Thoughts About Marihuana

People don't seem too fussed about the massive amount of crime caused by alcohol. A collective, statistical increase in coercion is not cause for retaliatory force unless that action is in itself inherently coercive.

I do; however, not have much faith in the ability of people to recognize this.

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To those who feel otherwise - smoke some cannabis. Try to tell me it's coercive behavior. You are only responsible for your own actions.

 

If you knew any real facts about marijuana, you would know that people smoking pot become less violent. Here in Colorado our crime rate has dropped significantly since marijuana has been legalized.

 

Yes, I actually do know about the crime rate dropping in Colorado, but that is a positive correlation, not a real cause and effect.

 

If you look at the history of Marijuana .. It was criminalized because Black musicians used it and because Mexican migrant workers in Arizona and Texas used it.

 

^^^ Truth ^^^
It should have never been demonized and made illegal in the first place.

 

Absolutely.. Criminalizing it was basically a one man show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States

In 1853 Canabis was a fashionable recreation drug.

 

Actually it was not truly illegal, it was restricted and you needed to pay an excessive tax to get it. It was called the Marijuana Tax Act. In the 1950s was when the stricter penalties for an action committed under the influence were enacted.

I know a tiny bit about the history of it.

 

This is a weak one in a very different way.

First of all- let me be very clear- I think that driving while intoxicated should be handled exactly the same while under Pot as with alcohol.

But while the driver appears to be legally intoxicated, we still don't know whether the pot caused the death- of a pedestrian

Police say the victim, a male in his 50's, was believed to be walking back from Safeway and stepped out into the middle of traffic.
The driver, Scotty Rowles, was driving westbound on East Mill Plain Boulevard and could not stop his car in time, according to police.
Detectives says Rowles cooperated with the investigation, but after interviewing him they determined there was enough evidence to arrest him on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana.
Police believe this is the first deadly crash involving the drug since it became legal in the state of Washington.

Is that one better?

Chan told agents who interviewed him in Pittsburgh that he ate marijuana cookies while waiting for his flight to depart in Philadelphia.

"Chan advised he has a medical marijuana card and he took double his normal dose," the complaint said.

Margaret Philbin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh, said Chan has a legally issued medical marijuana card for a "legitimate" health issue, which she declined to identify.

Same issues- we don't know whether he actually was high on Pot(again no toxcology report), nor whether the pot caused the incident- we do not know for instance whether or not he has a history of mental illness or incidents like this.

And that is a conservative hit piece by a conservative anti-liberty activist- Cliff Kinkaid.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/cliff-Kincaid
Masquerading as a media watchdog, Cliff Kincaid is actually an unrepentant propagandist for extremist right-wing causes who knows few boundaries in his attempts to smear liberal foes. Among his wild pronouncements as director of Accuracy in Media (AIM) are the claims that global warming is a scam perpetrated by the "religious left," that President Obama is a socialist Muslim, and that Marxist elements have hijacked the Roman Catholic Church in order to facilitate a "foreign invasion of the U.S." by Latinos. But Kincaid reserves a special loathing for gays and lesbians, who he believes are destroying the media, the military, the government, and the American way of life.

In His Own Words
“There is no such thing as a 'gay conservative,' unless the term 'conservative' has lost all meaning. But there is a homosexual movement that has its roots in Marxism and is characterized by anti-Americanism and hatred of Christian values.”
—Column for AIM, "CPAC and the Conservatives," March 2013

What you have put together is a few anecdotes of people who may have been high when a crime occurred.
That isn't evidence. It isn't even a logical argument.

If I provide you with examples of people driving red cars getting into accidents, does that mean that we must assume that red cars cause accidents?

 

Please explain what you are trying to say here. Why do you deny a positive correlation- and embrace negative correlations- your examples of people who may have been high on pot when crimes occurred.

 

Do you really want to go there?

I don't like cars at all. I understand the difference between an accident and a crime. But if an accident is caused under the influence of a mind altering substance that impairs your reasoning and reflexes, then I believe there should be an increased penalty.

As far as cars goes, this is also something I hit the firearm grabbers over the head with.

 

From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation

 

Okay- very familiar with the concept.

BUT- why do you deny the correlation in Colorado when crime comes down- yet provide as an argument that crime will increase random anecdotes that do the same thing- assume that correlation means causality?

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First of all- let me be very clear- I think that driving while intoxicated should be handled exactly the same while under Pot as with alcohol.

 

I don't deny the correlation, I am skeptical about the causation, as are others.

http://lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/crime/pot-laws-theory-practice/


But after reading a few other articles, I guess i was wrong in that crime would go up. I'm sorry about that.

Also, his statement is a huge generalization.

 

The doctor who delivered me was arrested in 1950 for simply growing it in his basement.. There was no criminal actions attached.

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The doctor who delivered me was arrested in 1950 for simply growing it in his basement.. There was no criminal actions attached.

 

The only relevance to the fact that crime has gone down in Colorado is that it is an effective counter to those who claimed that crime would go up.

Without rigorous analysis causalitty cannot be determined.

 

Except that it was a generalization without any real facts to back it up, so it wasn't very effective against me.

I agree on the second part though.

 

It's just the stoners who think weed should be legal.

 

It is just teetotalers who think we should keep repeating the historical mistake of Prohibition, and claim we are not really like that, afterward.