- Joined
- May 17, 2005
- Messages
- 12,257
- Reaction score
- 2,693
Colorado and Washington decriminalized recreational marijuana use in the last election.
There are 18 medical marijuana states in the US, though Montana did a little back sliding last year but now the people may soon get to decide on this issue.
The South American nation of Uruguay is looking to decriminalize marijuana too.
It looks like the day could yet come when prohibition is over - but what would happen if we just made drugs legal? What happened when it was done in Portugal? Drug use went down. That doesn't prove that drug use will always go down but it does show generally that laws against using drugs don't make much sense socially or, when you factor in the cost of enforcement, economically.
If prohibition is going to end it can only happen through the efforts of the people, not through government alone since there are several giant players who love the war on drugs. While policing related companies and incarceration companies are obvious beneficiaries, Wall Street needs the drug money to gamble with and the CIA needs it to fund operations it doesn't want to ask money for.
There are 18 medical marijuana states in the US, though Montana did a little back sliding last year but now the people may soon get to decide on this issue.
The South American nation of Uruguay is looking to decriminalize marijuana too.
It looks like the day could yet come when prohibition is over - but what would happen if we just made drugs legal? What happened when it was done in Portugal? Drug use went down. That doesn't prove that drug use will always go down but it does show generally that laws against using drugs don't make much sense socially or, when you factor in the cost of enforcement, economically.
If prohibition is going to end it can only happen through the efforts of the people, not through government alone since there are several giant players who love the war on drugs. While policing related companies and incarceration companies are obvious beneficiaries, Wall Street needs the drug money to gamble with and the CIA needs it to fund operations it doesn't want to ask money for.
