Take millions out of the hands of the drug cartels: legalize Marijuana

[alfredo]

http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2010/aug/05/if_you_think_marijuana_legalizat

We could go the regulate and tax route, or allow possession and cultivation of small quantities for personal use, but keep sales illegal. Seeds would be legal to sell, but not the living or dried plant or anything dirived from the plant, excluding clothing, and other none edible products.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Yup!

[WinkyDink]

2. Do you think the only drug cartels are foreign? ;-)

[alfredo]

3. No. We do have a dope ring: the tea party caucus.

[jobycom]

7. I think he meant dope, not dopey. nt

[alfredo]

13. Nit picking.

[Fumesucker]

4. Anything other than full on legalization will leave the cartels with billions of dollars..

Keep in mind that alcohol was "decriminalized" during Prohibition, it was not illegal to possess or consume alcohol, just manufacture, importation and sales were illegal.

And yet Al Capone and the rest of the bootleggers created a criminal empire which remains today from "decriminalized" alcohol.

[Warpy]

5. That's my major argument for legalizing all drugs, including crank

Take the massive profit out of the black market and put thugs around the globe out of business. A legal market would offer pure drugs at a reliable dosage, something the black market has never done. Since junkies of all kinds can get their drugs now, we wouldn't be adding to the problem of addiction/dependence. In fact, there are some data that suggest that illegality and the threat of having a supply cut off themselves contribute to the addiction process.

As a side effect, the control of this stuff by putting it behind a counter and requiring an ID card for purchase would also slow down access by children. The black market is wide open to them.

In addition, we could put the money we're wasting on a futile paramilitary DEA into rehab for clinics for people who want to clean up.

What we're doing now is not working. It's time to try something else.

[Enthusiast]

8. We have an example

in the Netherlands. Marijuana is essentially legal. The % of those that have used/tried marijuana is lower than that of the U.S. This should tell us something. Greater access doesn't always equal greater consumption.

[Enthusiast]

6. More like billions!

I'm all for it.

[robdogbucky]

9. Legalization is a success in Portugal

Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?

"...At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail...

...The question is, does the new policy work? At the time, critics in the poor, socially conservative and largely Catholic nation said decriminalizing drug possession would open the country to "drug tourists" and exacerbate Portugal's drug problem; the country had some of the highest levels of hard-drug use in Europe. But the recently released results of a report commissioned by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, suggest otherwise.

The paper, published by Cato in April, found that in the five years after personal possession was decriminalized, illegal drug use among teens in Portugal declined and rates of new HIV infections caused by sharing of dirty needles dropped, while the number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction more than doubled.

"Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success," says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research. "It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does..."


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html#ixzz0vr2dCxXz




Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky

[Newest Reality]

10. Just Say Now! -nt

[Blue Owl]

11. Seems like anyplace where cannabis is legal

it has REDUCED crime, gang wars, violence, etc.

Bad news only for corporate control freaks (like the insane prison industrial complex).

[alfredo]

12. Those for profit prisons will have to charge more per prisoners

in an effort to keep their shareholders from complaining and their CEO's from bolting.

[mdmc]

14. ..

[alfredo]

15. You're quite loquacious.

[tabasco]

16. Stop ruining lives and wasting resources!

LEGALIZE NOW!

[alfredo]

17. Supply side anything doesn't work. Kill the demand

by legalizing and you cut off the money supply, and you don't turn people into criminals for ingesting a weed.