Alcohol again
Donald T Scott dts02@juno.com
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 21:21:02 -0800 (00919336862, 19990217.212102.10934.0.dts02@juno.com)
>>
>> DTS
>> That's very true, and I also think legalization should be considered
>on a
>> drug by drug basis. In my own ideal scenario, most would be legal.
>
>Achilles
>Which would not be, and why?
>
DTS
I cannot give an example of one at the moment, but I know that if I said
"all would be legal," someone would be waiting eagerly to produce a
particularly abominable drug as an exception. <g>
>>
>> Constitutionally, I draw a distinction between criminalizing drug
>sales
>> and drug possession. I am uneasy with the vast majority of
>"possession
>
>Achilles
>I see no such constitutional distinction myself. Perhaps you can point
>to the
>Article or Amendment which makes such a distinction?
>
DTS
In my interpretation, personal possession, especially in the home, falls
within the accepted zone of privacy implicitly cast by the Fourth and
Ninth Amendments. The right to privacy has been fairly well established
in case law, but obviously has yet to be applied to drug possession.
Implied fundamental rights are areas where Constitutional scholars
disagree widely. Commerce, however, is not protected by implied privacy
rights in the same way.
><snip>
>> Drug laws and gun laws also provide a lot of interesting parallels.
>I'm
>> sure this list is represented by members of almost every gun-control
>> persuasion from the NRA to Handgun Control Inc.
>
>Achilles
>
>You are saying everyone here is anti-gun? Or perhaps you are merely
>unaware of
>the way the NRA has changed in the past ten years. I'd as soon give a
>dollar to
>HCI as the NRA, they both are working for the same thing now. If
>anyone thinks
>that supporting the NRA is supporting the 2nd amendment, they need to
>catch up.
>
>http://www.goa-texas.org/sbnra.htm
>http://www.goa-texas.org/Howard.htm
>http://www.goa-texas.org/Badgrade.htm
>
DTS
I think most readers understood what I implied when I wrote, "every
persuasion from the NRA to Handgun Control." It's funny you should give
me some GOA links, which were interesting. I almost _said_ "from Gun
Owners of America to Handgun Control," except that the national GOA
President Larry Pratt is a Christian Reconstructionist, and I didn't want
to give him even that little scrap of dignity for precisely that reason.
<g>
>> Personally, I like my
>> Second Amendment along with all of the other ones. One can argue
>against
>> both drug legalization and gun ownership by citing their
>irresponsible or
>> criminal uses; one can argue for both drug legalization and gun
>rights by
>> appealing to personal responsibility and individual rights.
>Strangely,
>> many of the gun lobby's most rabid advocates for unrestricted
>firearms
>> possession are some of the most vociferous opponents of drug
>legalization.
>> They just don't see the parallels.
>>
>
>Achilles
>
>Agreed. This is veering completely off topic, perhaps if others are
>interested
>it could be continued in a different forum, off the list?
>
>
DTS
You're right, it's off topic, and since I get quickly bored with many off
topic threads myself, I won't be a hypocrite and press this one. <g>
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