Quote Originally Posted by Xiahou
There are some important distinctions between the two. Believe it or not, people can and do (myself included) drink without getting drunk- yes many abuse alchohol, but it's intended purpose is not to get trashed and throw up on yourself. With pot, the whole point is to get high/inebriated.

Second, you can sit in a room full of people and have a drink without making everyone else drunk. It's alot tougher to sit in a room full of people and toke up without giving them a buzz as well. Im not certain an outright ban is appropriate, but until someone comes up with a feasible idea, that's still where I stand.
Clearly you have never had grass. All you have to do is crack a window and the other people will not get a buzz (unless they want to.) And I know people drink without getting piss drunk- the majority of the time I drink, I do not get full-on drunk.

And I do not understand your first argument... what is the purpose of drinking alcohol, if not to experience the effects of the alcohol itself? That is like saying that the primary reason for smoking pot is for the taste. The taste is definitely a good reason to smoke it, but the primary reason it getting high- and speaking of getting high, it is possible to smoke pot without getting blitzed and eating a whole subway sandwich. When consumed in small amounts, it is quite a different experience, and is mainly just relaxing.

Just to add to all of this- one of the stronger reasons for legalisation is the Prohibition effect. What I mean by this is that, because grass is illegal, it has the same effects as Prohibition did on alcohol. It inflates the price severely, but more importantly, it is totally unregulated. Purchasing grass these days is much like purchasing alcohol was in the 20's- every time you buy some, it is like a game of Russian Roulette, because you do not know what might be in it. One of the people I hang around with was actually slipped a joint with opium in it- it was very fortunate for him that he already consumed the stuff upon occasion, because he might have had some serious complication from this, and at the very least he would have freaked out. If pot was legal, this problem would be easily avoided.