Posted on 02/20/2002 6:08:45 AM PST by Magician
My first reaction is WHY NOT?
It’s a question of common sense.
Our marijuana laws do not work. They never have, and they never will.
Their stated goal being to rid society of the so-called affliction of marijuana use, the harsh reality is that since prohibition, usage rates have increased drastically.
Either we legalize it, and fast, or we get busy locking up millions of Canadians. With one out of three Canadians admitting to having tried marijuana, we may very well be locking up our best and brightest, not ruined by drugs, but ruined by the criminal sanctions that go with getting caught for what amounts to a common social practice. I can’t even begin to count how many elected officials admitted to having used it, yet everyday hundreds of average citizens are arrested for marijuana offences.
So, why are there so many users, and why is marijuana so easy to acquire?
In a strange twist, prohibition is to blame.
When a product is illegal, the profit margin skyrockets. Prohibition turns an agricultural product (a plant that’s very easy to grow) into a drug worth its weight in gold. Without prohibition, marijuana would cost pennies to produce. No wonder some adventurous modern day prospectors are setting up in their own back yards and basements to try and get in on the gold rush. Who could blame them? They aren’t hurting anyone, they’re making good money, and most of all customers are willing, grateful participants in the process.
We must come to grips with the fact that the demand for marijuana is never going away and find a better way of dealing with it. Imagine the billions of dollars spent on marijuana and enforcement going to more noble causes like health care and other social programs.
The general public understands this. Support for legalizing marijuana recently reached the much sought after 50%+1 majority. Recent polls show that 51% of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, a slim, but very real majority.
And with more and more advocates, the trend is just taking off. Several European countries like Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and Germany are successfully leading the way towards tolerance with legislation aimed at helping drugs users, not by treating them as criminals, but as human beings deserving of respect. There is no reason why Canada should lag behind. We should be on the cutting edge of this new international movement.
Now it is time to step onto the world stage and assert our sovereignty by legalizing marijuana once and for all. I would venture a friendly wager that the international community would stand by Canada on this issue. Our inevitable success would then make us a world leader in marijuana reform—an example for others to follow.
(I can hear it already): But marijuana is dangerous!
For the record, marijuana is NOT dangerous. It is no worse than coffee and much safer than alcohol. Marijuana is also much less addictive then cigarettes. Chronic use is rare as the majority do not smoke it everyday. Try that with tobacco!
What little risks that may be present with marijuana are no worse then any other risks deemed "morally acceptable". Should we ban music because, if played too loud it might hurt your hearing?
French fries and gravy are far more dangerous for our health then marijuana. Should we ban fast food and send overeaters to mandatory fitness camps?
Who are we, as a society to judge? What exactly are marijuana users guilty of? Who are they hurting? What have they done wrong?
To deny marijuana users the right to choose what they want to consume is nothing more than an arbitrary decision based on moral values, not public interest......
Legalization does not mean promoting use. It means providing medical care, support, education, quality standards and proper labeling. We then trust that responsible adults will make their own choices. This is what makes legalization healthy for our society. At least legalization would force retailers to be accountable for what they sell.
Under prohibition, the government has waived its responsibility for the well being of marijuana users, and is only responsible for their arrest and persecution.
This total disregard for their rights drives a wedge between them and the rest of society and breeds contempt for our legal institutions. If society does not tolerate pot smokers, how are pot smokers supposed to tolerate society? This does not make for a healthy social climate and even less a basis for sound policy.
If a policy so deeply flawed as prohibition not only fails to reach its goals, but actually makes the situation worse, it should be radically changed.
Prohibition is the problem, and legalization the solution.
In places where marijuana is tolerated use actually decreases.
Of course, don’t count on the politicians to have the courage to change the law—it’s not in their nature. Look instead to the Supreme Court. That is where most significant legal change comes from anyway. Gay rights and abortion issues were resolved there, and, some time this year our land’s highest court will also rule on the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition. I strongly urge government to make a wise decision and end this madness now. Millions of bright, productive, patriotic pot-smoking Canadians are counting on it.
Most sincerely, Marc-Boris St-Maurice Le Parti Marijuana
It shows cowardice...It also shows a lie. If he had any law enforcement experience, he would know it is the kind of statement that unravels a series of lies. Either he has no idea about pot use, or he was an addictive personality that engaged in typical addictive personality behavior. There is very little daylight between those two possibilities.
Another evasion to mark we is that none of the Drug Warriors want to answer why cops have:
Twice the alchoholism rate of the general population (a ratio that would be worse if compared against similar education and income).
14-16 year(!!) shorter lifespan than the general population. This is third-world, ex-Soviet backwater levels of life expectency.
Suicide rates that are a large multiple of the general population (and probably underreported, which explains some of the life expectency numbers).
Divorce rates that approach 100%.
Juvenile crime problems with their kids (who are notorious F-ups, and get covered for, so the reported rates are an understatement).
