NEW YORK TIMES: The Democrats who control the State Assembly, many of them black or Latino residents of New York City, saw a proposal to decriminalize the open possession of small amounts of marijuana as a simple matter of justice: too many black and Latino men were being arrested because, after being stopped by the police, they were forced to empty their pockets.
But the Republicans who run the State Senate, all of them white and most of them from suburban or rural districts, saw decriminalization differently: as an invitation for young people to use drugs and as a declaration that Albany was soft on crime.
“Marijuana still is a gateway drug to so many other much more dangerous things,” said Senator John J. Flanagan, a Long Island Republican… (more)
EDITOR: Flanagan is the voice of faulty logic. Marijuana is no more a gateway drug that say milk. Perhaps only 30% of the people who have drunk milk go on to smoke marijuana, but Flanagan could argue that 99% of people who smoke marijuana have drunk milk. Hence, milk is a “gateway drug.”
In actuality, marijuana may reduce the consumption of far more dangerous drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. Would we prefer college students to binge drink, as is the current practice, or smoke a couple of joints? Would we prefer drunk drivers to stoned drivers (who likely are driving too slow)?
