Legalize/ Decriminalize

Ohhhhhhhh my Godddddddd Hunter Parrish let's get married now and have all kinds of beautiful, blonde babies...

The other day I was talking with an old friend on a WIDE range of topics, but as he seems to be the male equivalent of me in nearly every way, the conversation eventually turned to politics. While both of us consider ourselves to be devout conservatives, he made the remark that I was "a bad republican". At first I was somewhat taken aback, but then I began realizing he was kind of right. Most of my friends would be shocked that anyone could say this about me or that I would admit it about myself. I mean seriously:

That took me all of 3 seconds to find on my Facebook. I am solidly in the fold of the right, except on a couple of issues. First of all:

I LOVE the gays. Love 'em. Love each other, get married be as miserable as straight people twenty years in. I like boys, why shouldn't you?

Secondly, and perhaps more surprisingly, I am for the legalization of marijuana. I cannot personally tell you what the draw to the stuff is or why someone would want to walk around life stoned out of their mind, but it's a plant. The idea that lighting a plant on fire and inhaling it is illegal and that people are killed over it just blows my mind. LEGALIZE it. For one thing, the stoners will finally shut up, something I know we all desperately want. Secondly, tax it. There's a sin tax on alcohol, candy, gambling, cigarettes, etc... make those pot heads pay a little tax. Lifting the prohibition on marijuana would save the government approximately $7.7 billion a year in prohibition enforcement and would raise $2.4 billion a year if taxed normally or $6.2 billion if taxed as alcohol and tobacco are (much more likely). Third, other synthetic forms of marijuana are showing up in the hands of our youth and having dire consequences. Ever heard of the substance K2? Yeah it's been known to cause myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) in some cases and is now largely illegal in the United States.  Would you not rather people were smoking a plant and hitting up Taco Bell than having heart attacks from using the synthetic form of a plant which according to the bible:

The hemp plant (scientific name: cannabis, slang: marijuana) is one of the many useful herbs "yielding seed after its kind" created and blessed by God on the third day of creation, "and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:12)

So..... yeah. Apparently marijuana isn't THAT bad. However, I feel it is my moral obligation to remind you that regardless if and when it is legalized, "It is one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at parties, but it is quite another to be fried all day. Do you see the distinction? "

Does my advocating for the legalization of marijuana primarily on the basis of its economic advantages make me a bad republican? No, most would say it makes me an ideal republican: seeking the economic exploitation of nature. Whatever, hippie. However, this next statement kind of does make me a bad republican:

I think we should decriminalize the possession and consumption of all drugs. 

I know, Nancy Reagan would die if she heard me say this. Personally, I'm just saying no, but I'm all for your right to say yes. Blame it on my being more of a libertarian than a true conservative, but I think you have the right to succumb to social darwinism if you feel so inclined. 

Basically, I believe that what has been implemented in Portugal is a much more logical response to drug possession. In the face of swelling prison populations due to drug related crimes, the Portuguese government sought to replace prison time for small amounts of narcotics  with drug rehabilitation. A few years out and the results are even better than expected. The number of teens beginning to use has gone down, there are fewer new cases of HIV as people are not sharing dirty needles and more than twice as many people are seeking help for addiction than before.

Currently the United States is mostly ignoring a burgeoning problem in the south as our borders are repeatedly and violently being breeched by drug cartels. Americans are dying over the importation and distribution of drugs and the decriminalization of such products would do a great deal to curtail such unnecessary violence. Putting a heroin addict in prison for a balloon (I've seen Pulp Fiction:) ) does nothing to help them fight their addiction. Drug rehabilitation rather than criminal action being taken against the user would do much more for the person and society as a whole.

*I cannot stress enough I am advocating for the decriminalization not the legalization of cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.. There is a big difference. 

Here is a few clips of some typically Hollywood liberal TV shows about drugs that I actually enjoy. Weeds may or may not be the best show ever created.