Posted on 09/06/2002 8:59:47 AM PDT by MrLeRoy
It's enough for a big thumbs up ... or a big light up, if you prefer.
Canada should legalize marijuana use by adults, a Senate committee recommended Wednesday. The report comes on the heels of a two-year study of public policy relating to pot.
The present system of prohibition on marijuana just doesn't work, the committee found. Obviously, the committee learned something from early 20th-century history, when alcohol was prohibited in the United States. Then, prohibition simply gave gangsters a product to move and people to shoot.
Instead of the current system that penalizes people for having small quantities of pot on them, there should instead be a regulated system for marijuana, perhaps like our current system for alcohol, the committee determined.
"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and health issue," said Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, the committee chair.
It's true that taking pot still involves the harmful intake of smoke, which the committee recognized. But, as the committee pointed out, it's more of a health issue than anything else.
In addition, making pot legal would clear the way for our police to tackle other, more harmful crimes relating to the public good. Really, would you rather see a pot smoker or a child molester behind bars?
Whether the federal government will ever adopt the Senate recommendations is up in the air. Hopefully the feds won't throw up a smokescreen on this to cloud the issue, and goes ahead with legalization.
Yeah, it's more fun to waste 20+billion every year intercepting 5-10% at most each year, while failing to stop its use in the first place--even in places like prisons--and it's safer than alcohol, etc.
You are nuts also. You know alcohol has 3x the costs of ALL illicit drugs combined. Sending all the druggies up north would only reduce costs by 25% --and thats assuming you paid for all of the drug costs now (we dont)
What does this have to do with marijuana?
| Tobacco | 430,7001 |
| Alcohol | 110,6402 |
| Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs | 32,0003 |
| Suicide | 30,5754 |
| Homicide | 18,2725 |
| All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths | 16,9266 |
| Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin | 7,6007 |
| Marijuana | 08 |
Source:(1996): "Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control, 1997), May 23, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 20, p. 449.
Source: "Number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population for categories of alcohol-related (A-R) mortality, United States and States, 1979-96," National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, from the web at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/databases/armort01.txt, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001, citing Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, Saadatmand, F., Stinson, FS, Grant, BF, and Dufour, MC, "Surveillance Report #52: Liver Mortality in the United States, 1970-96" (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, December 1999).
Source: Lazarou, J, Pomeranz, BH, Corey, PN, "Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies," Journal of the American Medical Association (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1998), 1998;279:1200-1205, also letters column, "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients," JAMA (Chicago, IL: AMA, 1998), Nov. 25, 1998, Vol. 280, No. 20, from the web at http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v280n20/ffull/jlt1125-1.html, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001.
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., Centers for Disease Control, "Deaths: Final Data for 1998,", National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), pp. 1, 10, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
Source: Robyn Tamblyn, PhD; Laeora Berkson, MD, MHPE, FRCPC; W. Dale Jauphinee, MD, FRCPC; David Gayton, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Roland Grad, MD, MSc; Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC; Lisa Isaac, PhD; Peter McLeod, MD, FRCPC; and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, "Unnecessary Prescribing of NSAIDs and the Management of NSAID-Related Gastropathy in Medical Practice," Annals of Internal Medicine (Washington, DC: American College of Physicians, 1997), September 15, 1997, 127:429-438, from the web at http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm, last accessed Feb. 14, 2001, citing Fries, JF, "Assessing and understanding patient risk," Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology Supplement, 1992;92:21-4.
Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.
Yet - when you add up all the drug killings, the death and abuse to others by those stoned out of their minds or working with a damaged mind, when you add in all the effects of the drug on the quality of work in every aspect of American life and the results - you would understand that idiots seeking entertainment will bring this wonderful country down year after year.
You can add up all the homocides (assuming EVERY ONE was because of drugs) and drug deaths combined and it doesn't even equal alcohol. BTW you obviously know nothing about being 'stoned.' It makes you passive and generally just want to sit down and do nothing. Alcohol on the other hand can get people very angry.
Nonsense. For one it'll save money. Quite a bit. In fact probably 20+ billion a year, not counting the loss of revenue from the non violent offenders behind bars that would be paying taxes and of course taxing the substance itself. Second, you aren't stopping marijuana use now at all. All you are is sending money down the toilet. Third, marijuana isn't physically addictive. It can be psycologically addictive just like the internet, church, burgers, etc can be. 4th, legalizing marijuana would get rid of the dealers in schools and would eliminating people being pushed on to try harder drugs (which give the dealer more money). 5th, we can start returning to a more Constitutional government again. The 4th, 5th and 10th have been shredded in the Federal WosD. 6th, marijuana is hardly that destructive. Fine a single study that shows marijuana more destructive than alcohol, tobacco or even most fatty foods.
As opposed to such unbiased info from the DEA--whose jobs of course depend on the drug war.
The pot calls the kettle black (no pun intended).
My hat's off to you, Willie. You're the first Wodder I've ever encountered on FR with the stones to admit it. You and I are going to have to agree to disagree, though. I'm a conservative, so we're never going to see eye-to-eye. Best of luck to you.
Horsedung.
Based on your stance on drugs, I believe you'd fit within the realm of libertarianism, which is essentially immoral conservatism.
I'm sure the Log Cabin Republicans and Christine Todd Whitman among others would be surprised to hear that.
Then I realized I live on an island 5k miles away!
Rants of a liberal---liberatarians are REM'S(rapid eye movements)---sleep(drug) paralysis!
Reality arrested---immune!
The drug war was started by FDR. He was not a conservative. His administration made marijuna illegal. There is nothing 'conservative' about keeping marijuana illegal, despite your claims
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.