Pat Robertson: Pot should be legal like alcohol
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs has failed.
The outspoken evangelical Christian and host of “The 700 Club” on the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network he founded said the war on drugs is costing taxpayers billions of dollars. He said people should not be sent to prison for marijuana possession.
The 81-year-old first became a self-proclaimed “hero of the hippie culture” in 2010 when he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions.
“I just think it’s shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hardcore criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of a controlled substance,” Robertson said on his show March 1. “The whole thing is crazy. We’ve said, ‘Well, we’re conservatives, we’re tough on crime.’ That’s baloney.”
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Pat Robertson: Pot should be legal like alcohol
You have to admit, so far, overall, the war on drugs hasn’t stopped the flow of drugs into America, and it hasn’t stopped the use of illegal drugs by Americans.
So, Pat Robertson thinks it would be OK to legalize marijuana? He believes that people shouldn’t be locked up for a small amount of marijuana?
Maybe so.
Many say that marijuana is not physically addictive, many believe marijuana has the possibility of being addictive psychologically, I am not a doctor or medical researcher, I simply can’t address that with any authority.
Some people can take a drink, one drink, and walk away, some people can’t stop with 100 drinks. Those people have a problem with addiction.
An old saying among alcoholics: “One is too many and 100 isn’t enough.”
Personally, I have NO issue with someone taking a drink, or a few drinks in the right setting, and, by the same standard, if YOU want to smoke a joint, well by gosh, light it up, but know this; it IS illegal, it is quite likely dangerous to your health, it is, after all, SMOKE, and smoke is NOT a substance that the body handles well.
The same can be said for alcohol, it is NOT a naturally occurring substance in our bodies.
Alcohol may or may not be bad for your health, again, I am NOT a doctor and it’s not my place to say what is and isn’t good for you, but booze, used in moderation is an accepted thing in our society, but booze, used in an uncontrolled manner CAN and WILL kill you.
A girl I went to school with literally drank herself to death, psoriasis of the liver, a beautiful girl, a great personality, but she started drinking at a fairly early age and the pattern was set. I saw her several times over the years and she was NEVER sober. A few years ago she died.
So, let’s apply Robertson’s thought process to the War on Drugs, REAL drugs.
A few drinks won’t hurt you, so, it must be about the same for a few joints, what can it hurt. Right?
Using that line of thinking wouldn’t it stand to reason that a line or 2 of cocaine or meth would be OK as long as it’s just an occasional thing and done in a controlled situation?
That is the rationale the dopers and hard core Big *L* Libertarians like Ron Paul would apply.
How about smoking a few rocks of crack? Or maybe a hit or 2 of LSD on the weekend? You know? Not abused, just done to *unwind* after a long hard week. And what the hell, it was a REALLY bad day at work, just do a little to let off some steam and mellow out.
Marijuana may not be any more harmful than alcohol, that’s Robertson’s opinion, and an opinion shared by many others, but the legalization of marijuana opens the door to a multitude of other challenges and dangers.
We have officers putting their lives in mortal danger as they wage this war on drugs, the men and women of the DEA, Border Patrol, ICE, State Police, Sheriffs Departments and local Officers, they are out there every day and night, some working as Agents and Detectives, some working as Undercover Officers (UCs), ALL placing their lives on the line in an effort to stem the flow of drugs into this nation and to reduce the usage of these drugs by Americans.
These officers, on ALL levels, risk their lives and place the lives and safety of their families in jeopardy as well; drug dealers, cartels and the like, don’t care WHO they have to *hit* in order to keep the drugs flowing. To the cartels it’s nothing more than *business as usual*.
The War on Drugs may not be a battle we can win, but the alternative to NOT waging this war is a scenario I shudder to think of.
I may be a rabid conservative, but as a former pastor studing of God’s word, and then reading the true research (verses propaganda) on the effects of “weed” etc., I came to the same conclusion and agree with Pat Robertson. I am thankful that he said this. While others see him as an old man and call him a kook, I see a man who has noted that we as a society have trampled on free will, fee choices and criminalized something that did not need to be criminalized. Often when we get older, we begin to realize that both in the Church and outside of the Church, people lapsed into a state of rule making, They continue to pass more and more Laws and Rules - thus binding everyone (often out of fear) even when the laws and rules are not right, appropriate or needed.
I do believe there is a very big difference between a natural grown plant and manufactured (or mis-manufactured) drugs like “…rocks of crack? Or maybe a hit or 2 of LSD “. God created all plants and gave them to man - the question is often for what purpose?
However, chemically restructuring substances is not acceptable. This can be said for many of the drugs manufactured by the legal “drug industry.” But, I will leave that topic for another day.
It is a fact that young passive peaceful weed growing / smoking young men have been sent to jail only to suffer rape, brutality and prison indoctrination/education by the inmate population and have come out several damaged and no longer peaceful. They then have records and cannot work or hold “meaningful” jobs. All because they smoked weed (a plant) verses the government approved substitute - tobacco (a plant).
