Should we legalize drugs?

[Baron Max]

Nobody has the power to grant rights. They are absolute.

Where did they come from? Are rights part of the evolutionary scheme of things? Or did god create them?

Where did rights come from? And how do people like Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il take them away from people? Perhaps guns and power are mightier than rights?????

Baron Max

 

[takandjive]

Pot needs to be decriminalized. Coke, other hard drugs? No.

 

[scott3x]

Originally Posted by RubiksMaster

No. The rest of society doesn't have the right to take away my rights just because there are more of them.

Don't be silly ....society is what gave you those rights in the first place. Or do you think "rights" just came down from god when you were born?

I agree to a large extent with Baron. Because I at times define everything as God, I could go for the rather unusual argument that the people are part of God and thus in a sense, God did give the rights. However, even using my definition, the specific -part- of God that gave the rights are people. If we were to talk about what is ethical, that'd be another story, but rights have to be given by -something- and I believe that that something is people, as codified in their laws.

And please don't say it's because you're human ...UNLESS... you don't believe in evolution. Humans are just another animal in the world ...and rights are a human invention that can given out or taken away.

I agree completely with this.

 

[scott3x]

Pot needs to be decriminalized. Coke, other hard drugs? No.

In the book "Ending the War on Drugs", the author seemed to believe that even drugs such as heroine were only about as addictive as alcohol. Perhaps the author was a bit off, but I really don't think that punishing addicts for simply feeding their addiction is the solution. What's needed are more rehab clinics and less inmates.

 

[swarm]

Where did rights come from?

Rights are those things people rather suffer or even die for rather than do without them.

 

[swarm]

In the book "Ending the War on Drugs", the author seemed to believe that even drugs such as heroine were only about as addictive as alcohol.

Many people confuse legality, effects, dangers from overdose, withdrawal symptoms, craving, etc.

The author was not off in saying alcohol and heroin/opiates are about equally addictive. Though it would be more accurate to add for people prone to that particular substance. Certain people seem to be particularly susceptible to certain substances. Many people use both alcohol and powerful opiates without the problems people who have problems with them have.

Opiates are still the drug of choice for pain management, yet not every one who goes to the hospital comes out addicted any more than every one who walks in a bar comes out a drunk.

Both seem about as hard to kick. Usually about 10% of those who have trouble with them can eventually get off them.

Chronic alcohol abuse is far, far more prevalent and more destructive to the body as long as the opiate user is not injecting. Abuse of both raise your risk of death from misadventure.

Cocaine and tobacco are both considered far more addicting and difficult to kick. Cocaine has more behavioral issues. Tobacco is more likely to kill you.

To get a perspective. The last time I checked deaths from all illegal drugs for a one year period number about 6000. Deaths from alcohol were about 110,000. Deaths from tobacco were about 330,000. I believe that data was from the late 80s or early 90s.

 

[jayleew]

Portugal has decriminalized all drugs and it has improved the "drug problem" in their country considerably.

Prove it.

 

[John99]

Prove it.

i dont think these people are thinking things through when they discuss this.

the best thing would be to stop growing the drugs to begin with. but lest not get ahead of ourselves or use logic. another issues is that mj should be viewed on separate terms than hard drugs and when debating this issue it gets thrown in and out based on when it is convenient.

 

[cluelusshusbund]

i dont think these people are thinking things through when they discuss this.

Yes that seems to be true for som.!!!

Educaton about drug use is the key to prevention of drug use... an a shiny new cop in a shiny new uniform tellin kids to "jus say no" dont cut it.!!!

 

[Nasor]

While I agree with this sentiment, what about one person's irresponsibility injuring another person?

Take speeding. If you go too fast, you could kill yourself and/or kill other people (or injure them, etc). Speed regulation prevents accidents, simply by disincentivizing an act that could lead to bad consequences. Simply punishing the bad consequences- killing someone with a car- would lead to more people being killed in motor accidents. Why? Because a) your risk is much lower and b) we're bad at calculating risks, anyway.

This line of reasoning is fine if you can demonstrate that the mere act of taking a certain drug makes a person statistically more likely to harm others. I rather doubt you could produce such statistics, since I can't really imagine how the act of me taking drugs per se could be very risky for my neighbor. But if you can find such statistics I would certainly be willing to look at them.

 

[John99]

dont you think that is a way far fetched thing to say?

 

[CutsieMarie89]

i dont think these people are thinking things through when they discuss this.

the best thing would be to stop growing the drugs to begin with. but lest not get ahead of ourselves or use logic. another issues is that mj should be viewed on separate terms than hard drugs and when debating this issue it gets thrown in and out based on when it is convenient.

But aren't many of these drugs used in medicine? Like isn't morphine related to heroin or something like that, many they come from the same source (forgive me I might be mixing it up with something else). All I know is when I got shot, whatever drug they gave me to dull the pain they can keep on growing that, that stuff is amazing.

 

[Railburn]

Pot needs to be decriminalized. Coke, other hard drugs? No.

