Abolish the DEA.

[Grand Mal]

Uhm.....this ?
Massachusetts Heroin Crisis
https://www.google.com/amp/www.clev...own_grou.amp?client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us

Its naive to think and dishonest to argue that the consequences of a addicts drug use stops with them.

It creates a string of victims from the addict out and can destroy entire communities

How about you consider the wishes and the views of EVERYONE who lives in that community, and not just the addicts ?

Most of the problems come directly from the prohibition.
The problem with drug addiction isn't that some losers are squandering their lives, it's that they're stealing from you and me to do it, and making a few very nasty ass****s rich. That's a direct result of prohibition, about the only result. The drug laws certainly haven't done a single beneficial thing for society- isn't it time to accept that it hasn't worked? Or do we continue making the same mistake, over and over?
Do you think the laws prevent drug use?

 

[shagg]

Illicit drug use and addiction not only impacts the user, but the addicts family, their friends and the communities they live in.
Addiction creates a string of victims from the user out and it can destroys entire communities

https://www.google.com/amp/www.clev...own_grou.amp?client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us

Sure, Marijuana isn't heroin but its legalization would still have a impact on the community and everyone who lives in that community, even those who oppose its legalization.

There's no Liberty without law and order and someone's " right " to go through life under the influence of powerful psychoactive chemical compounds doesn't supersede my right to raise my family in a Community not inundated with drugs and drug addicts

I've softened my position on this issue a bit to at least consider legalization through referendum, which would at least give those who oppose it a vote.

But if the perfect little Texas Conservative town Ive lived in for years ever legalizes it, Im leaving

I find it laughable that you think more people will use it if it's legal, and suddenly there will be stoners passed out on street corners. Anyone interested in it will have no problem finding it right now. This "Powerful psychoactive compound" makes people mellow, hungry, and sometimes sleepy. You're town would look .... exactly the same. The only way it would change anything is if your town legalized it and no one else did. Then stoners would be drawn there, sure. But even that effect is much less severe than some have feared it would be in the legal states. Picking up and moving just so you can do legally what you've been doing for decades illegally with no problems isn't really an attractive proposition.

 

[blaxshep]

Lets remember why Marijuana was made illegal in the first place, it wasn't because people used it to get high, it was because greedy rich pricks in the lumber industry didn't want the competition to their profits.

 

[shagg]

Uhm.....this ?
Massachusetts Heroin Crisis
https://www.google.com/amp/www.clev...own_grou.amp?client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us

Its naive to think and dishonest to argue that the consequences of a addicts drug use stops with them.

It creates a string of victims from the addict out and can destroy entire communities

How about you consider the wishes and the views of EVERYONE who lives in that community, and not just the addicts ?

Fenton .... that's kind of the point of this thread..... pot and heroine not being in the same league and all.


But you would put the wishes of those who don't want it above the wishes of those who do. Why do the wishes of the former count more than the latter? Because you see the latter as a bunch of worthless drug addicts, and thus their opinions do not matter. Someone who uses pot, even regularly, isn't even comparable to a heroine junky. Not even close.

 

[radcen]

I enjoy how we have drugs on the market that have side effects such as kidney damage, cancer, and death, and yet, marijuana is illegal.

...as are many supplements. The governments basic position on supplements is that if it doesn't do any harm it's ok... and even then "harm" is so loosely and vaguely defined as to be irrelevant.

 

[Moon]

The first rule of any bureaucracy is to ensure the survival and expansion of the bureaucracy. For many of them, that's the only rule they have.

 

[radcen]

I think this is self-preservation on their part, they derive a great deal of funding and power based on Marijuana being illegal.

How they have any say over the medical use of Marijuana over the findings of the medical community is astounding. It just proves the corruption and cronyism involved.

If anything they should be reduced to enforcing drug laws involving trafficking drugs in and out of the country and have no say on medical use.

IMO the fact that the constitution does not enumerate drug enforcement to the Fed is reason enough to abolish the DEA. This is a job for State and local police.

Sure. It's a political decision, not a legitimate medical decision.

