I'm all for the legalization of weed, but still skeptical of many other drugs. I too am all for freedom of choice, but other drugs can make you act in ways that you wouldn't normally. For instance, this Jarrod Wyatt Murder Details: MMA Fighter Allegedly Ripped Out Victim's Heart but at the same time, I don't think everyone doing other drugs like shrooms are going to go batshit crazy and rip their friends hearts out. And alcohol is legal, and people lose control while on it. I dunno, I'm just rambling. I guess other drugs that have the potential to cause such threatening behavior should be regulated in a better manner.
You misunderstand me. I am pro legalization of pot. I am against the legalization of harder drugs. And did you say something about me being a cop? If so that's just silly. I am a college student at Frostburg State University. In fact I am in the process of studying for my last exam.
No undue offense intended, but you do kinda come off as the kind of guy we point at and say "look at this undercover motherfucker right here" about as we walk past.
Why? Because I am against the legalization of hard drugs? So only cops are against hard drugs? Let me tell you something, I was in rehab for alcohol. I'm not alcoholic, I just used to like to drink alot. Anyways, I met many hard drug addicts who used to steal, rob, and assault people to be able to buy their drugs. One guy beat a guy so bad that the guy became mentally handicapped. Do we want to see an increase in this in our society? We should not encourage hard drug use. Noone can logically deny that hard drugs are extremely harmful to American society. Now I havn't drank alcohol in almost a year. Mostly because of the medications I am on don't allow me to drink.
Effect of prohibition, not the drug. Legalize, prices drop, addicts no longer have to resort to violence to satisfy their addiction. It is well documented that alcohol and nicotine are as addictive, if not more so, than some of the hard drugs of which you speak. Yet when was the last time someone killed someone to pay for their next 6 pack or 20 deck of cigarettes. It's the illegality and the resulting black market tax on the product that pushes the prices so high that the only realistic way of paying for an addiction is through a life of crime.
That may be true, but many people who are hard drug addicts are only concerned about their next fix. They go without eating. Some addicts neglect their children. When someone is addicted to a hard drug, that is their only concern in life.
thats why you set up programs for addicts. like in portugal. just look at portugal. i've said it again and again. any claims of increases of crime rates and drug users are for not.
you're still assuming rates of addition will increase, which there really is no direct evidence for. Also if someone wants to become addicted, that is their own issue...There are authorities to deal with neglected children, etc... not saying that is good, but it would be better for that person to get some actual help instead of being thrown in jail.
I admit that jail isn't the solution for drug addicts. It is better to put them in treatment and let them get help. But making hard drugs commercially available isn't the solution either. I suppose one solution is simply decriminalizing hard drugs but not allowing them to be sold commercially. Commercial sales of hard drugs would only encourage their use.
Okay, so you don't want college kids going down to a drug store to buy cocaine. You would much rather them get it off the street from a dealer cause that's a better, safer alternative, right? They are going to get it one way or the other. You aren't going to stop them if they truly want it. Look, you have to choose one or the other: Drug dealers (with guns) selling on the street to anyone or a licensed and heavily regulated government-run drug store selling the drugs to people 21+ and carding every one of the them. There is no in-between. I don't know why anyone would choose to support drug dealers, and that's exactly what you're doing when you vote to keep drugs illegal.
Because if it is legal, then there is no reason for some average person to not try it. And then they might get hooked on it. The fact that some things are illegal are enough to stop some people. That is one of the many reasons I don't do drugs. I don't want to have to interact with some sketchy dealer and risk getting shot or stabbed in the process.
I havent dont a lot of reading into the Portugal drug policy, but I believe that is exactly what they did and its working great. The issue with that is that the sale, manufacturing, production etc of these drugs is still illegal. Therefore you dont necessarily eliminate a lot of the problems with the black market. The drugs just become more readily available and there isnt as big a penalty for usage. I honestly dont really like the idea of heroin, crack, etc being sold in stores, but its hypocritical of me to say otherwise. People have a right to put whatever they want into their body if they so choose without adversely affecting others. I also do think if all things were legalized, the truth was told about them, and everyone was correctly educated, the problems we have today would slowly dissipate...
When someone is young, and dumb. They don't want to listen to anybody. Especially anyone trying to "educate" them on the perils of drug use. They just want to party, and if they can get their hands on hard drugs, well they are going to. I can tell countless stupid decisions I made when I was 17-18. I went to raves, did hard drugs. I didn't care what they did to me. I didn't even care if they killed me. I just wanted to feel the effect of these drugs. Trying to educate some people about the perils of drug use, and hoping they listen, is talking to a wall. I'm lucky, I learned from my mistakes and never got addicted to any of the hard drugs. But many of my friends are still doing the same things they used to do. Nothing is going to change them. There is a good reason some hard drugs are illegal.
I just say no to the war on drugs. All of it. While we're finding copless solutions for helping those addicts who want to get on a wagon, how about addicts can buy safe, consistent, affordable drugs from a legal source. And then maintenance of their habit does not involve stealing shit or dying from shooting up a heavily adulterated mixture of who-knows-what? But not just addicts, no, I feel everyone should be able to purchase quality drugs from legal businesses. I firmly believe that the social and individual costs of prohibition far outweigh the potential costs or dangers of any possible drug in a free and legal market.
I agree with the first part of your post. Where you say addicts should be able to get safe affordable drugs so they don't become criminals. I don't agree that drugs such as cocaine, meth, and heroin should be available to the general public. Young kids who do not know any better or simply arn't mature enough to care may get hooked on them.
So how will it be easier for the young ones to get their hands on these drugs than it is today? You guys are still under the misconception that legalization means total ease of access. Its a lot easier for kids to get the drugs off the streets in this current situation that it would if they were legal, and sold in state run stores, requiring minimum age of purchase. They would also disappear off the streets, so the youth would not have it as easy. Legal or illegal, youth will get their hands on it, as they do now. And for those of you that state it should stay illegal because that stops certain people from trying it, but isn't it their right to try it if they so choose? Isn't that what freedom is about? Are people not entitled to make their own decisions, even if stupid? If someone wants to try heroin, why shouldn't they? I am not advocating its use, but who am I to tell someone they don't have the right to if they choose in a free society? The subject of legalization needs to be looked at more than just, who will try drugs if legal, and look at the good things that would happen if they were legal. Like the end of the drug black market. The end of the bad parts of town where drug pushers rule the streets, the end of drug related violence, the less man power and cost to police the streets due to the decrease in crime. There are so many positives to come of it, but people still think legal means anyone can get it in a seven eleven, and thats not the case. And I just can't recognize anyone that votes for one side or the other based on what they think others would do because of that decision. That is up to the person, and not up to others to decide for them. And as we see, drugs being illegal does not stop anyone that wants to try them, from trying them. So lets move past that bullshit of an excuse and get to the deeper issues, and what positives could be made.
Yes there is a reason why some average person would not try it. Because they understand it is dangerous and choose not to get hooked on it. True. However, the fact that some things are legal is not enough to convince a sane person they should use/participate with. Correct. Legalize drugs, and the people who do choose to use them won't have to interact with the sketchy dealer, and can instead interact with the nice old man at the corner store
Those drugs are already available to the general public, including the young and immature. Unless you have a plan to erase them from existence, they will continue to be available for purchase tax-free with no minimum age requirement on the black market. Or they could be legalized. tl;dr? So what's your plan for making all the "bad drugs" disappear?
100% agree with the legalisation of mary jane. But other drugs such as heroin, meth etc I don't agree with.