Agreed, I do not even know how anyone could say that making meth, coke, speed and drugs similar to that would be a good Idea. If you want to risk taking acid or meth, I think you should have that risk of running into the law. If you legalized something like meth, all you would get would be more people publicly doing it. We dont need more crazies running around.

I think only pot, mushrooms, and maybe DMT to should be fully legal.

 

[cluelusshusbund]

I think only pot, mushrooms, and maybe DMT to should be fully legal.

Do you thank mor people woud use 'em if those drugs was legalized.???

 

[Norsefire]

Even if those other hard drugs are dangerous, it is still a voluntary thing. If you don't like 'em, don't do 'em.


DMT should definitely be legalized. Not only is it remarkably safe, but it also occurs naturally in the human body.

 

[CutsieMarie89]

Yes that seems to be true for som.!!!

Educaton about drug use is the key to prevention of drug use... an a shiny new cop in a shiny new uniform tellin kids to "jus say no" dont cut it.!!!

I agree completely. It may not, well most likely won't do much to prevent drug usage, just like sex ed doesn't prevent kids from having sex. But being educated about drugs and their effects might inspire some to be safer in how they use them. (basic stuff, like mixing medications, not sharing needles, how drugs work and why they make you feel they way they do) No judging, no bashing, just information. I thought it was a dumb idea at first, but after being forced to take an alcohol education class my freshman year of college, the results were amazing. No one decided not to drink because of the class, but the wisdom coming from my classmates mouths... truly amazing education really does work.

 

[Liebling]

Do you thank mor people woud use 'em if those drugs was legalized.???

More people wouldn't use drugs, but taking the criminal element out of obtaining those drugs may be to our benefit. When you push people to the fringe, they feel dijointed and out of sorts with their society so crimes against said society have no real worry for them. Make it okay for them to do drugs in their own homes, and make it so that the price of drugs comes down because it's no longer illegal, and crime will also come down. You can't stop drug use, but you can decriminalize it so that less people are harmed overall.

I think that people will do drugs regardless of whether or not it's legal. No more home meth labs to blow up, less high speed drug chases, less crack whores... etc. And companies will still be allowed to test and exclude people from employment for doing drugs, so there is still incentive to stay on the straight and narrow.

And people who do drugs to excess will eventually kill themselves, but once it's legal, they would be much less likely to take someone with them.

 

[cluelusshusbund]

More people wouldn't use drugs, but taking the criminal element out of obtaining those drugs may be to our benefit. When you push people to the fringe, they feel dijointed and out of sorts with their society so crimes against said society have no real worry for them. Make it okay for them to do drugs in their own homes, and make it so that the price of drugs comes down because it's no longer illegal, and crime will also come down. You can't stop drug use, but you can decriminalize it so that less people are harmed overall.

I think that people will do drugs regardless of whether or not it's legal. No more home meth labs to blow up, less high speed drug chases, less crack whores... etc. And companies will still be allowed to test and exclude people from employment for doing drugs, so there is still incentive to stay on the straight and narrow.

And people who do drugs to excess will eventually kill themselves, but once it's legal, they would be much less likely to take someone with them.

Nice summary... an wit the priority changed to educatin people about drugs an helpin those who didnt get educated about drugs (for whatever reason) an screwin up ther lifes an other peoples lifes... that woud be the cherry on top for makin the bes of a bad situaton.!!!

 

[PieAreSquared]

Start with legalizing weed .. see how that goes.. then think about some of the others.

 

[John99]

More people wouldn't use drugs, but taking the criminal element out of obtaining those drugs may be to our benefit. When you push people to the fringe, they feel dijointed and out of sorts with their society so crimes against said society have no real worry for them. Make it okay for them to do drugs in their own homes, and make it so that the price of drugs comes down because it's no longer illegal, and crime will also come down. You can't stop drug use, but you can decriminalize it so that less people are harmed overall.

I think that people will do drugs regardless of whether or not it's legal. No more home meth labs to blow up, less high speed drug chases, less crack whores... etc. And companies will still be allowed to test and exclude people from employment for doing drugs, so there is still incentive to stay on the straight and narrow.

And people who do drugs to excess will eventually kill themselves, but once it's legal, they would be much less likely to take someone with them.

so if you are smart enough to know that it is the drug itself that is causing the problems then why would legalizing it be the answer?

all of these substances react on people in very different ways, crack and meth are basically opposite of weed and heroin. some drugs are binge drugs, you think you are just going to take a prescribed amount of meth, speed, crack or cocaine? even with heroin, heroin addicts rarely bother anyone until they dont have money for a bag of dope.

the problem is that the body builds tolerance to it. one bag will be good in the beginning but a few years later it will be 40 bags. people spend everything they have on drugs and legalizing it will not effect the cost hardly at all. Unless you want to give them away for free, is that what you are saying?

as far as crack whores, now you want to give companies the right to fire addicts and somehow according to this plan there will be no crack whores.

i dont understand that logic. crack is cheap enough to buy, but the price of a single hit is not the issue.

many people know what it is like to live in areas where drugs are basically legal because if you can walk to a corner and get what you want then what is the difference? do some research on neighborhoods where crack is that easy to get and see what the result is.