"War on drugs is insane" - Jack Cafferty

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/31/cafferty.legal.drugs/index.html

What do you suppose the total price tag is for this failed war on drugs? One senior Harvard economist estimates we spend $44 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. He says if they were legal, governments would realize about $33 billion a year in tax revenue. Net swing of $77 billion. Could we use that money today for something else? You bet your ass we could. Plus the cartels would be out of business. Instantly. Goodbye crime and violence.

Hypocrisy86 said:

I always like Jacks saying.
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I don't always agree with him on things, but I do respect his opinions because of his honesty.

The Cafferty File is the only entertaining thing on CNN.

Tech said:

I don't always agree with him on things, but I do respect his opinions because of his honesty.

The Cafferty File is the only entertaining thing on CNN.

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They need to give him more air time for sure though.

they could legalise some of the minor drugs which have no REAL problems like weed
and dianabol and deca-durabolin
Goes to show you how democracy fails and is as plato said, leadership of the ignorant masses
examples
cigarettes being legal and not being banned because pple will vote against the gov
steroids being demonized, if i`m not mistaken pple have died because the doctors didnt want to to prescribe the steroids they needed. read it quite a few times

MrChewiebitums said:

they could legalise some of the minor drugs which have no REAL problems like weed
and dianabol and deca-durabolin

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it's hypocritical to be for legalizing some drugs and not others.

I don't smoke weed or use steroids, and I probably wouldn't even use them if they were legal....same goes for most drugs. But I fully support adults being able to choose what they want to put inside their own bodies. If they wanna smoke crack, then so be it. As long as they smoke on their own property, it's not a problem.

Tech said:

it's hypocritical to be for legalizing some drugs and not others.

I don't smoke weed or use steroids, and I probably wouldn't even use them if they were legal....same goes for most drugs. But I fully support adults being able to choose what they want to put inside their own bodies. If they wanna smoke crack, then so be it. As long as they smoke on their own property, it's not a problem.

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the problem with this line of thinking is that u neglect the consequenses that can arise when someone do drugs, consequenses that not only necessarily have an impact on himself, but on everyone else as well.

more drugs= more taxpayer money going into the healthcare system to provide for people with bad habits( i dont think u can deny that more people would be using drugs if they were legal, and more people using equals more people being addicted)

more drugs= more crime= more taxpayer money going into securing law and order.

more drugs= more people injured or killed because people are high of their ass and commit some stupid act.

its fine that u are rational and probably would stay away from em even if they were legal, but alot of people dont see it that way. they think that; hey if its legal, then its no problem, lets use amphetamin this weekend instead of alcohol. hence why u have more automatic weapons in the US than in my country. because theyre legal.

Not going to comment on everything since im in a rush, but these can't be passed up.

Bulkboy said:

more drugs= more crime= more taxpayer money going into securing law and order.

more drugs= more people injured or killed because people are high of their ass and commit some stupid act.

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:iorofl: :iorofl: :iorofl:

Yes, eliminating that whole "war on drugs" thing is going to cost so much more money, and those gang-drug related crimes will skyrocket!!

Come on Bulkboy, this is a reach even for you.

Bulkboy said:

the problem with this line of thinking is that u neglect the consequenses that can arise when someone do drugs, consequenses that not only necessarily have an impact on himself, but on everyone else as well.

more drugs= more taxpayer money going into the healthcare system to provide for people with bad habits( i dont think u can deny that more people would be using drugs if they were legal, and more people using equals more people being addicted)

more drugs= more crime= more taxpayer money going into securing law and order.

more drugs= more people injured or killed because people are high of their ass and commit some stupid act.

its fine that u are rational and probably would stay away from em even if they were legal, but alot of people dont see it that way. they think that; hey if its legal, then its no problem, lets use amphetamin this weekend instead of alcohol. hence why u have more automatic weapons in the US than in my country. because theyre legal.

