Heroin and cocaine and acid -- Oh My!

[indra]

Soooo...let's talk about drugs.

I think that the "War on Drugs" is a major failure and should be scrapped. In it's place I'd like to see illegal drugs made legal (to adults), but their sale regulated (stores set up to properly handle the products and teach customers how to more safely use them). The drugs could be grown/processed/manufactured legally, which would reduce the amount of profits going to drug lords/terrorists and the like, and go instead to honest workers just trying to make a living. I'd also like to see much of the money now going to this "war" being used for drug education and treatment.

I don't think making currently illegal drugs legal would be a panacea, as some people would still become addicted, some would die of overdoses or other drug related causes, and there would still be drug related violence (but I do think that would be less as the legalization would lower the price of buying drugs and would also take away much of the danger inherent in illegal drug deals). I do think it would lessen the problems we as a society face from drug use, as the focus would shift from law enforcement to education and treatment, which I believe is much more proactive.

 

[Do Miss America]

I think you start off by making pot(it's God made, not addictive, and no long term side effects) legal first and then you slowly show the world how other drugs aren't nearly as bad as many of the prescription drugs out there are.

 

[starsgoblue]

While I don't see a problem with pot being readily accessible and legal....I'm nervous to see other things legalized, for many reasons...

 

[BostonAnne]

I think you start off by making pot(it's God made, not addictive, and no long term side effects) legal first and then you slowly show the world how other drugs aren't nearly as bad as many of the prescription drugs out there are.

I think pot impairs your motivation and ambition. I don't believe that drugs should be legalized - but I'm not sure about pot since it is an herb.

I'll never forget when I was a naive 14 year old and first exposed to pot. These kids would go in the woods and smoke it. I never thought much about it - but when I learned that it was marijuana that they were smoking I felt like a was transported into a Dragnet episode and was hanging around people on LSD.

indra, do you think addictive drugs should be legal too?

 

[A_Wanderer]

I seem to recall that Sherlock Holmes had his 7 percent cocaine mixture.

 

[beli]

indra, do you think addictive drugs should be legal too?

Im not Indra, (obviously) but......

Alcohol is already legal.

 

[A_Wanderer]

I thought that that being addictive was what made it a drug

 

[U2democrat]

yay lets make drugs legal so people can get high and jump off buildings!!



sorry my parents lost many friends in the 60s due to that stuff.

 

[Scarletwine]

That did happen to some, but it is mostly an urban myth to deter drug use. IMO the 80's increase in cocaine use was much more widespread and destructive.

I'd support pot legalization, but mainly legislative reform to remove odious mandatory sentencing.

 

[U2democrat]

i have no problem with pot being legalized. it's like alcohol in the form of a cigarette.

 

[A_Wanderer]

But alcohol is cooler, you never see James Bond sitting around with a bong.

 

[U2democrat]

Very true.

 

[hiphop]

The Edge likes the smell of the herb, btw. Realized that at the concerts when a friend puffed in his direction.

 

[verte76]

I'm confused about this, but I tend to be in the "legalization" camp. If you legalize them and regulate them you put the drug lords out of business and give honest people jobs. By the same token, you're not going to be able to do anything about drug-induced violence, I think that's pretty hopeless. We can't solve all of our problems but maybe we can make some of them not quite so bad.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Like most things you are damned if you do and bloody damned if you don't.

 

[Irvine511]

i have smoked plenty of pot. it makes me fat, stupid, lazy, and forgetful. i stopped smoking pot for all these reasons. it is also no worse than alcohol, it doesn't lead to many of the social hazards of alcohol (drunk driving and date rape, just to start), and has clear medicinal benefits. i think an important first step towards the legalization of pot would be its decriminalization. ignore people carrying a dimebag on them. or take the dimebag, but don't throw them in jail. jail is not a place for stoners, it is a place for actual criminals who pose a threat to society.

 

[BAW]

I think pot should be decriminalized and people should get treatment instead of jail for most drug offenses. However, being raised by heroin addicts and living the hell that goes along with it, it makes me sick to my stomach to think about harder drugs being legalized. There is no way I can see see both sides of the issue.

 

[nbcrusader]

Let's say you legalize drugs and that a certain percentage of the population take these drugs on a regular basis.

Would it be acceptable to discriminate against people who take these drugs (i.e., not hire them because of their choice to live under the influence of drugs)?

 

[Irvine511]

Let's say you legalize drugs and that a certain percentage of the population take these drugs on a regular basis.

Would it be acceptable to discriminate against people who take these drugs (i.e., not hire them because of their choice to live under the influence of drugs)?

no, would be a privacy issue. if drugs were decriminalized, you'd have no business asking as an employer.

also, this would probably ever only apply for marijuana. people on heroin can hardly hold down a job.

 

[nbcrusader]

Drug testing is currently used in many businesses. Since drugs may remain in your system after you leave home and go to work, it may become the business of an employer.

 

[Irvine511]

Drug testing is currently used in many businesses. Since drugs may remain in your system after you leave home and go to work, it may become the business of an employer.

that's true, and it's certainly true of government jobs. i suppose as the law stands right now, it is at the discretion of the employer, but if drugs were to be made legal, and even if you were subject to drug testing, the substances found in your body would be 100% legal, so an employer would be on much shakier ground. you cannot fire anyone for consuming alcohol (i think), but you can fire someone for showing up intoxicated. here, it's not the use/abuse of alcohol, but the state of intoxication that's the issue. i would imagine newly legalized drugs would fall under the same category. it would not be grounds for firing if one were to have the remants of marijuana in your body, but it would be grounds for firing if one were to show up stoned.

