It sounded to me like an editorial in the Californian today was calling for a change in marijuana laws too. I was shocked.

There was also a story about 2 people that were robbed of their weed at gunpoint and were arrested after that. I guess it's not only a crime to be in possession of pot, but it's a crime to have it stolen from you as well.

"...gangs and guns are linked inextricably to the huge profits in the drug trade."

Funny, I always thought it was people buying the drugs!   The real problem is the pseudo-acceptability of drug use portrayed by the media and gangsta rap (I refuse to call it music).

For the past thirty years, Hollywood has portrayed drug use as a harmless lifestyle. Actors, actresses and recording artists celebrate the use of drugs.    Gee, and we wonder why drug use hasn't declined?

PUT THE STIGMA BACK INTO DRUG USE AND STOP GLORFYING (AND PROMOTING)&nbs p; DRUG USE IN THE MEDIA AND YOU WILL SEE A PROPORTIONAL DECREASE IN DRUG USE.  

There's a reason businesses advertise their product - It works.  The media's glorification of drug use is nothing more than free advertisment for the drug cartels.

Without the record labels and Hollywoods cooperation any attempt to reign in drug use will ultimately fail.

Wow Curt, I had no idea you were an expert on Gangsta Rap?

You'd be surprised at how much old music they sample in some of those songs. 

What I think you fail to understand is that (some) music and movies are a by-product of drug use, not the reason people use them. I guess it is easier to blame the arts rather than just admit some people like to alter their minds.

Curt is a Libertarian. 

He'll tell you so.  Just ask him.

--virgil

Thanks Curt...good post.

Wonder how Curt's theory fits in with that bit in the paper showing use going down among young people?

There are just as many movies that show the ill effects of drug use, as those that "glorify it". Look at actors like Robert Downy Jr. who were a mess,then cleaned up and really hit their stride as actors....that sends a message to those so inclined to listen.

Personally I follow my own moral compass~ so far so good. And I love me some arts.

I must have missed the scenes in the movies I watched which showed drugs being glorified.

FYI Curt  Hollywood has also does some darn fine movies detailing the horrors of drug and alcohol abuse.  To wit:

Clean and Sober

The Basketball Diaries

Less Than Zero

Traffic

Leaving Las Vegas

Lady Sings The  Blues

My Name is Bill W

Days of Wine and Roses

Postcards From the Edge

These are just a few of dozens of films detailing wrecked and lost lives due to drug abuse.

Curtdalton; It's disappointing to see that you don't bother to ask yourself  how today's prohibition is similar to the original prohibition with alcohol, which not only led to a rise in the consumption of alcohol, but also mirrored the violence, gang activity, deadly bath-tub tainted concoctions, and the corruption of law enforcement that we are now witnessing with the prohibition of these other drugs. 

Alcohol prohibition's only achievement was to escalate undesirable consequences and now the sequel is even worse, except this time it's on an international scale.  

Please join us Curt, in calling for credible drug law reform that will help cut the main funding to gangs and terrorists thus adding stability safety and making it possible to utilize the additional tax money for the good of all of us.

Here's a song for ya.  Enjoy....

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Here's a better one for ya ... it says more, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

--virgil

Nancy; if only I knew you had broad band, then I would have shown you this weeks ago:

                                 http://www.youtube.com/watc...

We have reached the point in our society where our reactions to drug use have become even more irrational and immature than the behaviors of the drug users themselves. It's time for all of us to grow up and quit intruding on and destroying the private lives of our citizens.

I disagree completey Malcom (no surprise I know).  I believe people are finally becoming educated on the devastating effects of drug use and abuse as well as addiction.  Drug addiction benefits no one.

While you may feel people have a right to sit quietly in their homes and get loaded, it rarely stays there.  Sure there are some who don't affect the outside world but, for the most part, it greatly affects everyone.

Mind and mood altering drug use is not an isolated experience.

Nancy;  most thinking people are finally becoming educated on the devastating effects of locking their neighbors up in cages just for using the 'wrong' plants.

Do you honestly  feel, you have the right to sit quietly at home, drinking Martinis while deciding what other people should be able to do with their own bodies? You ruin the lives of otherwise honest folk, just because they won't comply with your cultural bias. And I agree; it does indeed rarely stay there Nancy; if you'd have taken the time to follow the link, then you would have learned that at least 10 million Americans -thr greatest percentage of which are Afro Americans- are no longer able to participate in the economy, and this alone, is more than enough to seriously impact the economy.

American Drug War-Last White Hope Part 1 of 12

 You simply cannot have drug prohibition without the consequences that come with it.

American Drug War-Last White Hope Part 2 of 12

Nancy; Thank you; for all the times you've been gracious enough to lock horns with me!

            God bless and may life be gentle

"Mind and mood altering drug use is not an isolated experience"

Neither is putting a person who smokes marijuana or uses cocaine into jail.

Which  is better: working with chemical dependency as it occurs or throwing those afflicted with that condition into jail?

--virgil

Thank you too Virgil for all your contributions!

There are two competing sets of harms relative to the drug problem. The damage that a drug user does to himself, and the extra harm the policy of prohibition does. A hardened meth, alcohol or crack addict, generally, not only ruins his own life, but also that of his close family. Now, that's never been in dispute here. But the prohibitionist approach to drugs carries an extra set of harms, which duly affects us all, and is now totally priced beyond our means. 

Approximately 2.4 million people are currently incarcerated; roughly 20 percent of state prisoners and 50 percent of federal prisoners, are doing time for a drug offense.  775,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession last year alone. The estimated cost of incarcerating these drug offenders is $15 billion annually. So yes; addiction destroys lives and families, but prison adds to this misery, particularly long, mandatory-minimum sentences for minor offenses that are a direct consequence of political demagoguery rather than sane policy. 

It costs $25,000 yearly in tax money to house a drug offender. This would provide three addicts with substance abuse treatment. A Rand Corp. study in 1994 found that $7 in societal costs were saved for every dollar invested in treatment. So where would you rather your hard earned money be spent? 

Meanwhile, drugs of all varieties are still cheap and plentiful, and the basic economics of drug dealing remain: Take one dealer off the street, and another takes his place. Something that simply doesn't happen for other more real crimes, such as murder, embezzlement or burglary. 

Historically, the prohibition of any mind altering substance has never succeeded in providing what is needed, which is a safer environment for the addict, the family and society at large. It always has, and always will, spawn far worse conditions than those it claims to be able to alleviate.

Maybe it's time to try something that works again.