Fernando, Here is the link to the news story about marijuana. I was
mixing it up with the vote on abortion which is breaking new ground in
Latin America.
<www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/06/20126215588289352.html>
<http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/10/2012101863020567931.html>
El Observador article you link is basically correct except the statement
attributed to an editorial in the Washington (D.C. _not_ State) Post in
favor of, "sanciones civiles en lugar de encerrar a la gente". This is
not in the new law. There are no state sanciones civiles anymore for
adults under certain conditions. However the federal government may
still press charges in federal court. A nebulous area yet to be
resolved. But I doubt that any local prosecutor of Attorney General
hoping for re-election would support it.
In the paragraph below I was referring to this as another aljazeera
quote puts plainly, "The US locks up more people than any other country
in the world, spending over $80bn each year to keep some two million
prisoners behind bars. Over the past three decades, tough sentencing
laws have contributed to a doubling of the country's prison population,
with laws commonly known as 'three strikes and you're out' mandating
life sentences for a wide range of crimes."
Much of the huge cost can be attributed to small time drug offenses. The
WA State initiative decriminalized and taxes marijuana and regulates it
similar to the current Alcohol Control Board. No judgement is made about
the effects of marijuana but clearly the evidence supports the findings
that it is less harmful than other currently legal and regulated
substances.
A saying in English attributed to Albert Einstein, "Insanity, doing the
same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." This
is what our War On Drugs has accomplished. During the 1920's our War on
Alcohol resulted in organized crime that controlled cities and states
without winning the war. Our current War On Drugs has resulted in
cartels that control entire countries. Maybe it's time to quit doing the
same thing over and over.
Mike
> Message: 66
>
> I'm afraid I don't quite grasp the full meaning of what you wrote, Mike.
> Could you please elaborate a little more. Feel there are implied assumptions.
>
> Today the news we're talking about was published in a serious
> newspaper - nothing on TV.
> <http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/238014/washington-post-apoya-la-legalizacion-de-la-marihuana-en-dos-estados/>
>
> Fernando.
>
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:04 PM, Mike Lazzari<watershed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>>> links between schizophrenia and regular use of cannabis:
>> In any event clogging the jails with pot smokers and associated small
>> time dealers isn't a viable answer. That was the reason for the vote in
>> WA. Let law enforcement concentrate on meth.
>>
>> What do they say? repeating the same thing over and over again (for 60+
>> years) and expecting a different outcome_is_ nuts.
--
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