How ironic, congress no less, celebrates the end of a failed prohibition and touts how good of a job the government has done with regulating the consumption, manufacture and distribution of a drug on one hand and then with the other hand talks about how doing such a thing, for another less toxic drug would be insane, immoral and the public epidemic of use would somehow get out of control and destroy our country...

hum ok, sure....


found on this site:

The 'War' on marijuana is more costly than it is productive - cannashops.com Forums


Sourceaily Iowan
State/Country:Iowa

The 'War' on marijuana is more costly than it is productive

By: DI Editorial Board

Posted: 9/24/08

The FBI reported recently that police across America arrested approximately 873,000 people for violating the nation's anti-marijuana laws in 2007. Approximately 775,000 of those arrests were for simple possession.

Although 2007's numbers set a record, they are not outlying data points. Rather, these utterly insane statistics are a continuation of an alarming trend whereby, according to Reason magazine's analysis, marijuana arrests have increased 167 percent since 1990 without solid evidence of a comparable increase in overall use.

In comparison to the number of alcohol-related arrests, relatively few people in Iowa City end up in police custody simply because they use marijuana. However, an examination of the police blotter, particularly over weekends, generally reveals at least a few such cases.

Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said that his department takes its obligation to enforce marijuana laws seriously.

"It's like any other criminal offense," he said. "If it happens in front of an officer, I expect that officer to deal with it."

However, Kelsay said, most of those arrested for mere possession of marijuana in Iowa City are only caught because they violated other laws, such as those against drunk driving or disorderly conduct. Launching a police investigation into people's possible involvement with illegal drugs requires more than a single tip that someone saw them smoking marijuana, he said.

But local law-enforcement officials do actively seek out those who become involved in marijuana's production and felony distribution. The Street Crimes Action Team, headed by Iowa City police Sgt. Mike Brotherton and staffed with three additional officers, takes the lead in such investigations.

"The fact of the matter is that drug use is quite prevalent," Brotherton said. "Particularly in a college environment."

The police don't set policy, he said, they enforce the law. Thus, even though he understands many people's feelings that it is actually marijuana's criminalized status rather than the drug itself that causes problems, Brotherton said, those who decide to break the law need to be prepared to face the potential consequences of their actions.

He did insist that the presence of marijuana in Iowa City leads to other crime problems. Citing car break-ins, armed robberies, and even home invasions, he said those seeking drugs or the money to buy them can make the community a dangerous place to live.

However, he also expressed some skepticism about the efficacy of current anti-drug policies.

"I don't think we've decreased the amount of drug use or distribution - every time you apprehend someone, someone else is willing to step up and take his place," Brotherton said. "We send a lot of people to prison, but I don't know if that's had a positive effect."

Regardless of these doubts, he said, the problems he believes illegal drugs cause would get worse if his team weren't actively involved in pursuing those who sell them.

Ironically, in the very same week that the FBI released the annual crime report containing the above-mentioned marijuana-arrest statistics, several members of the U.S. House of Representatives worked to pass a resolution commemorating the end of America's national prohibition of alcohol.

The resolution begins: "Celebrating 75 years of effective state-based alcohol regulation and recognizing state lawmakers, regulators, law-enforcement officers, the public-health community, and industry members for creating a workable, legal, and successful system of alcoholic beverage regulation, distribution, and sale."

The section of the resolution most relevant to the issue of marijuana's legal status specifically addresses the myriad problems that prohibition caused.

It reads: "Whereas passage of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited 'the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors' in the United States, resulted in a dramatic increase in illegal activity, including unsafe black-market alcohol production, organized crime, and noncompliance with alcohol laws."

Even considering that this resolution is clearly a waste of Congress' time, it makes an excellent point. Despite the problems that American society still has with alcohol, they aren't even remotely as serious as they were when alcohol was illegal. The same would be true for marijuana.

It's time that Americans started learning from our history. Legalizing and properly regulating marijuana is the most rational course of action. © Copyright 2008 Daily Iowan

They've been successful all right. That's why, after 70 years, the DEA continues to claim "record" busts. ~lol~ If they were even making a dent in the supply, would there continue to be "record" busts?

The government's drug war isn't a war on drugs at all ... its a war on the American people.

Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness... not the pursuit of restricted happiness, or limited happiness. If doing drugs is what makes you happy, than that is your right, and privilege.

Though it is kind of ironic that Congress is celebrating the end of prohibition, when the only thing that has changed is Alcohol no longer being illegal while Cocaine, Heroin, marijuana, and other drugs continue to be so.

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Libertas inaestimabilis res est - Liberty is a thing beyond all price. | Sic Semper Tyrannis

I don't think anyone on this forum would debate on this. This is one topic we are in agreement on. The only debate would be who would stop the madness. The answer is...... not the repubs and not the dems. Both have had their chances neither supports the 'pursuit of happiness'. Or a lot of the constitutional provisions in the way of rights of the people, they are too busy protecting us from ourselves.

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.Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.
Harry S. Truman

let's go get drunk and drive....yeehaa!

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Nothing Is Real.
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Serious Sensi Grow

I was taught that rep's were about smaller government interference and fewer laws to restrict freedoms and the Dem's were about creating larger government so it can take care of it's citizens in more similar to a socialist manner kind of manner but not quite but basically tries to take from those that have too much and give it to those that can't support themselves as much as the norm. I have leaned more conservative in the past and take some of the blame for this administration since I did vote for it. But I see the rep party deviating pretty far from what I was taught and it seems that they are creating more laws that restrict the citizens all in the name of protecting them from themselves. In the mean time we have one of the WORLDS largest rates of incarceration of it's citizens surpassing CHINA and RUSSIA, you know those evil countries we have been told to be afraid of and how terrible their human rights policies are...

The whole patriot act just doesn't seem so patriotic along with those that have allowed it to be passed AND renewed, along with allowing so many presidential powers to be allowed. I'm not saying this administration would take advantage of these powers to do anything unpatriotic but it sure does allow a peak in the door that gets opened by such laws and POWERS. Powers should be bestowed to the people not given to the government, that is patriotic.

There was a presidential candidate who thought marijuana should be legal to those adults who chose to use it and he has written bills to abolish federal laws against it.

Guess who ... Is it John McCain Barrack Obama or ...

YouTube - Ron Paul -- Marijuana Decriminalization -- 7/31/08

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The Bill of Rights.....Void where prohibited by Law.

ron paul would get my vote, Dude.

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Nothing Is Real.
First Grow
Serious Sensi Grow