Why would Brad Pitt, a father of six children, want drugs to be legalized? Well, for a couple of reasons. Firstly because, as he says, "The only way to end the war on drugs is to take the profit out of it." He's 100 percent right, and he knows what he's talking about -- that's why he produced The House We Live In, a sobering new documentary directed by Eugene Jarecki about how the so-called "war on drugs" started and why it's a complete failure. See, Brad Pitt is no stranger to the drug scene. As he explained in an introduction to The House We Live In:
My drug days are long since passed but it's certainly true that I could probably land in any city in any state and get you whatever you wanted. I could find anything you were looking for. Give me 24 hours or so.
So Brad Pitt is experienced, as Jimi Hendrix would say. He has experience with illegal drug use, and, as anyone with similar experience knows, every experience isn't always a good one.
Which leads me to the second reason why, I'm guessing, Brad Pitt wants drugs to be legalized -- and as a mom, I whole-heartedly agree -- he knows his kids will be safer in the long run. As he pointed out in a recent interview:
"And there's another issue [with legalizing drugs]. You can control quality. The quality of drugs is higher than it's ever been, but it’s still all over the map. If you decriminalize, then they could control the quality ... and I would propose you would have fewer deaths."
Again, he's 100 percent right. Those bad experiences I was talking about too often end up being deadly experiences. Buying drugs illegally means you never really know what you're getting -- what chemicals the drug has been cut with, how strong it is. If these drugs were regulated, there WOULD be fewer deaths, because the exact dosage would be clear and the odds of anyone mixing some strange cannibalism-inducing substance into the drug you bought would be as low as they are now when you buy aspirin or antacids.
Brad Pitt's no fool; he's been around the block a few times. He knows that his kids will most likely try drugs at some point, no matter what he tells them -- just like I know my kids will most likely do the same, no matter what I say. We can't, ultimately, stop our kids. But at least we can try to protect them.
What do you think about Brad Pitt's stance on legalizing drugs?
Image via Splash
This Hot Dad Wants to Vacuum Your Rug
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
Comments 26
I'm with Brad on this, I live next to the "Emerald Triangle" in Cali. I've seen that damages illegal pot can do first hand and I know when it's harvest time by the smell, I have always said the State should do what they do best and tax it!
I've never done drugs but I think adults should be free to make their own decisions, whether it's pot or heroin. Definitely past time to stop the hypocrisy between drugs and legalize and regulate.
How can any responsible parent not desire a saner drug policy, and one that’s based on facts rather than reefer madness? Prohibition guarantees that many illegal drugs are far easier for our children to procure than even alcohol or nicotine. That's because, even though these are both very dangerous and addictive drugs, they are at least sold in properly controlled and regulated environments.
Under our present regime, certain plants/concoctions/drugs are sold only by criminals and terrorists; the huge black-market profits are used to threaten innocent civilians, bribe law enforcement officials, and buy support from unconscionable politicians; the availability and usage rates tend to go up, not down, and our prisons have become filled to capacity with easily replaced vendors and smugglers —this list of dangerous and negative consequences is actually endless. To continue prohibition is ludicrous, and those of us who can't see that by now, must be either severely and mentally challenged or using something far stronger than any of us have even heard of.
Why on earth should we be willing to whack ourselves with ever-bigger and more-repressive prohibition hammers, while drug use and availability keep going up, not down, and while we all plunge deeper into Loserville?
Prohibition is the most destructive, dysfunctional, dishonest and racist social policy since Slavery. Prohibition is a holocaust in slow motion. We MUST end it NOW!
Why so companies can add all sort of addictive and cancerous additives to it like they've done with tabacco?? Yeah, way safer.
I agree with Brad Pitt whole-heartedly. Our kids are safer if drugs are legal. Also, if you make drugs legal, and release everyone with "possesion" and "possession with intent" charges out of prison, a great financial burden will be lifted off of the state and federal budgets. Sales tax alone would generate more funding for beneficial programs like the departments of education and transportation.
Also @ Shandeigh: There is a type of drug test that gives "instant" results, much like a pregnancy test, that uses saliva, and can tell you if a person has used a drug within the last 4 hours. It might not give a set blood level, but it could easily be utilized on traffic stops like the breathalyzer is now, and if they test positive, you have just cause to take them in for a blood test to determine if they were under the influence at the time. A lot of medical facilities use them to determine if employees have been stealing narcotics. They're very inexpensive.