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155 Comments
- quato, on 03/07/2009, -8/+67Stricter laws equal more crime. Legalization equals billions in tax revenue and dramatic decrease in prison population. If it were put to a vote I think most people would vote for this.
- 420buddah, on 03/08/2009, -5/+52When I got arrested the other night (the same district that John Boehner represents) I talked to the two cops at the police station. They were really cool actually. The female cop said "Marijuana should be taxed and regulated", and the male cop that arrested me wasn't sure on the issue, but said he used to smoke before he became a cop.
The police officers are on our side. If this is happening in Boehner's hometown, who knows where else it is happening. Only people that seem to want to keep the status quo are old people, religious people, and possibly corrupt people who benefit from the black market. - DirtyBurger, on 03/08/2009, -4/+48You don't get a record unless you are charged and convicted of the crime. He was only arrested. Congratulations, you're an idiot. Your parents must be so proud.
- sugarazor, on 03/08/2009, -5/+32Most people wouldn't vote for it because you forget the legions of parents that think if drugs were legal, their precious little snowflakes would become heroin addicts, sucking dick behind a dumpster for their next fix.
- inactive, on 03/08/2009, -5/+31Despite the failures of alcohol prohibition, many people remain convinced that the War on Drugs is worth pursuing. Proponents insist that certain drugs, namely marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, crystal methamphetamine and heroin, must remain illegal because they are incredibly dangerous to individual users and society as a whole. Although preventing substance abuse certainly has its merits, strong evidence suggests that federal criminalization does not solve the problems related to drug use, but instead exacerbates them. Drug legalization, on the other hand, will clear up ineffectively used resources, reduce crime, and make society healthier, all while preserving personal freedom.
- missusjones, on 03/07/2009, -8/+32thanks for an excellent article which makes too much sense to ignore.
- Javy42, on 03/07/2009, -6/+22common sense and objectivity? might as well write an article based on magic...
- headgames, on 03/08/2009, -4/+18And not all older people a against legalization, so don't group us all together please
- inactive, on 03/08/2009, -0/+14if all drugs were suddenly made legal, I would not run out and try crack. Either you have that in your personality or you don't. The US has tried for most of my adult life to fight a "war" on drugs, and it has really netted no results, except for more violence, police corruption, and overfilled jails and prisons. But until the goverment gets the idea that you can't legislate morality, nothing is going to change.
- outlawrook, on 03/08/2009, -1/+14how is a gateway drug? you smoke pot and all of a sudden you want to go smoke crack? smoke pot and i don't smoke crack. hell i don't even hardly drink. when i go to a party on campus i see everyone doing kegstands and acting like dumbasses. me i go smoke a joint maybe have 2 or 3 beers to be social about it. but at the end of the night i know i at least remember how i got home the night before. also statistics show that only 1 out 25 people who smoke pot go to other drugs. and the only reason its consider a gateway drug is becuase its illegal. the same person who has the pot to sell you has the other stuff do.(not even that most of the time the only guys i buy from only sell pot.) if you really wanted to call something a gateway it would be alcohol the mother of all drugs.
saying it makes you a lazy slimeball is also just a stereotype. Why don't you just say all blacks are lazy slimeballs and mexicans are only gonna rape women while your at it. The fact is alot of people who have phd's will smoke pot. you just bought the propaganda that pot will make you stupid when really its been proven it won't. people who are lazy stupid stoners would be lazy and stupid anyways if they didn't have marijuana. I'm pretty sure you know at least one person of intelligence that smokes but maybe they don't tell you they like to go home and smoke a joint and watch an episode of their favorite tv show becuase of your bigotism. learn some history on why marijuana is legal and how it was a major cash crop in the begining of america and then talk to me. and i don't mean go watch reefer madness and tell me how it makes you insane. - chriswastaken, on 10/27/2009, -2/+15just like they did when weed wasn't criminalized and you could drink legally when you were 18.
- CaptOblivious, on 03/08/2009, -0/+13If we use the interdiction money for treatment programs and education that is not based on lying (It'll will kill you the first time you try it) there won't BE a drug problem.
