Cannabis should be decriminalized for the same reasons that alcohol is

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 8/28/2006 | Editorial

[tang0r]

It turns out that alcohol is legal for the simplest, most nostalgic, and most American reason of all. Despite its risks and harmful side-effects, adults are reserved right to drink because they are independent adults in a free country. For all of the empty rhetoric about economics and black markets, the end of Prohibition was due to a single principle: even if drinking may be bad for society, government has no right to keep the people from doing it. The ability to get drunk is an inalienable right that we have forever confirmed with the 18th Amendment.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Women have been wearing makeup for centuries. The only women that I knew growing up that didn't use makeup were in the Holiness church.
MaryJane doesn't always lead to other drug use, but I can see why it probably does.
I am something of a libertarian and decriminalizing drugs has always been of interest to me. The benefits might be eliminating the profit that drug cartels. I don't think organized crime would go out of business if we legalized drugs.
There is already a huge problem with the selling of legal, prescription drugs. I suspect that problems would persist even after legalizing drugs.

[SoothingDave]

MaryJane doesn't always lead to other drug use, but I can see why it probably does.

Because it's traded on the black market. Your merchant will have other illegal wares to sell, and one might be tempted to try something different.

If MJ was sold in the state liquor store alongside the bourbon and vodka, the tendency for pot use to lead to cocaine or heroin would be diminished.

SD

[hellbender]

Alcohol affects different people in different ways. Some drunk drivers actually drive very slowly. Cops know to be suspicious of drunk driving when they spot a vehicle really creeping down the road.

[headsonpikes]

I am now middle age. In my younger days, I smoked some pot and yes, I did inhale. I have also drank my share of alcohol. In neither case did I overindulge to the point it effected my ability to perform in school or in my professional life. The key to is moderation.

I can tell you unequivocally that when used responsibly, alcohol is much harder on your body and the ill effects last much longer than smoking a joint.

Yeah, right!

You DU deep sleepers on Free Republic(Mr. IamConservative joined Dec 9, 2000!) destroy the chances of a real conservative revival by sabotaging the solidarity of right-thinking Republicans!!!!

No matter what the damage to Constitutional government, we can't let the hippies win!

[hellbender]

"If MJ was sold in the state liquor store alongside the bourbon and vodka, the tendency for pot use to lead to cocaine or heroin would be diminished."

This is mere hypothesis. No one's ever tried that policy, so we have no idea what the consequences would be. There is evidence that people who try legal drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, at an early age are more likely to progress to illegal ones. Removing the legal stigma from a drug, and making it cheaper, can hardly reduce its popularity. And once the govt. starts selling something or making money from taxing it, you can say goodbye to ever getting it off the open market.

[mugs99]

I don't know if you know who Eddie Izzard is, but grandma might have been right. :-)

ROFL!

[IamConservative]

You DU deep sleepers on Free Republic(Mr. IamConservative joined Dec 9, 2000!) destroy the chances of a real conservative revival by sabotaging the solidarity of right-thinking Republicans!!!!

Let me guess, you are Bible thumping right winger that wants to legislate every aspect of our lifes to conform with your ideals.

Before you ask, yes, I am as capable of making this declaration about you as you are of defining me using only a comment I made about something I experienced over 20 years ago. Which is to say, you are full of it.

[SoothingDave]

There is evidence that people who try legal drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, at an early age are more likely to progress to illegal ones.

People who like being intoxicated tend to like intoxicants. I can't argue with that.

My point was that saying pot is a "gateway" to harder drugs is colored by the fact that having to resort to black market merchants makes other illegal substances available.

Removing the legal stigma from a drug, and making it cheaper, can hardly reduce its popularity.

I didn't think I said it would be less popular. And I didn't argue that legalization would be "cheaper." Prices should remain stable, or decrease slightly, with revenue going to the state.

And once the govt. starts selling something or making money from taxing it, you can say goodbye to ever getting it off the open market.

The fact is that we need to be pragmatic. We can either spend billions of dollars on police and correctional work in pursuit of a utopian pot-free society, or we can turn it into a regulated source of revenue and target these revenues into education and treatment.

We don't throw drinkers in jail, we tax their booze and offer counselling and rehab.

SD

[photodawg]

There was nothing illegal about it until the 1930s
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
forgive my blanket statement. 60 years is however, quite a precedent legally. You are dealing with inertia with both vices. Many would love to eliminate both, and many would love to have both legal, so the status quo remains.

[SupplySider]

The one fact that must be made clear here is that a naturally growing plant is a gift from our Creator and I am of the opinion that a child of God is entitled by God to use it responsibly. The State has NO jurisdiction either presumed or implied. Processed or manufactured narcotics fall under an entirely different category and the State has every right to regulate it.

I tend to agree. We don't illegalize mushrooms, though every year people die from picking and eating the wrong ones. That said I don't consider deeply inhaling and holding the fumes to get "wrecked", "stoned", or "wasted" responsible use.

