Posted on 04/16/2017 11:59:25 AM PDT by Drew68
Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Sunday that marijuana is "not a factor" in the war on drugs and that solving the nation's drug problem does not involve "arresting a lot of users."
Kelly, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," was discussing his work to stop the flow of drugs into the United States from Central America and Mexico when host Chuck Todd asked whether legalizing marijuana would help or hurt his work.
"Yeah, marijuana is not a factor in the drug war," Kelly responded, adding later: "It's three things. Methamphetamine. Almost all produced in Mexico. Heroin. Virtually all produced in Mexico. And cocaine that comes up from further south." Kelly said that in 2015 those three drugs, plus opiates, were responsible for the deaths of 52,000 people in the United States and cost the country $250 billion.
Kelly said the solution is to lower demand in the United States.
"The solution is not arresting a lot of users," he said.
"The solution is a comprehensive drug demand reduction program in the United States that involves every man and woman of goodwill. And then rehabilitation. And then law enforcement. And then getting at the poppy fields and the coca fields in the south."
Follow the Awan Brothers.
They’re like the anti-smoking zealots.
The problem is that if marijuana becomes legal, the underground economy of drug dealers will focus on harder and more dangerous, still illegal drugs in order to make money.
Build the wall.
And then getting at the poppy fields and the coca fields in the south.”...
Priorities are in the WRONG order.
Kill the supply now.
I thought in a WAR cutting of supplies was YUGE.
As far as that goes, water is not harmless. It can kill and wipe out villages. Alcohol, cars and stones can all be lethal.
“The problem is that if marijuana becomes legal, the underground economy of drug dealers will focus on harder and more dangerous, still illegal drugs in order to make money.”
So, the criminals will be even more criminal? Worse criminals? Or are you advocating legalizing everything?
Oh, and Happy Easter by the way!
However, most marijuana smokers stick with marijuana and don’t move into harder drugs.
Amen!
Exactly. Marijuana is a socially-accepted recreational drug that produces mild impairment. It doesn't destroy lives.
There aren't too many 30-something pot smokers in Colorado who have families to feed and jobs to go to thinking, "Smoking weed is fun! Let's try meth!"
Right or wrong, prosecuting marijuana users is a lost battle. I’m not worried at all about THC content. Besides, I don’t think weed is homogenous enough to test accurately.
Living in Michigan where MMJ is legal and where smoking tobacco has been banned in bars, pot dispensaries outnumber bars by at least 3 to 1.
Decades ago, I used to be a pothead. It makes you stupid, but I wouldn’t begrudge anyone using it for honest medical reasons. Nor do I think it’s any business of the Feds to interfere in its production or use.
The problem is that if marijuana becomes legal, the underground economy of drug dealers will focus on harder and more dangerous, still illegal drugs in order to make money.
******************
Sure but potheads won’t remain in their sphere of influence ,, their reach will be much shorter... and people like me that are more or less against the war on drugs would get behind it.
I was making the case against legalization of pot.
A good wall makes for good neighbors.
I agree that cannibis is not harmless, especially for young brains and learning. But the toothpaste is out of the tube on that one and it’s not going back in.
“heroin, meth, and cocaine coming across the border”
Chemical weapons of mass destruction.
It's a losing case. Marijuana legalization is the direction we are heading. The drug warriors made their case and failed.
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