Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
Page 1 of 17 1234511 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 163
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    (Allegheny County)
    Age
    40
    Posts
    280
    Rep Power
    47

    Default 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijuana?

    Seventy-five years ago, the 18th Amendment (allowing federal prohibition of alcohol) was repealed. Should we now repeal the Amendment allowing Congress to prohibit marijuana?

    Oops, it seems like the feds didn't let that pesky Constitution thing get in their way this time. Nowadays, all three branches of the federal gov't have defaulted on their duty to uphold the Constitution, and instead just cite the Commerce Clause ("The Congress shall have power ... To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes") to allow almost any federal laws. (Take a look at Gonzales v. Raich; the Supreme Court ruled that the power to regulate interstate commerce includes the power to completely prohibit marijuana that is grown and consumed entirely within the borders of a single state.) Even if you believe that prohibition of marijuana has been a net good thing, note that the same perverse interpretation of the Commerce Clause is what permits all the bullshit "reasonable" federal gun-control laws.

    While I personally don't use currently-illegal drugs and wouldn't even if they were legal, I think that drug prohibition has been a net harm to our country, just like alcohol prohibition was. Where do criminal gangs get their money today? Selling illegal drugs. Just like the criminal mobs in the 1930s got their money by selling illegal alcohol. So, if politicians really wanted to deal with the street violence, they should bankrupt the criminal gangs by decriminalizing drugs instead of scapegoating law-abiding gun-owners.

    See also http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122843683581681375.html

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
    Age
    34
    Posts
    1,010
    Rep Power
    1372

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Marijuana should be legal, I'm not so sure about the others. Cocaine is highly addictive, as is crack, heroin, etc etc. Marijuana is easily grown, its a plant, and its addictive properties aren't high at all. Alcohol is more addictive then marijuana.

    We can't regulate Marijuana no matter what. Cocaine and opiates, on the other hand, are grown in other countries and shipped here. If we focus solely on those drugs coming in that can't be produced here, and make the stuff that can be grown here legal, I think we would be able to cripple gangs quite severely, without have a ton of coke heads running around.

    The government even gives it out for medical use to some people, who smoke it many, many times a day and live perfectly normal lives, even if the idea behind it might be challenged.

    I think the reason some drugs get such a bad rep is because the people who use them, are already doing illegal things anyway. Most people who live law abiding lives will not touch any drug. Its the criminals that use them, and only the criminals, so people blame the drugs for the criminals problems. Its simply the fact that they're the only ones who will take the risk of it.

    Let it be legal. No harm.
    "See, this side is well roasted; turn me on the other and eat." St. Lawrence

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    West Chester, Pennsylvania
    (Chester County)
    Posts
    440
    Rep Power
    1006707

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Yes. Marijuana hasn't hurt anyone. By the logic that it does, alcohol should still be illegal. Great thread on ARFCOM where someone tried to argue that marijuana brought out crminal tendencies in people. Sounded like something out of reefer madness.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
    (Lehigh County)
    Posts
    2,538
    Rep Power
    13216930

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    They call it "dope" for a reason.

    Then again, this country is finished anyway... so why not add a few more hopheads to the mix.



    /that's right... I said hopheads.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
    (Lehigh County)
    Posts
    2,538
    Rep Power
    13216930

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Smokin' dope is harmless and cool... so let's start 'em out young!


    No, thanks... we'll stick with our beer!
    Last edited by Robert Kayland; December 6th, 2008 at 06:55 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Perry South, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    (Allegheny County)
    Posts
    982
    Rep Power
    0

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Quote Originally Posted by jsb889 View Post
    Cocaine is highly addictive, as is crack, heroin, etc etc.
    Nicotine is highly addictive, and you only need to be 18 to buy cigarettes at any corner store.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
    (Lehigh County)
    Posts
    2,538
    Rep Power
    13216930

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Quote Originally Posted by The_Game View Post
    Nicotine is highly addictive, and you only need to be 18 to buy cigarettes at any corner store.
    Tobacco-related health problems plague this country to the tune of billions in health care per year... not to mention the ruined lives.

