The War on Drugs

I ran across a news article just now stating that 2 guys were arrested in the Tucson area with nearly 2 million dollars worth of pot.

Here's the info:

TUCSON- Two men have been arrested in connection with the seizure of nearly 2 tons of marijuana, authorities said.

Arnulfo Vega MontaIno and Guillermo Carrillo Garcia were taken into custody in connection with the seizure, according to Sgt. Mark Morlock of the Counter Narcotics Alliance - a multi agency task force.

Morlock said the marijuana, which weighed approximately 4,000 pounds, was seized from a vehicle during a traffic stop and from a home Tuesday.

MontaIno was arrested on a charge of transportation of marijuana for sale while Garcia was arrested on conspiracy to transport marijuana for sale.

Detectives then went to Garcia's home where they found 2,200 pounds of marijuana in the laundry room and another 1,000 pounds in the back of another truck that hadn't been unloaded.

Authorities said the marijuana had street value of about $2 million.

This immediately made me think to myself:

1) Damn, that's a LOT of f**king pot!

2) Why is marijuana still even illegal?

I haven't smoked pot since I was in my twenties, but I know a lot of people who do, and they don't cause any trouble (and if they do, certainly not as much trouble as they do when they're drunk.

They aren't robbing people/stores for drug money. They aren't panhandling for quick money so they can go get a fix. They aren't getting baked and then going out and crashing their cars. They aren't jumping off of buildings or stripping down naked in drug-induced hallucinations and dementia.

Think about these common arguments against it:

Pot's a gateway drug. C'mon! If anything, ALCOHOL's THE gateway drug. I bet that statistically, people who have tried any drug - any drug period - started with alcohol first.

Intoxication is the same, regardless of the drug. Again, c'mon! I have seen more people get in their cars drunk and drive like stupid idiots, then those who are high. If you could magically turn every person who's driving drunk, into someone who's driving high, I'd feel a certainly feel a lot safer on the highway. Have you ever seen anyone drive high? They are the slowest, most paranoid "Am I keeping it between the lines" driver on the road. I'd even go so far as to suggest a high-school girl with a cell hone to her ear is the BIGGER threat!

My point here is this: I think that keeping pot illegal is stupid. Make it legal, tax it and control it like alcohol, keep people under control by keeping the DUI and public intoxication laws, and take the MONEY out of the hands of people smuggling and dealing.

Look, I know this is an INCREDIBLY oversimplified argument towards decriminalization. There are a lot of valid arguments against this thinking.

All I'm saying is this: we've seen that PROHIBITION doesn't work — isn't it time to take a long hard look at the WAR ON DRUGS, and take marijuana off the list?