Drug Czar: Pot Smoking Is Not a Rite of Passage

According to the federal government's survey data, half of teenagers try marijuana by the end of high school, most Americans in their early 20s have smoked pot, half of Americans 12 or older have consumed an illegal drug at some point, and about 40 million have done so in the last year. Yet drug czar Gil Kerlikowske claims "using illegal drugs is not part of everyday life in America, nor is it a rite of passage." 

Last week I reviewed the latest survey data on drug use by teenagers.

Comments

[Mark]

Oh yeah It is

[Murder-Drone]

^^This^^

Think of it as victimless hazing.

[Shorter Gil Kerlikowske]

*Puts fingers in ears*

LA, LA, LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,LA, LA,

[Karl Hungus]

Is it just me, or does Gil look a little rheumy-eyed in that picture?

[BakedPenguin]

If Droopy was a narc...

[Matrix]

is it just me, or does he have an extremely punchable face?

[Karl Hungus]

It's not just you.

[rather]

I guess sex in the car isn't either?

[rather]

Survey

Your kick ass Rite of Passage_____________

[AlmightyJB]

I could write a book. Seriously.

[rather]

Mine was breaking into a university computer 🙁

[Brett L]

Dropping acid and going to the Pink Floyd laser light show, then freaking the fuck out because there are too many people around is a rite of passage, isn't it?

[Ska]

Maybe pot smoking isn't a rite of passage; getting arrested for pot possession is.

[rather]

arrests, drugs, liquor, sex, vandalism, and theft are ROP. I think the difference is that if you don't get caught you can forget your participation

[Gojira]

Well it's not a part of *everyday* life in the Gojira household...but I wouldn't put it past being a part of weekly life.

And to think, Ron Paul wants to hold down toddlers and force heroin injections into their little arms. How could he!

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

In the future, please refer to your household as Monster Island. Thanks in advance.

[wylie]

a perfectly reasonable suggestion. ("drink!"?)

[wareagle]

jesus, this is tiresome. These folks see the only options in anything as being prohibition or alcoholism. Here's a clue - let adults make adult decisions about what to put into their bodies, to include substances that grow in the woods.

Someone smoking a joint is not going to become a whacked out wanna-be Grateful Dead roadie any more than someone taking their kid to a shooting range is creating a serial killer. Goddammit, it's frustrating yet so typical of the Police/Nanny State duopoly.

[Jesus]

Jesus, this is tiresome

I know.

[P Brooks]

Everybody knows it's a short(and inevitable) path from smoking that first hit of dope to murdering parents and classmates en masse.

Oh, the humanity!

[The Other Kevin]

Our last 3 Presidents have proven it.

Take this comment any way you wish.

[P B]

+1

[P Brooks]

Hmmmmm, shooting range, you say....

[wareagle]

once you squeeze the trigger the first time........

[H man]

It doesn't have to be a rite of passage. From someone who's never used.

[straw man]

and curiously, no one claims it to be.

[?]

Getting passed a Ziploc of the shittiest weed in the history of plant life by the old bald "cool" guy who works at the record store, then having it burn out your nostril hairs when you light it because it's so dry and finely sifted it's really an explosive dust?that's a rite of passage.

Smoking pot is just a thing fat people do.

[Bones]

Smoking pot may not be a rite of passage in and of itself but flipping the proverbial bird to the government IS and smoking pot and underage drinking are fun ways to do exactly that.

[Apatheist]

Yep both underage drinking and having your first joint are a rite of passage in the sense of "hey, what else are they lying to me about?"

[AlmightyJB]

God. Everything.

[Slapdick McGee]

And away we go with the atheism thing.

[AlmightyJB]

I wasn't talking to you.

[Slapdick McGee]

Oh, I didn't know this was a private chat room. I'll just go find the "register now" link so I can join in.

Whoops!

[AlmightyJB]

All comments are assumed to be addressed to "everyone except Slapdick McGee". I just thought you already knew that.

[Slapdick McGee]

This is a problem that mainstream people will always have with Libertarians. You guys always ask for a seat at the big table, but when people counter your arguments with sensible reactions, you stomp off like children.

[AlmightyJB]

Either that or our sarcastistic ways makes everyone with no sense of humor get their panties in a bunch.

[Terr]

This.

[Slapdick McGee]

Sad how all Libertarians can equate to freedom is drug usage. The fact that millions of American children become addicted to drugs on an annual basis means nothing to you, does it?

Sorry, but a sensible drug policy is essential to the survival of a strong America.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Children, you say?

[Slapdick McGee]

I didn't stutter. Children, you know, people under the age of 18 that lack the real-world experience to make sound decisions.

Or do you want them out drinking, smoking and all kind of other stupid things they lack the mental ability to do with moderation?

[Apatheist]

I drank and smoked before I was 18, turned out just fine. By the way as the damn post said, over 50% of people are trying marijuana in their youth already even with prohibition. It is easier to get pot in highschool than beer or cigarettes.

[straw man]

millions? Really? Do millions of kiddies become alcoholics annually, too, or do they avoid that since the magic hand of govt controls the liquor trade in most states?

[wareagle]

Or do you want them out drinking, smoking and all kind of other stupid things they lack the mental ability to do with moderation?
-----------------------------------
one more law then. That fixes everything.

[LarryA]

Children, you know, people under the age of 18 that lack the real-world experience to make sound decisions.

The beating heart of the prohibitionist philosophy: People don't have enough real-world experience, so we need more and more laws to keep the real world from giving them any experience.

Peons don't need to make good decisions, governments can do it for them.

[R C Dean]

I'm thinking Juanita has a new alter ego.

[Juanita]

I do not like these drugs, but I like Slapdick McGee even less.

[rather]

like you helle, he's a regular

[o3]

millions become addicted to what exactly?...cause it aint pot & pot's the subject. now if u wanna talk spice milange or something...

[Slapdick McGee]

You start the legalization with pot and then what? People will never be satisfied. Next it'll be ecstasy. Then cocaine or smack. Pretty soon, you've got people doing crystal meth in school bathrooms. That's really conducive to a stronger, better America.

Sorry, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. And it may as well be with pot. Not that I'm at all satisfied with the too-strict punishments meted out for smoking pot. I think financial punishment is sufficient (I'm talking about fining them).

[Brandon]

This is a joke, right?

[Snorted Eight Ball]

Signs point to Yes.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

It's a joke. If it wanted to be taken seriously it wouldn't choose "Slapdick" as a handle.

[Apatheist]

People are already doing meth in school bathrooms.

[Slapdick McGee]

People already murder other people and rob banks. Doesn't mean those activities should be legalized.

[A Serious Man]

There would be significantly less robbery and murder in certain urban areas if the government didn't enable organized crime by prohibiting drugs. You're putting the cart before the horse.

[No one in particular]

Disingenuous, trolling puppet enjoys setting up logical fallacies then using same logical fallacies for his own arguments. That's just one more reason to consider you a joke.

[wareagle]

yet, making those activities illegal has done little to curb them. Perhaps if govt let adults be adults, stop trying to prevent private citizens from protecting themselves against crime, and punished the shit out of real genuine bona fide VIOLENT crime instead of wasting space on some strung out crackhead, things might be a little better.

[Matrix]

Smoking weed (something that does not infringe on the rights of anyone else) =/= murder (infringing on the rights of someone else)

Go **** yourself, nanny statist twit!

[Brandon]

Do you honestly think America will be weaker with all those billions of extra dollars floating around to be spent on any number of useful, productive things instead of the war on drugs?

[Slapdick McGee]

I do tend to agree with you on the active nature of the War On Drugs. It should be fought against the dealers and distributors instead of on the users. The penalties for users should be financial and administrative as opposed to criminal.

[Chatroom Crank]

I know, next thing teachers will be handing out speed to help with problem students.

[Apatheist]

You're right about the last line but not in the way you think it.

[BakedPenguin]

Wow. Those millions became addicted in spite of the laws you advocate? But that's unpossible. Laws are magic - like how Obamacare is going to make everyone healthy.

[Slapdick McGee]

I can only imagine how much worse it will become with every 7-11 selling drugs.

[BakedPenguin]

Just like the end of Prohibition, Spoofdick.

[wareagle]

exactly. Folks like SM pretend that it's either prohibition or alcoholism.

[CoyoteBlue]

I know. Millions of americans would line up for the opium and PCP addiction if it wasn't illegal. Those laws are all that keep me from indulging in my ambition to be meth-head or possibly a crack whore.

Oh well, back to my humdrum middle class life of self control and responsibility.

[wylie]

"I want a new drug, one that won't make me sick...."

People don't become heroin addicts for the most part because they'd like to actually be able to accomplish things sometimes.

Now, as soon as the tech comes along that allows people to feel happy, energetic, and whatever else they want to feel/see/think, with the ability to activate/deactivate those neurological changes on demand.....you bet your ass everyone is gonna be lining up for that. And why shouldn't they?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

As soon as all drugs are legalized, my wife (an accountant), and I (financial analyst) are going liquidate all of our assets and buy heroin. 20+ years of productive living will get shot into our veins. Then it'll be 20 years on a filthy mattress in an alley, eventually ending in overdose. We'd like to start the plan sooner, but heroin is illegal. That's why we're voting for Ron Paul.

[LarryA]

I can only imagine = "I have zero data, but..."

[Stupid is]

Millions of children a year? Like, two million? Three? Four?

So in only the past 30 years of drug prohibition, at least 60 million individuals have become addicted to drugs as legal minors, not counting the number (presumably larger) who became addicted as adults? So around half of the country is or has been addicted to illegal drugs?

You don't perchance work for the DEA, do you?

[wylie]

So around half of the country is or has been addicted to illegal drugs?

Using Congress as a sample group....

[Eduard van Haalen]

A rite of passage is for an ambitious young person to smoke till it comes out of his (her) ears, then to get elected to public office on a platform of imprisoning people for doing what (s)he got away with. The drug-warriors think it's OK for such people to hold office, because the ex-smokers are the best prohibitionists.

"I came *this close* to becoming a heroin addict through that evil weed, but fortunately all it did was destroy enough brain cells that I could be elected President."

[Abdul]

I remember more wholesome rites of passage, like helping a runaway slave by riding down a river on a raft and living off the land. Good times.

[A Serious Man]

This comes to mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npWDyxB7d8

[juris imprudent]

That's really conducive to a stronger, better America.

America, America, uber alles...

Other than that, not bad trolling.

[jasno]

The thing that gets me is how prohibitionists will recognize how much money is involved in the drug trade and then try to pretend that drug users are an insignificant percentage of society.

Look, if no one used drugs, there wouldn't be any money in it. Poor people aren't the ones doing all the drugs. Lots and lots of rich white folk are, and that's why it's so lucrative.

Further, as the recent study showed, smart kids are the ones doing the drugs. Smart. Kids. The ones who are able to outsmart parents, society and law enforcement. Good luck trying to prevent them from doing what they want. But, hey, why let 80 years of history get in the way.

[wylie]

Lots and lots of rich white folk

Just HAD to play the race card. I'm sure there's plenty of non-whites who have enough money to support a drug habit these days. But yeah, it's white people buying all the drugs. After all, white people are the only people capable of earning more than $6/hr, right?

[wylie]

smart kids are the ones doing the drugs

Yeah, wow, it's amazing how the people most likely to alter their consciousness actually alter their consciousness. Wait, that's not crazy, it's circular.

[wylie]

But, hey, why let >5000 years of history get in the way.

ftfy.

[John C. Randolph]

Kerlikowske desperately needs to find a better class of cocaine dealer. That shit he's smoking is making him stupid.

-jcr