Alcohol as an Example for Making Marijuana Legal

ok ppl will never stop drinking even if weed is legal second if weed became legal kids would still use it ex alcohol and ciggerettes

Offering a safer alternative to Alchohol seems to be a sound stragity. Offering it as a comparative only brings to mind alcohol's evil side. Then people conjure up all the "reefer madness" they have heard in their lives and wiegh the 2 on mental scales. They then come to the conclusion - Yes alcohol IS bad - so do we ever want to legalize something on a "low" par with it? Difficult.

The debate, which is held in Washington and Colorado at the same time, wherein pro-legalization group members have submitted enough signatures in order to acquire a position on the ballot, is based on the notion that marijuana became popular, and known to average voters.

Now thats great but what about the article prior to this?[/QUOTE]Scott Gesler, the Secretary of Colorado State, proclaimed that a projected ballot evaluation to make marijuana utilization legal will require line-by-line evaluation in order to prove the legitimacy of every signature.Advocates of the marijuana legalization proposal 30 amassed 163,598 signatures in January, but the office of the Secretary of State states that signatures’ random sample demonstrated that only approximately 50% of these signatures were legitimate. The state law of Colorado needs that signatures’ random sample meet a specific maximum of legitimacy or it sets off an automatic evaluation.The initiative needed no more than 86,105 signatures in order to be included in the ballot, but the Secretary of State office has to evaluate and confirm every signature on or before February 3, 2012.[QUOTE] As far as I can see the Colorado state government will fight this down to the last hour.

but there would be less gang violence and whatever else shit comes with selling blackmarket... if its legal we can get the government to go after the real criminals.... i would like my tax dollars battleing meth and cocaine..... not feeding hippies in prison.

The point isn't to make people stop drinking, its to open eyes to how dangerous alcohol is and how idiotic it is to keep herb illegal.

so let them have it then, better to be stoned laying around the house thah sneaking out drinking and driving and passing out only god know where. GO HOME!......GET STONED!!!

well even if it is made legal and controlled like alcohol yes teens will still get there hands on it just as they do alcohol.However it would be a good control measure, In today's world it is easier for teenagers to get a hold of weed than alcohol simply because the dealer down the block doesn't care what age he is.I also didn't read anywhere that it said it would replace alcohol,but it is a great social alternative.I don't drink very often and personally think making possession legal is exactly what we need.Perhaps it will be the motivation needed for out nation to chill the fuck out.

well even if it is made legal and controlled like alcohol yes teens will still get there hands on it just as they do alcohol.However it would be a good control measure, In today's world it is easier for teenagers to get a hold of weed than alcohol simply because the dealer down the block doesn't care what age he is.I also didn't read anywhere that it said it would replace alcohol,but it is a great social alternative.I don't drink very often and personally think making possession legal is exactly what we need.Perhaps it will be the motivation needed for out nation to chill the fuck out!!!!

Crap. It is called Regulate marijuana like Alcohol. It aims to tax and regulate it like alcohol. Good and bad. Good because there will be freer access; bad because of the surrounding regulations/legislation. For example, the average DUI is what $8k-$15k? Now with a tax and regulate like alcohol schism you have the option by the cop who pulls you over to piss you and oh pop! DUI for up to 3-30 days after the last joint is smoked. Makes a lot of money and a new criminal, the cannabis user vs. cannabis. There will still be a black market. As long as there are people who grow as a hobby. Cannabis is already taxed and regulated like alcohol here in CO, read the legal code concerning the manufacture/distribution of alcohol and draw the parallels in the MMC code. Nearly identical, down to the creation of the AED and MMED. What the people want is DECRIMINALIZATION not "Tax and Regulate like Alcohol." However, in their infinite ignorance the people (I did not sign that petition) are asking the State to create a new food for the the "justice" system, to sustain the new jail and justice center being built in Denver by saying regulate (criminalize) us harder from more angles current legislation is possession by 21 and up less than 1 oz $146 fine, want free access? Get a Red Card $75 and you will be buying legal weed in an MMC today while we watch of course. I have a lot more but Ill stop there. DECRIMINALIZE not "Tax and regulate like alcohol"

this is great. i mean whats easier for teenagers to get? alcohol or marijuana? marijuana, this is because a shady dealer will sell to anyone but a cashier can only sell to people 21 . Also why should alcohol be legal and marijuana not? because its more "popular"? No! what is legal what is illegal should all be based on annual death rate of the substance and its potential side affects. alcohol can kill you anytime you use it from O.D.ing or can cause liver, kidney, brain or heart disease and has 2.5 million related deaths a year while marijuana has NEVER caused a death and can only cause a 3x more likely chance of gaining a "mental disorder" as adults in only people who smoke marijuana as teenagers, which is another great point why to legalize, so that teenagers are restricted in smoking and if that happens then there will be NO side affects.

Did I miss something or has everyone basically said the same damn thing in all these comments?

I really used to be in on the fight to legalize. But the news article have become nothing but amusement. Everyone knows it's about "Money". Amazing how the DEA spends their time busting grow opps when you have statistics like this in the U.S.: Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child is reported missing or abducted. That translates to over 2,000 children per day (under 18 years of age) or 800,000 per year.So the U.S. Gov. spends tens of thousands of man hours prohibiting a harmless plant (Literally) when at the same time children get abducted every day. The ethical thing to do would be to focus on the things like this that tear apart families. But again . . . it's all about money and job security. What a fu@#%^ up country. Glad I'm an Aussie.

Can anyone give me ONE good reason not to legalize marijuana ....cut the small talk about anything but that one issue.

There is no good reason to not legalize it in the terms your are thinking.
The issue is the clear cut definition of such terms.
The way "law" works is the terms and objectives listed in any "law"
must be clear, concise, and understandable by some one with a
5th grade reading level (at least in CO). This is done to ensure that society would not
get caught up in semantics in the interpretation of "law".

As mentioned before, Taxing and Regulating Cannabis like
Alcohol is just that, allowing for new regulations similar to
alcohol concerning cannabis. DUI's, public intoxication and so
on. Currently, in CO (I'm native) the penalties for possession
are not severe at all ($146 fine, no time an oz costs $150)
and near non-existent for Med Card Holders.
After the people scream "TAX AND REGULATE CANNABIS LIKE ALCOHOL!!!"
the taxes and regulations will come down creating the opportunity to
make once non-existent penalties a common place occurrence. All while
the people ask what happened to our new growth industry or economic
future (it is a Billion Dollar industry).

The point of this is the people need to create clear and concise understandable
by a 5th grader legislation in order to get what they think they want:
No penalties
Free Access
A chance at economic stability

The Tax and Regulate marijuana Like Alcohol is NOT THAT.

As an adjunct, an example of the definitions getting in the way
of the will of the people was a CO bill that aimed to define the term "Person"
as any human being from the moment of fertilization.

No biggie right? WRONG.

This would have outlawed abortion, certain birth control options, clinics.
This would have created an entire population of unwanted children and
everything that comes with that. Illegal immigration would have become
insane as well as the resource consumption (social programs
funded by tax payers).

Why? Because its illegal to kill a "person" or deny any "person" his or
her inalienable right to life, liberty and so on.

So simple in its idea. To clearly define one word.

Alcohol death toll always rising - Cannabis death toll non existent. Keep it simple ppl... we all prob know at least a few ex-alcoholics that resort to cannabis after they develop failing livers or heart problems that will kill them from overdrinking just one more time