Yes and No campaigns in New Zealand’s upcoming referendum on the legalisation and taxation of cannabis are split at 49.5% each
Of late it’s been widely agreed
That New Zealand’s a fine place indeed
But the voters are split
If you ask them is it
A smart move to legalise weed
John Moynes
Pic: Grizzle
Sponsored Link
There are 2 reasons I’m not 100% pro-legalization of weed at the moment.
1) I would say that teenagers drink more alcohol than smoke weed. Isn’t this because alcohol is so readily available? Obviously teens smoke weed too but I would be worried that more of them do if it were legalized and sold in the shops like alcohol. Thankfully it’s not as bad as alcohol, but it’s not exactly good and mixed with alcohol can be even worse for them.
2) Haven’t we as a nation failed in showing personal control when it comes to legalised vices? Look at our streets on Friday and Saturday nights. We over-indulge on alcohol generally at an incredible level and it’s far more damaging than weed. God only knows how much we would over-indulge on weed?
Are these real concerns, or am I missing something?
I suspect reason 3 might be that you have little interest in consuming yourself, and you are likely in full health…
I’m in full health, and I would be interested in trying it if it were legalized. Absolutely zero concerns with it being prescribed by GPs even on an experimental basis with their patients (to see if it helps with whatever condition they have). But I suppose the term “legalisation” can have different meanings. Is that all we’re talking about? Or are we talking about allowing it to be as readily available to society as alcohol?
people abuse drugs and alcohol not because they are readily available but because there is something missing in their mental health or lives, its self medicating for some kind of hurt,
maybe if we improved society as a while through radical ideas such as housing, health ( including decent mental health services) we could them let whole healthy adults enjoy a recreational buzz of their choice in a balanced healthy life.
as a whole *
I’d agree. Unfortunately I’m a cynic at this stage. And I can’t bring myself to believe we will ever achieve that. The issues you’ve described are, to me, a permanent feature of society and therefore a thing to accept and consider rather than a thing to fix. We can try our best though, but I suspect a vote to legalize marijuana will come sooner than the fix
I know, it’s as if instead of progress we are moving away from those goals
wouldn’t the conclusion of your argument be that we should also ban alcohol?
Unfortunately not, because we have to be realistic about alcohol and admit the horse has already bolted and there is simply no going back. However, if we were in the same position with alcohol as we are with weed now and someone was talking about legalising it, I would be mentioning the same underlying concerns yes.
and through history this approach is proven not to work, in fact it increases the risk of people drinking methanol and introduces a criminal element …oh wait