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Comment by sergiotapia | Hacker News Reader

I wish it were 100% legal like beer already. So many people use it, and it harms just as much as alcohol. Stop putting normal people in prison with murderers and rapists.

I've never done drugs before in my life but I know a ton of professional that do. These are lawyers, doctors, accountants and the occasional taxidermist. Do these people belong in jail? Fuck that.

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> and it harms just as much as alcohol

While I agree that marijuana should be legalized, note that there is some consensus that alcohol causes more harm (societally and to the user) than marijuana [1]. While the societal damage would change if it were legalized, marijuana is still less harmful to users than alcohol.

[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/11/drugs_caus...

Even better, let's legalize it already. Too many people are suffering from this old law.

>I've never done drugs before

I can only assume you mean cannabis is a drug, when, in fact, it is a plant. Keeping with the idea that cannabis is a drug, am I correct to assume you have never had a Pepsi or a cup of coffee?

If you're going to be pedantic at least do it well. Going by the dictionary definition of drug: "a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body" both caffeine and cannabis fit the bill.

Cannabis is a plant that contains cannabinoids that are drugs. As a chemist, I typically don't refer to unrefined plant material as a drug. Because people don't typically consume caffeine raw, most people don't consider coffee consumption "doing drugs"; so, I believe cannabis deserves the same consideration.

Language matters, and I don't consider it to be pedantic to make this point (however subtle the distinction is).

Edit: And, for reference (since you missed the definition of cannabis): Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three different species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis.

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