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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2008/06/18/legalize_all_drugs?page=full&comments=true
The other day, reading the New York Post's popular Page Six gossip page, I was surprised to find a picture of me, followed by the lines: "ABC'S John Stossel wants the government to stop interfering with your right to get high. The crowd went silent at his call to legalize hard drugs".
I had attended a Marijuana Policy Project event celebrating the New York State Assembly's passage of a medical-marijuana bill. (The bill hasn't passed the Senate.) I told the audience I thought it pathetic that the mere half passage of a bill to allow sick people to try a possible remedy would merit such a celebration. Of course medical marijuana should be legal. For adults, everything should be legal. I'm amazed that the health police are so smug in their opposition.
After years of reporting on the drug war, I'm convinced that this "war" does more harm than any drug.
Independent of that harm, adults ought to own our own bodies, so it's not intellectually honest to argue that "only marijuana" should be legal -- and only for certain sick people approved by the state. Every drug should be legal.
"How could you say such a ridiculous thing?" asked my assistant. "Heroin and cocaine have a permanent effect. If you do crack just once, you are automatically hooked. Legal hard drugs would create many more addicts. And that leads to more violence, homelessness, out-of-wedlock births, etc!"
Her diatribe is a good summary of the drug warriors' arguments. Most Americans probably agree with what she said.
But what most Americans believe is wrong.
Myth No. 1: Heroin and cocaine have a permanent effect.
Truth: There is no evidence of that.
In the 1980s, the press reported that "crack babies" were "permanently damaged." Rolling Stone, citing one study of just 23 babies, claimed that crack babies "were oblivious to affection, automatons."
It simply wasn't true. There is no proof that crack babies do worse than anyone else in later life.
Myth No. 2: If you do crack once, you are hooked.
Truth: Look at the numbers -- 15 percent of young adults have tried crack, but only 2 percent used it in the last month. If crack is so addictive, why do most people who've tried it no longer use it?
People once said heroin was nearly impossible to quit, but during the Vietnam War, thousands of soldiers became addicted, and when they returned home, 85 percent quit within one year.
People have free will. Most who use drugs eventually wise up and stop.
And most people who use drugs habitually live perfectly responsible lives, as Jacob Sullum pointed out in "Saying Yes".
Myth No. 3: Drugs cause crime.
Truth: The drug war causes the crime.
Few drug users hurt or rob people because they are high. Most of the crime occurs because the drugs are illegal and available only through a black market. Drug sellers arm themselves and form gangs because they cannot ask the police to protect their persons and property.
In turn, some buyers steal to pay the high black-market prices. The government says heroin, cocaine and nicotine are similarly addictive, and about half the people who both smoke cigarettes and use cocaine say smoking is at least as strong an urge. But no one robs convenience stores for Marlboros.
Alcohol prohibition created Al Capone and the Mafia. Drug prohibition is worse. It's corrupting whole countries and financing terrorism.
The Post wrote, "Stossel admitted his own 22-year-old daughter doesn't think [legalization] is a good idea."
But that's not what she said. My daughter argued that legal cocaine would probably lead to more cocaine use. And therefore probably abuse.
I'm not so sure.
Banning drugs certainly hasn't kept young people from getting them. We can't even keep these drugs out of prisons. How do we expect to keep them out of America?
But let's assume my daughter is right, that legalization would lead to more experimentation and more addiction. I still say: Legal is better.
While drugs harm many, the drug war's black market harms more.
And most importantly, in a free country, adults should have the right to harm themselves. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:30 pm |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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YES!
I like having the right to harm myself. |
_________________
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:47 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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Nothing like stopping by your local stop and rob to pick up a little meth on your way to work. oh wait your too f-----up to work.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:35 pm |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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I'm too afraid of meth to ever touch it.
Would make for an interesting day at work though! |
_________________
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:40 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| From what I have seen and read about it it can be a one time and you are hooked experiment. Probably best to pass on that one. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:51 pm |
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tricky mutha
F L I N T O I D
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| Yes- if Adult Americans have the right to arm themselves they should also be able to harm themselves. |
_________________
"Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there"- John Steinbeck |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:54 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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From what I have read you may have to shoot a methhead a bunch of times just to get a reaction. Thats why I carry the biggest and baddest I can.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:00 pm |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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LOL because your neighborhood is SOOO overrun with "meth-heads".
You're crazy man  Save the weaponry for the Moonies who come to the door.
Makes me wish I had a wakizashi... |
_________________
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:19 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
twotap schreef:
From what I have read you may have to shoot a methhead a bunch of times just to get a reaction. Thats why I carry the biggest and baddest I can.
45ACP?
50AE
500 S&W? |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:59 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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Actually Demeralda dear, there is a problem with methlabs in N. Mi. Back in the boonies cook it up ship it to Flint if ya run across these clowns while crusing the woodsytrails their could be a problem. Sometimes you speakth of what you know not.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:08 pm |
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squash
F L I N T O I D
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| I've been to Northern Michigan enough to know that meth cookers don't have to travel all the way to Flint to unload their product. Plenty of customers north of Bay City to be sure. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:32 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| Not to mention Sagginhole. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:49 pm |
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squash
F L I N T O I D
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| Also referred to as Saginasty. |
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Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:25 am |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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I do know of what I speak.
Of course there are meth labs. Are you telling me this is a rampant problem in YOUR neighborhood?
Methinks this is not the major scourge of Flushing township.... |
_________________
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. - Mae West |
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Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:17 am |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Of course there are meth labs. Are you telling me this is a rampant problem in YOUR neighborhood?
Rolling back in the boonies meth labs are a minor problem but a major one if you should come up on one. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:29 am |
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