Ron Paul Advocating for Legalization of Drugs on CNN
Update: So I added this video earlier but didn’t have time to post my thoughts until now. As I made clear in the about section of the site, this site is only a resource regarding the legalization of marijuana. And that is the only professional position this site will work to educate others on. If you wish to know my personal position on other drugs, feel free to contact me.
I really wish Ron Paul would have responded differently to the gentlemen from the DEA who claimed legalization of marijuana would some how increase “addicts” or children using marijuana.
Here are the facts: If you don’t wants kids using marijuana, you must support legalization. Why? Because legalization creates a market where black-markets can’t easily survive (How many black-markets do you know for alcohol? How many liquor stores do you know? Which one do you think is more likely to ask for ID before purchasing alcohol?). To be clear, let me say it again: If you make something with a consumer demand illegal, you will create a black-market and encourage smuggling, no matter what the substance. It is wrong and it is stupid (yes, stupid) to think that the perpetuation of black markets via the drug war creates a safer environment for kids. It truly annoys me that such fallacious and idiotic arguments would even be replayed on mainstream media.
Now, don’t get me wrong… it is not always wrong to make a product/substance illegal. The key is, however, to weigh out the options, because everything has a cost. For example, the current cost to keep marijuana illegal (a harmless substance with thousands of applications/uses) is billions of dollars and thousands of lives. Is it worth it? I don’t think so. As the Harvard Medical School professor, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, said in The Union documentary (and I am paraphrasing), “Prohibition is unsustainable in a logical society.”
The second point about marijuana causing more “addicts”… excuse me, what? Seeing as marijuana has been proven time and again to be non-addictive in the vast majority of users, I don’t understand how this claim is not laughable.
Update: This one has better audio:
Pass it along!
Want to share this link on your site/blog? Copy and paste this code:
April 15th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
[...] Ron Paul Advocating for Legalization of Drugs on CNN via ShowMetheFacts.org: [...]