The Failed War On Pot Users

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/20/2005 | Debra J. Saunders

[tonycavanagh]

re :(Oh, and your psycho "British soldier" in the The Patriot got what he deserved in the end.) .

Only to be expected after all it was a "American Film".

[Know your rights]

Laws restricting illicit drugs equal the holocaust?

No, laws have existed that deserve only disobedience, so other laws might also deserve disobedience.

[Mojave]

laws have existed that deserve only disobedience

The holocaust was a law? Quote it, please.

[Know your rights]

The holocaust was a law?

YOU introduced the term "holocaust"; if it's irrelevant to my statement, that's entirely YOUR problem.

[Mojave]

YOU introduced the term "holocaust"; if it's irrelevant to my statement, that's entirely YOUR problem.

Let's revisit your statement.

if the law says to hand over Jews for gassing they should disobey that law

That wasn't a reference to the holocaust? Is that what you're trying to claim?

[MEGoody]

The failure of the war on drugs is NOT the reason to abandon prohibition.

Tell that to the ones who keep trying to use it as the reason to legalize drugs.

The detrimental effects of prohibition and the immorality of an unjust restriction on freedom are the main reasons.

I disagree that the effects of prohibition are more detrimental than the legalization of drugs would be. I also do not agree it is an 'unjust' restriction. Of course, I hold a biblical world view. Not sure what your world view is based on.

I hate to keep repeating this, but murder is an act which, in and of itself, deprives an innocent person of their fundamental rights.

Using drugs deprives one of their mental faculties, thus endangering the lives of those around them.

But again, comparing murder to smoking pot is simply fallacious.

Claiming that smoking pot is a 'victimless' crime is fallacious.

With drug use (and I'm only talking about the act of taking the drug, which is the only thing on this table), there simply is no victim.

Again, I disagree. Everyone involved in a relationship with the drug user is a victim. Then of course, we have the individuals who are strangers or casual acquaintances of the user who end up being harmed because his/her mental faculties were impaired.

WE'RE supposed to be the advocates of personal responsibility.

Yes, so take responsibility for advocating the legalization of a substance which has and will cause untold pain and heartache.

[MEGoody]

And if you know the difference, your argument that legalizing drugs is in anyway analogous to legalizing murder is sophistry of the worst sort.

If your argument for legalizing drugs is that the WOD has failed, then my statement stands.

[Stone Mountain]

Have you noticed that CanaDuh's education scores have been dropping a lot in the past couple of years.

Did not know that. What education scores are we talking about and how do they compare to the US?

[april15Bendovr]

Its not just grades. Canada has been showing an increase with dropouts.

http://www.substancenews.com/Mambo/content/view/127/81/

I personally believe there is a coralation between Canada's liberal view and policies on marijuana connected to the decline of their youth.

[jmc813]

The libertarian movement is currently (and has historically) been made up of lunatics and liars.

Welcome to Free Republic. Most non-newbie FR members are aware that Ronald Reagan called libertarianism the "heart and soul of conservatism". Are you aware of this?

[jmc813]

Holy crap! I just realized that you're the somewhat legenday Roscoe. I haven't seen you since the Arnold/McClintock wars. Why the long hiatus?

Anyhow, hope all's well and that you stick around for a while this time.

[robertpaulsen]

"Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy."
-- Ronald Reagan, in the same interview

[jmc813]

Now, I can’t say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say

I'm in total agreement with Reagan on this. The LP has completely perverted the term 'libertarian'. I've found that organizations such as Ron Paul's Republican Liberty Caucus and Mike Pence's Republican Study Commitee are much better avenues for promoting limited government.

[Mojave]

somewhat legenday Roscoe.

Prior avatar.

[april15Bendovr]

The one thing still is prevalent about being around pot smokers. Whenever I walk by a group or individual smoking Pot it smells like I am walking by a bunch of cows ass.

I am sure to them it smells like a nice smelling hippie potpourri but to me it smells like freshly stepped in cow dung.

[ChiefBoatswain]

I worked in law enforcment for 16 years, on the front lines fighting the drug trade, and if you double the number of arrests, you would make absolutely NO difference.

Think about this. When you make drugs illegal, that means that the bad guys have the profits from the drug trade. Is that smart?

And what do they do with the profits? Their only motivation is to expand drug usage. Why do you think that giving the distribution rights to criminals will somehow reduce the spread of drugs? Why give them the profits????

You want to curtail drug usage? Then decriminialize drugs, put the government in charge, and guaranteed, usage will go down. Didn't we learn from prohibition?

[Mojave]

[april15Bendovr]

Ya that theory sure is working in Canada, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Get ready to have more public parks filled with useless waisted government sucking invalids that create an eye sore for the public to witness.

Have you ever seen the crowds at these marijuana marches. They look like a cross between WTO protesters, 60s hippies and the wild humans in the Planet of The Apes.

[quadrant]

One of the advantages of history is hindsight. The Founders were subjected to all sorts of medical procedures - for example bleeding - that we know now to be harmful. Nor did anyone realize the addictive effects of morphine until the mid-Twentieth Century. If the Founders smoked pot, perhaps they did not realize its harmful effects.

[ChiefBoatswain]

Mojave, a pretty picture, but nothing more. Do you have a link that one could follow to see exactly what's being graphed here?

This is a very suspicious looking graph, I'd be very interested in the source of the data being graphed, which group put it together, and what their intent was.