4 ms·

> It is about locking up poor people in order to keep them from voting. Poor people already don't vote in high numbers. > It is about filling our prisons with

by pitaj 8y ago

> It is about locking up poor people in order to keep them from voting. Poor people already don't vote in high numbers. > It is about filling our prisons with non-violent offenders so we can force them to work for slave wages, and line the owners of the prisons and the politicians they fund's pockets. That's part of it, but private prisons hold a small minority of the prison population. > It's about political suppression, not about some moralistic crusade to protect people from drugs. It's about political suppression, but also about perceptions that "only bad people smoke" etc etc. Maybe the leaders are fully malevolent in their intentions, but they get their support from the populace who they misled about the drug problem in the first place.

TaylorAlexander 8y ago
A lot of people really believe that marijuana is some horrible substance that will ruin you. My dad was one of those people and I believed him until I tried it in my 20’s and saw that it’s a vice akin to drinking at its worst, and often very positive. I think some people had hidden racist or imperialist intentions and so found what they could hate about blacks and hippies and spread the lies. (Edit: obviously overt racist intentions have affected minorities forever.) I assume much of it was malicious and conscious and much was genuine belief that came from horrible racism. Then those people made television shows and news stories about how marijuana makes you dumb (conveniently diffusing any intellectual currency hippies had). People like my dad saw the propaganda and believed it wholeheartedly, and then I did too. So far removed from the 1950’s shows like Dragnet that laid it on thick, and having grown up in a different place full of friendly pot smoking hippies, I had a different experience and saw the lies for what they were. But propaganda is started by those who want influence and believed by those who are unable to see through the lies.
- Ntrails 8y ago
  > My dad was one of those people and I believed him until I tried it in my 20’s and saw that it’s a vice akin to drinking at its worst, and often very positive. Not the whole truth, as there are known rare side effects that are significantly detrimental. In my experience it also seems harder/rarer to be a high functioning regular user. But yeah. If I do accept that position though - I'm not sold the argument is in favour of anything but prohibition
  - TaylorAlexander 8y ago
    I’m sure the same would be said of alcohol. For either - what good has prohibition ever done for us?
    - Ntrails 8y ago
      Tobacco and Alcohol being legal whilst we've criminalised weed/amphetamines/cocaine doesn't make much sense to me. The arbitrary lines are clearly spurious and historical. I'm broadly in favour of selling every single drug to the public without need of a prescription, let people do whatever the fuck they want and live with the consequences (but there will be societal consequences too). Mostly I just long for consistency
cheeko1234 8y ago
The most recent Jon Oliver[0] was on this topic. Disenfranchising people was one of the main reasons for the prohibition: [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpPyLcQ2vdI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpPyLcQ2vdI

by pitaj 8y ago

TaylorAlexander 8y ago

A lot of people really believe that marijuana is some horrible substance that will ruin you. My dad was one of those people and I believed him until I tried it in my 20’s and saw that it’s a vice akin to drinking at its worst, and often very positive. I think some people had hidden racist or imperialist intentions and so found what they could hate about blacks and hippies and spread the lies. (Edit: obviously overt racist intentions have affected minorities forever.) I assume much of it was malicious and conscious and much was genuine belief that came from horrible racism. Then those people made television shows and news stories about how marijuana makes you dumb (conveniently diffusing any intellectual currency hippies had). People like my dad saw the propaganda and believed it wholeheartedly, and then I did too. So far removed from the 1950’s shows like Dragnet that laid it on thick, and having grown up in a different place full of friendly pot smoking hippies, I had a different experience and saw the lies for what they were. But propaganda is started by those who want influence and believed by those who are unable to see through the lies.

Ntrails 8y ago
> My dad was one of those people and I believed him until I tried it in my 20’s and saw that it’s a vice akin to drinking at its worst, and often very positive. Not the whole truth, as there are known rare side effects that are significantly detrimental. In my experience it also seems harder/rarer to be a high functioning regular user. But yeah. If I do accept that position though - I'm not sold the argument is in favour of anything but prohibition
- TaylorAlexander 8y ago
  I’m sure the same would be said of alcohol. For either - what good has prohibition ever done for us?
  - Ntrails 8y ago
    Tobacco and Alcohol being legal whilst we've criminalised weed/amphetamines/cocaine doesn't make much sense to me. The arbitrary lines are clearly spurious and historical. I'm broadly in favour of selling every single drug to the public without need of a prescription, let people do whatever the fuck they want and live with the consequences (but there will be societal consequences too). Mostly I just long for consistency

cheeko1234 8y ago

The most recent Jon Oliver[0] was on this topic. Disenfranchising people was one of the main reasons for the prohibition: [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpPyLcQ2vdI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpPyLcQ2vdI