A conservative blogger recently wrote an essay on drug legalization in which she argued that marijuana should remain illegal because:
Marijuana . . . has always been counter-cultural in the West. Every toke symbolizes a thumb in the eye of Western values. So it follows that in order to maintain our culture, we need to criminalize this drug.Of course this sort of ignores the fact that America's first president was a pony-tail wearing pot-growing revolutionary. It also ignores the fact that marijuana and all other drugs were perfectly legal in the west up until the 20th century. But whatever.
Another conservative blogger responded to the argument about marijuana and culture here.
It is great to see that these debates are taking place among conservatives and that we are winning. Many of us will disagree on other issues, but hopefully we can start to create more of a consensus against the drug war.
There's also another one out there that I commented on using some of your words William where people were saying, "what about the children". There are now over 600 comments and far too much to read however you may find this comment interesting:
ReplyDeleteRecently my kid came home from a DARE rally at school. She said heroin causes you to speed up, cocaine will make your heart explode, marijuana will stay in your body for 11 years, and LSD makes you see purple elephants. She told me that she wants to use LSD so she can see purple elephants.
The father went on to say: I called the DARE officer and he was about as dense as a brick.
BTW LEAP, I can't copy and paste in the comment section anymore. It makes it difficult to comment anymore. And no, I don't think it's my computer.
Bill, another great post. I personally feel that any drug war debate that is generated by the political right is even more important than those that take place on the left. (And I should clarify that I'm not a member or a supporter of any political party.) But I say this because polls show that conservatives support drug policy reform less than progressives, so this is one area where we definitely need to focus our efforts in order to change opinions.
ReplyDeleteHere in Canada, bloggingtories.ca just had a huge debate over legalizing marijuana. The web site represents conservative bloggers in Canada, and it is great to see a debate like this taking place in that kind of forum.
Drug War Debate From the Wrong
ReplyDelete"We have had slaves for years!
"Slavery has been the foundation of the South and economic progress for decades! So it follows that in order to maintain our culture we need to criminalize the attempts to steal our property!
"That Republican Lincoln is a spineless counter-culture nut!"
@ William, you are right, they ignore the facts. They pay lip-service to many "those were the good old days" figure heads, but then do the exact opposite!
There wouldn't be thousands? tens-of-thousands? of cities and towns called "Hemphill" and "Hempstead" and similar names if the hemp plant and, most likely, the related cannabis/marijuana were not considered incredibly important.
So what does this mean for our future? "Weapons Vendor Valley?" "Pillhill?" "Pharmaceutical Place?" etc…
@ Lea, "Recently my kid came home from a DARE rally at school. … The father went on to say: I called the DARE officer and he was about as dense as a brick. "
ReplyDeleteNo doubt many of these people will say that us "legalizers" are leading kids into temptation, and the religious ones will quote from Luke 17:2. But they have it completely backwards. It is they who lead the kids into temptation by 1) spreading lies 2) harping on drugs instead of other aspects of life the kids are/could be/should be focusing on and 3) by continuing prohibition it forces adults to use kids to deal, which then makes it much easier for other kids to try them 4) through their incessant vilification they steer the rebellious to try them!
There is a fine line to walk in this matter of education, but they are completely off the mark.
So I continue to say they are completely wrong, just as you have pointed out.
Drew: I do hope you realize I was posting another person's comments @ the DARE cop. It wasn't something I said. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
ReplyDeleteCannabem liberemus
Lea, no problem. I kinda thought it was your own experience, but does it matter? :-) It's all hearsay to me anyway. But believable. :-( So I just offered up a tidbit for anyone ready for it. (As well as practicing my chops.)
ReplyDelete