- whahaa, on 03/08/2009, -4/+15retarded.
- CaptOblivious, on 03/08/2009, -2/+13You're such a willfully total ***** akchrs.
- skicow, on 03/08/2009, -3/+14What you don't seem to comprehend is that it's not the weed that does it, it's the abuse of it. Pot in moderation is not harmful (2-3 times a week)...if we went by your reasoning then alcohol should be illegal because it makes people pass out, act like dicks, and kill people because they drive drunk.
Anything in excess is harmful -- food, oxygen, water, etc. - waydee, on 03/08/2009, -1/+11What like the death penalty or something?
- dext3r, on 03/08/2009, -1/+11Why do you let your sheep eat your weed, man?
- inactive, on 03/09/2009, -3/+13You know why I don't trust cops?
Because they never come out against these ***** prohibition or consensual crime laws. You never hear of them protesting this bullsh1t they have to impose on their fellow citizens. They just want that paycheck and they have a "hive" or "Them against us" mentality against the public. They just find more ways to illegally search us, criminalize us and take away educational and employment opportunities over victimless crimes.
I'm sure these ***** can read the constitution and are coming out in numbers against this tyranny, right?
And you Krispy Kreme(TM) eating fvcks wonder why we don't care when you get sideswiped by cars on the highway while illegally rummaging through an American's private belongings?
America has more people in prisons for victimless crimes than any other country per capita including countries that America believes need liberating by US armed forces.
When an officer dies while undermining our civil liberties, an angel gets its wings. - waydee, on 03/08/2009, -1/+10That would get expensive and I'm not sure even the most hardcore of social conservatives could justify throwing someone in prison for 10 years for smoking a joint.
- z95headhunter, on 03/08/2009, -4/+13Cool website, what is it 1995?
- CaptOblivious, on 03/08/2009, -0/+9How is it COMPLETELY lost on you that THEY CAN GET THE DRUGS ANYWAY?
How is their being ILLEGAL affecting these people in any way?
All I can see is negative, which doesn't even slow them down.
It can get them put into JAIL with no hope of actual medical rehab, to be released & start taking them again, lather rinse ...
The exposure to the "criminal element" selling the drugs can help them become better criminals themselves.
All you have to do is compare it to alcohol and I'm sure you can think of more examples with little effort.
When is the last time you heard about someone getting killed over a carton of cigarettes or a case of beer?
All that the drugs being illegal does if make the black marketeers rich and powerful.
If bob had to go to his pharmacist to get his drugs, & they knew each other & he knew bob's habits the pharmacist could talk to him & perhaps help him decide that he needs to watch his health, get off a particular drug, or perhaps actually get treatment for the underlying cause of his addictive problem.
The GOOD news is that even if we diden't tax drugs at all the money saved by not having to have the whole interdiction chain would provide 10x the money needed to treat the people that actually have problems with drugs.
That means the "vice tax" thay are sure to slap onto drugs is 100% new money AND we get decent treatment programs. - CaptainCool53, on 03/08/2009, -1/+9"...know what i mean say no more say no more." No, I don't know what you mean.
But feel free to say no more anyway. - graphictruth, on 03/08/2009, -1/+9@akchrs: "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up."
- Biscuitz, on 03/08/2009, -7/+15Who designed that website? Ugh.
- whahaa, on 03/08/2009, -1/+9illegality doesn't stop people from becoming addicts, as evidenced by the current existence of addicts. you work with these people so you should know they're going to get their pills regardless of the law. why criminalize their medical disorder? should we send alcoholics to jail as well? how about cigarette smokers?
- ejpusa, on 03/09/2009, -1/+9I'm a college prof on break. I was arrested for .33 cents worth of pot last week in Manhattan. Finger printed, jailed, mug shots, the whole bit. Well my NYC cops were not that cool. They just joked the entire time how I was paying their mortgage. NYC, Marijuana arrest capital of the world. What a mess.
- CaptainCool53, on 03/08/2009, -4/+10Here's the deal: Legalize and Digg will shut up.
