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>>>Despite legislation which forbade the sale of hard drugs in coffee shops, they were being sold there. So, five years ago the government clamped down, reducing the number of shops and the amount of cannabis products sold to an individual user, from 30 grams to five.
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>>Somehow the discussion has turned from MM to legalizing marijuana. When did that happen or are there two discussions going on? Prescription narcotics are illegal without a legitimate prescription and medical marijuana should fall into the same category. If we want to legalize marijuana and treat it like alcohol, that is a different subject and frankly, I'm not convinced one way or the other on that today. Much of the crime involved with drugs is due to the import and illegal marketing of it here in the states. The crimes exist because it is illegal. It generates its own crime that spills over into the general populace. Sometimes I think treating marijuana like alcohol makes sense. Other times I recall many sites and scens I wished I've never seen and many of those concerned folks who started out smoking and later selling marijuana before they moved onto the really really bad stuff. One thing I do know: the war on drugs is not working and generates more problems than it solves. So another approach may worth the initial trial and expense to see the effect.
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>It went to legalization because that is what is really going on with the exponential growth in MM clinics. Many of them have been busted because they were serving more than just those with prescriptions. I will NEVER support legalizing marijuana, and I cannot understand anyone wanting to "try" allowing drugs to be legalized. You should know better, if you've seen the carnage.

Serious question: How much damage have you seen from marijuana? How does it compare to the damage you've seen from alcohol? How about the damage from tobacco?

I tend to agree with you that legalizing heroin, cocaine, etc., would be a bad idea, but from what I know about marijuana, it seems to me that it could be legal under a regime similar to that for alcohol without serious consequences.

I guess my big question is why should alcohol be legal while marijuana is not?

Tamar