Legalize Marijuana In Las Vegas?

A new radio spot on the Las Vegas airways argues that there are 5,000 Marijuana related arrests annually in Nevada and there are also 10,000 unsolved violent crimes annually. They conclude that the crime rate is already worsening and that legalizing Marijuana would free law enforcement's already overburdened resources to catch the really bad guys. Can't argue the main point, but I wonder how many so called Marijuana possession arrests involved people engaging in other criminal activities at the time, what attracted law enforcement to them ? For example, if they were driving a motor vehicle, then they obviously should be prosecuted.

This is an issue that separates the conservatives from the liberals, like abortion and gun control. Nevada has already gone a long way toward decriminalizing Marijuana use when the state took away the felony stigma on the possession of Marijuana ( first offense ).

I personally tend to want the government out of our lives as much as possible, yet bow to the necessity for government to protect the people from all adversaries, domestic and foreign. This includes protecting us from others, but not necessarily from ourselves.

Is smoking Marijuana a privacy issue or a public safety issue? If the government's job isn't necessarily to protect people from themselves, then Marijuana smoking in the privacy of one's home could be reduced to a public health issue, like alcohol consumption. As long as you are not operating heavy equipment or a motor vehicle (as the warning label states on my prescription sleep medication) are you free to ingest anything you want into your body? Marijuana is safer than alcohol, so the proponents claim - this proposition has yet to be proven scientifically. There are more poisons and carcinogenics in Marijuana smoke than in cigarette smoke, and this is a proven study. Another study shows evidence that smoking Marijuana is a "gateway" drug that leads to use of more dangerous recreational drugs like amphetamines and cocaine and ultimately the opiates like heroine. Although Marijuana is thought to be "merely" psychologically (as opposed to physically) additive, the long term effects of Marijuana smoking on brain function, particularly memory loss, are beginning to be suspected.

But there might be an argument for limited legalization for those like cancer patients who get relief from the side affects (like nausea) of chemotherapy. Using San Francisco, California, as a model, this has led to some major abuses, and the government has every right to clamp down on the abusers. Mostly, the government tends to look the other way when large numbers of people in society begin to act like a particular law does not exist. Witness the abolution of prohibition. Witness the lack of enforcement on the illegal alien issues.

But before I make a final decision on Question Seven ---Somebody from Amsterdam --- please comment here and let me know how legalization of Marijuana has affected society in general in Holland?

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Disclaimer: This is obviously all my opinion - I am not writing here as an expert by any means, just an observer of society. If some of my assumptions or conclusions are erroneous then I apologize up front. I welcome any corrections or elaborations on this subject.




MercurialMike