Comments on: A Case for Legalization http://www.regionalidentity.com/government/a-case-for-legalization Collegiate Paso del Norte research, media and journalism Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:43:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Richard Sapien http://www.regionalidentity.com/government/a-case-for-legalization/comment-page-1#comment-49 Richard Sapien Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:14:43 +0000 http://regionalidentity.com/?p=13#comment-49 <p>At least California has the right idea…<br /> <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/918711.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/918711.html</a></p> At least California has the right idea…
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/918711.html

]]> By: Isaac http://www.regionalidentity.com/government/a-case-for-legalization/comment-page-1#comment-48 Isaac Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:26:16 +0000 http://regionalidentity.com/?p=13#comment-48 <p>Philip, you admit it is true that young people use drugs the most, but where I think you have missed my point is that it has been this way for the past sixty years. At least four generations of Americans have grown up with drugs now considered illegal, and many of them continue to use them to some extent. They are not an evil of our times. They are an evil, if you will, of the human condition. It is almost a psychological imperative that wherever there is pleasure to be had, people will have it, especially the young and the underprivileged. Just imagine if the government were to make sex illegal. Would that stop people from having sex? No. Would forbidding sex end undesired pregnancies and eliminate <span class="caps">STD</span>s? I would argue it wouldn’t. Moreover, it would probably make it harder to educate people about birth control and <span class="caps">STD</span> prevention, and it would likely create other problems because people would seek lawless spaces to have sex in. Simply “talking about it” is not enough. To this day I have not heard a compelling argument for equating public policy with moral and ethical deliberation. Morality rarely reflects the truth about people’s actual behavior, and the law should not be made an instrument of ethical oppression against anyone. <br /> I am by no means arguing that legalizing drugs would solve all of the problems related to their usage, but I do believe that we would be in a better position to address them. I don’t think that a nation of zombies on drugs is any more dangerous than a full-fledged army of violent criminals with access to unlimited financial resources.</p> Philip, you admit it is true that young people use drugs the most, but where I think you have missed my point is that it has been this way for the past sixty years. At least four generations of Americans have grown up with drugs now considered illegal, and many of them continue to use them to some extent. They are not an evil of our times. They are an evil, if you will, of the human condition. It is almost a psychological imperative that wherever there is pleasure to be had, people will have it, especially the young and the underprivileged. Just imagine if the government were to make sex illegal. Would that stop people from having sex? No. Would forbidding sex end undesired pregnancies and eliminate STDs? I would argue it wouldn’t. Moreover, it would probably make it harder to educate people about birth control and STD prevention, and it would likely create other problems because people would seek lawless spaces to have sex in. Simply “talking about it” is not enough. To this day I have not heard a compelling argument for equating public policy with moral and ethical deliberation. Morality rarely reflects the truth about people’s actual behavior, and the law should not be made an instrument of ethical oppression against anyone.
I am by no means arguing that legalizing drugs would solve all of the problems related to their usage, but I do believe that we would be in a better position to address them. I don’t think that a nation of zombies on drugs is any more dangerous than a full-fledged army of violent criminals with access to unlimited financial resources.

]]> By: Philip http://www.regionalidentity.com/government/a-case-for-legalization/comment-page-1#comment-46 Philip Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:44:03 +0000 http://regionalidentity.com/?p=13#comment-46 <p>I think any numbers/statistics for either side of this issue are irrelevant, because they are exaggerated. Drugs are part of a American norm? This is just an excuse not a reality, young people use them the most so yes in retrospect they are a norm to our generation, but the overall American society? No. Its okay to talk about the possibility of changing the policy, but to actually do it is immoral and unethical. You point other nations that do change their stance, and look at the problems associated with allowing drugs in their nation. Just pointing it out, don’t take offense to it.</p> I think any numbers/statistics for either side of this issue are irrelevant, because they are exaggerated. Drugs are part of a American norm? This is just an excuse not a reality, young people use them the most so yes in retrospect they are a norm to our generation, but the overall American society? No. Its okay to talk about the possibility of changing the policy, but to actually do it is immoral and unethical. You point other nations that do change their stance, and look at the problems associated with allowing drugs in their nation. Just pointing it out, don’t take offense to it.

]]> By: James DiLoreto http://www.regionalidentity.com/government/a-case-for-legalization/comment-page-1#comment-36 James DiLoreto Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:47:19 +0000 http://regionalidentity.com/?p=13#comment-36 <p>My favorite quote on the issue was from the former police chief of San Jose, California and Kansas City, Missouri, Joseph McNamara:<br /> Five-hundred dollars worth of heroin from a “source country” would eventually be sold on the streets of the United States for one-hundred thousand dollars. “All the cops, armies, prisons, and executions in the world cannot impede a market with that kind of tax-free profit margin.” </p> <p>I think Juarez is living proof of that.</p> My favorite quote on the issue was from the former police chief of San Jose, California and Kansas City, Missouri, Joseph McNamara:
Five-hundred dollars worth of heroin from a “source country” would eventually be sold on the streets of the United States for one-hundred thousand dollars.
“All the cops, armies, prisons, and executions in the world cannot impede a market with that kind of tax-free profit margin.”

I think Juarez is living proof of that.

]]> By: Richard Sapien http://www.regionalidentity.com/government/a-case-for-legalization/comment-page-1#comment-34 Richard Sapien Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:23:30 +0000 http://regionalidentity.com/?p=13#comment-34 <p>Good article.</p> Good article.

]]>