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
Sorry...
You WODDIES are a real piece of work. You skewer God's Word, you butcher the Constitution, you put your slimey beak all OVER other folks' business and then have the nerve to get all offended when we tell you to knock off your sh!t!!! AS LONG AS SOMEONE DOES NOT PRESENT A DIRECT THREAT TO THE HEALTH OR SAFETY OF ANOTHER, WHAT THAT PERSON PUTS INTO HIS OR HER BODY IS NONE OF YOUR DAMNED BUSINESS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK. There is NO provision in the Constitution of the United States of America for Congress or the Executive Branch or the Courts to override the Bill of Rights or the express words of the 10th amendment in order to PROHIBIT POSSESSION AND USE OF ANYTHING WHATSOEVER that does not in and of itself violate the rights of others, which dashes your usual "child porn" argument. Nor does the Common Law, which forms a good portion of AMerican Jurisprudence, allow for such misbehaviour on the part of Government. Considering that the War on Americans, called a war on drugs, is in actuality nothing more than a means for CONTROL OVER THE WHOLE POPULACE, and considering that it began in 1914 as a means of controlling the "undesirable" elements of society, blacks, mexicans, chinese, etc., and continued under Harry Anslinger as a means of keeping himself and other former Prohibition agents employed, I am at a loss as to how ANYONE who says they are CONSERVATIVE can support such ANTI-Constitutional behaviours! There is and WAS at the time NO MEDICAL REASON for prohibiting some drugs. It is all about CONTROL OVER OTHERS. Is that what this nation was founded on? (Aside from the travesty of slavery!) How can YOU, CJ, Dane, et al, condone such behaviour and call yourselves Conservatives? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO CONSERVE?
As an aside, many, if not MOST of the ANTI-Constitutional Victim Disarmament edicts were passed for the purpose of controlling the "NON-WHITE" segments of the populace, as well. Evil begetting evil. And you support this sort of nastiness.
I suspect that you will do your usual name-calling and baiting and such, but if you have a weak moment when truth wants to boil out of you, try speaking to the points and not to your usual drivel McNuggets.
Thats why I replied that if THEY are against abortion(Which is a government law.) then they must be EVIL as well.
I was not talking about the issue itself, I was attacking thier reasoning(Or lack thereof).
I dont discuss abortion issues in general because it arouses heated arguments. Both sides feel right and there is no talking about it between them. I was just making a point.
Keep up the poetry, it makes things nicer. :D
Excellant post!
The current argument on this thread seems to focus on "undesirable" tpes. Pot-heads are one of those. I am against drug-addled people acting insane in public but alcohol is DEFINATELY the top reason for said behavior.
Hell, if ANYONE is acting like a loon then the police should come.
My main point is that more drunks act like loons then any other drug abusers. they should be punished if they break the law but if they want to get BLOTTO in thier own home, then fine.
Pot smokers are MUCH more law abiding then heavy drinkers and that is the fact. Hell, these guys probably want me to stop smoking for my own good. I can do that for myself.
On a final note to any observers... we are only taking about three to four freepers that are arguing here. It is not nearly representative of the whole.
You can belive this or not, but most people associate "Libertarians" with drug legalisation and validation. [Emphasis mine]
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain/parenthesis. ;^)
You can belive this or not, (because almost everybody knows that I, Dane, will fabricate whatever rationalizations will serve my agenda) but most people associate "Libertarians" with drug legalisation and validation.
But there's a what if here:
A lot of Dims are in total denial about their party's history here, and think that the 'religious right' is the only reason pot wasn't relegalized years ago... They don't have a lot to run on, so why wouldn't they?
Both sides of the aisle have vested interest in the WOD. They know, even if just by strategic reminders, what it means to "play" no-holds-bared hardball when turning against the drug lords whom they've catered not to mention turning against those in government that they've empowered to plunder in the name of the WOD. Also, there's massive corporate interest/money in maintaining hemp's illegal status -- the oil companies among them.
Perhaps the most compelling reason to maintain the illegal status of marijuana is that to decriminalize or even if they were to just legalize it that would set an irreversible wedge-like crack in their authoritarian control foundation. Once the foundation is cracked the power lost transfers back to the people and has their eyes set on driving the wedge deeper to abolish the IRS and income tax to be replaced with a national retail sales tax. Transferring even more power back to the people. At that point, heard off in the distance is the fat lady preparing to sing.
In the end I don't think it matters how it becomes decriminalized or legalized. The end result will be the same.
This may be fun ... or not . In an imaginary WOD concentration camp what roles would CJ VA CA and Dane have. I will start ... Dane would be Sargent Shultz. Not really evil just confused and afraid of the wraith of his peers who would send him to the "Russian front" for non-compliance with their political views.
With the exception of VA Advagodo, which I'll get back to in a moment, consider that the others you mention are the most miniscule in the overall scheme of things involved in the WOD. That said, I suspect they'd become the butt-boy, pass-around "girl friends" with Advagodo perhaps being fortunate enough to be scrambling to keep his butt intact by becoming the resident pimp. You have to keep in mind the failed egos, extreme irrationality and violent criminality of the JBTs and head honchos. They wouldn't give a second thought to making CJ, VA, CA and Dane their sex slaves.
Open the informer files, prosecute everyone in the chain of command who was crooked, pass an amnesty, or what?
Kept at a distance from public in reeducation facilities and held accountable until paying restitution to their victims and the families of those for whom they murdered a loved one. How many will face the mirror; seeing themselves for who they really are and the massive weight of it all with seemingly no-escape, they blow their brains out.
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