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The Patriot's Guide to Legalization | Mother Jones

motherjones.com — Have you ever looked at our marijuana policy? I mean, really looked at it?

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 7, 2009

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  • CopsSayLegalize, on 07/06/2009, -6/+111It's not just left-wing magazines pushing legalization these days. It's also cops, judges and prosecutors http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com
  • kemp34, on 07/06/2009, -2/+66And also a growing body of honest libertarians, constitutionalists, limited government advocates and folks with basic common sense.
  • Jastris, on 07/07/2009, -10/+71seriously just legalize it already.....

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-henry-sterry/m ...
    having the mexican drug lord thanking us for keeping drugs illegal... lol that says something.
  • avengingturnip, on 07/06/2009, -3/+45Or people who realize that the federal drug war is an abomination that helps no one but the prison industry and the police state.
  • TwistableLime, on 07/07/2009, -5/+42I believe Portugal has legalized most, if not all drugs.. and offer therapy to addicts.
  • ConcernedCanuck, on 07/07/2009, -9/+40YEP Sure have im in the same boat as CopsSayLegalize.

    after studying the subject for quite a while; I've found that we would all be MUCH better off, if all drugs were legal, imagine you had to go to your doctor to get a heroin prescription etc, where he could talk you out of it and explain the risks, maybe make the heroin addicts go to schools and talk about how ***** their lives are?

    legalization is better than the alternative option:

    Gang controlled illegal substance distribution....

    Otherwise known as an excuse to imprison over 4 million people in America, Land of the Free.
  • DouglasQ, on 07/07/2009, -6/+29Dave's not here man...
  • kemp34, on 07/06/2009, -2/+25I guess I included them in the "folks with basic common sense" category, but you are definitely right.
  • CourierIves, on 07/06/2009, -8/+31A even handed (for once) look at the issue
  • kungfubrooks, on 07/07/2009, -6/+27There's no good reason to keep prohibition, and plenty of people are being harmed because of it's illegality. Doesn't make any sense
  • yournightmare, on 07/07/2009, -3/+24"Wow more liberal diarrhea of the mouth who want to equate freedom to doing drugs! and with just under 200 diggs and under 40 comments. Wow"

    --Huh. Apparently you have no ***** clue what the right is supposed to stand for.
  • Equinamin, on 07/07/2009, -1/+19and Nurses.... Much research is available on the utilization of Marijuana for various chronic diseases and alternatives for pain control. Many narcotics taken have severe side effects and are highly addictive
    This is a great article, very objective and as our population "the baby boomers" age' it will be interesting to see the drug policy debate towards not just the "stoner" mentality but, actually have some healthy discussions on
    this age old issue.



  • Wosat, on 07/07/2009, -3/+20@5urr3al5am

    There's no question that it's a restriction of freedom. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- sound familiar?

    Which part of the constitution gives the federal government the right to tell people what plants they can and can't grow and smoke? Answer however you want, but realize that 40 years ago almost everyone agreed it would violate the constitution to have the kind of policies we have now.
  • had3l, on 07/07/2009, -0/+17I think they decriminalized possession. They didn't legalize sale.
  • twiztidsinz, on 07/07/2009, -1/+16Yeah.. Since we're moving towards the prohibition of tobacco as well, we should really bring back the prohibition of alcohol too...
    I mean, that worked out great the first time...
  • yournightmare, on 07/07/2009, -1/+15"that its not about freedom, its all about money."

    --Right, it's all about the billions of dollars the federal government blows every year on the drug war and the higher taxes we have to pay in order to support a failed policy. Oh wait, a hatred of government waste, expanded federal powers, and higher taxes are all supposed to be right-wing causes, correct? I love it when people bash liberals but turn around and support liberal policies because they don't have a ***** clue what they really believe in.
  • paperclipsNsoup, on 07/07/2009, -1/+14I got caught smoking pot and driving.

    Cop said, "I can give you a DUI, tow your car, fill out a ton of paperwork, and it'll go on your record for 10 years... Or were you driving without your seat belt?"

