Should marijuana/drugs be legalized/decriminalized?

[Alexander]

What do DUers think?

[queenbdem87]

1. Legalize the green stuff!!!!

[dddem]

2. when you legalize drugs, or it seems to me at least,

you get a whole new source of tax revenue, drugs that are not tainted, medical help for those who wish it and a lot of spouses of DEA agents that will sleep better at night.

Mostly, hopefully, you get a lot better education of people so that ultimately you could end up with fewer people addicted to drugs. You take power away from dealers looking for new revenue. And you take away the opportunity to make easy money from drug sales that hook so many kids into dealing in the first place.

And with the tax revenue from the sale of drugs (through a clinic), you can fund education programs that might prevent people from starting, or helping addicts become less dependant.

I know it's naive and simplistic, but it makes sense to me (of course, I'm a bit naive and simplistic myself).

[trashcanistanista]

3. Yes

Tax revenues, regulation, quality control and new opportunities for small farmers, farm workers and growers. Who wouldn't want to move to the country and start up a small marijuana farm and net six figures every year?

[bluedigger]

4. Legalize it!

I voted with the early majority - legalize and decriminalize - but until the agricorps develop a viable proprietary strain that also eliminates the possibility of me growing my own, it ain't happenin', IMO.

[tridim]

5. Not everyone wants to grow their own

It's not hard, but it's certainly a time consuming and exacting process if you want quality. There will be plenty of money to be made by lots of farmers both large and small.

I'm guessing the alcohol industry would be more concerned with legal pot.

[bluedigger]

9. Sure, the market will respond, but...

It threatens too many established industries, (as you point out), and is hard for the government to effectively regulate (tax). Therefore the special interests will continue to suppress it with everything they've got. Without an actual majority of citizens supporting legalization, it's a helluva uphill fight. IMO, the best hope for now is to achieve decriminalization using public policy arguments re: incarceration rates and racial discrimination in sentencing.

[American Jesus]

6. Marijuana is less harmful than any currently "legal" drug

it's also far more useful medicinally than a dozen pharmacuticals.

As for other drugs, it's debatable whether or not they should be outright legalized, but drug addiction MUST be treated as a health crisis and not the insane lie of the so called "war on drugs".

[porphyrian]

7. Yes.

In case there's any chance you missed it, I did a poll about legalizing pot earlier. You can see it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2692797&mesg_id=2692797

There are some really good points people made in it.

My personal position is that we MUST end the "drug war." It is a failed experiment that is ruining, if not ending, more lives than it supposedly saves. Mandatory minimum sentences are an unconstitutional way for legislators to overstep their bounds, and they must be eliminated. Sentencing is the job of the judicial branch. The glaring hypocrisy of having pot and other drugs illegal while keeping two of the most destructive drugs, nicotine and alcohol, legal is an insult to our collective intelligence and an offense to our liberties. Obviously, they don't give one shit about our health. I don't really have that many vices. I barely drink at all any more. But I love to smoke weed, and I don't want to end up in prison simply because I have to break the law to do so. Prohibitionary laws have proven time and again to do more harm than good, and it's about time we learn from history rather than constantly repeating our failures.

[Jcrowley]

8. Beware

Are you advocating for breaking apart the prison-industrial complex? Wait a minute- Legalize pot and throw republican lobbyists and Texas oil men in the hoosegow and the prison population would probably maintain.