music. I just do not believe that as many people give a **** as they let on, or think they do. I just think it's too fishy.
Some things aren't a learnt experience though. Some things you just enjoy and know immediately that you enjoy it. I didn't learn to enjoy sex, I did it once and liked it right away. Music is a different thing, but the music I adore, I really adore and it's completely subconscious. I know I have a "taste" and that certain music (whether I find it for myself or are presented with it) I'll just love right away without thought.
The thing is, we must have an innate leaning towards something that gives us pleasure and that probably is absorbed as we grow. However it's utterly subconscious and not something we have any control over. Again, just because you don't experience something doesn't mean that somebody else doesn't experience a genuine emotional reaction to something (be it sport, music, driving a car, religious ceremony, looking at art, swimming, just whatever).
It's proven that the reaction to alcohol is 100% physiological. It's not learned and it's not an inherited trait. It's also been proven that the way we act when drinking alcohol IS a learned trait. This is why French and German drinkers are much better company than UK and US drinkers. They are taught a more respectful attitude towards drinking and how to behave when drunk. So it's a mix of things, and while we have a piss poor attitude to drinking here, it's not the alcohol's reaction that it the issue, but our mentality. If we can somehow make alcohol drinking "mature", to be used as a natural way of relaxing and taking pleasure from a substance then it's not an issue. I agree though that generally it's a bad thing at the moment in the areas most of us will move in.
Weed is definitely physiological. We have very specific THC connectors in our brain that we've evolved with that react specifically to weed. Whether it's a good thing or not, there was certainly a link in our evolutionary past to humans and pot.