You raise one of the many sore points I have regarding this country- the asinine, antiquated marijuana laws. I don't smoke it, and I don't think it's totally benign, but it does have proven medicinal benefits, and that's a lot more than anyone can say for tobacco, which is legal. Alcohol also has certain medicinal properties, but it's also destroyed the lives of a lot of people I know (one girl I knew in high school- late 30's- is currently near death with a corroded liver) and it, also, is perfectly legal. Of course, you can go into a lot of the deeper political and sociological implications of all this- of how it criminalizes a whole class of people, how it supports the prison industry, etc. What it comes down to for me is we're either a free people in a free country or we aren't. If someone wants to fuck themselves up with alcohol, they have that privilege. Why have these entrenched obstructions in place when it comes to marijuana? How does any of this make any sense? I think it comes down to this same tired Puritan ethic that seems to have infected the people of this country for most of its history, but that's just my opinion. Of course, all the blame can't be put at Bush's door. After all, the Rockefeller drug laws were enacted a long time ago. But don't expect to see any progress made in this regard if this guy stays on in office.
Ed T.
PS- As a footnote to the porno discussion, funding for prosecutions of pornography virtually dried up under Clinton. Under Bush, we're again spending millions to prosecute consenting adults who make and/or look at porno. Again, how does any of this make any sense at all? Conservatives especially, with their vaunted sense of fiscal responsibility, should be bothered by all this, I think.
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