Don't You Just Love the Drug War?

[Mr. Deez]

Link. Lying cops and a dead 80-year old man with no criminal history, but at least we're keeping people from getting stoned like those degenerate Europeans, right? Oh wait, no we aren't. We're just wasting money and killing old people in the middle of the night.

 

[UTChE96]

Sad. The ultimate extension of the nanny state. We are all too stupid to make our own decisions. Government must protect us from ourselves. And if an innocent old man or two get massacred in their bed, well that's just part of the deal.

 

[Burnt Orange Bevo]

Not being pessimistic but realistic, the United States is slowly but inexorably yielding all of the freedoms that formerly made her great. Now the U.S. is coasting downhill towards oblivion in one form or another. The entire notion of accountability for one's actions is gone. If a person makes a stupid mistake, either the government will bail them out or they can sue somebody for inducing them into making said bad choice. If the federal or local government makes a mistake, it's officials hide behind secrecy laws (or claim sovereign immunity of some sort) or stonewall or harass/threaten those who speak out.

I feel so sad for the youth and children in America today, they will live in and experience a much different (and worse) nation than what the Founding Fathers would ever have imagined. It's ironic yet appropriate that fewer and fewer politicians invoke the phrase "God bless America" any more, because this nation is on the verge of being a God-forsaken land.

 

[Larry T. Spider]

I think the country is heading in the right direction regarding drugs. We have learned that we cant stop people from using and that all the laws just create a huge black market that gets filled with drug lords and their minions. Legalize and regulate everything and the drug war and all the violence goes away instantly. I know its radical, but so is spending billions and countless lives on something that has made to no harder to find any drug. Hopefully the experiments in colorado and washington go well and will be expanded so that we can stop this stupidity.

 

[huisache]

I think we can have drugs we want and have a drug war at the same time. Hundreds of thousands of cops, drug analyst labbies, lawyers and judges and jailers and the like would be out of work if we legalized the drugs that so many use. And since most druggies don't get caught, it is only bad for the ones who do and they are a statistical fraction. So they suffer some, an occasional 80 year old gets gunned down in his castle, etc. This seems a rational way of dealing with things to me.

And let us consider a huge downside to legalization: if these drugs are legalized and the black market for them disappears, that means the many fine citizens who make their living selling them are out of work. Does anyone really think they will just go on the dole, start collecting food stamps or stand on street corners begging? I think not. These are resourceful, avaricious people and Wall Street can't hire all of them. They will turn to other forms of crime to finance their nights at the tiddy bars and their souped up Mercedes' and BMWs. My guess is the kidnapping rate skyrockets when drugs are legalized.

I am not affected by the drug wars: I don't buy or use or hang with those who do. If they are legalized I might get kidnapped for ransom though.

So I vote to leave things as they are. A few million people end up in jail or prison, some famous celebrities are among the thousands who overdose every year and once in a while some 80 year old gets gunned down by the constabulary.

A small price to pay, no?

 

[zork]

In reply to:

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[NJlonghorn]

zork, I think you need to acquire one of these gadgets:

the link

 

[zork]

oops.