 

[nbcrusader]

that's true, and it's certainly true of government jobs. i suppose as the law stands right now, it is at the discretion of the employer, but if drugs were to be made legal, and even if you were subject to drug testing, the substances found in your body would be 100% legal, so an employer would be on much shakier ground. you cannot fire anyone for consuming alcohol (i think), but you can fire someone for showing up intoxicated. here, it's not the use/abuse of alcohol, but the state of intoxication that's the issue. i would imagine newly legalized drugs would fall under the same category. it would not be grounds for firing if one were to have the remants of marijuana in your body, but it would be grounds for firing if one were to show up stoned.

I guess that goes to the core of my question. The drugs may now be legal, but some may not want to employ people who take these drugs.

Is legalization for the benefit of individual freedom, or is it something that society as a whole must accept?

 

[Irvine511]

Is legalization for the benefit of individual freedom, or is it something that society as a whole must accept?

are the two mutually exclusive? seems like another false choice to me .... ideally, the increasing of individual freedom, so long as it doesn't encroach upon the freedom of another individual, should benefit society -- at least in the libertarian line of thought.

 

[nbcrusader]

are the two mutually exclusive? seems like another false choice to me .... ideally, the increasing of individual freedom, so long as it doesn't encroach upon the freedom of another individual, should benefit society -- at least in the libertarian line of thought.

Does the freedom of another include the freedom to not hire them because of their drug use?

 

[thacraic]

Soooo...let's talk about drugs.
I do think it would lessen the problems we as a society face from drug use, as the focus would shift from law enforcement to education and treatment, which I believe is much more proactive.

Just to touch on this portion of your post....

Do you mean spend more money to tell people drugs are bad?
I have three children, two of which are in elementary school (one's in 1st grade the other in 4th). They have already been educated on drug use and the dangers of it.

What, other than what is being done already, would you suggest in order to educate people on the dangers of drug use?

 

[thacraic]

Im not Indra, (obviously) but......

Alcohol is already legal.

As are cigarettes which contain the most addictive and lethal drug of all..... nicotine.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

Re: Re: Heroin and cocaine and acid -- Oh My!

Just to touch on this portion of your post....

Do you mean spend more money to tell people drugs are bad?
I have three children, two of which are in elementary school (one's in 1st grade the other in 4th). They have already been educated on drug use and the dangers of it.

What, other than what is being done already, would you suggest in order to educate people on the dangers of drug use?

I sort of wonder the same thing. It always sort of confuses me when people say "we should quit spending all this money fighting drugs and instead legalize them. Then, we should focus on treatment and prevention."

That seems like shooting yourself in the foot to me. If the goverment legalizes drugs, it enables people who would have never done done before to become junkies, then we'd have to pay for their treatment and all the extra prevention education...ect. Sounds like a vicious cycle to me. Government legalizes, saves money on fighting, people become addicted, government spends money on treating addicted people.

 

[thacraic]

Overall in terms of legalizing it I honestly don't know how I feel.

I guess it comes down to which benefits society more? That is the purpose of law anyway right? To maintain order and provide a society in which everyone benifits from that order?

If drugs were legalized what the cause and effect be?

In terms of personal liberties, I think drugs should be legal yes, certainly. In terms of how it would affect society as a whole? I can't think of any sound evidence that would show it to be of benefit. Would the money government saved on law enforecement not have to be redirected to treatment of people who have addictions? Would the government not have to spend even more resources on monitoring how drugs are made then it already does with legal drugs (i.e alcohol, cigarettes and medicinal drugs)?

I guess the question here would be would the personal liberty of someone buying a dimebag at the cornershop out weigh the cost of more treatment programs and more monitoring by the FDA that the American taxpayer would be responsible for?

Also considering the limited access people have to drugs (not to say that if someone wants drugs they can't get them, cause they certainly can) but with it being difficult to just go to Chevron and pick up a sheet of acid does that not prevent even more people from using drugs? And furthermore prevent horrible drug related deaths as we see with the legal substance of alcohol (drunk driving)?

I guess I am in the middle on this one. From a the view of personal liberties I say yes, from an overall societal view I see it as doing more harm than good.

 

[thacraic]

Re: Re: Re: Heroin and cocaine and acid -- Oh My!

I sort of wonder the same thing. It always sort of confuses me when people say "we should quit spending all this money fighting drugs and instead legalize them. Then, we should focus on treatment and prevention."

That seems like shooting yourself in the foot to me. If the goverment legalizes drugs, it enables people who would have never done done before to become junkies, then we'd have to pay for their treatment and all the extra prevention education...ect. Sounds like a vicious cycle to me. Government legalizes, saves money on fighting, people become addicted, government spends money on treating addicted people.

Yep, just what I finished posting.

 

[Macfistowannabe]

There is already a problem with drunk driving, why should we have to worry about the spread of delusional drugs legally placed in the hands of drivers? (not to imply that stoned driving would become legal, but it would become a much greater problem)