A New Mission for Liberty: Ending the Insane Drug War

I have been a long supporter of complete decriminalization of ALL drugs! While I do understand that I am only dreaming because there is no way the Feds or anyone else especially the private prison industry (http://www.correctionscorp.com/). But the fact remains that the war is lost and only has created more prisoners and violent dealers. I say package it and tax it and stick in 7-elevens.

Decriminalize and drop prices (remember supply and demand boys and girls) and you will see the cartels disappear back to where they came from. Unfortunately you will have millions unemployed in the law enforcement field.

@ Squiggy:

You have completely misinterpreted what I wrote.

I meant it completely sincerely: a genuine preposition.

You misinterpreted it as some sort of sarcastic ‘straw-man’.

Kindly go back and re-read.

I will support the total legalization of cannabis in return for others supporting the full legalization of codeine, basically putting codeine on supermarket shelves for any adult to buy.

squiggy;

RE: Corporate verses family farms. I don’t know. Given the level of political corruption that exists generally, it’s a good question; although not being a Californian, I can’t really speak to the level of corruption with Arnie and the gang. I do recall that Arnold’s predecessor seemed to wear a big C on his chest (a “scarlet letter” that stands for “corruption”), so there must still be remnants of it in the legislature.

However: It’s been one of my little duties to remind people that corporations are very easy and inexpensive to set-up in the US; and that most anyone operating a business has good reason to run the business via a corporation. So, family businesses are in fact, most often corporations.

@ Vance,

I am truly sorry about your friend that is terrible.

I was arrested in the state of Maryland where a misdemeanor is punishable for up to a year and $1,500 fine. All who are caught with anything less than a half ounce face this when arrested. However, with a decent lawyer you can avoid jail time if it is your first offence. The state of Maryland is renowned for having some of the most draconian laws on the books when it comes to jailing people for cannabis.
No one is suggesting that we should allow people to get all highed up and get behind the wheel of a car and kill people. I also don’t believe that we should let people waste on the street and die in their own feces with a needle sticking out of their arm.
What I do believe is that we should try a different approach to people with serious drug problems other than incarcerating them. That is not the answer. Also, people need the liberty to do what they want with their time, money and bodies. A lot of behavior is self destructive but what is even more destructive is when small groups of people define what is and isn’t destructive and enforce their views on the rest of us whether these people be clerics, politicians, and yes, even victims.
I concur with you that what happens in public should be treated as a public matter. I would say in addition to that that we should make sure there is a clear and enforceable boundary between public and private spheres. Proponents of the War on Drugs often times have difficulty with this boundary.

“The fact is drugs, all drugs are bad.”

That is ridiculous. Even poisons have medical uses sometimes. I don’t smoke marijuana to party or to become a couch fungus, I smoke it to keep from killing people who try to control what I can and cannot do with my own body. I’d say thas a net good thing. In all seriousness, it helped and occasionally stil helps me deal with my depressive episodes. Is mental health no more worthy than physical health? Believe me, the pain of depression is very real. I’ve done my research on marijuana and what it does to the body and mind. Is it healthy? No, but its 10x better than a diet of McDonald’s, alchohol, and cigerettes.

California city approves marijuana farming

Vance? You’re a perfect example of what I said.

Your friends accidentally killed themselves. They were driving while impaired and that was stupid. The driver probably got distracted, and didn’t pay attention. But I see totally sober people doing that all the time. They’re all over the road with cellphones, makeup, cheeseburgers, etc. I’ve been rear-ended by them.

And another thing – did you see what I wrote about my daughter being killed by a drunk driver? I forgot to mention that Nan was seven months pregnant at the time. Newly married, so happy. In your world I should hate alcohol, and want it banned because of some idiots. But that would be simple-minded.

It wasn’t the alcohol that killed Nan, it was Kim, the drunk who chose to drive. Cannabis didn’t kill your friends, they killed themselves. Deal with it, and leave me alone.

We see FoxNews talking to our soldiers who have been ordered to guard and facilitate the opium industry in Afganistan. We have been told that the CIA uses the drug trade into this country to fund their various covert ops that would never be funded by Congress. We are told that Wachovia bank has been laundering Billions of dollars for drug traffickers, and the bank is only punished with a fine. We see an endless stream of drug ‘customers’ who are arrested, fined, and incarcerated.

How many ways can our Federal government use to make our lives miserable and force us to pay for the process? Hopefully, our criminal government will be held to answer by citizens of this country before foreigners choose to do it for us.

(I should mention that I hate the current comment set-up. After creating a thoughtful comment – it’s gone because I forgot to fill something in or to check the not spam bot box.)

Paul Elam: “As someone who spent two decades counseling drug users and alcoholics …”

You too? I did not know that. I spent two years as a drug and alcohol rehab counselor in the early 1970s US Army. The military created various programs in response to public pressure created by new reports on drug and alcohol abuse in Vietnam.

Most of the residents of our in-house treatment facility however had been in the Army for a shorter time than it took to train them and had never been to Vietnam. They brought their problems in with them. They typically needed treatment for other problems, psych., etc., and it seemed that heavy or out-of-control drug use was merely a behavior that accompanied their other problems; not that it didn’t create some additional problems.

The state of Massachusetts has decriminalized possession of marijuana in amounts less than one ounce. However it is illegal to be under the influence of marijuana like laws for consuming alcohol, or to possess any related (in the parlance of the users) paraphernalia with residue. And no smoking in public places, which makes sense.

I applaud the change in the laws, and for what it is worth there has been no more crime or victims to society at large than before this change. I am for the most part a libertarian and do not see the need for the government to be involved in every aspect of human endeavor.

Oddly, MA has the most one sided laws authored by feminists in the nation in regard to child support, alimony, domestic violence, affirmative action and any issue regarding to gender.

I think that this is just another form of feminization.
Making it criminal for people to choose what to put into their own bodies.
A very strong indicator that a very deep and profound sort of manipulation of human beings is government policy.