Christie vows to ban Mary Jane

I truly do live a sheltered life.  I read your headline and wondered.  Whose Mary Jane and why would he want to ban her.  I'm thinking it's some kind of band or something.  Then I get the duh, after clicking the link.  haha

ok, back on topic.  I haven't really seen the polls on legalization nationwide, but I would suspect in the traditional conservative states there would be more support for opposing marijuana than supporting it.  However, I'll admit it's just a guess on my part because I obviously don't keep up too much on this topic.  haha

IME its more of a generational kind of thing.  People my age are for it regardless of political leanings.

Legalizing marijuana would cost the federal govt. and local/state law enforcement agencies billions......and would free up much needed prison space so that truly violent offenders would actually have to serve out their sentences.  Oh.............wait.  

Anyone who is against the legalization of marijuana doesn't truly understand the "war on drugs".  It's a joke.

Interestingly, Christie has been a strong advocate for sentencing reform in non-violent drug cases. He signed a bill that instituted drug rehab vs prison time several years ago. It hasn't gone nearly far enough though imo. . I am at the NJ  state women's correctional facility fairly regularly and see the impact of mandatiry drug sentencing. On visiting day it is a long line of children and their grand parents lining up at the entrance. Sad and incredibly costly. 

So much this.  I have a friend that "lost the war on drugs" for all of about 0.25 oz of pot they found on him.  9  months in jail.  Christie is so out of touch and the crap he was spewing could not be further from the truth. 

And he has also essentially killed any possible Libertarian angle with this statement. 

I would not vote for Christie based on this one single issue,........because it tells me either his head is too far up his arse to be President, or he's taking campaign money from  the for-profit prison industry (which needs to be taken down with a bulldozer).

I'd never vote for him because he seems like yet another corrupt establishment guy.  His brash attitude rubs me the wrong way too.

So, he lost me before I ever looked at any of his stances on the issues.

Well, then I guess I have no choice......when I see a picture of him toking on a big ole fattie I'll reconsider. 

I have been involved as a front liner in this "war on drugs" since the day it started.  When I think about the lives lost (including my partner) or ruined, the underhandedness of much of the enforcement, and the absolute corruption it has caused at every level it's touched, it makes me want to run outside, find a big giant pile of dog crap, and rub it in my hair.   It's absolutely absurd.

Spit my water at my monitor reading that one.  LOLOLOL!!!!

Unfortunately, you couldn't be more right.  It is essentially alcohol prohibition all over again.  Didn't work then either.

I always appreciate your insight on this topic and it's actually changed my opinion quite a bit over the years.  I think with things like pot we can absolutely compare it to legalizing stuff like alcohol and tobacco, but I'm curious what you think about harder drugs like meth/cocaine/LSD/etc. There's hard core prescription stuff as well that plague the affluent suburbs.

I can certainly concede the minor level drugs should be legal (or at the most a minor infraction/ticket), but I'm still struggling a little with the hard core stuff.  I've known a few people that destroyed their lives with Cocaine and Meth and drug quite a few people down with them.  My cousin killed his infant son while oblivious on a drugs  (not sure which ones, but hard core stuff).  I know people kill kids drinking and driving as well, so maybe that's just an accepted side effect that some people are going to go over the line, but I'm still struggling with it.  o.O

Tony - I have never met a single person who used hard drugs like cocaine, meth, and heroin who was deterred because they were illegal.  Likewise, I don't know a single person who doesn't use those drugs because they are illegal.  If heroin was legalized tomorrow, would you do it?  Would you try it?  Of course not.  I don't worry about my kids and drugs because they are illegal.....I worry about them because they destroy lives, and I have went to great lengths to make them understand that they can't play with them.....addiction can be immediate with heroin, likewise with some of the "legal" painkillers.  Never once have I mentioned that they are illegal......honestly, that's not even part of the problem.  The problem is addiction.

So......treat addicts, THAT'S the war......it's really simple.  Here's another problem with heroin and other highly addicted drugs......the addicts who use them are responsible for, in my experience, 75% OR MORE of all property crimes.  You can't hold a job with a 200.00 a day heroin habit....so you steal....they ALL do.

Look, we al agree that addiction is a disease.....and then we put these sick people in prison??  What other disease do we do that with?

Speaking from experience and as a father.....make it all legal tomorrow, control the potency, treat the addicts.  I have not a single worry beyond a normal father's concern that one of my kids will try them.....and if they do, they would have anyway. 

The war on drugs is a failure.....it's not arguable.

ETA - prescription drugs.....go after the doctors.  Some prescribe it like candy....go after their licenses.  Make it a lifetime ban.  Most of the kids I know started down the road to heroin by using prescription drugs they god from medicine cabinets at home or someone else home.  Lock your painkillers up like they are guns.  Kids GRADUATE to heroin FROM pain pills....because it's cheaper and easier to get.....but the potency is all over the charts and it kills them with alarming frequency when they get a hot dose.    For kids, pain pills are the gateway to heroin t.  Believe it. 

ETA#2 - my city is a rolling gun battle in some neighborhoods.......it's ALL drug related.  What to guess what happens to the murder rate when you take the profit out of drugs?  The gang warfare now is no different than the gang warfare during prohibition......we know what happened when booze was legalized.

I worked undercover for 5 years buying and selling drugs.  I taught DARE in our schools.  I did highway drug interdiction. I sat on drug related wiretaps. I now supervise, among other detectives, a 4 man drug unit, with 2 others detached to the DEA.  I don't come at this blindly. Drug enforcement and awareness has been the focal point of my near 30 year career. 

We're going about it all wrong!!!.....and it's costing us untold numbers of lives and billions in property.  It's time to wake the hell up.

I'm sorry for the edits......I could talk about this for hours, and I'm frequently invited to do so....... we can do better.

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it and have learned a lot.

I'll admit that I sometimes get caught up on the "slippery slope" where if you legalize it then everyone will start doing it type argument, but you do a pretty good job of addressing that concern.

So you think the simple act of making drugs "legal" means that a culture condones it?  So....do we condone the rampant abuse of prescription painkillers?  Get a prescription and you're legal, no matter if you have developed a habit or not.  We condone that? Do we condone the act of driving while intoxicated even though alcohol is legal?

Maybe the best way to look at it is to take the word "legal" out of it.  Right now the law calls cocaine, heroin, etc. "controlled substances".  Really?  I guess that's an accurate term if you want to follow that up with drug cartels being the "controllers".  Our govt. sure as hell isn't controlling anything.  All I am saying is that it's time to actually start controlling the drug trade.  It's not that hard.....or at least it's certainly easier than chasing our tail like we are doing now. 

Again.....the war should be on addiction, not the drug of choice for the addict.....that's just dumb, and a blind man can see it hasn't worked.

What's ETA?

I would agree, but it IS the first silver bullet to massively reducing the crime that surrounds drug abuse/addiction. (which would likely astound you if you knew how much other crime is the direct result of the drug trade)  Once that happens, you free up all sorts of resources to work on the addiction problem, which reduces demand.

Edited to Add