Should All Drugs be Legalized?

@thisguyrich said:

@baconbits33 said:

Okay so for everyone referencing Portugal as a model for decriminalizing drugs:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization

Guys legalization has only helped them because they were able to divert all that money from the justice system to treatment centers, and for better awareness. It was the Governments way of showing people it was bad that helped make people realize that it was bad.

I don't support legalizing it, I'm fine with Marijuana being, and Mushrooms being legalized, even though I don't touch any of that stuff. But I am against hard drugs being legalized, my personal experiences with my friends tell me it's wrong.

Also guys..... What happens when a teenager (rebellious stage) gets a hold of their parents heroin? Or Meth? And starts to do that stuff with friends at a party? I mean come on, teens are stupid like that and we all have too admit we went through that stage. Plus by doing that, kids in broken families will have next to ZERO chance of ever getting out of that environment since those parents have an easier time accessing it legally or illegally.

This is America we're talking about, not Europe, huge cultural differences between the two, HUGE. So obviously the people of the US will react differently to being allowed such easy access to these things, and odds are knowing our nations youth, we will overdue it. I know we all reference the way Europe does things vs. the way the US does things. But face it: WE AREN'T EUROPE AND WE NEVER WILL BE. Just how the US is, not a bad thing, not a good thing, just how it is.

So at the same time we make marshmallows illegal. problem solved.

I get what you're trying to argue, but logic dictates you are completely off.

Ya and tax em all. If people wanna kill them selfs im not gonna stop them.

@Arker101 said:

No. Harmful and addictive substances should stay illegal, In my opinion.

Ok, no more cigarettes, cigars, sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.

@Turambar said:

How about freedom from having to deal with drug addicts that actually become obstructions for other people in society?

That's a shitty thing to say and shows a real limit to you're awareness of people who use drugs.

@Turambar said:

How about freedom from having to deal with drug addicts that actually become obstructions for other people in society?

That's a shitty thing to say and shows a real limit to you're awareness of people who use drugs.

I don't like this discussion. It always upsets me that people actually think legalizing and regulating drugs is a good idea.

Here's a fact: There are many drugs that are bad for you. Here's an opinion: I think they should stay illegal.

@believer258 said:

ALL drugs?

No. Pot might not be that bad for you, but there's some stuff out there that is really bad for you. For instance, there's a drug in Russia known as Krokodil that can cause severe damage to your skin. According to the Wiki article, the life expectancy of an addict is only two to three years.

So, not all drugs are going to kill you. But are some drugs bad? You bet your bottom fucking dollar they are.

I read up on that recently. Ugh. It was strangely fascinating to discover yet another up-and-coming street drug. Not sure why...

One of my fave movies covers this topic very well. It shows both the positives and negatives of a drug-ful society. It's up to us to choose what we give up for accepting or fighting it.

PS Watch the fucking movie.

Yes. People should be free to put whatever poison into their body they choose. The way I see it the government's responsibility should be to make sure people are informed on an objective scientific basis about the effects of drugs, and to regulate the selling of drugs, so that people can know exactly what they're buying (not to mention taxing some of the profits and putting that money into health care).

@AnxiousTube said:

An individual should not be restrained from doing anything they want to do, as long as it is not harming another person.

Unfortunately, people who take advantage of the safety nets in place, or those that simply are selfish and don't know any better, drain our economy and make it harder for the rest of us. So letting so many uninformed and unsupported people continue to make poor decisions like drug use and abuse isn't really looking out for anyone's best interest.

If you don't want to encroach on freedoms, you need to ensure you are educating and supporting people early on in life. So that actually means HELPING and supporting good teachers (of which there are many) so they can help the struggling students make the right choices. Whenever people talk about drug use and abuse, they see it (and, really, most problems) as consisting of one thread when it really is a huge web of social and economic issues.

Let's start one step at a time, no?

i think so. in no way does making drug use illegal deter anyone who truly wants to use drugs from using them. by the same token, i highly doubt making drug use legal is gonna make anyone who previously didnt do drugs to suddenly start snorting cocaine every hour of the day either. Ron paul said it best during that one debate where he was like "how many of you out there would start doing heroin tomorrow if it suddenly became legal? i bet none of you would. its not like your saying oh my god i dont want to do heroin so i need these laws to protect me from doing it."

criminalizing drug use is merely an excuse for the federal government to its expand its own power and the police state over its citizens.

legal? hell, mushrooms and weed should be mandatory.

