[fr_freak]

Prohibition attempted to ban an activity that had broad public acceptance and practice for centuries. That does not apply with marijuana consumption. Whle many people have tried it, it is not publicly acceptable to most of society.

Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong here. I don't know how old you are, but I have noticed a significant age gap in the understanding of how the public views marijuana usage. For anyo0ne under the age of 40, for example, marijuana usage is nearly as common as drinking and I suspect the same could be said for the boomers, given that their 1960s excesses really kicked off the drug culture.

As a more concrete example of the changing societal standards, when I went in to the Army in 1989, a recruit was immediately disqualified from service if that person had smoked marijuana even ONCE (that they admitted to). When I looked into going back in in 2003, marijuana usage was no longer an automatic disqualifier. One had to have used more than 7 times total, or anytime in the last 3 years to be disqualified. One of the recruiters explained that military realized over the years that marijuana had become so acceptable that even otherwise solid recruits would be eliminated with the zero tolerance policy, so they scrapped it.

Also, you should realize that money is power. The more money criminals have (or can get) the more power they have. Right now, marijuana sold in the US is the number one source of revenue for Mexican drug cartels. If we eliminate that source of money, the cartels won't get real jobs, but they will be far less powerful and thus far less able to recruit new criminals or subvert governments.

[caseinpoint]

I happen to be in the Baby Boomer Generation, not quite adult in the 60s but close. I still maintain that marijuana usage is not accepted nearly as much as many want to believe. While a lot have undoubtedly tried it, I suspect there are not that many regular recreational users. But, even if it were, I would still oppose legalization. It is a step way too far and is likely to severely cripple the rising generation, a generation that is crippled enough already with the self-esteem movement, the lack of real challenges in life, the helicopter parents and more.

The example of the Army is interesting but I don’t consider that a measure of public acceptance. The Army has its own problems with recruiting and have had to lower its standards in a lot of ways besides past drug use. I don’t know how the Army handles drug use by current soldiers but I suspect it is not much tolerated.

I know money is power but I disagree that the criminals will simply fold their tents and steal away if the money is no longer there for marijuana. Their human nature will not change with the law; they will merely move on to some other lucrative criminal enterprise, most likely much worse than pushing marijuana. As I pointed out in another post, in Amsterdam, the pushers now sell marijuana much more potent than the law allows. Criminals are criminals and they will commit crime, by marijuana pushing or some other means.

I know the arguments for legalization and I sympathize to some extent, but the desire of recreational marijuana smokers to get their “weekend buzz” as one poster termed it without hassle comes with a tremendous amount of risk for society as a whole, especially our children. Again, look at what happened to the attitude toward abortion when it went from illegal to legal. Most people were horrified by the act and today the incidents of abortions have increased exponentially and the majority of people now accept it as a right, not an unfortunate necessity.