I don't think we should legalize marijuana.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

I used to, it seemed to me like a no brainer. Not anymore.

You see, I was just debating people on immigration, and they came up with a very good point. If you gave amnesty to the illegal immigrants, then the legal immigrants, the ones who jumped through all the bureaucratic hoops, well then they would feel jealous.

And it occurred to me that the same thing would apply to marijuana. Why, think of all the people who spent all those years in prison because of marijuana. If we just ignore the rule of law and make marijuana legal, then all those people in prison would feel bad for wasting all that time which they would have been using redeeming themselves properly. And all those people who worked so hard on medical marijuana and getting prescriptions. They'd feel bad too. And lets not forget all of those people who got passports, and filled out green cards, and visas, and entered the Netherlands legally so that they could enjoy marijuana. Just imagine how pissed off those people would be.

Frankly, this logic certainly applies to everything that was once illegal, and then got legalized. Maybe we should reillegalize those things again. You know, things like sodomy, or, I don't know, miscegenation. Women's suffrage.

You wouldn't want to be unfair to people.

[mike_c]

1. brilliant and rec'd!

:toast:

[EFerrari]

2. Are you trying to rewrite Othello?

I want smoke to be legal. In fact, I want some right now.

[devilgrrl]

3. Dude, I so wish they'd re-legalize Slavery....

Wait! They are.... phew!

[napi21]

4. I dosagree with your premise. You could make a much closer

analgy between MJ and Prohibition. They are VERY similar circumstances. The bootleggers were killed and went to jail during prohibition, but the majority of the American population still managed to find alcohol, and buy it. I suppose the families of the folks who died or spent jail time were PO'd too, but some rational thinking people finally recognized that this prohibition just isn't working and it plain stupid!

You can say the same thing about MJ. Its prohibition just isn't working and trying to stop it's use is just plain dumb!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Yeah, let's go back to prohibition...

ever since we got rid of prohibition, bootleggers have been feeling jealous of legal distillers, and liquor store clerks have been taking away good paying jobs from speakeasy keeprs.

[napi21]

7. I assume you either forgot the scarcasm, or you misunderstood my

point.

They did the right thing reversing prohibition, and it would be the right thing reversing the laws that make MJ illegal too!

This IS supposed to be a democracy after all, and if the majority of the American people are ignoring the MJ laws the same as they ignored the alcohol laws, it's time for the lawmakers to say, OK I give up...if that's really what everyone wants, we'll reverse the laws and impose the same restriction on MJ that we have on alcohol and be done with it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. ZOMG! THIS IS AMERICA!!!1!1!

We can't just go around ignoring laws! Rule of law! ALso, we can't reverse lawz!

[thereismore]

6. Dude, that's just silly. We had prohibition too. nt

[Speck Tater]

9. Progress in general is unfair.

Just think of those hundreds and thousands of generations that had to do without the Internet! We never should have let Al Gore invent the Internet. It's so unfair to our ancestors.

[Warpy]

10. Your reasoning is sound

I shudder to think what this country would be like if people had been too timid to right wrongs.

The only Dr. Philism I ever heard repeated that was sound was "If you knew better, you'd do better." Well, we know better. It's time to do better.

[uberotto]

11. Don't think that your point is valid.

This has happened several times in the past, and usually those that "went before" characterized themselves as "freedom fighters" and "trail blazers". A favorite Right Wing talking point you often hear, if not for "X" fighting the system and paying the price, you wouldn't have the freedoms you have today. This is usually followed by something along the line of "you stupid commie hippie"...

Speaking from personal experience only, people don't want to be fair as much as they want to be seen as being right (as in correct, not the other more disgusting Right).

[damntexdem]

12. No, it's really too late now:

think of all those Catholics who went to hell for eating meat on Friday! ;-)

Sure, Catholics have been relieved of that "sin" for decades now. But think of the unfairness of those who already suffer eternal torment all because of an anachronistic burger.

And now think of how unfair it has been for all those "pagans" who spent centuries, or millenia, in Limbo, now that the Pope has evicted them. Sure, they probably go to heaven now -- but think of how unfair it has been to them to be in f_____g Limbo all this time, while today's "good pagans" get to go right on to heaven!

I mean, stack up these eternal-punishment (or at least boredom) issues against a few years in prison!
;-)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. See, now we should be more like the Vatican.

I mean, if we declare that the earth goes around the sun now... it'll be unfair to all of those astronomers they tortured on the rack.