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I'm 40 years old. Here's to hoping that in 20 years they at least legalize weed. I've seen lives ruined by getting caught with a bag of dope. Several lives actually.
Do you know why Prohibition failed? Here's an excellent write up on it. It actually made what was considered to be a problem a much bigger and uglier problem. Digital History
Yeah, there's been quite a few threads on this issue the past several weeks. I'm afraid that you probably won't convince anyone, even though you posted a few links that underscore your contention. I think most drug war proponents on here will either ignore the links and stick to their guns, claiming that drugs are illegal because they're inherently dangerous and that only scumbags want to use drugs. Legalizing drugs or even reforming its criminality, most drug war proponents will claim will only lead to more crime because in their world, drugs make ALL people who use them into criminals.
I don't think illicit substances like weed will ever be legal in this country. The best thing we can get is medical marijuana and it's legality is contingent upon whomever is in control of the justice dept. and whether it's an election year or not.
I think too many cities, counties, and municipalities make so much money off of its illegality that they'll never relent on the drug war, especially those in the "heartland" of America--the Midwest and South.
I'm particularly in favor of legalization and mass production, sale, and distribution of pot on a model similar to the way alcohol is dealt with in this country. I'm getting old--somewhere around middle age if the life span for the average American male is 80 years old. I think I could live to be 80 and still not see any major change in the criminality of pot. There's too much at stake in maintaining the status quo--people's jobs and ordinary attitudes about it. Even on TV marijuana use is ubiquitous, but the users are stereotyped into the Spicoli-type character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, or pot use remains synonymous with ethnicity or racial identity. These kinds of attitudes cannot and will not change in the foreseeable future in my opinion.
The killings and the turf wars of the 1920's and 30's are just repeating history, today.
I get the spirit of your statement and I see where you're coming from. However, history never repeats itself. Rather, human behavior does.
One cannot claim that history is repeating itself because a whole host of issues rendered the Volstead Act and a whole host of other issues repealed it. The issues with illicit drugs are a new ball of wax, yet humans' behavior in regard to them is very similar to the way it was from the 1880s temperance movements to the repeal of the Volstead Act in the 30s.
If you compare the effects of alcohol to marijuana, you will find the harmless one is illegal, while the destructive one is legal. And then you should realize that money trumps common sense and if you follow the money, you realize just how lucrative alcohol is. Then factor in the money made from DUI's and lawyers making money from those arrested trying to get their license back, insurance companies, etc., etc., the list of benefactors is almost endless.
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
10,471 posts, read 15,839,921 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by odanny
If you compare the effects of alcohol to marijuana, you will find the harmless one is illegal, while the destructive one is legal. And then you should realize that money trumps common sense and if you follow the money, you realize just how lucrative alcohol is. Then factor in the money made from DUI's and lawyers making money from those arrested trying to get their license back, insurance companies, etc., etc., the list of benefactors is almost endless.
I don't think illicit substances like weed will ever be legal in this country. The best thing we can get is medical marijuana and it's legality is contingent upon whomever is in control of the justice dept. and whether it's an election year or not.
I think too many cities, counties, and municipalities make so much money off of its illegality that they'll never relent on the drug war, especially those in the "heartland" of America--the Midwest and South.
I've seen a recent string of cities all across the country decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce. Even in my little podunk town, it is "officer discretion" if caught with a small amount, meaning you probably won't get arrested but will get a ticket.
I'll leave the law making to the politicians, but I definitely see the benefits of reducing the possession of marijuana down to a ticket or a violation. NYS attempted to pass something like that about a few weeks ago. But as for narcotics? No way.
Citizens are only allowed to ingest drugs that the state has approved and to get that approval takes many lobbyists bearing gifts.
Anyone caught ingesting unapproved substances shall be imprisoned and have all their possessions given up to Caesar.
America land of the free.
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