41 comments

• Comment Link Friday, 25 January 2013 18:52 posted by Steve Krasner

  I totally agree the question was way too broad. If the money being spent on this unwinnable war on drugs was instead put into education the money would have been well spent. Also if the government taxed the drugs as they do all other drugs from booze to RX drugs it were sure help the deficit.

• Comment Link Monday, 14 January 2013 00:39 posted by Paul Pot

  While I agree that marijuana is different from other drugs in that it is far safer than most of them, the real problem is that people focus on the drugs when discussing prohibition and the drugs are not the problem; the problem is prohibition itself.
  It is the law that does the damage by interfering in peoples' lives and putting the general community under serious pressure to conform to ideals a lot of people just can't live up to.
  The law also takes access to law from people and it puts a huge flowing river of money outside the legitimate economy to be managed by the most ruthless people on the planet.
  Prohibition forces corruption, criminality, violence, war and poverty on the world.
  Prohibition is a crime against humanity.

• Comment Link Friday, 21 December 2012 14:07 posted by Abe Jensen

  Certainly not as good of a debate as I had hoped. It was actually limited because of the broad motion "legalize ALL drugs" . So one side would sight something like marijuana and then the other side would site something like meth. It still was interesting, but the topic really should have included specific drugs or just marijuana since that is really what is on peoples mind.

• Comment Link Friday, 21 December 2012 05:52 posted by Dillon

  Conjecture, Theory, Statistics.... There is only one way to find out whether or not legalizing drugs will be a good/bad thing. TRY IT! Run an experiment, evaluate the results, and you will know. : )

• Comment Link Wednesday, 19 December 2012 21:58 posted by H

  I'm surprised Mr. Gillespie implied that children raised in households where drugs are commonly and responsibly used will be less likely to abuse drugs than children raised in households where drugs are not used or condoned. In my experience, peers who regularly got drunk did not come from homes where the parents were teetotalers, but rather from homes where it was accepted or even encouraged. Is his statement based on some evidence?
  
  "But when you see your parents having a glass of wine with dinner and acting responsibly around an intoxicant, you learn a very strong lesson there that is going to be much more beneficial to you than if you grow up in a teetotaler house and then you have the unfortunate experience of going to Yale and Harvard like Paul here."

• Comment Link Monday, 17 December 2012 19:53 posted by Patel

  Tyler, Here is what your former boss Newt Gingrich thinks: O'Reilly: "Now, they have no drug problem in Singapore at all, number one, because they hang drug dealers -- they execute them. And number two, the market is very thin, because when they catch you using, you go away with a mandatory rehab. You go to some rehab center, which they have, which the government has built.The United States does not have the stomach for that. We don't have the stomach for that, Mr. Speaker." Gingrich: "Well, I think it's time we get the stomach for that, Bill. And I think we need a program -- I would dramatically expand testing. I think we have -- and I agree with you. I would try to use rehabilitation, I'd make it mandatory. And I think we have every right as a country to demand of our citizens that they quit doing illegal things which are funding, both in Afghanistan and in Mexico and in Colombia, people who are destroying civilization." Aren't you proud to have worked for such a great freedom-loving repub? Good times.anonone

• Comment Link Thursday, 13 December 2012 17:29 posted by Ted

  Can't believe Asa said that the first thing he would do if he knew his daughter were using would be to go after the people who sold her the drugs. This is unbelievable that his first concern is not of the child using, her personal problems or addictions that might be coming to the surface. Also, this entirely takes the blame off of his daughter. She would be responsible for her choices. Its her that will deal with the consequences (good or bad).
  
  Furthermore, even if every drug were outlawed this type of attitude is always pointing the finger at someone else. What if she had a problem texting and driving, would he go after the phone and automobile companies too? There is an immense lack of responsibility in play here and I can't believe the opposition didn't hit this point harder.

• Comment Link Tuesday, 11 December 2012 08:02 posted by Rob Miller

  I would like to have heard a debate on decriminalizing marijuana, or perhaps "there is no quantitative difference in alcohol and tobacco and marijuana"; but that was not the topic. Instead, the "for" side was forced to argue just as strongly for meth as they were for weed.
  
  Still, I was happy to listen to this with my 13 year old on our way to school over the last couple days, as her class is currently studying the dangers of drug use- painted with just as broad a brush as this debate topic.
  She saw the nuance in the arguments and developed some really interesting questions and comments around the subject, which are growing into a broad and open discussion in our household.
  
  Thank you, iq2, for giving our family an excellent "jumping in" point for this very important subject.

• Comment Link Sunday, 02 December 2012 23:11 posted by Dan Campbell

  This debate was a farce. As a resident of Colorado I didn't vote to legalize every class 1 drug known to mankind. I voted to legalize/decriminalize marijuana.

• Comment Link Monday, 26 November 2012 13:28 posted by edelauna

  I felt there was a disconnect between the for side's argument regarding legalization reducing the amount of minorities imprisoned, and the social benefits afforded by legalization.
  
  Is there information to suggest that legalization of drugs would enrich communities that turn to the drug trade for sustenance? What are the probabilities of legalized drugs being replaced by a different black market commodity?
  
  I feel like the imprisonment issue requires resolution through a wider scope.