Could the prohibitionists please speak up?

[Maurkov]

This is going to be a really boring forum if all we do is sit around and talk about how drugs should be legal.

[eataTREE]

1. (crickets chirping)

Even intelligent conservatives admit that the Drug War has failed. It only stays in place because of momentum and the prison lobby.

[tk2kewl]

2. No war is a failure if it gets candidates elected

[eataTREE]

3. But does it, anymore?

When was the last time you heard a candidate say, "Vote for me and I'll increase the penalties for drugs/step up enforcement?" I haven't heard this since the early 90's.

On the other hand, politicians are terrified of saying that they're NOT for the status quo, for fear of their opponent painting them as a drug-loving hippie liberal.

The Drug War has become this huge sacred cow, that nobody actually likes, but everyone is afraid to slaughter for fear of invoking the wrath of the gods.

[Maurkov]

6. How to explain initiative results?

Even medical marijuana initiatives, arguably the most palatable of drug reforms, pass or fail by slim margins. Prohibitionists are out there; lots of them.

[tk2kewl]

7. it has been replaced by other social wars

and will be ressurected and blamed for our societal ills when other social issues lose favor

[TO Kid]

9. Correct

Just look at the ongoing jihad against tobacco and the emerging demonization of snack food. The control freaks will never go away, they just seek new targets.

[Cowboy Joe2k]

13. Kick this for fredome its the only way out.

Kick this. This is all we hoped for this is what the world needs tied up in a bow. For the holiday this is what the world needs now. entire world Peace. Kick this if you ever thought you were free. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...2&mesg_id=79652

Kick this every chance you get least you wined up kicking the damn thing for ever. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...2&mesg_id=79652

Kick this. this is the one little bit of information that can save the world.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...2&mesg_id=79652

I may have bargained a solid argument to avoid getting stuck in this damn contraption.

[Warpy]

4. Conservatives love the drug war

They love getting votes by scaring rabbity conservative suburbanites with images of Junior toking on a joint and ending up in the gutter because of it. They adore having an excuse to lock up "undesirables" after they plant something. They wax ecstatic over the increased income to local police departments for the illegal seizure of property known as forefeiture.

Don't kid yourself on this one. For conservatives, the drug war is a howling success.

[Nag Champa]

5. The people keep speaking on this issue...

and they overwhelmingly say, "hey, relax about the plant already." Unfortunately, shrub forgets all about his disdain for "activist judges" and states rights and the "will of the people" with regards to this issue.

You would think that a guy with this much experience with drugs would be with us.

And I don't buy the argument about tobacco companies preventing it. RJR and the rest could make a killing on the balance sheet with new Marlboro White Widows or Camel Afghanis or Winston's new limited Jack Herer smokes.

[RumpusCat]

8. follow the money

I don't buy that either. You'd think Big Tobacco would jump at the chance! Other groups, however, stand to lose a lot of $$$ if pot is legalized or even decriminalized--mostly law enforcement and the prison industry. Between lucrative property grabs for the police and the creation of for-profit prisons as a growth industry there is a lot of money to be made in prohibition.

What I don't know is how to get them to stop. :\

[MrModerate]

10. I don't buy the cops/prison industry biz . . .

Most cops I've talked to aren't interested in pot (course I lived in Berkeley before now, so maybe they weren't typical cops). They're not stupid -- they know pot is relatively benign and they'd rather spend their time on serious crimes.

And the for-profit prison industry just isn't big enough to sway the issue.

Nope, pot is illegal because government control of intoxication is a longstanding American tradition. And lots of The Peepul prefer it that way.

However, that tradition is fading and may fade away sooner rather than later, if for no other reason than we're not going to have the MONEY for a War on Drugs the way the drunken sailor spends.

[SemperEadem]

12. it's illegal because

of the liquor and pharmaceutical lobbies, too.

[tom644]

11. pot has many uses...

Law enforcement and prison are trivial. If pot were decriminalized for recreational use then the doors would be open for any other kind of use and a bunch of huge companies would lose a few more (complete or near) monopolies.

- Tom