US Marijuana crop now more valuable than corn!!

[Durandal]

That just means more people would grow it driving the price so far down that farmers couldn't produce enough to keep up with basic farm needs.

So what the Hell is the problem? The poor farmers, the biggest welfare mooches this side of corporations, won't be able to grow marijuana? Farmers' financial problems is hardly a justifiable reason to keep a gigantic civil rights travesty like the drug war going.

[Sea Skimmer]

Jesus christ. Your street prices are fucking insane.

Weed costs more then cocaine or heroin in many American cities. Much cheaper in the suburbs though.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

Too bad the DARE people only go into the lower grades (of course, it's easier to indoctrinate children into the "drugs are bad ... mmkay?" mantra than young adults). I'd love to see some arrogant high schooler stand up and explain the economic benefits that could be reaped from legal taxation of drug traffic to the DARE officer.

We were asked to write down whether we think drug possession should be a felony or a misdemeaner, and I wrote 'Neither, it is a victimless crime and should not be illegal at all.'

The guy's been shadowing me around the school. It's fucking scary.

"Felony or misdermeanor"? Isn't that like "Should it be banned, or simply outlawed?", or "Does this make me look fat, or overweight?"

[Death from the Sea]

That just means more people would grow it driving the price so far down that farmers couldn't produce enough to keep up with basic farm needs.

So what the Hell is the problem? The poor farmers, the biggest welfare mooches this side of corporations, won't be able to grow marijuana? Farmers' financial problems is hardly a justifiable reason to keep a gigantic civil rights travesty like the drug war going.

The problem is that then the government price supports would kick in. Now if the Govt does not support the price then, that is another issue.
Just out of curiosity if pot was legalised, what age if any would you suggest be the legal age limit 18? 21 perhaps? or some other qualifier?

[Durandal]

They're passively brainwashing the kids into accepting the idea that doing drugs does objective harm to someone aside from the user (mmmmkay?). They really don't give a shit about whether or not it's a felony or misdemeanor. They just want to keep it illegal.

[Durandal]

The problem is that then the government price supports would kick in. Now if the Govt does not support the price then, that is another issue.

The government would effectively control the price through taxes.

Just out of curiosity if pot was legalised, what age if any would you suggest be the legal age limit 18? 21 perhaps? or some other qualifier?

18. I registered for the draft on my 18th birthday, and I became a legal adult, gained the right to vote and was completely emancipated from my parents. If I can elect officials, I can sure as Hell smoke a joint and drink alcohol.

[Death from the Sea]

They're passively brainwashing the kids into accepting the idea that doing drugs does objective harm to someone aside from the user (mmmmkay?). They really don't give a shit about whether or not it's a felony or misdemeanor. They just want to keep it illegal.

And it can, I am not saying it does but it can. I knew several people on drugs in HS that were not willing to work for their drug money so the started stealing things for cash to buy drugs. I know it sounds like an after school special but it happened, and making it legal is not going to change that.

[Death from the Sea]

Just out of curiosity if pot was legalised, what age if any would you suggest be the legal age limit 18? 21 perhaps? or some other qualifier?

18. I registered for the draft on my 18th birthday, and I became a legal adult, gained the right to vote and was completely emancipated from my parents. If I can elect officials, I can sure as Hell smoke a joint and drink alcohol.

Ah but the Government says 21 is the legal drinking age.(in the US that is)
so would you place it with alcohol? or seperate and put it at 18?

[Vympel]

And it can, I am not saying it does but it can. I knew several people on drugs in HS that were not willing to work for their drug money so the started stealing things for cash to buy drugs. I know it sounds like an after school special but it happened, and making it legal is not going to change that.

I'm sorry but that's a very stupid thing to say. It is expenisve beacuase it is illegal. Take away the expense, take away the exorbitant cost, take away the crime.

[Death from the Sea]

And it can, I am not saying it does but it can. I knew several people on drugs in HS that were not willing to work for their drug money so the started stealing things for cash to buy drugs. I know it sounds like an after school special but it happened, and making it legal is not going to change that.

