Posted at a pawn shop I frequent

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CHenry

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The first drug prohibition law passed by Congress was the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act of 1909. At the time, drug-related crime was largely unheard of and the use of opium in the US had been steadily declining for over a decade. It was relatively common for people to use opium, cocaine, heroin, etc. (which were freely available OTC from a pharmacy, or by mail order from Sears) privately without causing trouble and it wasn’t any sort of major public concern. The motivation for the new law had nothing to do with protecting people from the harmful effects of drugs or drug-related violence. This first American drug law was simultaneously a convoluted attempt to beat the UK in trade with China (where most smoking opium was imported from) and a racist attack on Chinese immigrants (the law applied to opium commonly used for smoking by Chinese, but not to the more processed form of opium used recreationally and medicinally by white people). After short-term shortages of smoking opium, black markets emerged, set up by existing criminal entrepreneurs, who brought their criminality and violence into the drug trade.

The criminal tendencies of the people facilitating the black market gave government the excuse it needed to continuously escalate penalties and enforcement until the legal risks of opium use drove people to harder drugs like morphine and cocaine, which were still legal. The government followed them and made those drugs illegal too. This continued to escalate throughout the 20th century, including the passing of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970.

These laws have not prevented an explosion of drug use in America beginning in the 1960s, but have made buying and using drugs more dangerous and have funded massive international criminal enterprises as well as the street dealers that are largely responsible for the criminal activity that people blame on drugs. If we legalize drugs, we would cut off funding to the people responsible for much of the non-drug crime associated with drugs.
Don't be bringing facts into this thread.
This is an " I'm clueless about the facts here but my opinion is solid' thread only.
LOL
 
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CHenry

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1. Can you cite a "study" that proves that MJ is NOT a gateway drug?
2. Perhaps socialist policies have strongly contributed, but that includes legalizing weed.
3. I'm sorry, but someone "selling," even just MJ, is just a "wee bit" more serious than just possession of the same. That can be adding to the "social impact" upon others and not just those imprisoned.
come on, the Millers are hauling bushles of it in their RV. I know cause I saw the movie.
TM, I can show u facts that disprove ever statement you made...but I'm not going to because I have already and it's a waste of time.
1. Yes
2. ********, there are no more people using weed now than before it was legalized. Not a real measurable amount anyway, and any new users would do it anyway. Fact
3. A dealer and one in simple possession will and can get the same prison time. Fact. And since when does locking up a non violent pot smoker or even Herion addict, have anything to do with "public safety". After all, thats what law is fundamental for. They lock up people they are mad at but those individuals never harmed a soul.
Fact.

You can look them up.
 

MacFromOK

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Yes because we know spending 4 billon a year on the war on drugs has been very successful and we should continue that huge profitable campaign.
(Sarcasm. There are 50x more drugs in the US today than 30 years ago...)
MJ is legal in a lot more places than it was 30 years ago. Or is that just something else you'll blow off as coincidence? :P

If all drugs were legal, I'm sure there'd be a lot more drug addicts (simply because many hard drugs are highly addictive). I can't make myself believe that would be a good thing.

But this is America, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Too bad some can't express theirs without ridiculing others. :drunk2:
 

DavidMcmillan

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When our nation started, there were very few laws. Each year, every state legislature in the nation has added new laws, the vast majority of which were enacted because of the actions of a few that affected the many.

I saw a post recently that said something like, "We now have 17,000 pages of laws because people couldn't follow the ten that were written on two stone tablets". I think there is some truth to that.
 

CHenry

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MJ is legal in a lot more places than it was 30 years ago. Or is that just something else you'll blow off as coincidence? :P

If all drugs were legal, I'm sure there'd be a lot more drug addicts (simply because many hard drugs are highly addictive). I can't make myself believe that would be a good thing.

But this is America, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Too bad some can't express theirs without ridiculing others. :drunk2:
I didn't ridicule you, it only sounds that way when you think about the facts I stated compared to your opinion. I didn't intend to belittle you at all but if the facts don't align with your opinion, you always strike out with that same ridicule. Sad.
Here, this is a good read and if you don't like the source it can be found on Portugal crime and drug statistics websites. This IS a world wide trend. Don't even kid yours that I'm wrong. Look it up though, don't take the word of someone else who already has.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...licy-is-working-why-hasnt-the-world-copied-it
 

Tanis143

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The reason we have had to create so many laws is because we, as a society, cannot practice self control.

By that reasoning you're ok with gun control laws because of a few who used them to commit murders, correct? Here is my problem with many of the arguments expressed here: You are ok with drug laws because it falls in line with your own moral laws. You don't do drugs, so it doesn't bother you that they are illegal. That right there is why we have such a hard fight with firearm laws. And before you go there, yes I know firearm ownership is a right while drug use is not, but the fact that you are using the same mentality as the anti-gunners is what bothers me. I don't use any illicit or licit drugs simply for the fact that I have an addictive personality (also why I don't drink that much). However, as long as one's use does not affect others, it should not criminalize the person for partaking in any drug. The government should not be able to dictate what we can and cannot put into our own bodies! If they have that power then they can come around and tell us "Hey, no more meat for anyone!" or "Chocolate is bad for you, so we are going to make it illegal!".
 

MacFromOK

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By that reasoning you're ok with gun control laws because of a few who used them to commit murders, correct? Here is my problem with many of the arguments expressed here: You are ok with drug laws because it falls in line with your own moral laws. You don't do drugs, so it doesn't bother you that they are illegal. That right there is why we have such a hard fight with firearm laws.
Guns are not mind-altering drugs.

Gun owners aren't likely to break into homes to steal TVs, microwaves, and computers to support their habit, whereas many drug addicts do.

I personally don't care what folks do to themselves (drugwise or whatever), unless their habit causes them to commit acts that affect others.

Just my 2¢... :drunk2:
 

Ethan N

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When our nation started, there were very few laws. Each year, every state legislature in the nation has added new laws, the vast majority of which were enacted because of the actions of a few that affected the many.
Just goes to show how irrational, reactive, and tyrannical legislatures are.
 

MacFromOK

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MJ is legal in a lot more places than it was 30 years ago. Or is that just something else you'll blow off as coincidence? :P
No, that's not a fact, a very big red herring that you do not any facts to back up.
Seriously? You're saying MJ isn't legal in more places than it was 30 years ago?
:D
 

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