It’s a Reasonable Argument

Drew Carey has a series of videos on Reason TV (a libertarian site) which deals with public policies regarding various stupid laws. In this one he talks about Medical Marijuana. If you’re wondering why I have been championing legalization lately it’s because I know someone with a serious illness who uses medical marijuana, and he tells me its the best thing he uses to stop the paid. He has crippling pain that makes it almost impossible to walk or sleep well. But marijuana makes his legs feel loose and somehow it makes it possible to get a good night’s sleep.

Everyone knows someone who smokes pot at some level. It’s no more dangerous than alcohol. It’s probably safer. Yet its treated as this major drug by the feds.

For a long time I was against legalization because I felt we didn’t need more drugs in our society. But the fact is, humans need some kind of way to deal with things. Legal drugs are a huge industry. When you realize how huge it is, you can see why they wouldn’t want something like cannabis legalized. People could home grow it. It’s a weed and easy to do. This drug probably cuts into potential business for the pham companies. If it were legal, it would probably really cut into their trade.

But the fact is, many states have made medical marijuana legal. And the Feds (starting with Clinton who was president when many of these laws passed) have ignored the laws and have persecuted businesses that sprang up to supply the drug to people. In other words, the feds have ignored the will of the people. And they have trampled on states rights.

Now a lot of conservatives like to make fun of medical marijuana users as a bunch of stoners, but that’s not really true. You have to get a prescription to get it in these states. Sure, there are probably fakers. But the same thing happens with other prescription drugs.

If someone is really a conservative and believes in liberty, they have to be concerned about the way the feds are trampling on people’s rights. They should also be concerned about the huge waste of tax payer money prosecuting these easy targets when there are more serious drugs out there they should be worries about.

UPDATE: Britain decriminalized pot and lo and behold, use of the drug dropped 20 percent. Take away the rebellion aspect and it stops being so cool.

When I received radiation in’74 in the PI before I returned to Vietnam for the end, I smoked every day.  Later a doctor asked me how sick I became because of this treatment, and he couldn’t understand why I was not affected in the least. I didn’t realize until years later, that it was evidently the result of the grass.  Also, there is no question that it is much safer to drive stoned than while drunk.I had many years of driving a cab to attest to such.

Posted by Brock Townsend  on  11/04  at  08:53 AM

Oh, did you do it both ways?

Posted by  on  11/04  at  09:06 AM

I didn’t drive a cab while drinking, but I have certainly driven vehicles while drinking. (Most notably in Vietnam)

Posted by Brock Townsend  on  11/04  at  09:15 AM

I’m for full legalization.  For one thing, we could clear out prisons and wipe the “criminal” records of a staggering number of people who are little to no risk to the community.  Availability of another type of legal drug would also cause a lot of people now taking things like crack and meth to switch to the much safer alternative.  After all, most of them would prefer not to go to jail.
There are almost insurmountable problems, however.  As Jim points out (and this was a surprise to me when I first moved to the States) the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are regularly ignored by the Federal Government.  I’d pay money to see the Berkeley Police in a running gun battle with the Feds next time they try to bust a medical marijuana outlet there.
Another problem is the draconian anti-smoking laws.  So far the tokers have skated by because the laws specifically say “tobacco” but if weed goes legal and more people start lighting up, the antis will all over that, you can bet.
Finally, there will be generalized resistance from the New Puritans on both the left and right, with hysterical predictions of stoned 8 year old kids jumping off roofs and wacked out tokers driving head-on into busloads of schoolkids.  And guess what?  Those things will happen.  As will a lot of other negative consequences.  But of course the point is, are the positives outweighed by the negatives?  My belief would be a firm yes, but that’s not the way policy is decided in America, and absolutely NOT the way news is reported.  If they ever legalize dope, expect an unstoppable tsunami of bad news about it until the legalization is reversed.

Posted by  on  11/04  at  02:47 PM

I believe that all drugs should be legalized, and sold cheaply through pharmacies.  That will end the criminal element that imports/markets them, and the criminals who break laws in order to obtain the money to purchase them.

Posted by Brock Townsend  on  11/04  at  03:07 PM

Prohibition is what made the rise of the Mafia happen. Drug lords are the product of drug prohibition.

Posted by  on  11/04  at  03:31 PM

Indeed.  It shows how stupid people can be.  The experiment has been conducted, the results tallied, and, hey ho, prohibition has been clearly shown to have profoundly negative consequences overall.  Yet many are still irrationally wedded to the idea, simply because it sounds like it ought to work.
Reminds me of Marxism.

Posted by  on  11/05  at  01:40 AM

“Reminds me of Marxism.”

And this isn’t the only path that we are taking that reminds me of such.

Posted by Brock Townsend  on  11/05  at  10:04 AM

I should note that whenever people ask “When will they end this insane policy” the answer is, THEY won’t.  All the changes in the law have been brought about by citizen effort.  “They” will never wise up.  This is something the citizens must do for themselves.

Posted by  on  11/05  at  12:47 PM

Jim B is right, but it’s a slow, hard battle playing whack-a-mole with state and local laws.  The efforts by Second Amendment supporters to pass “shall carry” laws in various states have succeeded incredibly well, by simply plodding along one state at a time and showing, year after year, that they claims of the opposition are wrong.  But it’s been a three-decade-long struggle that is still far from over, although the 50% point has long since been passed, and at any moment it could all be wiped out by a negative Supreme Court ruling.
The problem with drug legalization is that the Feds are “agin it” and so the state-by-state method won’t work.  So, for the reasons I noted above, I think it’s going to be pretty much impossible.  Sad but true.

Posted by  on  11/05  at  04:02 PM
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