It's Time for Drug Legalization -- A FOX.com News Report!

Heady article Billie :-)

How about his Initiative...quite well written up in legalese to boot!

http://www.jackherer.com/initiative.html

Jack Herer is a new name to me, but from his website it appears he's been around for awhile. That link page was impressive.

FOX News has the reputation of being quite conservative, so I was surprised at the content of this show. If they're beginning to discuss legalization on FOX News.com, well, who knows how quickly the change may come?

Thanks for reading and commenting, Andy.

Great article, Billie!

I believe all drugs should be legalized, distributed, and taxed. Think of the money our government could make off of the legal sale of various kinds of drugs.

I am not personally a drug user. I have used drugs many time in the past and it just "wasn't my thing" but I know a lot of innocent non-violent drug users who have been or still are in prison...who were recreational users and whose lives weren't bad until winding up in jail.

Yep, legalize drugs. Just THINK of the sales tax on cigarettes right now. Now imagine the sales tax of heroine.

It makes total friggin sense. The only thing that we would need some temporary protection from is a possible increase in armed robbery.

A problem I see with this whole theory (Specifically heroin) is that most addicts in full addiction do not work for a living. Any income they bring in is from illegal activities, hustling as they call it. This includes theft, prostitution, you name it. So, to tax the sale of heroin with money generated by illegal activity....the problem still exists within drug use. Now granted most marijuana users don't steal to support there habit so the whole Cannibus thing might work, but not with the hard drugs.

Legalizing heroin goes beyond the scope of the FOX news report and beyond the bounds of what I'd feel comfortable with also, SelfMade. Thanks for your comment.

BorderExplorer,
Yeah, I was just adding my two-cents about the comment antonianoel wrote. She mentioned the heroin taxation. Great article though. I think legalizing marijuana is a start.

Like you, I'm not a user. But simply legalizing marijuana would take a major bite in the drug cartels' profits and power. Your comment aptly points out that the money, instead of fueling a violent drug war, could go right into state coffers, just as alcohol and cigarette taxes do now.

I was surprised to see this on FOX. Maybe the idea will materialize more quickly than I had expected, if FOX News is already broadcasting it. The Berlin Wall, whose demise we remember today, fell quickly when it fell.

NOt that I like to stereotype - but being full blooded Irish - I can tell you I have seen a great deal of pain at the hands of alcohol - the most lethal legal drug out there. I don't drink anymore - because I have seen families ruined, marriages destroyed, people destroyed and I have watched people who are so darn smart that they were able to make it to the highest level on the corporate ladder - only to lose their marriage and their job and end up living in hotel rooms - or on the street. I've watched incredibly talented individuals decide alcohol was more important than anything and who, in a desire to continue to drink, managed to use their brains to convince someone they were bipolar to receive money each month through SSI. I've seen that same person use that money to buy enough booze to kill an elephant only to land in and out of hospitals for a decade now, been through 12+ rehabs, lost his gall bladder, 3/4 of his pancrease and despite all this - and the added diabetes due to the surgeries, still continues to drink.

This has been a great burden on his family - AND on the taxpayer. Unable to work, they've fronted every rehab stay, two major surgeries, hospital stays through medicaid.

It's a sad story - and I've seen it more than once and watched family members miss gatherings for a bar stool only to end up on the floor of the bar on Christmas eve.

I don't deny taxes could be collected from the legalization of drugs...but if the history of alcoholism is any indicator as to what would happen ...Where willwe draw the line?... if it's legal - is meth worse than alcohol, pot, crack, cocaine. These people who fall victim to addictions WILL be on the public plan and tax payers will pay for their recoveries - over and over and over again.

My grandmother drank so much wiskey she was stage 5 colon cancer before she ever even noticed she was sick.

My grandfather died of a brain hemmorage on his 60th birthday from DT's.

I'm not heartless - I've just seen a lot of people play the victim card with alcohol - I fear the legalization of drugs could open the flood gates to a very "not" so pretty picture.

However, on a lighter note - prescriptions for pot.... that's a complete different story in my book. The cancer patient or dying patient, chemo patients - anorexia, many uses via controlled prescriptions.



Drugs, insurance and legalization become a very fine line when were looking at an overhaul of healthcare.

