Collegiate Times

Let's write about something that actually matters...

The fact that we waste huge amounts of resources on the War on Drugs, a war that can not be won, when we could be spending this money on providing actual treatment to those with drug problems, or on health care or education, doesn't matter?

You make a somewhat sensible argument and I applaud you for that. But you stand on the "one glass isn't going to make you an alcoholic" argument and I say this as I enjoy my glass of merlot before bed. Anything outside of moderation is harmful, and while you may be someone who lights a blunt as I raise my glass, there are a lot of people who do become addicted. Each year I spend a day right before christmas with recovering drug addicts and alcoholics who are in this shelter because they have lost everything, their home, job, family. They'll pull out pictures of their kids who they haven't seen in years because of their addictions. So those DARE stories are true, and just because God made it and it is good, doesn't mean you are using it for good.

John just because someone can get addicted doesn't mean it should not be legalized. Its all about personal choices and the freedom we have as Americans to make bad decisions. I would think as someone who is against gun control john you would be for this. If I said guns shouldn't be legal because people get addicted to using them and hurt people you would be against that and rightfully so. It's about making the choice ourselves to smoke pot or not instead of letting the government decide that for us.

Marc: In addition to the tens of billions of dollars that are senselessly spent on the War on Drugs each year, let's not forget the hundreds of thousands of American drug users who are imprisoned every year for non-violent, victimless crimes. Let's also not forget the excess of violence in Mexico (which has at last come to the attention of the national media) thanks to the black market that American drug prohibition has created. To say that this is an issue that does not matter is entirely ignorant.

Stan, your bulls-eye hit my bulls-eye. Let me second this with an idea: Tax Incentives for Promoting the Public Health. Legal and licensed marijuana businesses which would, by law, distribute only to adults, could receive a tax break if their establishment is "non-smoking." I feel like this would be a much better approach to smoking cessation than VA's recently passed Smoking Ban. Use tax incentives to encourage marijuana bakeries and vapor bars, so smoking establishments may still exist until public demand for smoking decreases enough for them to eventually opt for the tax incentive.

Alcohol is against the law to provide to minors. What incentive is there to provide it to minors? Marijuana is illegal and there is lots of money/incentive for people to distribute it. Since it's already illegal providing it to minors is not much of deterrant. Why would we not want to regulate it?

Can't say I have ever heard of a gun addiction, but going with your argument, it is illegal for me to go out and harm myself our someone else with that firearm. And just like firearms it comes down to responsible usage but with drugs it is the addiction factor that removes that frame of responsible choice.

Yeah, legalize it then tax the hell out of it. They just added $1 tax to a single pack of cigarettes.

John all activities carry with them a risk to become addicted. As a freedom loving society we allow people to chose what they do and what they don't. Alcohol and cigarettes are every bit as addictive if not more so than pot, but we let people chose whether or not they use them. People use alcohol and cigarettes responsibly, pot will be no different. The way you are talking John you sound like a big government nanny state guy.

It seems that almost everyone is pro-legalization. How come this is a non-issue on the national political stage? When Obama was asked about legalization, he just laughed it off as if it were a joke. I think if a major politician was serious about this, he would be surprised at how much support he would gain on this issue alone.

You're definitely right Eric. I heard the legalization question was voted up to #1, so when President Obama laughs it off, he must know that he giving a swing right at his base. I do think that because there is so much on the table right now, and because each party has prohibitionists (including our VP), President Obama will not be able to LEAD this issue, but he will be able to be LED by it. That's where you come in. The President is visiting Mexico this month. The drug prohibition violence will continue to bounce its way up to the #1 issue in the media. It is important that we raise our voice, join SSDP (facebook group: Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Virginia Tech), join NORML (on their website), email politicians when the listserv asks us to do so or even when not. Senator Jim Webb is posed to be one of the politicians to lead our fight. He has held congressional hearings and symposiums addressing our overpopulating prisons and our drug policies. We need to Fight!

I would encourage anyone reading this to check out what Ron Paul has to say about the legalization of marijuana. It is scary how right he is about everything and how everyone dismisses him as a joke. Seriously though just google Ron Paul.

Your limits on comments are just stupid.

