Marijuana should be illegal !!!

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by Quasar44, Apr 16, 2020.

  1. ECA

    ECA Well-Known Member

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    Thanks. Not to be mean or insensitive but it is her own fault. I tried to get her to quit for many years but she wouldn’t listen.
     
  2. Grau

    Grau Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    If I understand you correctly, you feel that cannabis should remain illegal because it is not "...edifying to our culture." even though it may be helpful in alleviating some of the symptoms brought on by serious & chronic medical conditions.

    Is that an accurate description of your position?

    At any rate, I believe that if we were to criminalize activities and substances that are not "...edifying to our culture." we begin a dangerous descent down a long, slippery slope toward totalitarianism which is far more detrimental to our society than a simple plant.

    Since I feel that the government that governs least governs best, I feel that cannabis should be legalized for those over 21 years old. We don't need more government intrusion into our lives and our ongoing "War on Drugs" has been a dismal and counterproductive failure.
     
  3. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There are state that have laws against "spitting on the sidewalk". They are not enforced yet they are illegal. Why do you suppose that is? I'll tell you. Because the culture in general, finds spitting on the sidewalk repulsive. Now if there was a movie, say starring Brad Pitt, and he was seen spitting on the sidewalk at every turn, and the action caught fire with the general public.......we would see activists crying out, they should be free to spit on the sidewalk. The only way you will legalize Marijuana is to glorify it. To spread lies about it's virtues. That is all I am against.
    Your argument against the "War on Drugs" is not logical either.When illicit recreational drugs become mass produced they are available and prices go down. There is a segment of our culture that will alter their minds more readily when the culture condones it and it is more readily available. I don't rely on statistics so much, it's just common sense. We see where statistics have gotten us in the China Virus thing. Figures don't lie but liars figure. You can make statistics say whatever the statisticians want them to. Our "war on Drugs" has helped to save us from depravity by not condoning certain defects in the human nature. If marijuana becomes "legal" it needs to be done in a way that it is viewed as a social ill (aside from medicinal purposes) not a remedy to improve society. Eating dirt is not illegal and most of us don't do it.
     
  4. Grau

    Grau Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I think that I'm on pretty solid ground when I say that America's War on Drugs has been and remains a fatally flawed and counter-productive failure(1) that benefits only drug dealers, corrupt bureaucrats, and otherwise unemployable LEOs(1).
    In addition to the countless grotesque abuses inherent in America's Civil Forfeiture Laws, locking up pot smokers does nothing to "edify our culture".

    To me, the core question remains: to what degree do you want the government dictating what you do with your own life?

    There are innumerable lists of productive statesmen, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs who smoked cannabis so I can't concur with your stereotype that pot smoking renders one an addled bane to society.

    Little is really known about the true virtues of ingesting cannabis because of Puritanical neo-prohibitionists and pharmaceutical industries who profit from keeping the drug illegal but I have found that it can be enormously effective in mitigating nausea & chronic pain to name just two benefits. Why should millions suffer needlessly simply because ethically challenged politicians don't want to appear to be "soft on drugs" and "Big Pharma" can't find a way to monopolize a plant?

    Again, how does it "edify our culture" by incarcerating people who ingest a substance that has proven to be less lethal than the many legal substances that are readily available?



    (1). "'WAR ON DRUGS' HAS BEEN A 'SPECTACULAR' FAILURE, LEADING TO THOUSANDS OF MURDERS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, REPORT SAYS"
    https://www.newsweek.com/global-war-drugs-has-been-spectacular-failure-1181831

    EXCERPTS "Instead of curbing the problem, "consumption and illegal trafficking of drugs have reached record levels," Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, wrote in the report's foreword.

    The report revealed that there had been a 145 percent increase in drug-related deaths over the past decade, reaching 450,000 in 2015 alone. Furthermore, there were more than 71,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. alone last year. Mass incarceration of drug offenders has also led to one in five prisoners globally being detained for drug-related crimes." CONTINUED
     
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  5. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There's no doubt you can come up with "statistics" to support your point. There are careers being built around that. Marijuana is an increasingly "big business". Greedy politicians want to figure out a way to get their hands in the coffers as well. What I don't find in your posts are facts about broken homes, dependencies, accidents caused, less work productions and other negatives that undoubtedly appear when a culture condones and embraces the recreational drug culture.
     
  6. Bridget

    Bridget Well-Known Member

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    I am on the fence about it. I like it "decriminalized." But not normalized. Does that make any sense? Like I hate to see people in jail for one joint. But I don't think it's good for the country to have everyone stoned all the time. I am unsure if we can have it both ways.
     
