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2008-08-22 Home Front: Politix

America's unwinnable war on drugs - Debusmann

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Posted by Besoeker 2008-08-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 I'm about as conservative as they come but I'm with Bill Buckley on this one. We need to legalize marijuana and probably cocaine as well.

Before we do, we need to change our laws to make it legal to discriminate in hiring against people who use these drugs, and make selling them to children subject to even more draconian punishment. That said, they need to be made legal. Then tax the hell out of them.

Once they were legal there wouldn't be so much of a cachet about them and it would be more of a matter of personal choice, just as alcohol is now. We'd save money on law enforcement, take money from organized crime, make money on taxes, and stop a lot of the killing in the minority community. We'd have some more users, granted, but I think the benefits outweigh the costs.

Marijuana use, IMHO, is less problematic than booze. I've seen liquored-up folks do some damned crazy things, while the potheads I've known were generally threatening only to whatever junk food they could get their hands on.

The only way to stop illegal drugs, if we were REALLY serious about it, would be to summarily shoot everyone found with ANY drugs. We'd be wading in blood up to our ankles, but not for long because once the word got out that the U.S. was truly serious about enforcement, like Singapore is, most would-be smugglers would not risk it.

I don't think that's likely to happen, however, as long as we have Dems in the country (Democrat=criminal/criminal coddler). Since we can't have that solution, we should go to the other end and just make them legal.

Right now we have the worst of both worlds, and that situation has got to come to an end one way or the other. We just can't afford to fund it anymore.

Posted by Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-08-22 10:19|| 2008-08-22 10:19|| Front Page Top

#2 If Jesus had smoked dope, I'll guarantee it wouldn't be illegal now.

Posted by Jeans Lumplump9707 2008-08-22 10:34|| 2008-08-22 10:34|| Front Page Top

#3 stop a lot of the killing in the minority community

I have my doubts about that. Until you change the underlying culture of entitlement and failure the young men will kill (each other, mostly) to prove their 'worth'.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2008-08-22 10:52|| 2008-08-22 10:52|| Front Page Top

#4 You wanna turn this country into a bunch of soft-headed, spaced out morons then go ahead and legalize it. We'll be living in tents and weaving baskets while the Chinese, Japanese and Indians continue to develop their technologies and leave us in the dust. Then see how long it is before the terrorists have us on our knees praying to Allan because we're too feeble minded to fight back. But you might want to check out Amsterdam first and think about whether you really want that kind of future for this country.

I think it's a monstrous, horrible lie when they say we can't secure the border. I think the real problem is that too many people have too much money at stake and it's corrupted our government. I don't care about their money and I don't give a damn about all those people trying to drive across the border at San Ysidro. They can wait until we're sure they're OK or they can stay in Mexico. I don't care. My responsibility is to my children and not them.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-08-22 12:20|| 2008-08-22 12:20|| Front Page Top

#5 If you legalized it, it would castrate the drug gangs and cartels. If you could go to 7-11 and pick up a pack of joints, why would you drive down into the hood and risk getting shot at?
Of course it would create other problems as a result. An initial wave of addicts from the full-on party that would ensue should be expected. After a few years it would die down and become a part of the underculture, like Amsterdam.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-08-22 12:23|| 2008-08-22 12:23|| Front Page Top

#6 Ebbang Uluque6305,
Are you going to start using marijuana and cocaine just because its illegal? Probably not, and most likely you are somewhat representative of the population in whole. Some would try it out of curiosity. Some would become addicts. By some already do that now and that will never change.
I'm not pro-drug, but the idea does have some merit as one aspect of dealing with the problem.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-08-22 12:26|| 2008-08-22 12:26|| Front Page Top

#7 not illegal, legal

Posted by bigjim-ky 2008-08-22 12:27|| 2008-08-22 12:27|| Front Page Top

#8 If Jesus had smoked dope, I'll guarantee it wouldn't be illegal now.

Wow. How long did it take the twenty-five of you stoners to think that one up?

Posted by Milton Fandango 2008-08-22 12:33|| 2008-08-22 12:33|| Front Page Top

#9 Bah, we could end the drug war in two generations, we lack the spine to do it. The answer is simple.

Use drugs and get caught, you die.
Sell drugs and get caught, you die.
Smuggle drugs and get caught, you die.
Manufacture/grow drugs and get caught, you die.

America has long forgotten what punishment means...because prison was never considered punishment in the past, it was merely where you were held for punishment.

Posted by Silentbrick">Silentbrick 2008-08-22 12:35|| 2008-08-22 12:35|| Front Page Top

#10 If Jesus had smoked dope he'd have lived on his mom's couch till 40 and died in anonymity.

Posted by ed 2008-08-22 12:45|| 2008-08-22 12:45|| Front Page Top

#11 You gotta hold the line, folks. If you don't our society is screwed. If you want to castrate the drug gangs and cartels then do it the old fashion way and cut their balls off. If you legalize their product you make them respectable citizens and the corruption becomes even more pervasive than it already is. Face it, if you can legally buy a pack of joints at your local convenience store many of you will. What will that do for combat readiness? And if you do it once you might like it and then you'll do it again. Pretty soon you'll be sitting in front of the TV laughing at the cartoons as if it's really funny instead of just pathetic.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-08-22 13:52|| 2008-08-22 13:52|| Front Page Top

#12 If Jesus had smoked dope, I'll guarantee it wouldn't be illegal now.

