Posted on 12/13/2012 5:26:46 AM PST by Thad Lost
We have had the “War on Drugs” since the 70’s. In the 80’s, the “War” went from just skirmishes to an all out nuclear war on drugs.
Now, thirty years later what have we accomplished? Has the “War on Drugs” become just another epic government failure like the “War on Poverty” with the only thing accomplished being massive government spending and an equally massive erosion of our Constitutional Rights?
My perspective on the “War on Drugs” is a little different from most people. I practiced law for 24 years. Ten of those years were as a prosecutor. The rest were as a criminal defense lawyer. Three of my years prosecuting I spent as a drug prosecutor.
In my line of work I have met and worked with more drug dealers and users than the average person would see in a lifetime. I have no sympathy for drug dealers and while I have some pity for drug users, controlled substances of all kinds including Marijuana are something to be avoided at all costs.
The “War on Drugs” has created several things. None of them are really good. First it has created a massive government bureaucracy at not only the Federal level of government but also at the state and local levels as well. The Federal Government pumps billions of dollars out in the “War on drugs.” This money is spent on law enforcement, prosecutors, defense lawyers, prisons, corrections employees, social workers, advertising and the list goes on beyond belief.
(Excerpt) Read more at teapartynation.com ...
So, reality changes based on your mind. Interesting concept. Run that by some physicists.
“People who use illegal drugs to escape reality are cowards. I’m still waiting for someone to prove this statement wrong. You haven’t.”
This may be one of the most illogical, poorly reasoned, disconnected statements I’ve ever read on FR by a non-troll.
My goodness. Now, I’ve called Rush Limbaugh a coward. With a stretch like that, you should be playing first base.
“Fat old white guy on Soul Train”? Why you little bigot, you.
Really....by writing that people who use illegal drugs to escape reality are cowards? Don’t spread that around. People will be here trying to buy some and get high.
I find that a disturbing argument. When we start believing that "feelings" constitute an enumeration of power to the federal government, the Constitution is lost.
I smoked pot, used coke, ate qualudes, & did LSD twice. Never tried heroin - don’t like needles. LSD was too weird. I have been to numerous parties, attended by doctors, lawyers, business people where everybody in the room was using coke, pot, qualudes, & alcohol. Great parties! I never saw a gun or a fight during these parties. No one ever ODed. No one freaked out seeing imaginary things. Just happy people talking at a hundred miles an hour about nothing, just like cocktail parties. Except for a few obvious slugs, most of these people have happy, successful lives, same as a moderate drinker.
Hi Laz; I’m not attributing all drug use to cowardice. I’m attributing illegal drug use TO ESCAPE FROM REALITY to cowardice. I’ve been very specific about that. Unfortunately, my critics haven’t been as specific. When you use a search engine and look up Free Republic, the results show that it is a conservative web site dedicated to examining conservative thought. Some people evidently don’t want to examine conservative thought as it pertains to illegal drug use.
Your post here is indicative of the thought and experience that you can bring to any discussion.
Have a Merry Christmas!
That’s a nice sentence you’ve put together there. Does it have a point, or do you just like to read your own writing?
People come here and climb into the ring and then run to Mommy the Moderator when I box their ears. Let’s see your argument. All you’ve done so far is show me you have a fifth grade education. Prove my statement is illogical. Here, let me give you the definition of disconnected. It means not pertaining to the subject. You evidently don’t know the meaning. Your post is a fine example. Come on, tell the moderator I’m mean to you for telling you the truth.
LOL. You go, girl.
LOL!
Never argue with a bot.
Thanks for sharing your feelings on enumerated powers.
Of course what you attempt to dismiss as “feelings” is the accumulated evidence of actual harm resulting from drug use. That rhetorical slight of hand works best for talk show hosts who don’t get called out on their sloppy logic.
How did easy access to drugs work out for that guy in Florida who ran across the Bath Salts face eater? Do you think he was harmed by the open sale of Bath Salts? How many people get their faces chewed off by people who aren’t on Bath Salts?
Bath Salts are legal. And there are multiple reports across the country of Bath Salts users becoming incredibly violent. Are those reports “feelings” or are they evidence of a very dangerous drug? According to the wizards on this thread Bath Salts would only be a problem if they were outlawed. There are no externalities from drug use in cartoon land.
And how did easy access to drugs work out for John Belushi? Jim Morrison? Jimi Hendrix? For their friends and families, not to mention their fans?
They of course were just high visibility casualties who make the news. There are thousands each year who don’t make the news. I can think of at least half a dozen kids from my own high school class who didn’t make the news but who died as a direct result of drug use.
One had been the gentle son of our school librarian. At least he was gentle until he and a couple of stoner friends began plotting the murder of someone they believed to be a police snitch. I guess that seemed rational to them at the time. But don’t worry, he died from an overdose before the assassination went forward.
And then there’s the nephew of one of my coworkers. A high school kid in affluent Orange County whose parents spent a lot of time with him. His dad used to take him target shooting and horseback riding, among other pastimes. One day the kid’s mom got after him to do some kind of chore around the house and the boy responded by chasing her down and shooting her to death. He was under the influence of a ‘recreational’ drug when he killed his mother.
