Posted on 02/16/2009 7:45:30 AM PST by SolidWood
SEATTLE Washington State law prohibits the possession of marijuana except for certain medical purposes. Hempfest is not one of them. Yet each summer when the event draws thousands to the Seattle waterfront to call for decriminalizing marijuana, participants light up in clear view of police officers. And they rarely get arrested.
Police officers patrolling are courteous and respectful, said Alison Holcomb, drug policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.
One reason for the officers approach, said Ms. Holcomb and others who follow law enforcement in Seattle, is the leadership of R. Gil Kerlikowske, the chief of the Seattle Police Department and, officials in the Obama administration say, the presidents choice to become the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, known as the drug czar.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Btw, you have kids? Put them in a car and let them go for a ride with someone on crack or pot.
Sure they do - they just wrap it up in a pretty little package called welfare (or, "spreading the wealth").
Put your kids in a car with someone who is drunk. I know that if for some reason I just had to put my kids in a car either with someone who was drunk or someone who had been smoking pot, I'd go with the guy who had been smoking pot because he's going to be a safer driver than the drunk guy.
But I don't have to put my kids in a car with someone who has been drinking or smoking pot or smoking crack and I wouldn't do that. Are there people out there on the roads who have been doing these things. Sure, and I have no problem with the police arresting these people and taking them to jail.
Which was my point in 16. We’ll have to support the legalized druggies AND their habit. No thanks.
“People don’t lie, kill and steal to get alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, chocolate or sugar.”
Some people do lie and steal to get their nicotine or alcohol. I’ve worked as a prosecutor and a public defender and I can tell you without a doubt that that occurs. And if we made these drugs illegal and thus much more expensive even more would do these things to get these drugs.
We don't drink. And it's illegal to drive drunk. Add legalized drugs to that. Yeah, they'll drive while flying. More revenue for the states too. And more dead innocents. Great idea, let's make a bad problem worse.
I'd go with the guy who had been smoking pot
I wouldn't. Went to church with a guy who used to be a pot fanatic. Just pot. Couldn't string two words together.
And if we legalized drugs that would still go on and employers could discriminate against drug users just like they are allowed to discriminate against people who use tobacco, a legal drug.
I am not for legalizing all drugs though. I am strongly opposed to legalizing anything but marijuana.
Cute name, SmallGovRepub. You want to legalize drugs? BIG government bureaucracy to control it. Yeah, we need MORE government.
Some battles are worth fighting, some aren't. We lost the war on pot a long time ago. We're wasting fortune trying in vain to keep up the ban. We're allowing organized crime to make billions of dollars a year on marijuana. Mexican drug trafficking organizations control the biggest part of wholesale illegal drug distribution in this country and they make the lion's share of their money from marijuana sales. We are causing more problems than we are solving trying in vain to keep up the ban on marijuana. In this one instance, the best thing for us to do I think would be to legalize the production and sales of marijuana and regulate it similar to the way we regulate alcohol.
Again, I'm not for legalizing all drugs, only marijuana. Yes, there would be regulations and regulators involved. In many ways though the government would be less involved and instead of blowing a fortune trying in vain to enforce the ban we'd be generating tax revenues. The taxes would easily cover the costs of regulating the marijuana industry. The billions we spend trying in vain to keep up the ban are just wasted.
Alcohol is similar, as is tobacco.
Why don't we follow your "logic" and ban them both ? Oh, yeah, that didn't work too well, did it.
Sounds like a "free country" to me.
You think someone hurting themselves is equal to murder or rape ?
SOME druggies violate other, moral laws. Theft, etc., for which they should be punished no doubt.
The families ? Shall we prevent you from gambling, overeating, or indulging in adult beverages, or smoking because it hurts your family ? Why not ?
“You think someone hurting themselves is equal to murder or rape ?”
It can be. The enslavement of the person to addictive drugs is a powerful force for evil. If you do not understand that you either have never been around hardcore addicts or are wilfully blind.
“Alcohol is similar, as is tobacco.”
Wrong. Strawmen have no weight.
I guess it depends on the drug, right?
Perhpas one day one of your kids will be "taken off the street" for smokin' pot.
I doubt that. Is pot your thing? Are you a pothead?
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