ROFLMAO
You and my girlfriend would get along really well.
I've always been of the belief that people can do whatever the fuck they want, as long as it's not harming anyone else.
Thoth you're probably nodding, but let me elaborate.
My definition of "Harm" means that I believe people should not be allowed to kill themselves, refuse to wear seatbelts, or knowingly do anything else that would directly or indirectly cause other people an amount of pain and/or emotional distress, or loss of financial gain.
If you die in a car acident because you weren't wearing your seatbelt, someone has to clean you up off the road. People who care about you suffer because you were retarded, and someone has to pay for the 30 or so people that responded to the call and the damage you caused through a willful act of disobidience.
We have laws and personal freedom restrictions to preserve other people's rights and freedoms.
Now, don't get me wrong - there's a whole bunch of laws I feel are too restrictive, and marijuana being illegal is one of them. I've believed the same as Thoth for a long time, that marijuana is an easy excuse to use against someone should they "step out of line". I hate government control, but only if that control is misplaced.
If I were making the rules, marijuana would work like alcohal:
You have to be a specific age to buy it.
It is illegal to use it at work, and has a negative social stigma attatched to it if you are using it while performing some task that could potentially harm someone.
Using it too much would also have a negative social stigma.
Other than that, every ounce of research of done on this topic indicates that it is chemicaly safe (the smoking process is what damages brain cells), you will generally recover fully from it's effects after 3 months of not having used it, and that it is somewhat mentally and physically addictive.
I don't smoke at all myself, mainly because I don't want to be dependant on a chemical substance to be happy, or fight with myself while trying to quit using it. I fall all too easily to temptation, a drug habbit would not be a good idea.
--Locane