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Drug Laws: By Cenk's Logic, We Could Decriminalize Murder
NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 03/31/2011 7:50:40 PM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest

On his MSNBC show this evening, Cenk Uygur argued in favor of decriminalizing marijuana since, 74 years after the feds made it illegal, people continue to smoke it, or as Cenk put it, the War on Drugs is unwinnable.

Yo, Cenk: Cain killed Abel more than 5,000 years ago. Murder has been illegal ever since, and yet people continue to commit it. By that logic, since the War on Homicide is also unwinnable, should we decriminalize murder?

Be sure to view the video here. Not only will you hear Cenk make his nonsensical argument, you'll see Dem Rep. Jared Polis. On the one hand, the congressman went on to make a number of better arguments in favor of decriminalization. On the other, not to be unkind, but the man from Colorado looks like he's been on a few Rocky Mountain highs himself.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Philosophy; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: cenkuygur; decriminalization; jaredpolis; marijuana
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
Got it. ;)

/johnny

21 posted on 03/31/2011 8:21:00 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Persevero

recreational drugs that make people stupider, less rational, paranoid, crazy, or lethargic, or makes them hallucinate.”

sounds like the drinking water in D.C.


22 posted on 03/31/2011 8:23:56 PM PDT by rolling_stone ( *this makes Watergate look like a kiddie pool*)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
Cenk Uygur

We don't have enough home-grown leftists wrecking the country. Now we have to import them from Turkey.

23 posted on 03/31/2011 8:24:12 PM PDT by Pelham (current score: Gaddafi 1. Zero 0.)
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To: Persevero
Fair enough, I’ll narrow it to say “recreational drugs that make people stupider, less rational, paranoid, crazy, or lethargic, or makes them hallucinate.”

Okay, but given that, I wouldn't bet against some bureaucrat trying to ban caffeine, arguing that it does indeed make you lethargic when it wears off.

The initial reaction to that is probably going to be that it's ridiculous and absent any degree of common sense, but looking at what's been coming out of DC lately I don't think that's much of an argument any more.

Be careful what you wish for.

24 posted on 03/31/2011 8:27:11 PM PDT by tacticalogic
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To: Clintonfatigued
I once supported the drug war and thought that Libertarians who opposed it were nuts. But they turned out to be right.

The problem is that once you start unravelling like that, you wind up thinking that a limited federal government ruled by a restrictive Constitution makes sense.

Some laws are truly needed and are time-tested. Murder, rape, robbery, fraud...

And then there are the other laws. The ones that are about personal preferences, and enforced by men with guns and the force of law.

/johnny

25 posted on 03/31/2011 8:27:39 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
Arrest those five year old punks who spin around to make themselves dizzy.

26 posted on 03/31/2011 8:29:08 PM PDT by I see my hands (Embrace misanthropy)
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To: tacticalogic

“Be careful what you wish for. “

Agreed, we must be cautious, but I still don’t want to see marijuana legal for recreational use. I believe the harm from that outweighs any harm from restricting it.


27 posted on 03/31/2011 8:31:35 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

An argument not even worth considering. When drug usage is used to kill someone other than yourself, it would fit.


28 posted on 03/31/2011 8:36:23 PM PDT by runninglips (the world is on fire, and we are busily emptying our reservoirs)
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To: JRandomFreeper

“Abuse and/or harassment is already unlawful, and is the use of force against another. Have the person arrested for abuse/harassment. Problem solved. No need to outlaw a plant that has many other uses.”

I disagree with you.

For someone to deliberately make themselves insensible to a large degree or another, or to make themselves crazy on purpose, or to make themselves incompetent; is a direct threat to me.

I don’t want to wait until I am attacked; or run over; or some stoned slob burns the building down; I don’t want to wait until someone neglects their kids to death or harm, or forgets to turn off the stove because they are too interested in smoking their crack, or decides to go ahead and rape me because they are so horny and the self control is set aside, or abuses their grandpa because it all of a sudden seems funny, or takes pot shots at cars because it’s so cool when you’re high.

I know you can be prosecuted afterwards. That is a cold comfort.

Most of the above can happen accidentally. And it can happen if someone is crazy through no fault of their own. Those are tragedies.

To deliberately increase your likelihood of doing anything like the above is criminal.


29 posted on 03/31/2011 8:37:25 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
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To: Persevero
I believe the harm from that outweighs any harm from restricting it.

I think that depends on the means being used to restrict it. Do you have any idea what the cumulative harm of the New Deal "substantial effects" Commerce Clause has been?

