Something good to come out of the recession
 

Anyone who smokes knows that legalization is looking to be one of the best ways out of a serious recession (as the bankers of the world will never do anything to help us), at the very BASE, legalization of hemp would be quite formidable.

IMO, Legalize the herb medicinally, the hemp crop federally, tax the crap out of it, and illegalize tobacco (preferably alcohol too, but these two demands are just my personal opinion lol).

And the best part? More jobs would be generated than would be lost, the amount of money that would come in would be preposterous, we'd be helping kill the pharmaceutical pain medication industry, and the effects of marijuana would be able to be studied rigorously to help people make informed decisions of whether THC would be right for them.

I'm with this on a personal note too. My grandmother started taking pain medication (vicodin & oxycodone) about 6 years or so ago. She only needed medication for pain, as a couple surgeries and her weight combined to create a heavy back pain to the point where she couldn't get out of bed and my family had to be there to help her do ANYTHING all the time.
Oxycodone is a very dangerous drug to take every day for ANY kind of time length. It oxidizes in your body, essentially rusting one's joints. Which got her started on a medication for her joints. Which consequently had serious side effects as well, and now the end result is more surgeries (all focused on her joints), and about 8 or 9 different drugs every day (this is unincluding whatever medication she takes for depression, although marijuana may or may not have worked for that).
If my grandmother had been given concentrated THC, and not had the negative side effects occur (paranoia/anxiety), she would most likely never be in the state she is now. Nor would she be an opiate addict.

However, I do not believe marijuana should be generally open to the public (like cigarettes or alcohol), and should be kept to a medicinal standard. Tobacco, for instance, still causes cancer without the additives, but with hundreds of tar-building additives stuck in it, it becomes worse for you in ways known mostly to the companies that make it. And of course the free market allows this, saying that it's your informed choice to be able to smoke or not. EG, marijuana going the way of cigarettes would be one of the worst mistakes that could be made.

<3

Making cigarettes and alcohol illegal will never, EVER happen. Our respective governments make far, FAR too much money off of them.

Never mind the increased violence that would be brought on from every smoker in the country suffering a simultaneous nic fit. There would be riots. Pillaging. Death and destruction.

Actually, that sounds like fun! :lol: