Decrimwatch was on the radio today... ... and now that it's over, I'm thinking of all the good stuff I should have said. Actually, it went pretty well. Host Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia was polite, and he clearly saw the logic in the Mayor's marijuana decrim plan. One caller was supportive, one caller said the plan was crazy and that it was a step toward broader legalization. I kind of made a mistake there and started talking about broader drug reform, instead of sticking with the main issue. (Note to self on next radio appearance: talking points, talking points, talking points!).
The last call was from narcotics officer who said that all the hard drug users he met always started with marijuana, so the plan was crazy. I said those people probably started with tobacco and alcohol before marijuana, so why isn't he concerned about those, which he said was a wimpy answer. I should have also said that are current system mixes the black markets for hard drugs with softer drugs like marijuana, which potentially exposes marijuana users to those harder drugs. Host Smerconish did get the narcotics officer did acknowledge that too much police time was spent on marijuana.
All in all, an interesting experience.
7:58:32 AM | permalink |
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