tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post6111934022481262447..comments2024-03-27T13:25:58.065-04:00Comments on Stayin' Alive: A debate that should long be overCervanteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-27217462422725524602010-10-08T22:51:26.521-04:002010-10-08T22:51:26.521-04:00Here in Ontario, alcohol is regulated exactly like...Here in Ontario, alcohol is regulated exactly like pot should be - you can only purchase it directly from the government (unless you're at a bar or restaurant) and the rules are very tightly enforced. In high school, getting booze for a party was a complicated ordeal, but getting weed at lunch was as easy as walking out to the smoker's pit! What a world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-49614352734495416822010-10-08T17:03:05.544-04:002010-10-08T17:03:05.544-04:00those are just astonishing figures. and the DEA b...those are just astonishing figures. and the DEA budget -- if it was $18 billion in 2002, what is it now? -- is probably dwarved by the impact on prisons, prison populations, and costs associated with prosecution. <br /><br />there has long been concern about the mandatory federal minimum sentences for drugs; sentencing disparities (e.g., crack will get you much more time than powder); people of lesser culpability being caught up in stuff (e.g., girlfriends who knew some stuff was there but weren't in the business, or the mules who distribute being in worse trouble than the kingpins); and both federal and state prison bursting with people who are in on drug charges. <br /><br />as you also point out, criminal enterprises also result in violent crimes.kathy a.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14479337952651746193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-18085004730691026102010-10-08T15:40:10.959-04:002010-10-08T15:40:10.959-04:00BTW I sent you an e-mail and it bounced.BTW I sent you an e-mail and it bounced.Cervanteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-78986311970219481782010-10-08T15:37:49.425-04:002010-10-08T15:37:49.425-04:00Glad you know where you are, anyway.Glad you know where you are, anyway.Cervanteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-8659001244362029002010-10-08T15:07:54.491-04:002010-10-08T15:07:54.491-04:00"california here i come, right back where i s..."california here i come, right back where i started from"... oh wait, i'm here already. <br /><br />the public discussion here, as reported by the local press and tv, is amusing, tho in a tragicomedic sense. politics does indeed make strange bedfellows.rogerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554961854201609452noreply@blogger.com