Cannabis should be decriminalized for the same reasons that alcohol is

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 8/28/2006 | Editorial

[tang0r]

It turns out that alcohol is legal for the simplest, most nostalgic, and most American reason of all. Despite its risks and harmful side-effects, adults are reserved right to drink because they are independent adults in a free country. For all of the empty rhetoric about economics and black markets, the end of Prohibition was due to a single principle: even if drinking may be bad for society, government has no right to keep the people from doing it. The ability to get drunk is an inalienable right that we have forever confirmed with the 18th Amendment.

[mugs99]

legalize drugs = dope head....(consumption not necessary)
support big government = socialist...(reason not necessary)
.

[Sir Gawain]

It's no slippery slope at all. Recreational drug use is bad, period.

No one has ever said it was "good" or "bad".

It's no slippery slope at all. ___________ is bad, period.

When you're the one in power, you get to fill in the blanks. They've already set precedent with drugs, seat belt and helmet laws, etc. That means that you can't complain when they outlaw your favorite hamburger because "fat is bad, period".

[elkfersupper]

I have bad news.

Alcohol is being recriminalized.

Soda pop, red meat and fatty or "junk" foods are also being criminalized.

[Ouderkirk]

This slippery slope business is bullshit.

The libertarian utopia that you are advocating is no better then the socialist utopia that is espoused elsewhere !!!

There has to be some guard rails for any society to function without becoming anarchy.

[monkfan]

"We don't need no stinking amendments anyway...The Commerce Clause decision trumps the Constitution itself."

Speaking of which, I think I'll go "commerce" the wife.

[Last Visible Dog]

"Marijuana, however, impairs a user for weeks. It's use is also tied to the development of schizophrenia and clinical depression...Equating the two is pointless."

What a silly statement

Alcohol is also tired to the development of mental illness

Alcohol is physically addictive, Marijuana is not.

Thousands die each year directly from the use of alcohol, nobody has died directly from the use of marijuana.

The effects of marijuana last a couple of hours, alcohol causes hangovers (an effect of physical addiction) and for some serious withdrawal symptoms that often require hospitalization - people die during alcohol withdrawal, nobody has ever died from marijuana withdrawal.

Thousands die each year on our roads related to the use of alcohol, this is not true about marijuana (although some people do die on the roads related to use of marijuana and even prescription drugs - it is only a handful.

Marijuana does not impair the user for weeks - that is pure Reefer Madness poppycock. Marijuana can show up on tests for week but this is because THC (the active ingredient) is not water soluble, not because the user is impaired for weeks.

Equating the two is pointless, alcohol is FAR MORE dangerous and kills far more people than marijuana - you are correct, equating the two is pointless

Marijuana laws are based on two reason:
1. Profound ignorance
2. Racism

If you are for marijuana laws, just state which reason you use.

[Sir Gawain]

The libertarian utopia that you are advocating is no better then the socialist utopia that is espoused elsewhere !!!

Where did I advocate a utopia? It seems to me that someone advocating a utopia would be a person that thinks you can make something go away by making a law against it, and ignoring any evidence to the contrary.

Look, you can spend your whole life fighting the law of supply and demand, but you won't get very far without ending up in a police state.

[JTN]

Cannabis has all the problems associated with alcohol +.

No, it doesn't. It doesn' damage your internal organs and is much less addictive for example.

It is a gateway drug to Cocaine and others.

The Gateway theory has been debunked by nearly every objective researcher that has looked into it.

[winston2]

Behind door # 1 is a 5^th of good quality whiskey.

Behind door # 2 is 2 cases of premium beer.

Behind door # 3 is an ounce of sensemelia of Dutch seed origin.

If you had to choose as your prize, only one, which would you rather have?

[JTN]

Ahh, but how many times have we heard of vicious crimes being committed BY someone high on drugs?

Homicide Rates and Substance Control Policy

One possible theory for the correlation between the homicide rate and the substance control proxy is that homicides are caused by drug and alcohol use, and therefore homicides increase as drug and alcohol arrests increase. This theory does not explain the data. I have shown in table 1 that the fit between the homicide rate and the drug use rate is very poor, but this result is of somewhat limited value since drug use data is only available from 1975 to 1997 and none of the other proxies are significant during this time period. The best argument against the theory that substance abuse causes crime is the end of prohibition. The end of prohibition by the repeal of the 18th amendment in 1933 was a political choice unrelated to a change in alcohol use. This political choice was soon followed by a large decrease in the homicide rate. This indicates that the theory which is most consistent with the data is that changes in the homicide rate are responses to changes in substance control policy. I therefore conclude that the best theory of the primary cause of violent crime in the United States is a violent black market caused by the War on Drugs today, and Prohibition in the 1920’s.

[mugs99]

LOL!!!

[Dazedcat]

"Great way to have a generation of kids only grow up to live in their parents basement playing X-box..."

Pssst........I hate to break the news to you, but this is happening now and without legalized weed.

[Dazedcat]

I can't even begin to tell you how incorrect your post is.

You do realize the movie "reefer madness" was the 1930's version of propoganda, right? Things in that movie weren't really true.

[stocksthatgoup]

Heroin should be legalized for the same reason alcohol is. /s

[JTN]

I wonder if legalization advocates have ever really thought through the consequences of what they advocate. For example, most of us here believe in market economics. If drugs are legalized, prices should come down, and consumption would then rise.

Have you seen what has happened to demand for foie gras in Chicago? It is now banned and demand and supply have both exploded.

Pot might reach the mass consumption levels of alcohol, which is a major health and public safety problem.

There are no known "major health and public safety problems(s)" associated with the use of marijuana.

[mugs99]

There has to be some guard rails for any society to function without becoming anarchy.

ROFL!!!
Society's Guardrails...The fascist dream of Benito Mussolini.
.

[Ouderkirk]

Yep, that's it, anyone who disagrees is a fascist, statist.

[JTN]

OUr welfare state and it's destruction of the family unit is putting people in prison, not the lack of legality for drugs.

Yes, actually the prohibited status of drugs is largely responsible. I posted a link to one bit of research on this in #230. I can give you more if you like.

[Zon]

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition -- LEAP. In the trenches, judges, prosecutors, LEOs, DEA, FBI etc. that have witnessed the WOD from the inside. Having busted and prosecuted several thousand victims of the WOD they eventually faced the fact that the WOD is a miserable failure and now speak out against prohibition. Watch the 13 minute introduction video. It's excellent. The Web site is most informative. Introduction video. Real Media (14 mb) - MPEG-4 (23 mb) 

[JTN]

It's use is also tied to the development of schizophrenia and clinical depression.

MORE BS...you want me to prove it too?

He doesn't seem to want you to, but why don't you anyway? Come on, do it for the lurkers.