Hey Brian... I actually agree with Pelata on this.
...I figured you would Zod.
I really don't understand why we continue to view drugs, especially marijuana, so differently than we view alcohol. Well... actually I do understand why, I just disagree.
As odd as it may sound, I'm not so much referring to "mary jane" when I'm thinking of drugs. Granted, I don't want some jackass sitting behind me, while smoking a joint at this fall's UT football game, but I don't think it's the worst thing out there either.
By the governments own estimates, the "War on Druugs" (sp intentional to get past filters) has been a monolithic failure.
That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, considering the government can't manage anything, much less the war on drugs.
All we've managed to do is spend billions in tax payer dollars to clog up the courts and jails and create a black market for law enforcement to deal with, where none needs to exist.
The government will continue to waste tax payer's money no matter what. Look at the current administration and look at the one prior. That's simply what most politicians do, waste money.
If someone wants to smoke a joint at home, I have no idea why that should be the business of the government, short of collecting the tax revenue from its sale.
I honestly don't think the government should earn money off of someone else's addictions, whatever those might be.
People will always use drugs. Will will always go to prostitutes. These things will never end. We can either tax and regulate, or waste time and money enforcing Bronze Age standards of morality, and live in a prison nation.
It's true that people will always use drugs and prostitutes. With that said, that's still not an excuse to give up trying to maintain some standards in this country. The majority of prostitutes are tied into drug rings in one form or the other. Most of them are junkies themselves. Prostitution isn't a pretty or glamorous thing. Most of those girls are runaways or been kidnapped, etc. A person such as yourself can't possibly think that we can legalize Marijuana and not leagalize heroine and meth. If you make one ok, then you'll have to make the rest ok too. You can't possibly want your future children having such easy access to these items. They're all addictive and alter one's use of judgement no matter how you look at it.
Spending billions to fence off Mexico, so that they can't sell us the drugs we want, and shoot each other with the guns we sold them, seems somewhat heartless to me. While I agree there are valid reasons to secure our borders, fighting the war on the drugs is not one of them.
Zod, most of us don't want drugs. I'm not sure what you're getting at with the guns, but America isn't to blame for Mexico's poverty and them shooting one another. The Mexican government needs to take some responsibility for their citizens, make the country more appealing and livable to them, and quit blaming the U.S. for everything. Sealing off the boarders won't be a 100%sure way of dealing with America's drug problem, but would hurt the so called industry in a big way.
By the way, I realize you'll come out of this thread looking like a hero, so be it. In addition, I know that I'm in the minority on this forum, but not overall in our country. With that said, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I said yes to leagalizing hard drugs or prostitution, bottom line.
~Brian~
