Mexican Ambassador Says Marijuana Legalization Should be Seriously Discussed
Here's Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan on CBS' Face the Nation:
As I watched this, I just kept wondering why our president couldn't say something so sensible. Ambassador Sarukhan didn't endorse legalization, but he acknowledged that it's an important topic of discussion. People are getting killed in Mexico while our President makes jokes about the popularity of pot. It's not funny. It's deadly serious.
Anyone who tries to turn the marijuana debate into a frivolous punch-line is making a mockery of the human lives that are being lost or destroyed everyday in this brutal war. It isn’t about bong hits or hippies, and anybody who tries to make it about that is obstructing the process of implementing reforms that will save lives.
As I watched this, I just kept wondering why our president couldn't say something so sensible. Ambassador Sarukhan didn't endorse legalization, but he acknowledged that it's an important topic of discussion. People are getting killed in Mexico while our President makes jokes about the popularity of pot. It's not funny. It's deadly serious.
Anyone who tries to turn the marijuana debate into a frivolous punch-line is making a mockery of the human lives that are being lost or destroyed everyday in this brutal war. It isn’t about bong hits or hippies, and anybody who tries to make it about that is obstructing the process of implementing reforms that will save lives.
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Legalizing cannabis is great
Legalizing cannabis is great and all, but it just seems to me that the cartels will just start pushing other drugs to make a profit. The only way to prevent a different drug from being pushed until it's just as profitable as cannabis is to legalize all drugs. But I'm preaching to the choir here. These things just seem so incredibly obvious to me--I can't believe the stupefied looks I get when I explain this simple concept.
It would make a gigantic
It would make a gigantic difference to legalize weed, in my opinion. It is the largest (at least 50%, probably more) sector of the entire illegal drug market. There is no way the cartels would be able to just push other products enough to cover for it.
I'm not really saying that
I'm not really saying that they will be able to make up for their loss in profits, but they're going to try. If we do legalize it--and sale/usage rates of other substances increase, the naysayers will go on with their stupid gateway theory. On the one hand, legalizing cannabis is easier for people not already in support of drug law reform to get behind, but on the other it opens up doors for "see, legalization increases drug use" comments. I think it would be most effective to just go all in and cut their profits entirely--but that would require massive public education that the movement doesn't really have the funding for.
Not trying to seem like I have all the answers or anything, just a thought.
Matthew Busch
Ohio
southweat border czar
the creation of the office of Southwest Border czar is an indication that the government is putting folks into place for the coming legalization and regulation of marijuana and possibly other things.
Where does it start?
Ambassador Sarukhan: "This is a debate that needs to be taken seriously. That has to be... That we have to engage in on both sides of the border. Both in producing, in trafficking and in consumption countries. And it is a debate that has to be taken on with seriousness."
I have been looking for this debate with the U.S. congress and administration for decades. Where, when and with whom do we debate?
The politicians have no balls for the debate and will not allow it to happen. The only go to controlled events that give them the ability to arrest or throw out anyone who raises an issue that they do not control.
The ONLY way to get the debate started is with people confronting the politicians at their public events. Both outside as protesters and inside as questioners.
We need masses of Americans in the streets demanding the debate so loudly that the politicians are forced to take up the debate.
They dismiss drug policy reform today in the same way Obama blithely dismissed online activism. Online activism is an abstract that has not embodiment. No presence in he real world and on the front pages of newspapers. We need a presence on the streets of Washington and in the state capitals.
take it seriously...
The legalization of marijuana will always be a big issue until the government will act upon it. The problem anyway is that the government seems mute about the issue. If legalization of marijuana is a very important topic then why not discussing it now. Many violations are committed, many lives had been wasted and future had been broken because of marijuana, the government should take an immediate action about this serious issue.
Freedom to choose
It is inherent in our constitutional society for the adult individual to have the right to make their own choices for themselves. Your sex life and your drug/ alcohol choices are for you and you alone to make.
The war on drugs stems from "Reefer Madness" falsification which lead the government to argue that the dangers of "reefer" and other drugs is so overwhelming that individual liberties vis a vis drug choice must be suspended.
Reefer Madness is bunk propaganda and as such every individual should be left alone to do what they want with their own lives
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
OUR GOVERNMENT IS NOW GOING TO KEEP DRUGS FROM BEING SMUGGLED HERE FROM MEXICO? OUR GOVERNMENT CAN'T EVEN KEEP DRUGS OUT OF FEDERAL PRISONS! FOR THE LIFE OF ME I DON'T KNOW, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, WHY I CONTINUE TO BE EVEN A LITTLE SURPRISED AT HOW REDICULOUSLY STUPID MY GOVERNMENT MUST THINK I AM.
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