Such decriminalization (which isn’t the same as legalization; it would be OK to hold small amounts of marijuana for personal use, but sale and distribution would still be illegal) might solve some problems but exacerbate others. It could, for example, encourage more young people to begin using drugs. And though marijuana doesn’t cause anywhere near the number of deaths of tobacco and alcohol, it is a gateway drug to more dangerous substances, and its decriminalization could worsen the impact of drugs on our communities.
via – The LA Times “A no-win ‘war on drugs’”
Yeah, I know, you’re thinking ‘same old, same old’, why is he sharing this? It’s subtle; the article is in the Health section. There’s an Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe posted in a sidebar next to it. Isn’t this where pot should be?
The contortions of logic these people will submit themselves to in order to support their puritanical mindset makes my brain hurt.
Decrim really isn’t such a great idea.
When you consider that the greatest harms caused by the prohibition are the brutal murders being committed by the cartels, and that decrim would probably *increase* the amount of marijuana consumed (and therefore money flowing to the cartels), then it seems apparent that this policy, while fixing some of the problems caused by the prohibition, would increase the severity of its greatest flaws.
Legalization avoids all this by eliminating the money going to the cartels, and thus eliminating their incentive to kill and corrupt.
The violence caused by Al Capone and the other gangsters was the reason why the alcohol prohibition was ended. The violence caused by the cartels will be the reason the marijuana prohibition will end. If it was being committed inside this country the prohibition would have ended decades ago.