patrick.net

4X says

Good article….I was under the impression it was all about saving jobs.
http://leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=2
COPS SAY LEGALIZE DRUGS!

ASK US WHY

After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. policy of a war on drugs with over a trillion tax dollars and 37 million arrests for nonviolent drug offenses, our confined population has quadrupled making building prisons the fastest growing industry in the United States. More than 2.2 million of our citizens are currently incarcerated and every year we arrest an additional 1.9 million more guaranteeing those prisons will be bursting at their seams. Every year we choose to continue this war will cost U.S. taxpayers another 69 billion dollars. Despite all the lives we have destroyed and all the money so ill spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and far easier to get than they were 35 years ago at the beginning of the war on drugs. Meanwhile, people continue dying in our streets while drug barons and terrorists continue to grow richer than ever before. We would suggest that this scenario must be the very definition of a failed public policy. This madness must cease!

Cops against prohibition is a small part of the law enforcement community. A big part of the trillion+ dollars spent so far on the war on drugs went to law enforcement. Some of the street level cops have a sensible attitude about drug use, but the management level people who see tons of federal anti drug money flowing into their departments budget have a very different view. Not to mention prosecutors who are always looking to score a conviction of any kind.

"I assume that if Las Vegas can legalize prostitution then California can legalize marijuana. Doesnt make it right, just keeps tax revenues coming."

There isn't a federal law against "Prostitution", just many of the acts, prostitution creates.
Such as exploiting and trafficking.

Vegas doesn't have strong arm pimps, and the girls work the brothels on their own accord.

Tenouncetrout says

“I assume that if Las Vegas can legalize prostitution then California can legalize marijuana. Doesnt make it right, just keeps tax revenues coming.”
There isn’t a federal law against “Prostitution”, just many of the acts, prostitution creates.
Such as exploiting and trafficking.
Vegas doesn’t have strong arm pimps, and the girls work the brothels on their own accord.

Prostitution is illegal in Clark County, where Vegas is located. It's legal in other counties. Vegas works very hard to make this fact known. Of course, in any hotel you go to, the bell desk has a list of high priced whores called "escorts" who not only will do anything, but they kick back $$ to the bell captain. Don't believe what they're trying to spoon feed you, in Vegas you can get anything for enough money.

The real heart of this issue involves personal choice vs. society's decision to impose it's will.

Those making arguments extolling the virtues of pot use in relation to other drugs while by and large true are really just a small part of issues that should be addressed. Laws are on the books and new ones are made every day restrictings our personal freedoms of choice. These sorts of things people just do may not be beneficial to them as individuals but they could general be thought of as social problems when they reach a level of abuse.

While there can be personal consequences associated with these abuses, being arrested and going through the court system shouldn't be one of them. There are better, more effective social ways of reducing addicive behaviours when they arrise.

It just seems there is just a bunch of would-be do gooders who believe it is their place to tell other people what to do and how to live. I find these people extremely annoying. If my life is my own and my behavior is for the most part only affecting me then too bad if you don't like it. It's none of your business. If I smoke pot, take other illegal drugs, abuse perscription drugs, gamble, prostitute myself, am a sex addict, smoke, drink, ride a motorcycle without a helmet, or any number of things that most people just do them I should free to do them. Are a lot of these things self destructives? They can be. Are some of these things just idiotic? Yes, but why shouldn't we have the right to find out on our own?

With the pot issue it should just be legal nationwide immediately. It is probably the least harmful drug in existance. Even many over-the-counter drugs have more dangerous side-effects than pot. That said it may be a little too soon to say smoking pot doesn't cause lung cancer. Ever hear someone have a coughing fit after smoking some pot? The rest of the illegal drugs should be legal, be perscribed by your doctor. He could then discuss their effects, dangers, safe dosages, and programs to help you kick your addiction-if you so desire. Then you get it filled at your local pharmacy- of course paying for recreational drugs it up to you. I a quite sure this suggestion might shock many of you.

People are going to do what they want whether it's legal or not. They will get these drugs whether they're legal or not. The only real issue of any consequence is WHO they get them from. If they get them from a dealer, there is an illegal supply chain that demands high profit. Since it's illegal these people are more likely to use violence to protect and expand their profits. That is exactly why we have gang violence, drug cartels, gang wars. This is the most valid arguement for legalizing drugs. Eliminate the profits the crime is reduced greatly. This was the enduring lesson of the repeal of the prohibition of alcohol.

The coalition against legalization makes strange bedfellows. Of course the legal system is opposed to it. If arrests for drugs dropped the overall crime rate by 25% (guestimate) that means 25% fewer police, lawyers, judges, prison guards, and prisons. The other side of the coin are all the growers, chemists, dealers, enforcers, and organized criminals are going to have to find another line of work. A lot of them who are more law abiding are gonna have to go out and get real jobs.

The rest who chose to live a crimminal lifestyle, well there'll be plenty of room for them and what should be long prison sentences waiting for them.

See, I'm big on individual freedoms, but I'm big on law and order. The idea that you can kill, or rape, or rob, or commit violent acts, or vile crimes against children, or engage in all sorts of financial fraud, get released early from an already light sentence because of good behavior or prison overcrowding is ludicrous. That won't be as much of a problem once the drug problem is solved.