Legalize the Drug Trade to Cut Off Terrorism Funding

well get a lot of money and start funding a political campaign. other than that there isn't much to be done.

 

Another thing it would reduce is the using it because it is bad. I remember back in high school students would use drugs and drink just because they weren't supposeed to and seem cool to the rest of their peers. I believe the U.S. has one of the highest drinking ages (21) in the world yet has one of the biggest underage drinking and drug use problems in the world as well.

 

Yea the 21 year old drinking age is pretty stupid. Just encourages less education on drinking because those between 18-20 have to hide when they drink. The only way this changes is when an ultra-financially secure state decides to refuse federal highway funds and lower the drinking age. I think Alaska might be the only state even remotely capable of pulling this off since their oil revenue more than meets the demands of state spending.

So until Alaska decides to get a little balsy, we're stuck with a 21 year old drinking age.

 

Um, maybe not quite so. If I recall correctly, as recent as in fiscal year 2001, Alaska received more federal $$$ for its state-wide expenditures than the tax $$$ it sent to Washington. I haven't seen data for the latest, but it's reasonably to assume Alaska has been consistently one of those states in the union that's red on both electoral map and state balance sheet. Talk about Republicans' hatred of socialism, duh.

 

andymoon,

i figured out your reasoning. you were burnt a couple years back..
you had your NFL draft setting to autopick and you had Ricky Williams as your #1 pick.

Then Ricky went Bob Marley on you.

you got burnt!

we all know ricky would have gained a billion yards, if it were legal

 

I don't agree with legalizing all drugs, but I agree with legalizing mar1juana.

I shudder to think what living in a society full of stoners would look like...

 

I find that the AndyMoon wing of pro-drug posters generally have their eyes wide shut. I know I came from the "Ozzie & Harriet" culture rather than the "Kill Everything That Moves" moviegoers, but let's try to look at the reality rather than utopia.

Assuming that drugs are legalized and we have Phillip Morris selling hash, hemp, and weed with coke filters, and we have Starbucks doing Starznmoon crack houses and opium emporiums:

First, does anybody think there won't be illegitimate drug dealers vying with the legitimate ones? Do you think the smugglers will want to pay taxes and fees that the legitimate dealers will be paying? The result will be lower drug prices so more people (including more children) can afford them.

Second, how does the health insurance industry deal with addiction? Would addiction or just ordinary week-end drug use be an exclusionary proviso, especially if they cause a work-related or traffic accident?

Third, how does the government deal with the cost of lost productivity due to worker absenteeism? Alcoholism is bad enough, but drying out a heroin addict is even harder. Don't worry, Andy, I've seen both first hand, in spades.

I'm sure AndyMoon will tell me the social implications would be no worse than currently, but there is no way to put an "Ozzie & Harriet" face on that one.

 

just curious...but have you actually read anything in this thread or did you just write a post without even considering the other side? have you not even paid attention to the fact that legalization doesn't increase usage rates? how about the lost productivity of people thrown in jail for weed?

and i know you say you've seen people drying out from herion, and if that's true then i think you would know that it's a pretty big leap for a recreational pot smoker to jump to herion. you have to be a horribly addictive person to get there.

 

I do not agree with legalizing drugs. They should be decriminalized though. It's ridiculous that a guy who smokes pot gets automatically 15 years which is longer then a pedophile. The pot smoker might be ruining his own life, but at least he's not ruining other people's lives.

 

I agree.

As for the 21 year old drinking age, our country is different than most.....for the most part people don't drink and drive as much as we do, as we are a subarb country versus a village country.

Thus causing us to go farther for our drink.....

DD

 

DaDakota, I'm a pretty live and let live kind of guy. However, I don't believe the stats because they have not been tested in the larger crucible of the low price/reduced penalty scenario. Social and legal taboos tend to keep usage down, but without them people have to roam farther out to walk on the wild side.

Personally, I don't care what a person chooses to put in or on their bodies. However, it will be the non-users who ultimately will pay the medical costs because dedicated users won't be able to do so.

 

Well, since I did not write the post your responded too, I am going to let it go.

 

Apologies, I forgot to whom I was responding, scrolled down and the luster and prestige of your name seized my attention.

 

Isn't that how it is now?

I pay higher car insurance rates because so many people either do not have it or people who do have it are out there scamming the system.

How about my higher medical insurance costs due to all of the people in my company who go to the Doctor for every little thing.

I'm pretty sure that the low percentage of addicts will have less of an effect on insurance costs than the those who are currently abusing the system.

Let's not even start on talking about the "legal" drugs that are pushed on old people by the "legalized" drug companies.

How many times have you seen a commercial for some new drug that doesn't even tell you what it is for? "Better go ask my Doc if I need this!"

If you ask me, the FDA is more dangerous to society than the pot dealer down the street.

Just my 2 cents....

 

i guess you believe that the social taboos against addication will go away if it becomes legal? i just don't see that being true. morals don't just disappear because something becomes legal. alcohol is legal but it is still viewed as a very bad thing to abuse it. you become viewed as a bum to the people around you and you can't function in society.

secondly, we already pay for the addicts.

 

During the Ozzie & Harriet days cursing, teenage smoking, sex in TV/films, etc. was taboo. The "sins" of the day were there, but taboo. Today, with the relaxation of those standards, anything goes, even for children. Violence in society is far more rampant because the constant exposure to murder and mayhem has dulled the edges of our senses, so violence peddlars are forced to go further still. Pardon my lament.

And we will pay more until people tire of paying at all. Then what will happen to the addicts for whom we grieve?