Quote Originally Posted by xring View Post
As I have stated earlier I believe marijuana to be a powerful drug with significant addiction risk. Marijuana is the drug of choice for about 8 out of 10 illicit drug users. It is my opinion that if marijuana was to be legalized a large percentage of users would be content with use of only legal drugs, just like many citizens are content to use only alcohol now. In my opinion there would be limited demand for the illegal "powerful, toxic designer drugs" you describe. Are 80% of illicit drug users going to abandon their drug of choice once it becomes legal and seek out illegal "powerful toxic designer drugs"? What I believe will happen if marijuana becomes legal is the majority of illicit marijuana users will have a strong incentive to use the only two legal drugs,marijuana and alcohol, shun criminal activities, and be overjoyed that they are no longer a criminal.

1;Its their drug of choice to begin with
2;They would not have to associate with the scumbag criminals to obtain it.
3;They would not face the risk of criminal prosecution .

The motivation is exactly the same that keeps the majority of citizens using the one legal drug available now, alcohol. In my opinion illicit drug use would strongly decline with the legalization of marijuana and the power and profits of the cartels along with it. The real question in my mind is whether legalization of marijuana and its subsequent addiction problems is worth the benefits of decriminalization of marijuana users. Imho the answer is overwhelminly yes, despite my distaste for potheads, or drunks for that matter.
I absolutely agree. Most people I know who use pot now have tried to go the "legitimate" route (I use the term loosely, much like Aloha said- they're going about it using lies that some doctors condone) and get their medical card. They have no real reason to need it other than they want to use it for recreational purposes, but have to lie to do so. I'm willing to bet about 80% of MMJ users have no legitimate excuse to get it "prescribed." If it's made all out legal, like alcohol, then I agree, they will probably only use it.

As far the drug war is concerned, if weed was legalized for rec. use then we would see a shift in what it smuggled across the border. It's already known in the drug world that the pot attained here in country is better than what is smuggled in from Mexico and other parts to the south, but the big issue will soon become coke and heroin, exclusively. It would be a blow to the cartels if you eliminate the demand for one drug coming from them.