    (DUI $5k+
    Seat Belt ticket $80)

    I took the seat belt ticket
  • mytealjacket, on 07/07/2009, -2/+14Tax evasion is not a victimless crime -- it harms society when people don't pay their fair share of taxes. That's how we pay for social programs like emergency services and aid to disabled people.
  • projectjeff, on 07/07/2009, -4/+15Like the article said....people who want to smoke marijuana will find ways to do it.

    The legalization issue should really by who do you want the users to give their money to? Drug dealers..... or the government!
  • Wosat, on 07/07/2009, -0/+11"it's all about the money"

    You sound like a pot-smoking liberal conspiracy theorist.
  • jsffive, on 07/07/2009, -6/+15I highly recommend this movie:

    http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/union_business_be ...

  • inactive, on 07/07/2009, -5/+13i enjoy marijuana
  • mparker21311, on 07/07/2009, -2/+10Caffeine is a drug with horrible withdrawals.

    But it's ok for kids to consume it, right?
  • kemp34, on 07/07/2009, -0/+8The pot growers actually make more with it being illegal. They are also much more violent.

    You remember the wealth and violence created in the black market during prohibition, don't you?

    Or are you ignorant to history?
  • Tornawdoe, on 07/07/2009, -2/+9True, that might just solve the 'stupidity epidemic' in the US.

  • combatchuck, on 07/07/2009, -16/+22Have you ever looked at it ... on weed?
  • Mujokan, on 07/07/2009, -0/+6You are partly right.

    The Taliban did cut opium production when in power. However, after they lost control of the country and production increased, they taxed production and distribution as a source of funds. They can make hundreds of millions of dollars a year which they need to keep fighting, so religion takes a back seat for now. According to some they are also stockpiling opium. The US is cutting back on efforts to eradicate opium and trying alternate methods as the strategy is not working.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUSTRE5621I12 ...

    What is more, cultivation of marijuana also increased massively in Afghanistan in the last few years, and some of this money must be going to the Taliban.
  • superdigg, on 07/07/2009, -4/+10Great article! Reasonable, even-handed, and optimistic while still being realistic. The more often calm, reasonable people like Kevin Drum talk about legalization, the closer we come to reversing 40+ years of weed demonization.
  • combatchuck, on 07/07/2009, -6/+12I say legalize everything and offer no therapy. Natural selection will solve the problem pretty damn quick.
  • ninjad, on 07/07/2009, -3/+8"There are two plausible pathways for the gateway theory. The first is that drug use of any kind creates an affinity for increasingly intense narcotic experiences. The second is that when cannabis is illegal, the only place to get it is from dealers who also sell other stuff."

    I wish more dealers sold multiple drugs besides just pot. It's such a bitch running around town just to get a couple of baums, shrooms and a sack for the night

    [WSD]
  • lukedamonkey, on 07/07/2009, -4/+9what a good article. Really goes into depth, I will be showing it to others who don't believe in ending the war on marijuana.
  • Mujokan, on 07/07/2009, -0/+5I think the main reason is just that politicians perceive it as risky (in terms of getting elected). Brave politicians are a rare breed.
  • ninjad, on 07/07/2009, -3/+7did you read the article grolsch? like really read it? or did you skim and go straight to post comment? this article is not the average biased ramblings that is posted and it didn't have any pretty pictures of pot on the page at all. it was actually a well written story but i guess you were too busy beating on the hippies and harassing children to realize that
  • InfamousAtheist, on 07/07/2009, -1/+5Decriminalizing most drugs IS the legal system bailout. Moron.
  • Jastris, on 07/07/2009, -3/+7thats what we should do...
  • PowderedToasty, on 07/07/2009, -0/+4I don't understand the thesis of your comment. It sounds like your friend got robbed. What does this have to do with legalization? Are you saying if it was legal this wouldn't have happened?
  • GenerousLinus, on 07/07/2009, -0/+4Your friend shouldn't have told his "friends".
  • feignNU, on 07/07/2009, -1/+5@Greengoo