Anyone who wants to comment first needs to read the history of the marijuana laws. http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm This is funny and fascinating. Marijuana was originally outlawed for two major reasons. The first was because “All Mexicans are crazy and marijuana is what makes them crazy.” The second was the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana – exactly the opposite of the modern “gateway” idea. Anyone who currently supports these laws simply hasn’t read the most basic research on the subject.

I think this article only begins to touch on the false "gateway" tag that people senselessly slap on the drug. It's status of "gateway" is actually paradoxical. It's a gateway drug because it's a gateway drug. People grow up learning that if they try marijuana, then they are going to get addicted to heroin. In college, it works its way around and eventually a decent amount of the college community tries it. Being that it is already the same as illegal as heroin as it is to do weed, people are less afraid of bumping up to the stronger stuff. The law set the same boundary around weed and the actual killer drugs, but once someone tries weed, they are more likely to try the killers because they already passed through this boundary of "don't even try it." Honestly I think the biggest problem is in the name. Weed. It grows like a weed, so it would be very difficult to tax. Imagine if dandelions were candy and the government tried to tax them. It's easy to grow, but the least they can do is stop wasting money on combating a drug that is not even close to as deadly as cigarettes or tobacco.

What strikes me as truly odd is the vehemence with which people seem willing to fight for their supposed right to toke up. Legally speaking, I don't really care one way or the other so long as the laws make it clear that your psychotropic substance is never able to alter my brain's chemistry - but what I really don't get is why so many people seem to take smoking marijuana as a point of pride. . . .

I don't know how much of a gateway drug it really is.. I can't think of anyone I know who tried marijuana before first trying alcohol and/or cigarettes. Even for underage people it's easier to get into a parent's liquor cabinet or their stash of cigarettes than it is to find a dealer. Does that make alcohol and tobacco the real gateway drugs? The first pot, then hard drugs "gateway" idea always seemed more correlation than causation to me.

Kyle, I think people are generally not fond of being considered outlaws and criminals when they are in every other regard law-abiding citizens for consuming a substance that even a former DEA judge considered benign. In fact, I've met people who prefer marijuana to a keg stand - haha for some reason they find it healthier. However, some people do consume marijuana as a point of pride for a similar reason our Founding Fathers revolted from the tyranny and theocracy of the Crown - some people find that sharing a prison cell with a convicted murder or rapist for growing a plant they wish to put in their body oppressive.

Good God. I even support marijuana legalization, though I don't smoke, but you all are getting ridiculous. Do you really think writing op-ed's in the CT is going to suddenly make it legal for you all to kill your brain cells with weed? You're making the newspaper and our school look like a bunch of fools who sit around whining how the man isn't letting them spark up.

Sanke your "i'm only one person what can I do mentality" is exactly what is wrong with America today. It is a ligitimate argueement and there is no reason why it shouldnt be discussed more. If people want to sit around and smoke let them. There are tons of alcoholics who do less with their lives everyday. People know cigarettes kill them and still smoke correct? It's freakin america why should the government be able to tell people they can't smoke marijuana and put them in jail for it?

Right, I understand your point of view, Kris. The point to remember, though, is that legalizing marijuana won't necessarily have any effect at all on marijuana policy at VT (or enforced by potential employers, etc.) The fact of the matter is, whether it should be legalized or not isn't really an important point when you recognize that its use can and will be controlled by people who, quite frankly, don't trust people who intentionally alter their brain chemistry with the plant. It's a subtlety a lot of people don't understand - but it's the reason why dry campuses can exist despite the fact that prohibition is no longer around, for one example. Legally speaking, I don't really care whether you smoke or not. I don't know that VT would change its policy regardless of any change in the law, though - and that's the point I'm trying to make.

The stigma attached to marijuana scares many people who use smoking pipes to hide their use. The main problem inhibiting legalization is that people who smoke a glass pipe discriminated against and are therefore not considered serious or mature. The public needs to make its choices are known and to make sure our voices are heard. With the economy in shambles this is the best chance to change the law. Send a letter, send an email make a phone call, one hand written Letter is considered to be the voice of thousands of people who did not take the time to write so write your representative today.
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