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The Failed War On Pot Users
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/20/2005 | Debra J. Saunders

Posted on 10/20/2005 7:51:19 AM PDT by cryptical

IN 2004, law enforcement officials arrested 771,605 people for marijuana violations, according to federal statistics. Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project was so alarmed he sent out a press release noting that there were more arrests for marijuana charges than all violent crimes combined. The number of arrests for possession alone was 684,319.

Said Mirken of the 771,605 statistic: "This is, in fact, an all-time record. This number of arrests is the equivalent of arresting every man, woman and child in San Francisco." Some 40 percent of Americans say they have used marijuana or hashish in their lifetime, and 34 percent of high-school seniors say they have used marijuana in the last year -- even though the last decade has seen a huge spike in marijuana arrests, according to federal research. When the number of marijuana arrests exceeds the population of some states, the country should be asking: Does it make sense to keep millions of otherwise-law-abiding citizens on the dark side of the law?

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 1dumbdoper; addictedlosers; bongbrigade; burnouts; cheetofreaks; dopers; dorks; dregs; drips; druggies; drunks; potheads; rasta; smoketwojoints; stoners; wodlist
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To: robertpaulsen
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".

281 posted on 10/23/2005 3:37:52 PM PDT by tonycavanagh
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To: Mojave
Laws restricting illicit drugs equal the holocaust?

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

282 posted on 10/23/2005 5:04:07 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights
laws have existed that deserve only disobedience

The holocaust was a law? Quote it, please.

283 posted on 10/23/2005 5:08:24 PM PDT by Mojave
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To: Mojave
The holocaust was a law?

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

284 posted on 10/23/2005 5:11:24 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Know your rights
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?

285 posted on 10/23/2005 6:05:47 PM PDT by Mojave
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To: LibertarianSchmoe
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.

286 posted on 10/24/2005 8:06:53 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: somniferum
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.

287 posted on 10/24/2005 8:20:15 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: april15Bendovr
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?
288 posted on 10/24/2005 9:25:09 AM PDT by Stone Mountain
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To: Stone Mountain
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.

289 posted on 10/24/2005 10:37:40 AM PDT by april15Bendovr
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To: Mojave
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?

290 posted on 10/24/2005 11:16:40 AM PDT by jmc813 (Don't lick toad)
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To: Mojave; Know your rights; robertpaulsen
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.

291 posted on 10/24/2005 11:19:59 AM PDT by jmc813 (Don't lick toad)
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To: 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, 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
292 posted on 10/24/2005 12:09:56 PM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: 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

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.

293 posted on 10/24/2005 12:40:26 PM PDT by jmc813 (Don't lick toad)
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To: jmc813
somewhat legenday Roscoe.

Prior avatar.

294 posted on 10/24/2005 9:45:59 PM PDT by Mojave
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To: All
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.

295 posted on 10/24/2005 10:01:05 PM PDT by april15Bendovr
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To: cryptical
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?

296 posted on 10/24/2005 10:17:18 PM PDT by ChiefBoatswain
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To: ChiefBoatswain

297 posted on 10/24/2005 10:53:37 PM PDT by Mojave
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To: ChiefBoatswain
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.


298 posted on 10/24/2005 11:00:08 PM PDT by april15Bendovr
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To: Joe Beerman

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.


299 posted on 10/25/2005 7:57:07 AM PDT by quadrant
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To: Mojave
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.

300 posted on 10/25/2005 1:08:58 PM PDT by ChiefBoatswain
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