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Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition?

Posted by kdawson on from the with-your-remaining-brain-cells dept.

gplus writes "December 5th was the 75th anniversary of the end of alcohol prohibition in the US. The Wall Street Journal has an op-ed which argues that now may be the time to discuss our war on drugs and the drug prohibition currently in place. The article argues that the harm caused by the banned substance must be balanced against the harms caused by the prohibition. As to why Americans in 1933 finally voted to end prohibition, while we barely even discuss it: 'Most Americans in 1933 could recall a time before prohibition, which tempered their fears. But few Americans now can recall the decades when the illicit drugs of today were sold and consumed legally. If they could, a post-prohibition future might prove less alarming.'"

22 of 1,367 comments (clear)

  1. SMOKE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    SMOKE

    1. Re:SMOKE by denmarkw00t · · Score: 5, Funny

      ARE YOU SMOKING YET?

    2. Re:SMOKE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      If we had a choice of exterminating 20 million Americans to only wipe out half of all illegal drug use I would vote to open the death camps and lite up the ovens.

      You first, OLD MAN!

    3. Re:SMOKE by fractoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, I've never considered it and neither should you. Drugs are bad, and only bad people take them. Therefore we should try and stop anyone taking them for their own good.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    4. Re:SMOKE by DocHoncho · · Score: 5, Funny

      'sarchasm'.

      Is that the gulf between a sarcastic comment and someone who takes it literally?

      --
      Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.
    5. Re:SMOKE by moderatorrater · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't think that method has much of a future. Give it a generation or two at most.

    6. Re:SMOKE by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Funny
      Are we going to ban cars and cold medicine too?

      No! Cold medicine has other important uses.

      A guy is walking down a dark street, when he hears something behind him. He looks behind him and sees a casket, and it's going, 'dum ... dum ... dum ... dum ... ' and it's followin' him. So he gets frightened and goes faster, and the casket goes faster â" 'dum, dum, dum, dum, dum ... '
      So he starts to trot and runs into his apartment building and the casket crashes through the door and comes at him faster, up the stairs - 'dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum!'
      He slams the door, and it crashes through his apartment door, so he runs into his bathroom and he slams the door and he hears, 'dum ... dum ... dum ... dum ... ' and he knows it's going to crash through the door ... then it crashes through the door, and he grabs the only thing he can. He grabs a bottle of cold medicine and he throws it at the casket ... and it stops the coffin!

      --
      "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
    7. Re:SMOKE by NiteShaed · · Score: 3, Funny

      Bonus points if you can tell me how the joint I smoked last night affected your life or anyone around you

      Well, the pizza delivery guy appreciated the big tip....
      Oh, you meant negative effects.

      --
      Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
    8. Re:SMOKE by Smauler · · Score: 2, Funny

      The prisons would be empty

      Heh, that's what you think, but you're forgetting the new prisoners we'd get. I know I'd be locked up long ago for coveting my neighbour's ass.

    9. Re:SMOKE by atraintocry · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, I can quit spell-checking whenever. Just helping me get through some hard times right now. I'll drop the red squigglies when I'm ready, OK?

  2. Or better yet by kbrasee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's just bring back alcohol prohibition.

    1. Re:Or better yet by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Funny
      "Let's just bring back alcohol prohibition."

      I'll drink to that....err.....wait.....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Or better yet by dougisfunny · · Score: 2, Funny

      A while back, I made a crack about helping to end women's suffrage. Someone responded to that, that women's right to vote is what caused organized crime. In the sense that them being able to vote allowed the prohibition to pass. And creating the demand for the mob.

      I thought it was amusing, in that it was at least indirectly true.

      --
      This is not the funny you're looking for.
  3. You fools! by shma · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't you know that drugs fund terrorism? That every puff of weed kills 5 innocent victims? And I'm talking about the white ones, not those scary looking foreign victims from the middle east.

    I mean, just look at this government ad! How do argue with logic like "It's a fact because it's true"?

    Suck on that, dope fiends!

    --
    I came here for a good argument
  4. Re:I wouldn't hold my breath by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wait, what about my $200?

  5. Re:Reconsideration sounds prudent.. by Warll · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did alright!? They lost nearly the entire continent! Sure go smoke yourself silly, just don't complain when the non-smoking aliens take over earth. Who knows maybe they'll let us run casinos?

  6. Re:I wouldn't hold my breath by Drakonik · · Score: 4, Funny

    Exactly. No better way to punish criminals than forcing them to deal with the bureaucracy. :3

  7. Re:Elimitate upselling by Drakonik · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think that the worst that's ever happened to my pot-smoking friends is that they got very baked one day, and ran down to the 7-11 to buy taquitos. That's stimulating the economy. How can you possibly think that's bad?

  8. Re:I wouldn't hold my breath by GaryOlson · · Score: 2, Funny

    You didn't pass any "go"....

    --
    Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
  9. Re:Bad idea for some drugs by Ihmhi · · Score: 2, Funny

    Exactly! Plus, if everyone is smoking weed, then the bacteria will be too lazy to mutate and just veg out.

    --
    Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
  10. Re:Elimitate upselling by zeroduck · · Score: 4, Funny

    I see Taco Bell becoming the biggest company in the United States if Marijuana is legalized. Maybe Demolition Man had the future half right.

  11. Re:I wouldn't hold my breath by geminidomino · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's such a bad move, in fact, that even considering it constitutes a "Sin tax error"

    (Wow. I actually heard the groans through the internet!)