12-11-2016, 08:43 PM
(12-11-2016, 11:34 AM)xxlt Wrote: It isn't just Portugal. From Colorado to Katmandu and everywhere in between, every place that has legalized anything (including the US that once banned alcohol) has found it works better. Damn those facts and their well known liberal bias.
I don't know that is true. There's no evidence of an increase in crime related to marijuana in CO, but there doesn't appear to be evidence of a decrease, either. Fact is before and after marijuana continues to make up a very small percentage of crime in Denver (according to articles I read in the Denver Post and a few other newspapers).
And I don't think most people have an issue or objection to marijuana. But if we're talking other drugs, I'm not sure "no change" in crime, which is potentially an optimistic scenario, justifies the obvious increase in addiction that will result. Sure, you may remove the stigma and make it easier to get treatment, but the fact is a large number of alcoholics don't seek or take to treatment.
If you merely decriminalize it, I think you get a lot of the benefits with significantly less risk than outright legalization.
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