Legalize, Tax Marijuana? (Libertarians Say Yes)

Fox ^ | 02/26/2009 | Glen Beck

[Responsibility2nd]

GLENN BECK, HOST: Marijuana brownies, anyone? This is the worst — the people in our green room, I'm happy to say it's clear they've never been high.

I'm going to ask you what's wrong with this picture. Chicago is trying to fix $50 million budget — their budget gap by taxing car rentals in suburban areas. And now, California is talking about legalizing marijuana and taxing marijuana to solve their budget problems.

Rob Kampia is the executive director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

How are you doing — how are you doing, Rob?

ROB KAMPIA, MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT: Doing well.

BECK: All right. Do you smoke marijuana? Do you have any those marijuana's...

KAMPIA: Occasionally.

BECK: Occasionally?

KAMPIA: Yes.

BECK: It's against the law, you know.

KAMPIA: Yes. So, is speeding, a lot of people do that, also.

BECK: Wow. OK. You used to work for NORML, did you not?

KAMPIA: Yes.

BECK: Yes?

KAMPIA: Fourteen years ago.

BECK: Fourteen years ago. And is it true that you quit working with NORML because they were stoned all the time and that's all they really wanted to do was get high? They weren't serious about changing the laws?

KAMPIA: No, everyone there is very serious about changing the laws.

BECK: Really? OK.

KAMPIA: And the reason that — the reason that I left and started up the Marijuana Policy Project because I wanted to focus almost exclusively on lobbying and ballot initiatives.

BECK: OK. So, tell me because — look, I'm a libertarian. You want to legalize marijuana; you want to legalize drugs — that's fine.

[Danae]

I can’t argue with that, I live in Oregon so I know what you are talking about. However, legalizing it will make it so much cheaper that it will no longer be profitable for the Cartels to bother with. The exact same reason bootleggers went out of business when prohibition ended.

[SmallGovRepub]

“I am for legalizing Marijuana (a plant that needs no chemical conversion) but not for legalizing drugs.”

Plants aren’t necessarily more healthy than synthetic drugs. Marijuana is a drug, or at least it contains drugs. Some plants can kill you. Opium doesn’t necessarily require conversion, although the sap or whatever you call it can be easily converted into a more potent form that can be smoked.

[roamer_1]

I do not agree with my Libertarian friends WRT the war on drugs, but I think you have misstated their reasoning and intentions. I know of no Libertarian of any stature here who is in favor of alcohol and tobacco taxes, not to mention new taxation of marijuana.

As to the essence of legalizing marijuana, I am against it- my reasoning being always the same- One gets more of what one endorses, and secondly, in moving the goalposts at all one only sets the precedent for moving them again.

But my Libertarian FRiends have legitimate issues with how this "war" is being executed, with much individual freedom and state sovereignty being sacrificed in it's name to an overweening federal authority- An authority which doesn't really endeavor to to win, but to perpetuate- else that damnable border would be doubly guarded, and would have been so for many, many years.

[Doe Eyes]

Some plants can kill you.

Amanita phalloides, the death cap mushroom, causes 90% of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide, but its not illegal.

[conservative cat]

Yes, that is true that there are more dangerous plants, but I don't consider weed to be a drug. I know of two people personally who OD'd on prescribed narcotics and died. I know no-one who OD'd on pot (by the way, I am not generally a smoker- I hate the smell even.) I prefer drinking, but I know alcohol is way more dangerous. I would never legalize something like meth- that IS a drug, and it's destructive and causes a lot of crime.

[SmallGovRepub]

Well, it is a drug as are booze and cigarettes, and meth. Some drugs are just a lot more dangerous than others. They all have different properties.

[SmallGovRepub]

“Amanita phalloides, the death cap mushroom, causes 90% of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide, but its not illegal.”

There's no market for them either.

[roamer_1]

Jim Robinson will NOT take a stand against libs.

First of all, it is considered polite to ping a freeper when talking smack about him, as you should well know by now, and especially JR when you are picking bones. You are cruising for a good zotting.

Secondly, Libertarians had a rightful place at Reagan's table. It is unthinkable to define Conservatism without them. So if JR is kind enough to give them extra leeway it is probably out of respect in regard to their rightful chair.

It is more likely that Republicans hereabouts have grown so cold to the tenets of Conservatism that many of them now find those tenets offensive. If that is your case, perhaps another forum would be more to your liking.

[roamer_1]

In Holland the legalization lead to fewer users.

That is *not* true. Holland is now moving to make drugs and prostitution illegal. Their society is out of control.

[roamer_1]

all I will agree to is that more people went to church.

*snort*

It takes but the barest of observational skills to see the truth in what he says. Runaway divorce rates, runaway teenage pregnancy rates, thievery, assault, drug use, rape, child abuse, spousal battery, corruption in government, lack of social justice, literacy rates... Anywhere you would care to measure it, it is off the scales compared to 100 years ago.

[Mister Da]

Unless this country returns to the ideas of “mind your own business” & “carry your own weight” we are doomed to ever increasing opression by the nanny state.

We don't need more laws - we need fewer laws.

I believe that if the Founding Fathers could have foreseen the Federal Gov’t of today, there would have never been a USA or a Constitution.

