What's funny is that finding someone who will admit to being in favor of the 'war on drugs' nowadays seems to have the same odds as finding a German who would admit to being a Nazi in the aftermath of WW2. At least it seems that way.
Everyone claims to want people to be free to choose, yet we end up with the same policies again and again and again.
Why?
Tradition and Soccer Moms.
Social inertia is a tough nut to crack. Weed's illegal because it's always been illegal. While no one can give you specifics on what weed will do to you, everyone acts like if you smoke it your thing will fall off.
As for Soccer Moms, at some point we all have to come to the realization that our government caters to middle class people in their 40s and 50s living in the suburbs with 2.27 children. Suburban mothers are the easiest to scare about anything. What better than the prospect of random blacks and hispanics down at the middle school turning their Johnny into a weed smoking hippie or their Sue into a smack addicted trick?
I'd say that we could count on a change but please bear in mind that those people turning 60 today are the flower children of yesteryear. The more things change the more they stay the same.
The difference is that 99.9% of the time, the person buying the beer is taking it somewhere to drink it. Drug addiction is such that more people would shoot up as soon as they got in the car.Are you comfortable with the idea of somebody buying booze at a convenience store and driving home?
I'm curious .... Why would you not want to help someone hooked on drugs? It costs much more to prosecute and incarcerate individuals than it does to lend a helping hand.
So is alcoholism.
I'd add effeminate Protestant males to your list ... Seriously.
ETA: Kirk Cameron, for example.
Last edited by Guru of Nothing; 02-10-2005 at 10:46 PM.
You know, I think that mercy definitely has its place. But to choose to become addicted to drugs and then expect me to help you pay for your mistakes... can't say that helps anyone learn personal responsibility. Honestly, I'm just a big advocate of tough love. Now I suppose someone will say, "But nobody CHOOSES to become an addict." I don't buy that. Everyone who tries drugs knows that the risk of becoming addicted is there, and they do it anyway. And I agree it's the same for alcohol and tobacco.
Sorry, reading that back now it seems somewhat garbled and run-on - chalk it up to sleep deprivation.
Don't fool yourself into thinking you don't pay. Right, wrong or indifferent, you pay for someone's drug habits. I prefer the less expensive alternative.
What is your argument? Do you think alcohol should be banned?So is alcoholism.
The only point I'm making is that you can't say that alcohol is more impairing than drugs based on gross statistics... because you have uneven variables. Alcohol is much more readily available than drugs are, and that is an easy explanation for why there are more alcohol-related accidents than drug-related.
Drugs, like alcohol, make people stupid. Stupid people are worse drivers than non-stupid people. It's a simple concept.
One thing that I agree with Bill Maher on.... I am comfortable with giving stupid people the right to kill themselves with whatever means they choose.
It is less expensive to send someone to rehab... until they get out and turn back to the stuff. If they get a good stiff punishment, they're less likely to go for it again. I don't know whether it's cheaper to send someone to prison once, or through rehab over and over and over.
Speaking of famous comedian quotes, wasn't it Bill Hicks who said, "It's not a war unless two armies are fighting."? Paraphrasing further, the government is fighting a war, and the people who are stoned are winning.
Where is ASF when you need him?
I'd be curious to see some kind of data to back this up. Do you really think prison is a better deterrent than rehab? What are you accomplishing by putting some kid with a joint in prison? Is it for him, or for you?It is less expensive to send someone to rehab... until they get out and turn back to the stuff. If they get a good stiff punishment, they're less likely to go for it again.
You and I make disparate assumptions. Not much I can say that will mean anything to you.
I guess it'd be for both of us. I'm one of Sparky's paranoid "soccer moms" who doesn't want that kid with a joint to pass it on to my kid. But more so than him, I'm worried about his older brother who's graduated to cocaine or higher (whoops, no pun intended). I'm sure you have also heard the many "scientific reports" that state marijuana leads to harder drugs eventually.
The assertion that marijuana ITSELF "leads" to harder drugs is a fallacy. People who smoke marijuana are more likely to also do harder drugs than people who don't smoke marijuana. It's not because of the marijuana. It's because of the person. Blaming it on the drug completely ignores personal responsibility and choice. It's like saying that listening to Alternative Music leads to skateboarding.
I sympathize with your concern for your kids, but speaking as someone who was in high school less than ten years ago, I can tell you that if your kid wants to try marijuana he can and will. The best you can hope to do as a parent is to make sure he doesn't want to try it. But the Law won't stop him. The only thing the Law will do is fine him after the fact or, when he's older, throw him in prison for longer than he needs to be there.
Last edited by Spurminator; 02-11-2005 at 12:21 AM.
What if it is YOUR kid passing the joint to another soccer mom's kid? Don't set yourself up for irony.
I don't believe kids should be using drugs (incl alcohol for that matter). If you want to get in your kid's face about drug use then by all means I applaud that.
I wasn't in high school that long ago either. Neither my husband nor I have ever tried any kind of drugs (and we're truly the only couple we know who can say that). And being a stay-at-home parent, I'm a lot more involved in my kids' lives than most parents now. Odds are, it won't be my kids. , that sounds holier-than-thou, huhBut, you get my idea.
I should point out that I would be in favor of the same age limits for drugs that apply to alcohol... So really, "kids" wouldn't come into the equation as much.
And if it is my kid with the joint, a night in the local jail would be a powerful deterrent (?) against ever doing it again.
I respect that. My mother also stayed at home.And being a stay-at-home parent, I'm a lot more involved in my kids' lives than most parents now. Odds are, it won't be my kids.
But... I smoked a fair amount of pot in high school. And she didn't know until about a year ago when I told her.
nuff said
And it's oh so hard for underage people to get alchohol.
Everyone always talks about how they would legalize drugs, but I hardly ever hear a plan that makes sense. If I was put in charge, I'd do something like this:
1) Setup little shops with a name like "Drugs R Us" or "Drug-Mart" or something corny.
2) The people that come in to buy drugs are searched for any weapons or anything of the sort.
3) The person then goes and signs up and joins and gets there little membership card.
4) If it's the person's first time, they are forced into watching a one-hour movie regarding the dangers of drugs and what it can do to them and their family. They must watch this movie once per year.
5) They are then sold the drugs of their choice at very reasonable prices. They are given the drugs, but they must consume the drugs there. In the back, there can be a tv, popcorn, lava lamps and all the other essentials.
6) Once they sober back up, they are allowed to leave.
7) Next day, repeat if that's what they want to do.
If you take out the monopoly the street has on drugs, you can lower the prices drastically. You can then also avoid too much smuggling onto the streets because I'm not so sure a crack head will spend the extra money buying it from the guy on the corner.
Also, by making it this sterile, you'd take most of the allure of drugs away. IMO, most get into drugs to try to be cool or fit in with a crowd. If you take out the coolness of it, you'd have a lot less users ... especially young users.
Would something like that work? Why or why not?
Last edited by timvp; 02-11-2005 at 01:00 AM.
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