But of course drug use bears no responsibility and her murder by her son is surely the result of the government’s War on Drugs. Because according to the posters on this thread it’s just the War on Drugs that causes violence, it’s never the effect of drugs themselves. And if it is the result of drug use, well, we will just focus on the individual’s right to do as he pleases and accept irrational violence as a small price to be paid by others.
People change as they grow older. I don't care much for alcohol anymore. Makes me sleepy or gives me a headache right away. Loud parties/music annoy me, now. I don't go to rock concerts anymore, but quiet music is quite soothing. Doesn't everyone change over the years?
Youthful indiscretions? Why would you use those words to describe something you seem fairly proud of? And they certainly don’t seem too youthful as described:
I have been to numerous parties, attended by doctors, lawyers, business people where everybody in the room was using coke, pot, qualudes, & alcohol.
Of course not. You were adults. And again would ask why you would not share these stories with kids or grandkids and tell them what they’re missing. Maybe you could help buy them some LSD...
I’ll stop with the sarcasm. The reason you won’t share these stories and the reason I got on you for defending this drug use is that deep down we both viscerally know it does great harm to our bodies and minds. The people at those parties, if under the influence of those drugs, would be unrecognizable to their loved ones. Always. Their sons, daughters, moms , or dads would’ve walked away saying,” you know, daddy seemed a little strange tonight, I didn’t like it”. The same people simply drinking a few beers would not. Again, the key word is visceral. And I think you inadvertently agreed with me when you chose the word ‘indiscretions’. What’s changed over the years is you know it was wrong and harmful. Which is exactly why any kind of legalization should always be fought against. Not given in to.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, very, Merry Christmas. Bramps
You might want to check the kitchen and see who's mixing that Kool-Aid.
I think he was harmed by the fact that the illegality of milder intoxicants incentivized both the creation of bath salts and his use of them.
And how did easy access to drugs work out for John Belushi? Jim Morrison? Jimi Hendrix? For their friends and families, not to mention their fans?
They clearly weren't helped in the slightest by the illegality of the drugs they used.
according to the posters on this thread it’s just the War on Drugs that causes violence, it’s never the effect of drugs themselves.
From the U.S. Department of Justice's National Criminal Justice Reference Service (publication NCJ 145534): "Of all psychoactive substances, alcohol is the only one whose consumption has been shown to commonly increase aggression. [...] Marijuana and opiates temporarily inhibit violent behavior [...] There is no evidence to support the claim that snorting or injecting cocaine stimulates violent behavior. [...] Anecdotal reports notwithstanding, no research evidence supports the notion that becoming high on hallucinogens, amphetamines, or PCP stimulates violent behavior in any systematic manner."
Go ahead and legalize it and let the law suits fly. Make sure to put those Surgeon General cancer warnings on the packaging, and include a warning that cannabis use before the age of maturity can lead to a decreased IQ, and increased risk of schizophrenia.
While marijuana use is down among adults, it’s use is way up among teenagers. It is estimated that 40% of teenagers have used marijuana. Maybe it is time to rethink the message that drug legalization sends to teenagers. Marijuana use is not harmless.
You've agreed elsewhere that people who use the legal drug alcohol to escape from reality are likewise cowards. What ought we do about the cowardice of people who use the legal drug alcohol to escape from reality? (Note that criminalizing the cowardice of people who use other drugs to escape from reality does nothing about the cowardice of people who use the legal drug alcohol to escape from reality.)
"Accumulated evidence" is no more an enumeration of power than "feelings". Who's using "sleight of hand" and "sloppy logic" here? The wailing about "accumulated evidence" is calculated to evoke an emotional response (fear) and stop you from looking at the actual, enumerated powers in the Constitution and asking whether the drug war is covered by the original intent of those powers.
Where are the lawsuits related to the harmful drug alcohol?
Make sure to put those Surgeon General cancer warnings on the packaging, and include a warning that cannabis use before the age of maturity can lead to a decreased IQ, and increased risk of schizophrenia.
I assume that legal marijuana, like alcohol and tobacco, will have warning labels - and as long as they're factual I have no problem with that.
While marijuana use is down among adults, it’s use is way up among teenagers. It is estimated that 40% of teenagers have used marijuana. Maybe it is time to rethink the message that drug legalization sends to teenagers.
Are you claiming that teen marijuana use shot up to 40% in the few weeks since CO and WA legalized marijuana? If not, then legalization has nothing to do with teen use.
Marijuana use is not harmless.
Nor are the legal substances alcohol and tobacco - nor bacon double cheeseburgers nor skydiving. Shall we ban everything that's "not harmless"?
Legalization of marijuana certainly does pertain to teen drug use because it sends the wrong messages to teenagers. The warnings on the packaging would be a reminder to parents that they could be putting their children at risk by not teaching the dangers of teenage marijuana use.
There was another school shooting today and a mall shooting two days ago, someone should do a study about whether these young schizos had a history of teenage marijuana use.
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