4 ms·

I'd argue the real freedom fighters are the ones trying to make policy changes rather than exploiting the current system for a quick buck.

chisleu 12y ago
Policy changes? Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? I doubt we will even have federally-legal pot in the next hundred years simply because of the trouble it would be to repeal the UN resolutions.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? Yes. The cops and the doctors. Between them, they are largely the reason that drugs policy has been moving towards liberalisation in Europe and the USA. Pot smokers have been batting for pot legalisation for a very long time, but it was people doing research into the role of cannabinoids in the nervous system, and organisations like LEAP http://www.leap.cc/ http://www.leap.cc/, that have managed to shift drug policy in a very short space of time.
  - jessaustin 12y ago
    The cops and the doctors. I'm glad some of them are doing the right thing now, but what the hell took so long? USA has been drug-war-crazy since the 1970s, and pot had been prohibited in slightly saner fashion much longer than that. Millions of lives have been destroyed by our drug prohibition, both here and abroad. This is a slightly rhetorical question. Of course there were incentives at work. Few medical researchers are so committed to the truth that they would do research for which grants are unavailable. Asking cops not to enforce unjust laws is like asking a fish not to swim. If they could do that, they wouldn't be cops. That's why nearly everyone in LEAP is a retired cop. Generous pensions for municipal employees have afforded them some time to assuage their guilty consciences through activism.
    - lotsofmangos 12y ago
      It had to start with the doctors, so it didn't start moving till the research led there. Police are very risk-averse. Even if they see drug policy ruining lives, they will assume those drugs are very dangerous and have no benefits unless they have it on very good authority otherwise and doctors are the only people with the authority on that subject to really convince police. Also, police are one of the few groups with the authority to convince politicians, who are generally very suspicious of doctors who want to try and legalise drugs.
      - jessaustin 12y ago
        It's difficult to credit that anyone who has been around marijuana (or for that matter, cocaine or hallucinogen) users for any length of time (which many cops have) would truly consider those substances more "dangerous" than alcohol. The direct analogy with alcohol prohibition would prompt introspection from any thoughtful person.

chisleu 12y ago

Policy changes? Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? I doubt we will even have federally-legal pot in the next hundred years simply because of the trouble it would be to repeal the UN resolutions.

lotsofmangos 12y ago
Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? Yes. The cops and the doctors. Between them, they are largely the reason that drugs policy has been moving towards liberalisation in Europe and the USA. Pot smokers have been batting for pot legalisation for a very long time, but it was people doing research into the role of cannabinoids in the nervous system, and organisations like LEAP http://www.leap.cc/ http://www.leap.cc/, that have managed to shift drug policy in a very short space of time.
- jessaustin 12y ago
  The cops and the doctors. I'm glad some of them are doing the right thing now, but what the hell took so long? USA has been drug-war-crazy since the 1970s, and pot had been prohibited in slightly saner fashion much longer than that. Millions of lives have been destroyed by our drug prohibition, both here and abroad. This is a slightly rhetorical question. Of course there were incentives at work. Few medical researchers are so committed to the truth that they would do research for which grants are unavailable. Asking cops not to enforce unjust laws is like asking a fish not to swim. If they could do that, they wouldn't be cops. That's why nearly everyone in LEAP is a retired cop. Generous pensions for municipal employees have afforded them some time to assuage their guilty consciences through activism.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    It had to start with the doctors, so it didn't start moving till the research led there. Police are very risk-averse. Even if they see drug policy ruining lives, they will assume those drugs are very dangerous and have no benefits unless they have it on very good authority otherwise and doctors are the only people with the authority on that subject to really convince police. Also, police are one of the few groups with the authority to convince politicians, who are generally very suspicious of doctors who want to try and legalise drugs.
    - jessaustin 12y ago
      It's difficult to credit that anyone who has been around marijuana (or for that matter, cocaine or hallucinogen) users for any length of time (which many cops have) would truly consider those substances more "dangerous" than alcohol. The direct analogy with alcohol prohibition would prompt introspection from any thoughtful person.