I think it's time to have a serious debate about the current marijuana prohibition laws and the effects it's having on a very large part of society.
People are always saying that marijuana legalization would send the wrong message to kids, but what I believe to be the wrong message to kids, is the fact that so many non-violent offenders are spending time in jail, when they should be at home raising their kids, instead of throwing those kids in the foster care program and over crowding prisons.
The thing is, every time a non-violent offender is sent to prison, you have just sent him/her to violence training school, so that when they get out, they are more likely to join a gang or start doing hard drugs.
I also believe that legalizing marijuana for adult use, would not only generate precious revenue for our struggling economy , but would also free up drug enforcement agents to go after the deadly drugs like meth, cocaine, heroin and all the other deadly street drugs.
Comments (5)
All drugs in their natural state should be legalized, including coca leaves, etc, which are almost entirely innocuous compared to the poorly concocted illegally refined extracts the cartels smuggle due to space and weight considerations. No one's dropping dead in south America from chewing coca leaves, but plenty are from smoking the nasty toxic waste byproducts of cocaine production. The Drug War is poisoning and destabilizing much of Latin America. A system of regulation and taxation similar to how tobacco and alcohol are handled is the best solution. Because the Drug War is also a huge employment program, drug warriors should be retrained and assigned to take down polluters. We need a war on pollution, not the senseless "war on drugs."
It is time to end the ridiculous war on drugs. It hasn't worked and has caused more harm than good. To put people in jail for smoking marijuana is barbaric. Nobody has EVER died from Marijuana yet tobacco and alcohol kill people EVERY single day. Stop the madness!!!!
Todd J (Wisconsin)
National petition on change.org:
http://criminaljustice.change.org/actions/view/legalize_marijuana
The guy is seeking 100,000 signatures, but I'd bet we can do better than that!
Okay, conversation over, decriminalize all drugs. No further prohibition.
I have mixed feelings on this issue...
The fact that marijuana is a natural herb that grows wild is reason enough that it should be legal. If a person smokes it then that is their business. It is a free country... rather it used to be a free country but not anymore.
Commercializing or controlling it is not the answer.