cannabisnews.com: Arguments Made for Legalizing Marijuana Arguments Made for Legalizing Marijuana Posted by FoM on May 10, 2000 at 23:11:24 PT By Robert Sharpe Source: Online Athens In Andy Totten's May 2 letter criticizing the Millennium Marijuana March he derides the ''losers'' who will attend and mentions ''the children.'' If he is truly concerned about children's access to drugs he might want to reconsider marijuana legalization. Current drug policy is, in effect, a gateway drug policy. While there is nothing inherent in the marijuana plant that compels users to try harder drugs, its black market status puts users in contact with unscrupulous individuals that push hard drugs. Equally disturbing is the manner in which children have an easier time purchasing marijuana than beer. While a liquor store will refuse to sell alcohol to a minor to avoid losing its license, a drug dealer will sell to anyone with cash. As long as marijuana remains illegal, the established criminal distribution network will ensure that Americans' children can sample every new poison concocted by drug pushers. Given that marijuana is increasingly recognized as being safer than alcohol or tobacco it is impossible to die from a marijuana overdose why not end marijuana prohibition? The answer, of course, is culture. The marijuana leaf represents the counterculture to those Americans who would like to turn the clock back to the 1950s. This misguided culture war has gone on long enough. As counterintuitive as it may seem, legalizing marijuana would both limit access and separate the hard and soft drug markets which serve to introduce youth to the truly deadly drugs. Robert Sharpe Web Posted: Wednesday, May 10, 2000Šopyright 2000 Athens NewspapersMillennium Marijuana March News Articles: Hemp Fans Urge Freedom for the Fettered Weed http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5644.shtml312 Arrested In Pot-March Bust http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5641.shtmlCannabisNews Articles On Legalization:http://alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+legalization Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by dddd on May 12, 2000 at 06:28:10 PT dddd/mmmm?stats military officer guy..I'm assuming you had an mmmm/dddd,mixup....anyway,here are some statsthis link is an excellent example of manipulated statistics from the CDC.....http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/fafacts.htmThese have firearms stats..http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/data/us8179/Ofarm.htmhttp://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/data/us9794/Ofarm.htm..............dddd [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by military officer guy on May 11, 2000 at 22:32:14 PT excellent point mmmm i agree with you 100% mmmm, although i would like to get my hands on some of the stats you quoted...i'm so sick of hearing about how the anti drug culture is saving our kids...i could go on for hours abou that, but i think you stated it a lot better than i ever could...i just wanted to say nice post...we can win this war all...please don't give up... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by dddd on May 11, 2000 at 01:54:03 PT children Once again,I gotta say that,this "children"thing is gaining insipidity. It's to the point that whenever I hear anyone use the;"for the children","save our kids","drug free youth/america"..etc,I know that it is quite likely that they are involved in the idiotic world of anti-drug rhetoric,or they are an innocent brainwashed dolt. Using children to justify the absurd drug laws,is somewhat equivalent to using them as an excuse to make new gun laws.The buzzword,"children",hits some kind of soft spot amongst most "target groups",that this crap is aimed at. In fact,there has been no increase in the incidence of kids going off the edge,and shooting people,but a major increase in the coverage of such events.The same is true with children killed by drugs,riding bikes without helmets,killed by airbags,and the list goes on.The overall percentage of kids who die in this country,is basically unchanged since anyone who is reading this was born.All the child safety laws have made very little difference. All this is not to say that we shouldnt do what we can,to keep kids from dying,but using children to justify the disintegration of our freedom is becoming all too common.....dddd [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: