Posted on 02/20/2002 6:08:45 AM PST by Magician
My first reaction is WHY NOT?
It’s a question of common sense.
Our marijuana laws do not work. They never have, and they never will.
Their stated goal being to rid society of the so-called affliction of marijuana use, the harsh reality is that since prohibition, usage rates have increased drastically.
Either we legalize it, and fast, or we get busy locking up millions of Canadians. With one out of three Canadians admitting to having tried marijuana, we may very well be locking up our best and brightest, not ruined by drugs, but ruined by the criminal sanctions that go with getting caught for what amounts to a common social practice. I can’t even begin to count how many elected officials admitted to having used it, yet everyday hundreds of average citizens are arrested for marijuana offences.
So, why are there so many users, and why is marijuana so easy to acquire?
In a strange twist, prohibition is to blame.
When a product is illegal, the profit margin skyrockets. Prohibition turns an agricultural product (a plant that’s very easy to grow) into a drug worth its weight in gold. Without prohibition, marijuana would cost pennies to produce. No wonder some adventurous modern day prospectors are setting up in their own back yards and basements to try and get in on the gold rush. Who could blame them? They aren’t hurting anyone, they’re making good money, and most of all customers are willing, grateful participants in the process.
We must come to grips with the fact that the demand for marijuana is never going away and find a better way of dealing with it. Imagine the billions of dollars spent on marijuana and enforcement going to more noble causes like health care and other social programs.
The general public understands this. Support for legalizing marijuana recently reached the much sought after 50%+1 majority. Recent polls show that 51% of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, a slim, but very real majority.
And with more and more advocates, the trend is just taking off. Several European countries like Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and Germany are successfully leading the way towards tolerance with legislation aimed at helping drugs users, not by treating them as criminals, but as human beings deserving of respect. There is no reason why Canada should lag behind. We should be on the cutting edge of this new international movement.
Now it is time to step onto the world stage and assert our sovereignty by legalizing marijuana once and for all. I would venture a friendly wager that the international community would stand by Canada on this issue. Our inevitable success would then make us a world leader in marijuana reform—an example for others to follow.
(I can hear it already): But marijuana is dangerous!
For the record, marijuana is NOT dangerous. It is no worse than coffee and much safer than alcohol. Marijuana is also much less addictive then cigarettes. Chronic use is rare as the majority do not smoke it everyday. Try that with tobacco!
What little risks that may be present with marijuana are no worse then any other risks deemed "morally acceptable". Should we ban music because, if played too loud it might hurt your hearing?
French fries and gravy are far more dangerous for our health then marijuana. Should we ban fast food and send overeaters to mandatory fitness camps?
Who are we, as a society to judge? What exactly are marijuana users guilty of? Who are they hurting? What have they done wrong?
To deny marijuana users the right to choose what they want to consume is nothing more than an arbitrary decision based on moral values, not public interest......
Legalization does not mean promoting use. It means providing medical care, support, education, quality standards and proper labeling. We then trust that responsible adults will make their own choices. This is what makes legalization healthy for our society. At least legalization would force retailers to be accountable for what they sell.
Under prohibition, the government has waived its responsibility for the well being of marijuana users, and is only responsible for their arrest and persecution.
This total disregard for their rights drives a wedge between them and the rest of society and breeds contempt for our legal institutions. If society does not tolerate pot smokers, how are pot smokers supposed to tolerate society? This does not make for a healthy social climate and even less a basis for sound policy.
If a policy so deeply flawed as prohibition not only fails to reach its goals, but actually makes the situation worse, it should be radically changed.
Prohibition is the problem, and legalization the solution.
In places where marijuana is tolerated use actually decreases.
Of course, don’t count on the politicians to have the courage to change the law—it’s not in their nature. Look instead to the Supreme Court. That is where most significant legal change comes from anyway. Gay rights and abortion issues were resolved there, and, some time this year our land’s highest court will also rule on the constitutionality of marijuana prohibition. I strongly urge government to make a wise decision and end this madness now. Millions of bright, productive, patriotic pot-smoking Canadians are counting on it.
