Originally Posted by GrumpyOldMan
(Post 1972818)
The War on Drugs acts as a price support guarantee for the Drug cartels, Americans WANT drugs, and they will pay whatever it costs to get them.
Poor kids from the inner-city have to make a choice - stand on a corner and sell drugs and get rich, buy guns, cars, and sex, or flip burgers for less than minimum wage. Since they need to protect themselves and their stash, they need to have guns. Because the other kids have guns, expensive handguns become an affordable cost of doing business, leading to the arms race with the police departments and the formation of gangs to help control turf for drug markets.
The drug war is possibly the worst policy this country has ever conceived of; whether or not you think drugs should be legal, there has to be a better way to deal with the drug "problems."
And let's not conflate the war on drugs and the separate issue of making marijuana illegal. Making MJ illegal started long before Nixon when the government first commissioned a study to determine if MJ was harmful or dangerous, and the report came back that it wasn't. That was not an acceptable outcome, so they announced that "more studies are needed." And the "More studies are needed" has been constantly repeated ever since - almost 100 years now (1937).
There is no doubt that inhaling smoke from a burning plant is hazardous. There is also evidence that marijuana can have adverse side effects. But, it's a matter of degree. And there are safer ways to take MJ - such as tinctures and edibles.
The old "reefer madness" (government slogan predating "brain on drugs") is simply a flat-out lie.
I believe there is still no evidence of ANYONE ever dying from an overdose of MJ, but many die from overdoses of Alcohol.
There is little or no evidence of automobile accidents resulting from or caused by MJ use. (30,000 die in Auto accidents annually, and the majority have Alcohol associated with them)
I don't believe there has ever been a bar fight with MJ as a cause, yet violence is a common side effect of Alcohol.
MJ is known to cause brain damage but about 10% of the brain damage caused by Alcohol.
Alcohol is addictive; MJ is not addictive.
It goes on and on.
If you can't tell, I am in favor of legalization.
There is NO serious evidence of MJ being a problem or a gateway. On the contrary, there is significant evidence that it is useful in treating numerous diseases and health conditions.
To all the people who comment that they have seen how much damage it can do to people's lives, I suggested some people will destroy their lives with some drug - MJ is not a gateway; it is simply inexpensive and readily available. Once a person has contacts with the black market criminals they buy from, it is a small step to get hard drugs from the same market. Pushers will often offer "free samples". But, again, it is not the MJ that causes the problem; it is forcing people to use illegal channels to get drugs.
I would remind everyone what happened when Alcohol was prohibited - mobs (like the Kennedys) got rich, and many people died. Just like what has been happening ever since we decided to make drugs illegal.
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