Guys, there is no reason to start insulting. lol If I’ve been rude to anyone, I apologize. Especially MasterP, since we share polar opposite views on almost everything in life haha.
MasterP said:
What benefits are you referring to? Trying to sell a taxed commodity in direct competition with an untaxed variant or that same commodity doesn’t typically work out well. But hey what do I know? Common sense is never right… Now if you consider a legal way to get stoned a primary benefit you’ll never get your wish with this because your personal enjoyment is not Congress’ primary concern. It usually takes more than that.
hmmmm. Ever heard of bootleggers? The people who sold alcohol illegally during prohibition. It was untaxed then. Then we made alcohol legal again, with taxes to boot! All the evil bootleggers became saints, Like Sir Budweiser and St. Arnold. What makes you think marijuana “bootleggers” won’t convert? It’s happened before.
But MasterP, I ask you this, why was it banned in the first place. Or rather, why do YOU think it was banned in the first place. Because compared to our nation’s history, and the history of the world, marijuana has only been banned for a small period of time. It’s been part of society and culture for thousands of years. Thousands of years and has never killed anyone (Directly, as a result of intoxication). You can’t say that about ANY drug, legal or illegal. So we can rule out dangerous, because usually what makes drugs dangerous is how fast they can kill you.
If you actually go back and recount the history, it shows that congress never had any concern for anything, but based their ban on a lie made up by Harry Anslinger. Just 30 years later, congress was ready to decriminalize. There was a committee, led by Raymond Shafer who said it should be so. Then in the 1980’s Reagan claimed marijuana more dangerous than cocaine. And for 20 years, we had a war on drugs that destroyed families, cramped prison systems, increased taxes, and has done everything but stop drugs from flowing in and out of our country. Here is an idea, make marijuana legal, then we can use all that money and resources to bust real evil people for serious *edited*, like crack or methlabs or human trafficking. Sure we do all those things now, but with marijuana off the check list, it makes finding the other real bad guys much easier. It’s only been 80 years, blacks were persecuted for longer, women weren’t allowed to vote for longer, yet we came to our senses. You actually think 80 years of ignorance will hold up?
And my party won’t just tack it on. History has also shown that democrats in Washington were more strict on marijuana than republicans. Probably because they didn’t want the “image” of a marijuana supporter; *edited* social stigma. Clinton put more people in jail for marijuana than any other president. It’s a sad statistic, one I’m ashamed to know.