I'm going to put up this link, I think it's funny and informative.
l
I should probably drink coffee or eat something before
commenting.... What the hell...
The concept is funny, and it would be nice if it were true... buuutttt.... alcohol is
legal and kids were busted at a local school this weekend with alcohol at
the prom. Alcohol is legal and yet the damage to health in heavy
drinkers is huge nevermind the costs in drunk driving accidents.
Prescription drugs are legal and yet somehow kids love to
raid the medicine chests and share and I won't even mention Rush
Limbaugh. I don't think legalization of marijuana will help any of
those issues except maybe keep users and dealers out of jail.
Liz
Liz,
Your argument bears some merit, but misses the discussion. The discussion is not "will there be problems if drugs are legal" but rather, will there be fewer, less intractable problems if they are.
Kids with alcohol at a prom? Who ever heard of such a thing? Busting kids for alcohol at the prom is just harsh, but I do agree it would be safer if they were smoking marijuana.
I continue to think that keeping drugs illegal:
1. Is an affront to a free people (most importantly)
2. Creates a billion dollar a year false economy around drugs
3. Is bad for the environment
4. Is bad for neighborhoods
5. Does nothing what so ever about keeping people off drugs. In a way, your alcohol argument proves that: alcohol is not legal for kids, but they got it; prescription drugs aren't legal for kids but they find them. (Are you suggesting prescription drugs should be completely illegal? I'd support that.)
Thank you for not mentioning Rush Limbaugh.
THE LINK IS HERE
____________________________________________________________________________
Fringe Editor:
We agree completely on the premise that we work for the people. We agree our purpose is to give them information, entertainment, and a place for public dialogue.
We want our readers to be comfortable. We hope that every issue has something to inform, something to entertain, something to amuse.
But, we also want something to inflame.
It is an important duty to keep people interested in government.
You complain that cannabis legalization and gun ownership are "fringe". People who care about these things are out of the mainstream in your view. I maintain that it is precisely that they are "fringe" that we need to discuss them.
The issue isn’t cannabis or firearms, the issue is freedom, personal liberty. The fringe is where our personal liberties are eroded, stolen. If we don’t protect those on the fringe, we’ll all find our selves on the fringe.
On the issue of cannabis, millions in taxpayer dollars have been spent trying to demonize a useful weed. It is true, I don’t believe anything the government says about drugs; every citation, every statistic, is twisted to present the worst possible picture.
It would take ten thousand Sierra County Prospects to undo the propaganda.
Even if all the bad things the government propaganda says were so, it still wouldn’t justify taking away a personal decision. It is about liberty, the principle that the government has to justify denying us a right. "It might be bad for you" is not sufficient justification.
As important or more important is hemp, a crop farmers in China and Russia can grow, but here in the land of the free, no, we can’t. It is an imposed stupidity we can no longer afford.
On the issue of firearms, people react out of fear. Guns are dangerous, we don’t want people who might hurt us to have them. Some people, like you, believe guns are never the answer; a personal decision you can make for your self, but not me.
This freedom is specifically addressed in the Constitution, and we don’t have to wonder what the Constitution says, because countless times in other writings Thomas Jefferson clarified: he wanted the average person to have the right to own and use guns.
These issues are not fringe, they are central. We either are a free people, or we are not. A free people are allowed to make choices. They are allowed to protect themselves. I challenge anyone who considers themselves to be a good American to look honestly at these issues and ask, are we fulfilling the promise of the Constitution?
Liberty is at the heart of what it is to be American; the battle for that heart is at the fringe.
Dissenting Editor:
Unfringed
We agree on many things, however to say we agree completely on anything is a stretch.
Yes, the readers have to be comfortable going to sierracountyprospect.com. Informing, entertaining and amusing our readers are important. I do not necessarily see the need to inflame someone. It is possible a reader has passionate opinions or ideas that agree or disagree with the subject and maybe they will be inflamed, but must that be our mission?.. I don’t think so.…
I do not see the topic of cannabis legalization and gun ownership as fringe. They are subjects people get passionate about and when there is news we should print it. I don’t think we should be the champions of cannabis use nor should we promote the NRA. Personally I think marijuana should be legalized and regulated. Hemp should be grown in the United States. It is nuts that we can buy hemp products from China and Canada but cannot grow hemp in the good old USA.
My personal liberty and freedoms have never depended on cannabis or gun ownership. If the people who care about these things care about them more than anything else, than yes, they are fringe. Growing pot and owning a gun mean diddlysquat in the spectrum of having a job, raising a family, serving your community and being a contributor to life being better for us all.
Marijuana use is no different than alcohol. If you are stoned most days, you are accomplishing nothing except damage to your lungs. If you drink beer most days, your liver will let you know.
Alcohol is legal; marijuana isn’t unless you have a medical prescription. Most of the people in our jails and prisons are there because of one or the other. This is what needs changing. Drug and alcohol use can be treated. We should not be putting people in jail for substance abuse. We need to spend that money on early education and substance abuse intervention programs.
So change the laws, go to public meetings, write letters, get involved in politics. George W. Bush and President Barack H. Obama both started out like you and me. They decided to get involved, to step up to the plate, to leave booze and drugs behind and make a difference. It is hard to do that when you are stoned or busy cleaning your guns to protect your self from yourself… I mean.. the government is of, by and for the people. The government is us.