I'm sorry but that's a very stupid thing to say. It is expenisve beacuase it is illegal. Take away the expense, take away the exorbitant cost, take away the crime.

The crime will remain, because if jobless addicts want their fix they are going to do what they have always done. STEAL. the only crime you can say that will be eliminated for sure is drug busts dealing with pot. Besides what you are arguing is a slippery slope fallacy. Just because expense and cost might go down does not mean crime will too.

[Vympel]

,
The crime will remain, because if jobless addicts want their fix they are going to do what they have always done. STEAL.

Do people without jobs regularly steal to get other pharmaceuticals, not to mention beer and cigarettes?

the only crime you can say that will be eliminated for sure is drug busts dealing with pot.

Err, no. Cheaper drugs mean less crime, not to mention the drugs will be safer to take.

Besides what you are arguing is a slippery slope fallacy. Just because expense and cost might go down does not mean crime will too.

What? Why not? Look at it this way: are we better off with them legal, or illegal?

- Less dangerous drugs
- Cheaper drugs
- The end of criminal drug cartels

What is keeping them illegal getting us? Absolutely nowhere.

Most intelligent thing a comedian ever said: the US has puritan logic when it comes to narcotics:

*gasp*

No, we can't legalize drugs?

Why not?

Well, if we did, people would use them!

It's hardly a moral issue. Taking narcotics is fucking stupid, and it's a medical issue.

[Sea Skimmer]

They're passively brainwashing the kids into accepting the idea that doing drugs does objective harm to someone aside from the user (mmmmkay?). They really don't give a shit about whether or not it's a felony or misdemeanor. They just want to keep it illegal.

Please explain that to my friends, three of who where put in the hospital after getting in a car with the driver high. Car ended up flipped in a straight stretch of road.

[Vympel]

Please explain that to my friends, three of who where put in the hospital after getting in a car with the driver high. Car ended up flipped in a straight stretch of road.

And this is different from the idiocy of driving drunk ... how?

[weemadando]

They're passively brainwashing the kids into accepting the idea that doing drugs does objective harm to someone aside from the user (mmmmkay?). They really don't give a shit about whether or not it's a felony or misdemeanor. They just want to keep it illegal.

Please explain that to my friends, three of who where put in the hospital after getting in a car with the driver high. Car ended up flipped in a straight stretch of road.

Please explain why alcohol is legal to some of my friends and relatives who have been injured or killed in car accidents caused by drunk drivers.

Explain to some of my friends why they were injured because a driver was too busy smoking a cigarette to be bothered avoiding some people riding bikes..

[RedImperator]

They're passively brainwashing the kids into accepting the idea that doing drugs does objective harm to someone aside from the user (mmmmkay?). They really don't give a shit about whether or not it's a felony or misdemeanor. They just want to keep it illegal.

Please explain that to my friends, three of who where put in the hospital after getting in a car with the driver high. Car ended up flipped in a straight stretch of road.

The driver should have been charged with driving under the influence and reckless endangerment, the same as he would have been charged had he been drunk. I'm sick to Goddamn death of dealing with the fucking "So, you'd let people drive around stoned?" strawman distortion of anti-prohibition arguments.

[RedImperator]

The crime will remain, because if jobless addicts want their fix they are going to do what they have always done. STEAL. the only crime you can say that will be eliminated for sure is drug busts dealing with pot. Besides what you are arguing is a slippery slope fallacy. Just because expense and cost might go down does not mean crime will too.

Are you just playing Devil's Advocate because you're bored or something? Or have you just been attending lectures on drug policy conducted by Professor Zoink? Because these arguments are really fucking stupid. A quick review:

1. "If pot is legal, farmers will lobby for price supports."

