Legalize Drugs Now

Excuse me if I rant a bit...

One of my oldest friends from high school recently asked my help to hook up his sister with some high quality marijuana. This seemed totally out of character, this guy is an uptight, strait-laced nerd. He's never smoked or drank and has always given me a bit of the high and mighty attitude about it all.

But then his sister was diagnosed with cancer and now he wants me to find someone to sell her weed. Apparently the chemotherapy kills her appetite and some days even makes her nauseous and weed is good at giving people the munchies and calming nausea.

So, of course, I made a few calls and hooked his sister up.

But it really chaps my hide that so many people in this country think drugs are only good if they're produced by GlaxoSmithKline or Eli Lilly.

Human beings have been using plants and herbs for millions of years. Many drugs have medicinal properties and that's why they remain so popular.

I am shocked at the gall of the Republican Party to think that they can decide which drugs are good and which are bad and then enforce that by erecting a police state. Not that the Democrats are any better.

Our whole drug policy is out of control. Just the other day I was in court and saw a young man sentenced to over ten years in prison for growing marijuana in his basement.

Not only is weed useful for cancer, it's a good way to keep people mellow and friendly... I prefer it to Prozac any day of the week.

People in South America have been chewing cocaine leaves for centries as well. Cocaine tea is a local remedy for elevation sickness. When I got off a bus in the Andes, the first thing I saw was a little booth selling cocaine tea. It didn't get me high, but it made me feel better.

The War on Drugs has led to the destruction of an much of society and it hasn't done ours any good. We have an entire generation of young men who are trapped in desparate situations and end up selling drugs because they don't have any other real possiblities. The prison-industrial complex is the beneficiary of our failed schools, broken homes, and gang infested neighborhoods. While those problems won't be solved by legalizing drugs... but think of all the money we would save on cops, prisons, the military, and foreign drug aid. We could even tax drugs!

When we will the people of the United States realize that drugs are good if used wisely?

How silly to just arbitrarily decide some drugs are good and some are bad without at least trying to weigh the costs and the benefits?

If someone commits a crime under the influence of any drug, you punish the crime, not the drug.

It doesn't matter if someone's driving under the influence of alcohol or Ambien, it is being out of control behind the wheel that is the problem, not the drug.