I like how they spout things like "no current medical use" and "no studies supporting medical use" when they actively squash pretty much all legitimate research to find out. Opponents can't point to studies that aren't allowed to be done.

 

[radcen]

I can be open minded to the medical benefits and or medical applications of THC, but lets be honest.

Marijuana legalization has always been about recreational use and its up until recently the argument for legalization has been pushed under the pretense of its supposed Medical benefits

As for the DEA ? We need agencies and people to enforce our laws.

To a point, and by some, you bet. So?

We do need agencies and people to enforce our laws. We need reasonable and rational laws first. Laws based on research actually having been done, rather than paranoid scare tactics and facts being swept under the rug.

Pretty much anything should be allowed to be researched. If it is true, the research will bear that out. What's to fear in legitimate research? Are we afraid the results might counter what we claim to be true?

 

[jonny5]

(CNN) — The Drug Enforcement Agency will announce Thursday that marijuana will remain a schedule 1 drug, which declares it has "no medical use or purpose," according to a U.S. official familiar with the decision.

The announcement is in response to recent petitions asking the agency to reconsider this designation for the benefit of such research. The DEA will allow more researchers access to the plant in an effort to encourage more study, the source. said.

Since 1968 the University of Mississippi has held the only license issued by the DEA to grow marijuana for research, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Now more universities will be permitted to grow the plant for research.

At least 25 states and the District of Columbia have approved the use of medical marijuana for conditions ranging from epilepsy to arthritis.

DEA fails to loosen restrictions on medical marijuana - CNN.com

Makes sense to me to abolish the DEA. The libertarian approach is to instead spend money ( a lot less) on treating addiction rather than criminalizing it. Decriminalizing drugs would have many benefits, the best of which is less violent crime.

 

[radcen]

Three questions...
What's wrong with recreational use of drugs?
What if the agency has become the reason for the law?
Why is it always conservatives who want laws that limit personal freedom?

Why is it conservatives wail and cry about government bureaucracy and intrusion... except when the topic is their own little pet issue? Then, magically, the government is all-wise, and should even be expanded.

 

[WillyPete]

Uhm.....this ?
Massachusetts Heroin Crisis
https://www.google.com/amp/www.clev...own_grou.amp?client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us

Its naive to think and dishonest to argue that the consequences of a addicts drug use stops with them.

It creates a string of victims from the addict out and can destroy entire communities

How about you consider the wishes and the views of EVERYONE who lives in that community, and not just the addicts ?

Alcohol destroys lives and families, too.

Do you think that situation would get better or worse if we made it illegal, removed quality controls, and jacked up the price a couple orders of magnitude?

 

[Grand Mal]

Why is it conservatives wail and cry about government bureaucracy and intrusion... except when the topic is their own little pet issue? Then, magically, the government is all-wise, and should even be expanded.

Conservatism is a fear-driven ideology.

 

[Henrin]

Conservatism is a fear-driven ideology.

So how is that income inequality and machines treating you, liberal?

 

[Grand Mal]

So how is that income inequality and machines treating you, liberal?

What?
Are you confusing liberal with progressive or socialist?
And what 'machines'?

 

[blaxshep]

Why is it conservatives wail and cry about government bureaucracy and intrusion... except when the topic is their own little pet issue? Then, magically, the government is all-wise, and should even be expanded.

The truth is both sides have their issues they want enforced while one side has socialist agendas the other side has theocracy agendas, I oppose both, that being said I see, to a point, more benefit from the social agendas. IMO there is not one single redeeming quality for Religion. It is dark age ideology perpetuated by self inflicted ignorance that is nothing but a plague on humanity.

 

[ludin]

Illicit drug use and addiction not only impacts the user, but the addicts family, their friends and the communities they live in.
Addiction creates a string of victims from the user out and it can destroys entire communities

https://www.google.com/amp/www.clev...own_grou.amp?client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us

Sure, Marijuana isn't heroin but its legalization would still have a impact on the community and everyone who lives in that community, even those who oppose its legalization.

