SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Center for American Progress reports
On [February 27], days after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters to expect stricter enforcement of federal pot law, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recycled discredited drug war talking points in remarks of his own.
"I believe it's an unhealthy practice, and current levels of THC in marijuana are very high compared to what they were a few years ago, and we're seeing real violence around that", Sessions said. "Experts are telling me there's more violence around marijuana than one would think and there's big money involved."
In reality, violent crime rates tend to decrease where marijuana is legalized.
Denver saw a 2.2 percent drop in violent crime rates in the year after the first legal recreational cannabis sales in Colorado. Overall property crime dropped by 8.9 percent [PDF] in the same period there, according to figures from the Drug Policy Alliance. In Washington, violent crime rates dropped by 10 percent [PDF] from 2011 to 2014. Voters legalized recreational marijuana there in 2012.
Medical marijuana laws, which have a longer track record for academics than recreational pot legalization, are also associated with stable or falling violent crime rates. In one 2014 study of the 11 states that legalized medical pot from 1990 to 2006, there was no increase in the seven major categories of violent crime and "some evidence of decreasing rates of some types of violent crime, namely homicide and assault."
[...] Elsewhere in his remarks, Sessions unwittingly made the case against treating pot activity like serious crime. "You can't sue somebody for drug debt". he said. "The only way to get your money is through strong-arm tactics, and violence tends to follow that."
Legalizing, regulating, and taxing the sale of marijuana is the surest way to remedying that exact tendency for pot commerce to trigger violent score-settling. Legalization invites pot business into the light, granting cannabusinesses at least partial access to official modes of recourse when they are defrauded.
8 states and the District of Columbia have legalised marijuana for recreational use.
Ever see anyone use cannabis and become more aggressive rather than more mellow?
Note: ThinkProgress redirects all accesses of their pages and will attach tracking numbers. I have made sure that those are not in the URLs.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Thursday March 02 2017, @08:33PM (2 children)
Perhaps you have a short memory, or are just too young to remember.
When Bill Clinton was under threat of impeachment, there was possibly a valid reason: perjury. However, the Republicans could only talk about Clinton having sex in the Oval Office, which was entirely legal.
I lost any respect that I had for the Republicans when I realized that all they cared about was someone else having sex.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday March 02 2017, @09:43PM (1 child)
they have shown that because they aligned with 'the good book' about 30 yrs ago and that their READ of the so-called good book means that any pleasure is a sin, they rally against all things that are not already on the 'white list' (see what I did there?) and that let people enjoy themselves.
this is a huge problem with the R's. they seem to be stuck in the period about 400 yrs ago, when the US had more religious crazies than all of europe put together. in fact, the puritans and pilgrams were the local crazies in europe and europe was glad to let them leave!
remove the influence and mind control that big religion has and, all of a sudden, more liberty ensues. imagine that!
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @12:53AM
> remove the influence and mind control that big religion has and, all of a sudden, more liberty ensues. imagine that!
If the US was populated by the crazies who migrated out of europe, then why did the US become all about freedom when places like france fucked up their revolution?
My point is, your history of the US and liberty is not internally self-consistent. Better work on it some more.