You have stats to back that up? The whole purpose of this thread is to satire, in a way, the drug war that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to 'fight'. Its a joke and so is your statement.

 

Alcohol is a poison/drug. I'm sure you are in favor of that? Is it in our society's best interest or yours?

 

We all have reasons to think the way we do and say things we say. All of our lives have been "shaped" by our own experiences. Don't tell me mine is a joke, until you have walked in my shoes. Thanks. Check out the link. It's just one of many cases that I have been close to.

 

http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/889/69/354340/

We all have reasons to think the way we do and say things we say. All of our lives have been "shaped" by our own experiences. Don't tell me mine is a joke, until you have walked in my shoes. Thanks. Check out the link. It's just one of many cases that I have been close to.

 

http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/889/69/354340/

 

To be fair, you did call those you disagree with idiots with your first post in this thread. At any rate, from the linked article it appears that drug-associated crime has declined in Portugal since their change in drug policy. If this is your concern, then it would seem that the US has spent an incredible amount of money and resources policing and incarcerating people over drugs and the problems have not only remained, but have worsened. Why not re-evaluate drug policy?

We all have reasons to think the way we do and say things we say. All of our lives have been "shaped" by our own experiences. Don't tell me mine is a joke, until you have walked in my shoes. Thanks. Check out the link. It's just one of many cases that I have been close to.

 

http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/889/69/354340/

 

 

Just to have clarity, which drugs are you against? Pot? Cocaine? Heroin?

 

I think your statement is a joke. To say that decriminalizing certain drugs will bear a financial burden on society is just silly. I said earlier we have spent hundreds of millions fighting drug wars. Has it helped?

To be fair, you did call those you disagree with idiots with your first post in this thread. At any rate, from the linked article it appears that drug-associated crime has declined in Portugal since their change in drug policy. If this is your concern, then it would seem that the US has spent an incredible amount of money and resources policing and incarcerating people over drugs and the problems have not only remained, but have worsened. Why not re-evaluate drug policy?

 

:thumb:

There are lots of laws on our books that are partially effective at best and end up costing society boatloads of money to enforce, drug laws being one of them.

 

I'm not saying I'm against legalization of drugs, but where do you draw the line? What about prostitution? Human trafficking has become a significant problem in this country, and we could probably eliminate 98% of it by legalizing prostitution. It's all consensual right? Nobody gets hurt who doesn't want to. No impact to the rest of society, right?

We all have reasons to think the way we do and say things we say. All of our lives have been "shaped" by our own experiences. Don't tell me mine is a joke, until you have walked in my shoes. Thanks. Check out the link. It's just one of many cases that I have been close to.

 

http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/889/69/354340/

I read most of the link. I can understand your anger and emphathize with it. However, let's say drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and Quaaludes can be obtained safely and cheaply. Don't you think this would lower incidents like this? According to the data from Portugal, where this tactic is going on and has for ten years, drug abuse and crime has went down. Is it so wrong to at least want to explore a drug-fighting tactic that appears to be working?

 

One other question, do you feel that the War on Drugs is working or having any positive impact on drug abuse, crimes, etc?

 

Finally, don't forget, organized crime came to power in this country on the heels of Prohibition.

There are lots of laws on our books that are partially effective at best and end up costing society boatloads of money to enforce, drug laws being one of them.

 

I'm not saying I'm against legalization of drugs, but where do you draw the line? What about prostitution? Human trafficking has become a significant problem in this country, and we could probably eliminate 98% of it by legalizing prostitution. It's all consensual right? Nobody gets hurt who doesn't want to. No impact to the rest of society, right?

 

Probably for a separate thread, but why is that illegal?

There are lots of laws on our books that are partially effective at best and end up costing society boatloads of money to enforce, drug laws being one of them.

 

I'm not saying I'm against legalization of drugs, but where do you draw the line? What about prostitution? Human trafficking has become a significant problem in this country, and we could probably eliminate 98% of it by legalizing prostitution. It's all consensual right? Nobody gets hurt who doesn't want to. No impact to the rest of society, right?

Two consenting adults can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. Also, no issues with what one adult chooses to put into their body. i'll gladly talk about why I think it should be legal in another thread.

 

For anyone interested in consensual crime laws I HIGHLY recommend the following book:

 

Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country

Probably for a separate thread, but why is that illegal?

I've often wondered that myself.

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

There are lots of laws on our books that are partially effective at best and end up costing society boatloads of money to enforce, drug laws being one of them.

 

I'm not saying I'm against legalization of drugs, but where do you draw the line? What about prostitution? Human trafficking has become a significant problem in this country, and we could probably eliminate 98% of it by legalizing prostitution. It's all consensual right? Nobody gets hurt who doesn't want to. No impact to the rest of society, right?

 

Probably for a separate thread, but why is that illegal?

 

I've often wondered that myself.

Looks like three of us are wondering the same thing. I don't understand the reason for it either.

To be fair, you did call those you disagree with idiots with your first post in this thread. At any rate, from the linked article it appears that drug-associated crime has declined in Portugal since their change in drug policy. If this is your concern, then it would seem that the US has spent an incredible amount of money and resources policing and incarcerating people over drugs and the problems have not only remained, but have worsened. Why not re-evaluate drug policy?

 

The lib(ertarian) in me strongly agrees.

I sometimes wonder what the sales tax revenues alone would be on legalized drugs.

Looks like three of us are wondering the same thing. I don't understand the reason for it either.

 

In my opinion, it's not about drugs, prostitution or any other specific commodity or service, it's about where as a society do you draw the line? A commonly heard statement is "you can't legislate morality," but what else are laws & regulations other than moral judgements encoded into a society's rule book. Alcohol yes, weed no, cigarettes yes (at least for now), cocaine no, men marrying women yes, men marrying men depends on where you live, $7,500 tax-payer subsidy for the Chevy Volt yes, tax break for the Chevy Suburban no.

 

These are all judgement calls made in theory for what's best for our society. Do we as a society want to tell our kids drugs are acceptable? Do we want to tell them it's OK to buy sex? I'm not sure. But I do know one thing, we tell them something with every law passed, whether we've thought in those terms or not. The utilitarian line of thinking when applied to drugs can make a lot of sense, but is it the best way to make all judgements of legality? Will using a cost/benefit analysis lead us to where we want to be? Or are some principles so important, so core to what we believe a human being ought to be, that we must stand by them at all cost?

 

Just like a sports team, every society must decide what they're about. Our founding fathers helped make some of those decision for us with the Constitution. The question is where do we go from here?

I sometimes wonder what the sales tax revenues alone would be on legalized drugs.

Enough to fund rehab, treatment, std testing, dirty needle exchanges, etc...and then some.