Legalizing Pot

[dgriffin]

Stoney, I cited the DSM not as model for behavior in society, but to support my argument that pot smoking can be addictive. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a world ordained by the DSM!
And from a purely practical point of view, I don't think any drugs can be effectively banned.

[stoney]

Ok. I see what you meant.

[Swimmy]

I stand corrected, Dave. But I still maintain that legalizing pot is not necessarily a bad thing. Cigarettes are twice more addicting and hazardous to your health, but that has not stopped the government from banning them, and some of them contain arsenic!

[dgriffin]

Swimmy, Stoney, I tend to compare pot with alcohol. Not that they are all that similar, but they're both mind altering substances. No one would argue that there exists significant problems with alcohol in our society, but it is regulated and many people would say by rules sufficient for a free society. So I couldn't disagree much with an argument that says we should do for cannabis what we do for alcohol. And I certainly would not say we should make alcohol illegal.

Of course, it's often argued that buying pot introduces a youngster to a drug dealer, whereas buying beer introduces him only to a grocer.

Both pot and alcohol can result in residual damage to the body, taken in enough amounts. The only remaining issue is whether pot is MORE addictive (quicker, surer) than alcohol. I don't think there is any evidence of that. Not that I've read.

I'm not condoning drug use, but ya gotta wonder how one drug became legal (alcohol) and another illegal (pot.) I've read that the answer somewhat involved racial prejudice of a sort. Alcohol came over with the pilgrims, and aside from Prohibition, was considered the workingman's friend and consolation. Gave him something to do on Saturday night, rather than walk up John Street to Rutger Park and piss on the shrubs.

Marijuana came from the south. You know those little brown evil people? They came north in large numbers after the 1910 Mexican Revolution and brought the evil weed with them. So, outlawing reefer was a reaction to white society's fear of Spanish speaking immigrants.

[gearofzanzibar]

Feb 26, 2009 22:39:56 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

I'm not condoning drug use, but ya gotta wonder how one drug became legal (alcohol) and another illegal (pot.) I've read that the answer somewhat involved racial prejudice of a sort. Alcohol came over with the pilgrims, and aside from Prohibition, was considered the workingman's friend and consolation. Gave him something to do on Saturday night, rather than walk up John Street to Rutger Park and piss on the shrubs.

I haven't touched a recreational drug other than booze in decades, but I wholeheartedly support the legalization of marijuana, or at least it's de-criminalization, simply as a matter of personal freedom.

BTW, cannabis indica, as opposed to the native cannabis sativa or hemp, was imported by the European settlers of America. The first law concerning it's use was one requiring it's cultivation for ship's stores. A bit of an odd directive considering indica's fibers are inferior to hemp for the production of rope and broadcloth.

Marijuana came from the south. You know those little brown evil people? They came north in large numbers after the 1910 Mexican Revolution and brought the evil weed with them. So, outlawing reefer was a reaction to white society's fear of Spanish speaking immigrants.

As you point out, racism was a large part of the original "war on drugs". The Harrison Act was partly justified as a measure against shiftless, drug-addled Mexicans. It was until the late 20's and 30's that the anti-black propaganda really kicked in.

Things sure have changed in the last century, eh?

[stoney]

Speaking of hemp, it's very hard to find it in this country. I have a hemp purse but I had to order it from Thailand.

You guys know my feelings about legalizing pot, so I won't get into it again, for fear of getting mutilated by the masses.

~~Stoney, fearful

[dgriffin]

If I knew, I forgot. Tell us again. I have a few concerns about it, but legalization won't affect me.
Philosophically, I'm with Gear re personal freedom. However, since life in the Big City is never simple, I do recognize the right of a society to enact laws to curb what it feels is harmful to society, whether justified or not, and these restrictions will at times limit our personal freedom.