legalizing marijuana

[ToriAllen]

Oue experience with prohibition of alcohol proves otherwise.

How? DUI, domestic violence, alcoholism

[lilcutie8900]

getting high is the best! and the government is stupid for not legalizing it.

[ToriAllen]

getting high is the best! and the government is stupid for not legalizing it.

...says the 12-year-old half wit. Save those brain cells, kid. You're going to need both of them just to survive until your 18th B-day.

[manicmonday]

 

Gangs are not a huge problem in the US. Gangs are only found in large cities and typically stay in a select few areas, making them easy to avoid. In the long run, drug addicts are much more dangerous than gangs. They can be found anywhere.

 

Maybe where you from gangs aren't a problem, but where I'm from, there's at least a shooting a week, usually more. A teacher is sitting in jail with charges of drug traffic, and selling to minors. There's a drug bust 2-3 times a week, and you have to provide ID to buy Sudafed. The stores also keep track of how many boxes you buy and distribute those lists to all the other stores. Annhydrous(sp) tanks are locked up and company's are now hiring security guards to watch them 24/7. All of this is directly traced back to gangs and not like 7 degrees from Kevin Bacon either. Direct link. Oh and our schools have banned certain colors, clothes sybols and you have to have clear back packs to carry to school. The sign language teacher's also had to ban certain signs because they caused a riot at one of the schools. Nope, no gang problem here.

[ToriAllen]

Maybe where you from gangs aren't a problem, but where I'm from, there's at least a shooting a week, usually more. A teacher is sitting in jail with charges of drug traffic, and selling to minors. There's a drug bust 2-3 times a week, and you have to provide ID to buy Sudafed. The stores also keep track of how many boxes you buy and distribute those lists to all the other stores. Annhydrous(sp) tanks are locked up and company's are now hiring security guards to watch them 24/7. All of this is directly traced back to gangs and not like 7 degrees from Kevin Bacon either. Direct link. Oh and our schools have banned certain colors, clothes sybols and you have to have clear back packs to carry to school. The sign language teacher's also had to ban certain signs because they caused a riot at one of the schools. Nope, no gang problem here.

Like I said, a problem in the large cities. We had drugs where I grew up, but no gangs. I grew up just outside of Atlanta. All of the gangs were in the city, not in the suburbs. There are drug deals that are not part of a gang. I would say the majority of drug dealers are not specifically linked to a certain gang. Gangs and gang territories are easier to avoid than druggies. If it is that big of a problem, perhaps a move is in order. I

[angie]

Getting IDed for Sudafed and other OTC cold meds has nothing to do with gangs. Simply meth production. Most major chains do it nowadays (Target, Wal-Mart, etc).

Last summer, there was a meth lab busted up here in CT. Know where it was? In a back woods hick town where there is ZERO gang activity. The nearest city with gangs is nearly 30 miles away. Were they selling it to gangs? Perhaps. But not exclusively, if it all. I know people from the town, and these people had no known associations with gangs. They were mainly supplying themselves and their useless burnt out druggie friends. In the end it was a bunch of bored white hicks who wanted to make some money to support their own habit.

[ToriAllen]

I live in the middle of nowhere in one of the tiny little hick towns with no entertainment. The cops have busted several Meth labs since the new Sheriff was elected in our county about 1 ½ years ago.

[hugo]

How? DUI, domestic violence, alcoholism… People are stupid with or without laws. At least with laws something can be done about it.

 

Yep, the same things that occurred when alcohol was illegal, along with the other crimes committed due to alcohol being on the black market. There need to be harsher laws against those who harm others or steal the property of others. There would be much more asets devoted to apprehending, convicting and warehousing the rapists, robbers and murderers if we stopped protecting the dopeheads from themselves.

 

So do you favor the return of prohibition?

 

Of course, domestic violence would come nearly to a halt if women would leave a man the first time he struck them. It is a damn shame we have to spend so many tax dollars protecting the terminally stupid.

 

Let me now mention the drug war's effect on our constitutional protections. The power to tax is the power to spend ,or regulate, mentality really acceleratred with the 1938 Marijuana Tax Act . It recenly culminated with a Supreme Court decision allowing state and local bodies to utilize the power of eminent domain to confiscate your home for as shady a public use as simply increasing tax revenues. State laws on drugs are debateable, federal laws are unconstitutional. An amendment was needed to enact and repeal prohibition.

[ToriAllen]

Yep, the same things that occurred when alcohol was illegal, along with the other crimes committed due to alcohol being on the black market. There need to be harsher laws against those who harm others or steal the property of others. There would be much more asets devoted to apprehending, convicting and warehousing the rapists, robbers and murderers if we stopped protecting the dopeheads from themselves.

 

So do you favor the return of prohibition?

