FruityBud
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2007
- Messages
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The war on drugs has been fought. We lost.
So what now?
For starters, we should admit defeat and legalize marijuana.
We have spent untold billions of dollars battling drugs, but, as the Americans learned in Vietnam, some wars are simply un-winnable.
In this case, the demand for recreational marijuana is such that people will find it, regardless of how difficult we make it.
Its like booze was during Prohibition. People wanted to drown their sorrows, and they did, legally or otherwise. Guys like Al Capone made millions until the government wised up, legalized alcohol and started doing what all governments do: tax the product.
Thats what we should do with marijuana.
It wouldnt cost much, either. Take a thorough inventory at all our liquor stores. Toss the worst selling items, split the stores in half, put booze on one side, dope on the other. Tax them both, and voila, many problems are solved.
The government gets additional revenue, so maybe they can even lower the price of gas, and marijuana users get to light up without fear of getting busted.
Even the police come out ahead, because they can be freed up to chase after the really bad guys, not the average Tom, **** and Mary who want to relax with a toke or two on the weekend.
Besides, if we arrest everyone who lights up once in a while, where are we going to put them all? Certainly not in jail, because there arent enough institutions to house them all.
Times change, and the laws have to change along with them.
I remember a time when guys wore white shirts, and white shirts only. I also remember when men wore jump suits, too, but thats a story for another day.
The point is, smoking marijuana is, like it or not, socially acceptable by the majority of Canadians. A nationwide poll released this week may shock you: 53 per cent of Canadians support the legalization of marijuana.
A 2007 United Nations World Drug Report found Canadians use cannabis more than any country in Europe, Asia or Latin America.
By legalizing dope, the government also gains control over it, and, by making it legally available, they cut the street peddlers off at the knees. They also deal a heavy blow to organized crime, because the dealers will have a hard time competing with the government. Itll be the same way it was when people quit going to bootleggers when alcohol was legalized and made readily available.
This is not a moral judgment I make, because I think mostly dopes do dope. However, there appear to be a lot of dopes out there.
In my view, booze is a bigger problem for society than marijuana and making alcohol illegal did nothing to solve, or even lessen, that problem.
The fact is, if you smoke 10 joints a day, or drink a 40-pounder of rye every day, you will have major problems.
By legalizing dope, and taxing it, we will at least have the cash to educate people on the inherent risks of doing drugs.
It wont solve all our problems, but we have to start somewhere.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/686t5e
So what now?
For starters, we should admit defeat and legalize marijuana.
We have spent untold billions of dollars battling drugs, but, as the Americans learned in Vietnam, some wars are simply un-winnable.
In this case, the demand for recreational marijuana is such that people will find it, regardless of how difficult we make it.
Its like booze was during Prohibition. People wanted to drown their sorrows, and they did, legally or otherwise. Guys like Al Capone made millions until the government wised up, legalized alcohol and started doing what all governments do: tax the product.
Thats what we should do with marijuana.
It wouldnt cost much, either. Take a thorough inventory at all our liquor stores. Toss the worst selling items, split the stores in half, put booze on one side, dope on the other. Tax them both, and voila, many problems are solved.
The government gets additional revenue, so maybe they can even lower the price of gas, and marijuana users get to light up without fear of getting busted.
Even the police come out ahead, because they can be freed up to chase after the really bad guys, not the average Tom, **** and Mary who want to relax with a toke or two on the weekend.
Besides, if we arrest everyone who lights up once in a while, where are we going to put them all? Certainly not in jail, because there arent enough institutions to house them all.
Times change, and the laws have to change along with them.
I remember a time when guys wore white shirts, and white shirts only. I also remember when men wore jump suits, too, but thats a story for another day.
The point is, smoking marijuana is, like it or not, socially acceptable by the majority of Canadians. A nationwide poll released this week may shock you: 53 per cent of Canadians support the legalization of marijuana.
A 2007 United Nations World Drug Report found Canadians use cannabis more than any country in Europe, Asia or Latin America.
By legalizing dope, the government also gains control over it, and, by making it legally available, they cut the street peddlers off at the knees. They also deal a heavy blow to organized crime, because the dealers will have a hard time competing with the government. Itll be the same way it was when people quit going to bootleggers when alcohol was legalized and made readily available.
This is not a moral judgment I make, because I think mostly dopes do dope. However, there appear to be a lot of dopes out there.
In my view, booze is a bigger problem for society than marijuana and making alcohol illegal did nothing to solve, or even lessen, that problem.
The fact is, if you smoke 10 joints a day, or drink a 40-pounder of rye every day, you will have major problems.
By legalizing dope, and taxing it, we will at least have the cash to educate people on the inherent risks of doing drugs.
It wont solve all our problems, but we have to start somewhere.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/686t5e
