[Guest]

If we legalized drugs, Would there be less fatality in the long run? How would it affect people who don't do drugs and people who do drugs.

[Guest]

Onetruth - There is also a good education on sex and drugs here (NL)- there are less early pregnancies too in NL 1/7 of that in UK (that's including legalised sexual activity for 12 year olds - go figure that one out).

Back to drugs..There is no panacea, but a lot of thing can be eased to start with. Perhaps ensuring education in the right areas, then later a program for legalisation - WOW scary thought - people need to realise that the problem does not go away - it just stays out of sight - it is not sorting it's self out the way it is.

By the way pot houses/coffee shops have been on the decline because some local bureaucracy does not favor it - guess how that is going (no need for a spoiler - or an answer).

Edited May 15, 2008 by Lost in space

[itachi-san]

i think pot should be legal..

just for the fact that it grows out of the ground.

all the other ones are chemical in some way

A lot of drugs come from the Earth. I do think pot should be legal though. I don't use nature as my reasoning because there are so many different types of legal/illegal drugs that I think each needs to looked at individually (which clearly has not been done properly considering pot is illegal and alcohol and pain killers are legal). There is no reason pot is illegal other than political oppression firstly of immigration and secondly of anti-war citizens and large-scale protests.

[Guest]

A lot of drugs come from the Earth. I do think pot should be legal though. I don't use nature as my reasoning because there are so many different types of legal/illegal drugs that I think each needs to looked at individually (which clearly has not been done properly considering pot is illegal and alcohol and pain killers are legal). There is no reason pot is illegal other than political oppression firstly of immigration and secondly of anti-war citizens and large-scale protests.

well i mean pot is the only one that is not chemicaly engineered.

all drugs come from the earth. but people add chemical crap to everything but pot.

but i guess i should stay illegal because people over use it and get addicted.

[akaslickster]

well i mean pot is the only one that is not chemicaly engineered.

all drugs come from the earth. but people add chemical crap to everything but pot.

but i guess i should stay illegal because people over use it and get addicted.

I must disagree somewhat, if you worked in a lab where they analyze pot you would see what has been found mixed in. i.e. additives that i've heard of or seen are: pcp, cocaine, heroine, and an unforgettable mention formaldihyde which is not common but could be found in it. A little pot once in a while never hurt. If you saw "that 70's show" it was okay to air that program knowing that at least twice per episode they gathered around the table. If it was so terrible then the media would be contributing to its content just as the adult play on the soaps.

[Guest]

Thanks for taking up the banner, onetruth. It's good to have the voice of experience weigh in on the topic. Just a few more thoughts ...

If hard drugs were legal, would they suddenly become socially acceptable? We would certainly hope not, and those who have argued in favor of legalization are quick to promote education and regulation, which means there's an awareness that, regardless of legality, we still don't want our family, friends, and neighbors screwing up their lives with drugs. Therefore, legal or not, taking drugs would still be viewed as bad behavior. Parents would instruct their kids to avoid drugs, and the "bad" friends would still try to influence their peers to join in the fun. The only way in which legality would change this is that it would be easier to obtain the drugs. I completely agree with the reasoning of Itachi and onetruth on that issue.

Brandon's argument that drugs could be made safer and therefore do less damage if controlled is probably true, but I think it's too idealistic, and I also agree with onetruth's view that it's morally backward to condone a negative behavior in order to reduce net damage. Regarding the idealism, I'm pretty sure that if there were a way to achieve the desired effects of drugs without the harmful side-effects (or at least significantly reducing them), someone would have discovered it by now. Even if it is possible, do you really think it would happen as a result of legalization? A quick glance at the tobacco industry should be enough to prove that regulation and research money don't result in products that are better for your health. Do you think that Phillip Morris (now Altria) or RJ Reynolds were unable to find ways to make cigarettes less harmful? Instead of using only premium quality ingredients and implementing expensive techniques to reduce harmful components, they loaded up their cigarettes with hundreds of waste products, including many known carcinogens. Why would you expect a legalized drug market to fair better? You can be sure there would be huge companies springing into action to feed the cash cow, and the safety of their customers would not be high on their priority list.

Regarding LIS's comments about the moderate success of legalization in the Netherlands and Zurich ... I agree with the statement in that article that it wouldn't work on the big scale. Certainly not in the U.S. Also, as that article pointed out, the tolerant policies don't really do anything at all to reduce drug use. They simply minimize the damage (e.g., AIDS) and allow authorities to focus on chasing the bigger fish, the suppliers. Also, it's important to note that the tolerated drugs are not actually legal (with the exception of MJ in the Netherlands). You can't walk into a store and buy an FDA-approved hit of heroine. Therefore, the benefits of legalization proposed by Brandon are not realized in that style of legalization. Just want to make sure we're comparing apples to apples.

[onetruth]

When people want to legalize drugs, how specifically do they propose that it's done, and what kind of drugs do they propose be legalized?

Side note: I just found out that my ex (the father of my children) is dead. His life was destroyed by his choice to use drugs. He lived for drugs and he died for nothing. The only good thing that ever came from him were my children, and as much as I am mourning after finding out this news, I feel like my children have never been safer. But is this what people want legalized? Destroyed families, children losing parents? I don't understand it. There's no excuse. People are bastards, and they'll do what they want, no matter who gets hurt, and those of us left will still mourn them in the end.

Sorry if I'm emotional. The shock is wearing off and I'm beginning to grieve.

[onetruth]

By the way, that wasn't meant to be a conversation stopper. I really do want to know what drugs people want legalized, and how they think it should be done.