"Actually, we put them in jail for breaking the law."

Our laws change on a daily basis, depending simply on who has the power to make them. Isn't a judge's decision in one case used as a weapon in similar cases?

And why are some laws enforced and others aren't? The same cops who (apparently) decided that Illinois police officer Drew Peterson's previous wife's death was accidental don't hesitate to arrest some guy with two joints in his pocket. The same cops who pull over middle-aged guys for speeding often let the pretty young women who were doing the same speed under the same conditions go with a warning. How many times have cops given an abusive husband or boyfriend the benefit of the doubt because he came up with some story and the woman was obviously too scared to argue? Is there still a law in NYC where no guy will be charged with rape unless the woman had a witness?

Do some officers make certain kinds of arrests because they look good on their record?

DUI is against the law, isn't it? So why are some people arrested for it 35 times or more, and still out there doing it again? If they're being arrested, why aren't they being convicted to the point where it will do them some good?

* * *
I overhead a conversation many years ago, where a man was saying, "Ninety percent of the price of drugs is the fact that they're illegal". That's the only part I heard, and I don't know what the context was.

So, what WOULD happen if all of them were legalized?

Is there anything to my theory (based on almost nothing) that:
1) Users want to use them -- no one is standing on their throat with a knife posed over their heart.
2) Users will always be users, legal or not. If you legalize drugs and make them cheaper, will the users be able to afford enough to become fatalities, and thus "reduce the surplus population" (it's that time of year, you know)?
3) If you legalize them, and that does take most of the profit out of them, will the pushers still be pushing? What would be the point?

There is a tremendous amount of "stuff" that I don't know and don't understand. But some "legal" things that go on in this country defy any rationalization, although many people work hard at it.

We have a really good set of basic laws, and have had them for over 200 years. And some people have been doing their utmost to get around those for about 150 of those 200 years, and (esp the last 50 yrs or so) succeeding quite well. So, why are some laws so much more important than others?

Sue