The idiotic 'war on drugs'

Forums: Drugs, Politics, Law
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http://reason.com/news/printer/131131.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2171167/posts?page=1

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Drug prohibition militarizes our police, enriches our enemies, undermines our laws, and condemns our sick to suffering.

At around 6pm on January 27 of last year, 80-year-old Isaac Singletary spotted a couple of drug dealers attempting to do business on his front lawn. It wasn’t the first time. Singletary, described by relatives as territorial and a bit crotchety, did what he’d done in the past. He grabbed his gun, and walked out on to his lawn to scare them off. Problem is, this time the men weren’t drug dealers. They were undercover Jacksonville, Florida police posing as drug dealers. They had come on to Singletary’s property to bait possible drug offenders. When he brandished his gun, the police shot Singletary four times, once in the back. He died a short time later. A subsequent investigation by Florida’s attorney general cleared the officers who shot Singletary of any wrongdoing.......

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@gungasnake,

http://able2know.org/topic/128496-1

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

A halfway rational drug policy would work like this:

1. legalize anything demonstrably no more harmful than booze on the same basis as booze.

2. In the case of things which are hugely habit forming but not Jeckyll/Hyde formulae (heroine and crack cocaine for example): keep them illegal on the street but provide them to addicts at govt. outlets at cost of production, i.e. take every dime out of them for criminals.

3. Keep the total ban on Jeckyl/Hyde formulae like PCP and LSD on forever.

4. Keep the ban on selling any such **** to kids forever.

Do all of that and 99% of all American drug problems and 80% of urban crime would evaporate within two years.

But that is an ideal solution. In real life, we'd be better off to simply legalize it all than to keep on doing what we are.

3 Replies

I heard today that some politician wanted to raise the taxes on cigarettes. He pointed out that millions could be raised for the state. Tabbaco is a proved carcinigan that is more dangerous to health than pot. But it is legal why? Money!!!

0 Replies

@gungasnake,

I'm not sure LSD is Jekyll/hyde stuff. Never done it myself but know plenty who have, and not one of them freaked out in any way.

PCP on the other hand, Meth, whew. Terrible ****.

Cycloptichorn

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@gungasnake,

Legalize 'em all...or more correctly, end the idiotic laws against them.

ALL OF 'EM...AND RIGHT NOW.

And all the money we are wasting in this war can be used to help people avoid addiction...or recover from them.

The war on drugs is absurd.

2 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

De criminalize all drugs and the wasteful so-called war on drugs ends.

1 Reply

@H2O MAN,

We are shoulder to shoulder on that one, H2O!

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

I'd vote for it in a heartbeat, as opposed to what we have now. Again the other suggestion I made is ideal and we don't live in an ideal world.

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Ah yes, Richard Nixon's "war on drugs." Another ill-considered, idiotic policy by a Republican President whose focus was on public relations, rather than on realistic policy. By all means, do away with it.

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@gungasnake,

gungasnake wrote:

Do all of that and 99% of all American drug problems and 80% of urban crime would evaporate within two years.

But that is an ideal solution. In real life, we'd be better off to simply legalize it all than to keep on doing what we are.

I hate it when I agree with Gunga. But in this case (and only this case), I do.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

The war on drugs is absurd.

I agree completely. This is the one war we could win instantly with the stoke of a pen, saving ourselves billions and undermining cartels across the planet.

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@rosborne979,

AMEN!!! I appoligize to all you agnostics and non believers. But the war on drugs has been a mess from the start.

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@rosborne979,

Quote:

This is the one war we could win instantly with the stoke of a pen, saving ourselves billions and undermining cartels across the planet.

Does O boy have the balls to make a real change?

2 Replies

@H2O MAN,

I think he does.

You are not winning any points with anybody calling Obama "boy."

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

I have no interest in your popularity contest.
The term I use is "O boy" and it fits the chosen one quite well, as does PrezBO.

Do you honestly think O boy has the balls to make this kind of change? Really?

2 Replies

@H2O MAN,

Well, the dude can't actually write laws, though he could make it a priority.

A more tactful and politic first step would be to call off the dogs on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that have passed more lenient laws of their own -- play the old states rights card.

1 Reply

@patiodog,

patiodog wrote:

Well, the dude can't actually write laws, though he could make it a priority.

A more tactful and politic first step would be to call off the dogs on enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that have passed more lenient laws of their own -- play the old states rights card.

Agreed.

0 Replies

@H2O MAN,

Quote:

Do you honestly think O boy has the balls to make this kind of change? Really?

"Having balls" is more than bluster.

I think Obama has the balls to make huge change...and I am expecting it of him. I probably will give him more than a week before I start judging him on that account. Seems to me any reasonable person would give him a year or two at the very least.

But I will acknowledge, before you call it to my attention, that citizenship in America does not carry with it an obligation to be reasonable.

2 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

ARguing with the water person can be a less than satisfactory experience.

1 He is unashamedly a racist

2 He is impaired in his short term memory.

1 Reply

The idiotic 'war on drugs'

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