To: Turboe who wrote (18 ) 6/28/1998 8:06:00 PM From: Mike P. Read Replies (3) | Respond to
yeah, ive read enough of william buckley writing on this subject, he obviously holds the libertarian view on this subject and makes quite the case as well. i dont know, theres an awful lot to it, i cant say i endorse the legalizaiton by any stretch. i am well aware a good portion of the war on drugs, much like the war on alcohol (madd and those crews) are nothing but worthless fat beauracratic cash cows that are nothing more than an incremental infringement on freedom and great for politicians to demagogue (feel pain) for token touchy feely votes. unfortunately, most of the people that vote in this country have all the understanding of a polished doorknob when it comes to a working knowledge of actual issues so touchy feely, big smile, bite the lip and draw a tear, and kiss a baby tend to work so dont expect much to change anytime soon. anyway, my view today is basically drugs have been too much of a cancer on this country and i cant completely endorse just saying hey, we cant stop it so what the hell, just legalize it. the fact remains that drug use and drug related crime did decrease during the eighties only to rise up again in full force this decade, there are some things that work and it seems to me we owe it to the generations ahead of us and behind us to continue to try to find answers in a democratic process. legalizing to me smacks of giving up, not deciphering between right and wrong and if nothing else, i dont like that in a moral sense. of course than there are differences between different kinds of substances, its kind of hard to use the same analysis for marijauna as crack. two completely separate situations bound by one common trait, they are both illegal and this country as a whole needs desperately to define clearly and stand firmly in the difference of right and wrong, too much gray and no firm beliefs anymore on anything. as long as drugs are illegal, they are wrong and this should be conveyed and understood. should we legalize it, think of the message we send down, its destructive and wrong but we failed to do anything about it so we decided to just say its right and move on. jmo. sometimes the message is far greater than the particular issue. theres a ton more, but hopefully ive made a point here.
