Sarah Palin: Smoking Pot Is No Big Deal

[Ben Kenobi]

So, if the crack dealers were a half-mile away instead of in your neighborhood, you would favor legalization of marijuana?

No, I'm saying that I thought the current penalties for dealers were sufficient. My opinion on that has changed. There should be additional penalties for selling/dealing in areas where children frequent since they don't seem to be getting a clue.

[Al B. Sure!]

No, I'm saying that I thought the current penalties for dealers were sufficient. My opinion on that has changed. There should be additional penalties for selling/dealing in areas where children frequent since they don't seem to be getting a clue.

Is this dealer forcing anyone to buy the drugs at gunpoint?

[Ben Kenobi]

You just said steroid use is endemic, now you're implying it's as rare as encountering a shark. Which one is it, Ben?

Among athletes, yes. I don't think steroid use is all that common in the general population, especially when compared with multivitamins.

ie, steroids are to multivitamins what sharks are to ladders. yes, more people are probably hospitalised through multivitamins, but that doesn't make them more dangerous than steroids.

And I'm not even sure that BAM of yours is true. What evidence do you have that more people are hospitalised from multivitamins?

[Ben Kenobi]

Is this dealer forcing anyone to buy the drugs at gunpoint?

No.

Do you think they should be permitted to sell to minors?

[Al B. Sure!]

No.

Do you think they should be permitted to sell to minors?

I think crackheads should be imprisoned and dealers shouldn't be getting life sentences.

[giblets]

Personally I think enforcement is cheaper than treatment centres, but then that's just me.

Are you suggesting we legalise drugs, all drugs, and stop paying for treatment centres at the same time?

Gee, a tax on marijuana could cover the cost of treatment centers. Especially given how relatively nonaddictive marijuana is compared to other drugs.

[-Jrabbit]

No, I'm saying that I thought the current penalties for dealers were sufficient. My opinion on that has changed. There should be additional penalties for selling/dealing in areas where children frequent since they don't seem to be getting a clue.

If marijuana were legal, there would be no street dealing of pot.

Not saying that applies to crack. But you seem to be equating the two.

[Ben Kenobi]

I think crackheads should be imprisoned and dealers shouldn't be getting life sentences.

So why are you arguing with me?

[Al B. Sure!]

So why are you arguing with me?

should NOT be getting life sentences. The dealers aren't the bad guys here. The users are. The dealers (who overwhelmingly come from poor backgrounds) are only being entrepreneurs and catering to an existing demand.

Granted, I have never seen anyone hold my viewpoint for some reason, but it seems logical to me. Why are the dealers the bad guys and not the dumbasses who DEMAND the stuff?

[Ben Kenobi]

If marijuana were legal, there would be no street dealing of pot.

Just like there's no dealing of alcohol, or dealing of tobacco. You ever live in a dry county?

There will always be people selling drugs on the street.

Either the police will be spending money cracking down on the dealers or they will be enforcing the laws which require you to be a registered dealer.

Legalisation doesn't save you a penny. It just opens a revenue stream for the government.

[Elok]

This only matters if driving while high is a danger. What evidence is there for that?

...you want me to dig up a study proving that driving while on marijuana is a bad idea? Seriously? You want me to prove that juggling knives is stupid, too? At any rate, I'm too lazy, so nuts to that.

[Ben Kenobi]

should NOT be getting life sentences. The dealers aren't the bad guys here. The users are. The dealers (who overwhelmingly come from poor backgrounds) are only being entrepreneurs and catering to an existing demand.

How's business, Albert?

[giblets]

...you want me to dig up a study proving that driving while on marijuana is a bad idea? Seriously? You want me to prove that juggling knives is stupid, too? At any rate, I'm too lazy, so nuts to that.

It is, but unless it impairs judgment the way alcohol does I don't think very many people will drive while high (unless also drunk).

[Al B. Sure!]

It is, but unless it impairs judgment the way alcohol does I don't think very many people will drive while high (unless also drunk).

Do you even know anyone who smokes weed?

and weed doesn't impair judgment?

[Elok]

Impaired judgment is irrelevant. There are plenty of people out there who are naturally stupid, inconsiderate jackasses (e.g., the ones who text while driving). At least some of them will smoke pot, and there needs to be a practical means of catching them.

Anyway, I don't smoke pot, never have and probably never will, as I like my brain cells the way they are, so I don't know personally. But I hear the stuff can make you paranoid as all hell, which certainly counts as impaired judgment.