The Medical Marijuana Debate, Legalize It or Not?

There's been a lot of talk lately as there is another push to legalize medical marijuana for the State of Minnesota.  It's being discussed today in the legislature.  I've always had the opinion that it should be legalized, but there are some other things that have brought to my attention that I hadn't considered before.

First off, I want to be completely honest here.  I smoked marijuana in college.  I haven't smoked it in many years. Mainly because it's illegal and as you grow up you tend to try to obey the law more.  I understand the effects of it, and what it does to you.

One of the biggest arguments is the fact that alcohol is legal, and marijuana isn't.  From personal experience alcohol is much more dangerous.  You can drink yourself to death in one night.   I still have not heard of anyone dying from a pot overdose.  Typically people don't get into fights and turn mean from smoking pot.   I think we've all experienced someone who turned into a mean drunk at one point or another.  I've been around people smoking pot and never seen a fight.   Too lazy.

In my opinion, the only valid argument coming from the anti-legalizing side  (don't know how else to put that) is that it's a gateway drug.  It wasn't a gateway drug for me.  That's as far as I was going to go, and it wasn't hard for me to say no to other drugs.  Maybe that's because I was already trying an illegal drug at the time.  I guess I could see it as a gateway drug to youth if it was legalized.  Because this drug is legal, what could be so bad about the others?

And medical marijuana is abused.  People fake illnesses to get their marijuana cards in other states.  I don't think it's that big of a deal anyway.   Make it illegal to drive while under the influence of marijuana and treat it like alcohol.

So, to sum it up, I think it should be legalized for medical purposes.  And while we are at it, does it really matter if it's legal for general use?   I think the important thing is that we educate our own kids about it.  Odds are they'll try it anyway.