Legalize it

[dgoodman]

I havent heard much about pot on this forum. I just found a good artice on the subject on a site linked to another post.



War on Drugs:' A Foul Tragedy

By Garrison Keillor, In These Times. Posted December 6, 2005.

A marijuana grower can get life in prison without parole, while a murderer might be in for eight years. No rational person can defend this.


We Democrats are at our worst when we try to emulate Republicans -- as we did in signing onto the "war" on drugs that has ruined so many young lives.

The cruelty of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 is stark indeed, as are the sentencing guidelines that impose mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug possession -- guidelines in the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act that sailed through Congress without benefit of public hearings, drafted before an election by Democrats afraid to be labeled "soft on drugs."

As a result, a marijuana grower can land in prison for life without parole while a murderer might be in for eight years. No rational person can defend this; it is a Dostoevskian nightmare, and it exists only because politicians fled in the face of danger.

That includes Bill Clinton, under whose administration the prosecution of Americans for marijuana went up hugely, so that now there are more folks in prison for marijuana than for violent crimes. More than for manslaughter or rape. This only makes sense in the fantasy world of Washington, where perception counts for more than reality. To an old Democrat, who takes a ground view of politics -- What is the actual effect of this action on the lives of real people? -- it is a foul tragedy that makes you feel guilty about enjoying your freedom.

If suddenly on a Friday night the red lights flash and the cops yank your teenage son and his little envelope of marijuana into the legal meatgrinder and some bullet-headed prosecutor decides to flex his muscle and charge your teenager -- because he had a .22 rifle in his upstairs bedroom closet -- with a felony involving the use of a firearm, which under our brutal sentencing code means he can be put on ice for 20 years, and the prosecutor goes at him hammer and tong and convinces a passive jury and your boy's life is sacrificed so this creep can run for Congress next year -- this is not your cross alone to bear. If the state cuts off your right hand with a meat cleaver on my account and I don't object, then it is my cleaver and my fingerprints on it.

I don't dare visit Sandstone Federal Prison here in Minnesota for fear of what I'd see there: People who chose marijuana, a more benign drug than alcohol, and got caught in the religious war that we Democrats in a weak moment signed onto. God help us if we form alliance with such bullies as would destroy a kid's life for raising cannabis plants.

Garrison Keillor is the host and writer of "A Prairie Home Companion," now in its 26th year on the air.



Having read this, let me know that you think about marajuana in America, or in whatever country you live in.

[Captain_Paulentineous]

I believe that we should legalize and tax pot.

[Rush Limbaugh]

They should legalize and tax all drugs. Even crack. Open crack motels. You check in but you never check out. Just like a roach motel or the Hotel california.

[jerms]

IMO opinion I think drugs are horrible. Why don't you just have booze? It works just as well. BUt on the other hand, Booze gives you BAD hangovers.

[Free_target19]

Yeah Dude, and some drugs make u violent, unpredictable, depressive and crazy!!
Drugs screws up just as much lives as booze does, maybe even more, who knows!!

Myself, im just a social drinker ( no alcoholic ) i dont use drugs either!!
I think just some drugs should be legalized ( i rather have all drugs banned , but there still be ilegal drugs comming into a country even if u ban drugs ) wacko speaking

IMO opinion I think drugs are horrible. Why don't you just have booze? It works just as well. BUt on the other hand, Booze gives you BAD hangovers.

[Bwaho]

if no one trys to go for the con side by tomorrow, I will jump in as the con side, it is no fun to have everyone agree with me.

Ok I'll pitch in an argument against that I have heard:

Smoking pot destroys your brain, alcohol is hazardous to your liver but unlike the brain it can be replaced!

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Man legalizing pot is not smart. It leads to higher drugs, and if you disagree you clearly do not Live in B.C. And if drug dealers and growers dont sell pot, they will sell something worse. It is not smart to legalize it, but it will be smarter to make more acceptable. In B.C it is ilegal but the cops do it, if they find it on someone they jsut take it, and probably smoke it, and there is pot cafes where people come to smoke pot and cops dont care.

