Friday, February 27, 2009

We're Not As Think As You Dumb We Are

I have collected the following facts which I now associate for our collective amusement:

1) The violent violence perpetrated by violent Mexican drug gangs is so terribly violent that there are now people in the CIA and the Pentagon who fear Mexico will 'implode.' If Mexico becomes a 'failed state' then waves of refugees will flee, etc etc. Or so we are informed by the fair-minded patriots at NPR.

I was surprised that nobody quoted in the story mentioned the reason for the Mexican drug gangs to exist in the first place is the gigantic market for reefer, skag and Peruvian marching powder in the USA. Which brings me to my next point:

2) The budget gap in California is apparently bad enough that one State Assemblyman has introduced a bill that would legalize and then tax marijuana sales. I know it will astonish you faithful readers to learn that Tom Ammiano is a Democrat from San Francisco. Still, I think he's on to something.

Given the fact that the violent Mexican drug gangs are violently fighting over the violent drug trafficking trade, maybe we could solve some of our budget problems by legalizing pot, or maybe other drugs as well.

We'd kill 2 birds with one stone. We help our southern neighbor out of a jam, acknowlege reality as well as tap a huge new source of revenue.

The deadheads will tell you that pot will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times with no pot. They may be more right than they know.

PS. Spare me the outraged comments about how legalizing pot will cause more people to use it. If you think that the current drug laws are keeping anyone from getting high, I have a bridge to sell you.

4 comments:

Atom Smasher said...

I don't like it, but I think it's probably the right thing to do.

Anonymous said...

i love it. we should legalize all drugs. have govt tax the shit out of them. and also ensure QC of the drugs, needles. and lets add in prostitution as well. our deficit will be more than halved by 2012.

@ atomsmasher-try applying the same philosophical approach you have to an armed citizenry (personal accountability, discipline, self control) to this stuff.

Atom Smasher said...

porcus- oh, I agree with you in principle. My reservation is about the downside of legalization - what if we're wrong? No way the genie's going back in the bottle. But pot seems no worse than alcohol to me, even if I do hate hippies more than martini-swilling used car salesmen. ;)

Adam said...

I think pot legalization is a no-brainer. According to my friend who lives in LA and worked as a delivery-man for a "medical marijuana" store as well as an article about NIMBYism in California about people not wanting "medical marijuana" dispensaries in their municipalities, it seems like California has already quasi-legalized pot through the "medical" marijuana. The state laws legalizing "medical" marijuana are both so lax as to allow almost anyone to get the stuff and are in direct contradiction to Federal drug laws, which of course apply in California (but are only enforced to take down big "dispensaries") According to my friend in Califonia basically anyone can get a letter from a doctor that let's you buy medical marijuana by claiming you have anxiet issues. I assume since the dispensaries are legal businesses that California gets at least some tax revenue from the pot grown in their state. Anyways legalizing pot seems like a no-brainer because other than the dangers associated with smoking anything peoplecan smoke pot their whole lives without any really negative effects beyond becoming apathetic; in other words it's probably no more dangerous than cigarettes and definitely less damaging and addictive than alcohol. For instance, a hardcore pot-head who's been smoking for years doesn't go into horrible withdrawals if they stop, unlike booze.

With other popular drugs of abuse, though, other than maybe psychedelics I think legalization poses very dire problems. Other drugs can cause severe mental and physical problems. And the model of personal responsibility that applies to guns I think is a false comparison; you can't get physically addicted to buying guns, whereas drugs of abuse like meth, coke, heroin and even ecstasy can take away their users' free will. If you could buy heroin at any drug store after a relatively short time making the choice to stop using would not simply be a matter of will since as people become addicted to hard drugs stopping their use is very difficult. Another problem with legalizing other drugs is how would they be distributed? Allowing them to be sold by legitimate businesses and making acquiring them very easy seems like it would lead to more addicts. So yea, pot, sure, other drugs, I dunno, I just don't think legalizing them is such a hot idea.

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