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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
Really? I bet you they have "keggars" at ELF meetings./sarcasm
ELF members would probably burn down a brewery or winery, but have orgasms over a pot field.
Like it or not pot and other drugs such as psychedelic mushrooms are the purvey of leftist/anarchist causes.
That's your opinion.
Care to deny that Anslinger was either a nutjob, or a bureaucrat lying his butt off to Congress in order to keep his job? Or that the government has consistently ignored the results of it's own research in order to maintain marijuana's status as a Schedule I drug? Is government regulation of a substance justified solely on the basis of Dane not liking some of the people that use it?
LOL! and they say pot isn't addictive. Do you drool when 4:20 comes around?
That's what I figure is the underlying source of his stance also, but I don't really want to leap on the bash Dane bandwagon anymore.
Care to deny that Anslinger was either a nutjob, or a bureaucrat lying his butt off to Congress in order to keep his job?
And Timothy Leary was an enlightened scholar, right?
Dane responded: Sorry pot's place in the modern day drug culture was assured by the leftist mid-60's counterculture of Timothy Leary and his "merry" band of drug addicts.
The vast majority of pot smokers today weren't even born till the 70's and beyond and literally have no idea who Timothy Leary was. Leary was a minor figure even in his day, but his 15 minutes of fame is long gone. Go take a poll at your local high school or college and see how many people can identify him.
LOL! Leary is the "father" of the modern day drug culture. The denial on this thread is amazing.
So I take it you were a leftist/anarchist when you were doing pot and blow?
Yeah, I guess it gets tiring after a while. But he can prevent it by just owning up to the problem, namely that he lies on every thread about those he disagrees with. If he would just apologise and stop the lying, he could just go his merry little authoritarian way.
Be careful---you're mixing comparisons.I'm talking about people who smoke pot. You're assuming I'm talking about leftists and socialists, and then you're expecting me to defend the actions of leftists and socialists since they also---according to you---embrace the drug culture and hence, smoke pot. I'm not interested in defending the nutty ideas of lefties or socialists---I'm interested in finding out whether you think:
A) the act of smoking pot makes one a leftist, socialist, Marxist member of the Drug Culture, or
B) those attracted to leftist, socialist, or Marxist causes and politics might also be attracted to the counterculture, aka the "Drug Culture."
Actually I was a Libertarian, I thought Ed Clarke was the coolest guy because he was the druggie candidate. I was only a spohomore in high school when he ran in 80(when the Libertarians got their highest number of votes and also coincidentally when drug use was at it "highest") and touted about his candidacy in school.
Yeah you could say I was an anarchist, but I grew up.
I don't even know what you mean by that. I guess you don't deny that the vast majority of pot smokers today couldn't say who Leary was. I guess I don't even know what you mean by the drug culture. What do you mean by the drug culture, and what element of it do you trace to Leary? I'm old enough to remember Leary, but other than the fact that he was a Harvard prof who took drugs I can't say anything about him either. Whatever you think about "the drug culture", I'm guessing you are out of date on it 30 years.
Timothy Leary isn't particularly relevant to the issue at hand. He isn't the one spending my tax dollars, and sending SWAT teams out to kick in doors in the middle of the night.
Anti-WODer: (makes a logical point)
Dane: LOL! Go smoke more pot, dude!
Anti-WoDer: (makes another logical point and follows up with a direct question to Dane)
Dane: LOL! Drugs are evil and you just want to smoke pot because you are a loser!
Anti-WODer: (poses same question to Dane)
Dane: LOL! Did you know that liberals and Marxists and socialists like drugs? LOL!
Why is it that you refuse to actually participate in a discussion, and instead just parrot the same half-truths over and over and over again?
Dane doesn't scare me as much as VA Avogadro, Cultural Jihad, or A CA Guy. It's easy to dissect and analyze Dane's stance, and when you come right down to it, it's nothing more than prejudice. Those other guys are on total God trips: A CA G, on this thread alone, has proved himself to be the mother of Carrie . . . "evil, evIL, EVIL!!!" (ad nauseum).
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When in the mid-60's the counterculture took hold in this country. When 60's baby boomers followed the likes of Leary by embracing pot and LSD. The slogan was "tune in and drop out". Leary became a cause celebre and drugs became "mainstreamed". You will also notice that this is when the crime rates started to skyrocket.
The modern drug culture got it's start in the mid-60's.
Well then maybe you shouldn't get get so excited when post 420(a popular pot colloquialism) comes around, to show you are "non-addiction".
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