Well you're all a bunch of stupid pussies who will start smoking heroin the moment it's legalized so yes I hope they're legalized so that all you weak impressionable bitches die off and the real men survive.

In CONUS it IS legal, right now, to purchase heroin analogues and straight methamphetamine if you have a script...

Actually, yes. Most people do drugs, do them because they're illegal. Without the danger of getting caught, you're left with this expensive shit that makes you want more of it while slowly killing you

Just gonna be more crime if something as retarded as this happens.

Decriminalization? Yeah. All drugs legalized? No.

I am kind of curious to see how dealers will react to being undercut by large corporations though if legalization does happen.

@Vinny_Says said:

Well you're all a bunch of stupid pussies who will start smoking heroin the moment it's legalized so yes I hope they're legalized so that all you weak impressionable bitches die off and the real men survive.

This is not something Vinny would say. Shame on you.

Nope!

As usual my answer is:

Starts at 36 seconds in.

i think the 2 most addictive and dangerous drugs are perfectly legal already

nicotine and alcohol are responsible for more deaths than all other drugs combined.

All drugs?

No, lol.

No. And while were at the discussion ban nicotine and tobacco, and put strong restrictions on alcohol. It is for the best, for all of mankind.

@AnxiousTube: So you are telling me that if they actually legalized every drug and your mother decided to get on the crack in a big way, to the point where she was going to die without an intervention, that you would just leave her to it?

All drugs?

No. that's retarded

No.

What? No. No! You daft?

SURE

WHATS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?

Yes. The war on drugs victimizes innocents mostly and costs billions of tax payer money better spent on real wars. Also - so much taxes to be earned with the drug business.

Yes, the only secure way for drugs is harm reduction. People will always do drugs, no reason to create and support criminal, murdering, organizations and let adult people responsible for their own bodies support these, while turning these same people into criminals. In this way you can also have more control over who does what and put an age restriction on it that will at least hamper the efforts of teenagers to do drugs, who in studies are constantly proven to be the most susceptible to harm from drug use.

I have no idea why this is not already the accepted norm around the world. I have no idea why we want the situation in Colombia and Mexico to be how it is, or in your nearest poor US neighbourhood. With this approach even those of you that hate drugs the most and are firmly against letting other adults control their own bodies can gain something, since the drugs would be taxated. Those taxes could go in to rehabilitation programs, and therefore the whole drug system would support itself. No more of your tax money would go on helping filthy addicts, instead the filthy addicts help themselves.

For those of you who think crazy lunatic murdering junkies would roam the streets, pretty much every country with some form of legalization has a lower rate of addicts and users than for example the US. And for those of you that talk about krokodil and other completely horrible drugs - with access to safe, clean and "good" heroin, krokodil would not exist. Overdoses would happen much less frequently as well, as one of the more common causes of overdosing is that you can't know how strong the batch of heroin that you bought is.

That would probably be the same for meth, as meth is super easy to produce, but is so fucking dirty with so many nasty side effects. I don't think your normal methjunkie would say no to going over to the slightly more clean amphetamine if it was available and cheap. I have nothing to support this of course.

For such a complex subject it's a shame to see so many single line posts along the lines of "No. Drugs are clearly bad and evil, therefore we should make them illegal and criminalise the people using them."

The fact is, most people who are pro-legalisation (or pro-decriminalisation) would agree that drugs are bad. That is not in question; no sensible person is going to tell you that crack is a positive force in this world. But our current attempts of dealing with the problem, either in the US or here in the UK, simply do not work.

I don't believe in legalisation, because effectively that would mean that anybody can sell drugs to anybody else with no repercussions. Obviously not good at all. Decriminalisation, however, makes a whole lot of sense.

Just to address the main recurring arguments:

1) "Decriminalisation will dramatically increase the number of drug addicts and casual drug users."

Wrong - in Portugal, the number of hard or intravenous drug addicts has fallen by half in the 10 years since decriminalisation was introduced (Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g9C6x99EnFVdFuXw_B8pvDRzLqcA)

2) "The new-found ease of making a purchase will tempt more people to try drugs"

This has already been argued in this thread, but suffice to say it's a ridiculous position to take. Right now, drugs are not exactly hard to find - if you want them, you can get them, whatever the variety. A family member's ex-husband was a heroin addict and told me how he used to get hold of it; believe me, it's easy.

