the possibility of a lot more cocaine in the future.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

Why is it your duty to try and keep other people sober? Why should YOU have the choice of what they do to themselves? The minute they cross the line and abrige other people's freedom it's different but why should you be able to restrict thier activities if it doesn't cross that line? What exactly does someone doing coke, pot, or any other drug do to YOU? What makes them different than alcohol?

Don't knee jerk too quickly, TE. You'll miss the best part.

What's different, and where it impacts on my life, your life, and everyone's life, is that drugs are illegal. (keep reading, TE!) Now, what that in effect has done is create a culture of gangs, crime and assorted violences that catch innocent people in its grip and costs us a fortune in taxes to "fight." ("Fight" is in quotations because the oft quoted phrase "War on Drugs" is a silly waste of time, money and so often and tragically, lives.)

Now, to fully answer your question, I don't give a shit what some idiot wants to do with their own life. (I do care deeply about the preschool "crack babies" I saw while with the PTA, but that's another matter entirely.) What I do care about is our governement's passionate tendency to legislate morality, thereby creating an unsolvable problem.

If the governement really wanted to "take a bite out of crime," they'd legalize the drugs, regulate them, tax them, make a fortune and cut the legs out from under crime syndicates. Gangbangers would have nothing to do but listen to bad music and wear worse clothes.

Anyone whose ever lost a family member to a drunk driver will tell you there's not a damned bit of difference between alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Anyone who has ever watched a family member deteriote in health and all other aspects of life due to alcohol abuse will tell you there's no difference. Anyone who's ever seen an old Jimmy Cagney movie about prohibition will tell (I snagged on the word prohibition and my husband muttered "the Volstead Act, 1920, or the 18th Ammendment to the Constitution" for those of you trivia freaks in the audience) you that there's no difference.

Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it...and repeat it...and repeat it....

I also think prostitution should be legalized. If there was ever a straight up, honest transaction "have sex with me and I'll give you money" would be it. The worst crimes in prostitution tend to be committed by pimps, which legal prostitutes would no longer require.

[TheEnforcer]

Originally Posted by MorganGrayson

Don't knee jerk too quickly, TE. You'll miss the best part.

What's different, and where it impacts on my life, your life, and everyone's life, is that drugs are illegal. (keep reading, TE!) Now, what that in effect has done is create a culture of gangs, crime and assorted violences that catch innocent people in its grip and costs us a fortune in taxes to "fight." ("Fight" is in quotations because the oft quoted phrase "War on Drugs" is a silly waste of time, money and so often and tragically, lives.)

Now, to fully answer your question, I don't give a shit what some idiot wants to do with their own life. (I do care deeply about the preschool "crack babies" I saw while with the PTA, but that's another matter entirely.) What I do care about is our governement's passionate tendency to legislate morality, thereby creating an unsolvable problem.

If the governement really wanted to "take a bite out of crime," they'd legalize the drugs, regulate them, tax them, make a fortune and cut the legs out from under crime syndicates. Gangbangers would have nothing to do but listen to bad music and wear worse clothes.

Anyone whose ever lost a family member to a drunk driver will tell you there's not a damned bit of difference between alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Anyone who has ever watched a family member deteriote in health and all other aspects of life due to alcohol abuse will tell you there's no difference. Anyone who's ever seen an old Jimmy Cagney movie about prohibition will tell (I snagged on the word prohibition and my husband muttered "the Volstead Act, 1920, or the 18th Ammendment to the Constitution" for those of you trivia freaks in the audience) you that there's no difference.

Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it...and repeat it...and repeat it....

I also think prostitution should be legalized. If there was ever a straight up, honest transaction "have sex with me and I'll give you money" would be it. The worst crimes in prostitution tend to be committed by pimps, which legal prostitutes would no longer require.

ahhhhh.. a woman after my own heart!!

Yes, the libertarian point of view is wonderful because it allows you the freedom to choose your own actions/morality AND holds you responsible for them if they cross the line and violate someone else's.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

ahhhhh.. a woman after my own heart!!

Yes, the libertarian point of view is wonderful because it allows you the freedom to choose your own actions/morality AND holds you responsible for them if they cross the line and violate someone else's.

Thanks, TE! *Finally!* A man realizes there are *other* body parts this woman could be after!
However, let's not be toooo hasty, those traditional body parts are darn appealing on you!

I am responsible for my own behavior. Always. I'm responsible for my choices; my failure to choose; my mistakes; the list goes on.
I expect other people to be responsible for theirs.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to run around telling other people what to do or what not to do. When my own children turned 18, I gave up the pink slip on their persons. The tattoos that were absolutely verboten before 18 became "you're an adult now, make your own choices and make them wisely." (One example.) If I'm not attempting to run *their* lives, something tradition and knowledge of the parent/child relationship has shown me I can royally screw up should I have chosen to do so, I'm not about to attempt running the lives of complete strangers.

Here in Southern California the local news brings us frequent horrific stories of the casualities of the "War on Drugs." Kids in their own living rooms shot through the window in drive-by shootings. DEA agents murdered. Tijuana loses police officers, newspaper reporters, etc., on a pretty regular basis. All because of the US government's love of entering wars that can not be won.

The money spent on that could be put to use in so many places.

Some of it could even be used for decent programs for those drug addicts who've come to the realization that they've made some bad life choices and would like to correct their errors.