Pubdate: Wed, 17 Sep 2014
Source: Western Courier (Western Illinois U, IL Edu)
Copyright: 2014 Western Courier
Contact: http://www.westerncourier.com/main.cfm?include=submit
Website: http://www.westerncourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3953
Author: Mickey Davis

MARIJUANA: NO VICTIM, NO CRIME

Marijuana legislations in the United States

Over the past couple of years, 22 states have either legalized or
decriminalized the use of marijuana.

Alaska, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and
Oregon have all legalized marijuana for medical use and decriminalized
the possession of specific amounts of marijuana. Other states have
also decriminalized the possession of specific amounts, including
Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Recently, Washington and Colorado took the next step and legalized
marijuana for recreational purposes. Unfortunately, the possession of
a small quantity of marijuana will result in jail time or fines
anywhere else in the U.S. Even with the new policy, the overall drug
law has stayed the same. However, no state has taken action to
decriminalize or legalize drugs such as cocaine, heroin,
methamphetamines and other drugs. First, prohibiting a drug does not
eliminate the drug market. All prohibition does is raise costs and
consumer prices. To protect and continue production of the product,
those who are marketing it turn to guns and violence instead of being
able to resolve disputes with courts, lawyers or arbitration.

Because it is prohibited, corruption thrives, leading to an incentive
to bribe police, prosecutors, judges and prison guards. Prohibition
also curtails effective quality control, which causes more accidental
poisonings and overdoses. It creates restrictions on the sale of clean
needles, which doesn't help those who choose to inject. A common
objection is that drugs cause crime, and with such a new policy, crime
would be rampant. That, however, is not true; the current drug war
causes crime.

When drugs are involved, many times crimes occur because the drugs are
illegal and people are looking for money to pay the rising prices.
Drug dealers need to arm themselves and form groups because they need
to protect their product and can't do so legally. With prohibition in
place and the war on drugs policy, there are infringements on civil
liberties, no-knock warrants and racial profiling being two examples.
It should also be noted that states and countries that have
decriminalized and legalized drugs have seen little or no increase in
drug use. The best reason to legalize all drugs is that people who
want to consume them should have that liberty. Adults own their
bodies, they should be able to do what they want with them. No one
should be able to control what one chooses to do with their personal
life. Smoking cigarettes, eating fast food excessively and drinking
alcohol are all harmful, but they are not crimes.

The war on drugs is really a war on people's personal freedom and
should be ended. If there's no victim, there's no crime.
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MAP posted-by: Matt