Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 2015
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2015 The Detroit News
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Steve Siebold
Note: Steve Siebold is author of "Sex, Politics, Religion: How 
Delusional Thinking is Destroying America."

TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

The debate over the side effects of marijuana vs. alcohol, along with 
the lingering question of whether or not marijuana should be legal, 
has been long running and probably won't end anytime soon. But 
according to new research published in the journal Scientific 
Reports, that looked at things people take to get high or drunk, weed 
is the least fatal. And guess what the deadliest was? Alcohol.

Not only was weed the least lethal, it was roughly 114 times less 
deadly than booze, according to the authors. Put science aside, and 
most anyone who has smoked pot will tell you it has a softer effect 
than alcohol. If alcohol and marijuana were animals, alcohol would be 
an anaconda and pot would be a housecat. Yet pot will land you in 
jail but you can drink alcohol in the White House.

It's said the best way to learn is through experience. But apparently 
we didn't learn our lesson through Prohibition. The 18th Amendment 
outlawing alcohol was as big a failure as the drug war. But we 
repealed Prohibition after 12 years. Where is the critical thinking 
in believing the drug war would be any different?

Who owns our bodies? If you say the United States government owns our 
bodies, that would give them the right to ban substances that harm 
us. But I don't think anyone would say the government owns our 
bodies. So if we own our bodies, shouldn't we have the right to 
drink, smoke or ingest anything we choose?

Past that, the drug war hasn't stopped Americans from doing drugs. 
You can buy any drug you want in any city in America without knowing 
anyone by simply approaching a few people. Finding a drug dealer is 
easier than buying beer at 7Eleven, and they don't even ask for ID. 
Most people who do drugs are casual users who still get up for work 
the next day and live responsibly. Only a small percentage of people 
become addicts.

The solution is simple: It's time to legalize marijuana. Legalization 
offers many benefits: It would empty our jails. It would save lives 
through the reduction of dangerous drug cartels. It would bring in 
millions of dollars in revenue and reduce crime like it has in Colorado.

But logic and reason don't always prevail in America. The moral 
police do. These are people who believe they know how to run our 
lives better than we do, and they are here to save us from ourselves. 
These crusaders believe they are morally and intellectually superior, 
and they have blessed us with their presence so we too can see the 
light. These are the same clowns who can't balance the budget and 
stop themselves from emailing lewd pictures to college girls, but 
they are here to guide us. What a joke.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom