Wanted to post this up for this audience. It’s long but very interesting, the creator of The Wire.
What do you think of what he says?
“I would decriminalize drugs in a heartbeat.”
Thanks, I enjoyed that. I had never seen this show.
Me neither. I was very impressed.
You may be shocked to learn that I support the legalization of Marijuana.
I think it is down right silly for Marijuana to be illegal. I also find it silly that certain drugs have to be prescribed or cannot be prescribed or taken at all.
I would support the legalization of all drugs under the condition that taxpayer supported safety nets for abuse are also removed.
[quote]dhickey wrote:
I think it is down right silly for Marijuana to be illegal. I also find it silly that certain drugs have to be prescribed or cannot be prescribed or taken at all.
I would support the legalization of all drugs under the condition that taxpayer supported safety nets for abuse are also removed. [/quote]
I don’t even smoke weed, but absolutely any argument that can made against marijuana on every single level can also be made against alcohol. That one is legal and one is not is nit wittery.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
You may be shocked to learn that I support the legalization of Marijuana.[/quote]
Na, you’re one of the more reasonable conservatives on this board.
[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
dhickey wrote:
I think it is down right silly for Marijuana to be illegal. I also find it silly that certain drugs have to be prescribed or cannot be prescribed or taken at all.
I would support the legalization of all drugs under the condition that taxpayer supported safety nets for abuse are also removed.
I don’t even smoke weed, but absolutely any argument that can made against marijuana on every single level can also be made against alcohol. That one is legal and one is not is nit wittery.[/quote]
I’m sure you know this, but as was pointed out in the video, one is legal because a bunch of white guys here in America make money off of it. There is no other reason.
[quote]stokedporcupine8 wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
dhickey wrote:
I think it is down right silly for Marijuana to be illegal. I also find it silly that certain drugs have to be prescribed or cannot be prescribed or taken at all.
I would support the legalization of all drugs under the condition that taxpayer supported safety nets for abuse are also removed.
I don’t even smoke weed, but absolutely any argument that can made against marijuana on every single level can also be made against alcohol. That one is legal and one is not is nit wittery.
I’m sure you know this, but as was pointed out in the video, one is legal because a bunch of white guys here in America make money off of it. There is no other reason. [/quote]
But a bunch of white guys were making money off it when it was made illegal. The same guys that bootlegged moonshine where growing an distributing weed. A good portion of it still is. White guys would probably be making most of the money should it become legal. The history of marijuana is actually pretty interesting. It becoming illegal was almost an accident. Most of the legislators that made it illegal didn’t even know what it was. The medical testimony came from a single doctor that claimed it turned him into a bat.
[quote]dhickey wrote:
stokedporcupine8 wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
dhickey wrote:
I think it is down right silly for Marijuana to be illegal. I also find it silly that certain drugs have to be prescribed or cannot be prescribed or taken at all.
I would support the legalization of all drugs under the condition that taxpayer supported safety nets for abuse are also removed.
I don’t even smoke weed, but absolutely any argument that can made against marijuana on every single level can also be made against alcohol. That one is legal and one is not is nit wittery.
I’m sure you know this, but as was pointed out in the video, one is legal because a bunch of white guys here in America make money off of it. There is no other reason.
But a bunch of white guys were making money off it when it was made illegal. The same guys that bootlegged moonshine where growing an distributing weed. A good portion of it still is. White guys would probably be making most of the money should it become legal. The history of marijuana is actually pretty interesting. It becoming illegal was almost an accident. Most of the legislators that made it illegal didn’t even know what it was. The medical testimony came from a single doctor that claimed it turned him into a bat.[/quote]
And Anslinger needed a huge target to build up the Narcotics Bureau with. And Hearst, well Hearst was Hearst.
Jazz and swing were satan’s music. Mexicans and blacks got high and raped all the white women, you could shoot them with a tank shell, but they’d just end up raping the tank too.
What about other drugs? Simon has also advocated jury nullification in favor of ending the drug war- no matter how much weight is involved, vote to acquit unless there’s a violent crime.
I’m not sure if I agree or not.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
What about other drugs? Simon has also advocated jury nullification in favor of ending the drug war- no matter how much weight is involved, vote to acquit unless there’s a violent crime.
I’m not sure if I agree or not.[/quote]
this is a sensable stance. who gives a shit what other people do if they are not overtly harming someone else. There are plenty of ways you can destroy you life. Picking and chosing arbitrary crusades to save people from themselves is a losing proposition. Let them fuck their lives up if they want. Call it natural selection. Some people will find a way to fail at life no matter what you make illegal.
If one feals that drug trade and use leads to other crimes against innocent people, why not spend energy and resourses on these crimes? Increased resourses and punishment for the actual crimes agianst innocent individuals seems a bit more efficient to me.
What about all the crime caused by the drug trade being illegal? Criminal enterprises are subject to the laws of supply and demand just like any other enterprise. If gangs and criminal eliments are not need to traffic and sell drugs, they will not be payed so well to do so. No money in the illegal drug trade, people no longer enter the illegal drug trade. The drug smuggler and street dealer go the way of the buggie maker.
[quote]dhickey wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
What about other drugs? Simon has also advocated jury nullification in favor of ending the drug war- no matter how much weight is involved, vote to acquit unless there’s a violent crime.
I’m not sure if I agree or not.
this is a sensable stance. who gives a shit what other people do if they are not overtly harming someone else. There are plenty of ways you can destroy you life. Picking and chosing arbitrary crusades to save people from themselves is a losing proposition. Let them fuck their lives up if they want. Call it natural selection. Some people will find a way to fail at life no matter what you make illegal.
