I don’t do drugs. I never have, and I never will. But I don’t care if you do, just so long as you don’t do it around me.
Saying all that, why don’t we end the war on drugs and legalize pot? With as much as 50% of the entire country having done or doing drugs, I’d say we’ve lost the war on drugs. What an expensive waste of time. You can get drugs on almost any street corner, and it costs you far more than if you were to grow it yourself.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9031855/Its-time-to-end-the-failed-war-on-drugs.html
Marijuana has healing benefits, and hemp creates a strong fiber that can be used to make clothes.
So why don’t we legalize pot, put a tax on it, the same as for alcohol and tobacco, and let people smoke it.
But everyone will be on drugs! Oh the humanity!
Well that is an interesting scare tactic, because many European countries allow open possession and use of marijuana, and they have the lowest usage of the drug in the world. This is because it is not taboo, and they see no need to feel rebellious and smoke it. Just look at how the stricter alcohol laws have made teens more susceptible to over-drinking in this country.
But its immoral!!!! I hear you scream.
Look, you cannot legalize morality. This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Not the home of the morality by law social police state.
Morality starts in the individual, then in relationships, in the family, in your home, in your neighborhood. Once people start to remember morality again, they will teach their children and talk to their neighbors about the side effects of drugs, and how it is irresponsible to get high all the time.
So why not strike down the federal law, make it a state issue, slowly introduce it, manufacture and tax it, and stop the wasteful war on drugs. It will end many of the crimes being committed in the US, and stop the violence along the Mexico border.
And for all those who say production will slow down, take a minute to remember that we’re in a recession. I think the real reason a lot of people are afraid of making it legal is because they are afraid people will not show up to work, and will cause traffic accidents. And to this I say that an employer can refuse to let the employee in if he/she is ‘high’. And if the said person who causes a wreck is ‘high’, they should be prosecuted the same way as a drunk would be if they caused a wreck.
Wouldn’t it be better to allow those who want to do it, a cheaper way to do it, so they can spend more of their money on legitimate products such as video games and televisions, rather than waste a huge sums of money to some shady drug dealer? Wouldn’t this actually boost the economy? Especially considering that so many people do marijuana right now anyway.
Think about it; making it a state issue puts it in the hands of the people of each individual state, so some can outright ban it, and some can introduce it as legal. By making it legal we eliminate the violence on the Mexican border, free up more individuals money to spend on legitimate products and help boost economy, and we get people to wake up and realize that they need to take their lives into their own hands and take care of themselves, not expect to be taken care of by the nanny state.
Also you must look at how marijuana is being used to introduce more and more anti-consitutional laws. Such as the Indiana police now being able to break into someones home because they ‘smell marijuana’. Just think of the corruption this causes.
Laws that are created to help people save them from themselves often backfire, and are then used to create more authoritarian rules that put the lives of others in jepordy. This war on drugs has helped to create the police state, and has helped militarize the police, in a similar way to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s.
I do not endorse the use of drugs, in fact I have a strong distaste for anyone who uses them. I don’t mind if you use them because I am a libertarian at heart and beleive that you have the right to your own body. But that does not mean that I will approve on a moral level of what you do. I will still tell you that drugs are bad mmkay?
I’d like to hear your opinions. Please try to be open minded, I see that one of the biggest problems in this country is that everyone is afraid to manufacture anything. The attitude is that pot is bad so it should be banned. So much is regulated, and no one is allowed to produce anything without vast sums of regulations and paperwork getting in the way.
Keep an open mind, and think about the future. It is up to the individual to rule his own life, not the police state, no matter how bad that person chooses to live their life.
I am all for allowing the individual to succeed or fail, and I do not want a police state dictating to me or anyone else their right to do so.
Becoming American 
I’m with you. I’ve never taken one illegal drug in my life (and don’t take even prescription or over-the-counter drugs if I can help it) but I agree they should be legal. As long as the American people want illegal drugs they’re going to get them through the black market as you said, with all the negatives that go along with it. We already have legalized the two most dangerous drugs ever created: alcohol and tobacco (with all the additives that modern cigarettes have too).
My wife thinks legalizing pot is very wrong. I ask her: “How is pot any more dangerous than alcohol? Alcohol has caused many, many deaths while pot is much “safer” relative to alcohol. We don’t see people wrecking their cars or beating their wives under the influence of pot.” All she can reply is, “Well, pot is illegal.” That is not a valid argument. To me smoking a joint is no worse than drinking a few beers. I do neither but I don’t see where it’s the government’s business to dictate what someone wants to do for recreation with their own bodies…as long as they’re not high while driving or at work and endangering others.
Like you said, some people who are vehemently against the legalization of drugs would be shocked if they knew who was already smoking pot or doing other illegal drugs…from their friends, to their police officers, teachers, politicians, judges…you name it. Add in the people abusing prescription drugs and I’ll bet the number is way over 50%.
Precisely; the choice should always be with the individual. It is not a governments place to dictate what we do to ourselves. It is only ever their place to enforce laws to prevent us from doing harm to others, and we should only ever be prosecuted if we actually commit an act of harm on others.
I am 100% against drugs. But like the moonshine industry, I find myself rooting for the outlaws because the government has no right to use human weakness as a way to corrode freedom.
Exactly. Moonshine has become taboo, and therefore more people want it.
It is up to the individual to self discipline themselves. It is not up to the collective to stop him from harming himself, and it is not their responsibility to pick the individual back up if he falls.
The idea of collectivism alone erodes away at freedom, to protect the ‘benefits’ that government installs, it must take away personal liberties to ‘save the people from themselves’. And as we all know, this never happens. People will always do what they want to do, no matter what law is currently on the books.
Where did you get the impression “many european” countries allow “open” use of marijuana? I think there are two or three (hardly many) and MANY european countries, including those in Scandinavia, have some of the stanchest anti-marijuana laws in the world, rivaling close to those in the Middle East. I wish the pro-marijuana band would get with the times. I realize you are part of the “uber cool” movement with a penchant for anti-Americanism and loving all things “European,” but if you TRULY want to push forward marijuana reform, it would help if you didn’t hold up as models a continent which has very little pro-marijuana laws. I would not be surprised, however, once you learned how conservative Sweden’s drug laws are if you wouldn’t suddenly start supporting them! Such is the thinking of the “uber cool” collective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Sweden
I think you missed the point of my article entirely. Having lived in Europe, I can tell you that many countries do not pursue the prosecution of marijuana users nearly as stringently as the US does. Also, the point of the article is not about who’s country does what. It is about the freedom of individuals to do what they want to themselves. If you had read the article without getting emotional you would understand that I actually dislike the drug and have never and will never take it. I do not think it is cool, I think it is disgusting. Also I’m about as ‘American’ as people get. I heavily dislike many things about Europe, most of all socialism and the ‘collective’ mentality that goes with it. The point of the article is to show that it should be legal since it does no harm to anyone. What an individual does to him or herself is up to them, and in a free society they should be allowed to do so. Unfortunately, many closed minded people with their own self righteousness believe that they should have government look after them by telling them what they can and cannot do. I have no idea where you got the ‘uber cool collective’ idea from, but I can assure you, especially if you read some of my other articles, that I am about as individualistic as people come.