And the points and counterpoints have been made like this:

* You don't have to smoke it!
* Yes, but most people won't take the time to vape or bake.

* Marijuana smoke might be good for you.
* No.

* People just want to be free!
* No, they want to get high. I have no problem with people getting high but the idea that putting a weed in your mouth and setting it on fire is part of a 'back to nature' credo seems ridiculous.

Legalizing marijuana, like anything else, will not change who people fundamentally are. It is not a 'solution' to anything.

All that being said, obviously the 'War' on Drugs has cost too much money and too many people's lives. Legalize away but we should all be aware of the downsides, too.
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you can add it to foodstuffs, add it to hot chocolate or a latte, use vaporizers ...

The more immediate hit is to light up. I suppose we'll see, after maybe a few years, if there is an uptick in respiratory disease or not in those states that have legalized and/or decriminalized.
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because e-cigs are vaporizers

Maybe not? Anyone have experience with that?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

the choice to legally use cannabis will suddenly start puffing away. This is not what legalization is about.

Legalization is about taking the millions of otherwise law abiding people who already use cannabis and keeping them out of the criminal justice system which does more harm than any smoke.

You pretend like there aren't already millions of smokers who can get cannabis already no problem and do so every day, EVEN in prison.

If this is a problem at all. Its a health problem not a criminal justice problem. Your status quo has the tragic consequences of people being murdered by the police because of it.

'Murdered by the police' doesn't even come close to the scale of murders by drug dealers, though.

Those Mexican cartels aren't going to go looking for office jobs when marijuana is more widely available. We will still need to deal with them and our home-grown versions. And that's a never-ending problem.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

If, however, it were legalized across the board in the US, that would put a big dent in cartel profits.

Of course, we insist on criminalizing and prohibiting other substances as well, ensuring that the cartels will have plentiful lucrative business opportunities.

And even if we legalized everything, criminals would still need to make a living, yes. But to the extent we legalize drugs, we suck the air out of the cartels' business model and the huge profits out of their pockets.

As for US gangs, I would advise more social justice-oriented policies. Those gangs don't just appear out of nothing.

Millions of us have been smoking it for decades now. You'd think the uptick would be apparent already, if there were one.

My concerns may be overblown, of course. I just think putting smoke into one's lungs should be discouraged, regardless of legality.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

In 1974, University of Virginia researchers discovered something very unlikely. Cannabis... had an unexpected property: it inhibited the growth of lung cancer cells - See more at: http://medicalmarijuana411.com/mmj411_v3/new-us-study-affirms-smoked-marijuana-protects-against-cancer/#sthash.jWE1XyNK.dpuf

http://medicalmarijuana411.com/mmj411_v3/new-us-study-affirms-smoked-marijuana-protects-against-cancer/

And there's no doubt that cannabis can have some medicinal value beyond pain relief to cancer patients.

But where things get truly confusing is when studies and proponents try to paint it as a 'miracle' substance that can cure just about everything. Hyperbole is no one's friend.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]