Debra K
Gold Member
- Jul 10, 2015
- 852
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Why are some harmful substances legal and some illegal?
Tobacco kills 400,000 a year. Marijuana kills zero. We know how much damage some can cause under alcohol.
Politicians talk about personal responsibility but don't want people to be able to exercise it.
False equivalency. We don't know the long term effects of marijuana, but we do know that it is the particulate matter in smoking of any kind that causes lung cancer, not nicotine. As for alcohol, it can be consumed without forcing others to ingest it. Also, alcoholism is an addiction, so why add more addictive substances to the marketplace? Your argument is equivalent to saying people shouldn't be inoculated against smallpox because it isn't as dangerous as Ebola.
I'm addicted to coffee creamer ... a particular brand and flavor ... if I consume too much, perhaps it will kill me. And coffee creamer moves in or otherwise affects interstate commerce granting Congress the right to regulate it under the Commerce Clause ...
Anyway ... criminalizing the use, possession, sale, or distribution of marijuana and other "recreational" drugs only serves the financial interests of criminal syndicates and gangs ... and their criminal activity harms society far more than the addictive qualities of drugs. Our government can regulate the drugs, tax the drugs, and treat addicts more efficiently and effectively than it can wage a "war on drugs " that will never disappear until people can get their "recreational" drugs legally. I support decriminalization and regulation.