Quote (Gthumb420 @ Dec 25 2010 01:30pm)
Since some are going off topic I may as well throw in my cents. For the skeptics that believe legalization is not a great idea, I ask you a few questions with explanations.
Do big time drug dealers want drugs legal and lose out on the IRS can't tax money?
No!
You have these police trying to take drugs off the street, but what is that really doing?
All it does is increase the scarcity of it. The dealers looks at it, well now I can bump up the price.
Back in the day an ounce of marijuana was $80, now its as high as $600; that is worth more than gold. So of course they are going to use guns to protect themselves, not from cops but from other drug dealers. Some make as much as 2, 3, 4 million on a daily basis. When you start to make that much money you need an assembly line to do the business and who are the easiest to recruit? Juveniles.
Now people are going to be doing drugs whether it is legal or not. But when it is illegal it forces people to go to the black market and they don’t know exactly what they are getting themselves into, and the drugs could be laced with PCP or rat poison for all they know. How many times do you hear when, for example three college students decide to take, let's say ecstasy. They have a good time but then one of them passes out. The other two start freaking out saying they cannot get in trouble, let us get out of here he is dead anyway let's just leave him; because of that stigma associated with drugs. Instead, if it were legal and people were more open about it, then I can assure you that they would have been less hesitant to call emergency.
The NAACP organization gathered government data with statistics showing that although Whites use more drugs than Blacks and Latinos, blacks are incarcerated at approximately quadruple the rate. What really caught my eye is that most of those incarcerated are parents, and most know what happens when family is divided. The child is more likely to go into poverty and lead a life of crime. If the friends of the child know about it, they will make fun of them. They will say things like your father is a loser and you will never be good in life. That self-fulfilling prophecy can really have an effect on someone. Gangs look for those kinds of vulnerable juveniles to recruit.
Nowadays you do not even have to be associated with drugs to get charged. It can be as simple as giving someone a ride. A nineteen year old athlete, Brenda, agreed to give her step-mother a quick ride to this guy's house without giving much thought. As Brenda was waiting outside in her car when her step-mother went inside, next thing you know police popped out of nowhere. Well, turns out the guy that Brenda dropped her mother off at was a known drug dealer. In the laws eyes, Brenda was aiding and abetting. She took the case to court saying she had no clue but still received twelve years in prison. So what is the lesson here? Never give anyone a ride.
Does the DEA want to put themselves out of a job after working tirelessly to create their agency?
No!
They get to bust in dealers homes seize like 50 pounds and millions of dollars. What are they going to do? Just look at it? Each one is faced with the temptation of taking a piece of the pie. Similar to some of the internal affairs incidents where the cop was selling drugs back out into the streets. It is not uncommon for police to raid the wrong home either. What goes through your mind when you wake 3am to your door being bashed in? You may reach for your and gun start shooting without realizing who it is and this can create unintended casualties on both sides.
Do the owners of private prisons want to solve the war on drugs?
No!
Then you also have people making investments (including judges, cartels, prison CEO's, etc) into private prisons where you make more money by keeping them overcrowded, and have them do hard labor. Can you say modern day slavery? As prison population goes up so do the prisoners demands for healthcare, education, etc. And who pays for all that? The taxpayers!
*The real question should be, if this continues, what will it be like for our children?
Over the years there has been an increase in support from law enforcement to legalize. Many of which have been in the narcotics agency for many years. Some regret ever being a part of the agency, but really if they never joined they probably would have never known to begin with. At least with legalization the taxed product would contribute to the community rather than a dealers new yacht or a terrorists new set of guns.
All I have to say about the whole situation is that legalization must happen to keep communities safer.
Check out Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws for newsletters and addition information; links in signature.
If you do not support legalization, you are a terrorist.
finally the troll toothfairy and mirage wanted. have fun guys you will probably agree with these jokes lol.