Marijuana can kill

You can't overdose on marijuana... You could die of eating too much of anything, but it's not an overdose.

But you can die of THC-related "complications" like driving impaired. When drunk drivers cause an accident, it's not just a driving accident. It's an alcohol related driving accident.

Naturally. It can still affect your mental state and driving while high should be considered a DUI. But the stupidity of humans to drive while high should not be blamed on the substance. People take medicine that does the same thing and nobody uses that as a reason for people to stop taking certain medicines.

Now I'm all for banning recreational drug use as an absolute but since we as a society are hell bent on killing ourselves, my proposition is to make smoking absolutely illegal and have a comprehensive education program on the responsible use of drugs. Sort of like sex ed except do it better than the abstinance-only bullshit.

Why? It is not overtly harmful and can be very pleasant. Marijuana is healthier than alcohol and cigarettes. It does not cause extreme reactions like other drugs and isn't addictive either.

If anything our society is hellbent on the philosophy of "Have as much joy as possible in your limited time." with minor exceptions or phases interrupting it.

I hate recreational drugs because they're such an easy vice to fall into. My particular vice is video games and it's a daily struggle to not lose myself in gaming and actually do my work. My friend was once on the border of alcoholism not because he drank to forget, but because he just loves drinking so much. He went through a phase of being almost constantly drunk because of this. One of my other friends admittedly seems to have almost zero self control, but he'll take whatever substance people give him. Literally anything, even though he's a super light weight.
For these two people, myself, and my other friends who I've seen occasionally drunk, I hate the notion of not being in complete control. I pride myself immensely on being able to control my every thought and action and it's one of my greatest fears to lose that control to something as stupid as video games or alcohol. And it angers me to see my friends losing their self regulation when on substance.

... So because you and people around you can't control themselves/ are scared of losing control nobody should be allowed to have some fun?

Yes. When people lose control of themselves, stupid things happen. Regardless of whether or not I "trust" people to drug themselves responsibly is irrelevant because I believe that there is no way to enjoy the effects of a mind altering drug without losing some personal control because those two effects inherently come together.

So because a few mentally ill people can't control themselves, nobody should be allowed to have fun? Any and everything can be a vice. Most people who smoke weed aren't even dependant. You work under the assumption that you must control yourself at all times, but why? What about losing control odds so bad for the average person?

One problem with weed is that it can easily lead people into taking harder drugs. Plenty of people have gotten started on crack and heroin through marijuana.

It's not mentally ill people in worried about. It's perfectly normal people doing something they'll regret.

The whole gateway drug thing is bullshit, at least where I'm from. Weed is very easily accessible here, almost everyone I know has used it, yet hard drug addiction isn't a large problem. This may also be because heroin isn't a popular drug here, people prefer mushrooms or LSD

Also @i_ are you for the banning of alcohol as well?

Yes. Interestingly enough, alcohol is far more dangerous if you have an addiction because only alcohol and benzodiazepines will kill you if you try and stop an addiction cold turkey.
Also it's a foul substance and I'm not sure how casual drinking ever got a foothold in society.

See, that is where our opinions differ. I think that both alcohol and marijuana should be legal, but regulated. Also people should be educated about weed the same way as they are about alcohol, so they learn about moderation. If people have a couple of beers to have fun, or share a joint with a few friends to do the same, and they're not harming anyone, I don't see the problem. I enjoy losing that tiny little bit of control, but again, in moderation.

If we are to legalize (more) drugs, there should be comprehensive education available about them. The lack of this is probably the single greatest failure in our war on drugs.

Is there no good education on drugs in the US? When I was like 14 we got a couple of classes on drug and alcohol use (mainly why not to use them before 18 and the dangers of addiction, and to enjoy responsibly)

I went to private school and the best we got was a week of making posters of the effects and dangers of various kinds of drugs ranging from tobacco to heroin and meth to psychedelics. Id hate to imagine what public schools have, with their IDGAF attitude.

That's right! I demand an education on the dangers of adderall and ibuprofen!

It can give you cancer after several decades of constant use, yea. Still many, many times healthier than drinking or smoking cigarettes.

Thing is, I'm Dutch. Our weed is exceptionally strong, so you have to mix it with tobacco or you'll puke. So we get as much cancer as if it was regular smoking

That's not the fault of weed. Even oxygen is lethal in high doses.

Yeah well drinking gasoline is more dangerous than drinking toilet water even though they're the same color. Well no fucking shit. But I'm still not drinking toilet water.

Except it's far from toilet water. That's a Faulty Comparison Fallacy. A better example would be Pepsi and water. Water would be healthier, yea, but Pepsi tastes better and the negatives are small and easy to fix with proper management. Water would be not smoking and Pepsi would be smoking in this case.

@yimmye - I never got that "that weed is too strong so I must mix it with tobacco" nonsense. Why not just use less? Why are people so fixed on the size of a joint? I started smoking hash in the 1980s and it was mixed with tobacco because you couldn't smoke it pure in a joint. When netherweed entered the picture, lots of my buddies would use it the same way as hash, crumble it into the same size big ass joints. The smarter tokers started rolling those thin american style joints only with weed and a) got a lot higher than with a weed/tobacco mix with the very same amount of weed and b) occasionally even stopped smoking tobacco altogether. Double winning. Tobacco is the dumbest drug of all: the only good effect is getting that monkey off your back. To be avoided. ctnd.

As to safe use: edibles are hard to control and can often lead to unwanted effects, inhaling gives you a lot more control. Vaporizers work amazingly, and can be used for super small doses as well as for Willie Nelson meets Snoop levels of intoxication. If used properly, they don't emit any carcinogens, save op to 2/3 of your weed and give you an immediate, crystal clear (<-- absence of carbon monoxide) high. Even the most expensive models pay for themselves in a very short time.

I am also against using tobacco, so I usually use a bong, works way better for me anyway

There's still the carcinogen tars and the carbon monoxide. Not for me any more...

Smoke it -> get high -> laugh at Bigmouth on Netflix -> eat -> play CoD -> feel the high go away -> go to sleep

Marijuana isn't a dangerous substance and has not been seen to cause violence. It's just that due to weed being illegal in most of the USA, violent people tend to be the ones who get it most often. You never hear about the smoker from above on the news, so you never consider that it's possible.

So yea
You've never been high
That explains a lot

It's not much different from alcohol if you're not responsible that's what I'm saying
Weed/wine/beer doesn't not cost violence
Human nature is violent and that's why you have to be responsible and control yourself
Honestly
What's wrong with you and hating on everyone and anything on literally anything
Is your life that sad and depressing?

In some cases-- have family history of mental health problems- > smoke it when young -> get high -> get paranoid -> exacerbate mental health problems -> smoke it to relax -> exacerbate mental health problems -> get paranoia -> lose friends and girlfriend -> smoke it -> exacerbate mental health problems -> get paranoid and depressed -> quit job -> financially forced to live at home with parents in 30s. (My family member's story) Yeah you probably won't die but it can ruin lives.

Then don't take something that you know you can't handle due to mental issues.

So because a few people have mental issues, nobody can smoke? The military does the exact same shit to people, but nobody seriously talks of banning the military for it.

I never say people can smoke it
I actually think they should legalize weed and charge high taxes on it
But like alcohol, be responsible

Lots of young people don't even know they have mental health issues