ViperTruck2933 said:
Okay, I'll say a few things on this one. I am against legalizing weed. I have no use for it and never have. Everyone I know that has used it, has moved on to harder and harder drugs, alcohol, etc and have ended up as a burden on society (Medicare/Medicaid) from all the other BS that they ended up taking (some of my family members as well). I have NO SYMPATHY for them. N_O_N_E!
My personal feeling is that ANYONE who destroys themselves with drugs or alcohol by their own free choice should be left to die in the streets untreated when their inevitable decline comes to pass. Society should not have to foot the bill for their idiocy.
Being an LEO I have seen first hand what drugs can do to you. I have seen people who are "Just doing a little weed" hit bottom just as hard as a crackhead and herione addict. So don't try to tell me weed won't hurt you. I don't buy it. I know better. I have seen it with my own eyes.
My problem is not with people quietly sitting at home getting themselves wiped out. My problem is with users who affect those around them. That's when users piss me off. My experience is that sooner or later those who use eventually end up hurting those around them because of it. And that's when it doesn't bother me one bit hunt them down and lock them up.
Rant off.
I've been firmly ensconced on both sides of the jail cell door.... As a suspect and as an LEO too. Sounds like I should be quoting song lyrics from "Both Sides Now"...... but I won't...
The topic (to which) you gave the most time was the issue of people who destroy their lives on intoxicants.... and you included alcohol (thanks) in that category....
All booze is legal and it is regulated by the federal government. Has that altered the fact that people abuse it? Of course not. Are there not alcohol rehabs, AA and myriad other organizations dedicated to assist in alcohol recovery? Alcohol addiction is pandemic... and it's legal status doesn't have shit to do with it.
Perhaps we should we return to the days of prohibition when the mobsters ran the illegal liquor business? They machined down their rival gangs and innocent bystanders right out on the city streets using Thompson machine guns and speakeasys were on every corner....
Well, their descendants are doing the same shit because of illegal dope on our city streets today..... You deal with these perps 7/24.... Crack, Meth, black tar heroin and weed....... only now it's Tech9's, Norinkos and AK47's.....This shit has to stop...... and legalization is the only way to stop it......
Regarding the social component: Take one simple fact...... I think Scotty mentioned it.... If all the soccer stadiums were filled with people who'd been smoking a little weed instead of wasted on alcohol, stadium riots would cease to exist...
The sheer fact that the liquor industry is in bed with the senators and congresspeople is why weed is illegal.... If weed were legalized, alcohol would be in the toilet, financially.... So, the liquor lobby keeps the politicians happy.... Politics as usual...
The point is that people will seek altered states on alcohol or drugs irrespective of their legal status. That's just a fact of life.... and it is inequitable for a shit drug like alcohol... thats ruined the lives of millions of people.... to be legal while weed is not....
When I was a cop (20 yrs ago) we didn't bust people for a little weed... And some state laws are becoming more lenient about the harsh criminalization of simple possession. And all the while, thousands of poor harmless bastards sit in fkn jail because they'd rather cop a buzz from weed instead of booze.... It's fkn bullshit.
And while I'm at it:
The forfeiture laws are little short of Nazi Germany for a guy busted with a cuppla fkn bags on him..... In many states, that constitutes intent to sell or distribute.... He can lose everything he has... including his money......... (read "right to an adequate defense') ......
When I see my boys in blue risking their lives and wasting police resources only to pull a cuppla fkn dime bags out of a perps pocket, I get physically sick inside..... What a bloody waste.
And while I'm at it, the analogy of someone smoking a little dope and winding up a junkie laying dead in the corner is so "Shades of Reefer Madness" it isn't funny....
I haven't done drugs in over 20 yrs. But, in my day, I smoked smoked more dope and ate more acid than Jerry fkn Garcia and Timothy leary combined....
My brain is fully operational. My senses have not been stripped. I still believe in doing the right thing and loving my neighbor. I'm not laying in the filthy gutter with a rig hanging out'a my arm.....
To the contrary.... I am a self made man who retired early in life.... I am respected by my peers, law enforcement and the business community and I'm sought after to perform the business of doing business by very best
in the business....
If someone's going to fk up his life with
any kind of intoxicants... He's going to do it irrespective of it's legal status... Hell, how many poor sunzabitches destroy their lives huffing spray paint, for Chrissakes....? It's legal to purchase. Hell, you can buy it at fkn KMart...
Legalizing drugs and relegating them to government control removes the criminal element. Which frees up countless thousands of law enforcement officers to do the real job instead of enforcing laws that are archaic and outdated by modern standards anyway.....
Otherwise, make it fair and return to alcohol Prohibition as well.... (never happen) ... I could go on... But ....enough said...
End of story
D
