What is Digg?425 Comments
- hydroplane, on 10/10/2007, -4/+157"Its not a war on drugs, its a war on personal freedom"
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -3/+96I talked to a religious nut recently, who still insists it is their duty to make the world totally drug free, meaning alcohol tobacco and illegal drugs...
But never mind the fact that the medicines we use to get better after being sick... are also drugs...
The War on Drugs failed even before it was announced... the idea was doomed to fail... And it's pretty accurate to say it hasn't made any real dent in drug use rates... In fact, it's made it go up... And in several situations and examples from other countries, legalizing it, actually makes drug use go down!
Most importantly, drug use is a Health issue, not a criminal one. And nothing changes that... We should not be arresting people for something which is a health issue, or at least a controversial moral one. And of course, Marijuana in particular is one of the least harmful drugs, yet it is the most often punished?
Something is seriously wrong, when the punishment doesn't fit the crime... When Drug Prohibition causes more harm than the drug itself... THEN we have a failure on our hands. - Salgat, on 10/10/2007, -7/+87I'd rather legalize Marijuana and tax it to the extent of what cigarettes are taxed.
- dallascorbin504, on 10/10/2007, -4/+82This war has cost more money and caused more heartache than the Iraq war.
- physphd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+45Remind me again who gets hurt when I take a heroic shamanic dose of psilocybin cubenses in my own home in the same spiritual pursuit as countless cultures have for thousands of years with no ill effect? Other than to see that much of what we've been taught is *****.
- devoted, on 10/10/2007, -6/+45fine words said...what can you expect when rhetoric and fear combine to ban marijuana which is much less dangerous then alcohol? the only thing you can do is learn about and fight to legalize it http://tinyurl.com/38ck29 !
- eternal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+38Its about time we seriously start looking at how our government spends money. This program has been going on for years, costing us billions of tax dollars, and has never been truly effective. Why do we continue to spend money on things that don't work?
- zulfy26, on 10/10/2007, -1/+39But smoking weed doesn't kill anyone.
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -3/+34Lemons... unless that's sarcastic... You're a complete moron.
- dracostimpy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+29Piedramente is right; I saw it in a documentary titled "Reefer Madness". It shows clearly how prolonged marijuana usage will turn people into deranged, flesh-eating zombies. And that movie was made a looong time ago, so it surprises me that some people still think the debate is out on this.
Hopefully, Mythbusters will do an episode that once and for all puts to rest the notion that pot is a harmless recreational drug by having Kari smoke a one-hitter which causes her to murder Grant with her bare hands minutes later on camera. It sucks for Grant, but it's for the greater good. Oh, and if Kari were to accidentally rip off all her clothes in a Hulkish fit of rage, that'd REALLY help to prove it. Jamie and Adam, make it happen! - NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -2/+31God you're an idiot, a complete and total idiot... Murder is a crime with a victim, and you are infringing upon the freedoms of another human being when you kill someone.
Drug use has no victim besides the person who choose to use the drug... By using Marijuana, I am not infringing upon the rights of any other person...
How can you even think to compare murder and rape, to drug use.... something people choose to do, with their OWN bodies...
You'd think, in a free country, I'd have the right, to do whatever I want, to my own body, as long as I'm not harming other people... -_- - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -5/+33Stupid laws fail to work.
Prohibition failed because it was stupid.
Drug laws failed because they are stupid.
Immigration laws failed because they are stupid.
Stupid, bad laws simply don't work. - thescimitar, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29I wish we would spend the money we waste on the "War on Drugs" toward reasonable education about substance abuse... like drunk driving, or some of the more physically brutal drugs (for long-term users) like Meth.
- MarsSentinel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+25you are a boob. Doritos are bad for you. WTF do YOU have to say about whats bad for ME?!?
- thescimitar, on 10/10/2007, -2/+26In the paraphrased words of many of Bill Hick's shows, "I just cannot believe in a war against drugs when they've got anti-drug commercials on TV all day long, followed by, 'This Bud's for you'.. 'This DRUG is for you.'"
- retcynm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21Care to back up those claims?
Bet ya can't. - akula696969, on 10/10/2007, -0/+20The war on drugs was never meant to be "won" just like the war on terror was never meant to or could not be "won". It is just the stupid boobs (like many that have commented here) that keep the lie about the evils of drug use alive. Buying into the propaganda no matter how much evidence proves other wise. We let out murderers in this country so we can put pot dealers in jail. LUDICROUS!
