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Originally Posted by Etbauer
The reason you not only can separate the two, but HAVE to is that you have to realize what it is you are talking about. You can’t ignore the effects of a choice you make just because the alternative is worse. The point is that this isn’t a ‘progressive’ decision, rather you have to realize that we are picking one evil over the other.
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But in the real world, that's what we always do. Every choice we make, without exception, has undesirable consequences. So really the question is whether you want to deal with the question of pot in some sort of laboratory isolation, or in the real world, and when you're talking about keeping it illegal, automatically you're in the real world.
The thread question is not "make an argument as to why marijuana should be made to disappear." It's "make an argument as to why marijuana should be illegal." As such, you have to deal with all of the consequences, good and bad, of keeping it illegal, versus legalizing it.If there wasn’t another side, it wouldn’t be an issue.
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And then the discussion has to occur where you have to decide what the effects of that decision are on other people as well. Is this really something that only affects the users?
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Well, no. There are potential marginal effects of pot smoking on non-smokers, ranging from secondhand smoke to possible on-the-job effects. But there are also many, and not at all marginal, effects of pot criminalization on those who never touch the stuff, including increased danger of crime and increased government budgets/higher taxes.
All I'm saying is that you have to consider the pros and cons on both sides. When you do, I believe the argument for keeping it illegal pretty much evaporates.