Legalize it!

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by GhettoDogAllStars

Schneed, I can tell you from experience that it does in fact affect your lungs (no real surprise there). Since I have reduced the frequency with which I smoke, I have noticed a difference. There was a time when I couldn't play intense basketball for more than 10 minutes, without feeling like I was suffocating. Although, that could be related to smoking tobacco for 6 years -- even though I have been a non-smoker for about 4 years now.

That said, I still don't think it should be illegal. I think I deserve the right to do to my body as I wish. It frustrates me that other people think they have the authority to grant, or deny, me that right.

If the only adverse affects are related to inhaling the smoke, how do you feel about eating it? Many of the same benefits can be received through eating it, without many, if any, of the costs. Would you be opposed to the legalization of cannabis pills?

I guess what I'm saying is that I concede that my argument for keeping it illegal isn't all that strong. There are some objective reasons for it which I still believe strongly in keeping it illegal (and I won't rehash because I've expressed them already). But there are strong arguments in favor of legalizing it, the biggest of which is that people should be free to eff themselves up if they want to, which I actually buy into. If you want to make a bad decision regarding how to treat your body, you should be free to do so. I think the affect of legalizing will be deleterious to our youth. Us adults, we'll be just fine. But it's the kids I'd worry about with the increased accessibility to pot.

But mainly at this point, I've moved on to expressing my subjective and personal distaste for marijuana and those who smoke it. I agree that you should be free to make decisions regarding your own body (to the extent it doesn't affect others). But I also feel that if you're going to make bad decisions regarding your health, you should be prepared to deal with uppity people like me who consider you an idiot for doing so. Freedom is a two-way street; if you're free to decide to smoke pot, others should be free to look at you with derision, voice their opinions, and shake their heads in disgust.