- sugarazor, on 03/08/2009, -1/+7"A) Dope IS a gateway drug, he ***** it lets just legalize everything else too right?! No."
Two things. One, prove pot is a gateway drug. Yes, most hard drug users have smoked pot, but most pot smokers don't use hard drugs, so that kinda deflates that argument. Most hard drug users have also drank alcohol, used tobacco, and consumed caffeine, are those gateway drugs too? I bet a good majority of them also rode a bike at some point in their lives... is bike riding a gateway drug!?
Two, yes we should legalize everything else too, all drugs from marijuana to heroin should be legalized, regulated and taxed by the government. It is your choice as a citizen of a free country to pollute your body with whatever your drug of choice is: alcohol, marijuana, crack, the Wendy's Baconator, etc. All prohibition does is create a black market just like we saw when alcohol was outlawed, only now there's far more blood being spilled on the streets. - Swivelstick, on 03/09/2009, -0/+6"I deal with pill-heads and meth-heads every day."
You shouldn't be, if you have no empathy with the people you deal with on a daily basis you need to find another job. - altinnovation, on 03/08/2009, -2/+8I'm not an expert, but wouldn't easier access to drugs tempt some people to try them.... like with cigarettes? What do other people think?
- benzzene, on 03/08/2009, -1/+7From the article: "We definitely see crime fall when we make things legal," Miron says
I know what he meant, but that was kinda funny. Just make everything legal and there'll be no crime.
Hooray! - Nephrastar, on 03/08/2009, -1/+6Just what we need, more wasted tax dollars coming out of our back pocket because of an offense that didn't hurt anybody.
/s - CaptOblivious, on 03/08/2009, -0/+5Contrary to the "education" efforts of the anti-drug-thugs
there is a huge gulf between trying a drug and becoming an out of control addict of a drug.
There is also a huge difference between use and abuse which they refuse to even acknowledge the existence of.
Just like drinking or smoking or food or even sex, some people become addicts, but the vast majority do not. - mediaphile, on 03/09/2009, -3/+8We're only loud because we're so often ignored despite every shred of scientific and socioeconomic analysis on the subject.
- CaptainCool53, on 03/08/2009, -2/+7That's categorically false, akchrs.
- DirtyBurger, on 03/09/2009, -1/+6What does .33 cents of pot even look like?
- Swivelstick, on 03/09/2009, -0/+5"Although I have seen the impact of Marijuana on the British mental health services."
I loathe this argument as it is disingenuous, lets take the average inpatient who is delusional and look at what drugs they are currently taking, if it is risperidone (can and does kill ya) or maybe zyprexa (diabettes anyone) it isn't the drugs fault just that the efficacy has reduced but the side-effects don't matter. But if the patient is smoking weed it's the weed everytime.
Whilst it has been shown to increase delusion and paranoia in some people the same can be said for every psycho active drug on the market that is often pushed on patients even down to the so called harmless SSRI's. It isn't the weeds fault that someone is mentally ill and self medicates with it but the important part is a LOT do self medicate with weed therefore it must have benefits pity we refuse to do controled studies using it.. - CaptOblivious, on 03/08/2009, -0/+5So making booze legal dropping the MURDER rate
looks to you like just not making criminals out of drinkers?
The MURDER rate dropped, not the DRINKING rate.
Way to WILLFULLY miss the point. - feignNU, on 03/09/2009, -0/+5"Of course making things illegal increase crime. Crime is defined as breaking the law. There would be less crime if Murder were legal too! Come on."
No no, the claim is that the legalization of drugs will decrease the VIOLENT CRIME associated with drug trade. Not that it will decrease crime because, guess what, smoking a joint is no longer illegal! Don't be silly.
"That is waaay wrong. If you crack down on it there will be more? Right. If you have 3 major gangs in a city and get rid of 2 of them, that's a GOOD thing."
