Symposium Q: Should conservatives support the legalization of marijuana?

INSIGHT magazine ^ | September 7, 2001 | YES: Deroy Murdock *#*#*#*#* NO: Don Feder

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Maybe we could start small and legalize oral sex between married persons in the State of Georgia?

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Was it Karen Johnson (R-Ariz) who wanted to rescind the license of any teacher that had ever performed oral sex on a partner, married or not? Imagine. And you think they have a shortage or teachers now ... Hasn't Karen Johnson been divorced three or five times BTW? Hmmm ...

[WindMinstrel]

Every time I read something Feder has written I get angrier. The man's a throwback to a much earlier time.

[Daffy]

It's easy; do you want to see your neighbors, co-workers, your boss, and your kids made into the type of people mind- and mood-altering drugs can make them?

[hove]

If conservatives want to put an end to pot growers, pot importers, pot dealers, money launderers, and petty criminals looking for "stash" money......then they have to get behind legalization of pot. Let pot smokers grow the stuff until it has no street value! And families need to educate their own to make wise choices about using the stuff.....

[Cindy]

Well, I gotta stop laughing at this ridiculous question so I can give you a serious answer. Ok, laughing stopped and thinking cap on. Of course dopers, liberals and morons want to see dope of any kind legalized.

[vin-one]

No Cindy, not all drugs, let's start with at the least ones that are not harmful.
and with some people actually benefical. MJ being against the law is akin to beer
being against the law....

[ConsistentLibertarian]

You didn't leave your cap on very long. I'm not saying you can't disrobe if you want to. But if you can't do better than an ad hominum argument, posting the word "Think" in big red letters looks unseemly.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I know people who don't want to see their neighbors, co-workers, their boss, and their kids made into the type of people mind- and mood-altering religious experiences can make them. I never took that to be a good reason to make the practice of religion illegal.

[Hidy]

Only conservatives can end the stupid, counterproductive, discriminatory, wasteful, cruel, utterly failed and discredited "War on (some) Drugs.'"

Conservatives who don't want to end it, don't respect the Constitution very much.

Remember it took a Constitutional amendment to make alcohol illegal in this country. So where's the Constitutional amendment that made pot illegal?

[Phantom Lord]

I beleive we... What was the question again?

[Daffy]

I'll take a room-full of people moved by religious experience, C.L., and may you have a room-full of that other group.

[martian_22]

Like I always say:

CATCH 22

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Keep it illegal and you continue to accelerate the police state.

Legalize it and you accelerate cultural decay.

It's been a win/win situation for those who control. Since the flood of drugs were introduced on college campuses in the '60s, the success of divisional politics has been more than expected.

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Should conservatives support the legalization of marijuana?

No.

[gdani]

Feder's arguments ignore one simple point - those who do want to smoke pot are smoking pot.

Is there even one person sitting around saying, "gee, I'd like to smoke marijuana but it's illegal..." The notion that legalizing pot would lead to an onrush of new users shows a misunderstanding of the real world.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Gee, when you think about it, Reagan really blew it with the war on drugs. And that was a defining policy of his administaration. What was the other big one? Oh yeah, the Laffer curve. Now even President Bush, Trent Lott, Tom Delay and Dick Armey say that the Laffer curve is a joke: They're all COUNTING on a tax cut reducing federal tax revenues. That way it will force the size government to shrink over time.

[BikerNYC]

Of course dopers, liberals and morons want to see dope of any kind legalized.

Okay, don't be coy. Tell me which category you are in and I'll be sure to pick one of the other two.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I'd rather have a country and a consititution that didn't give you or me or the government the power to tell people in either room that they have to get out.

[WindMinstrel]

Daffy:

Of course I don't. However, I also don't want to see my rights worn away by the DEA. I don't want to be arrested for what I do to my own body. I don't want to see drug dealers favoring the criminalization of drugs so they get more money.