Posted on 07/13/2004 3:59:12 PM PDT by Piedra79
Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be. But intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great. The laws aren't exactly indefensible, because practically nothing is, and the thunderers who tell us to stay the course can always find one man or woman who, having taken marijuana, moved on to severe mental disorder. But that argument, to quote myself, is on the order of saying that every rapist began by masturbating. General rules based on individual victims are unwise. And although there is a perfectly respectable case against using marijuana, the penalties imposed on those who reject that case, or who give way to weakness of resolution, are very difficult to defend.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Be that as it may, he's held the position on decriminalization for decades.
It's more like a liberal to attack the messenger and to argue emotions and personalities rather than argue an issue on the merits.
If you want to smoke Pot in the confine of your own home it's nobody's business not the government not anyone what the heck is the difference if you have a cocktail or hit off your pipe nothing...
This is an easy one. It has been obvious for some time that the War on Drugs is doing more damage to America than the drugs, themselves, could ever do.
When Prohibition was repealed, one of the major reasons for the repeal was to reclaim the streets from the booze gangs. And when Prohibition was repealed, it was discovered that almost every politician, judge, police commissioner in the country had been on the take. When the WOD is repealed, we are going to find official corruption that makes Prohibition look like a Sunday picnic.
Incidentally, those booze gangs are still in operation 70 years later. How long will the drug gangs be around?
what is SBR?
"Problem with FR is the WOD types assume everyone favoring the legalization of marijuana is a long-haired hippy pot smoker."
But some are short-haired conservative hard-working people whose choice of intoxicants conflicts with the law. There are millions of regular pot smokers who no one would ever suspect unless you told them.
Friendly critique of your post. Encourage you to clicking on the Help link for FR and read about posting. As it says there, in your thread title, you should include the title of the original title.
Don't leave stuff off, like the Jr. at the end of William F. Buckley Jr. It is almost always better not to abbreviate. Put "National Review Online" as the source of the article. There is a difference between NR and NRO. I am not at all averse to excerpting, like some here, but it is not appropriate to excerpt articles from NRO.
I'm with you. We have enough real crimes, without creating any new ones.
Because of the nature of my work, I don't indulge in any illegal substances.
SBR is the smokey back room. It's the forum for threads that become heated, etc. The moderators can move threads to the other forums.
It made me want to rape and kill.
/sarcasm off/
In addition...
You'll find that every pro-drug poster here is either a current user or has never lost someone to drugs (or doesn't care if they did). Bless them - but their views are other than emotionless and unbiased.
With one exception, and he is much much less the Drug Warrior he used to be, if at all, the Drug Warriors NEVER EVER show up at freeps. They are either mall cap wannabes, or on the WoD gravy train themselves.
Face it: nobody likes a narc.
The WOD is an industry.
Agreed - but you'll be hard-pressed to find a single "pro-drug" poster here.
You'll probably find that every WOD type here has never lost someone for 15 years in prison for a "crime" with no victim other than the user himself.
Bill understands some things far better than others
What was it, again? :)
As soon as Prohibition was repealed, all the crooked pols confessed?
The whole WoD/narc/drug warrior approach to discussing this issue is pure hyperbole when dealing with normal persons who happen to disagree with decriminalizing marijuana use. It's Reefer Madness in reverse, and silly.
I have known many pot smokers. Not ONE has ever been blown out with the police by a narc. I have known of a couple of dealers who got nabbed, but they were far into the drug trade and it wasn't mainly for pot (usually cocaine or methamphetamine).
This is merely my experience, and doesn't "prove" anything--except that, for myself, the overblown lingo used to attack people who disagree with legalization is a bunch of B.S.
Buckley has long held this position. Nothing new. More skewed thinking.
It's no sillier than some of the things John Walters says about it. The difference is, we're paying him to say it.
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