drug legalization (from: GOP talk of military action in Mexico)

[tn1911]

You are proving my point of oversimplifying. You don’t HAVE to legalize hard drugs to remove bad laws.

No sir, I believe you are missing the point entirely. These bad laws exist because of it, the loss of liberty and rights because of it. If any part of it is allowed to continue it will be repurposed and used against you.

We are too over policed as it is and you can thank the war on some drugs because of it.

The amount of power the average street cop has over you should be alarming to you. A simple traffic stop for something purely subjective such as a failure to maintain lane, following too close or “obstructed tag” yeah that’s a fun one. All can turn into a full blown you’re in cuffs, disarmed and having you car tossed all because some rookie thought he smelled weed, the odor of burnt crack or such. Or he sees something that he believes is in plain view is contraband and initiates a search based upon that.

Oh look, he just found that $1200 in cash you have in your center console that you took out of your bank yesterday. You were on your way to meet me to buy some cool piece of kit I have for sale.

Damn, now it’s gone, never to be seen again down the rabbit hole of civil asset forfeiture. Cop claimed it’s proceeds for a drug transaction even though he never found the weed he claimed to smell to begin with. But that starts the narrative of his report and is the foundation of the prosecutors basis for seizing your cash. Cops willing to testify to it, judge gonna buy it, you gonna lose it.

All because of the glorious war on some drugs.

It all needs to go, every last bit of it.

Cops will whine and argue it’s harder to do the job now. Guess what it should be, it should be incredibly hard for me to stop you, detain you, cuff you and search your car roadside.

It should be a monumental task for me to build a case present it to a judge and secure a search warrant allowing me to enter your house with force if necessary and without your consent search your belongings looking for evidence to use against you.

[WillBrink]

No sir, I believe you are missing the point entirely. These bad laws exist because of it, the loss of liberty and rights because of it. If any part of it is allowed to continue it will be repurposed and used against you.

We are too over policed as it is and you can thank the war on some drugs because of it.

The amount of power the average street cop has over you should be alarming to you. A simple traffic stop for something purely subjective such as a failure to maintain lane, following too close or “obstructed tag” yeah that’s a fun one. All can turn into a full blown you’re in cuffs, disarmed and having you car tossed all because some rookie thought he smelled weed, the odor of burnt crack or such. Or he sees something that he believes is in plain view is contraband and initiates a search based upon that.

Oh look, he just found that $1200 in cash you have in your center console that you took out of your bank yesterday. You were on your way to meet me to buy some cool piece of kit I have for sale.

Damn, now it’s gone, never to be seen again down the rabbit hole of civil asset forfeiture. Cop claimed it’s proceeds for a drug transaction even though he never found the weed he claimed to smell to begin with. But that starts the narrative of his report and is the foundation of the prosecutors basis for seizing your cash. Cops willing to testify to it, judge gonna buy it, you gonna lose it.

All because of the glorious war on some drugs.

It all needs to go, every last bit of it.

Cops will whine and argue it’s harder to do the job now. Guess what it should be, it should be incredibly hard for me to stop you, detain you, cuff you and search your car roadside.

It should be a monumental task for me to build a case present it to a judge and secure a search warrant allowing me to enter your house with force if necessary and without your consent search your belongings looking for evidence to use against you.

The amount of individual Freedoms and Liberty surrendered for the (lost by any metric...) "war on drugs" should be what really bothers otherwise conservative people. It's a blind spot they can't seem to over come. Anyone who knows anything about the topic will never utter the statement "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" then support the war on drugs, should never utter that statement as they don't actually mean it. I think it's just existed long enough, it's normal to them, yet far worse than say Patriot Act and others to our Liberty.

[tn1911]

It's a blind spot they can't seem to over come.

It must be, and it’s so discouraging to those of us who are trying to sound the alarm. You’d think the ones like me who’s actually done the job and saw firsthand how quickly you can have your life upended, that our opinions might rank slightly higher than others.

[jsbhike]

The difference? All the alcohol poisoning deaths for those 24 and under are about 100 a year. In that same age bracket about 6,500 opioid deaths during 2021.

