I don't disagree with much here; although anything THAT damaging to one's life ought not be legal. My b-i-l was 15 when he got hooked; not old enough to be tried as an adult for a crime, but addiction knows no age; he ed up his life before it got started. A substance like that simply cannot be legalized, taxed, and have the stamp of approval from society.
The point on cheap strip clubs was refuting the point that pros ution pays well -
If you legalize pros ution, you could regulate it and force weekly STD testing as so many places that decriminalize pros ution do with their sex workers. They could legally organize and demand better working conditions such as the use of condoms and protection from the police.
btw.
I think if we lowered the drinking age to 16, legalized Marijuana and some other party drugs - we'd have more $$$ left over to combat the real problems, both at the supply, and at the demand (through, as you suggest education and rehabilitation) side.
You're right. Jails don't work.
I've got enough libertarian sensibilities that this sounds O.K. to me (but I've got a bible-belt upbringing - and a father's sensibility that is struggling with it).
I think drugs are too easy to blame, and are too much of a scapegoat in today's society. I think this country goes too far with the AA idea that people are powerless in the face of them. I've had a few close friends get into major problems with cocaine, but it was their choice. They are the same people who found plenty of other ways to screw their lives up before cocaine too. I've also had many friends who used coke recreationally and were fine.
BTW, I'm sorry to hear about your brother in law.
I think there's a difference between legalizing it and not criminalizing addicts. My feelings on legalizing hardcore substances like crack are still murky. If it's going to be illegal, I just want the focus to be on pressuring producers and distributors rather than people with a medical condition. I don't think we disagree. I know you seem to think it would be easier if you could just lock your brother in law up for the obvious, but surely you can see how dangerous that is on the larger scale. It sounds like he's well on his way to a life inside anyway.
I took your point. Mine was that, like any legal industry, making a living in that profession varies on the skills and quality of the individual. That said, even girls at cheap strip clubs make a better living than their friends at dominoes pizza. Moreover, regulating the industry so that it isn't as lucrative for just anyone that engages in it will help make sure it isn't a rash decission for those who have better employment opportunities. Right now a bad pros ute can still make a better living than a good receptionist.
Can you imagine what would happen to the economies of certain Asian and South American countries if American Corporate farms could legally grow coca and Marijuana?
THAT would be something to watch. Not changing my stance, but picturing vast acres of.....well, you get the picture.
You cannot legislate morality; it has never and will never work in this country. The war on drugs is a huge waste of tax dollars, and does little but drive up the cost of cocaine.
I'm not talking about legislating morality. I am talking about legislation of controlled and harmful substances - something that our government does and it obligated on some level to do. The problem is that all recreational drugs tend to be labeled harmful with a broad brush instead of being considered individually on their own merits. Pot and crack are not the same, just like morphine and aspirin aren't the same.
He'll never be inside again. Like I said, he's on dialysis now (has to be hooked up to a machine to clean his blood 4 hours, three times a week). They WON'T lock him up. He still steals, writes hot checks, etc....but doesn't go to jail. He was never locked up for possession, and he was caught many times, before his medical condition was an issue, with crack. Cops would just throw it out - and send him on his way.
O.K., now you've got me. As any man my age, I watched Gilligan's Island after school, and, well, that sentence was a little too much coming from you.I took your point. Mine was that, like any legal industry, making a living in that profession varies on the skills and quality of the individual.
that would stimulate the economy
Another positive effect of legalizing drugs would be that it would be harder for minors to obtain them. As a teenager, it was far easier for me to get weed, coke, or acid than it was to buy beer, as no dealer ever checked that you were 21. I don't think you're going to have a big epidemic of people 21 and up buying crack for their little brothers and sisters either.
I don't think this will solve problems on Craigslist or any other ad space for the simple reason that codewords will be used instead. If not escort services or massage therapy, it will be something else.
I find it interesting that when a law is passed or something like what is being proposed is done, there are those who think it is good, and those that think it is bad (it is bad). Those that that disagree with those that think it is bad start bringing up almost absurd senarios to try to prove their point that have very little ot nothing to do with what is going on.
So if they eliminate this part of craigslist, do they really think it will help and someone just won't start up something else? Why single out craiglist.
Cocaine can be a recreational drug. The government's doing a piss-poor job of regulating harmful substances when nicotine is readily available and rubbing alcohol is polluted with methyl so that it can kill people who drink it. Seriously, nicotine is one of the most toxic substances known to man. For anyone interested in mass suicide, drop a cigar in a cup of water and then share the cup with friends.
Crack != Nicotine
Seriously.
Crack cocaine and regular cocaine are two completely different animals. I don't think you can be a recreational crack user. I have never known one and I can't think of anyone that does. You are either on the pipe or recovering from being on the pipe. Other forms of cocaine just don't compare.
We do not disagree.
Name one thing the government does a good job doing?The government's doing a piss-poor job of regulating harmful substances
Spending money on unneccessary things like unneccessary wars.
That's one.
Got any others?
You can't have one without the other. Crack is insanely easy to make from cocaine.
Point taken. But just because a needle is difficult to thread doesn't mean you stop sewing. Law is all about definition and distinction.
wow -- with this philosophy and others you have stated on this thread - America would acutally really be like the Wilde quote in your sig. HEre is what it boils down to - and this has been stated: Morals. There are those who have no morals -- who have no respect for the family or marraige and those that do. It is a moral argument.
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