After reading this

[greybeta]

A conversation that recently took place between my scheming roommate and I.

Me: So what do you think of the medicinal marijuana business?
Roomy: I don’t agree with it. In fact, I think marijuana should be legalized for general consumption.
Me: Really?
Roomy: Yeah, dude. I look at it this way. Every argument that can made for why alcohol is legal can be made for marijuana. Heck, driving while high isn’t any worse for you than driving drunk.
Me: I don’t know, I ‘ve heard…
Roomy: Dude, just tell me what you think, not what you’ve heard or read.
Me: Okay, I think that may lead to a slippery slope. If you legalize marijuana, where do you stop? Cocaine? Heroin?
Roomy: No, dude, you only take crack or heroin at the end of the road, when nothing else can get you high. Marijuana, on the other hand, has been proven to relieve pain.
Me: Hmmm, reminds me of those one book on cocaine…
Roomy: You’re doing it again!

Comments

[sarnath.livejournal.com]

Cocaine and heroin were once legal, and the U.S. didn't collapse.

[thanoslug.livejournal.com]

Not a valid argument. I would imagine you could make quite a list of things that are currently illegal that did not used to be. The fact that an item is not specifically illegal does not equate to it being explicitly legal. Folks used to use laudanam all the time, people used to be able to carry concealed weapons all they wanted without a permit, companies used to be able to work their employees as hard as long and under whatever working conditions they wanted to - none of that was illegal and the US didnt collapse. And yet most folks would agree that we are better off with laws restricting those things.

[sarnath.livejournal.com]

I was being hyperbolic. My point is that people seem to have this belief that the War on Drugs is good because the alternative (legal drugs) is worse. However, the U.S. used to exist with legal drugs, and the U.S. was actually in a better state than with drugs prohibited. Prohibition of alcohol serves to reinforce the point.

The fact that an item is not specifically illegal does not equate to it being explicitly legal.

I don't know where you're from, but I can do anything I'm not prohibited from doing.

[thanoslug.livejournal.com]

No, I dont think the country was in better condition when parents could give opium to their children to get them to be quiet. Don't think you can sell me on that one, sorry.

Yes, here in America we are blessed to be able to do anything that is not strictly illegal. However, to my mind at least, there is a difference between something being explicitly stated as legal and it simply not being illegal. A very minor thing perhaps but a distinction to my mind.