Would legalizing marijuana help the economy?

Decay of society?? The black market is like the 5th largest industry in the world.....the criminalization of drug usage is it's largest contributor. The decay of society began when government started to rule our choices.

Decay of society? As you might know, the Dutch have the most "tolerant" look at grass and hashish. (Partially) because of that, we have about the lowest drug addicts number in the world (18000 addicts on Heroine/Cocaine in 2009 over the whole country). Also partially because of that (and good education on Drugs) drugs like Crystal meth, crack, Methamphetamine's and Opium never got ground in Holland. I know how to get my hands on almost any kind of drugs here in my city. LSD, Pot, Heroine, Coke etc etc but things like i just mentioned aren't even for sale here.

what about the decay of your face? yeah what now! damn im good

Everyone knows it. Make chattel companies like the wineries. Leave the crap to the large companies and leave the good, specialized stuff to the families and independants, just like the cigars and wines.
Trouble is, when trying to vote it in, the opposition (and they are many) are the illegal growers and dealers. They claim it would ruin their thriving business as it now stands. They are the ones that voted against legalizing it in California as I recall.
Druglords don't think they can make the transition into a legalized practice.
Maybe instead of busting them and locking them up, maybe we should get them business management courses.

This is the plan that will ultimately work.

until everyone is so doped up, they can't handle a job nor pay taxes...

Lol- propaganda from the 40s wow-

Times sure have changed. ;)

I know- marijuana has been shown to be harmless

Now, if we can just get alcohol declared illegal...

It was in the 20s- they decided to re-legalize it because the prohibition of alcohol led to illegal trafficking and mob violence- much like what marijuana is doing

I was thinking more in the terms of health and traffic accidents...

We have laws for that- really prohibition never works- it just causes more crime and violence- if people want it they will get it- so prohibition wouldn't lower drunk driving accidents or health risks

Prohibition has been shown not to work.Besides,in this nation I am pretty sure the drug of choice is and will always be beer.

Uses as textiles and fuels are among many reasons this should be considered. Even Monsantos could benefit by monopolizing the sale of seed. It's a win win!

License and tax it- deficit solved

Buy it and smoke it.

and make it go through fda, safer

I think it would.Then it would be taxable. It would create jobs.Alot of people could be let out of prison.

Then people would be spending tones of money on pot and go into financial ruin.

That may be true but people also pay a lot of money per month on cigarettes and alcohol.

And we need to add something? No we don't IMO.

People are already spending a lot of money on it. I don't think much would change if it were legalized.

It would be worse. Just like smoking is so expensive. Smoking pot would be too.

So you think that people who don't smoke pot now would run out and spend half of their income on pot if it were made legal tomorrow?

People waste money on all kinds of things they don't need.

Gambling
Coffee
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Chocolate
Tanning salons
Fast food
Junk food

Should we make all of these things against the law because it is not needed and it is wasted money or bad for you?

My point, if pot were legal, some would smoke it, others would not. Just like many people choose not to smoke cigarettes, gamble or drink alcohol.

Ok, let's get off the financial issues of smoking pot. What about the health issues? It is not healthy and is addictive. Many begin using other drugs after smoking pot. That is a fact. I just don't need it. Why on earth would you try to convince me that smoking pot is no big deal? It is IMO. Let's just leave it at agreeing to disagree. Because neither of us are going to change our minds.

It is not physically addictive(no physical withdrawl symptons like cocain, heroin and alcohol) Most people who become addicted to the harder drugs probably started by smoking cigarettes, swiping some booze from their parents liquor cabinet before they even tried pot. Smoking pot is not good for your health that is for sure, but it is not physically addictive like alcohol is and it is not a gateway drug..no matter what the government tells you.
The funny thing is...I don't even smoke pot. I have not touched it in 15 years and I have no plans to smoke it again.

Where do you get this? People that smoke it now would be paying a little less for it and people who don't won't be paying for it at all-

That's not necessarily true.

How do you figure? Medical marijuana is $30 an 1/8 ounce- the same quality marijuana on the street is $30 a gram- if you don't know weights and measures it costs 3 times as much to buy on the streets than from a dispensary and if you don't use it why would you start?

Ok, whatever. Here is where I'm coming from:

So it's ok to drink alcohol but not smoke pot? You can smoke tobacco but not pot? - you can say no to whatever you want but when something is shown as harmless and is less dangerous than drugs that are currently legal and you can't justify it being illegal then it should be legal

I agree. Which is why we don't need more.

What? If you agree then it should be legalized and all the innocent people in prison for non violent victimless crimes should be released- what we don't need are stupid laws based on propaganda and racism- the availability of drugs does not effect who uses them- the most widely abused drugs are prescription pain killers that people become addicted to by prescription from their doctors not illegal drugs- also if something is made legal then all the illegal activity that goes into illegal drugs is eliminated- such as robberies, murder to get illegal drugs into the country, not to mention the people that are killed in turf warfare to maintain areas to distribute drugs- then when you consider that once it's legal it is taxed and licensed it becomes a valuable cash crop as it was meant to be

I can't even believe people try to defend legalization of pot. Seems so silly to me. But go head! Have at it.

idk but they should still do i t:)

Tax it.

u cant tax something that grows it impossable you dont have taxes on plants duh

tobacco is a plant and it is taxed.

well it doesnt make any scence