There's no Liberty without law and order and someone's " right " to go through life under the influence of powerful psychoactive chemical compounds doesn't supersede my right to raise my family in a Community not inundated with drugs and drug addicts

I've softened my position on this issue a bit to at least consider legalization through referendum, which would at least give those who oppose it a vote.

But if the perfect little Texas Conservative town Ive lived in for years ever legalizes it, Im leaving

here is my take and commonsense needs to be used. if someone is carrying
a single joint or something write them a fine and send them on their way.

If they are carrying bags of the stuff then that is different. Black markets and cartels
are thriving in CO and everywhere else they have legalized it.

in fact there were about 5 CO dispensaries shut down for black market activities linked
to cartels. Illegal pot farms are causing major issues in CA and wrecking environmental hazards
all over the place.

Home grows are causing a problem and break ins are on the increase.
in other places they saw the rate of DUI accident almost double.

sure it is harmless doesn't affect anyone else at all. something tells me that people
like this have smoked a bit too much.

 

[blaxshep]

Conservatism is a fear-driven ideology.

Oh good grief. :doh

 

[Henrin]

What?
Are you confusing liberal with progressive or socialist?

I have found over the years that as time passes liberals adopt more and more of the platform of the democratic socialist party, so can it. Oh and no, I'm not confusing anything. Liberals love to talk about the evil rich people, which yes, isn't all that different from their progressive and socialist brothers.

 

[radcen]

here is my take and commonsense needs to be used. if someone is carrying
a single joint or something write them a fine and send them on their way.

If they are carrying bags of the stuff then that is different. Black markets and cartels
are thriving in CO and everywhere else they have legalized it.

in fact there were about 5 CO dispensaries shut down for black market activities linked
to cartels. Illegal pot farms are causing major issues in CA and wrecking environmental hazards
all over the place.

Home grows are causing a problem and break ins are on the increase.
in other places they saw the rate of DUI accident almost double.

sure it is harmless doesn't affect anyone else at all. something tells me that people
like this have smoked a bit too much.

These comparisons won't be valid until it is fully and truly legalized. Right now it's only a bastardized patchwork.

 

[Grand Mal]

Oh good grief. :doh

Liberals are defined by what they're for, what they want. Conservatives are defined by what they're against, what they don't want. Usually it's what they're afraid of.

 

[Mason66]

How does this jive with Obama letting hundreds of offenders out of jail?

Does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing, or is it because Obama is letting their hard work out of jail?

 

[radcen]

Liberals are defined by what they're for, what they want. Conservatives are defined by what they're against, what they don't want. Usually it's what they're afraid of.

They both play on fear, just in different forms.

 

[radcen]

How does this jive with Obama letting hundreds of offenders out of jail?

Does the right hand not know what the left hand is doing, or is it because Obama is letting their hard work out of jail?

I see it as a confirmation of just how powerful and entrenched the bureaucratic machine really is. No one in government is powerful enough to just do something.

 

[blaxshep]

Liberals are defined by what they're for, what they want. Conservatives are defined by what they're against, what they don't want. Usually it's what they're afraid of.

Conservatives are not afraid of gay marriage they don't want it, liberals are afraid of guns so they are for abdicating our rights.

The entire concept of fear is a liberal security blanket. Some people hate, but liberals cant deal with that so they call it fear. I got news for you no Conservatives fear homosexuals there is no such thing as homophobia. The HATE them.

 

[Fearandloathing]

I can be open minded to the medical benefits and or medical applications of THC, but lets be honest.

Marijuana legalization has always been about recreational use and its up until recently the argument for legalization has been pushed under the pretense of its supposed Medical benefits

As for the DEA ? We need agencies and people to enforce our laws.

What are cigarettes used for? Recreation. What do cigarettes have that pot does not? Over1,400 chemical designed to have the effect wear off sooner, AND intensify the addiction. Cigarettes are attributable to more deaths per year than die in war.

So what, exactly, is wrong with recreational marijuana?


You have too many 'agencies' enforcing laws, from my perspective it's a police state