The Wet Republic security is a bunch of dicks. They tried to detain a chick I was with for being too drunk. Sure tell us we have to leave but you can't just make her follow four security guards into a back alley. They told me if I didn't leave her there with them I'd be trespassing (though I was invited by a Bellagio host) and they were going to call the cops. I made it really simple for them. I called 911 and within 20 seconds the four assholes threw us together in a cab. They wanted nothing to do with the cops - clearly corrupt, clearly assholes, and probably planning to rape her.
Locking up users and throwing away the key is not the answer either. Over 25% of the incarcerated population in the US is comprised of non-violent drug offenders (up from less than 10% in 1980), sheltered and fed on the taxpayer dime to the tune of tens of billions per year. Plus the money spent on enforcement/prosecution, etc.
And the kicker is that the war on drugs quite simply doesn't work. It's not effective. That is proven.
Get away from this archaic mentality and put the money into providing rehabilitation for users who truly seek it. Several European countries have provided a successful blueprint.
If an in-demand product is not legally produced and distributed it cannot be sensibly regulated.
Currently the substances you list are in significant demand and their production and distribution is 100% unregulated. The entire market is controlled by criminal cartels who actively promote their product to minor age children; settle business disputes with violence and murder; sell their product on street corners and from residential homes. Product purity is impossible to track resulting in increased disease and fatal overdoses.
Contrast this with legal amphetamines via Rx scripts, legal cocaine used in hospital settings and heroin dispensed in legal, controlled settings. Minors are not permitted access; fatal overdoses are extremely rare and none of the producers or sellers wage gun battles on the streets of our communities.
Drug use can be an extremely dubious personal choice. But insisting that commerical production and distribution be illegal is expressing defacto support for the criminal marketplace and all of the ancillary social damage connected.
More to the point of the thread topic - while we may be annoyed by Eric Stoll's personal choices there is absolutely nothing of value gained from forcing him into the criminal justice system and artificially impeding his ability to honestly ply his professional trade.
An addiction can be overcome. A felony record OTOH is a lifetime disability.
An addiction can be overcome. A felony record OTOH is a lifetime disability.
Ha Ha. That is funny. The drugs have been flowing freely in the united states for at least 45 years. Have known quite a few users in my time. Never and i mean NEVER when i asked someone why they are not taking or using their drug of choice any more they said because they can't get a hold of any of their drug of choice. The "drug war" has destroyed more lives than if law enforcement had done nothing the last 45 years.
A lot better than illegal pot is working out in Chicago and Detroit.
The numbers out of Colorado are being closely monitored by policymakers and advocates on both sides of the marijuana legalization divide. Researchers generally agree that marijuana use during adolescence should be strongly discouraged — younger users are more likely to become dependent on the drug, and teens who use marijuana heavily are at higher risk of a number of mental and physical health problems later in life.
