Why Marijuana Should Not Be Decriminalized Right Now

Look, drug use is already normalized and always has been. Alcohol: drug. Nothing more American than a few brewskies at the barbecue, right?

Well, it turns out that passing around a joint at that barbecue is also an American tradition. If you don't like it, tough. Stop sending people to prison for it.

 

Perhaps it's because I have an understanding of human nature beyond my years. The potheads are about the most base, crass examples of intellectual lassitude that I have ever dealt with. Discipline, responsibility, self-restraint, these are dirty words to them and of course they get outraged when I point it out to them.

Actually I do. I said that first they will fight the law, then when the law is rescinded, they will fight private discrimination. When that too has been abolished, they will fight the stigma. Where did I get this? This is exactly what the gay rights movement has done, step by step.

We'll never agree on this. I'm addicted to being right no matter what the cost is. I have to be right rather than to be popular, and in this case, I have to be right rather than to be optimistic. I am right about this and I don't care who it angers.

 

Anyone interested in the debate over marijuana should view the film The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. Further any objective analysis of this issue will show how stupid it is to continue the utter failure the war against weed is. The amount of money wasted fighting marijuana is ridiculous and takes vast resources away from combatting harder drugs. How can any "small government" Conservative support this policy?

 

Maybe in your circle of friends, but I have no druggie friends at all. Any of my friends know that the moment a marijuana joint appears, I would leave the party and my family would disassociate ourselves from them. Forever. I don't worship the weed, I worship the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no high like the Most High.

 

Irish, I'm sure you remember I gave you a breakdown of the conservative movement before. Yes, we have the libertarians, the statists, the national security hawks, and promoters of religious rule. We got them all. But any conservative who truly loves the Constitution, not just paying lip service, would necessarily despise the federal drug laws and call for their immediate rescinding.

 

Someone who smokes marijuana is a "druggie"?

 

Christians can't smoke weed?

Even though I'm basically atheist (and I partake occasionally), I have loads of friends who partake that are pretty devoutly religious. Even though I'm no longer a theist, I know from childhood experiences (I was a messianic jew until I was about 12) that the bible basically says that cannabis, as a natural plant with medicinal uses, is a gift from God as long as it is not abused (which would be smoking 10 joints a day or just mixing cannabis use with an overtly hedonistic lifestyle.)

As far as I'm concerned, you're more concerned with people who live different lifestyles than you in general, even though you're not intending to be as high and mighty as the Moral Majority (oh wait, now it's Christian Coalition, *cough*) folks. The fact is, people have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies in the privacy of their own home pretty much, the legalization of marijuana and most substances wouldn't mean you couldn't be prosecuted for crimes committed under the influence, or driving under the influence (although with cannabis, that's very sketchy to detect using blood since the mandated levels are very low, and THC doesn't leave the body for 30 days.) Libertarians (I'm more of a civil libertarian with some economic disagreements, I'm not in favor of deregulation or the abolition of the income tax but I believe a simpler tax code without massive loopholes or breaks could allow for lower rates and government needs to become leaner and more efficient) strongly believe in the non-aggression axiom, basically that I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me or attempt to first and that *figuratively in the case as a metaphor for what one does in the privacy of their own home, not a literal expression* you have the right to use your own fist until it hits another person's face (obviously, they support self defense, they just use this as an expression for people have the right to make their own choices in the privacy of their own without fear of intervention until they do something which directly effects another person like beating them.)

Honestly, the War on Drugs is the biggest unconstitutional affront to the interests of the American people, aside from maybe the Patriot Act, and it needs to be ended NOW, this is not acceptable and the despicable nature of it should not continued to be thrown under the rug when brought up like it is now in our political system.

 

Sure. It's a drug and it gets you high. So alcoholics are druggies, prescription drug users are druggies, pack a day smokers are druggies, daily coffee drinkers are druggies, and on and on and on.

BRB, going to snort

 

Friend, I am speaking about some of the "social" conservatives.

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No, we can't. In scripture we are told to be filled with the Spirit so that we may not gratify the lusts of the flesh. Those indwelled by the Holy Spirit cannot at the same time find their "high" in chemical abuse. The one displaces the other. Sure there are those who would like to reconcile christianity with drug use, just like there are those who would like to justify abortion and homosexuality within a Christian context. But what hath Christ to do with Belial (a demon) or a holy God with the tools and trappings of the demonic realm? Choosing Christ necessitates and abadonment of sinful pleasures.

 

I'm fairly say it says cannabis in moderation is okay, as it is a natural plant, a resource given to the people for them to utilize, just like the vine for wine. You're speaking in absolutes, but according to your standards, it would be against the bible to have a beer or a glass of wine.

I'm fairly sure it disapproves of massive stonerdom or basing your lifestyle on substances, but many Christians do partake casually, the text basically says the cannabis seed is provided by God for his people to utilize and most Cannabis users work 9-5 jobs and usually just smoke a joint or two after work. The bible disapproving of addiction and hedonism is not in contradiction with the verses that are positive towards the cannabis plant. Homosexuality is sketchy according to the bible's standards, since Christians use Leviticus as the basis, and just a few verses away, it says you can't eat shrimp and you must kill your neighbor for mixing plants, and since you're speaking in absolutes, you must take the entire passage literally to be a proper Christian according to your standards.

