[seattle420lover]

webdog said:
darral,
I very much agree with what you have to say. As you probably know, there are many ways and perspectives to look at any given issue. Simply put, the laws toward things such as Marijuana are made through associations which are actually quite true. I personally have never met a hardcore drug user, and I do know many from my old circles, that haven't smoked pot. However, I know tons of people who have gotten drunk and smoked tobacco who have never smoked pot. This is obviously a simplified perspective but it is really the type of rationale that is used in our system. I know the whole "gateway drug" terminology has been thrown around. It doesn't mean that all people who smoke pot will use other illicit drugs, but a majority of the time, the people who use "harder drugs" have started off using Marijuana.
As for the drug laws themselves, they need to be thrown out and reimplemented using scientific research to categorize them based on criteria such as: addictiveness, mind-altering capacity, ease in overdose. But then, the coffee and cigarette crowd would be really pissed.