I was asked in the comments to address the war on drugs and the potential waste of money created by it. The implication is that somehow the government would save money if they legalized marijuana because that would eliminate some "war on drugs" spending.
You know what else would decrease War on Drugs spending? If people stopped doing drugs. We could also cut medicare costs by not covering lung cancer. Or we could cut medicare costs by encouraging people to quit smoking.
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The Draw Of Daft Punk
1 hour ago
6 comments:
I wouldn't say that the problem with the War on Drugs is that it wastes money, though it does. I'd rather say that it's a bad answer (mass incarcerations, supply-side interventions in the drug market, uber-tough but ineffective sentencing laws) to a real problem--the problem of mass addiction to heroin, crack, and meth. Most people who oppose the 'War on Drugs' mentality aren't advocates of legalizing heroin (at least I'm not), but rather in emphasizing treatment rather than prison for addicts, and stopping violence and disorder rather than street-level drug sales.
Laws against marijuana, on the other hand, are a bad answer to something that isn't a problem. People smoking a fairly benign substance in their own homes is just not a problem in anything like the sense that heroin use is. This is true even if it temporarily makes you a little dumber. I really think you should be able to show graver harm if you want to lock people up for sparking a doob.
People smoking a little weed in the comfort of their own homes aren't the ones getting busted.
One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to ongoing persecution of hippies, radicals, and non-whites under prosecution of the war on drugs. If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.
The drug czar’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as life is flushed down expensive tubes. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. Behold, it’s all good. When Eve ate the apple, she knew a good apple, and an evil prohibition. Canadian Marc Emery is being extradited to prison for selling seeds that American farmers use to reduce U. S. demand for Mexican pot.
Only on the authority of a clause about interstate commerce does the CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) reincarnate Al Capone, endanger homeland security, and throw good money after bad. Administration fiscal policy burns tax dollars to root out the number-one cash crop in the land, instead of taxing sales. Society rejected the plague of prohibition, but it mutated. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment.
Nixon passed the CSA on the false assurance that the Schafer Commission would later justify criminalizing his enemies. No amendments can assure due process under an anti-science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA shut down research, and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use, period. Drug juries exclude bleeding hearts.
The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership or an act of Congress to obtain their birthright freedom of religion. John Doe’s free exercise of religious liberty may include entheogen sacraments to mediate communion with his maker.
Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.
Common-law must hold that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers undersigned that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration.
I'm not sure that's true. Drugwarfacts.org finds that marijuana arrests are almost half of all drug arrests, and that the overwhelming majority of those (754,224 last year) are for possession alone. I just don't see how that isn't an incredible waste of law enforcement effort and most likely an unjust burden on poor communities.
People will argue for their intoxicant of choice. That’s probably why we will never see you write an article calling for the reinstatement of the prohibition of alcohol. I would love to just hear your justification of why its ok to intoxicate yourself with alcohol.
I’m just assuming you drink. Most anti pot people are pretty pro alcohol, so my apologies if that is not the case with you and if I have assumed incorrectly.
Adam Corolla does a podcast and on 11/26, with Richard Lee, they vented on this exact subject. Funny approach with valid points. One thing that really stuck in my mind was the "intent to sell" aspect of marijuana related arrests, which has to be COMPLETELY subjective on the part of the arresting officer. Now I don't buy, sell, smoke,or otherswise use marijuana (I may have some hemp lip balm somewhere...still not weed). I don't have a personal bias. BUT. In what other aspects of criminal justice can you/we be arrested, charged, and convicted on "intentions"? What if I had a case of beer in my car and I get pulled over. The case is unopened, but the Officer decides to charge me with "intent to drive under the influence", simply because the beer IS in the car, and I do 5 years in prison. HOW F_ _ _ I N G STUPID is this?
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