You are talking about the legalization of all drugs. I wonder if you really know the side effects of some of these substances. At least alcohol, in moderation, is actually good for you. Can you say the same about each of the other drugs? There would be an increase, not a decrease, in crime with the legalization of drugs. Some of the drugs cause psychosis, hallucinations, paranoia, all of which can lead to violent acts against others. You can not tell me that this is a good thing. You would have to allocate the funds to these other areas because crimes of this type would triple. At least gangs generally target each other, and crimes of drug dealers are usually contained to a specific group of people. Crack heads and other drug addicts are non-discriminatory in who they attack, rob, or murder. Do you not read the crime statistics about crimes committed by people who are on drugs? And you want these to be readily accessible to everyone?

[ToriAllen]

Of course, domestic violence would come nearly to a halt if women would leave a man the first time he struck them. It is a damn shame we have to spend so many tax dollars protecting the terminally stupid.

As I've said over and over again...People are stupid.

[hugo]

You are talking about the legalization of all drugs. I wonder if you really know the side effects of some of these substances. At least alcohol, in moderation, is actually good for you. Can you say the same about each of the other drugs? There would be an increase, not a decrease, in crime with the legalization of drugs. Some of the drugs cause psychosis, hallucinations, paranoia, all of which can lead to violent acts against others. You can not tell me that this is a good thing. You would have to allocate the funds to these other areas because crimes of this type would triple. At least gangs generally target each other, and crimes of drug dealers are usually contained to a specific group of people. Crack heads and other drug addicts are non-discriminatory in who they attack, rob, or murder. Do you not read the crime statistics about crimes committed by people who are on drugs? And you want these to be readily accessible to everyone?

 

Robberies are largely due to the high price of drugs caused by the fact the drugs are illegal. By and large, alcoholics have no need to commit robberies. For every drug that creates aggression there is one that decreases it. Drop the price of a crackheads dope and he will be smoking it...not robbing people. Few mentally impaired dopeheads are a threat to others. The few that are can be dispensed with by a legal system that actually punishes crimes against persons and property.

[hugo]

As I've said over and over again...People are stupid.

 

And the best way to remove them from the gene pool is to stop enabling stupid decisions.

[ToriAllen]

Robberies are largely due to the high price of drugs caused by the fact the drugs are illegal. By and large, alcoholics have no need to commit robberies. For every drug that creates aggression there is one that decreases it. Drop the price of a crackheads dope and he will be smoking it...not robbing people. Few mentally impaired dopeheads are a threat to others. The few that are can be dispensed with by a legal system that actually punishes crimes against persons and property.

Lower the price of a crackheads dope and he will be smoking it instead of working, so he will have to commit robberies anyway. With LSD, Heroin, Coke, and several other drugs it is not possible to lead a normal life. The drugs that cause hallucinations do so in everyone who takes them, not just a select few. Social Services does not take children away from mother simply because they are doing drugs. It is because it is impossible for them to function effectively as a mother while on drugs. It is this inability to function that leads to the discovery that the mother is on drugs, rather than the drugs leading to the assumption the mother can't function. We have enough ineffective leeches in society as it is. We do not need to create more.

And the best way to remove them from the gene pool is to stop enabling stupid decisions.

No, that would be how we keep them from eliminating us.

[hugo]

From:

 

The Failure of the War on Drugs-BECKER

After totaling all spending, a study by Kevin Murphy, Steve Cicala, and myself estimates that the war on drugs is costing the US one way or another well over $100 billion per year. These estimates do not include important intangible costs, such as the destructive effects on many inner city neighborhoods, the use of the American military to fight drug lords and farmers in Colombia and other nations, or the corrupting influence of drugs on many governments.

 

Assuming an interest in reducing drug consumption- I will pay little attention here to whether that is a good goal- is there a better way to do that than by these unsuccessful wars? Our study suggests that legalization of drugs combined with an excise tax on consumption would be a far cheaper and more effective way to reduce drug use. Instead of a war, one could have, for example, a 200% tax on the legal use of drugs by all adults-consumption by say persons under age 18 would still be illegal. That would reduce consumption in the same way as the present war, and would also increase total spending on drugs, as in the current system.

 

But the similarities end at that point. The tax revenue from drugs would accrue to state and federal authorities, rather than being dissipated into the real cost involving police, imprisonment, dangerous qualities, and the like. Instead of drug cartels, there would be legal companies involved in production and distribution of drugs of reliable quality, as happened after the prohibition of alcohol ended. There would be no destruction of poor neighborhoods- so no material for

[manicmonday]

Like I said, a problem in the large cities. We had drugs where I grew up, but no gangs. I grew up just outside of Atlanta. All of the gangs were in the city, not in the suburbs. There are drug deals that are not part of a gang. I would say the majority of drug dealers are not specifically linked to a certain gang. Gangs and gang territories are easier to avoid than druggies. If it is that big of a problem, perhaps a move is in order. I

[Mohammed_Rots_In_Hell]

Lower the price of a crackheads dope and he will be smoking it instead of working, so he will have to commit robberies anyway. With LSD, Heroin, Coke, and several other drugs it is not possible to lead a normal life. The drugs that cause hallucinations do so in everyone who takes them, not just a select few. Social Services does not take children away from mother simply because they are doing drugs. It is because it is impossible for them to function effectively as a mother while on drugs. It is this inability to function that leads to the discovery that the mother is on drugs, rather than the drugs leading to the assumption the mother can't function. We have enough ineffective leeches in society as it is. We do not need to create more.