[Rush Limbaugh]

IMO opinion I think drugs are horrible. Why don't you just have booze? It works just as well. BUt on the other hand, Booze gives you BAD hangovers.

The two most destructive drugs and the ones that kill the most people by a huge margin are Alcohol and ciggarettes yet these are both legal, Go figure

Man legalizing pot is not smart. It leads to higher drugs, and if you disagree you clearly do not Live in B.C.

Thats BS. I could say milk leads to harder drugs as everybody starts on milk first. There is nothing to back up the claim that pot leads to heavier drugs. People who want to experiment with drugs start off with either pot or alcohol because their cheap , in the case of pot dont mess you up very much and easy to get a hold of. Also peer pressure has a lot to do with it. Are drugs good for you ? Heavens no. But as long as you do them in your home its no ones damn buissiness what you do with your own body.

[Francisco Montana]

The two most destructive drugs and the ones that kill the most people by a huge margin are Alcohol and ciggarettes yet these are both legal, Go figure

Oops. I think that goes against your argument. They are legal, and they kill the most people.

Legalization leads to the highest rate of death.

That's why I'm concerned with the legalization of Heroine and Cocaine.

(Pot is much less harmless than alchohal, I'm still for decriminalization of marijuana. That's a personal opinon based on personal experience. (close your eyes kids, I didn't just say that! ))

[Rush Limbaugh]

Oops. I think that goes against your argument. They are legal, and they kill the most people.

Hey you know what kills far more? Cars. And their legal also. Should we outlaw anything that can kill people. Check out how many people die from ilegal drugs every year. The number is miniscule. And dont think its because millions of people arent doing them dispite them being ilegal. In fact making them legal would further reduce deaths from overdoses.

Legalization leads to the highest rate of death.

Nope lower.

That's why I'm concerned with the legalization of Heroine and Cocaine

Again most deaths from these two drugs are from over dosing. This is caused mainly by the fact that you have no idea how pure the drug is your ingesting.

I must say your certainly departing from the Libertarian point of view here. Do you realise in the 1800s people used arsenic to get high? You can still by pure poison over the counter but not cocaine. We had practicaly no drug problems here in the US untill we decided to make them ileagal. All your doing is making criminals out of addicts.

[Francisco Montana]

I must say your certainly departing from the Libertarian point of view here.

My 2 sons > My politics

(But I'm still listening.)

[Francisco Montana]

I think we've already covered this extensively.

TWC is for the legalization of marijuana, for the most part.

A few of us are hung up on the harder drugs, but decriminalitazion seems to be a nearing concensus even for those.

They should legalize and tax all drugs. Even crack. Open crack motels. You check in but you never check out. Just like a roach motel or the Hotel california.

How ironic is it that Rush is beginning to convince me. Do you have kids, Rush? I can't remember if that ever came up.

[Tigran of Sasoun]

If you live in a place where pot is BIG, REALLY BIG, where everyone knows the smell, everyone has smoked it, where from grade 5 up people have done it, where adults with kids grow it in thier homes. You know that after a lot of pot smoking it becomes too little, and it does not give u that buzz that it did before. When you have seen time and time against people going from pot to E, to meth becasue they do not get the same high from pot as before, you know that legalizing pot is not the answer.

O and legalizing all drugs is the kind of world i do not want to live in. Where complete cities and people live in a place that uses them, where they canot escape the life of drugs, where poverty is accepted because they brought themselves into it. It is a way to enslave someone and no one will care, nor will cops because crack heads are killing each other. Where the social services system is destroyed, where there is no rehabilitaion centres, where the economy is crap because a lot of people are on welfare smoking crack.

Im sure Marxs would have alot to say about enslavment of the poor this way. Im sure 3rd world countries would also be just making drugs to sell, and not make enough food, and enslaving them to peasants too.

You guys do not think about the bigger pickture. All you see is that cops are having a hard time fighting it, people are killing each other over it and your answer is to legalize it.

True people die from alchol and cigarets but they are not as destructive. Have you guys ever dont these drugs? If you have not, you have no idea what you are talkin about. I have done a few, and that was the last time. I know guys who have tried meth just once, and they are hooked, they sell all the have to get high. I have had one of my brothers who was addicted on drugs, and he had changed soo much. It took him years to become sobber, and even than he had mental problems. Drugs mess with the chemical makeup of the brian.

