New poll finds increasing support for regulated MJ

Actually, I never even looked for the timeline after I decided that the debate was fruitless, but you are more than welcome to use your timeline. It still does not change the fact that you are operating from an assumption.

 

Agreed, which is why I do post in other threads.

This still does not change the facts of the drug war, which I will continue to post as they are important, not just to me, but to the country.

 

Drugs are VERY bad for you (I have never disputed you on this, in fact I have said even more strongly that drugs could be the worst thing a person can do to themselves), which is the main reason that they should be regulated.

The vast majority of the problems with drugs today are not problems with drugs, but with prohibition. We can mitigate the problems in a regulated market, but we can have no positive impact on these problems with the policies we have in place now.

There were many people who thought just like you (except about alcohol) in the 1920s, which led to the 18th Amendment (Prohibition). Today, attitudes are shifting because many people are starting to see through the "Reefer Madness" propaganda.

Here is a challenge for you. Since you support prohibition, please post the reasons for it. Is your only argument is that drugs are bad for you?

What positive effect has drug prohibition had on our society?

How is prohibition going to reach its stated goals of no drug use in this country?

How do you respond to other cultures who have reduced drug use DRASTICALLY (both teens and adults) by regulating the industry?

All I ask is that you SUPPORT your view. Can you do that or has "Reefer Madness" totally consumed you?

 

Think what you like, you are enough of a moron that I really don't care.

All the polls and timelines in the world do not change the fact that you want to invade the privacy of women, take control of their bodies, and dictate what they must do based on an ASSUMPTION. The Nazis assumed that Jewish people were dirty, greedy subhumans that needed to be exterminated.

Public policy cannot be written based on assumptions or you get things like slavery, apartheid, concentration camps, genocide, and prohibition.

We have assumed for nearly 100 years that we can effectively prohibit people from using these chemicals and over the past 30 years, the fallacy of that assumption has come home to roost.

It is time for a drug policy based on science, not assumptions.

 

So, you are saying that without a statistical analysis of the ethnic, income, and population data that these numbers are wrong?

I do use the statistic to point out that in other cultures with more liberal drug policies, they have drastically lower usage rates by both young people and adults. I don't claim that we will see exactly the same result that the Netherlands has had, mostly because I do not advocate the same kind of system they have (decriminalized and tolerated, not regulated and taxed).

The only reason I use those numbers at all is because we have seen virtually NO change in usage rates or availability over the past 30 years even though we have increased our drug war spending almost exponentially.

According to a the US Department of Justice, "In 1999 the United States spent a record $147 billion for police protection, corrections, and judicial and legal activities. The Nation's expenditure for operations and outlay of the justice system increased 309% from almost $36 billion in 1982."

(Al Pacino impersonation)
Every time I think I'm out, they drag me back in.

The difference is that I am not trying to BAN something based on assumptions rather than science. I am trying to make sure that EACH AND EVERY medical procedure performed in the United States is subject to the same regulatory oversight, regardless of the popularity of the procedure. A ban on abortion would simply create a new industry for the criminal elements in this country to cash in on.

 

It may not be apples to apples, but it is VERY similar, despite any societal differences.

They have liberalized their drug policy (decriminalized mar1juana) and this has led to declining use rates every year for the past decade.

We have tightened our drug laws, sent hundreds of thousands of people to prison for simple posession, increased our spending dramatically, and use rates have stayed constant for 30 years.

Which policy works?

 

I TOTALLY admit that I am operating from an assumption, too. I don't think I ever claimed not to be and if I did, I was wrong.