Friday, October 23, 2009
Should Marijuana Be Legalized
The war on drugs isn't working. What should we do? Should we legalize it and tax it? How can we control the drug problem? Should we look at the Libertarian ideology and let every state decide? I hear a lot about this subject and society seems to be changing fast about these things. We can't keep hiding from the problem without fixing it. We throw way too much of our money at this war without winning or giving up the war and try something new. Most Americans are at a lose with the war on drugs and so is our government. http://www.reason.tv/ has some good perspectives on this taboo subject.
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I can't speak for all liberals. That said, I think it makes sense to legalize marijuana. We are fighting a "war on drugs" that is costing billions and we are losing the war. We have hundreds of thousands of people in jail for drug crimes and some of those are for minor possession charges.
ReplyDeleteProhibition of liquor didn't work and had the unintended consequence of creating a criminal enterprise all across the country. We didn't stop people from consuming liquor, we just drove it underground and lost the tax revenue that it would have generated.
I guess I'd come down on the side of legalizing, regulating and taxing it.
I agree with you 100%. Even though I don't agree with people abussing any substance. I can't see fighting a war that we can't win. Me being a Christian believes God made this plant and it's healing properties. I think we need to get a lot of the stupid laws off the books.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what God has to do with this, but nevertheless, a watershed moment that you agree with me. I'm marking it down in my calendar.
ReplyDeleteIt's about time you started thinking like me Bruce.LOL. I'll have you voting for a conservative by next election. HAHAHAHA. That was funny.
ReplyDeleteBruce don't forget to vote in the polls.
ReplyDeleteI look at plants as medicine and food given to us by God. I studied madicinal plants.
ReplyDeleteSo Bruce do you think that it should be up to the States to legalize it or the Feds? Who should have the power over the legalization of marijuana? And how should it be done. You know both parties want it illegal? It's a cash cow for the gov't. I still can't get over the fact that you want to shrink gov't. in this aspect.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a plant for goodness sake. Most Americans think it's the same as booz. Stop the war and the terrorism of drugs.
ReplyDeleteHi!!!!
ReplyDeletenice blog too :)
Xoxo
Well, it's more complicated than that, Chris.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me to be a controlled substance.
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.[1] The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain substances is regulated. The Act also served as the national implementing legislation for the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
The legislation created five Schedules (classifications), with varying qualifications for a substance to be included in each. Two federal agencies, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, determine which substances are added or removed from the various schedules, though the statute passed by Congress created the initial listing. Classification decisions are required to be made on criteria including potential for abuse (which is undefined by the CSA [1]), currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and international treaties.
So, first the federal government would have to take it off the controlled substance list, which I don't see any politician doing in the near future.
Without the federal government removing it from the controlled substance list, there's no way that the states could legalize it totally, except as has been done in some states like Michigan, legalizing it for medicinal purposes and regulating it.
Chris, I would think if you studied medicinal plants you could spell the word.
ReplyDeleteSorry Bruce. I'm a sucky speller. That was a bad mistake. Dumb me.
ReplyDeleteThe other reply is very informitive. Thank you. You're not as dumb as people say you are. LOL. Take a look at the blog sO has a few posts up. See Bruce even the liberals love this blog.
ReplyDeleteUntil I educate myself further, I question the constitutionality of the Controlled Substances Act. At best, this is a states rights issue.
ReplyDeleteA person's body is theirs to do with it what they choose. If they aren't threatening the life, liberty or property of another citizen, then what is the problem? Some whacko Republicans claim that keeping drugs illegal decreases violent crime, but that's the same BS logic the liberal gun grabbers use to promote gun control. Both viewpoints are crap. (Who knew Dems and Republicans used the same logic to different ends?)
The truth is we have to protect citizens from those who threaten their life, liberty or property and not those who engage in an activity that some think leads to crime. The Federal government has no business enforcing the morals of the majority.
Good point Big Chris. You know your Constitution. We do seem to fight over who is worse, Republicans or Democrats rather then vote to fix the problems.