[Rush Limbaugh]

If you live in a place where pot is BIG, REALLY BIG, where everyone knows the smell, everyone has smoked it, where from grade 5 up people have done it, where adults with kids grow it in thier homes. You know that after a lot of pot smoking it becomes too little, and it does not give u that buzz that it did before. When you have seen time and time against people going from pot to E, to meth becasue they do not get the same high from pot as before, you know that legalizing pot is not the answer.

I live just outside NYC. Pot is pretty big everyhere and has been ever since they made it ilegal. Most of you are too young to really have any idea of what the US used to be like. Would you belive that when I graduated from HS I had never heard of pot or een it? I went to college and still never saw any in my first year nor did I know anyone who smoked it. Suddnly in the very late 60s all these drug laws came int effect and the next thing you know the hippie generation was in full swing. Hasnt prohibition taught you people anything. The only people who profit from ilegal drugs are criminals and the government. The war on drugs has been used to take away more of our freedoms and rights than anything in US history. The drug laws make the Patriot act seem harmless.

[Francisco Montana]

We've spent untold amounts of lives and money on the war against drugs.

You reach a point where you say "want to kill yourself? That's Natural Selection".

I'm tired of paying for an unwinable war.

If you live in a place where pot is BIG, REALLY BIG, where everyone knows the smell, everyone has smoked it, where from grade 5 up people have done it, where adults with kids grow it in thier homes. You know that after a lot of pot smoking it becomes too little, and it does not give u that buzz that it did before. When you have seen time and time against people going from pot to E, to meth becasue they do not get the same high from pot as before, you know that legalizing pot is not the answer.

I feel your pain. I live in San Francisco. Where do you think all that pot you guys grow, goes?

I still say it's reaching the breaking point and there's no more point in fighting people who want to destroy their lives.

(BTW, SF has managed to stay on it's feet just fine. Too many stoned liberals, I agree. But most of them have good paying long lasting jobs)

[Tigran of Sasoun]

Lol thats an easy was to explain the use of drugs. "They made it illegal, YOU MUST DO IT!!"

EDIT:

I feel your pain. I live in San Francisco. Where do you think all that pot you guys grow, goes?

You have no IDEA how proud Canadians are of B.C bud. Its like thier child or something. "Hey man we have the best bud in the world". "No you dont, Amersterdum does" (That guy gets his ass kicked for saying B.C bud is not the best.)

[Rush Limbaugh]

Lol thats an easy was to explain the use of drugs. "They made it illegal, YOU MUST DO IT!!"

Look its pretty simple. Until they made it ilegal there was no incentive for people to push drugs. They were dirt cheap, The only thing making them ilegal did was put a huge profit margin on them. Now people had a reason to push drugs that was never there before. Did you know that more people died from consuming alcohol during prohbiton than before or after it? Its the same scenario all over again. Thise who dont learn from history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes all over again. We the people are the ones who have to pay for this War on drugs, Its a civil war that has been raging for years. Its the main reason the US has so many gun related homocides and crime rate, Also its the black population thats bearing the brunt of this war.

[Denny Crane!]

Lol thats an easy was to explain the use of drugs. "They made it illegal, YOU MUST DO IT!!"

When things are prohibited, usage goes sky high. Its a fact.

Pot is no gateway drug, anymore than alcahol or cigarretes.

Peter

[Francisco Montana]

Lol thats an easy was to explain the use of drugs. "They made it illegal, YOU MUST DO IT!!"

Attack the message, not the messanger. That's an easy way to explain the use of drugs = your mind is too small to really understand the problem.

Seems to me Rush is making a very compelling arguement, backed up with 56 years of experience.

Why is it the easy way to explain the use of drugs? Explain yourself like Rush is doing.

[MoROmeTe]

I wish I lived in Holland...

And for this not to be considered a troll post I wish to say that legalization will very mush bring into light the posibility of controliing the flow of the drugs lgalized and such control would lead to less crime through attacks on gangs and dealers.