Ron Paul and Marijuana

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paulaholic

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Many people I talk to about Ron are very receptive, until I get to his stance on the "War on Drugs". Several people have accused me of being a pot smoker myself (I'm not), and others are repulsed at the idea of drugs being legal. I find myself unable to omit this part since it's an important issue that I'm passionate about. How should I effectively sell this delicate subject?
 
If the government can make decisions about what you can or can't consume, then why don't they put you on a diet; you're getting kind of chunky and it would be more healthy for you.

^ That one is always sure to win their hearts and minds -- especially women.

Here's the video that came from: http://youtube.com/watch?v=88REf0tjZHo
 
Unless someone asks about his view on the legalization of drugs, I won't bring it up.
 
Tell them if they want to make things illegal they need authority or they can make anything illegal. Remind them they had to amend the constitutuion to outlaw booze. Point out the horrid results of a police force gone insane with power trying to regulate what people do in their homes; there are by now hundreds of cases of the wrong homes being raided and people being killed for sleeping in bed in the wrong house.
 
The war on drugs is unconstitutional, and you can easily see this by example using alcohol. When alcohol was banned earlier last century it required a constitutional amendment.

Ron Paul's official stance isn't to legalize all drugs, but rather to push it back on the states. The war on drugs is another big government program, and it is out of control.
 
Omit it.

If you're being stubborn, then the argument is very nuanced. You can cite the DEA's budget (2.4 billion dollars), number of staff (11,000) and number of arrests (30,000) as evidence to support the fact that it is an ineffective role for the government to take.

You should also point out that arrests have been declining as funding has gone up--leading one to believe that throwing money at the administration isn't going to help.

You can use anecdotal evidence of the drug smuggler that was shot by the two border guards. The border guards are going to jail and the smuggler is going free. How can we do such things when large, bureaucratic offices have regulations and rules that hamper their abilities.

You can cite prohibition as an example of making a substance illegal actually increases criminal activity--creating the mob and drug cartels that can buy AK-47s and take over our national parks.

Speaking of those national parks, be sure to mention that drug lords are planting drugs here in our own country. How can we put up with this? If you had an employee that was doing so poorly, you'd fire him and go with another. It's time to fire the DEA.
 
It was legal until 1939, until DuPont and Hearst decided hemp cramped thier industries.

<///////////////////////>
 
Hamadeh said:
I believe drugs should be banned, just like killing yourself is, the government has to have a say in certain parts of what you do. but ill still support paul :D
Click to expand...

The hell they do. Unless I infringe on someone else's liberty, it is none of their business what I do.
 
paulaholic said:
Many people I talk to about Ron are very receptive, until I get to his stance on the "War on Drugs". Several people have accused me of being a pot smoker myself (I'm not), and others are repulsed at the idea of drugs being legal. I find myself unable to omit this part since it's an important issue that I'm passionate about. How should I effectively sell this delicate subject?
Click to expand...

It's just my opinion, but if you are talking to Republicans, I would leave this issue alone. I mean, is it more important to get them hung up on this issue, or to get across Dr. Paul's traditionally-conservative stances?
 
Hamadeh said:
I believe drugs should be banned, just like killing yourself is, the government has to have a say in certain parts of what you do. but ill still support paul :D
Click to expand...

This is a tremendously weak straw man.

You immediately force us to take a leap of faith in that drug users mean to do themselves harm, and it is not possible to use drugs responsibly.

But ultimately, your position is immoral. Just like the current tax code allowing the government to decide how much of your own labor you get to keep, the drug law is based on the idea that your body and your property isn't your own.
 
Don't bring it up.

SwooshOU said:
Unless someone asks about his view on the legalization of drugs, I won't bring it up.
Click to expand...

Probably the best policy. Just like you don't have to bring up abortion when talking with liberals. It's not necessary to go through the whole laundry list of Dr. Paul's "positions" on "issues", because his campaign, unlike all the others, is not merely a list of positions hastily stitched together. It's all based on a single principle: the Golden Rule. Peace, Freedom & Prosperity; if they want to get into the details, then you can try to explain how freedom for you has to include freedom for me -- even *gasp* freedom for people we (in our acknowledged superiority) might not like.

As for the "drug issue", the example of Prohibition ought to suffice. If they don't "get it" from that, they're unlikely to be willing to hear the truth at all.

"Drugs" are already legal -- only some are more legal than others. As a former marijuana smoker myself, I always found all the alcohol, nicotine and caffeine addicts' criticisms ridiculously hypocritical. I don't use any of them now, and wouldn't recommend any of them, but the libertarian stance is very clear: the government has no right to interfere in anyone's personal life so long as no harm is being done to others.

On the other hand, if they really want to make drugs illegal, then the only consistent approach would be to make all drugs illegal -- including their favorite. Almost everyone in America is addicted to caffeine, which as it is traditionally used is hardly different from the traditional use of cocaine: leaves of the coca plant chewed by South American natives as a pick-me-up. If coffee were illegal, we'd be seeing concentrated caffeine powder sold on streetcorners for shooting up. And all the "best" families would be neck-deep in its illicit trade.
 
CodeMonkey said:
Ron Paul's official stance isn't to legalize all drugs, but rather to push it back on the states.
Click to expand...
As a practical matter, of course it's no business of the feddle gummint; but actually, I think his official stance, when asked, is that marijuana, et al., should be no more illegal than other drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc. I don't know about coffee, but I know Dr. Paul does not use alcohol (or at least he didn't in 1988, when I had dinner with him, and I doubt he's changed on that score); but as a true libertarian, he does not believe in forcing his morality on others. There are no "victimless crimes".
 
Politeia said:
As a practical matter, of course it's no business of the feddle gummint; but actually, I think his official stance, when asked, is that marijuana, et al., should be no more illegal than other drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc. I don't know about coffee, but I know Dr. Paul does not use alcohol (or at least he didn't in 1988, when I had dinner with him, and I doubt he's changed on that score); but as a true libertarian, he does not believe in forcing his morality on others. There are no "victimless crimes".
Click to expand...

Err, yeah I wasn't too clear. As a libertarian he believes it should be up to personal responsibility, but as the POTUS he would only try to lift the federal ban and let the states make their own rules.
 
Hamadeh said:
I believe drugs should be banned, just like killing yourself is, the government has to have a say in certain parts of what you do. but ill still support paul :D
Click to expand...

How do you feel about diet soft drinks? How about MSG? Howzabout Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. How do you feel about prescription drugs?

Let's see.. I know nobody who died from pot smoking ever.. L:etha;l dose is just not a reality. I have a mother and her brother in early graves from pharmaceuticals. I watched my former Arts Agent slowly kill hmself with diet Coke. Banning drugs has NEVER worked. It just raises the price and gives criminal cabals large sums of money to be criminals wth. The NWO would not have half or one quarter the terrorist operating funds they have if drugs were leagl and dispensed by physicians or State cotrolled boards. For pot it should be the coffee shop Amsterdam model.

Killng yourself is banned? Just how do they enforce that one?

Best
Randy
 
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