 

No, that would be how we keep them from eliminating us.

Tori, you have completely missed the point...

 

hugo, if I may... (correct me if I'm wrong)

 

hugo's point is that the crackhead is going to be a crackhead regardless if his dope is legal or not, he is going to get it whether it is legal or not. He is not going to work if it is legal or not! Now, that being said, his dope is going to cost MUCH less being legal than illegal... now you can fill in the rest, tori.

[Mohammed_Rots_In_Hell]

My spin on this is keep all dope legal...

mandatory life sentences for non-violent crimes (theft, burglary, etc.)

mandatory death sentences for all violent crimes (roberry, extortion, murder)

 

This will satisify both toriallen and her kind as well as the peaceful dope addict who does nothing but get high and hide under his bed.

[snafu]

My spin on this is keep all dope legal...

mandatory life sentences for non-violent crimes (theft, burglary, etc.)

mandatory death sentences for all violent crimes (robbery, extortion, murder)

 

This will satisfy both toriallen and her kind as well as the peaceful dope addict who does nothing but get high and hide under his bed.

 

Exactly. The war on drugs is lost. Let it go! There won't be gang drug crimes if it were legal. Well except the burglary and as MRIH points out we have stiffer penalties for these crimes. The money we spend on Court fees, court appointed attorneys, incarceration and police we could be fighting drugs with education and rehabilitation.

Give it a try for God's sake.

[Outlaw2747]

getting high is the best! and the government is stupid for not legalizing it.

 

Please, don't breed. Get your ovaries taken out as soon as possible. We don't need geniuses like you spewing your vaginal spawn all over the place and tainting an already rotting gene pool.

[Lethalfind]

My spin on this is keep all dope legal...

mandatory life sentences for non-violent crimes (theft, burglary, etc.)

mandatory death sentences for all violent crimes (roberry, extortion, murder)

 

This will satisify both toriallen and her kind as well as the peaceful dope addict who does nothing but get high and hide under his bed.

 

I'm all for smoking a little pot now and again, under certain circumstances, having said that...who is going to support the peaceful dope addict while he is hiding under his bed??

 

I have heard enough stories as it is of people who have children who still live at home and smoke pot and do other drugs and the like. Are these same people to be given a free ride through life while they are high the entire time? I liked smoking pot, I would do it again if it were legal but its not something you can do all the time and work and make a living.

 

Anything that creates MORE dependent people for the US to take care of is a BAD idea in my book. Enough people are getting a free ride in this country, lets be careful about taking a step that would create more.

[angie]

I have some friends who smoke pot.

They all have jobs. They all take care of their responsibilites. The only difference between them and those who DON'T smoke is that, at the end of the day, they like to toke up a bit and relax. How is it different from you going home and having a glass of wine at the end of the day? 'Pot-smoker' is NOT synonymous with 'irresponsible loser'.

[ToriAllen]

I live in small town Kansas. Maybe 30,000. Drugs are not indicative of a gang, but they are a sign of. However, this is small town USA and one only needs to open their eyes to see the problems. Don't count on your local newspapers to report it, or the local TV stations. They are protecting the their image. I'm almost 90% sure you have a gang in your town and you just don't realize it. And where there is one, another has to come along and be better. Which is great that you don't. But I question who's being naive when not facing that gangs are in your neighborhood.. I don't believe in legalizing drugs. They just need to enforce the actual laws that are already in place. It's easy to get probation for a drug bust. Probation my ass, it doesn't do anything. Gangs are not an isolated incident.

 

I would say a town of 30,000 isn't too small to have a gang problem. It can't be stated clearly enough that not all druggies are in a gang. But over 99% of gang members are going drugs.

If you aren

[scout]

The Queen has spoken!

What makes you so sure the price of drugs would go down if leagalized?

How about all those people that try then get hooked on drugs for the mere fact they are illegal?

I await thou wisdom.

[snafu]

Wrong. The war on drugs has isolated it. If drugs were legal the drug use would increase ten-fold. Gang crimes would stay the same.

 

How can you possibly know this? We haven't even tried it yet. No, we have no hold on any drugs what so ever. There just as popular and widely used as ever. But it's a very big part of the underworld. Take that away and you take the money out of the equation.

[manicmonday]

If you aren