You pretty much could not paint an uglier picture of social dissolution and disease. These are the wages of corruption. I think Drug Warriors should be treated like war criminals, but they are doing a damn good job on themselves.
God saw that it was good
God gave it to man
Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Whole Chapter: Genesis 1 In context: Genesis 1:10-12)
Genesis 1:12
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Whole Chapter: Genesis 1 In context: Genesis 1:11-13)
Genesis 1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Whole Chapter: Genesis 1 In context: Genesis 1:28-30)
Right on! All this bs is nothing more than fertilizer. Legalize apples next?
LOL! IOW, Thom you are making a fool of yourself. I(AUgrad) have to put stick my nose into the conservation, even though I am a rugged individualist Libertarian, and violating the non-intitiation principle.
The portrait was of you and the other dopes who use the stuff. I know about your type and how they operate. But you are so embarassed about your drug dealing and drug using past that you don't have the courage to answer #195. So now that we have established your past, how about some details, like what you charged and what drugs you dealt? I'll bet ya sold a little blow to go with your grass and pills. C'mon Dane, give us the inside dope on how you operated.
LOL! The more you post the more you reveal about yourself.
" c'mon judge, give yourself some credit, you're a tremendous slouch".....Chevy Chase
LOL
Just dropping in on this thread, everything you've listed is directly related to stress.
Are you saying that being a cop is not a stressful job?
I realize that this thread has left common sense way behind, but did you bother to think about this at all?
Are you saying that being a cop is not a stressful job?
I realize that this thread has left common sense way behind, but did you bother to think about this at all?
Well it seems that the Libertarians have changed their tune. It used to be stated by the Libertarian FR contingent that garbageman had a more difficult job than the cops.
As far as the non-initiation principle, that's a platform of the LP of which I am not a member. Hell I'm from Alabama, sometimes we initiate force for amusement(case in point).
Dane, I've know a few people who smoked in the 60's and early 70's who quit and became drug warriors. I have never really understood that. They did not become addicted, they did not go out and start fights like they did on alcohol. Perhaps they just decdided it not good for them and I fully support them in their beliefs. However, like reformed alcoholics and smokers, some become crusaders of the "truth". In conversations with them they admit that alcohol caused many more problems for them than smoking pot. Now the crux of the matter is why they insist on refusing the rights of other people.
I think of all the illicit drugs (and many legal ones) out there, pot IS the most benign. Sure, somebody somewhere had something bad happen under the influence of pot, statistics would also show how dangerous pretzel eating can be for some, how about mashed potatoes or jawbreakers, likewise. Sure, there are some mentally questionable people that probably shouldn't smoke pot, or drive a car, or drink or reproduce. You want to penalize everyone for those who cannot conduct themselves normally. You are constantly throwing platitudes out about pot use and you should know better. You smoked for a while and if you can admit it, there really wasn't much to it was there.
What these laws have done to our whole governmental system in this country is an abomination to life on planet earth. Murderers, rapists, armed robbers are being released from prison because of the drug war. 3/4 of a million people busted last year for pot, that engorges the justice system, fills the prisons, and corrupts absolutely, cops, judges, lawyers(if that is possible) and all manner of peoples. These laws are Draconian and have caused far more harm for our country than all the pot in the world. Come on Dane, you must have a vested interest in the laws remaining on the books, your arguments are old, tired and constantly being shot down. What gives with you?
Uh I don't follow a non-intiation tenet, so what's your problem?
As far as the non-initiation principle, that's a platform of the LP of which I am not a member. Hell I'm from Alabama, sometimes we initiate force for amusement(case in point).
Well you are persona non-grata according to the Libertarians, IMO. Looks like you have a problem with them, not me.
It shows.
What makes you think everyone is a 'deadhead' or is trying to escape reality?
Did you read your first sentence? Do you remember it?
I have a high-paying job in Aerospace, .... ....swabbin floors at the airport.
am raising two beautiful children,
Can the wife leave you alone with the kids at night? Do you think being stoned is the best way to watch your kids, or does your wife need to pick up the slack?
am debt free
The house still have it's tires on it?
....and own my own company
What's the name of it? Is it a real company, or did you just spring for the cards?
-- yet, I smoke every day. :)
We can tell.
It will be legalized eventually. And I will be one of the 'deadheads' ensuring it does.
No doubt about it. Keep up the fight, brother! Get out there front and center. Nothing will get drugs legalized faster than a burn-out spewing jibberish on TV.
The public opinion of dope heads has never been better, dude.
I will not support marijuana being dispensed by doctors and pharmacists only. You know as well as anyone that marijuana is mainly a social stimulant not a medicinal herb. You will still have potheads who want to smoke it to get high and thus contribute to the ravages that alcohol creates. So...what do we do with pot? Keep it illegal and relatively hard to get. I can live with the social costs because the cost of legalization are so much greater!
Public opinion of you, however, is starting to look like the Boston Red Sox in September. Do you honestly think your kindergarten-level response to his post did anything to bolster your side?
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