Posted by Trixie on July 05, 1998 at 17:28:04:
In Reply to: Legalize marijuana posted by Chris on July 05, 1998 at 16:58:15:
I agree with your ideas, moreover, I think that all drugs should be legalized. My thinking on this has nothing to do with health issues, yes, I understand that drugs are dangerous and addictive...just like nicotene and other stimulants commonly accepted in our society today. My opinion on this has to do with the 'war on drugs'. I think we are wasting a tremendous amount of money, attacking this problem from the wrong direction (as long as there are users, there will be sellers, IMO). I think that legalizing drugs will go a long ways towards eliminating the current criminal control of drug production/distribution. If drugs are manufactured in sterile, inspected, environments (like alcohol) then quality can be controlled (hence eliminating many accidental overdoses) and the criminal will be taken out of the system (by criminal I mean gangs, mafia, etc - not the users who resort to crime to sustain their habit, much like some alcoholics do). Once we stop spending so much money on fighting this battle from the wrong end, we can start spending money on the right end - the end of the user and the addict. Perhaps if we stop spending so much money jailing sellers (with some users now and then) maybe we can spend the money to ensure that there are rehabilitative clinics accessible to everyone who needs them. I am NOT encouraging drug use, or minimizing the dangers therein, but this is normally a victimless crime (once we eliminate the criminal element from the production cycle, that is) that is better dealt with through the medical/psychiatric community than the penal system. I believe we spend far more money dealing with the health problems resulting from cigarette smoking in our society, yet (most of us) would not make buying or using cigarettes illegal. Alcohol does far more damage in our society, IMO, than drugs do, but, again, most of us would not criminalize the use of alcohol. In fact, I'm largely using the lessons we learned from the prohibition of alcohol earlier in this century. When alcohol was illegal, the mafia took over the production and sale of alcohol. Government should not put itself in the business of "ordering" good behavior, or common sense. It's a waste of tax payer money, and doesn't work, besides.