Says one who lives in a country in the tropics.
I will have to strongly disagree due to the costs to society enforcing laws that prohibit cannabis. Let’s not ruin lives of people who use cannabis and add the financial burden of a justice system trying to enforce these laws.
More lives are ruined from criminal prosecution of cannabis user than cannabis itself.
Thailand made the right choice in not only bringing something that was already happening into legitimacy. Taking it out of criminals into business owners and farmers hand to make a living. Stop putting people in jail over it and also the brave decision to free people who have been previously convicted
Prohibition never works, but for some reason governments keep latching onto that model.
The Junta legalized it…democracy is re-criminalizing. Meaning? Populism sometimes panders to certain special interests.
I will also add prohibition of cannabis has been negative in society due to the negative stigma of it. This negative stigma halted into research into cannabis for potential medicinal benefits. I’m not saying it’s some miracle drug like some people claim but it absolutely should be an option for doctors and patients. Especially with some of the other stuff pharmaceutical companies try to sell.
It has also made treatment for people who may need addiction treatment more difficult.
From what I’ve seen, it’s made boring people mostly intolerable.
Exactly. This was why the US ended prohibition of alcohol. The same rationale should be used to end the global (largely encouraged by the US initially) prohibition of cannabis.
I didn’t know you smoked pot.
I find the “but alcohol” argument pretty silly. Granted, alcohol can ruin lives, no question about it, but from that fact it does not follow that hey, we need to legalize yet another substance that may also ruin lives.
There is a ton of empirical evidence that marijuana reduces pain in patients with certain diseases. Some cancer patients can have their pain levels reduced, as well as some who suffer from multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and AIDS. There is a caveat, however: pain levels are famously difficult to measure objectively, with hard data.
The aspect of marijuana use that gets swept to the side far too readily, imo, is its effect on developing human brains. I suspect it’s far more harmful than alcohol to kids.
This is mostly based on my own experience where I began smoking marijuana at a sadly young age but when I came out on the other side of puberty, some years later, I suddenly found that smoking made me intensely paranoid. Also in my experience, the people who are able to enjoy marijuana without serious side effects seem to be those who were in their late-20s/early-30s when they started. So: not based on science but instead based my own experience, I suspect marijuana does something irrevocable to the developing brain.
Anyway, I’m all for those who are in pain to have access to medical marijuana. I strongly oppose access to marijuana by children - in fact I suspect humans should be well on the other side of puberty before they start imbibing - but I severely doubt that such an age restriction can be enforced. Without more independent study of its effects on developing humans, I am no fan of legalization.
Sure, it should be controlled (like, er, alcohol). But I don’t know about your high school, in mine drugs were easier to get than booze, despite the booze being legal for adults.
Are you still paranoid? I mean, yeah, the weed has that effect on some people, but it usually wears off with the high after a few hours…
I imagine everyone here will agree
Sure, but in my experience it was easier to get the illegal substances in high school than the legal ones
Yeah, it wears off after a day or so. That said, I should not drive and I make terrible decisions during that time.
My experience, too, but that’s not an argument for legalization. Making marijuana legal like alcohol would seem to communicate to kids that marijuana is ok after all, dad is just being dad. In my experience not all high schoolers smoked pot.
And from what I have read, it’s the combined effects of alcohol and marijuana that are bad for everybody, adults included.
I didn’t know you retained a sense of humor.
I don’t think this is true tbh. But just like we don’t sell alcohol and cigarettes to kids, I don’t think this is really the problem at hand. Legal or not, we all knows kids are going to find access to them anyways. The question is, should we ruin their lives over it?
I will have to be on the other side of this. I’ve been using cannabis here and there since 16. I am able to enjoy it. I do find that on the rare occasions I felt paranoia, it was when I’m in my 20s because I didn’t want to get caught and ruin my future.
I just enjoyed a trip to Amsterdam around 2 months ago and didnt have any issues because it’s not a crime.
For me it’s like this. I’m not making an argument that cannabis is 100% safe. I don’t think it’s nearly as harmful as cigarettes and alcohol in terms of health and social problems (it’s shocking for example how so many crimes overwhelmingly involve alcohol like rape and domestic violence). And cannabis does have benefits unlike alcohol. Tbf nicotine does actually have medical benefits
My argument is this. If the laws making cannabis illegal is more harmful to society than cannabis itself, it should not be this way.
I think the reason prohibition never works is because it’s really impossible to ban alcohol. I mean all you gotta do is get some fruit juice, or just sugar water, and leave it outside for a week, and it will turn into alcohol. How are you going to ban spoiled food?
They used to sell these bricks of grape juice…
I think weed is just easier to control as you have to have the right seeds, and cultivating the plant without the authorities looking isn’t easy to do.
Going way out on a limb with a controversial position, eh? 
By “soon” do you mean the next Buddhist holiday?
Do you not know the junta-appointed senate refused to let the party that won the 2023 election form government, or do you know but not care?
Just curious.
In all honesty, I couldn’t give two shits about Thai politics. As long as they keep exporting Tom Yung Kung sauce—all is ok. 
I thought it was clear that I was referring to permanent closing/prohibition. We are surely all aware that Thailand has a few days per year when alcohol sale are prohibited, which means you just buy your beer from the local mom and pop shop that day instead of the bar or 7-11. Thanks for the condescending Wikipedia link, anyway, though.
It’s worth noting, by the way, that cannabis sales are still allowed on those days, which illustrates the rush job they did of legalizing cannabis without the regulations placed on alcohol. They need to regulate, not prohibit.
If Taiwanese people believe weed smokers are losers, and they don’t want losers, then don’t legalize it. Don’t bend to foreign pressure.