Gun owner hypocrisy that needs to stop

[Scope]

You really believe that a guy hitting a bong on Sunday afternoon deserves a harsher punishment than a guy downing a six pack during a football game?

I still think that marijuana is more potent than alcohol, but I admit I have not looked at the sources you provided yet. Still, I think a line must be drawn somewhere, even if it is a little hand wavey. It used to be that people were maligned for being drunks or junkies, now often they are celebrated for it. Ultimately, a society that hold the pursuit of pleasure as its most important goal will destroy itself.

What do you mean you've seen what happens? What happens?

Did you read my story about the roomy dealing drugs? No? One of my roommates in college was dealing drugs out of our room. I let the police search our room and they found marijuana and shrooms. He was kicked off campus and suspended for a year. I also had two friends get kicked out of two different branches of the military for drug use. Both were dishonorable discharges. None of these seemed particularly harsh.

You guys write about cops busting in on people's homes and people getting years in jail for possession. Maybe for the often repeated offense this will happen, but other than you guys who rant about it I do not see any evidence of it.

We are not going to reconcile our differences on this issue. Theres a large disparity in what we believe to be proper punishment, what we think should be the limits of government's and societie's involvement in people's personal lives, and what falls under constitutional protection.

I will reiterate my stance one more time. I believe that while people have rights, they are balanced against the authority of the government to limit said rights. In the case of firearms I do not think the 2nd Amendment allows citizens unrestricted access to any arms that can be made, but in the context of when it was written I do think it supports most, if not all, of the firearms freedoms we have today. Those freedoms come with responsibilities, and society has the authority to hold people accountable for those responsibilities.

In the same way I think people have rights and responsibilities under the law in regards to their personal lives, but those rights are balanced by what the government can restrict and what society can hold them accountable for. I do not agree with your position that people are a law unto themselves in what they injest. I think that finding this balance may not always be straight forward, but it is better than taking the interpretation of the law to your extreme.

Holding these positions does not make me a hypocrite. If you think the contrary, then go ahead and label me all you want.

 

[Redworm]

I still think that marijuana is more potent than alcohol,

But you've never tried it so you don't really know. What's more important, the potency or the damage to the human body? THC itself does an almost imperceptible amount of damage; no long term brain damage and the toxicity level is so low that it takes something like 40,000 times the amount to kill a human than it does to inebriate one. Alcohol requires about 4-5 times as much to kill as to intoxicate. Alcohol also does damage to the liver. While smoking does do damage to the lungs, vaporizing the plant removes all carcinogenic effects and does no more damage to the lungs than inhaling water vapor. Cooking with the stuff drops the already miniscule danger level to nothing.

No one has ever died from marijuana. Ever. Not once in the history of recorded medicine could you find one instance of any human being ever overdosing from THC.

How many people die from alcohol poisoning every year? Now again, is potency more important than the actual health effects?

It used to be that people were maligned for being drunks or junkies, now often they are celebrated for it.

I can't recall the last time someone was applauded for being a junkie. Alcoholism is a joke on TV and potheads are a common source of comedic value but I don't recall many sitcoms or movies showing us how great heroin addicts are.

Did you read my story about the roomy dealing drugs? No? One of my roommates in college was dealing drugs out of our room. I let the police search our room and they found marijuana and shrooms. He was kicked off campus and suspended for a year.

So in other words the only damage that came from him selling drugs was the fact that the drugs were illegal. You didn't mention that anyone died from what he sold or that he ruined his GPA or that he started stealing VCRs to support his "habit". If the drugs were not illegal then not only would he have had no reason to be punished but it's unlikely he even would've had to sell them. How many college students sell booze and cigarettes out of their dorm rooms when students can just head to the local liquor store to pick them up? If one could buy a dime bag at the local 7-11 would people have any reason to buy them from drug dealers?

You keep presenting us with the perfect justifications for legalization. Does prohibition ever work?