Prison Inmates

[Iron Sulfide]

legalizing pot is ahard thing to do, because as turd pointed out, it
fuels prison head counts.

not just that, but overall, prisons aside, pot is far more profitable to
gov't as a whole to legalize it. (even with tax revenue that would be generated
by legalizing and taxing it.)

back to the prisons:

last i read the stats (about 1998, and the numbers have likely grown since then,)
the prison system holds about 5% of our economy. something like
15 percent of our population  (USA) was in prison systems, and some
20-25% of the world's total incarcerated population was in the USA.
that's a large portion of the economy at stake there.

prisons ARE more and more and more privatized. that means the companies
that run them aren't concerned about rehabing 'criminals' to subvert their
violence, or to redirect their habits, and far more concerned with getting
a high head count and lots of money.

the risk of sounding overly anti-capitalism here:
pharmacutical corporations don't want tomake you better, they need you
to be sick to make money off you.
finance companies don't wnat you to be well-to-do, they need you in
debt to make more money off you.

i posit, also, that private security corporations that run prison systems
don't want you to be good citizens, they need youto be criminals so they
can make money off you.

[unlike_someone]

I know that we have historically sent prisoners away, but didn't we send them with the tools to create a small society for themsekves?

What if they were just sent with the bare essentials, a knife, some water and a little bit of food... Seeing as most people lack basic survival skills (how many people out there can say they know how to bait and set up a trap, start a fire and build a shelter with just a knife) it would be an interesting experiment... Might thinks its a little cruel... but I'd rather contend with nature than live in a little box...

[Iron Sulfide]

What if they were just sent with the bare essentials, a knife, some water and a little bit of food... Seeing as most people lack basic survival skills (how many people out there can say they know how to bait and set up a trap, start a fire and build a shelter with just a knife)

i can. when i was 14 and started debating with people about my (at the time)
new found glory of anarchism, i got the shit rebutted out of me. well, shit
yeah, i did...i was fucking 14 talking like i knew it all.

someone brought to my attention that if i were to be a 'real' anarchist,
someone striving for liberty and individualism, and independence, the
ability to make what i need, live how i want and not require anyone's help,
should study some stuff like practical sciences, animal husbandry, farming,
basic/practical archecture, wilderness survival, disaster survival, etc etc etc
etc etc....

ertc....

basically, stuff i would need to know in order to be able to live removed from
society, no power grid, no grocery stores, no plumbing, no anything that
i use on a regular basis.

and it hit me that he was totally right. i was a punk ass kid that didn't
realize what he was getting into. shortly after that conversation, i let go
of some hostility and bitter resentment, chilled out a little and actually set
to learning stuff like that.

i'm glad i wasn't a boyscout or anything, but i think everyone should be taught
those survival skills.

also, i'd recommend to anyone who has the balls to do it:
try taking a survival training course or something equally instructional, and
then try REALLY ruffing it in the wilderness for a week.

[Cap'n Fnord]

If pot was legalized it wouldn't make the govenment that much money.  Who's going to pay taxes on plants you can grow in your yard or home if its legal?

Decriminalization would be a better solution, allowing police to ticket people who are stupid enough to break the rules, like smoking in public, growing or selling in public.

If it was legal to grow and smoke it in your home but a ticketable offence anywhere else the gov. would rake in the dough, stoners love getting high in parks and on the street, at least in the Toronto area.

[unlike_someone]

A thought on drugs...

If you want to do heroin and live in an abandoned factory, you are going to find a way...

Why not make everything legal? The whole "war on drugs" really doesn't do more than glorify the entire scene. Really, if you want to destroy your brain cells and gurgle for hours on end, why should someone tell you that you can't? Just make them sign a waver preventing them from seeking medical help relating to their drug use. I don't think that there is anyone in North American that can say they haven't heard drugs are bad..

I know the risks that I take when I drink, toke etc... I wouldn't indulge if I felt it was too dangerous.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

If pot was legalized it wouldn't make the govenment that much money.  Who's going to pay taxes on plants you can grow in your yard or home if its legal?

Well, it is legal to grow your own vegetables, but most people still get most of them from the grocery store.

[East Coast Hustle]

yeah, I mean, nobody grows their own tobacco. every pack of Camels you buy, the retail price is about $2.50, the rest is taxes. now, in Maine, they just upped the per-pack tax by a dollar, so a pack of camels will cost $6 in a couple weeks when that takes effect. that's $3.50 per pack in tax revenue. in a state with 1.2 million people, at least 200,000 of whom are adult smokers, if they smoke an average of 5 packs a week, that's 3.5 million dollars per week in tax revenue.

now imagine they get $5 in tax revenue on a pack of joints, and extrapolate the math to a national scale. the numbers are significant.

[unlike_someone]

I think that generally most people are too lazy to raise their children let alone their own crops. Besides, the junk food/fast food industry would sky rocket... not to mention all the money to be made off of fad diets. Really, by legalizing pot they'd have a cash crop to replace tobacco with... (not that the goverment would actually do that...)

[Zurtok Khan]

I think that generally most people are too lazy to raise their children let alone their own crops. Besides, the junk food/fast food industry would sky rocket... not to mention all the money to be made off of fad diets. Really, by legalizing pot they'd have a cash crop to replace tobacco with... (not that the goverment would actually do that...)

You know, I've never understood why most of the potheads I've met are skinny.  It doesn't make sense.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

I think that generally most people are too lazy to raise their children let alone their own crops. Besides, the junk food/fast food industry would sky rocket... not to mention all the money to be made off of fad diets. Really, by legalizing pot they'd have a cash crop to replace tobacco with... (not that the goverment would actually do that...)

You know, I've never understood why most of the potheads I've met are skinny.  It doesn't make sense.

Cuz they're hippies, yo!

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

I think that generally most people are too lazy to raise their children let alone their own crops. Besides, the junk food/fast food industry would sky rocket... not to mention all the money to be made off of fad diets. Really, by legalizing pot they'd have a cash crop to replace tobacco with... (not that the goverment would actually do that...)

You know, I've never understood why most of the potheads I've met are skinny.  It doesn't make sense.

Because they spent their grocery mmoney on herb

[unlike_someone]

I know a few over-weight potheads... most of them just have nice jobs that provide them with abundant munchies...

Like hot dogs in cream cheese icing... weird guy

[Horab Fibslager]

i'm a skinny head and the reason is because it is impossible for me to get fat at this time. i can eat till the cows come home but i don't get fat. i tired toget fat, and didn;t work. woe is me.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

i'm a skinny head and the reason is because it is impossible for me to get fat at this time. i can eat till the cows come home but i don't get fat. i tired toget fat, and didn;t work. woe is me.

I have a friend like that, she used to wear a size 0, then she turned 30, had 2 kids and quit smoking, not in that order and she put on 15 pounds and wears a size 2.  I love her too much to hate her.  She was going through a bad patch once and I would talk to her like a little kid, just one more bite, just one more bite.  It was frustrating for both of us.