Ok first off, pot smoking ruining futures is not a particularly good argument when the current president admits to having smoked pot. "Don't smoke pot kids or you'll never be able to become president!" oh wait... you can. There are numerous examples of extremely successful people who smoke pot and I'm pretty sure everyone will agree that the Beetles were obviously doing a lot more then pot and I think a few people have heard of them. Yes people who smoke pot may not necessarily have a particularly bright future but the same can be said for anyone. Plenty of people fail at life without having ever smoked any pot. There may be a large number of people who start smoking pot because they already have no future but thats not pot's fault.
Second, pot legalization sending the wrong message to our youth? Legalization doesn't necessarily send the message that everyone should use it. It sends the message the we recognize throwing people in jail for years is a ridiculously punitive sentence for any pot related activity. We allow tobacco and alcohol yet I'm sure the government doesnt think everyone should be doing those things all the time (or necessarily at all). Quite the opposite in fact as government tends to discourage those things. More importantly then that though is the fact that THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT THERE TO RAISE OUR YOUTH. That is the responsibility of the parents or primary care-giver. You know what is a good message to send to children? "You're government respects your liberty and ability to make your own decisions about what you put into your body". I dunno about you but respect and compliments (compliment that you are smart enough to live your own life) usually have a pretty positive effect on kids.
Lastly, decriminalization is not the answer and should not be used as a stepping stone for potential legalization. Decrim does nothing to relieve the negative aspects of drug prohibition. Decrim means that it is still an underground business and cartels and gangs will continue to profit and children will be able to get a hold of it just as easily (or easier since fewer penalities). Then prohibitionists will turn around after trying decrim and say "look we tried it and it doesnt work so we wont legalize and we're going to recriminalize it". Not good. We need to legalize and regulate. If you don't go straight from the current state to a legitamite business model then you can't use anything in between as evidence.
If Obama has too much else on his plate to worry about an issue such as this maybe we should actually be lobbying him to recall a ton of troops first so he can concentrate on this. Makes sense to me, save soldiers lives by not sending them out to fight and stop ruining domestic peoples lives by throwing them in jail.
Submitted by Adimus () on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 08:05.
So it continues....
Ok first off, pot smoking ruining futures is not a particularly good argument when the current president admits to having smoked pot. "Don't smoke pot kids or you'll never be able to become president!" oh wait... you can. There are numerous examples of extremely successful people who smoke pot and I'm pretty sure everyone will agree that the Beetles were obviously doing a lot more then pot and I think a few people have heard of them. Yes people who smoke pot may not necessarily have a particularly bright future but the same can be said for anyone. Plenty of people fail at life without having ever smoked any pot. There may be a large number of people who start smoking pot because they already have no future but thats not pot's fault.
Second, pot legalization sending the wrong message to our youth? Legalization doesn't necessarily send the message that everyone should use it. It sends the message the we recognize throwing people in jail for years is a ridiculously punitive sentence for any pot related activity. We allow tobacco and alcohol yet I'm sure the government doesnt think everyone should be doing those things all the time (or necessarily at all). Quite the opposite in fact as government tends to discourage those things. More importantly then that though is the fact that THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT THERE TO RAISE OUR YOUTH. That is the responsibility of the parents or primary care-giver. You know what is a good message to send to children? "You're government respects your liberty and ability to make your own decisions about what you put into your body". I dunno about you but respect and compliments (compliment that you are smart enough to live your own life) usually have a pretty positive effect on kids.
Lastly, decriminalization is not the answer and should not be used as a stepping stone for potential legalization. Decrim does nothing to relieve the negative aspects of drug prohibition. Decrim means that it is still an underground business and cartels and gangs will continue to profit and children will be able to get a hold of it just as easily (or easier since fewer penalities). Then prohibitionists will turn around after trying decrim and say "look we tried it and it doesnt work so we wont legalize and we're going to recriminalize it". Not good. We need to legalize and regulate. If you don't go straight from the current state to a legitamite business model then you can't use anything in between as evidence.
If Obama has too much else on his plate to worry about an issue such as this maybe we should actually be lobbying him to recall a ton of troops first so he can concentrate on this. Makes sense to me, save soldiers lives by not sending them out to fight and stop ruining domestic peoples lives by throwing them in jail.