Who and when will a line be drawn for the addict who does not want to recover for any reason other than getting high again. If someone's always footing the bill....what's the motivation to work so hard to break an addiction?

Just food for thought - Thanks for the article Billie!
Maryann

Thanks, Maryann, for such a lengthy, thoughtful and thought provoking comment. I too have seen lives ruined...many very sad stories of people I've loved, and even now I work with many people who are struggling in recovery, and some who are losing the struggle. Their lives are hell--a good motivation to break the addiction, but even so, sometimes not an adequate one. So I hear you. I agree, too, that generating tax income is not the only or even the best determinant upon which to make a political decision.

Right now, my perspective is colored strongly by the drug war and the US's demand for drugs currently illegal which drives that war. I know there are other considerations. I will likely keep voicing my piece of the truth because I don't think that I hear it coming through in the national discussion often enough: We bear a responsibility for the murder and mayhem which has a grip on Mexico.

I'm a newcomer to this legalization debate. Not a user myself and very aware of the problems that accompany addiction, I just have ignored the debate and preached abstinence in the past. Seeing these men on FOX surprised me, and I had to agree that there is a privacy issue to consider as well as their other points. We ought to work toward a consistent policy in this nation. What we're doing now isn't working and hasn't worked for 40 years.

But I know it is not an easy decision for us to make as a nation. And it will take a lot of debate, of thinking through and planning for potential change (or, conversely, deciding that legalization is not a desired change).

I don't hear you advocating a return to alcohol prohibition despite the problems that accompany alcohol. I don't hear any mainstream voices calling for a return to alcohol prohibition. I'm asking for a consistent policy regarding marijuana. But I know it would be a major change.

Thanks again, Maryann, for your very personal sharing which also introduced some other important considerations--major aspects--into the discussion of this topic. I appreciate the time and energy and thought you gave to this report very much.

Write4, I remember that prohibition didn't work and just created a black market for alcohol. I guess it comes down to; do we attempt to legislate personal choices? People decide to eat meat or only veggies, smoke or not smoke tobacco, overindulge in wine, beer etc ., or only drink socially.

I completely agree that drugs and alcohol are ways to ruin lives and destroy families, but that's happening with or without legalization. At some point, are we violating freedom of choice to force our values on others and dictate that decisions --even self-destructive choices --are not available to adults?

We don't prohibit adults from bungee jumping, mountain climbing, show-jumping their horses, or parachuting -- certainly risky and 'suicidal' choices for sports.

A broken neck resulting from this kind of 'play' will devastate a family just as surely as drugs or alcohol.

I'm not 'for' or 'against' legalization -- just thinking out loud.

I certainly don't have the answers and need to research WHY they were made illegal to begin with and is that reason still relevant?

Thanks Billie for this article.

You're right - prohibition was a horrible mistake - it's a tough call - drugs like pot seem like they would be better off legalized and taxed - unless you're the mother of 3 kids that get killed from someone driving stoned...and what about hard drugs or the people who stop working because they love mushrooms?

I cannot even begin to voice an opinion on this one - I'd love pot to be legal and to have the ability to step on my back deck once in awhile after a very stressful week....but then I'd hate to pass that on to my kids - and have them smoke pot at a party when they are 16 and kill someone or themselves.

Tough call - good debate....

The Kennedys however, will forever owe their fortunes to prohibition! :)

'unless you're the mother of 3 kids that get killed from someone driving stoned...'

I sure hope they'd have laws agaisnt driving high/stoned just like they do for drving drunk . . . and I'm not certain but it seems that smoking cigarettes while driving has caused problems too . . .and talking on cell phones . . . and trying to have sex while driving (yes, it's been tried!) . . .

(sigh)

I don't know what the answer is.

Me either - I wish people had responsibility - you forgot texting. Here in Mass two of the trains collided and the one that rammed the other was texting his girlfriend.

The MBTA tried to ban texting - but the unions threatened to sue stating it wasn't in their contract and was a gross violation of their rights.

So much is screwed up right now in this world.

But let's talk about the REAL story behind this article...

BILLIE WATCHES FOX NEWS!!!!!! I KNEW IT!!!! :)

BWAhahahahaha! :-) Good one, Maryann.

Wow. Fox news reporting favorably on pot legalization. So I wonder what Glenn Beck thinks of that! Haha. If they do legalise pot I expect that it will have a heavy sin tax.