04-17-2005, 04:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-17-2005, 04:50 AM by Mithrandir.)
Wow, this thread sure blossomed into a beautiful flower while I wasn't looking :) Too many posts above me now to respond to individual points, so I'll make a more broad reply.
Let's be frank here people, drugs are easy to get. I could get any drug I wanted and put only a modicum of effort into procuring said drug... and my campus is nowhere near as bad as some others I have experiences first hand. Drugs being legal or illegal would hardly change their availability to anyone who wanted to get some.
Which brings up another point, people seem to have this paralyzing fear that if drugs were legalized, the nation would collapse in on itself and everyone and their grandmother would be shooting up on street corners. I have all these "hard" drugs available to me and how many have I actually even tried? Zero. Zip. Zilch. I just have no desire to (pot and booze is enough for me :) , no need to move on to LSD, coke, heroin, etc.). In fact, even though drugs are easy to acquire for basically anyone on campus, the relative number of individuals who actually use hard drugs is very small.
Tobacco are far more deadly and addictive than pot is (marijuana myths and facts: http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/ )... but tobacco is the one that is legal. Why is this? Society has arbitrarily decided that tobacco is okay but marijuana is not. Alcohol killed more people per abuser in 1985 than cocaine did:
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/statis...ics_info1.shtml
The hypocrisy of the Big Brother wannabes in this country astounds me. "We must protect the herd from itself, because people are too stupid." Social Security, drug laws, seat belt/helmet laws (the ultimate insult as far as I'm concerned). Sentences handed down for drug-related felonies can exceed those given for *murder*. Possessing 4 ounces of cocaine gets you 15 to life? Where's the justice in that? "Drugs" is just a rally cry for our society's demagogues to screech from a pulpit to distract the masses from the true issues at hand. Politicians and lawmakers, for the most part, don't care about doing what's right - they care about getting reelected... and the more entranced your constituents are by the magic tricks you play, the longer you stay in office.
http://hrw.org/reports/1997/usny/
Our country had its moral cherry popped a long, long time ago. Anyone who doesn't see this is just in denial. Our own damn Presidents #$%& they secretaries and do coke and weed. They make me sick that in their hypocrisy they pass judgement down upon others when by their own standards they are repugnant individuals. And no one seems to notice.
I believe in this novel idea that laws should be designed to protect civil liberties, and not be a set of morals forced upon individuals. Your morality is not my morality - if I'm not infringing upon your rights, don't shove it down my throat. You would not like the same treatment from me.
For my closing thoughts, I'm going to have to quote the eloquent 2Pac:
And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace
It's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
Why do drugs cause inner city violence and gang wars? Because they're illegal. There's no longer any profit to be made from them by gangs if they became legal. The United States spent $19 billion on the war on drugs in 2003. $19 billion and inner city violence still runs rampant and people can still get hatever drug they want whenever they want. Something isn't right here.
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
It boggles my mind to think how much better off our nation would be if that $19 billion was instead pumped into education. Plus the profits from a federal "drug tax". Boggles my #$%&ing mind.
Let's be frank here people, drugs are easy to get. I could get any drug I wanted and put only a modicum of effort into procuring said drug... and my campus is nowhere near as bad as some others I have experiences first hand. Drugs being legal or illegal would hardly change their availability to anyone who wanted to get some.
Which brings up another point, people seem to have this paralyzing fear that if drugs were legalized, the nation would collapse in on itself and everyone and their grandmother would be shooting up on street corners. I have all these "hard" drugs available to me and how many have I actually even tried? Zero. Zip. Zilch. I just have no desire to (pot and booze is enough for me :) , no need to move on to LSD, coke, heroin, etc.). In fact, even though drugs are easy to acquire for basically anyone on campus, the relative number of individuals who actually use hard drugs is very small.
Tobacco are far more deadly and addictive than pot is (marijuana myths and facts: http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/ )... but tobacco is the one that is legal. Why is this? Society has arbitrarily decided that tobacco is okay but marijuana is not. Alcohol killed more people per abuser in 1985 than cocaine did:
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/statis...ics_info1.shtml
Quote:Deaths per user:
Alcohol = 100,000/140,000,000 = .07 % or 70 per 100,000
Cocaine = 1,000/ 12,200,000 = .008 % or 8 per 100,000
Deaths per abuser:
Alcohol = 100,000/18,000,000 = .56 % or 56 per 10,000
Cocaine = 1,000/ 250,000 = .40 % or 40 per 10,000
The hypocrisy of the Big Brother wannabes in this country astounds me. "We must protect the herd from itself, because people are too stupid." Social Security, drug laws, seat belt/helmet laws (the ultimate insult as far as I'm concerned). Sentences handed down for drug-related felonies can exceed those given for *murder*. Possessing 4 ounces of cocaine gets you 15 to life? Where's the justice in that? "Drugs" is just a rally cry for our society's demagogues to screech from a pulpit to distract the masses from the true issues at hand. Politicians and lawmakers, for the most part, don't care about doing what's right - they care about getting reelected... and the more entranced your constituents are by the magic tricks you play, the longer you stay in office.
http://hrw.org/reports/1997/usny/
Our country had its moral cherry popped a long, long time ago. Anyone who doesn't see this is just in denial. Our own damn Presidents #$%& they secretaries and do coke and weed. They make me sick that in their hypocrisy they pass judgement down upon others when by their own standards they are repugnant individuals. And no one seems to notice.
I believe in this novel idea that laws should be designed to protect civil liberties, and not be a set of morals forced upon individuals. Your morality is not my morality - if I'm not infringing upon your rights, don't shove it down my throat. You would not like the same treatment from me.
For my closing thoughts, I'm going to have to quote the eloquent 2Pac:
And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace
It's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
Why do drugs cause inner city violence and gang wars? Because they're illegal. There's no longer any profit to be made from them by gangs if they became legal. The United States spent $19 billion on the war on drugs in 2003. $19 billion and inner city violence still runs rampant and people can still get hatever drug they want whenever they want. Something isn't right here.
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
It boggles my mind to think how much better off our nation would be if that $19 billion was instead pumped into education. Plus the profits from a federal "drug tax". Boggles my #$%&ing mind.
--Mith
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London