Well, it all depends on how addictive marijuana can be and whether it tends to lead one to making bad decisions, maybe not so much to themselves but to other people.
I agree that alcohol and smoking is worse, and while I drink occasionally, I don't smoke. I certainly have to admit that being drunk can lead a person to do things that they can regret very much, if the person just doesn't care enough being heavily intoxicated. I don't know if weed does, never touched the stuff, but I did know a lot of people in campus that did it and they seemed in control most of the time, so I guess as long as the age limit is reasonable I'd be okay with it being legalized, but I certainly wouldn't want to add another addiction to my collection. I'm already struggling enough with my diet right now as it is, heh.
As for food, well, it's necessary to keep living to eat and drink, Katy, not so much to smoke weed. Sure going out is a risk every day but why take unnecessary risks when you don't have to. I can understand people doing weed to relieve themselves of anxiety or whatever, but there's people who can do without it too. Of that course that applies to alcohol too, so I guess I'd call it a bad vice that I try not to overdo too much. It probably would be better for society as a whole if alcohol wasn't legal, but we all know what happened when the government tried to outlaw it once. Didn't work too well, heh.
here's the bottom line (my opinion)....if it isn't hurting another human being, so be it....let the individual make his personal choice. I want to speak only on behalf of America, since every country has their own culture...
In America, it's a free country. That's what's great about it.
Let an individual make his own choice, as long as it doesn't affect anybody, and we raise the legal age to ensure that those who are taking it, are mature enough to realize the risks and consequences.
This applies for weed, cigarettes, alcohol. I favor raising the legal age to at least 18, but preferably 21.
If second-hand smoke is a problem, have designated smoking areas, that solves it for everyone. The same for weed. If people want to slowly kill themselves, that's a personal choice. It isn't the government's job to meddle with that.
The only difference between weed/cigarettes, and alcohol, is that weed/cigarette does not pose as much of a danger to another human being, than with alcohol.
Try weed for once...it will slow your body to the point where it would be pointless to drive. The point of it is to relax.
With alcohol, I don't understand why people continue to drunk-drive. It's just mind-boggling...despite the law against it, people continue to do it.
This is where weed/cigarettes, in my view, is much safer than alcohol, not in terms of danger to the self, which I think is irrelevant, but more so in terms of how it endangers other people.
Let's not focus on the harm people chooses to inflict on themselves, that's their problem.
Let's focus on the bigger picture....alcohol via drunk-driving is a bigger risk to innocent people, than weed/cigarette accidents.
I have yet to see someone die of an accident caused by a weed/cigarette smoker.
In summary, I am not advocating a ban on alcohol, weed, cigarettes. I say it's a personal choice. Let's minimize the dangers it pose on innocents. But if we are to be fair, let's not stigmatize weed/cigarette smoking, because alcohol is just as bad, if not, worse.
And just to be clear...hardcore drugs (i.e. cocaine, heroin, etc.) needs to be treated as a separate issue.
That is something that I advocate a ban for, for the simple fact that it is the root cause of criminal activity (i.e. theft, murder, smuggling, prostitution, etc.). These severely lethal drugs
actually poses harm on innocents, and therefore needs to be banned altogether.