ReplyDeleteB.C. is right on. Full disclosure, I myself have never smoked pot in my life. But I agree with everyone else that it should be legalized.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever seen (saw?) the documentary "Bigger, Stronger, Faster"? It's about steroids, but it also directly applies to this debate. My library had it, check your libraries, it's not a partisan movie, or inflammatory like Michael Moore's made-up "documentaries". But it does illustrate how and why the government decides to control substances. I can't remember if that was the documentary that addressed why the government decided to control marijuana... if it was another documentary I will figure it out and let you guys know.
Bruce - You have to ask yourself why the government waited until '70 to control marijuana. I think that is an interesting question... were kids really way out of control before then, getting high and causing all kinds of trouble? It was before my time, or at least before I was more than a kid.
Well guys, I gotta get going. Have a good day, B.C. have a great time at the rally!
Bruce wants to sell our freedoms back to us, just like Jenny G. with the liquor license laws (Blue Laws). They'll give you back your freedoms, for just a little tax. I don't understand how it is all bad for us, until the Democrats figure out a way to tax the F**K out of you on it, and then suddenly the benefits ($$$ for their B.S. programs) outweigh the problems (health? crime? Where do these statistics go, to the moon?) Either it is bad for us or it isn't, right?
ReplyDeleteHypocrites. I don't know what else to call them.
John great perspective. They do take our rights away and then sell them back to us. B.C. have a great time at the rally. If you take pictures I'll try to post them. Or have John or Brian post them on their blogs too. Brian I like your take on the Ford/UAW issue at hand. Bruce can't wrap his head around the thought of a conservative UAW member. Let alone the fact that 40% of the UAW membership is conservative. And I think that number is going up now.
ReplyDeleteEven in the early 20th century, the Federal government had a tough time enacting legislation against drugs, as up until that point it was common belief that in a "free" country, a person has the right to do with their body what they choose. Congress under FDR decided if they couldn't ban marijuana outright, they could tax it out of existence. They wrote the Marijuana Tax Act, which FDR signed into law in 1937. Under this law, one had to pay a tax and obtain a stamp in order to grow, distribute of possess pot. The trick is, the Federal gov't didn't grant any marijuana stamps, effectively banning pot, and the war on drugs was born.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Japa I thought is was wild that they had hemp farms out in the country. I visited one and found out how valuable this non-drug plant it. They make oil,food and clothing from this plant. It's leaves are put into the soil for the next generation. The seeds are made int a food and oil. The stems are made into fiber for clothing and paper. It even helped clean the soil in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I've been there and it's clean.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting B.C., I had no idea that's how it started!
ReplyDeleteVery reminiscent of prohibition though. Liquor was never illegal, it was just taxed until it was prohibitive to produce.
Congress seems to make a lot of laws like that, extending their powers well beyond what the Constitution ever intended. It sure would be nice to reign in their power. I see only bad that can come from a more intrusive government. I don't see how anyone can see differently. It blows my mind that people like Bruce think that the government would know better than, say, he himself, how to raise his family or what he decides is best for him, whether it is what he eats or what he decides to do to his own body. How is that in any way sane? Sorry, I know I am preaching to the choir here, so I guess that is more of a rhetorical question.
Does anyone know how long marijuana has been in America? I know it got popular in the 60's or 50's. Does anyone know how much the war on drugs costs per year? I don't know if I like the idea of pot being legal either. It's a rock in a hard spot.
ReplyDeleteWould the Fed. gov't. ever give back the power unless we payed for that right back like John said?
ReplyDeleteNo, the Federal Government only takes more power, it never gives it up.
ReplyDeleteThey say George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp on their Plantations, so I would be willing to bet pot has been around at least as long as the white man's been here.
ReplyDeleteDid the Native Americans use it?
ReplyDeleteWell, canvas is made from the cannabis plant, which is where its name derives from. Rope from hemp. The shit has been used for ages.
ReplyDelete