Back when I was young and stupid, I used to think legalization would “cure all ills.” Well, I’ve seen 35 years of folks getting high, with mixed results, but before I descend into the pit of “alcohol is worse” or “tobacco causes cancer,” I have another idea...
It’s called the Tenth Amendment, and connected with that is Article 1, Section 8. Leave drug laws to the several states. If you want to legalize it, knock yourself out. If you want to hold folks in prison for years, well, if that’s what the community wants, do it. See which works best and what the outcomes are for each. Keep the federal government out of it completely. Let the states act as little laboratories of innovation. Frankly, after seeing what I’ve seen, I would imagine that eventually folks would settle on keeping weed illegal, but without some way of seeing what would happen if it was legal, we’ll be having with circular argument over and over until they slip me into that cold earth.
Amen, brother, preach it! Following the Constitution fixes LOTS of problems.
/johnny
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.
I agree completely! States should decide the issue for themselves.
The issue for me has always been one of abuse by very young minors. As it stands, pot is much easier to acquire than say... beer. Teens will also point out...it’s no more illegal for them to smoke, than for you or I.
Absolutely the correct, Constiutional and logical solution.
(And now, because of my user name, I will be accused of being a druggie, hooker-lovin', low-tax liberal atheist running around in my hemp pants and anarchy shirt)