Gov’t Should Facilitate Dope Smoking to Decrease Heroin Use, Says GOP Prez Candidate

[colmywaykurtz]

Right, Cannabis is a gateway drug ONLY because of the circle of people you suddenly get involved with, you get involved with drug dealers, eventually one or two of those dealers sell something harder then Cannabis, and you’ll get offered some, some people take it, thats why Cannabis if a gateway drug, not the drug itself.

Not to mention the fact that if you want to continue using it, you have to maintain communication and a certain amount of interaction not only with the pushers, but also the users who know who’s pushing, where and when, and for how much. And when you’re in with that crowd, peer pressure can tempt you not only to try other drugs, but to use more cannabis than you might personally be inclined to use, and to spend more time in the company of the inhabitants of the whole drug sub-culture.

If it were sold legally, a person might well stop in at the local herb shop, buy what suits him (with part of his money going to government taxes), and walk out again, all without having to get pulled into the settings of the traditional drug sub-culture. And the people that are already involved in it might benefit, too—they could opt to buy the legal product rather than risk jail buying an illegal product, and thus have less of the dangerous interaction with pushers (who are often strong proponents of the “Kalashnikov culture”).

The traditional drug sub-culture and drug underworld might well be significantly eroded by legalization of cannabis.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

Not to mention the fact that if you want to continue using it, you have to maintain communication and a certain amount of interaction not only with the pushers, but also the users who know who’s pushing, where and when, and for how much. And when you’re in with that crowd, peer pressure can tempt you not only to try other drugs, but to use more cannabis than you might personally be inclined to use, and to spend more time in the company of the inhabitants of the whole drug sub-culture.

If it were sold legally, a person might well stop in at the local herb shop, buy what suits him (with part of his money going to government taxes), and walk out again, all without having to get pulled into the settings of the traditional drug sub-culture. And the people that are already involved in it might benefit, too—they could opt to buy the legal product rather than risk jail buying an illegal product, and thus have less of the dangerous interaction with pushers (who are often strong proponents of the “Kalashnikov culture”).

The traditional drug sub-culture and drug underworld might well be significantly eroded by legalization of cannabis.

I still get a chuckle out of the so-called “small government” conservatives that talk about small government out of one side of their mouths and then justify a Presidential “Drug Czar” and an entire paramilitary enforcement agency (DEA).

 

[colmywaykurtz]

I still get a chuckle out of the so-called “small government” conservatives that talk about small government out of one side of their mouths and then justify a Presidential “Drug Czar” and an entire paramilitary enforcement agency (DEA).

I do, too. Not to mention the predatory practices of DEA. I mean, when a DEA agent finds a small amount of drugs in, say, an apartment building, DEA can seize the entire property (even if it’s owned by an absentee landlord), throw everybody out, put the property up on the auction block, and pocket the proceeds.

Robber barons out to (allegedly) protect us from the scourge of drugs. I gotta laugh at that, or I’ll end up crying.

 

[Linda_Marie]

I wonder why Gary thinks state goverments should open marijuana stores and sell marijuana directly but would prefer his own state didn’t do it.

I understood from his statement that he is advocating private marijuana stores, just as liquor stores are private outlets, rather than stores run by the state.

Prohibition and the outlawing of the sale and use of marijuana, heroin etc has its roots in Puritanism and the Temperance Movement.

We are called to temperance voluntarily, of our own free choice to self-discipline, not to impose it on others by force of law and consign those who fail to be temperate to prison for violations.

Alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, the lot, it doesn’t matter how bad they are for us, their illegality has caused us vast problems, swollen our prison populations out of control, and created the drug lords with their associate gangs. Mexico has had more than 40,000 people killed this year in drug war violence. (In comparison, the war in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 has had an average death toll of around 12,500 per year, with the highest, in 2007, of 24,935.)

With that kind of death toll, it is obvious that what is currently being done is worse than useless. Far more people are dying from gang violence than from the abuse of drugs.

Drug addiction for an individual is a medical problem. They do not need a legal problem along with it.

Drug lords and gangs are another story. They need to be dealt with, ASAP. The first step, imho, is removing their stock in trade by way of legalization.

 

[meltzerboy]

Eating too much salt is bad for you too. Let’s make that illegal. And processed sugar. High fructose corn syrup, tobacco. Using offensive language is harmful to other people, lets make that illegal. Skipping Sunday obligation harms your soul. Lets make missing Mass illegal. In fact, lets just turn our brains over to Congress and let them make all of our decisions for us. I mean, if you are too stupid to make good decisions, you might as well let someone else make them for you.

I think you’ve been listening to too many Ron Paul speeches. But in a way I agree with you. Legalizing marijuana and even hard drugs–as well as prostitution–would eliminate the middle man and the criminal influence of the drug cartels (and pimps). William Buckley had suggested doing this way back in the 1970s. On the other hand, the idealistic and puritanical side of my nature is hesitant to go along with this.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

I think you’ve been listening to too many Ron Paul speeches. But in a way I agree with you. Legalizing marijuana and even hard drugs–as well as prostitution–would eliminate the middle man and the criminal influence of the drug cartels (and pimps). William Buckley had suggested doing this way back in the 1970s. On the other hand, the idealistic and puritanical side of my nature is hesitant to go along with this.

Bill Buckley? He is the icon of the modern conservative Catholic. Oh my!