hi im leslie nelson i think it is aboult time that aus legalize marijuana for all to use heer are my resons 1 it would free up lots of room in or prison systm 2 because it doesn't cause as many social problems as alcohol. the only reason it is illegal is because corporation cant make money out of it and because it threatens the cotton industry 3 Because prohibition does not help anyone...people use marijuana and always will, it should be regulated so tha people can use marijuana safely rather than having to interact with 'real' criminals. Which may also lead to being involved in other criminal activity. For medical reasons....do I really have to explain? Why shouldnt it be legalised. Everyone is led to believe that "marijuana" is bad, based on nothing that is worth making it illegal over, when comparing to alcohol and tobacco, not to mention the benefits of marijuana. Alcohol and tobacco dont have many benefits I can think of and their downsides are worse than cannabis. All the propaganda creating a social attitude where cannabis is bad. Imagine if cannabis had never been illict, then how would you think? How can a natural plant be illegal? I dont think we're smart enough to judge a plant as being illict. We dont know anything compared to what we should in order to justly make cannabis illegal. Instead what we find out is what will make it legal 4 alcohol misuse costs the Australian community over 7 billion dollars each year, including 1.2 billion dollars in crime. Ciggarettes - Countless Deaths, we all know someone that has either died or sick because of them. Marijuana - Zero Deaths... Not saying it is harmless, BUT its not more harmful than ciggarettes or Achohol. Forget the Old Properganda, Legalise Marijuana 5 I support the legalization of marijuana where it should be available at retail outlets like tobacco and alcohol. 6 it is a natural plant that offers slight euphoric effects and makes people calmer has no reason to be illegal. Alcohol and tobbaco are far more damaging to the mind and body then cannabis sativa 7 Have you ever seen or heard of 'Marijuana Fuelled Violence? The Answer is NO! The worst enemys will still sit down and have a bong with each other. Pot is relaxing, when your high, you don't have a worry in the world. 8 marijuana should be legalised in both the recreational and especially the industrial form which has 1000's enviromentally freindly products. Its interesting to note that Canberra has had for a long time very relaxed laws on cannabis isnt that were the politicans and there familys live? The simple reason marijuana be will not be legalised is that with several million aussie's having already used marijuana while illegal, the loss to Alcohol companys if it was legalised would be to great hence they dontate millions to government fighting funds to keep it illegal. Much the same goes for industrial hemp being cheap and easy to grow was efectively hammered out of existance by chemical and cotton companys nearly 100 years ago due to the threat to there profits by the use of industrial hemp. industrial hemp can save the world!!! 9 Cannabis has many useful environmentally friendly capabilities. Maybe because it is too easily grown is why the big multi-nationals wish to keep it banned. In respect to the drug aspects of the plant, it is only one strain of Cannabis that has been breed to produce the "big" drug effect. Maybe there should be research into GM modified Cannabis to breed the "drug' component out of the plant, thus allowing one of natures most versatile plants to be used for the myriad of industrial applications that it is suitable for. 10 Holland, making marijuana legal, actually saw a decrease in its use amongst the locals, after the first 2 years. I just seem to see the carnage that alcohol creates, fuelling domestic violence, sparking brawls, causing road deaths as well as the myriad of health issues (cirrhosis, fetal alcohol syndrome etc). In my experience with weed users (both chronic and recreational), I've noticed a total absence of the consequences of alcohol, in their use of the weed. Of course there are ill effects (none that I have witnessed) especially I'm sure with long term chronic use, but the research I have seen makes weed look quite harmless, when compared to the ill effects of cigarrettes and alcohol. At least making it legal would make backyard dealers redundant. The issue of marijuanas industrial uses-it has hundreds of uses, the fact that hemp has not been utilised for all its possibilities will be seen, one day, as criminally insane. 11 Re:Should marijuana be legalised? Reply to this message The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer. The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years. "We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect." "This is the largest case-control study ever done, and everyone had to fill out a very extensive questionnaire about marijuana use," he said. "Bias can creep into any research, but we controlled for as many confounding factors as we could, and so I believe these results have real meaning." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html 11 WHY MARIJUANA ISN'T ALL BAD 09 Mar 2004 More than being just a 'social lubricant,' cannabis helps you relax and can reduce the negative side-effects of HIV drugs, in addition to offering a whole host of other medicinal benefits As a teenager, Dom Cramer's anti-drug attitudes would have made any parent proud. He bought into the "Just Say No" government campaigns and the warnings from the police who visited his high school that marijuana was a surefire gateway to more hard-core drugs. Today, Mr. Cramer owns the Toronto Hemp Company, a Yonge Street store that sells everything from hemp soaps and lip balms to rolling machines and "defunk smell remover spray." Mr. Cramer, now 30, began smoking marijuana in university, after he stopped believing "all the lies I was taught in high school." He smokes frequently, although he says he can go for weeks or months without it.

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