This is NOT promotion of taking marijuana, this is an argument on the legality of it. I personally don't take drugs, and think it's a waste of money. Well, besides caffeine, which I'm addicted to. If you are against pot, leave now. Or start a massive fight in the comments. I'm easy either way. 1
I think Marijuana should be legal. Why? Because when stuff is illegal it makes rebellious people want to use it/do it. For example, you tell a little kid not to touch something, what is the first thing that most kids will do? Touch it. If they’re well behaved and brought up well and don’t? Well, they’re not the people who’ll likely be interested in drugs anyway.2
The problem with legalising it is that when first done people would abuse it more, because it’d be easier to get. So most conservative people would lobby for it to be illegal again. But once the hype of it being legal has worn off, it wouldn’t be such a big thing. It would no longer have the ‘ooooh, this is bad, the government doesn’t like us for this’ sort of thing around it. Sure people will still do it ‘cause they like the experience. 3
For another example, take alcohol. America, legal drinking age, 21+, country with the worst drinking problem amongst teenagers. Why? Because it’s cool to get smashed ‘cause it’s illegal. Take Australia (and other 18+ countries), less problem, because kids don’t get so old before they can start drinking. So less time for it to be ‘ooooh, this is cool ‘cause it’s illegal.’ And finally, take France, legal drinking age? 0+. Drinking problem among youth? None. Why? Because kids are brought up around alcohol being consumed responsibly. They can have it when they’re kids. It’s just a drink, it’s not something that will be withheld from you because it’s ‘an evil drink’. 4
And finally - and most importantly, I consider - I believe drugs should be legal for the simple reason of: I don’t believe the government should control peoples lives like that. If someone wants to consume marijuana to the extent that they rot their brain away, ruin their lives, ruin their families lives, well, quite frankly, that is their choice. It mightn’t be a good choice, or a right one, but it’s theirs. Not the governments, not anyone else’s. People can guide, council, and direct a decision, but only the person in question can make the choice in the end. 5
And to sum up, the people that are going to do pot are going to do it one way or another. Laws like this don’t stop criminals. Because, say, if someone is going to commit a murder, guns being illegal is not going to stop them using one (Need massive licenses in Australia for gun ownership). It only prohibits and restrains the law abiding citizen by taking away their rights. It doesn’t stop them being shot but someone who is quite happy to break the law. It just takes away their ease of defence. 6
That is all.
Author notes
Well, I wrote this for Effigy's contest on pot, but it got closed by *cough*youknowwho*cough* so I thought I'd post here, rather than waste all that time writing it.
Like most things I say and do, my personal opinion, you can disagree if you want, but that's stupid, and you're stupid.
For my personal stance, I've never actually had pot, nor do I want to, for a few reasons: As a Christian, I'm a big fan of being legal - however stupid I think the laws are. Too expensive, I have enough other stuff to spend money on than drugs - much the same reason I don't smoke. And it's not the life-style I like. Give me a nice glass of wine and coffee and I'm happy.
In a list
A contest entry
- Marijuana Legalization: Yea or Nay? by WritersEffigy.
420 points, ended October 22, 13 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 16 of 16
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Pot?
I like pots. They're good to put plants in, and plants are pretty. Everyone needs pots, and it would be good for the environment too, but only clay pots. I suppose you can put wine in pots, but I wouldn't put coffee in a pot, because that'd be cliché. I sometimes see pot holes in the road, which make me happy my government is helping the environment.
Frankly, I'd have included some references (especially about the French not having drinking problems amongst their youth) and there are most likely studies that would show whether or not more people would consume banned substances if the ban were lifted. Still, that might have come across as cold, hard and arrogant, whereas your post had a friendlier tone.
Good work
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Oh, there might still be drinking problems amoung youth in France, but no where near as bad as countries with strict drinking ages.
I like friendly. ;p
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This is a good point.
Growing up, my dad and grandpa always had a very European (specifically, Sicilian) way of looking at alcohol. A kid having wine with dinner wasn't 'drinking' it was normal. As such, I never saw the appeal of alcohol when I was going through high school, mainly because it tasted horrible. Once I got into the Army and it proved to be a much more festive activity, I grew to appreciate it, but never got smashed in high school. So I think you make a very valid point with Americans being gluttons for rebellion.
Then again, that is how we got started. Heh.
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I like your view on it. Personally I don't do drugs either, but I'm pretty much for it being legalized. I dunno what being Christian has to do with that though, cause I have no religion and I get your opinion...
One thing though, in paragraph five you have "that is there choice" and "there" should be "their."
That is all.
Good luck in the contest if it gets reopened and thanks for sharing your opinion!
~Sparrow
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As a Christian, I'm commanded by the Bible to obey the governing authorities. Romans 13:1-7. If not for the fact that I was a Christian, I'd have no reason to obey the laws.
Hmm, missed that their. I shall fix, thanks for pointing out!
Glad you enjoyed the read. And now the contest is back up, so I've entered.
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Sorry if I sound nitpicky, but I think obeying the laws because they agree with one's morals is a valid reason... or failing that, obeying the laws because you don't wanna go to jail. I obey the laws just fine without being Christian... I always use the argument "I don't need a God to tell me not to kill my neighbor."
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And I'll sound even more nitpicky.
My point is, where do you get morals from? If we as humans evolved from nothing, what reason do we have to obey these 'morals'? Who made them? Whose to say they are right? So that brings me to, if some higher being (God) didn't give us this engrained sense of 'morals' - which everyone in the world seems to have - why shouldn't I kill my neighbour? What reason do I have for not killing them? Because other people think or feel it's bad? Who says they're right? I don't think they are, I don't feel they are. To me, killing my neighbour feels perfectly natural, and fine with me. Sure, the government won't like it, and will try put me in jail - if they catch me. But who says they're right? Them. Not me. I'm right they're wrong. Why? Why not.