I also believe the fundamental flaw of our system is the unlimited ability of our legislators to legislate. Most legislation today is political & partisan in nature, with little regard for what is actually good or necessary for the people & the country.

The Pubs are the Hatfields & the Rats are the McCoys; and way more time is spent on the feuding than on the families. The result is poverty & oppression for all but those in power.

Every time a law is passed we lose more of our rights. Laws rarely grant rights to the people, but most often take them away.

So when you support the revocation of your neighbor's rights, don't be surprised when he supports your loss of rights, too. Your BBQ pig might just disgust him as much as his pot smoke does you. And sure enough, people are being harassed by neighbors & police because of their BBQ.

As for the War on Drugs, a true story:

My friend's ex wife has been a junkie for years. Every day for years she went to a gov’t sponsored “clinic” to get her daily dose of Methadone. Finally, her doctor told her the Methadone was killing her, so she quit on her own.

If those bureaucrats had wanted to help her kick the habit, they could have easily cut the dosage a tiny bit every day until she was drug free. But freeing their “patients” of addiction would have put them out of business, as their support from gov’t was based on how many dosages were given out.

[Responsibility2nd]

Where do you get the idea that legalization of drugs will lead to any significant increase in usage, abuse, and/or crime?

________________________________________

Are you for real? Why not ask....

Where do you get the idea that legalization of alcohol or gambling will lead to any significant increase in usage, abuse, and/or crime?

[Responsibility2nd]

....am totally against the FAILED WAR ON DRUGS.

__________________________

Defeatist attitude.

Who said it is a failed war? Just maybe a bunch of surrender monkeys.

The way I see it - we are winning.

Maybe you see the WOT as a failure too?

Now. (j/k) Now you may return to your bong.

[muir_redwoods]

"Alcohol and drugs are not a good analogy."

You're right. Alcohol is a drug so it's not an analogy.

[SmallGovRepub]

I'm with you on legalizing marijuana and not drugs like meth. It's just not because I don't think it's a drug or I think that natural drugs are so much better than synthetic drugs. I think we should legalize it because it's not super addictive and it's not prone to causing a lot of problems for innocent people, and because it is already so prevalent that it can be found easily anywhere and it's already cheaper than beer for the most part on a per use basis. We are accomplishing nothing good trying to keep up the ban. We aren't making it hard to find at all. It couldn't be much more available. We aren't making it too expensive to try or to expensive for people to use it regularly. We are deterring precious few people with the far remote possibility of getting caught and getting a slap on the wrist. What we are doing is blowing many billions of dollars a year trying to keep up the ban, and wasting a lot of resources we could be putting to better use. The ban is enriching organized crime to the tune of many billions of dollars a year. We're turning a lot of people against law enforcement and the rule of law in general. We've created a situation where there is a lot of monetary temptation for people to become law breakers who may not have become law breakers without it. We're saddling a lot of people with criminal records that in some cases diminish earning capacity and reduce their ability to contribute to society, and probably just push some to more criminal activity. We're causing so much harm and we really aren't getting much in return except that maybe we're stopping a few people from smoking pot who would do it if it was legal, but I honestly do not believe there are that many just waiting for pot to be legal so they can finally smoke it.

To me the war on marijuana is asinine and harmful to this country. I do think that we as a people will be a better off when we legalize marijuana. We will probably have a few more people smoking pot but that is a small price to pay for putting a stop to all the problems the ban is causing.

[Doe Eyes]

There's no market for them either.

I assume you are conservative.

What do you see as the role of government, and how does making Marijuana illegal apply to that role?

[Responsibility2nd]

....perhaps another forum would be more to your liking.

_____________________________

As I said in post # 1. Libs rule on Free Republic.

But no thanks. Until Jim zots me and my moral views to kingdom come, I will continue to speak my mind.

And good luck on pinging the Big Guy. He won’t respond. Not on this issue.

As for Reagan? You are sadly mistaken on using Reagan as a role model for Libertariansim.

Try Goldwater. Whith his pro-abortion and pro-gay attitudes; Goldwater is your hero.

[avid]

What I wrote is a fact. Holland has a big problem with “drug tourists” from the surrounding countries which is why cities close to the borders want to (or already did) further regulate the selling of cannabis. Weren’t small border villages swamped by thousands by German/French/Belgian youths each day, the “legalization” would be an enormous success.

Prostitution is another matter. I have no problem with it here in Germany :).

[roamer_1]

I'm a mechanical/nuclear engineer and I'm tired of the inaccurate "stupid pothead" stereotypes.

I will rise to defend this point to a degree. Some of the greatest, most imaginative minds I have ever known have been dope smokers their entire life. Like alcohol, some folks have a natural propensity to handle it's effects without any real addictive traits, beyond a certain jittery shortness of temper if denied the opportunity to imbibe...

By the same token, I have known plenty of people who have been the epitome of the "stupid pothead" stereotype. One of my good friends was such a pothead. He could barely keep his life together, and lived for getting high. He died at 50, broke and out of luck. I won't say pot killed him, but it sure as hell didn't help.

[roamer_1]

As for Reagan? You are sadly mistaken on using Reagan as a role model for Libertariansim.

A bit of evidence as to your misguided opinion:

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals -- if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is. -RONALD REAGAN, Reason Magazine, Jul. 1, 1975