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
That sounds like harm reduction (the idea that we should look at the total harm that drugs do and implement strategies to objectively reduce that harm) Its a good idea. Most of its' proponents realize that interning someone in a rape camp is definitely not reducing harm. They also realize that drug use will never be stopped by punishment. Humans are fallible and will indulge . It's a fact of life that can't be denied. Why not try to reduce the total harm to society.
So I am for looking at safer enforcement to stop dealing and using, but you have to be from another planet to ever think in our life time illegal drugs will become legal. Dream on - but keep your day job kiddo!
You may be right,I believe you are wrong, only time will tell.
Huh? What are you talking about? Who shares agendas with whom?
What I asked for were prominent D*m*cr*ts who favor relegalization. (Actually, I just thought of one: former mayor Schmoke of Baltimore)
You have to figure God is unlikely to Bless the country that kills their children.
Don't worship humanism over God in the name of a bent view of freedom.
Good Night!
I am a Christian, by the grace of God!
I am by no means perfect, though – I do understand this mentality because I have been there, done that…and almost bought the farm
The issue is obviously the morality of mankind.
you have to be from another planet to ever think in our life time illegal drugs will become legal.
I'd agree with that for all currently illegal drugs.
But pot is a generational thing. Once the WWII generation dies off it is a forgone conclusion. The feds are already going to have one heck of time finding a jury that will convict someone for supplying pot to cancer patients. When everybody recently arrested at the SF medical pot clubs walks that will be huge blow to the WOD. How many mistrials do you think it will take before they give up?
The debate regarding the rationalism of why some folks question the choice to make ill advised, and silly,.."roll-your-own'" joint...just doesn't cut it.
Mary Jane will be around forever. So will jerks. Damn,... Making a choice is a bitch!
Mustang sends.
Your statement is shortsighted for two reasons. First, while God alone is the artiber of justice and morality, that same one true justice and morality demands, compels and enforces the discouragment of evil. Second, while your sentence that 'the freedom to do wrong is what makes doing something right right' may be true, but you haven't shown how laws which discourage wrong deeds thwart in any way the free will to choose either. Furthermore, your own argument can be used to defend the practice of any evil deed, from political corruption to murder, so I'm not sure what point you're attempting to make with it. We see that people will always enjoy free will to do good or evil, or are you suggesting that laws against bank-robbery somehow thwart the free will of would-be bank-robbers?
No, you dumba$$, the future of the Republic hinges on getting government to stop using the Constitution as toilet paper. Of course, that use of the Constitution doesn't seem to bother you at all. I do NOT CARE ONE BIT whether someone smokes mj or does NOT smoke it. It is NOT MY BUSINESS, just as it is not YOUR BUSINESS. The operative phrase here whould be KYFHO. KYFHO the Constitution. KYFHO other people's lives. MIND YOUR OWN DAMNED BUSINESS. Is that clear enough, Dane. for even YOUR infantile mind?
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