I however, most certainly do.
Posted on 07/06/2003 9:38:18 AM PDT by toothless
I have a love/hate relationship with the War on Drugs.
It provides such a wealth of subject matter to write about that I shudder to think what might happen if it were suddenly declared over. I might be forced into writing about positive subjects instead.
The War on Drugs has had a profound effect on me. I used to be a proud Republican, but the more I listened to law-and-order Republicans chatter about the dire need for ever more enforcement of the controlled-substance laws, the more Libertarian I became.
I'm still a registered Republican over at the courthouse, but in the voting booth, the Republicans have lost me.
I never pass up an opportunity to write about the War on Drugs. Every time the local drug warriors do anything, I perk right up because invariably one of the warriors is going to say something that makes no sense.
At the city council meeting a couple of weeks ago, our local regiment of drug warriors got up to report on their operations for the last three years. The chief of police - who I believe is a good cop and citizen - told the council that waging war on drugs is difficult. The warriors have rules to follow, the chief explained, and those rules cause problems.
Now I know that the chief believes in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, but it scares me when a drug warrior wearing a badge and a gun stands up at a public meeting and says that the document that makes us Americans causes him problems.
You have to admit, though, the chief is exactly right. It would be so much easier if the soldiers fighting the War on Drugs could break down every door on every house in town and conduct searches. Imagine the drugs they would find.
If drugs are as big a scourge as the warriors would have us believe, they are going to need a convoy of trucks to haul all the illegal substances away. Oh, and for the people without any drugs but who were searched anyway, just try to remember that the Bill of Rights causes too many problems to be of much value when it comes to waging the War on Drugs.
The War on Drugs is confusing for the soldiers fighting it. The local warriors made a bust here a couple of years ago, and they wanted to keep it secret. I don't like secrets, especially when someone has been thrown in jail. I wanted to know who was arrested and why the person was arrested. The old undersheriff was reluctant to share that information with the newspaper.
He explained that if word were to get out in the paper that a bust had been made, then the other drug dealers would lay low and stop selling drugs. If they're not selling drugs, it's just that much harder to catch them.
You can see how confusing the War on Drugs is. The object of the war is to stop the flow of drugs, but the drug warrior told me that the soldiers can conduct the war much better if the enemy continues selling drugs.
Do the warriors actually want to win the war?
If they don't want to win the war, it's time to cease operations, reinstate our rights and try something different. I'm doing my part; I vote Libertarian. Libertarians believe drugs should be legal.
If drugs were legal, our army of drug warriors could stand down and save us huge amounts of money. The soldiers could return to police work, serving and protecting us instead of suspecting us. Instead of gangsters making a killing, legitimate business people could be making a living.
If you're afraid that legalizing drugs would make them more available than they are now, think again. Drugs are easy to find - ask any drug warrior - yet the vast majority of people choose not to buy them. There are better ways to spend time and money.
The War on Drugs is a resounding failure. Drugs still flow freely. The War on Drugs has had some success, however. It has successfully battled the Constitution and helped to quash our freedom.
If you read my post (which you obviously didn't) you would have read that he is being penalized for "not following accepted standards of care" when signing for medical marijuana patients.
Those silly "accepted standards of care" included things like actually seeing the patient and keeping records.
"Tell me, did the members of the Board of Medical Examiners fight against the legalization of "medical" marijiana? I bet they did."
I hope they did. If they didn't, they'd be pretty much alone. "Major medical and health organizations, as well as the vast majority of nationally recognized expert medical doctors, scientists and researchers, have concluded that smoking marijuana is not a safe and effective medicine. These organizations include: the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, National Sclerosis Association, the American Glaucoma Association, American Academy of Opthalmology, National Eye Institute, and the National Cancer Institute".
And that's why these posts are simply overwhelmed with their calls to end the WOD and not simply the pouting grounds for less then a hundred regulars.
They are lying, robertpaulsen. Marijiana has no harmful side effects.
As to how effective it is, I can give two major benefits. Cancer patients and others taking marijiana can keep their food down when no other medicine works, and chronic pain sufferers can relieve their pain without worrying about the dangers of "normal" pain medication, like addiction.
Propaganda! You have no idea how many do/do not want legalized drugs. I bet MOST DO NOT!
More libertarian bs propaganda.
I don't totally agree. I think many conservatives would like to see some aspects of the WOD curtailed "to a degree". That degree wouldn't be the blanket legalization that these threads desire which is why very few people, outside the regulars, post on these threads.
While most conservatives might find jail time for a pot user (which is very rare indeed) wasteful, and cringe at forfiture laws, I seriously doubt that many consider legalized hard drugs something they care for. If the majority of poster on FR did support blanket drug legalization these posts would be entirely different.
You definately wouldn't see the level of frustration you see on these threads by a limited number of chronic posters (which tends to regulate these posts to the smokey back room sooner or later).
Please list all the rights society has. (Your side - and Marxist leftists, oddly enough - claims that society has rights.)
Please list how society can be destroyed, and what measuring stick one would use to prove it.
Please locate for me : society
Please define precisely for me : society
I bet most do!
And the purpose of the site is to roll back Unconstituional government - which includes the WOD.
I however, most certainly do.
You folks posts your drug threads on a fairly routine basis. All you need to do is go back and look at the people who post to those threads. It's not a very wide spectrum of FR's; indeed, it's a pretty narrow spectrum of the same ol' people. The end the WOD threads attrack very few new responders.
It's easy enough to verify yourself; the vast majority of those threads are over in the smokey backroom unless they were removed all together.
Besides, to be accurate the poll would need to be multi-question. As I said before, probably the majority of FR'ers would agree that minor possession of pot is a waste of time...but many of those same people would think manufacture and distribution is not. And even less would think legalizing hard drugs is something they would support.
And while a lot of people cringe over forfiture laws that doesn't mean they don't want coke dealers out of their neighborhoods.
I want my headache to end. Just because I don't hit myself with a hammer doesn't change that fact. If I believed that the WOD worked I would not be here arguing. I believe prohibition didn't work. I believe this doesn't work. I don't enjoy drunks being obnoxious at 2am, but the alternative was worse. We need a bit more good faith here. Not all WOD people are jackboots, and not all people opposed to it are stoners.
We really have two choices. We have either a saudi arabia or singapore, or we legalize. Both systems work, but both have drawbacks. The middle ground is completely ineffective. Until you can convince every 15 year old in the inner city, that flipping burgers for $5.50 is a better option than facing even a 50/50 chance of either hitting the lottery or going to jail, ya can't win the war on drugs. You can make more selling WOD inflated price drugs in a week-end, then you can flipping burgers for 6 months. Your first time penalty will be perhaps a couple years with 3 squares a day, a bed, and a weight room if you get caught. For many, those odds are quite fair.
Name one.
You want to see porn and gambling illegal? I can kinda understand the porn thing, but gambling? Why?
Propaganda! You have no idea how many do/do not want legalized drugs. I bet MOST DO NOT!
One can be anti-War on Drugs and not want them all legalized. Take me as a case in point. And I would bet very good money tht if you polled FRepers and asked if pot should be legal or not, an overwhelming majority would say yes.
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