3) "Drug users are a hazard to everyone around them"

If you are determined to ignore the evidence that drug use has fallen in countries which have implemented decriminalisation then fine, but at least consider that - as someone has already pointed out - money in these countries has been diverted into better support services which have dramatically reduced that hazard.

And now for the benefits:

1) Less police bureaucracy in making arrests and charging drug users as criminals, freeing up resources

2) Less strain on the crowded prison system

3) Less strain on healthcare institutions

4) Huge amounts of public money saved on all three points above

5) Even larger amounts of public money generated from taxation of decriminalised substances

If you made it to the end of all that then thanks a lot for bothering to read.

Yes, just look how well Portugal is doing because of it.

Offering rehab instead of jail is a much better solution and if something isn't forbidden, it's less likely that people want it.

Taxes from government sales. Controlled price. Controlled safe quality products.

Why jail somebody who's addicted to crack, when they clearly have an illness just like any other illness.

A lot of people in here are saying that if they were legal, everyone would become raging crack fiends because drugs would be so easy to get.

As it is now, i can go outside and get any drug i would like for fairly cheap without anyone knowing apart from me and one other person.

If they were legal, i wouldn't be able to do that. Access would be far more restricted and monitored. I would have to go to a pharmacy, get a prescription, wait a week and then pay crazy prices.

Being legal does not mean they would be handed out like they do with alcohol, which in my opinion is one of the worst things to happen to this planet.

I love where this thread has gone. Thanks to everyone for the Portugal info. I actually did not know about that.

Yes. Nobody has any right to tell another person what they can and cannot do to themselves. The only laws that have any right to exist are the ones that prevent people doing harm unto others.

@barkertron: The problem with decriminalization is that you won't get rid of dealers, having to deal with dealers, cartels and generally exposing people that aren't commiting a crime to crime as well as financing horrible people. That's why I support full legalisation rather than decriminalization.

I don't care if stupid people want to take drugs. I don't even care if they kill themselves taking drugs. What I do care about is someone taking drugs and then deciding to drive and ending up killing someone.

If people want to take drugs then I say make it legal but lock them away while they do it so they can't hurt anyone.

All? No. Some. Yes

@Ertard: That's a very fair point - perhaps some kind of compromise between full legalisation and decriminalisation is the way forward; it's such a difficult and multi-faceted issue that any proposed solution has to have its flaws. I guess more than anything I just want the current system to change, which is unlikely given how much the usual suspects in the media will blatantly start winding up their knee-jerk readership if any such legislation were proposed - the vast majority of our cowardly politicians have no intention of rocking the boat to try something new and controversial.

Thanks for the response!

@sopranosfan said:

@AnxiousTube said:

An individual should not be restrained from doing anything they want to do, as long as it is not harming another person.

The problem is that people that use drugs like Meth and Heroine will steal to keep doing the drugs.

They do that already.

@Galiant said:

I don't like this discussion. It always upsets me that people actually think legalizing and regulating drugs is a good idea. Here's a fact: There are many drugs that are bad for you. Here's an opinion: I think they should stay illegal.

But only some harmful drugs should be illegal.

Other ones should be advertised all day long on television and magazines!

War on drugs has done more damage than the drugs themselves will ever do. I can see the logic behind banning some drugs, but at the end of the day why should the government be able to say what I can and cannot do with my own body.

Having the government regulate the drug market is always going to be better than having criminals control the drug market.

@LordXavierBritish: The war on drugs is reason enough for any sane person to support its decriminalization. The trouble is getting people to overcome their confirmation bias, stop being afraid to question their beliefs, and actually get some critical thinking going on.

Definitely not.

Yes.

What so unsavoury people will be even more common? No.

the argument for legalizing weed is one thing (its relatively harmless when compared to other legal drugs like alcohol and the gate way drug argument would negated if it was legal, as the only reason it is a gateway drug is because it is illegal).

i cant see the reason the legalize other drugs like cocaine or heroin though.

Fuck that.

@Intro said:

Yeah, let the idiots who want to do meth, do meth and all die.

While I hate meth heads letting them do all the meth they want is bad because what happens when some meth head needs more meth? He's gunna break into someones house and rob and or kill someone. Trust me I know I live in Iowa.