Posted on 12/22/2009 1:47:42 PM PST by AJKauf
A truly sad story about a 23-year-old Panama City man dying while being subdued by Bay County sheriff’s deputies has reawakened the debate about the legalization of marijuana. On December 11, 2009, Andrew Grande choked on a plastic bag full of marijuana as police attempted to arrest him on a violence charge. A video shows police valiantly trying to save his life once it became apparent that he was having difficulty breathing.
Two talk show hosts in Panama City have been discussing the case in the early morning hours — and revealing a divide on the right. Burnie Thompson of WYOO, the libertarian, has called Grande “a casualty of the war on drugs” and contended that because marijuana is illegal, Grande felt “compelled” to swallow a bag of it to avoid punishment.
Nonsense, says Doc Washburn on station WFLF. He invited former Congressman Ernest Istook from the Heritage Foundation and Tina Trent, who blogs on crime, to speak about the dangers of marijuana to the user and to society. Trent indicated that Grande had faced probably only a misdemeanor charge; she pointed to studies showing that the illegal drug trade flourishes despite the legality of marijuana in certain states and other countries. And legalizing marijuana will remove the freedom employers now have to test for the judgment-impairing drug.
The position on the legalization of marijuana provides the point of departure from the traditional libertarianism of Barry Goldwater. In abandoning the duty to enforce social order, today’s libertarians have made a devil’s pact with the pro-drug forces of George Soros and company.
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Forget about Soros, he’s ANOTHER excuse for the WOD.
Here’s something right up your alley.
http://www.thedailypage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=47210&start=60
This has been one of my biggest problems with libertarians and is why I’m a solid Republican. Also the foreign policy insanity.
Legalize the MJ, regulate and tax it. It’s no more dangerous than booze and probably less.
I would rather go to a call where the folks have been getting their smoke on versus their drink on. People smoking weed in the privacy of their homes are only dangerous to snack food.
As far the rest, meth, heroin, crack, no freaking way. I have never locked up a car thief or burglar who said he needed MJ money. Crack, “hairon”, different story altogether. People don’t steal their families and friends credit cards or identification because they need some grass.
I have arrested alot of people both violent crimes and drug crimes. Don’t believe the hype about prisons being full of non-violent drug offenders. It’s pure BS. The prisons are packed full of very dangerous scumbags who are released with regular frequency when another new violent scumbag needs to do some time. Every dope dealer I ever investigated and/or arrested had violent history and nearly all them where armed at the time I took them into custody.
Drug abusers get probation and redirection over and over again.
If you want verification, seek out the administration of your local penal system and ask them for the offense breakdown of their facility.
“How about the 1000’s killed every year due to the drug trade? Are those crimes?”
Yes. It’s called “murder”.
“Now go ahead, tell me that if drugs were legalized, there would be no need for drug crime.”
There would be no need for it, any more than there’s a need for crime over any other commodity. I hardly need to explain to you that drugs and crime are associated with one another for a very simple reason. Due to the threat of punishment, black markets attract people willing to risk punishment: i.e., criminals. It’s common sense. Take away the crime and you more or less take away the criminals.
Agree
Criminalize only behavior that substantively
injures other by loss of property
or measurable person injury
What!! Libertarians cannot abandon something they do not believe in.
Yes, it's been that way for over ten years.
“Its legalization is supported by the same forces that promote Kevin Jennings, one-world government, Gaia worship, and legalized prostitution.”
All the pot smokers I know have no idea what the things mentioned in this sentence are.
I am really not interested in talking or doing business with people who are too high to really understand what is going on.
“Vices have been criminalized since the founding of the nation.”
Wrong.
Wrong, what killed the POS was nothing other than pure stupidity on his part.
Why add the tax part?
I’ll give on the tax part to get to decriminalization. It won’t be possible to avoid sales tax. We have already learned that in Colorado.
Funny, I know 3 Coloradans who have obtained medical marijuana cards. All of them are millionaires who got there through years of hard work. Now I have to wave off their offers when I visit. (I’m a lightweight, the stuff makes me faint.)
The dangers of marijuana on society?
A shortage of Cheetos?
It started with the ability to tax. The Fed required a tax stamp, then refused to issue tax stamps. You can thank the racist, hypocritical anti-drug crusader Anslinger for that.
aptly chosen screen name.
It’s the difference between governmental conservatives and social morality conservatives. IMHO the two positions are mutually exclusive in some areas, such as this one.
But after having read the article, I have come to the conclusion that the author is himself partaking of that which he wishes to keep banned.
There is a problem with legalizing MJ.
Insurance companies will not cover a person who is using drugs- either for workmen’s comp problems, or liability problems with driving a company truck.
This will kill small business.
See many Al Capones running shine and controling crime enterprises around it?
It's not un-Constitutional when we do it. /s
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