imported post
"and killed somebody on the expressway"
Just like the old lady who had an Alzheimer’s episode at 70 miles per hour.
Illegalize Oldness?
Just like the trucker who nodded off even though he had his regular sleep schedule.
Illegalize drowsiness?
Just like the 18 year old who was trying to connect her IPod to the stereo at 70 miles per hour. Illegalize music?
Hundreds of other reasons for car crashes including perfectly legal antihistamines, sneezes, just poor driving, and many more.
Pot...is pot.
For someone who takes such pride and serious consideration in expressing his right to carry a deadly weapon where ever he pleases whenever he pleases, you sure have a funny way of looking at other peoples rights about other things.
So bad guys use guns in a bad way, and that's what the anti-gun nuts hold over OUR heads when we want to maintain our right to own firearms.
So some people who do bad things smoke pot, and YOU are going to hold that over the head of everyone else???
Hmmmmm... That's interesting.
Then I guess you have to switch camps, and give up your guns, and start screaming at gun owner’s right?
Since you and they hold the same logic standard, obviously you must see how they are right.
Right?
People have been using it for longer than they have been creating alcohol, its earliest traceable use was 7000 bc for paper and rope and shamanistic ceremonies and pain management.
The first law associated with marijuana is from the Jamestown colonies in 1690. Farmers were required by law to grow certain amounts of the Indian "hempseed".
1910 is when the first prohibition of marijuana occurred and it was outlawed in salt lake city Utah by the Mormons because a group of missionaries came back from Mexico with marijuana, and church attendance started to drop off along with donations because people were spending their time out in the countryside smoking pot, having potluck pick nicks and appreciating the wonders god had made without cutting a little bit of that cash off for the church.
The marijuana prohibition has not reduced its use, its repeat use after incarceration, or it's generally accepted status as "harmless".
The marijuana prohibition has however cost the United States Tax payers more than 16 billion dollars since 1986 for its part in the war on drugs.
Marijuana arrests have resulted in 2 million people being sent to prison for 5 years or longer since the war on drugs has started, and who knows what the cost of that is.
The marijuana prohibition has createdmassive and violent illegal trafficking cartels in Mexico where they didn't exist before.
Marijuana is easy to grow there, and easy to transport in bulk so for every 1 delivery that gets caught 10 or more make it through meaning that we can NEVER slow the supply enough to make it cost ineffective for the cartels.
Ok there are a few cops on here right?
How many of you would throw your hands in the air and stop being cops if Marijuana became legal but controlled like alcohol?
Would it bring anarchy to your normal beat or would it give you more time to look for people who may actually be doing something dangerous, rather than being forced to scrutinize every car that drives by with smoke rolling out the windows?
I don't advocate marijuana legalization out of interest in being able to smoke it.
I outgrew it when I was turning from a teenager, into an adult.
Once I could legally go into bars, pot seemed like way too much hassle compared to just hanging out and having a beer.
It's just my opinion that the effects of marijuana use on society have never been bad enough to make it illegal.
The biggest problemwith pot has always been that you can't stop people from growing it at home and processing it themselves.
So in the past there was no real business in growing controlling and distributing it like Tobacco and Alcohol.
But people are so ignorant and lazy now days, they would still buy it rather than grow it themselves, so it would be a brand new market for generating cash in the US.
And just think of the benefits of integration and population distribution!
How many hardcore inner city gangster types would try to get Farm loans and move to Minnesota or Montana so that they could become full time pot farmers?
More than would try it now, I guarantee it.
Might even cause a decent migration from many urban areas into rural farming areas and lower costs in cities while increasing jobs in the rural areas, and increasing property values, and putting a little pep back into the farming sector of the U.S.
I would argue that it would increase tourism, but in all honesty, if the US legalizes marijuana 2 dozen or so other countries would legalize it within a month.
Many countries only outlaw it because they have to as part of international agreements with the United States so that we put bases in their country which generate millions for them, and because we won't sell them cheap guns or surplus tanks and weapons if they don't follow our War on Drugs policy, or because we won't forgive some of their Aid Debt they owe us.
There are more reasons to legalize pot than to continue wasting money to prohibit something that is no different than buying a 6 pack of beer.
You can have all the outrage you wish. It doesn't change the facts.
You want people to have the freedom to carry a gun, but not to smoke a joint???
What about cigarettes??? You want to make my smokes illegal?
So how much other stuff do you want to take away from everyone else while making sure that the things YOU want to do are OK???