Abortion is never mentioned in the bible, the basis of being against it in Christianity is based on subjective interpretations of specific verses, but there are Christians who legally support a woman's right to choose (although they are personally against it) because they know the Bible is not meant to be used as the basis for policy and they are willing to put the US constitution over their personal beliefs. Again, your ideas do not apply to all Christians and they honestly shouldn't, plus your general views on policy are irrelevant to our interests if you're basing them on religion.

 

It's your right to leave the party and disassociate yourselves from anyone you want for whatever reason. But that's not what you're talking about, is it? You're talking about leaving it as a criminal offense for them to pass that joint around, aren't you?

Just because you don't like something isn't a good enough reason to send someone to prison over it. Or even fine them for it. Quit the culture war. The stoners are every bit as American as the drunks.

 

So if people drink wine, then that opens the door for any drug to be smoked, snorted, or shot into your system? BTW, uranium is also natural. Would you like to injest some of that too?

The Bible condemns drinking to the point of drunkenness. A real Christian does not seek to be filled with intoxicating drinks or substances, but by the Holy Ghost.

Not the Christians I hang around. Those who think they are Christians smoking weed are only kidding themselves.

I'm always amazed at how people utterly ignorant of the Bible can state affirmatively what it "basically" says. Nowhere does the Bible tell us we can pull weeds out of the ground, dry them out, roll them in paper, light them on fire, and then breath in the smoke. If the Bible were to address this subject at all, it would likely be to comment on how idiotic it is.

And that terrifies me, that a forklift operator, surgeon, or police officer might be getting high. This is precisely why I don't want it to become a "right".

There is no cannibis plant mentioned in any of the 73 books of scripture. Not even one.

Actually the Bible is very clear on the issue of homosexuality. It's an abomination and entire cities experienced God's judgement because of it.

The moral laws apply today just as they did in the days of Moses. Being utterly ignorant of Christianity, I don't feel it's worth my effort to educate you on the transition between the Old and New Covenants. Suffice to say this, just because the harshest penalties have been removed (we don't stone homosexuals to death) doesn't mean that homosexuality stopped being wrong. God doesn't change, nor does right and wrong change.

First you should know that you're speaking to a Catholic and we're not sola scriptura. Christ invested his authority in a living and active Church and the Church has spoken authoritatively on all these issues including abortion. I look to the Church as the ultimate source of authority, not the Bible. Secondly, the Bible says, thou shalt not kill. The taking of innocent life has always been sanctioned in the Bible since the days of Noah and the harshest penalty applied to those who murder.

Christianity isn't anything people want it to be. We are called to be salt and light, a shining city on a hill. We are distinct and different from the world, following Christ instead of the rulers of this world. When we start acting like the world, participating in its sinful pleasures, we are like salt that has lost its saltiness and becomes worthless, trampled underfoot by men. So yes, my ideas do apply to true, authentic, believing Christians, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and in a love relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Absolutely not. I'm fully aware that the high cost of incarcerating people for getting high is a cost we can do without. All federal restrictions should be rescinded and then states should decide for themselves whether or not they want to shoulder the financial cost of incarcerating pot smokers.

Who are you talking to? Couldn't be me.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your thread title?

 

Not in the least. I would like all federal laws controlling marijuana to be rescinded. Then I will push to make sure that it stays illegal in Idaho because we don't want to attract a bunch of potheads to our state who will then push for an unsanctioned offense to become a right. Is that clear enough?

 

So you do want to see people punished for using marijuana, just in Idaho?

 

Yes. I don't want Idaho to become a magnet for potheads. That's our constitutional right to make that decision. I would also have no problem with people getting high in other states that don't want to pay to incarcerate them. I just happen to think it's worth the cost if we can make that decision on our own.

 

Um.... Duh?

 

Isn't that insane? People are sitting in jail for using a product that the US Military provided... and some of our finest young men and women died to protect.

At what cost do we need the friendship and support of poppy farmers?

 

Just wait till they unionize!

 

Humm.... I think Jesus threw the money changers out... but we gave them bail outs because they were too big to fail.

 

I'm amazed that most of the opposition to bailouts comes from the right, not the Left who preach against corporate welfare. Politicians are still saying that it would have been a disaster not to bail out the banks. What a load of crap!

 

I haven't smoked pot in about 40 years ...it's probably too strong for me now anyway...

...but I worked in a hospital in a small rual county in the south and back then when the pot dried up and there was none to be found I knew I would be called back to the hospital several times.. all weekend to type and cross-match blood and perform other laboratory test on people who started drinking (and got into wrecks or fights) because they couldn't get stoned.

The problem with pot is the smoke... if it were a pill or a drink it would be accepted by now

 

But you know the hordes of potheads aren't pushing for a THC pill.