May 20, 2005

The "War" on Drugs

In a continuation of the discussion over Rep. Sensenbrenner's idiotic legislation to create a society of snitches, Glen Dean over at Nashville Truth discusses the frivolity of the never ending war on drugs.

While I have never taken a stance one way or the other on the legalization of drugs, I have observed the following in relation to this "war:"

-Our jails continue to fill up with non-violent offenders
-Our tax money is being spent on keeping these people in jail
-We've seen a continual march toward becoming a police state (again, using our money)
-We've pretty much lost a true meaning of the 4th Amendment
-The civil liberties of millions of law-abiding citizens have been eroded all in the name of the "war" on drugs

Draw whatever conclusions you will with that. Just be sure to read Glen's piece.

Comments:

Please Note! Failure to abide by the following may result in your comments being edited or deleted: Remain on topic. Foul language and/or personal attacks are not permitted. Excessive links (more than three per thread) must be approved first. If you do include a link in your comment, make sure it is a short link (go to tinyurl.com if it is too long). Try to keep comments to 125 words or less. Thank you.

Our jails are filled with MANY types of non-violent offenders such as tax evaders, hackers, insider traders, in other words,all of those "white collar" criminals. Should we turn them out and stop paying to keep them in as well? Are you a pot-head Focker? If you are, then I don't want you driving on the street that my kid is riding his bike on. Just a thought. Gotta go, I'm getting the munchies.

Posted by: Jakester at May 20, 2005 09:32 AM

Blake, thanks for the link.
Jakester, the difference in tax evaders, hackers, and traders is that those crimes have victims In other words they were committed against someone else. Sitting in your apartment and doing a bong hit doesn't exactly hurt anybody. Of course, selling it to a child is different.

Posted by: Glen Dean at May 20, 2005 12:04 PM

Agreed, but crime is crime. I PERSONALLY view marijuana as the gateway drug. It IS a high. It alters thought, reasoning, mood, and judgement. Once that marijuana isn't getting it done for them, they will look to the next one. Not to mention, most of the people selling the stuff aren't selling JUST marijuana. Equal opportunity pushers, if you will. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a police state in the least. But I am also not an advocate for the legalization of MaryJane. I'm not for anything that makes me be "not me".

Posted by: Jakester at May 20, 2005 12:18 PM

Personally I thought Jakester was joking at first, but now I'm not sure.

Posted by: Chris Wage at May 20, 2005 12:24 PM

Honesty with a grin!

Posted by: Jakester at May 20, 2005 12:44 PM

What kills me is that this is an issue that Democrats should be pouncing on but they don't because they're afraid of looking "soft on crime". Of course you're soft on crime - you're a Democrat! You may not win the libertarian wing of the Republican party to vote for you but they'd probably stay home in protest.

When you have 7 to 10 states decriminalizing possession (sarcasm on: nutball Democratic stronghold states like Arizona and Alaska)- the Fairweather Federalist wing of the Republican Party comes in for the crackdown. These guys can focus when they're losing elections, but the taste of success just launches their single malt scotch addled minds in a thousand different directions. Unbelievable as it is predictable. Now who's up for banning naughty cheerleading?

Posted by: smantix at May 20, 2005 05:46 PM

Nonsensenbrenner.

Posted by: smantix at May 20, 2005 05:48 PM