<story><title>The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fred_durst</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ll bring up a point here only because I feel like the HN crowd is on the younger side. Its not until your late 20&amp;#x27;s and really 30&amp;#x27;s that you start to find out about and see people you&amp;#x27;ve known in the past that were intelligent, productive people who&amp;#x27;s lives have been completely destroyed due to their drug addictions. And yes, I&amp;#x27;ve certainly had friends who are 40+ and barely hold down a job and live off friends and family because they were&amp;#x2F;are addicted to marijuana. It definitely happens, don&amp;#x27;t kid yourself.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if the correct solution is to criminalize it, but please keep in mind that drugs change who you are. That is truly the unique thing about them compared to other addictions. And again, if you think heavy marijuana use doesn&amp;#x27;t change a person, you don&amp;#x27;t know any heavy marijuana users.&lt;p&gt;For example, banning alcohol and marijuana probably isn&amp;#x27;t going to work, but selling bottles of cheap vodka at the grocery store 24&amp;#x2F;7 is setting up a lot of people who are trying to get clean to fail.</text></item><item><author>k-mcgrady</author><text>I sincerely believe the only people who are against legalisation of marijuana are those who don&amp;#x27;t understand it&amp;#x27;s effects on a person and those who are easily susceptible to propaganda and fail to do their own research on the subject. I can&amp;#x27;t think of even one legitimate reason for it&amp;#x27;s prohibition. If you argue for prohibition based on health consequences or risk to society you should also be arguing for prohibition of alcohol and it has been proven beyond doubt that alcohol prohibition was a really bad idea.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pessimizer</author><text>As an obvious counterpoint: I&amp;#x27;m pushing 40, have known dozens of people who have smoked every day since their teens. I&amp;#x27;ve noticed absolutely no difference between their success rates and the success rates of others. Many of them are highly successful and productive, and some even blame much of their success on their pot smoking. The people that I saw fall apart were the alcoholics, junkies, and cokeheads, going between jail, rehab, and prison - and often coffins.&lt;p&gt;I think that you yourself will be surprised when it&amp;#x27;s more accepted by law - you&amp;#x27;ll find that many people you know and respect smoke, and they keep it from you because they&amp;#x27;re afraid of your judgment.&lt;p&gt;edit: There&amp;#x27;s actually one difference that I&amp;#x27;ve noticed between my pot smoking and non pot smoking friends - the smokers tend to be small business owners, contractors and freelancers more often than the non-smokers, who are more wage-laborers. I don&amp;#x27;t have a theory about it, but I&amp;#x27;ve noticed.</text></comment>
<story><title>The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fred_durst</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ll bring up a point here only because I feel like the HN crowd is on the younger side. Its not until your late 20&amp;#x27;s and really 30&amp;#x27;s that you start to find out about and see people you&amp;#x27;ve known in the past that were intelligent, productive people who&amp;#x27;s lives have been completely destroyed due to their drug addictions. And yes, I&amp;#x27;ve certainly had friends who are 40+ and barely hold down a job and live off friends and family because they were&amp;#x2F;are addicted to marijuana. It definitely happens, don&amp;#x27;t kid yourself.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if the correct solution is to criminalize it, but please keep in mind that drugs change who you are. That is truly the unique thing about them compared to other addictions. And again, if you think heavy marijuana use doesn&amp;#x27;t change a person, you don&amp;#x27;t know any heavy marijuana users.&lt;p&gt;For example, banning alcohol and marijuana probably isn&amp;#x27;t going to work, but selling bottles of cheap vodka at the grocery store 24&amp;#x2F;7 is setting up a lot of people who are trying to get clean to fail.</text></item><item><author>k-mcgrady</author><text>I sincerely believe the only people who are against legalisation of marijuana are those who don&amp;#x27;t understand it&amp;#x27;s effects on a person and those who are easily susceptible to propaganda and fail to do their own research on the subject. I can&amp;#x27;t think of even one legitimate reason for it&amp;#x27;s prohibition. If you argue for prohibition based on health consequences or risk to society you should also be arguing for prohibition of alcohol and it has been proven beyond doubt that alcohol prohibition was a really bad idea.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>indlebe</author><text>&amp;gt;And yes, I&amp;#x27;ve certainly had friends who are 40+ and barely hold down a job and live off friends and family because they are addicted to marijuana.&lt;p&gt;Is the evidence available strong enough to suggest that it&amp;#x27;s the marijuana causing this? Marijuana is often used by those suffering from depression and anxiety as a form of self-medication.&lt;p&gt;In BC, Canada the province&amp;#x27;s leading medical doctors have come out in strong support of legalization.</text></comment>