[/quote]
But they ARE harming others. Nothing destroys families like drug addiction. Not to mention, the people can’t hold a job when they’re fucked up all the time, and that means they have no money.
That leads to robbing your fuckin house to make up for it. It absolutely begets crime, and violent ones at that.
Legalizing is one thing- but alternatives must be provided. Education programs, all kinds of shit, to make up for it. You can just give people the loaded gun of drugs like heroin and tell them to play russian roulette for it.
And you’ll also have massive amounts of people addicted to drugs that are no longer illegal, and no longer have any social constrictions on them.
I think it would be disastrous for anything more than marijuana to be legalized.
Watched it, and ordered the wire on netflix, thanks for the post irish
[quote]Gambit_Lost wrote:
Watched it, and ordered the wire on netflix, thanks for the post irish
[/quote]
Don’t know if you ever saw it before, but its the greatest show that’s ever been on TV. Ever. There are no comparisons.
Glad you dug it.
Very thought provoking series, but my question is how would legalizing drugs fix the issues at hand?
[quote]Therizza wrote:
Very thought provoking series, but my question is how would legalizing drugs fix the issues at hand?[/quote]
The issue is not so much addiction as it’s been the institutions’ reactions to it.
Mayors campaign on lower crime rates, but when the numbers are doctored (as Sifu talked about in another thread happening in GB) what do they mean?
Drug arrests, per se, tend to put people on the lowest rung in the most trouble, and the jails are overfilled as a result (and with people who are not inherently violent, either). This leads into race, as the highest amount of drug addicts you’re going to find are in the cities- therefore, the people getting arrested are black or other minorities.
Point being, by removing the basis for this system that has come to feed off drug addiction (which the basis is the “War on Drugs”), I would think it’s led him to believe that it can be fixed in other ways then locking people up.
It’s one of those things where we ain’t sure about the answer, but it’s definitely not what they’re doing right now.
My opinion at least.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
<<< I think it would be disastrous for anything more than marijuana to be legalized. [/quote]
I’m inclined with you here, but far from settled. Dhickey makes points that I’ve also thought quite a bit about and do carry some serious weight as well.
One thing you can certain of is that if weed was legalized people may wind up longing for the days when it wasn’t by the time all the regulation and taxes are in place. That is guaranteed to include making it illegal to grow yourself.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
But they ARE harming others. Nothing destroys families like drug addiction.
[/quote]
Nothing? Really? Infidelity, abuse, addiction to legal substances, non substance addiction, ect. Lot’s of people come from fucked up homes. Does it really matter why they are fucked up. You can’t force someone to be a responsible spouse or parent.
People can’t hold a job when the are fucked up on legal substances. People can’t hold jobs for a lot of different reason. Should we make all of them illegal?
Then focus on the real crime. Imagine all the resourses going into the war on drugs and what kind of difference they could make if they focused on these types of crimes.
You are not giving them anything or telling them to do anything. Do we really need to further educated on the ills of drugs? Don’t we already do this? The tax payer should not be on the hook for treatment programs and ohter saftey nets. This wiil act as a deterant to risky behavior. What is the real consequence of being a drug addict today? Is it really that hard to fuck around as much as you want now and get help when it becomes bad enough?
[quote]
And you’ll also have massive amounts of people addicted to drugs that are no longer illegal, and no longer have any social constrictions on them.
I think it would be disastrous for anything more than marijuana to be legalized. [/quote]
Again, why would there be an appreciable increase in disasterous addiction? There are plenty of legal addictions that are just as harmful as illegal ones. Are we seeing disasterous epidemics of legal addiction?
I have no qualms about breaking the law to smoke weed. Why is that I have chosen not to do meth, coke, crack, airplane glue, No2, or strangle myself while jerking off. Legality has nothing to do with it. Access has nothting to do with it. It would be just as easy, or easier, for me to do any of these other things.
[quote]dhickey wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
But they ARE harming others. Nothing destroys families like drug addiction.
Nothing? Really? Infidelity, abuse, addiction to legal substances, non substance addiction, ect. Lot’s of people come from fucked up homes. Does it really matter why they are fucked up. You can’t force someone to be a responsible spouse or parent.
Not to mention, the people can’t hold a job when they’re fucked up all the time, and that means they have no money.
People can’t hold a job when the are fucked up on legal substances. People can’t hold jobs for a lot of different reason. Should we make all of them illegal?
That leads to robbing your fuckin house to make up for it. It absolutely begets crime, and violent ones at that.
Then focus on the real crime. Imagine all the resourses going into the war on drugs and what kind of difference they could make if they focused on these types of crimes.
Legalizing is one thing- but alternatives must be provided. Education programs, all kinds of shit, to make up for it. You can just give people the loaded gun of drugs like heroin and tell them to play russian roulette for it.
You are not giving them anything or telling them to do anything. Do we really need to further educated on the ills of drugs? Don’t we already do this? The tax payer should not be on the hook for treatment programs and ohter saftey nets. This wiil act as a deterant to risky behavior. What is the real consequence of being a drug addict today? Is it really that hard to fuck around as much as you want now and get help when it becomes bad enough?
And you’ll also have massive amounts of people addicted to drugs that are no longer illegal, and no longer have any social constrictions on them.
I think it would be disastrous for anything more than marijuana to be legalized.
Again, why would there be an appreciable increase in disasterous addiction? There are plenty of legal addictions that are just as harmful as illegal ones. Are we seeing disasterous epidemics of legal addiction?
I have no qualms about breaking the law to smoke weed. Why is that I have chosen not to do meth, coke, crack, airplane glue, No2, or strangle myself while jerking off. Legality has nothing to do with it. Access has nothting to do with it. It would be just as easy, or easier, for me to do any of these other things.
[/quote]
nods my thoughts.