  7. Grau

    Grau Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The fact that America's "War on Drugs" is a proven failure is not just a statistic, it's a tragic reality that has ruined countless lives over the years.

    Re:
    I worked as an inner city Psychiatric Case Worker for about 10 years and treated numerous individuals from broken homes with substance abuse problems as well as individuals who were too violent for the private hospitals.

    I look at chronic substance abuse as a symptom of a deeper, untreated psychiatric disorder or self destructive character trait.

    For example, most people with chronic substance abuse problems suffer from depression and/or low self esteem. They get high to escape depressing thoughts and/or feel better about themselves.
    I feel that, in the long run, it is more efficacious to treat the disease (depression / low self esteem) rather than criminalize the symptoms (chronic substance abuse).

    I think that today's fatally flawed drug laws are a failure because those who write them are unable to grasp the reality that chronic substance abuse is a mental health issue, not a criminal issue.

    Finally, I think you will find at least as many"... broken homes, dependencies, accidents caused, less work production and other negatives..." resulting from alcohol abuse as you will from recreational drug use.
     
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  8. CCitizen

    CCitizen Well-Known Member

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    I agree 100%.

    I oppose substances and items which enable homicide and suicide.
     
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  9. CCitizen

    CCitizen Well-Known Member

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    Human lives have innate value -- unlike animals.
     
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  10. CCitizen

    CCitizen Well-Known Member

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    I am Jewish. I believe the Old Testament.

    The commandment prohibiting placing a stumbling block before the blind applies to all Humankind. Even intuitively, it is obviously an act of evil.

    Drug and gun dealers enable tens of thousands of people to kill themselves and others.
     
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  11. yabberefugee

    yabberefugee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Well in spite of your experience as a "government worker", I take issue with you. Another pot smoker on this thread just stated "you can't blame the drug....the people are responsible". I agreed with him. You just blew the wind out of his sails. Well....which is it??
    What if we were just to quit jailing offenders, but not put our stamp of approval on it by proclaiming, "Marijuana, a mind altering drug is NOW LEGA!!! Would you go for that?
     
  12. Quasar44

    Quasar44 Banned

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    Are you watching Fauda about Jewish counter terrorist and assassins teams
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2020
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  13. CCitizen

    CCitizen Well-Known Member

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    Thanks -- will watch.
     
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  14. Quasar44

    Quasar44 Banned

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    Very good as it shows you how Israeli special forces work
     
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  15. Antiduopolist

    Antiduopolist Well-Known Member

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    Yuuuuuuuup.
     
  16. Giftedone

    Giftedone Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    So does driving a car - lets make everything illegal based on some risk of harm !!
     
  17. Levant

    Levant Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Items like rope? Water? Stockings? Cars? Pipes? Rocks? Buildings? Blood-pressure pills? Aspirin? Anti-freeze?

    Or do you just oppose some items and substances; whatever CNN tells you to oppose?
     
  18. Levant

    Levant Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    All human lives? Or just some?
     
  19. Levant

    Levant Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Marijuana has been around for longer than humans and the world did just fine. Actually, as is usually the case, banning it only made it more popular and increased usage. Even though it was around and was known, you don't see it mentioned all that much in history.
     
  20. Levant

    Levant Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It shouldn't be "legalized" The restrictions on using it should be removed from the law. There's a difference. Legalized implies the government gives permission to use it. Removing the restrictions gets the government out of personal choices.

    For all of human history, until just about 100 years ago; for the first 130 years of US history, until racist Democrats used stories like black men looking white men in the eye, or black men speaking to white women, to justify the criminalization of marijuana, it was perfectly legal and society developed and grew just fine.
     
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  21. James California

    James California Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    ~ Ah yes ... the part of you that was childish suddenly matured. This is a common occurrence in those recovered from drug addiction. The lucky ones that is.
    Drug use can cause a good person to do bad things. It can make them act irresponsible and become selfish. Sadly we never know who will become addicted.
    Be glad you kicked that stuff ...
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2020
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  22. Quasar44

    Quasar44 Banned

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    It’s a drug for the dumb masses !!
     
  23. Quasar44

    Quasar44 Banned

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    Go fry your brain and lungs
     
  24. Grau

    Grau Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Re:
    Interesting...

    How do you think this would affect people who are "caught" with an ounce of pot if the restrictions were lifted?
     
  25. ToddWB

    ToddWB Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    One of the deleterious effects would be diminished reading comprehension.. as demonstrated by .... nowhere in my post did I say it should be made illegal
     

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