30 posted on 03/31/2011 8:38:26 PM PDT by tacticalogic
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

The consumption of natural vegetation by citizens should be beneath the dignity of the state to acknowledge, let alone to regulate.

The entire foundation of the War on Drugs is the false notion that our governors can know the good, and take legal measures to bring it about.

Vanity, all is vanity.


31 posted on 03/31/2011 8:40:34 PM PDT by headsonpikes (Genocide is the highest sacrament of socialism - "Who-whom?")
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To: JRandomFreeper

>>>Amen, brother, preach it! Following the Constitution fixes LOTS of problems.<<<

You got THAT right. There are many problems, concerns, and issues that are best dealt with locally. Just to bring up a can of worms, abortion was on that trajectory in the early 1970s. Places that wanted it legal made it legal. Places that wanted it illegal kept it illegal. Local people were deciding the issue according to local culture, local understanding, and local values. Then the courts intervened and turned it into the intractable mess that it is right now.

The same is true for schools, drug laws, gay marriage, lobbyists, federal budget overruns, taxes, health care, and on and on. If it ain’t in the Constitution, it’s none of the federal government’s damn business. Washington needs to return to that sleepy midsouth yawner it used to be when the nation was first in war, first in peace, and last in the National League.


32 posted on 03/31/2011 8:41:30 PM PDT by redpoll
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To: tacticalogic

No.

But I support criminal sanctions for possession, use, and distribution of marijuana. And other drugs that make us insensible, irrational, lethargic, paranoid, or tend to make us hallucinate.

I’d support heavier sanctions on the stronger drugs; for example crack would get a heavier penalty than pot. It works faster and more intensely.

That doesn’t mean I support warrantless searches nor the presumption of guilt by taking people’s money and/or property. I don’t support that for any crime, no matter how serious.


33 posted on 03/31/2011 8:45:45 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
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To: Clintonfatigued

“Another great posting. I once supported the drug war and thought that Libertarians who opposed it were nuts. But they turned out to be right.”

I thought the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment gave us a hint on how well prohibitions work. Remember the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, Al Capone and bootleggers such as the Kennedy klan...the spelling is intentional.


34 posted on 03/31/2011 8:50:24 PM PDT by A Strict Constructionist (Oligarchy...never vote for the Ivy League candidate.)
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To: JRandomFreeper
It's not so easy to find out exactly why cannabis was banned 70-odd years ago.

It was outlawed to keep Mexicans from corrupting the virtuous purity of white women.

/mainly not kidding

35 posted on 03/31/2011 8:53:22 PM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (What if God doesn't want the Gospel rescued from the fundamentalists?)
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To: Persevero
Google Wickard v Filburn.

That's what the Justice Department under the supposedly conservative Bush adminstration went before the USSC and argued to uphold to in order to keep medical marijuana illegal.

Before you buy into anything, know what it's costing you.

36 posted on 03/31/2011 8:54:25 PM PDT by tacticalogic
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To: redpoll

I’d go with that.

I don’t think legalization would cure all ills, but it would be better than what we have now — by a substantial margin. But leave it up to the states. We have states the outlaw gambling, states where it is legal, states where certain forms are legal but others aren’t. If you hate gambling, you can move somewhere where it’s illegal.

Heck, there are still dry counties down south where that foul demon al-ke-hol is still illegal.

The worst thing we could do, IMHO, is keep doing what we are doing now, which is doing nothing to solve the problem and is, in fact, making it substantially worse.


37 posted on 03/31/2011 8:54:42 PM PDT by Ronin (Tokyo Hot -- Looking forward to saving money on night lights!!!)
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To: Persevero

What’s your position on whiskey?


38 posted on 03/31/2011 8:55:00 PM PDT by tickmeister (tickmeister)
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To: Persevero
But I support criminal sanctions for possession, use, and distribution of marijuana. And other drugs that make us insensible, irrational, lethargic, paranoid, or tend to make us hallucinate.

You mean, like alcohol? We tried that, and afterward it seemed like such a terrible idea we undid it. Alcohol makes people insensible, irrational, lethargic, and some paranoid and a very few, hallucinate. All of the above.

39 posted on 03/31/2011 8:56:39 PM PDT by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

youre an idiot-—murder is not smoking a joint. Not even close. What the hell are YOU smoking and do you have any to share with the rest of us fool!


40 posted on 03/31/2011 8:58:26 PM PDT by Tea Party Reveler
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