Online comments of the week

3/29/12 7:00pm

In response to "Audio recordings bring lawsuit on RUPD chief" (Mar. 16, 2012):

I get that the officers in Whitehead's old department don't believe his explanation that the audio function of cameras was activated accidentally. But have any of them speculated about what Whitehead's motive might have been for recording the audio deliberately?

Bshane

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In response to "TV host encourages legalization" (Mar. 16, 2012):

Although it is not good to abuse drugs, the war on drugs has been a disaster. There are a lot of POWs and some deaths. We need to use a different approach. I am in the class of 1975 and currently a defense attorney.

Mark

You know what's worse than a prohibitionist? Someone against prohibition but only for pot - what I call "pot elitists." Many, many years ago when I realized that prohibition was ruining my life and not opiates, I got involved in the reform movement. I still love opiates, still do them and I'm still not a pedophile satanist or anything remotely close.

What I realized is that there is something worse than an AA/NA loving prohibitionist: It's a pot elitist.

Rick Steves, screw you. You mention in one breath that the Swiss install blue lights in bathrooms to discourage use but then help us heroin lovers with needle dispensaries. What? Okay, well, why didn't you also mention that Switzerland is also the leader in Europe in terms of heroin maintenance and giving government-funded heroin to heroin users. You could then have talked about how the same holds true for many European countries: Germany and Denmark, to name a few. You could have also included the United Kingdom, where heroin is not illegal and is a prescribable (albeit difficult to do, as a special permit is required) medicine. You can waste all the time you want with your narrow pot-only thinking, but every time it will get shot down.

You should've mentioned above all how the public in Switzerland, the public, not politicians, but the people of the country, are the ones responsible for making heroin available on the government dollar. Yes, indeed, it was a temporary service for a decade that went to a national vote (pot elitists hate this more than prohibitionists) on the same ballot to vote for the full-time, forever legalization of heroin to addicts was the out-and-out full legalization of marijuana. On that ballot heroin won with nearly 70 percent of the vote and pot lost (heroin is now available to addicts officially forever over there whereas before it was on a 10-year trial - pot would've been made completely legal and serviceable like alcohol) and pot lost badly.

You can continue to act like you're special with your stupid pot and get beat continuously. It's all or nothing - to borrow a moronic phrase from that moronic, evil institution called AA.

Mister CJ

Dear Mister C[J] - I think that Rick Steves did a pretty brave thing by standing up and counting himself as a rational thinking person who thnks the United States government people in power need to start decriminalizing things. A large part of the general public in the U.S. is going to have a very hard time thinking it is okay to legalize all drugs. It may be an easier and therefore, better path to start with marijuana.

Hard drugs have caused a lot of damage in this country to families. And I would say, so has alcohol. We have heard how bad all of these substances are for a very long time and it would be too difficult, I believe, for the public to accept all substances as legal. Aside from the hard drugs being illegal, when someone is a substance addict, including alcohol, their addiction affects more than just them. It affects everyone around them. So you would be hard-pressed to find people who have been affected by someone else's addiction that would think it's a good idea to make all substances legal. Decriminalizing marijuana is a good start. Getting people to think differently about all of this is going to take more time. Just my thoughts.

Rebecca

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