    Actually most of the severe negative physical consequences of heroin use are directly related to the fact that is illegal. Think about it -- it's distributed by criminals who have no regard for human life and it's subject to absolutely no purity standards. Pure heroin is not really more dangerous than any other strong opiate painkillers like morphine, methadone, oxycodone, or fentanyl, all of which are used quite safely by millions of people.
  • stoanhart, on 07/07/2009, -0/+4Although I am in support of full legalization of all drugs, I'm not sure the doctor prescribed model would work. When it becomes too inconvenient to get something, a black market forms, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. People already resort to black market cigarettes simply because the tax is too high. Imagine you had to find a doctor willing to prescribe cigarettes, make an appointment, and pay him/her just so you could start buying cigarettes - wouldn't you just pick them up from the guy in the corner of the pub instead?
  • sooperdooper, on 07/07/2009, -2/+6I guess you didn't read the first comment?
  • UglyBunny, on 07/07/2009, -0/+4"If we start harming Big Pharma we are harming our economy. And the answer isn't cannabis-based pharmaceuticals, either."

    WRONG. Cannabis based pharmaceuticals have the potential to be a cash cow for pharmaceutical companies. Studies have shown that THC has neuroprotective properties and can prevent the formation of the plaques that cause Alzheimer's disease. Cannabis also has anti-cancer properties and can slow the degradation of the brain in patients with MS and Parkinson's. This is just a short list of the medicinal properties of ONE cannabinoid of many.

    If cannabis were legalized research would be easier and Pharmaceutical companies would be able to produce many cannabis-based products. You must think BigPharma is stupid if you don't think they would capitalize on pot's potential.
  • novenator, on 07/07/2009, -0/+35urr thinks Kemp and Avengingturnip are liberals, this is rich. Kemp, I agree with you 100%. Progressives and libertarians (some call themselves real conservatives I hear) need to work together to get marijuana decriminalized. We have a real shot at getting this done within 8 years if we continue to grow this movement organically and state by state.
  • calicheese23, on 07/07/2009, -1/+4Most local services are funded by sales taxes. There are plenty of communities in Northern California that are sustained by marijuana growers.
  • inactive, on 07/07/2009, -0/+380+ years, actually
    </nitpick>
  • drexl, on 07/07/2009, -0/+3Has anyone here read Reefer Madness:Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market by Eric Schlosser? It's a great read here's the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness_%28200 ...

    Looks like some of this article was directly taken from this book.
  • Chrysalii, on 07/07/2009, -2/+590% of the time I'm with you. Since it seems that many just enter "marijuana" in to the search box, auto-digg the article and come on with some random dogmatic BS that we have all read a million times (also included in the article that they likely didn't read). That's why I get so annoyed.
    But
    This article was surprisingly good and quite informative, and didn't say that Marijuana is a miracle cure for <problem here>.
  • sodade, on 07/07/2009, -2/+5The article takes DEA promoted studies as fact. Everything they are involved with is suspect due to a pattern of blatantly lying about cannabis.
  • UglyBunny, on 07/07/2009, -0/+3Taxing isn't a compromise.
  • manlyandy, on 07/07/2009, -0/+3The sentiment that still puts his polling numbers impressively high?
  • inactive, on 07/07/2009, -1/+4Hey, there's a note attached!
    "Dear Digg:

    Please excuse 5urr3al5am for the nonsensical blather. Apparently continually gargling that neocon talking points ***** for so many years has either a) blocked his oxygen intake to the point of irreparably damaging his already lacking cognitive abilities, or b) the cum-sea of self-righteous arrogance and idiocy spewed into his microencephalic skull by said neocock has forced all rational thoughts away from the darkest, dankest corner of his pinhead. Which is to say, the place where thoughts occasionally exist, but often die like 5am lives: alone, incoherent, and ridiculous.

    Sincerely,
    5am's Mom."

    Well, that 'splains a lot.
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