Cannabis Contention

During early voting, I heard a man speaking to a candidate who was campaigning for state representative.  The conversation began immediately after the candidate passed the voter some literature regarding his campaign platform.  The voter took the literature and asked, "Are you the guy that's wanting to make drugs legal?"

The candidate asked a few questions of the voter, before giving him a well thought out response.

The voter didn't seem satisfied with the answer though, which included the candidate's desire to set up a panel of professionals, recreational drug users, as well as drug addicts, to gather their thoughts on the issue, and proceed from there in regards to legalizing certain drugs.  When the candidate finished,  the voter said, "Have you ever met  a drug addict?"

The candidate confirmed that he had met a drug addict.  Wow!  Imagine that!  In fact, he'd met more than one.  Double-Wow!  I honestly thought, "C'mon, really?  Who HASN'T met an addict of one sort or another?"

The voter continued to expound on the evils of drugs, how they should never be legalized, and how laws should continue to be in place to prohibit their use so lives could be saved.

I appreciated his concern regarding irresponsible drug use, however, what didn't make sense was that he sincerely believes criminalizing drug use would be just the thing to keep people from using them.  The issue I have with that ideology is ... it's ludicrous.

Drug laws have been in place for as long as I can remember.  Yet, with all that law prohibiting it, people still grow, make, sell, buy and use drugs.       

People who want to use drugs are going to use them, be they legal or illegal.  But, as long as their illegal, the cartels will continue to be financed, and people will continue to die from crossing them.  If marijuana were legal, the cartels would be filing for unemployment.

Lots of people have died from drug use, and lots of people have risked their lives to buy the drugs that killed them.  The law didn't keep the drugs out of their hands, and it didn't keep them breathing.  But, for all  the time they were alive and buying their drugs, it definitely kept monies flowing in all the wrong directions. 

Lives are going to be destroyed and lost due to drug use, regardless of how many laws there are in place to prohibit it.  If people want to use drugs, they're going to.  Decriminalizing drugs would at least call a halt to black-market practices, and diminish the power of those who make their living producing, buying, shipping and selling them.  It would also keep innocent folks from dying in the crossfire while the drug wars are raging.

The drug business is often gruesome, and keeping the current drug laws in place will ensure that it continues to be gruesome.

To think that ditching the drug laws is to throw the doors wide open for widespread drug abuse makes no sense either.  If I hear an announcement on the morning news that marijuana has suddenly been legalized, I'm not going to shout, "Woohoo!" and run out to stock up on the stuff.  In fact, most folks I know wouldn't begin buying drugs simply because they were suddenly legal either.  One thing I have learned is, the more a thing becomes a taboo, the more people are enticed to investigate and experience it.

This isn't to insinuate that I advocate drug use.  I don't.  But I am insinuating that my rights should stop where someone elses start.  Yours should too.

If cannabis was legal, billions of dollars wouldn't be flowing back and forth between the drug lords, buyers, our own government and law enforcement officials.  By the way, here does all of that siezed money go to when it's been confinscated?  I'm curious because, for the wealth that's been taken in during busts, oddly, my taxes haven't decreased.  Have yours?

If you think I'm wrong, you're welcome to explain to me why.  But, fair warning, my opinion won't be swayed until someone can show me that drug laws have worked.

So far, I'm only seeing that they've caused a great deal more harm than good.

I understand many of the photos were likely offensive. They offended me too. But, they definitely help put things in perspective.

That's it for this one. 

God bless you, thank you for the read, and please don't forget to thank a veteran at your next opportunity!

femmeflashpoint