[Mr 5 0]

Chris:

Interesting points and your personal experience obviously will have a bearing on your POV regarding drug laws, as it would mine had I suffered the same consequences for cultivating three plants.

Chris, I readily conceded the obvious; The so-called 'War on Drugs' isn't working and that drug laws are often misused while prescription drugs are a big problem with the general population.

I cannot as readily concede that legalizing drugs is a solution, although decriminalizing some drugs might be feasible.
It's a tough problem because no good comes from ingesting mind-altering substances, be it beer, whiskey, pot, crack or glue fumes. These are potentially dangerous substances and must be handled with some caution, as witnessed by the drunk drivers who kill others every year or the crimes that crack addicts commit to get the cash for the drug they must have.

There are some things everyone believes about themselves; that they have a good sense of humor, that they are better-than-average drivers and that they can easily handle their drug of choice.

The fact that none of these are true makes my point.
For society to open the floodgates of drug use by making them legal and obtainable with no social stigmna attached is inviting bad consequences that won't be realized until it's way too late to change things.

I can go along with the lessening of criminal charges against marijuana, as has been done in various jurisdictions and I know that your state, California, has made medical use of the drug legal, but that action was overthrown by the feds and is now in hot dispute.
I cannot understand why the active ingredient the plant contains cannot be distilled into a pill, instead of setting a leaf on fire and inhaling the smoke, which seems like the hard way to obtain whatever medical benefit cannabis supplies but as I'm not a doctor, I'll let that one slide and agree that if smoking marijuana is shown to have medical benefits - as it has - than it should be legalized for that purpose.

I'm not against people using drugs in a sane, responsible manner, as millions do with alcohol, but while you mention the many people who safely enjoy recreational drug us and lead normal, productive lives (and I accept that as true) I must again mention that drugs such as marijuana can be gateway drugs for some; especially the young and those with addictive personalities and the use of these drugs can wreck havoc on families as well as take the lives of people who might not ever had tried them had they not be legal and readily available. Alcohol users generally take a few years to become truly addictive but drugs like cocaine or heroin can produce an addict in no time at all and getting off hard drugs is a lot harder than getting addicted, as we all know. These and other social ramifications make me very wary of shrugging my shoulders and saying 'Whatever' when it comes to legalizing drugs.
I've seen the damage they do to otherwise decent and productive people and they are not something to play with and treat lightly, as too many do and a lot more would if they were legal, readily available and with no social stigma.

As for the 'Reefer Madness' mentality, that's an old canard thrown out by NORML and other drug legalization groups and I'm surprised you brought it into the discussion. I doubt some 65-year-old campy anti-marijuana movie short is what's motivativng anti-drug sentiment these days, Chris.
Instead, I believe it's the trail of wrecked lives and crime drug use has left behind and the parents of children who don't wish to see their loved ones dead at 20 or turned into a human wreck or end up in prison due to drugs.
I can understand that. I'm sure you can too and while I know you had a life-changing experience due to minor drug use - and you were legally abused, no doubt - I still find that any sort of real across-the-board legaization of drugs to be a bad idea.


On abortion; I cannot and will not concede that legalized killing of living babies in the mother's womb is O.K. It isn't and no Supreme Court, politician or doctor will convince me otherwise. It's murder and all the comfortable rationalizations and justifications advocates put forth don't change that reality for me.

What I would like to see is Roe v Wade overthrown and the issue put before each state's voters to decide. Some states will vote for abortion to be legal and some won't but that will be the will of the people, not the will of nine men. This is how it was until 1973. Abortion law - pro or con - was decided by the individual states (10th amendment in action), enacted by legistators who were elected by the citizens of that state. Representative democracy in action, all nullified by one probably unconstitutional Supreme Court decision.

Don't get me started on that!


I agree that the thread has maintained a rather calm dignity while dealing with weighty issues like abortion and drug legalization. I'm pleased with that and yes, I think it does shows maturity on the part of our members who participated.

These issues can be 'safely' discussed if folks are rational, don't resort to character attacks and/or using slogans instead of engaging in actual thought before posting, as all have who've added to the thread.

I'm hoping that the discussion was enlightening for some of the folks who viewed but didn't choose to add to the thread and although I believe we've exhausted most of our personal arguments on the subjects at hand, I'm always willing to consider opinions and talk about them as time permits.

Thanks again for your meaningful contributions to these important subjects.