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<blockquote data-quote="newusername" data-source="post: 6810032" data-attributes="member: 562064">Marijuana specifically should be legalized and regulated, for the betterment of society.&nbsp; Several big problems with the current system:1) It is easy for kids to buy pot.&nbsp; Drug dealers don&#039;t check ID&#039;s.2) Unless you know the grower, you can&#039;t be certain of the purity or potency of the product.&nbsp; In a regulated market, products would be inspected for purity and quality, and they would their potency and side effects would be clearly labelled.3) There is no dispute resolution mechanism.&nbsp; When a drug dealer screws a buyer, they have no recourse.&nbsp; When gangs fight over drug territory, the only way to resolve disputes is through violence.4) Related to 3, the demand is so high that the considerably high risk is not enough to dissuade gangs.&nbsp; The most violent people in the nation have a real incentive to deal in cannabis when there&#039;s such high demand with no legal supply.5) If there was a gateway effect (and all evidence, and logic, suggests there isn&#039;t), the current system is the perfect way to let drug users scale up to more harmful drugs.&nbsp; They likely already have a source, a source that won&#039;t limit doses or recommend treatment.6) The current prohibition has done nothing to slow usage rates.&nbsp; They&#039;ve been about the same for a long time now, and yet the spending on enforcement goes up and up and up.&nbsp; The US has by far the largest prison population (particularly relative to its size) that costs tax payers considerable money without ever solving the problem.In 2001, Portugal decriminalized EVERY drug.&nbsp; For possession of hard drugs, the user sits down before a commission of an attorney, a psychiatrist, and a civil servant.&nbsp; Their system is not perfect, but since that time, teen usage has dropped, overdoses have been halved, HIV transmission has declined, and the number of people seeking addiction treatment has doubled.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="newusername, post: 6810032, member: 562064"] Marijuana specifically should be legalized and regulated, for the betterment of society. Several big problems with the current system: 1) It is easy for kids to buy pot. Drug dealers don't check ID's. 2) Unless you know the grower, you can't be certain of the purity or potency of the product. In a regulated market, products would be inspected for purity and quality, and they would their potency and side effects would be clearly labelled. 3) There is no dispute resolution mechanism. When a drug dealer screws a buyer, they have no recourse. When gangs fight over drug territory, the only way to resolve disputes is through violence. 4) Related to 3, the demand is so high that the considerably high risk is not enough to dissuade gangs. The most violent people in the nation have a real incentive to deal in cannabis when there's such high demand with no legal supply. 5) If there was a gateway effect (and all evidence, and logic, suggests there isn't), the current system is the perfect way to let drug users scale up to more harmful drugs. They likely already have a source, a source that won't limit doses or recommend treatment. 6) The current prohibition has done nothing to slow usage rates. They've been about the same for a long time now, and yet the spending on enforcement goes up and up and up. The US has by far the largest prison population (particularly relative to its size) that costs tax payers considerable money without ever solving the problem. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized EVERY drug. For possession of hard drugs, the user sits down before a commission of an attorney, a psychiatrist, and a civil servant. Their system is not perfect, but since that time, teen usage has dropped, overdoses have been halved, HIV transmission has declined, and the number of people seeking addiction treatment has doubled. [/QUOTE]

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