"Anyway, the dead people are brown and speak Spanish so I guess it's not important enough to actually do anything about."
From corporate welfare in the 30s to political gerrymandering in the 70s back to corporate welfare now. Putting drug users in jail is big money.
Either attacking the reasons for use (as Portugal has shown is effective) or attacking the distribution network might make more sense depending on your point of view. But that doesn't keep prisons being built.
The brown thing is vaguely important. But I think the green thing is more important.
I like Ron Paul's views on the economy. I don't like his views on many foreign policy issues. I think he is very wrong on some of them, and I doubt I can vote for him because of that.
Well, my vote matters this year (I now live in a "swing state"). I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for in the GOP caucus on the 4th.
Well, it's not tautologically implied that drug violence disappears elsewhere if we legalize here, but there's a direct precedent in our own history about crime related to prohibition.
Setting aside issues of personal freedom, the status quo is:
Quasi-military, violent police raids: read Radley Balko and watch some of the videos of police throwing grenades, shooting dogs at 5:30 am to stop those terrorists, I mean marijuana growers. Racist enforcement: Blacks are 3-5 times as likely to be arrested on drug charges relative to their proportion of drug use/population. Racist black-letter law: eg crack/powder cocaine sentencing laws.
So no, I don't support anything that leads to more military action; I support actions that lead to the reduction of profit premiums for bad guys who are willing to kill for money and the care and treatment of addicts.
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From corporate welfare in the 30s to political gerrymandering in the 70s back to corporate welfare now. Putting drug users in jail is big money.
Either attacking the reasons for use (as Portugal has shown is effective) or attacking the distribution network might make more sense depending on your point of view. But that doesn't keep prisons being built.
The brown thing is vaguely important. But I think the green thing is more important.
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Well, my vote matters this year (I now live in a "swing state"). I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for in the GOP caucus on the 4th.
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My other free association was Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger, heh.
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Setting aside issues of personal freedom, the status quo is:
Quasi-military, violent police raids: read Radley Balko and watch some of the videos of police throwing grenades, shooting dogs at 5:30 am to stop those terrorists, I mean marijuana growers.
Racist enforcement: Blacks are 3-5 times as likely to be arrested on drug charges relative to their proportion of drug use/population.
Racist black-letter law: eg crack/powder cocaine sentencing laws.
So no, I don't support anything that leads to more military action; I support actions that lead to the reduction of profit premiums for bad guys who are willing to kill for money and the care and treatment of addicts.
Reply
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