Well you figured out farmers are a special interest group with their lips clamped more firmly on the government tit than most. Thank you for that blinding flash of insight. Now let's do some math. The 2002 federal drug control budget spent eleven and a half BILLION dollars for law enforcement and interdiction alone, and this does not count the cost of incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders (Source: ONDCP, FY 2003 National Drug Control Budget, February 2002). Curiously enough, this is nearly EXACTLY equal to what price supports in the 2002 Omnibus Farm Bill cost per year--that's price supports for all crops combined. Setting aside all the other legal and philosophical problems involved in fucking over civil rights to try to keep people from harming themselves (and failing, at that), your price support argument is a load of shit because the government is spending as much to control drugs as it is to support all legal crops. Incidently, the drug war amounts to de facto price support for all illegal drugs because of the well established effect black markets have on prices (hint: they only go one way). Besides making your agument look even stupider (if that were possible), it brings me to your next point...

2) "People steal to buy drugs, and they'll continue to do so even if they are legal. It's a slippery slope to say that if prices go down, people will stop stealing to pay for them (yes, I actually said this)."

The only slippery slope here is your own well-greased asshole. This is a matter of simple economic logic: if marijuana DOESN'T cost more per ounce than gold, people won't have to steal to pay for it. The same goes for the hard drugs which cause physical addictions. Are you seriously arguing that people will risk getting shot or going to prison to support their habit when they could easily pay for it with a welfare check and have money left over for hookers besides? And by the way, do you think maybe ending turf wars between drug dealers by taking away their business might help alleviate crime? Hmm? Maybe that's a slippery slope, too. Maybe young men from the inner cities will run around shooting each other because it's fun, rather than because they're protecting million dollar drug empires.

[Sea Skimmer]

The driver should have been charged with driving under the influence and reckless endangerment, the same as he would have been charged had he been drunk. I'm sick to Goddamn death of dealing with the fucking "So, you'd let people drive around stoned?" strawman distortion of anti-prohibition arguments.

Do you see me claiming smoking or drinking are harmless? No. Are people hear claiming drugs only harm the users? Yes.

[RedImperator]

The driver should have been charged with driving under the influence and reckless endangerment, the same as he would have been charged had he been drunk. I'm sick to Goddamn death of dealing with the fucking "So, you'd let people drive around stoned?" strawman distortion of anti-prohibition arguments.

Do you see me claiming smoking or drinking are harmless? No. Are people hear claiming drugs only harm the users? Yes.

Those people weren't hurt by drugs, they were hurt by a God damned idiot who got behind the wheel stoned. If I drink ten shots of Jack and then run over somebody in my car, did the whiskey kill him, or did I?

[Durandal]

They're passively brainwashing the kids into accepting the idea that doing drugs does objective harm to someone aside from the user (mmmmkay?). They really don't give a shit about whether or not it's a felony or misdemeanor. They just want to keep it illegal.

Please explain that to my friends, three of who where put in the hospital after getting in a car with the driver high. Car ended up flipped in a straight stretch of road.

Great, so let's illegalize alcohol, too.

[Durandal]

And it can, I am not saying it does but it can. I knew several people on drugs in HS that were not willing to work for their drug money so the started stealing things for cash to buy drugs. I know it sounds like an after school special but it happened, and making it legal is not going to change that.

That's because the black market is unique in that prices never go down. Marijuana costs almost nothing to produce, and it currently enjoys profit margins in the thousands of percent. The government could literally charge double what it costs to produce and the price would plummet from current levels. Ergo, people wouldn't have to steal.

Ah but the Government says 21 is the legal drinking age.(in the US that is)
so would you place it with alcohol? or seperate and put it at 18?

No, I'd put both at 18. The 21 drinking age is only slightly less idiotic than drug prohibition.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Jesus christ. Your street prices are fucking insane.

You.

Have.

No.

Fucking.

Idea.

[JodoForce]

US Marijuana crop now more valuable than corn!!

When I saw that title I was like 'DUH'. Of course marijuana is more expensive than corn!

Accounting for more of the GNP than corn, now, that's another thing