Speculation, pure and simple. If we actually look at some facts, it becomes quite obvious that you are wrong. What happened to MS-13 when we cracked down on it hard? They just overran the prisons and turned them training camps thus becoming much more organized and dangerous. - twtmc, on 03/09/2009, -0/+5The difference is that child porn can be duplicated. It's not going to happen with media because there isn't a limited amount of media. If you were to make chocolate illegal, you would see chocolate related violence, not because chocolate makes people violent, but because there is a limited amount of chocolate.
- outlawrook, on 03/08/2009, -2/+6hell yah lets just ruin someone life and take away 10 years of it becuase they wanted to try something new that didn't hurt anyone. dude it didn't work for alchohol and it won't work for this. hey lets do the same thing for every other law while we are at it. drinking under age? oh well thats 10 ***** years in prison for you. ooooh you just went 10 miles over the speed limit. that gets you life in prison and a lifetime supply of ass raping. congrats.
the simple thing here is to understand that there is a thing called justice where the punishment is suppost to fit the crime. how does 10 years in prison justify someone going home to smoke when plenty of people go home to drink. the only harsher punishment i think there should be is if someone trys to force it on a little child then i would say ya 10 years is befieting punishment becuase you are trying to harm a child when they don't know better.( and the main reason they don't know better is becuase we have a poor way of educating them. just saying "no" and and its bad for you and not talking about it more just makes them want to try it more) when will people just get over the fact that other people like to do things they themselves just don't agree with or like to do. i don't force people to smoke pot. i just go home to do it. i don't go up to your kids and say hey lets smoke a joint. its called live and let live. so you go get drunk and forget how you got home and i will smoke my joint and watch family guy - thegrantman, on 03/08/2009, -1/+5If laws became that strict they may very well decrease overall use.
But why would you want to put someone in jail for over a decade just for doing drugs? - earthwormzim, on 03/08/2009, -3/+7It maybe true that it might lead to billions of dollars in tax revenue...but the fact is that the politicians and police chiefs and other higher-ups probably make a whole lot more currently due to it's illegal status. What would likely happen if drugs were made legal would be that their prices would drop precipitously, everyone that is on the take will cease being able to be on the take, and police budgets would likely be slashed to one-tenth what they are now. So, what you have is an enormous opposition to making it legal by those who profit most.
I'm willing to bet that for every dollar that would be made in taxes if drugs were illegal, 100 dollars in profit are paid off to corrupt officials currently. Of course, this is only my speculation. - PorcusWallabee, on 03/07/2009, -4/+8I sent a letter to the editor basically stating that neither the Gangsters or the Police would ever let this inquiry come to pass.
- canada42, on 03/08/2009, -0/+4Digg has the capability to generate a massive number of hits to any website that hits the front page. The more articles on the subject digg has, the more hits the articles get. Media see that these articles are what generate hits then they will cover it more. More media coverage = more notice from the politicians, and politicians will do what it takes to get people to vote for them. We're all sick of seeing the articles over and over but every time you see one make it to the front page of digg its one step closer to getting politicians to take notice that this is something that's important to the people that keep them in power.
- meddelem, on 03/09/2009, -1/+5http://www.leap.cc/
- cunne, on 03/08/2009, -4/+8you are 16, stay out of adult conversations if you are unable to reason like an adult
- mediaphile, on 03/09/2009, -0/+4I hear about it quite often, just not while they're employed. But there are a number of ex-cops who speak out on the issue. In fact, I believe there's even an entire association of ex-cops against the drug war, but I can't recall the name of it.
You have to understand, they can't speak out in favor of drugs while keeping their job. It's like any other employee publicly talking ***** about their employer's rules. It just doesn't work like that. - rusty0101, on 03/09/2009, -1/+5It's not that it makes too much sense to ignore, it's that the people who should be paying attention, and thinking about the situation are also some of the least likely people to be paying attention, and reading the article.
I applaud the direction, and agree in general with the position. I just don't happen to think that it will make a significant difference in the situation.
I really wish I were wrong on this. - schnikies79, on 03/09/2009, -0/+3There lies a problem, I don't support a vice tax. Taxes should be a way to fund the government, not a way to modify/curb behavior.
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