While we all may be aware of immoral and unfair public policies or laws, we might not actively support their repeal. But keep in mind: when your tax dollars are being used to support a war, you are complicit. Whether you like it or not. The reason we stood up and said "Not in my name!" when Dubya and his folk invaded Iraq was because OUR tax dollars and OUR name was being used to perpetrate war crimes . What we saw from wikileaks is only a small taste of what happens in war, every day. The same kind of things happen in another war in Mexico, a country embroiled in narco-violence. http://stopthedrugwar.org/...
We should think carefully about the War on drugs, not because you use marijuana(OR any of the dangerous drugs like heroin or cocaine or prescription pills). Because YOUR tax dollars are being used, and YOUR NAME is being used in injustices here at home, and in Mexico. Here in America, a pot user is arrested every 45 seconds.
Scott Morgan over at drcnet.org puts marijuana legalization into terms that anyone can understand:
- Legalization doesn't mean that people who don't do drugs will have to start doing them.
- If other people are paying taxes on a product you don't buy, that just means more government services for you.
Also, I've been rebutting a lot of false arguments today in a diary that tries unsuccessfully to claim that marijuana is the same as alcohol. To summarize my thoughts on the 'marijuana is bad and addictive' subject:
Prohibition has created a monster and we may never be able to slay the beast of drug addiction. because of Prohibition, we probably will never be able to regulate hard drugs, it's simply too late. I may be wrong on this, but that's my opinion.
(earlier comment by yours truly.) This partly explains my opposition to the legalization of dangerous drugs. Remember when the anti-science right-wingers in the UK were told the truth by Professor Nutt about cannabis?
http://stash.norml.org/...
Unless we want to continue funding a Drug War in mexico that gets over half of its profits from marijuana, then we have to legalize it. Otherwise, we are partners in moral crimes at home and abroad.
When it comes to re-legalization, it seems like every irrational prohibitionist argument has been debunked. I've posted numerous diaries- here, here, here, here, and here, to name a few.
And what do I know about the drug war? A diary about my own experience with the California prison system never happened, but I did write this.
I won't link to every diary I've ever posted, but most of them address the War on Drugs. I agree with Sting, and any other celebrity, citizen, activist, politician, and doctor who says we need to re-legalize marijuana. The medical marijuana movement is growing this year, in places like South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and even individual cities like Philadelphia ,who have voted to reform cannabis laws.
This is an issue that can, if used wisely and targeted correctly, help the Democratic party. It cannot really help folks like Ron Paul, who may support legalization, but is too far to the right to really represent the future of American politics. We should not be losing voters to weird Independent movements or parties, or contributing to voter apathy amongst the youth vote because we won't address a basic civil liberty that is being trampled here. I have stated several times here that marijuana ballot initiatives will help left-leaning voter turnout, especially in the West, where a slight majority supports legalization.
It's always great when the right thing to do is aligned with the future strategies for taking this country back from the Nixons/Roves/Bushes/Palins/McCains/DEA/wingnuts. There is a lot of work to be done, but progressives should NOT be fooled into taking anti-marijuana positions. In the long run, that is a very self-sabotaging political position to stake the Democratic Party on.
[Which won't stop folks like CA gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown from doing so. But hey, if he wins this november and so does cannabis, that'd be great]