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what you're forgetting is, the US government as a whole is spending roughly $44 billion per year to enforce drug prohibition, while they miss out on roughly $33 billion per year in tax revenue they could collect from legalized drugs. so, if you are trully concerned about the financial strain it would put on the healthcare system and police...then logically, we could just put that $70-$80 billion towards helping out.

also, if you are really concerned about the crime rate going up. (robberies, assaults, theft, etc). you shouldn't have to worry because if drugs were legal, we wouldn't have officers wasting their time arresting drug dealers on the street, setting up strings, searching peoples homes, etc. police officers would be doing actual police work and not babysitting drug users.

We've tried drug prohibition for the last 40 years in the United States and I think most logical people will tell you that it has failed. So why don't we try something "new" and give drug legalization a try and see if it works. If it doesn't, then we could always go back to the way things were.

Ironslave said:

Not going to comment on everything since im in a rush, but these can't be passed up.




:iorofl: :iorofl: :iorofl:

Yes, eliminating that whole "war on drugs" thing is going to cost so much more money, and those gang-drug related crimes will skyrocket!!

Come on Bulkboy, this is a reach even for you.

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how about quitting with the strawman arguments and the lame smilies whenever ur responding to my posts?

im not saying the gang drug related crimes will skyrocket, im saying there will be overall more crime/deaths if drugs are legalized. also, criminals are criminals, if drugs are no longer their field of expertise, then they'll probably move over to some other sort of crime. overall i think the economic strain will be greater if drugs are legalized.

Tech said:

We've tried drug prohibition for the last 40 years in the United States and I think most logical people will tell you that it has failed. So why don't we try something "new" and give drug legalization a try and see if it works. If it doesn't, then we could always go back to the way things were.

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no we cant go back, if we legalize drugs then they are here to stay. there is a social stigma against drugs, that will dissappear if we legalize them. we saw what happened during the alcohol prohibition. when people first got the taste for it, they were unwilling to give up that right. my question is, why let something so damaging to society into our lives permanently?

i know u guys are all about personal freedom, and thats cool, but to me, freedom is about more than just being allowed to shove damaging substances into ur body. its about being safe, its about being able to walk down the street knowing that some high of his ass, heroin user, wont jump on me to take my wallet to get his next fix. there is no doubt that if drugs are legalized then consumption will go up.

u use the same argument for drugs as u do for guns.

look at the US murder statistics, when guns are legal, more people are killed with guns. same with drugs, when drugs are legal, more people use em= more OD's, more crime, more crime related costs, more health related costs.

why give into the criminals, why not make it harder for them, why not set the foot down, and say that this is not something we want to have in our society(atleast most of us)

are we gonna legalize crime in general, that way we wouldnt need a judicial system. i know its an extreme paralell, but in my eyes, thats whats its about in one sense, i dont want to give in, maybe drugs are here to stay, but i still want it to be something generally unacceptable. i dont want my kids to grow up in a world where its ok to get high on amphetamin when ure 18.

a friend of mine told me of a guy, high on amphetamin, attacked a police officer, the officer broke his arm with an armbar, the guy high on amphetamin procedes to jump on the officer and beats him to death with the same broken hand.

imagine, instead of having 1 out of 1000 people like that, we have 10 out of 1000. safer society? better society? was it worth that extra individual freedom?

not in my book...

We can learn alot from history.

When we ended alcohol prohibition and people started legally drinking alcohol again, did the US suddenly turn into a cesspool of alcoholics who go around raping women, murdering children, and assaulting police officers? When we ended alcohol prohibition, did the United States suddenly collapse due to drunken lawlessness? Did people stop working? Did people give up all their morals and abandon their families?

No. The US didn't self-destruct after alcohol prohibition ended and it won't self-destruct if we end drug prohibition.

Bulkboy said:

no we cant go back, if we legalize drugs then they are here to stay. there is a social stigma against drugs, that will dissappear if we legalize them. we saw what happened during the alcohol prohibition. when people first got the taste for it, they were unwilling to give up that right. my question is, why let something so damaging to society into our lives permanently?