Actually, under-21 drinking wasn't illegal in Biblical times. Men and women also got married after puberty. And chemical stimulants have been known for thousands of years and weren't illegal until the early 20th century.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2008-08-22 13:58|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2008-08-22 13:58|| Front Page Top

#13 You wanna turn this country into a bunch of soft-headed, spaced out morons then go ahead and legalize it. We'll be living in tents and weaving baskets while the Chinese, Japanese and Indians continue to develop their technologies and leave us in the dust. Then see how long it is before the terrorists have us on our knees praying to Allan because we're too feeble minded to fight back. But you might want to check out Amsterdam first and think about whether you really want that kind of future for this country.

Chemical stimulants started being illegal in the early 20th century. In the 19th century, opium was legal worldwide (including stateside, where it was imbibed in the more potent forms of laudanum and cough syrup) and technically illegal in China. And yet the West and its colonies advanced much more rapidly than China. The fact is that drugs appeal to a certain segment of the population that is also prone to alcohol and other addictions. We might be better off shifting the budget for drug-related enforcement to anti-drug advertising and the treatment of drug addiction.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2008-08-22 14:05|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2008-08-22 14:05|| Front Page Top

#14 Women were generally considered property up until recently as well. Should we go back to that just because that's how it was in the past?

Just because something was permitted in the past doesn't make it right and that we should go back to it.

Posted by Silentbrick">Silentbrick 2008-08-22 15:12|| 2008-08-22 15:12|| Front Page Top

#15 Having put a kid through rehab and spent too many evenings in group therapy with poeple whose lives are beyond repair (even if they do stay off drugs) I tell you:

1) the current fatality rates are nothing compared to that if drugs are legalized.

2) What you save in law enforcement you would spend in hospitalization, rehab and long term care.

Consider the following, related to the legal drug alchohol:

Alcohol contributes to 100,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of preventable mortality in the US, after tobacco (another drug).

40 percent of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.

Review of Coast Guard reports suggests alcohol involvement in 60 percent of boating fatalities, including persons who fell overboard.

Between 48% and 64% of people who die in fires have blood alcohol levels indicating intoxication.

alcohol has been involved in violence caused by 86 percent of homicide offenders, 37 percent of assault offenders, 60 percent of sexual offenders, 57 percent of men and 27 percent of women involved in marital violence, and 13 percent of child abusers.

Based on victim reports, each year 183,000 (37%) rapes and sexual assaults involve alcohol use by the offender, as do just over 197,000 (15%) robberies, about 661,000 (27%) aggravated assaults, and nearly 1.7 million (25%) simple assaults.

One-quarter of all emergency room admissions, one-third of all suicides, and more than half of all homicides and incidents of domestic violence are alcohol-related.

This all ignores the impact in missed work, school, and retarded emotional development.

Posted by DoDo 2008-08-22 15:29|| 2008-08-22 15:29|| Front Page Top

#16 The drug War.. Because alcohol prohibition was such a success.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2008-08-22 16:05|| 2008-08-22 16:05|| Front Page Top

#17 I'd decriminalize marijuana to start with then regulate it like alcohol and then tax the crap out of it. Though I've never tried drugs or cigarettes and see no need to I think the war on drugs wrt marijuana is pretty dumb. There was a reason prohibition didn't work. Take away the carrot and the illegal drug industry gets cut way down. I really don't think you'll see any spike in use because of legality or not. There will always be a certain percentage of folks in any society that will have the addictive personality. If anything, it puts a lot of drug dealers out of business.

Posted by Broadhead6 2008-08-22 16:13|| 2008-08-22 16:13|| Front Page Top

#18 Use drugs and get caught, you die.

Don't forget people who drop litter, park in restricted areas, and fail to return their library books. They all must die. Then the world will be a better place.

Posted by Unaimp Grundy4587 2008-08-22 17:14|| 2008-08-22 17:14|| Front Page Top

#19 Everything that can be said, has been said. The border south of Tucson is a sieve...particularly the Mexican border with our native americans (Tohono O'Oldham) southwest of Tucson. Legalization would decimate the viscious Mexican Cartels, not to mention our own home grown gangsters...

Posted by borgboy 2008-08-22 17:48|| 2008-08-22 17:48|| Front Page Top

#20 Here's a question:

Why don't we at least try fending and properly securing the border FIRST, before we surrender?

We have yet to do ANYTHING on any of the borders to secure them properly. The efforts we put forth now are miniscule in comparison to what we cousl and shoudl do, simply to prevent terrorism and illegal immigration.

How about we try that first, hmm?

Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-22 21:03|| 2008-08-22 21:03|| Front Page Top

#21 fencing not fenDing. I hate it when Im using IE instead of Firefox - Firefox catches my typos and dyslexic mistakes (dyslexic ones are the worst because it can be badly wrong and my brain reads it as being right).

Posted by OldSpook 2008-08-22 21:04|| 2008-08-22 21:04|| Front Page Top

#22 Legalize marijuana, but keep the rest illegal IMHO. I don't use myself, but from what I have seen, and I know several people on the medical program, it is no worse than alcohol.
As of now, the war on drugs has not only been a complete failure, but a restrictions on our freedoms. Police are more militarized, no-knock raid warrants are issued on pure hearsay instead of viable police work, draconian zero-tolerance drug policies for every level of jobs instead of for the ones that should warrant it. Marijuana is now easier to get in middle school and high school than alcohol.
I also don't buy into the argument that if we legalize it, all the youths suddenly just park on their parent's couch. Most youth have tried marijuana. There are tons of adults that use it recreationally. Legalization of the drug and treating it like alcohol while taxing it would impact society little and would deny a good chunk of profit from the drug mafias.
For the rest, secure the border, use good police work to get the smugglers and for problem dealers, treat it as a capital crime punishable by death.

Posted by DarthVader 2008-08-22 22:57|| 2008-08-22 22:57|| Front Page Top

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