Legalize Marijuana?

[Bishop]

Clearly i need to do more research then - i was hung up on the fact that they are processed from the leaves.

A colorless or white crystalline alkaloid, C17H21NO4, extracted from coca leaves, sometimes used in medicine as a local anesthetic especially for the eyes, nose, or throat and widely used as an illicit drug for its euphoric and stimulating effects.
[French coca?ne, from coca, coca, from Spanish; see coca.]

The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ?2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
cocaine, cocain [kəˈkeɪn]
n
(Law / Recreational Drugs) an addictive narcotic drug derived from coca leaves or synthesized, used medicinally as a topical anaest

Still sounds to me like cocaine is the end product!

[Tha Legend]

"In another study of seriously injured individuals admitted to a Level-1 shock trauma center, more than a quarter (26.9 percent) tested positive for marijuana. In a study of fatally injured drivers in Washington State, 12.7 percent tested positive for marijuana." -Dr. Robert DuPont, former pres of Institute of Behavior and Health
He also claims that the usage rate in 2008 was 6.1%. That shows a highly disproportionate % of weed users in fatal accidents and serious injuries. I find it hard to believe that those users were the only victims in the car accidents/other incidents. So i don't think you can claim that marijuana use does not impair one's ability to function nor that it is a harmless drug. It sheds doubt on the claim that it is victimless.

Now, I understand that there is a lot of research that claims the opposite of what I have cited, but my point is that there aren't many hard-and-fast conclusions about marijuana's use, so it is premature to claim that its use poses no risk to society.

You do know the DuPont family led the charge along with the Hearsts to make Marijuana illegal. Around the time Marijuana became illegal, DuPont developed nylon. Nylon's number one competitor was a natural substance called Hemp. The Hearst family suddenly came into a large amount of DuPont stock, and magically, multiple newspapers were discussing hysteria and crime rates going up due to marijuana use.

[nooblet]

Maybe the DuPont family's long term game was to encourage potheads to be really ****ing annoying so people would want to keep marijuana illegal?

[peteyb22]

I agree with Bishop on this. Cocaine is not natural. Coca leaves are natural.

Cocaine is unnatural the same way Beer is unnatural.

Beer is not natural. Wheat is natural.

[DHaran]

I agree with Bishop on this. Cocaine is not natural. Coca leaves are natural.

Cocaine is unnatural the same way Beer is unnatural.

Beer is not natural. Wheat is natural.

The coca leaf is medicinal because of the cocaine content. It's just extracted for processing into various forms for ingestion and potency purposes. The same can't be said for wheat/beer. That's like saying sea salt isn't natural because we have to extract it from sea water.

[Korp]

You are stupid DHaran, cocaine is a end product, you cant just extract cocaine from the coca leaves there is a process to it then you have cocaine. It would be like claiming grapes are wine.

[DHaran]

You are stupid DHaran, cocaine is a end product, you cant just extract cocaine from the coca leaves there is a process to it then you have cocaine. It would be like claiming grapes are wine.

Can you drop some grapes in water and get even the slightest of effects of wine? And watch the personal attacks or I'll just remove you from the conversation, and you won't be able to argue at all.

Regardless, the conversation was about coca cola having cocaine in it, which it did. It's widely listed as an ingredient in the original formula.

[Korp]

But you dont seem to be able to process the fact that coca leaves isnt cocaine as well as grapes arent wine, both need a process for it to be able to become the end product cocaine, wine. Oh and dont go around threaten people with your moderator powers its just makes you look sad, just inform that I will get banned if i break the rules. Now it looks likes you lack any kind of solid argument and the only thing you have going for you is to dispose me from the conversation and by that way "winning" the conversation.

[Korp]

Lets add a source to it as well.

"However, the coca leaf is not cocaine, just as grapes are not wine.[2][3] The coca alkaloid content in coca leaves is negligible: between .25% and .77%,[4] which means two things: first, traditional chewing or drinking coca tea does not produce the high (euphoria, megalomania) people experience with cocaine.[5] Second, someone must apply complex chemical processes using any type of alcohol/acid base chemicals to the plant in order to transform it and obtain a concentration of coca alkaloid that is high enough to produce the transformation to cocaine paste and the high associated with cocaine. Furthermore, current U.S.A. extraction methods use the chemicals methanol alcohol and benzoic acid to extract coca out of a coca product at a molecular level for scientific testing."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_leaves

[Bishop]

Don't argue when a mod tells you to watch your language korp.

[Korp]

I must stand up for the little people, that kind of attitude is just the wrong way and will just create more conflicts with the community vs moderators. Moderators shouldnt threaten people, they should just inform and execute the law.

[DHaran]

I don't care about the conversation, but if you call me or anyone else stupid you get a ban. It's that simple.

Even if I'm wrong about cocaine, I'm not wrong about it being in coca-cola. But I still find the grape comparison a bad one, considering coca leaves alone can give mild effects when ingested, grapes can not.

The coca alkaloid content in coca leaves is negligible: between .25% and .77%

Coca alkaloid is cocaine. Cocaine is in coca leaves, just in negligible levels. It's processed to different forms because of this.

[Korp]

Why do you just chose to read parts of it, just read the whole quote and you will see that a "complex chemical processes" is needed for it become cocaine.

[DHaran]

Why do you just chose to read parts of it, just read the whole quote and you will see that a "complex chemical processes" is needed for it become cocaine.

You just did the same thing. A complex chemical process to obtain a high enough CONCENTRATION to get the high associated with cocaine.

[Topsy]

If you legalise it the price of it will drop massively though.

There's no necessary reason why that would happen. You could either monopolize the production/distribution of it(could even do this by making the permits to create it extremely expensive so that only a few distributors could afford it and could work as a semi-cartel ala oil companies), or as would be easier legally, just increase the tax on it as the price drops. Lotsa ways for governments to regulate the price of commodities