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19If we have learned ANYTHING about history, alcohol prohibition, and the 70 year drug prohibition... It is that trying to make the world a "Drug Free" place, IS SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE!
No matter how hard you try, how hard you want the world to fit into your moral framework of being drug free... it WILL NEVER HAPPEN... There will always be people that want to use one thing or another on themselves, to feel good...
And it is their freedom and individual rights to do so. Free minds will always do what they want with themselves! Unless you want to live in a world, of mindless worker-bees...
Besides, This is a health issue, not a criminal one, so we should not be treating it like a criminal one. You cannot use police, to push your moral values on the rest of the world, policing personal morals doesn't work... Especially in a country founded on the premises of individual rights and freedoms.
The hypocrisy of the War on Marijuana... is the most baffling of all... Marijuana is far safer than most of the legal drugs out there! And thus should have never been made illegal... and certainly doesn't deserve the government's time and money enforcing against... and lying to us about... - sbader, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19Doesn't beer do that too?
- Samburger, on 10/10/2007, -2/+21Taxing creates revenue for the government. It has nothing to do with "being righteous"
- meruru, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20OK, well then where do you draw the line? Should Alcohol be banned? Caffeine? Prescription Drugs? Rolaids? You can't believe that "all drugs should be illegal".
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -1/+20It's a comprise to show we're willing to help the government out, with our spending on our recreational drug.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't have this argument, and Marijuana use would be legal and taxed like all other things... but since this is such a taboo... we are willing to pay extra tax for it, if it will get the government to see, that Prohibition isn't working. - SzaszMan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Um, no, but denying it doesn't make it untrue either - just on raw toxicity alone, alcohol is thousands of times more lethal than cannabis. It takes about 60,000 times the effective dose of delta-9-THC (the active ingredient in cannabis) to inflict a lethal overdose... interestingly, this also makes cannabis the *least* toxic psychoactive medication known to mankind. Even caffeine is far easier to OD on...
Compare that to 8 times the effective dose of alcohol. Also, alcohol causes verifiable brain damage (e.g., Korsakoff's Syndrome), can lead to clear, physical dependence and life-threatening abstinence syndrome upon withdrawal, and is far more cognitively debilitating than cannabis besides. In short, in every metric there is, cannabis is less harmful than alcohol.
Denying this does not make it untrue. - OnymousHero, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Why shouldn't cocaine be legal? Why should the government (or anyone else for that matter) have the right to say what we should or should not put into our bodies. Let people make the bloody decision themselves.
Heroin, LSD, Cocaine all exist now, regardless of legality - the demand is there. Why not take the power and money AWAY from the drug dealers, and in turn reduce huge amount of drug related crime. And while we're at it, make prostitution legal too.
In closing, the government should stay the ***** out of people's lives.
Rant over. - iancgi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19well ur post certainly proves the war on ignorance will never be won
- geometry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18How would the pharmaceutical companies feel about this. More people are addicted to prescription drugs than all illegal drugs combined. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
- Magnolit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Everything should be legal. People should do with their bodies whatever they want to. The government cannot make you a better person with the current prohibitionist policies. There would be enough PRIVATE voluntary organizations who could have campaigns to inform people about the consequences of consumption.
- torched, on 10/10/2007, -2/+19The war on drugs, the war on poverty, and the war on terrorism is all the same *****.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -3/+19A "drugfree world," which the United Nations describes as a realistic goal, is no more attainable than an "alcoholfree world"
Especially since obtaining a drug free world would include making the world alcohol free...I mean alcohol is a drug by it's own right...a rather horrible one at that. - Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15Jesus guys, don't feed the troll.
- Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -5/+20Because, as much as we hate to say it, tax is good for a country. Without it, the government lacks the ability to do anything. I assume you'd bitch if the police were poorly trained (actually looking at the US, some are I guess)? Those who don't do drugs need to see benefits too, don't forget.
Also, don't use Orwell's name as if he's some capitalist facist you *****. If you knew anything about one of the best author's of the 20th century then you'd know that's just *****. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15oh but you're totally okay with spending gobs of money to toss them in jail? treatment costs wayyyyy less than incarceration.
- MaynardJK, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15What a stupid comparison. All of those crimes encroach on the rights of other people and thus should be illegal. Anything that someone choses to do to their own body should be legal, including suicide.
