Posted on 02/28/2009 8:55:36 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Do you believe it was good for the country to end prohibition? Just curious.
Your post deserves my super-sized font feature!
The human wreckage and waste, not only moral degradation that legalizing drugs would create would be the last nail in this country's coffin.
Moral strength and fortitude, clean sober thinking and morality is what gave this country it's greatness in the first place. In other words, you can make a pig into bacon, but you can't make bacon back into a pig.
Any argument to the contrary is pure insanity and has no merit.
And did those measures of increasing public use of alcohol aid and enhance our society as a whole? No, it only created a much bigger problem that we are still dealing with today on an increasing level. It’s called Alcoholism and addictive behavior. The cost to the taxpayers has never really been fully revealed all in the name of revenue.
Legalized gambling, State Lottery’s, etc,,, are all taking a devastating toll on our society, let’s just have much more of IT! (Sort of like trying to tax/spend our way out this failing economy.)
It try. Oh... I try.
Thanks for the encouraging word.
unless you are willing to legalize all drugs then you have just moved the line in the sand and you are now a hypocrite to the next user down the line.
If we go in and slaughter and burn a bunch of those Mexicans in one place in a way that says it will happen elsewhere, we might just stop things. Before judges, mayors, and other elected officials get in on the take. Like Mexico.
Alcohol and drugs are not a good analogy.
Think of legalizing drugs and allowing the drug cartels from Mexico and Columbia on the same level as what would happen if we legalized the Mafia.
And in many ways we have (i.e. Las Vegas)
Legalized gambling is good for the State, right? So, Libs argue that allowing Mexicans to ship tons of dope to the US is good business, right? And just as the State makes millions of tax dollars from gambling, tobacco, booze, and other sins, do you think - for one second - that the State would not turn a profit from dope?
They would have to. Overnight, the US would see the need to build thousands of new hospitals and prisions to house the addicts and criminals.
Alcohol and gambling is a Sunday School picnic compared to the mind, body and soul damages that occur when drugs are involved.
Damages not just to some bum on the street. But to the foolish nation stupid enough to legalize it.
Drugs, like Pot, (A gateway drug) etc, are taken in a full blown dosage for maximum effect. there is only one level of high. And in the case of Cocaine, heroine, meth, etc,, the first few dosages set the stage for future attempts to recapture that same level of effect, but never quite measure up. the only option the user has is to greatly increase the dosage to never quite reach the original effect.
Therefore, the comparison of pot, drugs, etc, to alcohol has no credibility what so ever. they cannot even be closely associated by their nature.
Since you have put a societal price tag on alcohol consumption, I guess you are for regulating or outlawing cigarettes, Twinkies, donuts, and cream filled oatmeal cookies. Politicians and food freaks are putting a price tag on obesity.
I believe that Prohibition created a biger problem than the one you attribute to legal alcohol.
I have a long ago deceased uncle who became an alcoholic while living in a bone dry county. Prohibition did not stem the tide of alcohol consumption.
100 years ago our society was more religious and more moral. When the public, the voting public, saw the damage that cocaine did to society they banned cocaine. In the 1910's morality started declining. From Margaret Sanger to FDR, socialists began chipping away at the moral fiber of America. In the 60's it began a full fledged rush to destroy religion and morality.
The goal of the left is to destroy religion and morality so they can destroy the country. Absent morality, laws against bad things, like drugs, porn and abortion, are the last stop gap against the destructive forces of communism and evil.
Marijuana can grow wild in every state in the union...it's a weed, and an extremely hearty one at that. Why would you pay for what can be grown in every back-yard and roof-top garden in the country..and at no cost to boot? As a consequence, a reduction in alcohol consumption is sure to follow as substitution for alcohol based products expands, significantly reducing overall tax monies collected.
Personally, as conservative as I am, I am also practical. Marijuana is more harmless than alcohol and a continuation of this is a non-winnable situation. In our collective names, we are jailing thousands every year and we have got to correct this.
Prohibition does not work. We painfully came to that conclusion over 70 years ago. It's time to re-examine policies that we know historically are untenable.
Well said.
I’m seeing many replies on this thread that say in effect “Well, in 1909 we had no drug laws.....”
Your post puts that faulty logic to rest.
“There is a large contingent of libertarians who are active posters on this site and are not generally frowned upon”
Nor should they be.
We can legalize other drugs in certain forms if we desire - sodas with cocaine sold in licensed outlets is one example. It would certainly give a new kick to energy drinks which now have large amounts of caffiene.
Drug prohibition has not worked, pure and simple.
I have only three bad habits, cigrettes, coffee, and commenting on Freerepublic.
Honestly, I really don't think that makes me conservative or liberal or libertarian - it just makes me a cranky woman who's damn tired of being forced to foot the bill so that our government may serve as a glorified babysitter for my self-destructive fellow citizens.
If this man, of his own free will & volition, chooses to impair his own cognitive function, far be it from me to quibble with him. In fact, I'm thinking that's better for the rest of us in the labor market if we don't have to work as hard competing with people who're zonked out at their desks, scarfing down Cheetos & staring at the pattern of the formica in their cubicle, no?
I have to agree with you though, that any self-described "libertarian" who advocates for taxing it seems to be a little unclear on the concept of the political philosophy he allegedly espouses. This guy sounds more to me like your run-of-the-mill nanny statist liberal who just happens to have a fondness for the sixties.
Hoo boy. And I suppose legaling alcohol and gambling also had no opportunity to raise tax monies???
Marijuana can grow wild in every state in the union...So can tobacco. But nobody grows their own tobacco for personal use. And if Marijuana is legal... the State will support the sale and distribution of it. Why? To increase tax monies and so grow the government.
There are no bad ideas...except intolerance to new ideas.
Self-induced states of altered awareness must be strictly prohibited. We must each and all constrain ourselves to an equal sobriety, just as we must each and all refrain from behaviors that attend to excelling above others in any respect. It’s the only way our country can be safe from evil.
The difference between tobacco and marijuana is the processing required. Tobacco takes some work to make into decent smoke. Pot? Dry it and spark it, done.
Growing our own is better than buying it from Mexico.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.