Laura Waterman Wittstock wrote:
I think legal marijuana will add another layer to police responsibility as well as adding new laws to handle the various situations. Adding marijuana to cigarettes will pose additional health issues to the system (and costs) which all of us will have to cover one way or another. Jason Samuels responds: First off those layers of responsibility are already well defined in the ways we handle other legal drugs. And regulating marijuana would take away a whole host of police responsibilities now inherent with prohibition's enforcement. Second, arguing that legal marijuana would pose additional health issues to the system ignores the fact that it's already widely used. So those costs are already here, and arguably they are less mitigated than they would be in a legal market. The prime examples of this are numerous non-smokable methods of ingesting the drug which could be encouraged under a regulated market. As for whether legalizing marijuana would lead to greater use, we could argue ad infinitum about this point, but the Dutch experience would suggest that it would not in the long term. Bill Kahn wrote: As a nation, we forge ahead with traditional solutions based on speculation and personal prejudice instead of solid facts about the problems. What we really need is a moritorium on the 'War on Drugs' and a deep rational and scientific approach to the real problems of substance abuse leading to the creation of effective solutions. Jason Samuels responds: Thank you so much for this comment. The one thing I cannot stress enough is that this debate is not about totally legal vs. absolutely prohibited. It's about addressing the problem honestly, realizing that what we've been doing hasn't worked, and starting a serious dialogue about finding new solutions. Jason Samuels Whittier currently slumming it in our nation's Capitol REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
