From Canada, where legalization has happened, it's pretty much like nothing changed, except there are way more products on the market at way cheaper prices than before. Most people consume cannabis in their personal spaces, and there has been a ton of tax revenue, despite consumers paying about half of what I was paying before on the black market.
What's wrong with a government deciding to regulate and tax a previously illegal substance that is less harmful than many legal drugs at the moment, thus reducing revenue streams for cartels and gangs along with getting more money that the government can use?
The West has lost the 'war on drugs', whatever that means.
The only way out is to regulate (and therefore tax) them. Cannabis is the gateway drug (pun intended).
I'm old and tried something mild ish when I young. It didn't really do much for me so I never went down that path. I don't even drink more than a unit a fortnight, usually I'm driving and I only drink socially. Just don't fancy it much anymore.
As far as I'm concerned, the benefits of living today are mainly being funneled to an elite. Taxes were mostly levied on companies and have become taxes levied on the individual, with companies not really paying tax at all. People are struggling to hold it together. Drugs represent escapism pending some kind of revolution.
I'm one of 'Thatcher's children' - A Gen X watching young people today giving up. If you had told me last century that I would have written such a thing today, I would have punched you.
I believe that the move left of the politics of today represents the population asking for help.
Hopefully none. Cannabis is really bad for your health and should NOT be used for "fun":
Marijuana causes an "increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and other vascular diseases." (CDC, 2020-a)
"Smoke from marijuana has many of the same toxins, irritants, and carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) as tobacco smoke." (CDC, 2020-b)
"People who use marijuana are more likely to develop [...] long-lasting mental disorders, including schizophrenia (a type of mental illness where people might see or hear things that are not really there)." (CDC, 2020-c)
There's thousands of activities with less adverse effects than doing drugs. PLEASE get a hobby other than trying to fry your brain with chemicals.
your hope that people are unable to make their own choices.
My only hope is to stop people from destroying their physical and mental health in their short-sighted pursuits of feel-good chemicals.
Alcohol, caffeine and tobacco should also be banned, but their capitalist industry is too big at this point to be stopped. Let's not add another monopoly to the list of legal-drugs
The way the US went about banning alcohol was extremely poorly implemented, with ignorant and insensitive policies. Over the last few decades we have made tremendous advances in the field of psychology. I do believe substance-abuse could be eradicatedin in an effective manner with the knowledge we have nowadays.
I believe that it's recreational use should be illegal, not that it should be punished with jailtime. The best punishments for that "crime" are fines and forced rehab, not jailtime.
Mexico is on its way! We have three candidates for our upcoming elections this summer. The two women candidates, Sheinbaum and Gálvez, have participated in public debates favoring lenient regularization, and Álvarez has spoken publicly about full legalization.
Claudia Sheinbaum is leading the race, so not only will we most likely get our first woman president, but legal weed as well!
It's not. My answer was "The US, but maybe not the whole country".
But if you'd like my guesses, it'd be the Netherlands and Portugal. They seem pretty forward with regard to drugs, and possession is currently decriminalized for personal use.