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As Tech mentioned, alcohol prohibition caused infinite times more problems than legalizing alcohol, even the strictest anti-drug person who bases his arguments on statistics couldn't disagree with this. There was tons more crime, violence, cost to enforce it, so on.

its about being safe, its about being able to walk down the street knowing that some high of his ass, heroin user, wont jump on me to take my wallet to get his next fix. there is no doubt that if drugs are legalized then consumption will go up.

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Switzerland would disagree with you, they would argue that it reduces crime, costs, and improves health. What is their basis for this argument? oh i dont know.... the fact that they legalized it!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27987734/

look at the US murder statistics, when guns are legal, more people are killed with guns. same with drugs, when drugs are legal, more people use em= more OD's, more crime, more crime related costs, more health related costs.

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Ugh... the us also has higher related crimes for basically everything else. This is a lousy argument, and has nothing to do with legal vs. illegal guns. You mentioned automatic weapons earlier being more abundant in America..... tell me, are they legal in America? (answer is no, yet, they are still there).

why give into the criminals, why not make it harder for them, why not set the foot down, and say that this is not something we want to have in our society(atleast most of us)

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What on earth could make things harder than taking away their income? criminals/gangs/terrorist groups would no longer have the means to fund their activities, which would cripple them. Again, look at prohibition.

are we gonna legalize crime in general, that way we wouldnt need a judicial system. i know its an extreme paralell, but in my eyes, thats whats its about in one sense,

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i dont want to give in, maybe drugs are here to stay, but i still want it to be something generally unacceptable. i dont want my kids to grow up in a world where its ok to get high on amphetamin when ure 18.

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Then raise your kids properly, and teach them to be responsible and avoid damaging substances, simple. Don't rely on the government to project them for you.

a friend of mine told me of a guy, high on amphetamin, attacked a police officer, the officer broke his arm with an armbar, the guy high on amphetamin procedes to jump on the officer and beats him to death with the same broken hand.

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Cool story Hansel.

imagine, instead of having 1 out of 1000 people like that, we have 10 out of 1000. safer society? better society? was it worth that extra individual freedom?

not in my book...

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riiiggghhhtttt...... 10x more people are going to walk around high on amphetamines?


Come on Bulkboy, make sense.

MrChewiebitums said:

they could legalise some of the minor drugs which have no REAL problems like weed
and dianabol and deca-durabolin
Goes to show you how democracy fails and is as plato said, leadership of the ignorant masses
examples
cigarettes being legal and not being banned because pple will vote against the gov
steroids being demonized, if i`m not mistaken pple have died because the doctors didnt want to to prescribe the steroids they needed. read it quite a few times

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Narcotics are ok but you have to be a total dumbass to get drunk.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080

Bulkboy won't read this, but it's a good read discussing decriminalizing drugs.

RIP said:

Narcotics are ok but you have to be a total dumbass to get drunk.

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HAH.

RIP said:

Narcotics are ok but you have to be a total dumbass to get drunk.

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Repped!

RIP said:

Narcotics are ok but you have to be a total dumbass to get drunk.

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well lets be honest, someone under the influence of both can run you over in their car, you`ll be the one looking like a stool sample, ruining your whole life ,not me, or perhaps both of us or even me.
ahhh the wonderful world of being drunk

and note i said weed not narcotics

another example of a strawman arguement which shows great ignorance

why is it that the people against legalization of drugs always come back to the "omg, people will smoke crack and run over of children in their car!!!!!" argument?

we're talking about legalizing drugs, not legalizing vehicular homicide.

millions of people use illegal (and legal) drugs right now. are you scared to walk down the street or drive on the road?

You lost me with the drinking and driving and the stool samples. I know your attempting to make a point. Where Im from If someone gets locked up for weed/cannabis it falls under the Statute for narcotics.