August 26, 2007
The Evil of Demon Weed
Every year I become more and more convinced that the so called war on drugs is a waste of money, of time and criminalizes stupidity. On the other hand, the only reason people take psycho-active drugs such as cocaine, meth, acid, marijuana is because of the effect on the thinking, behavior or perceptions that these drugs engender and we absolutely do not need any more intoxicants on the road so to speak. Having said that, there is another reason, that being to keep people from making absolute fools of themselves, though I don't know that is a governmental function. We have public intoxication laws, driving under the influence laws and other such laws, but that doesn't seem to stop people from getting a load on in public of off the streets when they have had too much.
Now, I am NOT advocating legalization or even de-criminalization of drugs, but one reason seems to me to be sufficient to make us think twice before we give up on our drug laws. And that reason is as follows: (click on read more)
Update: Co-blogger Woody also notes that drugs can have lasting effects>
Update 2: As well as effects on character
It is true we've poured billions into the War on Drugs. Some (many/most) may say that it was/is a waste of money.
But, are we sure....I mean really, really sure.
Legalize (currently) illegal drugs. Which ones? All of them? Do we just say: Yes. Anyone that what to do - or in this case, take - anything they want to do ought not be proscribed by the rest of society?
Does this, in anyway, slide over into the rest of behavior, both public and private? Do we need more crack babies? Do we need more "parents" doing weed with their children?
Are all the "law and order" types just a bunch of spoil sport conservative Republicans that are too up-tight and cause most of the "real" trouble in the world anyway?
Just asking.
Gad, GM....who woulda thunk we'd (possibly) be on opposite sides of this? Meanwhile, the Marines continue to urinanalysis for all drugs. They are not 100% clean, but cleaner, and more focused than most others.
Posted by tad at August 26, 2007 11:44 AM
I think this photograph confuses the effects of marijuana with those of LSD 25.
Posted by earl west at August 26, 2007 12:53 PM
I'm more concerned with the loss of civil liberties than I am with the asserted effects of drugs. See the commentary on the Highway Robbery posts starting with this one at Instapundit. (Follow the links.)
I believe, (the truth is probably unknowable for obvious reasons), that the effects of drug use on society are vastly overstated, and that the true level of "safe" use will never be known, but -- like much to do with human behavior -- it is large but diffuse, while the negative effects are slight, concentrated, and highly visible.
It appears to me, from long observation, that the overwhelming majority of the socio-pathological effects of "drug abuse" on society are, in reality, earmarks, not of drug abuse directly, but of secondary effects of the -- government-created -- black market in drugs.
I should think that the lesson of Prohibition would be loud and clear, here, but -- apparently -- not so much.
Certainly, there are substances which can have far more devastating effects on the unwary than alcohol. But most of them are matters of purity and availability, and not so much to do with actual toxicity.
And then there's Keith Richard.
::grin::
M
Posted by Mark Alger at August 27, 2007 10:26 AM