Most sincerely, Marc-Boris St-Maurice Le Parti Marijuana
I can get POT easily with no harm any time I want it so I am not particularly interested in this issue for that reason.
I live in Mass so I always listen to pro-drug people and to be honest with you, I hope it never gets legalized. I dont want the federal BS. As you have seen, this amounts to much the same thing from a law-enforcement point of view.
Its funny, I have taken two drug tests for jobs and state requirements and I have ALWAYS objected to them. They thought I was a pot smoker and they were surprised that I passed.
I dont smoke but I think you SERIOUSLY need to look at your views on Pot and be objective.
What can I say? You consider me evil so anything I post will be perceived by you in that light. Well...?
That's two questions, BTW. Go for it.
The part of the Constitution that allows people to vote for new laws and a representative Congress to make new laws.
Federal laws? Without restrictions? Funny I missed that part of the constitution. So you would'nt have a problem with a new law the banned guns? Stop being simplistic and answer the question. Alcohol prohibition required a constitutional ammendment.
If you support others who want to use, that is where it gets evil.
It is like seeing a person who wants to jump from a bridge. That is bad. You’re not jumping so that is OK, but if you yell out jump to support that person in jumping - THAT IS WHERE IT TURNS EVIL! Would you wrap your calling to them to jump as being a free speech issue?
The Congress has the right to make anti-drug laws. The fact that nothing has been overturned further proves the legality.
The ONLY area of drug law I see as having a chance of changing is where an innocent landlord loses his property because he had a drug addict renter and the renter made the landlord lose his property. Innocent landlords will get protected in the future I believe. I think all areas of the isles are going to fix that only defective area!
The restrictions of Congress is in the First Amendment.
I can't make sense of that sentence. The first ammendment is one of the restrictions on the laws that can be made. So is the second and about half the others. The feds have extended their reach by claiming to control anything that has an impact on interstate commerce. This is not a liberal or conservative position, it is simply statist.
BTW for those of you who (like me) don't indulge but resent peeing in a cup, I suggest eating a poppy seed muffin prior to your test. This will cause a false positive on the initial (cheap) screening test, which will require the (expensive) followup confirmation. When you do this the testing lab looses money on your test. They typically charge about $70. The cheap screen costs less then $1, the followup costs $150. If all non-drug users who resent being judged by the quality of you urine did this we would put the testing labs out of buisness in a month. When they raised the rates buisness would stop testing as they are only doing it to get lower workers comp rates. Which are in no way related to actual costs, they are federally mandated discounts for drug testers. Without govt subsidies the testing would stop, it is uneconomical.
Where in the same way was the right to use drugs specifically referred to?
Does'nt have to be, if the authority is not there, the feds at least, have no right to make such laws.
It might be misguided persuit of happyness, but it still applies. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both are on record as pot users, not just hemp. They killed the male plants. Drinking is analogous. It required an ammendment to ban alcohol.
Why has it not been struck down? You have'nt been paying attention to the US court system for the last 50 or 100 years have you?
I stepped in something just the other day. Although it did NOT sound good...
Because libetarians desperately want their dope and are willing to accept more nanny-state socialism to get it.
And that's the only way they will get it.
Considering there's more American's that think marijuana should be decriminalized than kept illegal, that's an awful lot of people with Libertarian thoughts. Nice reality check, isn't it? Having read that it must be time for you to change your soiled under-shorts.
"I have brain damage," he said.
It's about time you admitted you have brain damage.
59 posted on 2/20/02 8:10 AM Pacific by ThomasJefferson
ROTFL!!!!
I would be scared too if I had been exposed as a hypocrite and a liar.
Especially since Dane's true identity has been learned. It will be interesting when the sordid story is posted to the Web site. Confidentiality limits my telling more.
Fess up Dane
You might as well try squeezing water from a rock because at the very least the probability is greater than Dane becoming honest.
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