Rock star Sting Calls for Cannabis Legalization

[Payaso]

Former bandleader of the Police, Sting, has called for the legalization of cannabis. About time for this long-time toker to show some support for the cause!

Whether it's music, activism or daily life, the one ideal to which I have always aspired is constant challenge -- taking risks, stepping out of my comfort zone, exploring new ideas.
I am writing because I believe the United States must do precisely that -- and so, therefore, must all of us -- in the case of what has been the most unsuccessful, unjust yet untouchable issue in politics: the War on Drugs.

The War on Drugs has failed -- but it's worse than that. It is actively harming our society. Violent crime is thriving in the shadows to which the drug trade has been consigned. People who genuinely need help can't get it. Neither can people who need medical marijuana to treat terrible diseases. We are spending billions, filling up our prisons with non-violent offenders and sacrificing our liberties.

For too long, the War on Drugs has been a sacrosanct undertaking that was virtually immune from criticism in the public realm. Politicians dared not disagree for fear of being stigmatized as "soft on crime." Any activist who spoke up was dismissed as a fringe element.

But recently, I discovered just how much that's changing--and that's how I came to speak out on behalf of an extraordinary organization called the Drug Policy Alliance.

I learned of DPA, as they're known, while reading what once might have been the unlikeliest of places for a thoughtful discussion of the Drug War -- the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal.

It featured an op-ed that dared to say in print -- in a thoughtful, meticulous argument -- what everyone who has seriously looked at the issue has known for years: the War on Drugs is an absolute failure whose cost to society is increasingly unbearable and absolutely unjustifiable.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sting/lets-end-the-war-on-drugs_b_519505.html

 

[Lazyman]

Oh yeah, he's admitted to drug use in the past, saying something along the lines of "I'm a famous wealthy rock star, and I can do whatever the hell I feel like." You know Sting smokes da Cheeba!

 

[cork144]

yea they give him shit for playing in a country where everybodys beaten down,


give the guy greif for bringing some happiness to a saddened place,



the way the world thinks now is just becoming fucking rediculous, sorry about the swearing but it just realy is,

 

[vta]

More from Sting here https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=167226

 

[Chamba]

yeah, everyone and now Sting believes the War on Pot is wrong and wasteful...but those in favor of legalization need to address and solve the main problems preventing it...which is what to do with the hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly, partly and fully employed by or financed by the Government in this War on Cannabis, the millions of dollars in profit reduction for the Pharmaceutical companies (and the resulting subsequent loss of lobbying dollars for politicians and media advertising budgets) etc...unless these and other problems that pro-legalization side never mentions are discussed, addressed and agreeable solutions reached then legalization could forever be a pipe dream (or at least not we want it to be).

 

[herbal202]

you always knew he was a stoner.. with stoner music .

 

[Cool Moe]

Sting hits the nail on the head. How can anyone refute such a common-sense position? Ethan Nadelman is someone all of us should look up to with much honor and admiration.

 

[djslife]

I'm all for legalization, it needs to happen, and obviously the war on drugs has failed, but does it bother anyone else that a rock star has such a huge voice in this fight? I think it's great, he's speaking in favor of cannabis now, but where was Sting a few years back? Where was his voice then?

He's a rock star, who gives a shit what he thinks? We need people who have done something other than rock out, we need people who have made a difference in our communities and has helped the people around us. I understand that his music touches so many people and that he's great, but he is still only a musician.

Sorry for all the people who like Sting, not bashing him or his career, I just think that US citizens need to pull their heads out of their asses and start to learn the truth because they want to, not because their favorite singer thinks that cannabis should be legalized.

-djslife

 

[stevefrench]

never was a fan of his music but he sure gets some good karma from me for standing up against something he thinks is wrong


it is kind of sad... rockstars shouldnt necessarily be the ones to debate policy reform, of course they are not the most qualified people... but heck if thats what it takes to get cannabis "legalized" then get up, and stand up for your rights if you're a celebrity

 

[Dakuta]

Sting Walking on the Moon.

 

[grapeman]

Too bad he is a moronic idiot. This movement needs a reputable spokesperson, not a idiot.

Embracing an idiot spokesperson is not helpful to any movement.

Carl Sagan types have way more Gravitas.

 

[yesum]

Good for him. I have found he and Bono to be kind of self important airheads, but if he comes out for this, he can't be all bad eh?

 

[Totah Sam]

Too bad he is a moronic idiot. This movement needs a reputable spokesperson, not a idiot.

Embracing an idiot spokesperson is not helpful to any movement.

Carl Sagan types have way more Gravitas.

umm... he was a school teacher before he got in to the music biz. He's hardly an idiot.

 

[Tatz]

Totah-lly right ! "umm... he was a school teacher before he got in to the music biz. He's hardly an idiot."

And, furthermore, the more people "get out of the closet" and say they want the war on drugs to change into a war against hard drugs and the impact they have on society.

Seedbomb the World !!!!http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=112582

 

[grapeman]

umm... he was a school teacher before he got in to the music biz. He's hardly an idiot.

School teachers. Oh yes, where the most average, lazy and left leaning of society spend their years before death.

You wouldn't say that if you ever heard his esoteric babble.

Or maybe you would.

LOL