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samboct -> RE: Your stance on.. (1/9/2008 6:31:45 PM)
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I'm definitely in the legalize it and tax it crowd. People could grow their own tabbaccy too, and some folks have made moonshine, so if we accept the taxes on these substances, why not marijuana?
I've tried the stuff over the years- doesn't do anything fun for me- I hack too much- don't deal well with smoke and truth be told, prefer a good scotch anyhow.
My recollection of how pot became illegal is that it dates back to the 30s (late 20s?) and is tied in with the establishment of the FBI who needed something to do, since alkool tabbaccy and popguns was a different agency. (I think that was true back then too.) If you're going to make something illegal- you need to demonize it, hence propaganda films like Reefer Madness although I think most people bellyached that they must have lousy pot, because there wasn't an orgy in sight.
Gateway drug? Nonsense- we've got addictive individuals in our society who are going to get addicted to something, and marijuana was an easy target. Interesting theory- no data- or at least, I've never seen anything persuasive.
By the way- one of the things we should do with the tax money is study addiction. Last time I checked, we spend maybe $10M studying the causes of addiction in this country- which is not drop in the bucket compared to incarceration. One of the few groups studying this is at Dartmouth and they concluded that brain chemistry continues to alter, so that by age 35, the inclination to smoke pot or other illicit substances is gone in most of the population- but judging by the responses on this board- not all. But let's face it, trying drugs is something that kids do, and most adults grow out of, and it doesn't matter about the consequences- many adults could smoke dope and not get caught, yet they choose not to. We desperately need better treatment for addicted individuals, and maybe with the slow demise of the tobacco industry, we might have a fighting prayer. But then we've got the prison industry to deal with too....And oh yeah- tell me again why an addict/drug user belongs in jail, but an alcholic doesn't?
Sam
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