Otherwise, you don't own your body. The government does. - sugarazor, on 10/10/2007, -5/+20Every drug should be legal from marijuana to cocaine to black tar heroin. There is nothing that makes a person better than another because they prefer the high of Xanex to cocaine. Or the high of Jack Daniels to Angel Dust. Addiction is addiction, it's an illness, not a crime. Sure, some drugs are more dangerous or become addictive faster, but it's really a matter of degree.
- DangerCollie, on 10/10/2007, -3/+18"I talked to a religious nut recently, who still insists it is their duty to make the world totally drug free" What's amusing is drugs and alcohol were around at the time of Christ and you didn't see Him going around raiding crack houses. He went into the mainline churches of the day and condemned their hypocrisy and commercialism. So what do religious people do today? Try to force their political agenda on the rest of us. Apostasy much?
- DangerCollie, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15If Johnson & Johnson had discovered marijuana, you can bet your ass it would be available by prescription.
- GMorgan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Actually. Most evidence suggests legalisation would be a massive boon to the economy. Firstly the immense amount of taxation spent on fighting this 'war' would disappear. Then the criminal element disappears. Finally with proper regulation the health costs decrease.
As for alcohol and tobacco industries. You could have claimed that trains would cause a hit to the canal boat industry, perhaps they should have been taxed to off set this damage. Preferring one industry over another is nothing short of fascism. - doctechnical, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15While I agree with the fact the "War on Drugs" is at best stupid, at worst a sham, I really don't think we're going to see legalization within 25, 30 years - there are just too many people (politicians, pundits) with their credibility vested in "Drugs are bad, mmmkay?", and way too many voters who consider it a moral issue and that's that.
Which is a true pity. - Arvenis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Except that heavy pot users are ALREADY heavy pot users and they're already reducing our GDP (assuming of course that a slight decrease in productivity for a minority of people would be anything but a drop in our "GDP bucket") .
Legalizing would change nothing except that it would allow us to stop wasting money incarcerating people that have done nothing wrong. - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Really? Not supported by facts?
See this: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm
The US has higher marijuana use per capita, higher homicide rates, higher incarceration rates, higher "hard drug" use (Heroin, etc) than the Netherlands..yet you say there is no evidence?
in the US a person can go to jail longer for possession of Marijuana than a convicted rapist would. Please, tell me how the punishment doesn't fit the crime? Mandatory minimum sentences of 5-10yrs is ridiculous when it comes marijuana--a plant that has no terminal limit, HAS medicinal properties, and can be a viable textile industry in the US (and it doesn't rape the soil like cotton!).
Please, go shove your bigoted ideas down someone else's throat. - akula696969, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14With a few exceptions people just make up bold comments like the one above with no real basis in fact or any merit.
- geometry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13McDonalds is bad for you, should it be banned?
- ddxChrist, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13What are your criteria for judging their legality? Otherwise, it looks like you pulled that out of your ass.
- imthepresident, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12The psychological well being of a child and recreational use of a naturally growing plant can't compare. Don't know if you were trying to start something here but you failed miserably either way.
- NikoKun, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Aclohol is way worse for you than Marijuana.
- geometry, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12How many people die from obesity each year? How many people die from marijuana use each year? There's your answer.
- scorchedearth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12The drug war was never meant to be won.
Nowadays, the government and companies have their hands in the drug racket just like all of the criminals because they love the money.
The time to stop this futile effort was long ago. - 4degrees, on 10/10/2007, -3/+15Tax it all you want, ill just grow my own. Its better that way anyway.
- sugarazor, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13LOL, you.
Drug addiction has an adverse effect on your personal health, that is an illness. It's a voluntary illness, but so is lung cancer if you smoke. Should we start throwing smokers in jail? The drug war creates criminals, it doesn't fight them. It's absolutely no different than when the Mafia controlled alcohol distribution during prohibition... well, except now it's costing us billions of dollars a year, thousands of lives, and overcrowding our prisons with non-violent people that come out traumatized for life and often entering a world of crime.
Throw a guy in jail for possession for a year, now imagine the horrors he goes through in jail and then he comes out and no one will give him a decent job because of his record. What does he do? With no options left, he begins selling drugs, or robbing stores. We're just creating more criminals, not helping people who are addicted. - arbulus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12That's the same ***** rhetoric opponents of gay marriage spout:
"If we let gays marry, then we'll have people marrying dogs and sheep and vegetables!"
They are ***** strawmen arguments. Rape, murder and assault harm others; smoking a joint hurts no one. And even IF it did harm you, it's harming ONLY YOU, no one else. -
Show 51 - 100 of 419 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is