SCENE: Mitch BERG is having a shish kebab at a Turkish restaurant. Avery LIBRELLE walks in, starts to order, and then notices BERG.
LIBRELLE: Hey, Merg! It’s time for Minnesota to legalize marijuana.
BERG: There’s a case to be made. But there’s the little matter of the federal law involved.
LIBRELLE: Screw federal law!
BERG: Right. Sort of how Saint Paul says “screw federal law” by being a sanctuary city?
LIBRELLE: Exactly. What do the feds know that the states, the laboratories of government, don’t?
BERG: Well, yeah. You’re a real paragon of federalism.
LIBRELLE: Them founders knew they’re stuff.
BERG: You realize you misspelled “their”, even in your speaking voice?
LIBRELLE: Huh?
BERG: Never mind. So – the states that are cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, because every single one of their non-abortion services is provided by other sources,a nd for cheaper…
LIBRELLE: AAAAAAAAAAH! (Jumps up from table in a position to repel an attack)
BERG: What?
LIBRELLE: You can’t!
BERG: Why?
LIBRELLE: Federal law is sacrosanct!
(And SCENE)
So what is your position on Federal drug laws in general and marijuana prohibition in particular?
I think federal drug prohibition has been a complete disaster, is responsible for about half of the violence in this country, has killed more people than the Vietnam war, and I support legalizing marijuana at the state level.
And I say that as someone who’s never used the stuff, and finds stoners deeply annoying.
The mistake legalers make is to assume that: A) narcotics are very easy to get now (which generally they are), also B) No or very few new addicts will be created with legal storefront drug stores.
My opinion….if they are legal, much of the stigma goes away. They will become easy to acquire. There will become large numbers of new addicts. And the sellers will have an interest in creating as many new addicts as possible. You see the gambling commercials…..all the happy people at the casinos.
Today it is ladies stealing from their non-profits to pay off Mystic Lake. Tomorrow it is the 20 something slacker breaking into your house to steal enough to make a payment at the drug store.
I don’t know Chuck.
The largest quantity of stone blind drunks per capita I ever saw was in a dry county in the South. Everyone knew where to get booze – not talking moonshine – and when someone got some they drank every drop. There was no “know your limits” cause the only limits were when the bottle ran dry. Also, your average campus beer blast features beaucoup freshman (18-19 years old) getting sh**faced on illegal (for them) beer, shots, etc.
My issue with legalizing drugs is that in this country and this state in particular, some people would become addicts and will get on the dole and subsist. Drug testing is only done on working people so people who can’t fight their addiction whether it’s narcotics, marijuana or alcohol will be able to feed their addiction until it kills them and leave behind the collateral damage of broken homes/families, etc. that the state will feel obligated to. As Greece, Detroit, Illinois, etc. are finding out, when you have a society with more people in the wagon than there are pushing/pulling the wagon, you will come to a standstill.
We are already a country that overdoes it at the Chinese buffet – one can only imagine what it will be like when you can purchase marijuana in the “Dormitory Pack” at Costco.
one can only imagine what it will be like when you can purchase marijuana in the “Dormitory Pack” at Costco
You mean, like the country treats booze today?
We have no idea what a country with legal hard drugs will look like. Meth ain’t booze. withdrawal can kill you. Some people say that the proper social response to a large number of addicts is easily available, low cost addiction treatment. These people rarely look at how ineffective drug addiction treatment is.
PM, think Netherlands. Last time I was there most junkies were tourists. Agree on addiction treatment. Will also need a new set of laws – DWS, etc.
Nothing terribly untoward seems to have happened in Portugal, which decriminalized ALL drug possession (heroin, cocaine, the whole 9 yards) in 2000-2001.
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf
As Berg says, the War on Drugs has been an unmitigated disaster in every respect. By all accounts, Prohibition didn’t work either.
Concur with Burg on all Federal drug laws after 5 years. Gives ththis. Sunsete States PLENTY of time to decide what they want to do about it.
I’m rathe r open minded about the question of what should the State of Minnesota’s laws be. MJ – probably legal. Heroin – probably not.
That should say sunset all Federal drug laws after 5 years.
Be nice to be able to edit a post.
I live in a state where marijuana could be cultivated very inexpensively. Cheaper than Cali — lots of natural rainful as well as year around sunshine (really!). If commercial marijuana growing was allowed here, it would become another ag export. The local growers would work to expand exports, and the state would give them any help it could. Economic principles don’t go away when they are inconvenient.
mnbubba and JPA-
I don’t believe that a comparison with the Netherlands is warranted. decriminalization is not the same thing as legalization. Not even close. What you need to imagine is the recreational drug companies operating like Best Buy, not your local pharmacy or Merck Pharmaceutical.
We can’t let people have drugs, because people will abuse them.
Drug abusers will become criminals to support their habit.
Criminals have superior rights over citizens, who can’t kill them.
Society would become hellish.
Perhaps the problem isn’t the drugs but the laws that protect people from the consequences of their own actions, and subsidize those who engage in short-sighted self-destructive behavior.
But parents would neglect their children, who would become feral or die! Maybe so. But what principle of law or economics makes that my problem? Oh, morality? Now you want to talk about morality? You’re threatening the hostage and you want to talk to me about morality? Let’s see: free love, no-fault divorce, taxpayer funded partial-birth abortion on demand, rampant illegitimacy . . . any of these behaviors you’re willing to change? No? Then let’s not hear any more about my morality.
Yes, I’m grumpy today.