Lately I have been writing about my personal experiences as a police officer, but I decided to write about drugs.  I have a lot of experience with drugs, but not as a user or dealer, but as some of you know as a cop.

Disclaimer: The opinions given are my opinions and beliefs.  If you do not agree that is fine, that is why we write about certain topics in order to debate and give different points of view.

I am not going to get into statistics, numbers and percentages.  I will offer up some proven facts, and if anyone wants too, they can do the research themselves.

MARIJUANA: Yes, wacky weed, pot, ganja, cheeba, skunk.  These are just a few nicknames for it.  Let’s legalize it, yes?  Hell no!!!  I hear all the arguments all the time; Say it in a whiny tone now, “Alcohol is legal, so why not legalize marijuana?” “It’s no different than nicotine.”  “Nicotine is more addictive than marijuana.”  Who cares??  I don’t care what people say it is an illegal substance and it should stay that way.  It can be and is addictive for some people, and like any other drug, it can cause hardships in a person’s life.  It has been know to cause people to be unmotivated, lazy and slovenly.  It affects the brain, the lungs and impairs judgment.  I have dealt with plenty of people throughout the years that say they cannot function or make it through the day unless they smoke some pot.  I’ve seen plenty of wasted lives and idiots whose only goal is to score some pot and hang out and smoke it.  The stereo type of potheads living in their parents basement, smoking pot, eating whatever is in the frig, and then going out to get more pot is reality.  Its complete stupidity.  Enough about pot.

Now, some people say only pot should be legalized and all the hard drugs should not.  Some people go so far as to say all drugs, no matter what they are should be legalized.  I hear all kinds of arguments giving reasons as to why they should be legalized.  “It’s my body I can do what I want with it.”  “If I do it the privacy of my own home, I’m not hurting anyone else.”  “The US spends millions of dollars on a senseless drug war.”  “Crime would be reduced if we legalized drugs.”  “We should punish the drug dealers, not the drug users and addicts.”  It’s all horse crap.  Yes, prohibition was a failure, I know, but we still have bootleggers, moonshiners, alcoholics and other alcohol related crimes (I realize alcoholism is not a crime).  Did the legalization of alcohol change any of that?  Does anyone honestly think that drugs only hurt the person taking them?  What about the drug addicts who piss their lives away because they are so consumed with it, that every dime they make goes into supporting their habit?  What about all the families that are destroyed because a family member is addicted to heroin or cocaine?  Ok, so if drugs are made legal to possess, you cannot get arrested for having it, but what about all the other crimes addicts commit to get more money to buy the drugs?  I have caught many burglars, shoplifters, car thieves and scam artists who commit these crimes in order to support their drug habits.  Many of these criminals I have arrested usually have paraphernalia or some form of drug on them.  Legalization isn’t going to change that.  You still have the addicts, you still have the crimes they commit, and you still have the problem.

The drug war.  Oh yes this senseless and expensive drug war.  Well, I’m right in the middle of it and I am not complaining.  I have heard the excuse that my job would be less dangerous if I didn’t have to enforce drug laws and arrest dealers.  Really?  I don’t think so.  You think if drugs were legal, all of a sudden the dealers and their drug wars would go away?  I doubt it.  All the dealers from Mexico, South America and Asia would still be competing with each other.  And who would the “now legal dealers” here in America buy their drugs from?  Would we be able to cultivate our own drugs?  Would it be government controlled?  Listen.  The drug wars would not just vanish.  There is too much money to be made, and there would be undercutting in prices, there would still be dealers at war with each other, there would be dealers still sneaking it across the border because they don’t want to pay import taxes on it and my job would not be less dangerous because of it being legal.  Street gangs would not suddenly stop selling it.  No way would that happen.  That is a major source of income for many gangs.  Outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Hell’s Angels or the Vagos wouldn’t stop manufacturing and selling it either.  I realize it is difficult to enforce the drug laws, but why legalize something just because it is difficult to enforce?  That is just like parents who give up on disciplining their children, because they are unruly and do not listen.  That would be a cold day in hell before something like that would happen in my house.

This suddenly became long winded.  Personally, I don’t care if people want to destroy themselves on hardcore drugs or if some people just exist merely to smoke pot.  Go ahead, do what you want.  Just don’t be stupid and smoke pot in your car or in a park or at a loud party when I’m on patrol, then bitch and moan because I arrest you for possession.

I think my next blog will be on search and seizure.  Thanks for reading.