    So... this is an argument for legalizing dope how?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Somewhere, Pennsylvania
    Age
    41
    Posts
    1,171
    Rep Power
    2090519

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Marijuana should remain illegal. period.


    You try being a child in a house that the next ounce of pot was more important than keeping food in kitchen cupboard. Really makes a person want that shit legalized, now doesn't it?

    Yes the same could be said about alcohol, over the counter drugs, prescription drugs, and numerous other substances; but my personal experience doesn't entail abuse of those substances.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    (Lancaster County)
    Posts
    401
    Rep Power
    2449001

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    The point about legalizing drugs is an interesting one. It brings out all sorts of prohibitionists points which could easily be used (and are) to cast doubt on all sorts of 'freedoms' we enjoy, including the incremental loss of 2A rights, and 4th A too.

    The prohibitionists would do well to remember that the abolitionists who stalked the beer halls back in the 1920's and whose temperence movement created the vollstead act, created in the wake of prohibition the majority of our organized crime families and more than a couple crooked political families (Like the Kennedys) who used the ilicit trade of alcohol to stoke their political furnaces.

    Similarly today, our government spends a king's ransom on interdiction and prosecution, and we pay more in housing offenders. Furthermore, the unseen cost of encroachment of freedoms and empowering the government to strip rights is countered by the horrendous trade imbalance we currently have with drug producing countries.

    Furthermore, Narco-Terrorism would founder if the currency attached to such trade were able to be tracked, as it would be if street drugs were legal and taxed, and controlled like liquor, beer and tobacco.

    Don't get on the high horse of the health costs, unless you are willing to lose junk food, cigarettes and booze.

    Remember several things about MJ, Coke and Heroin: They were ALL legal at one time in this country, back when the government was small, taxes were low and you could buy a Thompson Submachine gun at your local Hardware store. I think things were generally better then, why don't we desire a return to when freedom was not a farcical notion along the lines of "Harry Potter"?

    You can't parse freedom.

    Either individuals are free to pursue "Life, Liberty and Happiness" or we are not. You can't start the endless nannying about what will happen to those of our society who are too weak to resist temptation. Those types will always exist, and they will always act to their own detriment irrespective of the law.

    You cannot legislate morality, as history has shown.

    Any attempts at this are fraught with problems which in my opinion outweigh the social cost to the rest of us who are smart enough to be trusted with freedom.
    He was one of God’s own prototypes—a high-powered mutant of some kind who was never even considered for mass production. He was too weird to live and too rare to die....

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
    (Lehigh County)
    Posts
    2,538
    Rep Power
    13216930

    Default Re: 75 years ago, the 18th Amendment was repealed. Should we do the same for marijua

    Don't get on the high horse of the health costs, unless you are willing to lose junk food, cigarettes and booze.
    "You're against marijuana?! Well, you'd better be against Twinkies as well!"

    Riiiiiiiiight.

    Ahem... cigarettes were already mentioned in the prior remark about health costs, being even more nefarious than dope... ergo, certainly no justification for the legalization of yet another pestilential substance.

    As far as alcohol vs dope goes, well...

    Sitting around the dinner table with the boss, or the neighbors, or just the family (young children included), what would make you feel better as far as the message being sent? Seeing someone partake in a glass of wine/beer, or firing up a joint?


    "Uuuuhhhhh, the joint?"
    Last edited by Robert Kayland; December 6th, 2008 at 07:56 PM.

Page 1 of 17 1234511 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. John Feinstein - 2A should be repealed...
    By cobra2411 in forum General
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: December 3rd, 2008, 02:15 PM
  2. Replies: 36
    Last Post: November 27th, 2008, 08:18 PM
  3. Philadelphia Meet & Greet Event - October 18th
    By andrewjs18 in forum General
    Replies: 280
    Last Post: October 20th, 2008, 05:47 PM
  4. Replies: 10
    Last Post: November 23rd, 2007, 12:03 AM
  5. Marijuana
    By whoshisface in forum General
    Replies: 37
    Last Post: October 3rd, 2007, 03:41 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •