#OccupyVancouver

because it is so important i suggest we leave it for later when we have more than a few people pitch in to this discussion.

secondly, decriminalizing would take care of that problem but for some reason people who keep pushing the drug demands say that that would be even worse than leaving things as is (?!)

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take it easy. but take it.

It is. Having said that. I will personally block drug demands from ending up on the 'list of demands'. Why? It's to divisive an issue... as this thread clearly shows. I do not want to alienate a large chunk of the 99% because legalization advocates keep saying "They just don't understand what's good for them".... Funny, that's exactly what Harper's saying to people who question his agenda too.
If we get accountable govt. the drug laws will fall into line with the will of the people, and most people want it legalized. I for one, support legalization. But, I'm not going to throw that in the face of John & Mary blunt. It will have them calling for the cops and tear gas in a heartbeat.

Mathew

thank you mathew, i agree.

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take it easy. but take it.

This is what having a vague and unfocused movement gets you. People with all kinds of other agendas getting into the process. In the US, in New York, thugs, drug addicts and the like are attacking the trust fund kids who are there with their phones, ipods, ipads, etc. In Oakland the movement has been hijacked by Black Panther thugs who threaten those who don't agree with them. This movement is easy to hijack because the goals are too vague, and there is absolutely no sensible program to achieve any goals that are identified.

If, in the utopia you seek, all drugs are made legal, what do you suppose the thugs and gangsters who are selling them will do with themselves? Get jobs at the 7-11? I doubt it.

druggedfish: people who want to end stigma of mental illness are called mental health advocates.

Oscar: If marijauna were legalized, the drug dealers would be legal retail vendors with real jobs, and tax payers, wouldn't they? If it were regulated like alcohol, sold in the liquor stores or weed stores, that might end the thuggish competition of dealers, might put the thugs out of business. Although still, I have to say...it all stems from economy. If gov't doesn't feel that doing that will be lucrative enough to the economy, they object. Perhaps they think that contracting companies to build more jails and run those jails is more profitable. I don't know...but I suspect it`s all about economic interests.

That said, drug legalization is not my priority issue...it's a sub-issue flowing from larger issues of corporate- government interests, and not being a pot smoker, I don`t feel a huge attachement to the marijauna issue specifically...but that doesn`t mean others can`t.

That would not happen. What would happen is that the illegal drug trade would still exist, made all the cheaper because all the business is "off the books". Legal drug pushers have to recover the tax you covet, illegals don't. Too many people see tax as some kind of free money, created out of thin air. Taxes are a cost of doing business, as are all the regulatory costs you see as quite affordable. Absent subsidies from the taxpayer, the "legal" system will have to compete with a low cost, illegal alternative.

Even you say "might" end the traffic. Might?

It is not about economic interests as you suspect. Some people actually believe the drugs are a bad idea and given the 40 year long social train wreck they have caused, perhaps they have something there. Even in Holland, people are getting a little sick of the "benefits" of the hands off approach. Having been a teenager in the 60's, I always thought we would rue the day people got into all of the drugs that were so harmless-and where we are now is after 40 years of personal disasters, which some people delude themselves into believing would not happen if was all made legal. And, anything that is still illegal will still be a problem.

Also, does it not occur to some people, who worry about "economic interests" that many of the legalize pot crowd have their own economic interests they are promoting?

it does.

having said that, i sincerely hope this issue is set aside for now. no harm done until the full list of demands/solutions is agreed on.

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take it easy. but take it.

I can set the drug issue aside. It's not something I see as a pressing one, or one that is in solidarity with the overall movement and I don't think the majority of the 99% will see the marijauna issue as the most pressing one either. It will lose people's interest and create animosity and distraction, and fracture the solidarity of the whole occupy movement. There are both conservative and liberal (talking perspectives not political parties) thinkers in the 99%, many cultural views about mind altering substances, addictions, etc. represented. We need to concentrate on the underlying thread of concern running through the entire movement. Perhaps there will be more room for and openness to the marijauna debate once some of the bigger issues are addressed (that's my opinion). I was just trying to be fair to both sides and not villify the pro-marijauna people for holding pro-marijauna views.

thank you for that suzie. i admit to being harsh on david but quite frankly he freaked me out with his utter insensitivity to several people's comments that drugs demands need to be reassessed, not to mention his barrage of copy/pasted content which completely killed all dialog. also, i am not completely decided against legalization, just that i have very strong reservations about the idea at this time and i feel it's only depleting our efforts on the main front (which is the political front/demands imo - everything else stems from there).

i hope he is not going to abandon the movement, regardless of whether drug demands stay or go (for now). if he does abandon the movement over this, so be it. i take full responsibility for everything i said here.

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take it easy. but take it.

I don't want them villified. I think they're right. I also think, like you, the whole drug issue may well alienate many of the 99% if we push it on them. As my previous post said... Get representative government. And the whole recreational substance issue, along with medicinal plants and peoples right to do what thy want with their own bodies will all fall into line.

Cheers,
M