LET'S DISCUSS LEGALIZATION

Instead of worrying about wars we can really do nothing about, perhaps we can focus on something for legislators to ponder on that is probably much more relevant that will not result in death & destruction nor delay or impede progress & may actually provide many more benefits than the apparent.

Legalization of marijuana is one such issue.
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While all drugs get you high, MJ is DEFINITELY NOT in the same class as shabu, cocaine, etc.

It has been proven many times over to be MUCH less harmful than ALCOHOL & CIGARETTES and actually even has therapeutic effects. People under the influence are not prone to violence or murder.

On the other hand, shabu is truly a dangerous drug that cannot ever, by any means, be legalized. To put them in the same category and impose the same penalties for them is both ludicrous and unfair.

MJ is the outlier among the regulated drugs in that it is the ONLY one that has been proven over 50 years to be not only relatively harmless unless, as with most things, abused, but actually beneficial for many ailments.

The gateway theory is only partly true. The reality is that so many in the 70's & 80's did graduate to all these other drugs but mostly because:

a) no one knew/understood anything about them and were thus led by curiosity into experimenting. In fact, the condemnation of an apparently "benign" or "harmless" drug like MJ may have led many to believe that the truly dangerous ones were not really that bad as well; and

b) they were all affordable, easily available and practically unregulated.

Now that much more is known and regulated, MJ and shabu are really the only drugs that are relatively still available.

The reality is that not all people who drink alcohol are alcoholics who waste their lives on alcohol. and not all people who take alcohol "graduate" into smoking MJ and shabu either. Rather, there is really a certain percent of people who will take these things in excess to the point of ruining their lives, regardless. People also ruin their lives over gambling as well as sex and greed. Are they excessively penalized for that?

Yes, there are laws penalizing and regulating gambling, prostitution and corruption but have they really made much difference? Yet, countries where the people have been inculcated to follow the law have far less problems with them, right?

History shows that proper education rather than penalization actually makes a much bigger and more beneficial difference in these matters whether it is alcohol or drugs. Simply legalizing or relaxing the rules WITHOUT implementing proper public education is surely NOT a good idea or a practical solution.

The reality is that there is fairly significant percentage of the population who use, have used, and can use MJ (and nothing else) while carrying on "normal" if not even exceptional lives as proven by the many famous people in the world who have admitted to its recreational use, some in lieu of alcohol. Do these people really deserve to be made criminals and penalized? How would that benefit society?

And there WOULD in fact be an even greater number who would benefit from MJ's therapeutic effects as well as a significant depopulation of our prisons and jails if it is legalized.

The act of imprisoning someone and consequently ruining his life for doing nothing more than smoking a joint while leading an otherwise law-abiding, productive life simply because those who make the laws do not indulge is possibly one of the greatest injustices of this era. Especially since alcohol INDISPUTABLY causes so many more problems, mentally, physically and while under the influence, than MJ does.

There have been NO significant deleterious effects of marijuana legalization in ANY place it has been done while there have been in fact many positive results.

And yet this is not to say that everyone should be using MJ and without some regulation. Surely, at least the same rules for alcohol should be applied. And neither is it to be expected that everyone will eventually use marijuana if legalized. It is simply something that some will want to do and others will not, just like coffee, tea or soft drinks.

Certainly, it is quite a dilemma to push for legalization of MJ in the PH given the present problem with shabu but it is certainly something that should be addressed sooner than later, if only for the many poor "innocents" whose lives are ruined and wasted simply for preferring a different and even less harmful kind of intoxication than alcohol.

And this is only half of the picture. The MANY possible BENEFITS from legalization have not yet been discussed.

(First posted on Facebook, link below:)
https://www.facebook.com/pjmisa/posts/2478489795508534