Higher Education

[RDU Irish]

Right wing social engineering is no better than left wing social engineering.

Nice graph, Buster. Now compare our percentage of population incarcerated to the rest of the world.

 

[RDU Irish]

Al Gore would say this trend means 150% of our population will be incarcerated by 2100 if we don't banish drugs and guns from the earth.

 

[ChiRish]

THIS.

People who think marijuana should be illegal are one, or more, of the following:

police
drug dealers
ignorant parents
ignorant social conservatives
morons
uninformed on marijuana facts

Economically speaking, the drug war it is borderline retarded. We criminalize a health issue and then spend incredible resources on convicting and jailing people that are really only hurting themselves.

I think it is bizarre that the middle and upper class end up in rehab for their prescription addictions and the poor end up in jail for non-pharmacuetical drug use that is often less dangerous or destructive.

It's called the Prison Industrial Complex, and if you think our prisons are not private and for profit, think again. The DEA and law enforcement, the judicial system, and private prisons are a racket to make money. It's disgusting how rotten you find the United States to be once you get beneath the skin of freedom and democracy.

No, he's saying how asinine it is to criminalize something that adults should have the option to choose. Weed has caused 0 deaths, you can't overdose from it. Alcohol and tobacco are legal and kill hundreds of thousands a year. He's pointing out how such a harmless product has turned into one of the biggest cash cows for law enforcement, the judicial and private prison systems. In short, it's illegal so the Big Pharma and the Prison Industrial Complex can continue to profit.

Right wing social engineering is no better than left wing social engineering.

Nice graph, Buster. Now compare our percentage of population incarcerated to the rest of the world.

Sorry to quote all of these, but each of you is exactly correct. It' embarrassing really, that many Americans can't step outside the box and see how illogical, unreasonable, and downright stupid the situation really is. At the heart of all marijuana laws is racism. It's why it was criminalized in the first place, and it's why it remains a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance.

To be a schedule 1, it must be determined that the drug is (1) the drug has a high potential for abuse; (2) the drug does not have a currently accepted medical use in the US; and (3) there is no accepted safety use for the drug.

How does weed qualify for any of those? It just doesn't. Yet we waste billions of dollars trying, in unbelievably, historic unsuccessful fashion, to stop it's use, sale, and importation. What a farce.

Maybe the government, by and for the people, can listen to it's people. Take those resources and allocate them to where it is really needed.