My original point what that fentanyl laced pills are nothing like when I was a kid during the 70s. Drugs were everywhere... whites, reds, yellows, black beauties... you name it. Anyone living during that time knows what I'm talking about. Kids weren't dropping dead from taking a pill or even a blotter hit anywhere near like kids are today. The situation is MUCH different today. If you want to convince yourself otherwise... enjoy.

Now try alcohol someone is distilling out behind their barn or adulterated by .gov mandate as was occurring 100 years ago.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Michigan legalized marijuana in 2018. It went suddenly from a trivial illegal drug that few people used, to an extremely common "legal" drug that has retail stores, advertising, and a user base of something like 20-30% of Michigan adults. It's now a major issue in schools down to middle school, maybe even older elementary school, because of vaping and edibles.

Before the state const. amendment vote, I was ambivalent on legalization. Now, seeing the effects, I think full legalization was a terrible idea. A close relative lives in Colorado and has seen the same there.

But I also agree with the legitimate criticism of the stupid "war on drugs" that has largely failed, while wrecking our general civil rights.

Maybe there's an in-between land of decriminalization - keep the drugs and their use illegal, allow for confiscation of actual drugs, but do away with the no-knock raids, civil forfeiture, etc., all of those abuses. Or maybe that's worse, because it would life easier for the dealers. I don't know. The national experience with alcohol suggests this may be a predicament rather than solvable problem.

[jsbhike]

People aren't out robbing and breaking into houses to support their alcohol habit, or if they are, the numbers are so small so as to be insignificant.

Take the numbers for violent crime and start looking for the tie ins to narcotics. It is immediately clear they are linked at a high level. That doesn't mean all, but so much crime ties back into the drug trade it is obscene. Making it legal might drop the price a bit, but the rest of the crime that goes around it still exists.

That is due to alcohol not being illegal or a disqualifier in trace amounts for getting/staying employed.

Try alcohol prohibition again(to include the adulterated alcohol), add in alcohol testing for employment, and watch the fun begin.

Every bad part of prohibition combined with unemployment would truly be a sight to behold considering the similarities between alcohol and opiate withdrawal multiplied with the tendency of alcohol to cause violent behavior.

[flenna]

Legalizing drugs has done wonders for Portland, San Fran, LA and other liberal paradises. Watch some videos of the Kensington district in Philadelphia to see a good example of what happens when drug laws are not enforced. It is sad and a disgrace.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/crisis-ke...oral-candidate

[Averageman]

I don't trust our .Gov to be able to do this correctly, safely or without corruption.
After COVID, there would likely be a long and very valuable list of who will control production and I'm sure the same cast of characters would step up to the government trough to feed again.

There might be a few ways to at least slow this down, but to be honest we "F"up everything our .gov touches.

[Todd.K]

Alcohol is legal, yet we have clearly unconstitutional DUI checkpoints. How is that possible if bad laws are only made for prohibited substances?

End the “war on drugs”

End the idea that we could “win” it with just one more oppressive law

That doesn’t mean we have to legalize everything and make the whole country into Portland and SF.

[ChattanoogaPhil]

The amount of individual Freedoms and Liberty surrendered for the (lost by any metric...) "war on drugs" should be what really bothers otherwise conservative people. It's a blind spot they can't seem to over come. Anyone who knows anything about the topic will never utter the statement "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" then support the war on drugs, should never utter that statement as they don't actually mean it. I think it's just existed long enough, it's normal to them, yet far worse than say Patriot Act and others to our Liberty.

Unless living in the woods alone, we all give up some degree of liberties to live in society, everything from decency laws to drug laws.

Is walking down a sidewalk jerking-off or laying on the sidewalk with a needle stuck in your arm “essential liberties". Both are activities that some feel are public safety concerns. Are they wrong? I can tell you I certainly wouldn't want my teenage granddaughter or wife near either. Most agree, and laws are created to restrict and prevent such.

When laws aren’t enforced… not the society I wish to reside.