[mugs99]

In 2004 the democrats has the most successful most efficient GOTV machine they ever had. They hit the polls with their best paid volunteer machine to maximize their people at the polls. They still lost. So now they resort to pot-heads to scare conservatives away.

They lost because those libertarian pot-heads you besmirch voted for Bush! The Republican party is the minority party. Without libertarians, Republicans can't win. Libertarians don't vote Democrat. If they sit out the next election, you will lose.
.

[HawaiianGecko]

There is evidence that people who try legal drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, at an early age are more likely to progress to illegal ones.

Hmmm... I'm not sure but I don't think this scenario is possible.

One has to assume that "an early age" means sometime before one is 21 years of age and more likely referring to a 15 year old.  Last time I checked neither are legal drugs to a 15 year old.

I think it's more proper to say: "There is evidence that people who try illegal activity including alcohol & tobacco consumption at an early age are more like to continue their propensity for illegal activity in the future."

 

 

[headsonpikes]

I was hoping not to have to use irony tags.

;^)

[photodawg]

Your statement that weed has always been illegal is not accurate.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''forgive my blanket statement. My point stands however. For the past 60 years its been on the other side of the law. You are fighting inertia with both vices. Many would love both legal and many would love both illegal. The laws remain. Grow your own and break the law or stop smoking the stuff. The choice is yours if you can't get the law repealed. Its just a personal vice and not enough people want to fight the battle for legalization.

[IamConservative]

I was hoping not to have to use irony tags.

DOH! Rubbed that a streak of libertarian fur of mine the wrong way when I read it literally. You did a real good impression though. I was right, you were full of it!

[thoughtomator]

It is indeed a longstanding precedent; not as long as the IRS, though, and there are plenty who wish to do away with that. Also, the fact that we did just fine without it being illegal for a century and a half before that is notable. Many of our founding fathers grew it on their own property, and indeed it was invaluable to the national defense before the development of plastics. During WWII - after it was illegal - the government paid people to grow it, because the plant makes rope of greater strength than any other nonsynthetic material.

[mugs99]

A "study" conducted before Thalidomide? How very reliable that

You want new and improved?
No problem...Law Enforcement Against Prohibition has all of the facts.

"The stated goals of current U.S.drug policy -- reducing crime, drug addiction, and juvenile drug use -- have not been achieved, even after nearly four decades of a policy of "war on drugs". This policy, fueled by over a trillion of our tax dollars has had little or no effect on the levels of drug addiction among our fellow citizens, but has instead resulted in a tremendous increase in crime and in the numbers of Americans in our prisons and jails. With 4.6% of the world's population, America today has 22.5% of the worlds prisoners. But, after all that time, after all the destroyed lives and after all the wasted resources, prohibited drugs today are cheaper, stronger, and easier to get than they were thirty-five years ago at the beginning of the so-called "war on drugs"...LEAP
.

[hellbender]

"The fact is that we need to be pragmatic." Agreed. It's the pragmatic aspects that worry me. If pot becomes legal, and if it's as harmless as it's fans say, then I would expect that it would become very popular. Cops would not just have to worry about drunk drivers, but hordes of stoned drivers as well. It's easy to say that consequences of intoxication could be illegal, but that's not convincing to anyone who knows just how seldom law enforcement enforces existing laws, and how much it costs to have them do so. Unfortunately, the effects of all drugs are borne by the innocent non-users, not just the users. Anyone who has had a problem with alcohol (or known someone who had), or anyone whose kin were killed by a drunk driver should worry about letting another drug into mass circulation.

You may not have done so, but many advocates say that decriminalization would "take away the profits of the crime syndicates." Actually, overall profits could go up, because consumption would increase. And who's to say that giant co's like Coors, Anheuser-Busch, etc. wouldn't go into the business?

Frankly, I'm not pleased with the prospect of govt. making money off pot. I don't want them having more money from any source! But especially drugs, because should legalization prove a disaster, we could never reverse the decision once govt. gets part of the take.

[theDentist]

Still haven't figured out how they keep the brownies lit...

[mysterio]

So, we end the so-called war on drugs and legalize drugs of every sort.

Yes.

You say we can then tax them.

Yes.

Who then pays the price for the all of the social ills that befalls us? The tax revenue?

Well, with legalized drugs, we no longer need the DEA, and tons of money can be pulled from jails and law enforcement. Those resources are now being used to lock up users and sellers of drugs. And any increase in "social ills" will be offset by a massive decrease in the violent criminal black market. Kind of like when alcohol was legalized.

What about the cost in lives (those around them not the users)?

I really doubt that we'll see much of a net increase in lives lost. Many people are killed by the failed war on some drugs every year. Also, the failed war on some drugs is a cancer on the Bill of Rights.

There's more to it than just legaizing drugs. You need to think further downstream than just the immediate.

There sure is. We also have to restore the Constitution to where it was before the fWO(s)D zealots started ignoring it. And all of the branches of government that deal with the prosecution of the failed war on some drugs can now be defunded. There's a lot of work to be done, to be sure.