And that is why as a Christian I'm completely against all that. Because I believe God, when he made us, gave us these 'morals'. He says, 'His law is written in our hearts.' That, I believe, is why we all have the same morals. If there is no God, and we are creatures of some hugely insanely absurd amount of chance, than give me a reason why your morals are any better than me going out and killing people because I like it.
Please note, I am playing devils advocate here, again, I believe murder is wrong, because God says it is. The above is mearly to get my point across.
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Where do we get morals from -> our own values.
I don't believe that one needs to worship a higher power to have a sense of what is right and wrong. As a child I was brought up by an atheist parent, and as a result I became a free thinker. My morals, though they might have come from ideas my father put into my head, correspond with my own views of the world. Nobody has ever told me not to kill my neighbour, nobody has ever specifically told me it is wrong to kill my neighbour, but I don't do it anyway. It's not because of a higher power, or because of the laws, I simply don't agree with killing and need no rules to tell me I'm right.
However, if someone chooses to kill another person in cold blood, I wouldn't blame it on a lack of higher power either--they could be sociopathic or psychopathic, in which case the argument is on a whole new scale that I don't wanna completely get into... but they don't feel emotions the same way that we do, and I think that whether or not they believed in a higher power, such people are unfit to judge their own morals (or lack thereof) anyway.
"If there is no God, and we are creatures of some hugely insanely absurd amount of chance, than give me a reason why your morals are any better than me going out and killing people because I like it."
-> Well, with any species it is instinctual to stick together and be there for one another. Wolves live in packs. Elephants protect their children by circling around them with their tusks bared. Even ants, low insects that they are, live together in colonies. It's extremely rare in nature to see any of these animals killing each other off--but could you say a wolf, elephant, or ant believes in God? It is to the benefit of any individual of such species to live peacefully among others of their species. -
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That didn't really answer my question. Where do we get values from then? If you reread what I said, too, you'll see I mentioned nothing about having to worship God to have have the morals. I said he gave them to us when he made us. Much like he made all the animals with instinct, and sticking together.
I didn't say everyone needs to believe in God to know the morals, I said he, as I quoted, wrote them on our hearts. In other words, everyone knows them, whether atheist, buddist, christian, muslim, whatever. Everyone has very similar set of morals. Killing is bad, stealing is bad, etc.
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I believe morals come from a society rather than a god. Because as shown by history, morals can change. You can't say that "everyone has very similar sets of morals" when there are people out there who have no respect for animal life and abuse them for no reason, but would not touch a human being. And of course the sociopaths and psychopaths I mentioned earlier. Surely there are still people who believe that slavery is okay, and indeed in some countries and societies women do not have the same rights that they do in others.
I think if morals came from a god, as you say, then EVERYONE would be equal and there would be no such deviations of society, no psychopaths and no people who are cruel to animals...
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I agree
*is Christian too* I do know a lot of people who call themselves Christians that do massive drugs and I'm glad to learn you don't. Drugs are too expensive and I agree with the better ways to spend your money thing too. As for the whole legality thing and trashing their life, well I do agree about the free will thing. Also even though the drinking age is 21 here, in the US nearly everyone drinks by the time they are 16. I always thought it was stupid to ingest something you know is poison into your body so I barely every drink. I don't even think it feels good to drink either, it makes me all hot and gives me a headache.
Anyway I've sufficiently ranted, I enjoyed your essay/rant thing.
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Yeah. Expensive. I got more satisfying things to spend my money on. Like wine. And music.
Well, alcohol isn't a poison. Too much of it will kill you, yes, but too much of anything will kill you. Too much water will kill you. Besides which, the Bible is full of places which say it's OK to drink, Paul telling Timothy (Think it's him), 'A little wine is good for the body'. Also plenty of places which say don't get drunk, drunkenness leads to debauchery. So in small doses, it can be good. It's been scientifically proven that a glass of red wine a day is very good for the health. Took 'em a while to admit that one though.
But eitherway, if you don't like drinking and it gives you a headache, that's fair enough. The main thing about drinking and not, is, if you personally feel it's a sin, don't do it. Because then it is, because you're going against your conscience (Romans I think). But for me, I think I've proven to myself Biblically that there is nothing wrong with it, so it's not a sin for me to drink. I've been mildly drunk in the past (never to the point where I couldn't stand, or not control myself), not such a great idea, it's fun for the night, but really, it ain't worth the next day. So simple personal experience has told me that that's a bad idea. See why the Bible says don't do it.
Glad you liked. And ranting is good. As you can see, I'm continuing here. xD
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Well, I didn't think it was really a sin to drink, especially for wine and I do know about the glass of wine thing reducing rates of heart attack and whatever. Anyway apparently the thing I saw about alcohol being poisonous in relatively small qualities(not like 1 glass with wine but like 2 or 3 glasses) was actually just propaganda or something.
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Ahh. Fair enough. Yeah, I'm rather sceptical about what most mainstream doctors say about what's good for you and not.
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A good entry to what would have been an interesting contest. I understand your point exactly. I'm not sure where I stand on this matter, but I'm not here to judge you, anyway.
The essay (it's an essay, right? Cause it's not really a story...) flows well and easily depicts the train of thought you're going for. It's believable and realistic and doesn't bash any religion or belief.
Nicely done, Dan.
Good luck in the invisible contest... >_>
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The contest is still on WritersEffigy's page, it's just closed - if you wanna read more entries.
Glad you enjoyed.
I love arguing the cause of something I don't do - people can't call me biased.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
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