There’s an initiative on our ballet to get Washington state out of the liquor business. They tried to pass it last year. Without going into details it makes perfect sense and I predict it will pass this time.

I think people are simply afraid of change. They are used to the state protecting us from the evils of liquor but that protection is actually going to increase with stiffer penalties and more of tax proceeds going to law enforcement.

It’s the same way with MJ. Pot’s been illegal for over 100 years and people today still accept what the government tells them about it. In people’s mind it’s still the “gateway” drug.

It’s all madness I tell ya, madness…

Someone who speeds, runs stops signs, or for that matter, drives drunk, endangers others besides himself. These are not “victimless” crimes.

Gambling is usually only a problem for the gambler, but it’s undeniable that crime has accumulated around even legal gambling.

Prostitution? That’s a tough one. In an ideal world, where it might be a real adult career choice, maybe it’s “victimless,” but in the real world there are a lot of prostitutes who weren’t given much of a choice.

Using mind-altering substances is almost universal in every culture at some level or another. It’s hard to outlaw human nature.

With “victimless” crimes the question you have to ask is if the crime generated by bypassing the law – and it WILL be bypassed – worse than the damage caused by the activity itself?

The answers aren’t simple, but I believe they can be found.

Maybe a good first step would be making marijuana use legally equivalent to breaking the speed limit. Busted, fines, marks on your record, and such.

Marijuana eases glaucoma and nausea. I know that it is abused and being purchased for its “high” but that doesn’t mean it should be denied to people who need it. Or perhaps you favor getting all painkillers off the market just to let people suffer because some abuse them.

If you legalize drugs, you take away the drug culture with cartels killing hundreds of people. A lot of innocents die there where if someone dies from an overdose, they did it to themselves.

A person who robs a bank gets as much time as the WorldCom and Enron folks, for instance.

And if the truth be known regard marijuana, I really don’t give a rip any more. I know that legalizing MJ will cause misery among the population akin to gambling, alcohol, and tobacco and not solve ANY problems.

But, when there is a chance for the majority to profit from the minority’s misery, money always wins. Except among the ultra-rich, who are able to purchase elections and candidates.

Arf

Or are the only “real” crimes those against property?

We learned from Prohibition that making these things a crime generates a huge shitload of criminals. We’re finding that out again.

It’s a difficult issue, and I grant I don’t know as many sides of it as some do.

Is there any reason for regulating gambling? No more than for speeding. Or marijuana use. Prostitution? No more than marijuana.

In other words you are right – alcohol should be banned. And just because it isn’t doesn’t mean that every other way man can find to harm himself should be unleashed, too.

The bottom line is that if your unadulterated brain is not comfortable, if you can’t live in your own head without chemically messing it up, maybe you might want to learn how to do so without screwing it up or altering reality.

Really, those drugs are about as cowardly as a person can get. There’s a life – live it, don’t run. And drugs, alcohol included, are running. Been on both sides of this issue, myself, and the only folks extolling drugs have been on one side.