Enough Already, Part II

The article from this morning had me reading up on my drug facts yet again.  I will pick up where I left off, and make a related but different point.

Law enforcement is exhausted?  Prisons are overflowing?  States are going bankrupt supporting prisoners?  Budgets are hungry for tax money? Drug dealers making billions of dollars selling pot to everyday folks?

Enough already. Legalize pot.  Bankrupt the petty drug dealers, take them out with one move.  Hey, tax the crap out of it and get thousands out of prison while you're at it, and take a huge load off law enforcement.  Just for kicks and giggles, let's free up some courts and reduce the strain on multiple budgets across all branches of government.  Then police can stop chasing in circles and go after the real problems like meth and the increases in thefts and violent crime.  It would stop their cash cow and force them to go in a new direction, but that is the reality for many of us.  

This isn't a perfect solution, but there is no perfect solution.  This option would at least make a difference, something the (coughcough) war on drugs has so far failed to do.  The people who don't want to legalize pot may just have to make decisions for themselves and not enforce it on others, heaven forbid.  They can exercise their right to choose not to participate, just like nonsmokers and nondrinkers do every day.  If that isn't enough for them, there's always Planned Parenthood or juicy books in high schools to keep the judgmental busy.

To keep control over a substance that isn't even that potent, are states willing to starve while a perfectly good cash crop puts money in the hands of the criminals?  Let's face it, just about everyone alive knows a drunk and a pothead for comparison.  I've known drunks who forgot their name, wore vomit-encrusted shirts and in one case killed innocent people from sheer stupidity.  I've watched stoners turn pizza love into an art form and lose their car keys. Oh, and don't forget the giggles.  Those damned giggles.  Sarcasm aside, for every one marijuana smoker I know that takes it to extremes, I know a dozen who abuse alcohol and drink themselves into utter oblivion.  People who cannot or prefer not to drink (like me) are caught in the middle.  I obey the law, but because of my diabetes alcohol is not an option for me.  My choices are to risk blindness or going into a coma, or risk jail or worse by using an illegal and unregulated system.  Not really much of a choice, and without any real justification.

I realize I might be missing something.  So I'll put out a challenge, because if there is another choice that makes more sense I want to hear it and understand it.  The challenge: tell me why we shouldn't do the above.  However, "because I don't like it" and "I think I have the right to tell adults they cannot use a substance that has yet to produce an overdose" are not acceptable reasons.  The fact that it isn't good for you also is not an option, because alcohol is proven beyond the shadow of a doubt to be more abusable, more commonly abused, more likely to impair judgment.  It fries your liver and kidneys while enjoying a perfectly legal status, and doesn't contribute to helpful things like tolerating chemotherapy.

It's time to put judgment down and look at facts and be creative.  What other solutions can address so many different problems and direct the money and choices back to the best possible places?  I have mulled this over and read many opinions, and the best I can tell this makes perfect sense.  The best anti-pot arguments I have heard amount to personal judgment and trumped up symptoms.  The best pro-pot arguments make economic and judicial sense and don't seem to reply on hyperbole to make their point.  Even if there is an overdose I can't find, it is safe to say more people die from Tylenol overdoses.  Millions have died as the result of drunk driving or alcohol poisoning, which we do with the government's blessing.  Prohibition failed for logical reasons, and this is the same principle except "Jesus smoked a joint, so I'm sure this is okay" can't be called into play.

I will try to leave this alone, but it bugs the hell out of me, and occasionally I spout off.  If it were legal, I'd enjoy a weekend indulgence here and there.  I think a lot of people would, on a responsible and occasional basis.  There will be those who abuse it, but those guys are already paying their money.  It's just being used to buy guns and heroin instead of helping keep states afloat.  This is a logical way to kill 20 birds with one stone.