Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by scLovely on April 3, 2011 at 7:08am

Maybe i should rephrase the question I was asking lloydleroimiller: So, do you think it is justifiable to punish someone for drug usage or possession?

 My problem is the crimes committed while on the drug if said crime causes harm to someone else. No problem with the drug itself.  Same with  alcohol. If a redneck feels the need to beat his old lady while intoxicated, I have a huge problem with him using alcohol. If my crackhead neighbor breaks in and takes my shit so he can buy more crack, I have a huge problem with that person using crack.

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on April 3, 2011 at 8:36am

The argument for the seperation between legal an illegal substances tends to be based on the cultural acceptance of the different variants. Because western societies have a tradition with alcohol, nicotine and caffeine (the most commonly used intoxicating substances) there is a higher knowledge among the members of those societies of proper usage. The illegal substances therefore have a higher probability of misuse, and the potency is generally stronger. Furthermore, there is a social condemnation of the usage. The most obvious evidence is of course that any use of an illegal drug tends to be labeled as drug abuse while legal drugs can both be used and abused depending on quantity and frequency.

It is a pretty good argument seen from a social sciences standpoint, but in my opinion the benefits of mixed drug usage outweighs the harm, especially when taken into concideration the heavy burden criminalization place on the criminal justice system.

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Permalink Reply by Trisha Smith on May 10, 2011 at 3:38pm

Whilst the laws are still made by the same people whos livelihoods depend on prosecutions theres not much hope of meaningful changes in the foreseeable future. The lawyers and the judges and the law makers are all in it primarily to protect their own interests so its prety unlikely they will vote changes into being which will threaten their livelihood - in short, its in their interests to keep as many people doing illegal things as they possibly can and thats achieved basically by getting the right people into the right political positions and vantage points from which to watch each others backs.

 

Portugal tried a successful experiment in 2001 which after 5 years saw a drastic decrease in death from drug related causes as well  as a drastic drop in cases of HIV  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decr...

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Permalink Reply by Rick on May 30, 2011 at 1:17am

Munchies was always a problem with smokin pot, so thank "a God" when it was discovered that mixing the 2 together to make cakes and cookies and other yummy stuff......mmmmmm ouroboros

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Permalink Reply by Brian Wood on June 1, 2011 at 8:34pm

As a 67 year old, I resent the authorities of any government telling any adult what he may or may not put into his body.  Legalization takes the profit out of drugs, and drug violence comes from money, not drugs.  Addicts, it seems to me, have a right to be addicts, and have enough troubles without running afoul of some Puritans who make laws governing others.

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Permalink Reply by Donald Pennington on June 1, 2011 at 9:53pm

I happen to agree with you.

And would you look at the latest news out of Florida?

http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=28147497939...

 

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Permalink Reply by T A A on June 2, 2011 at 4:26am

Wow, that is absolutely ridiculous and despicable. Clearly racial profiling on the mind in Florida :(

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Permalink Reply by Donald Pennington on June 2, 2011 at 8:18am

Possibly.

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Permalink Reply by Trisha Smith on June 2, 2011 at 5:07am

The latest news out of Amsterdam is pretty disheartening on the face of things too http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1392364/Holland-bans-fore...

 

but  Im hoping this is just a part of the process for the whole world to start realizing that drugs are against the right wing christian agenda. My reasoning on this is that they make more dosh for their brotherhood out of the legal machine than they would from systems which work to care for the people with problems which are exacerbated by their fcuk up of a job on the education system which leads so many young people into needing a quick fix (so to speak) way out. For all the talk of social mobility where do we see the results? The toffs with the dosh certainly dont come from the local comprehensive schools, despite all the tosh about equality etc the top is still stitched up by the 'haves' who have no intention of cedeing ground to any of the 'have nots' - there will be massive push for eugenics sooner than that being allowed to happen and after all, they do run the media........ oh, and they dont need quite so much cannon fodder these days now that everybody is going nuclear either....

 

It isnt accidental by any stretch of the imagination. People who are educated to run the country come from a select few schools where they churn out industry chiefs, lawyers and politicians who all work together to watch each others backs on a grand scale and not to allow any from the 'lower social order' to come a creeping through their web of protection(ism). The drugs issue is just one symptom of the corruption in high places - here are a few others 

 

While drugs are illegal there are people getting rich from the black markets. The church and the right wing have had the show stitched up for centuries - they want subservient little cap doffers who will unquestioningly do their bidding but they fear those of us who are venturing to open those 'doors of perception' which open to show us a vista of grand scale corruption and social manipulation (amongst other things of course lol) which has only previously been suggested to the masses in literature - just look at any of the lists of banned books for instance, anything which has 'told it like it is' has been banned at some point or another........

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Permalink Reply by Trisha Smith on June 2, 2011 at 7:48am

Illicit drugs are the cash crop of the lawyers, they want the drugs rules as they are in place and they need to keep drugs illegal or they lose their livelihoods.

The knock on effect from the drugs trade is very lucrative for them, petty crime does pay... for the lawyers that is!

Our societies will be a lot better for the majorities when the privileged minorities stop running the show for their own nefarious purposes - marginalising druggies as the baddies of society is a brazen cover up for the evil that the jolly controllers get away with under our very noses as a matter of course....  they use distraction strategies too and with the use of the media as a tool of social control they have a pretty large and willing audience - its something of a battle we have on our hands, theres no denying but its winnable - we are slowly getting the message out to people that all is certainly not as it seems... maybe its best too that stuff is trickled out slowly cos if people realised all of a sudden how much theyve been had there would be rioting all over the world - oh, hold on.... thats whats happening isnt it?

 

Yeah, I am a bit of a lefty hahaha....

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Permalink Reply by Atheist Exile on June 2, 2011 at 7:56am

I've been smoking pot for over 40 years and . . .

 

. . . what was I saying?

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Permalink Reply by Trisha Smith on June 2, 2011 at 8:06am

Get a vaporizer, it wont matter anymore... lol

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