I have never used the above drugs although I have lived in a generation when many if not most did use weed or worse and there are many Vietnam comrades that did so. Also, many of our nations leaders including some U.S. Presidents and military officers smoked weed or even worse.. The only difference: they were not arrested and sent to prison and thus they did not carry the astigmatism or the damage done by the legal and penal systems.
Finally, I wonder if we stopped the right to confiscate property by law enforcement and the subsequent use of said confiscated property by law enforcement agencies, if law enforcement would still be so intent on tracking down and arresting individuals growing or smoking a weed / plant. There a lot worse crimes and to name just one - illegally invading our country and taking our jobs and consuming tax supported benefits - that are far worse than growing and using marijuana.
So…. The old “Man made whiskey, God made pot, who are YOU gonna trust?” argument huh?
God made psilocybin mushrooms too… And peyote…
Oops… Just shot the *But GOD made it* argument down in flames…
Robertson is just an old, senile fuddy duddy.
Years back when I saw him on TV when turning the channels, his smile and the way he talked made me change channels immediately.
I was not a follower.
Fully agreed…
Robertson should come to Fornicalia and do his ganja and bong hits here.
Our government doesn’t really care; here, it’s predominantly be de-criminalized.
Robertson doesn’t factor.
Don’t much know if he ever did.
BZ
Argument ENDER: California has legal medicinal weed. Look at us now
Fact is, I don’t really care and MOST LEO’s don’t either if you smoke a bowl in your home and enjoy a Rin and Stimpy cartoon while laughing like beavis and butthead. Nobody gives a damn. We also don’t give a shit if you take it in the rear in privacy of your own home. What I do care about is when you force ME to deal with YOUR decisions. IF you infest the thinking of my kids its a problem. If you tell me I have to be okay with something because it’s PC its a problem If you get in your car and drive after a couple of bong hits it’s a problem… Making it LEGAL isn’t going to make things better for the world so why the fk do it?
Pat Robertson and Ron Paul lose me on this issue. Drugs are NOT a good thing unless prescribed by a doctor and even then there is abuse. Marijuana is a gateway drug and that’s a fact. You won’t find ANY crack heads/coke heads/LSD users/Meth freaks or any of the other idiots who didn’t start with a bong or joint. FACT.
Mr Ozark pastor: God made EVERYTHING, but, He also commands us to remain “sober minded” and to “take every thought captive…” rather hard to do when using weed…
To Pat and his ilk: At a time when our government has practically outlawed the smoking of tobacco, because of health and “second-hand smoke,” etc.(a legal product, which by the way I do NOT use), the VERY SAME people are all for legalization of marihuana (yes, I spell it the anglo-cized way as opposed to the spanish…) think it’s “OK” to use marihuana. A tobacco cigarette produces roughly 70 known carcinogens, whereas a burning marihuana cigarette produces over 500!
“It’s (marihuana) not any worse (more dangerous) than alcohol…” And HOW MUCH DOES ALCOHOL COST OUR SOCIETY (financially) anually? (It’s in the “B” Billions!) Not to mention the lives ruined/killed…
“If we legalize it it’ll put the cartels out of business…” Yeah, Anhueser (however you spell it) Busch and Miller are struggling to make ends meet peddling their legal substances…
I could go on all night, but I don’t want to spend the time or energy on such a foolish notion…
Stay safe
Oh, one more thing, if America is waging a “war on drugs” where are the POW camps??? And don’t say prison. Prisoners are cared for and coddled (fed, housed, educated, medical/dental provided, etc. POW’s fight to survive in inhumane conditions-let’s get some POW camps up and runnng and then talk about a war on drugs…
“Millions are in prison for mere possession of marihuana…” Wake the eff up people!!! That is a load of CRAP!!! In Texas, it is not even a “real” felony until one possesses over five (5) pounds!!! And NOWHERE in Texas will one get anything more than probabtion for POM 5 lbs-50 lbs. MANY DA’s will not even prosecute a case for less than 50 lbs of Marihuana….It IS LEGAL!!!! Wake up!!!
Now that my blood pressure is sufficiently raised-I need a (legal) drink!
I’m done for the night!
Take care and stay safe out there all of y’all standing on the Thin Blue Line!!!
We can legalize pot when we know how much THC is over the legal limit and a test to determine the level. Until then, we keep it illegal.
Pat Robertson is, and has been off base for many years… That said? Just what would a stalwart conservative such as the late William F. Buckley Jr. had to say about the drug war? Oh yeah, he was against it. I am also against it, however for different reasons. Mostly having to do with making thugs into millionaires. But also because of my experiences while a Paramedic. Number of dead that I saw as a direct result of drug use? Exactly three, two overdoses, and one traffic fatality due to a doped up driver. Number of dead due to the drug war? I quit counting at fifty, and that included toddlers killed in drug gang shootouts over turf, and one of our Sheriff Departments Sergeants.
In any case using drugs is one of the stupidest things a person can do, and yes, I do consider abusing ETOH in the very same category.