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Originally Posted by flamesfever
Also, if society condones it, albeit for adults, it may increase the number of kids doing it...just like cigarette smoking.
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1999 - 28% of 15-19 year olds smoked
2010 - 12% of 15-19 year olds smoked
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/tobac-t...o-eng.php#tab1
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Besides, knowing what smoking is doing to our health costs, why would we encourage another potential health hazard.
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Because people still do it legal or not, so any tax revenue from it could go towards education, treatment and health costs. If that was a concern we would be fighting to ban alcohol and cigarettes in this country.
Going by studies done in countries like Portugal and Netherlands (where it is decriminalized), there was a
decrease in use of marijuana, including youth. They are both the lowest users in Europe as well.
If you could show me that keeping it illegal will stop people from contining to use it I would agree with you. But that just isn't the case, and those health care costs will still be there sans revenue.
I'm not saying it would be perfect, I'm not saying that this will prevent another 15-19 year old from doing it, or that it would be easy. But it is well known that people in that age group can get illegal drugs easier than they can alcohol and cigarettes because they are controlled and regulated.
Education should be the number one concern legal or not, because even if it's illegal the youth can still get it, dealers don't check ID. It's up to the parents to teach their kids what is good and bad for them.