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Termyn8or -> RE: Maijuana and Capitalism (2/27/2009 3:58:13 PM)
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camille, I think they would screw it up just like everything else.They would probably slap a hundred buck an ounce tax on it and there would still be a black market, just like there is now for "hot" cigarettes.
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One thing I find surprising is that so many who are for legalization of pot also feel the need to also mention that it should be taxed. What are you offering the gov a bribe ? Why should it be taxed ? What's next a tax on dandelions because you can make wine out of it ?
I think it an oxymoron in a way, legalize yet tax, and really people have not actually read the original laws aganst pot. They actually were tax laws just as the Harrison act (which made cocaine illegal). There is a tenet of common law that the authority for the unconstitutional laws comes from the fact that one is operating in commerce. Of course this doesn't explain everything but I have known quite a ferw people who grew their own and they all said if it was strictly for personal use you, at the very least, didn't get slammed so hard for doing it.
That does not explain much either, there are probably still people in Texas prisons for possesion of one joint. There are other inequities abound. One buddy of mine beat a case on appeal after doing about a year and a half. They raided him and found about a dozen plants in an attic grow room. But there was something wrong with the search warrant. The retrial got thrown clean out on that technicality and now he plans to sue the government, even though they actually caught him selling a half ounce. I don't think he is going to win, but the way everything is so convoluted now I wouldn't say for sure. I see one possible defense on the govarment's side as one of the cops on the stand simply saying "The guy was busted selling weed, we found about a dozen plants in a high tech hydroponic grow room. We are cops, what do you want us to do ?". I know that room, I had been there many times. Loved the smell of it BTW.
Then I got another buddy, busted with 200 pounds in a car. He was out on two million dollars bail. Now he is serving a whopping five month sentence. I am going to get his lawyer's phone number if it kills me.
But with all this, what have they created ? Back to camille, if pot was totally legal would your doctor still maintain his stance against it ? If I was seeing a doc for breathing problems would he insist I stop cigarettes on the same grounds, using the same threats ?
Tell you why I don't even think about moving to Florida. I was down there and the news came on. The words were "The Florida legislature has passed a law making it a crime to......" . Whatever it was I do not remember, nor does it matter. It is either a crime or it isn't, what they did was to make a law against it. These are two different things. That and the religious types down there, I said straight out "Nice place to visit but I will not live here". They also busted some old geezers for gambling, their crime ? Playing pinochle for a penny a point. After all the letter of the law is the letter of the law right ?
The worst part about society in general is that people have some sort of conception that illegal is bad and legal is good. This is an anethma to a supposedly free society. The pot issue is a valid one to be sure, and in the forefront for some. But it is merely a symptom of a disease we have, and there is no word for it let alone a cure. We have lost the ideal, the principles, the guile and the will, as well as the sense of respnsibility to live in a truly free society.
Honestly, if you are going to argue for the legalization of pot, you must similarly support the legalization of all recreational drugs. There is however a difference between say even the most addictive and destructive drugs, but if it can be done in moderation, and is not straight out poison, they really have nothing to say about it. I have done cocaine, it's been perhaps a year or so since, so I am not hooked obviously, but it is my right to do so. Even though that substance can wreck the life of another, that should not affect my rights.
On the other hand if someone manufactures pure poison and finds people dumb enough to use it, that should probably be illegal, but where to draw the line in a truly free society ? One could also conjure up images of snake oil salesmen, but unless the stuff is truly poison, IMO he should be left alone. In fact we have the modern equivalent of snake oil salesmen, for everything from special water (John Ellis) to all kinds of fish oils and so forth purported to cure who knows what. In each ad it says "This information is not intewnded to treat nor cure any disease and has not been evaluated by the FDA" or some such. Then they produce SSRIs and give them out like candy, and find some people go postal, shooting up schools or places of business indiscriminately. Now if the good of the public were ever the main concern, what would be illegal ?
I already knew about the Randolf Hearst connection to pot laws, I did not bring it up because people love to flame me and send me looking for links. What also should go along with that is that the drug and oil companies have joined in, for reasons that are obvious to those who know the value of hemp. (and cannibas)
Another thing that few people know is that about five or so years ago George Soros came out in favor of legalizing pot, and tried to make it happen. With all his money he got nowhere for his effort, so the prognosis is not good. If Soros can't even make them budge, what chace do you think we have ? Even a "grass" roots movement (pun intended) doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell. Even other matters, it is not our beliefs which concern "them". A couple of states had a popular vote authorizing euthenasia, and there have been others. In each case federal law overrides the will of the People.
They have the power to say who lives and dies, regarless of guilt (proven), and they also have the power to decide who suffers and who does not (nobody has been insane enough to challenge that). That power seems almost Godlike to them and they are not going to give it up easily. Now back to the gun control thread(s).
T
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