Legalize drugs, yes or no?

[Blarf]

As it is drug abusers cost us all with increased crime rates in all categories.

I don't buy that at all. Do you have any sources I can read up on that?

I can make a good argument that the fact that drugs are illegal creates a very profitable black market, which provides income and power to gangs. If you were to legalize them, they wouldn't have that source of income anymore.

[maxx]

I don't buy that at all. Do you have any sources I can read up on that?

I can make a good argument that the fact that drugs are illegal creates a very profitable black market, which provides income and power to gangs. If you were to legalize them, they wouldn't have that source of income anymore.

No, but someone would still be selling them unless you think the gov. should give them away. In the present economy, a lot of people can barely feed themselves so even with a reduction in price, they might not be able to pay for their drugs with the consequent crime. And there would have to be some sort of regulation and testing of all the drugs that would flood into the U.S.. And then there's all the basement meth labs. They would still be illegal just like making hard liquor to sell is illegal.

[MizMotown]

everything you wanted to know about mary jane...

http://drugabuse.gov/PDF/RRMarijuana.pdf

[Hypestyles]

I think that legalizing, regulating and taxing [[heavily) these substances would cut down drastically in drug-related violence and non-violent drug-related incarcerations.. money can be put into rehab programs, prevention programs aimed at youth, also, Medicare/Medicaid, and other gov't. services. Legalizing would help push the gangs out of the dope business, and force at least some of these clowns to go to school for a "real job".

The product can be sold at pharmacies-- now, likely the major mainstream outlets would balk because of perceived negative publicity-- Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, Meijer, most Grocery Chains.. but independent pharmacies could find a niche, to help stay afloat, since the big-box pharmacy outlets put many of them out of business.. Specialty outlets like the medical marijuana places can be charged fair but substantive licensing fees.
Schools and employers can still have drug-free policies, drug-free campuses, work-sites, etc. Just because you can drink beer at home doesn't mean you can go to work while drinking, I'd be fine with that policy applied to drugs.
Driving while under the Influence of any drug should still be against the law. jail, fines, etc.

But of course, democrats and republicans fail in raising this issue to be taken seriously.. certainly, most religious-based activists would be in an uproar at the least.. I don't see this being taken on any time soon, unless there's eventually a politician that's willing to stand up to the pushback from both parties..

i've read Nolan Finley advocate for legalization, for reasons mentioned above, so it's not all "a liberal thing"..

[justanotherboy]

Legalizing drugs and prostitution would put gangs and drug dealers out of business. If we do it with alcohol, we can do it with the others.

[maxx]

Legalizing drugs and prostitution would put gangs and drug dealers out of business. If we do it with alcohol, we can do it with the others.

But we still have problems with drunk driving and health issues resulting from drinking, and often now in conjunction with other drugs. Legalizing prostitution would require some of the prostitutes to get medical checkups and would give them more power to require the johns to use condoms. But it probably would also create its own black market too, so the problems connected with prostitution wouldn't be totally eliminated. Just like the problems connected to drugs wouldn't be totally eliminated by their legalization.

[GOAT]

Blarf are you that stupid? Are you going to state that a junkie with an addiction won't do anything at all to get the $$ to buy their drugs? They won't B&E, rob, steal, murder for that high? What fucking delusional world do you live in? Better yet what drugs are you addicted to?

So legalizing it and then what? More junkies running around? So now reg. folks pay so drugs can be cheaper for the junkie? Because yes drugs don't ruin lives, just that damn enforcement! Stupid gov't driving up the prices of heroin, coke, meth, crack etc.

What nonsense.

[GOAT]

Check out Vancouver's East Hastings St and their free needle exchange [[and turning a blind eye to the drug trade) and tell me it has worked there. Because I know people who do live there and it is worse than ever before. A junkie don't give a fuck as long as he has his/her next fix.

[Django]

National Geographic has this episode on a Swiss clinic that offer free heroin in a controlled setting.

Like I tried to explain above, the drugs are very cheap at the source but since there illegal its cost big bucks to have them smuggled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMMFWPl6ue4

Glad to see most of us are on the same page in that the drug war is a failure.

[Blarf]

Blarf are you that stupid? Are you going to state that a junkie with an addiction won't do anything at all to get the $$ to buy their drugs? They won't B&E, rob, steal, murder for that high? What fucking delusional world do you live in? Better yet what drugs are you addicted to?

So legalizing it and then what? More junkies running around? So now reg. folks pay so drugs can be cheaper for the junkie? Because yes drugs don't ruin lives, just that damn enforcement! Stupid gov't driving up the prices of heroin, coke, meth, crack etc.

What nonsense.

- I would rather a junkie/addict have easy, legal, and cheap access to their drug of choice.

- Legalize it and let grown adults put whatever they want into their own bodies. If you think legalizing drugs will result in more junkies, than post your source that proves this theory.

Speaking of nonsense, the current "war on drugs" you support is accomplishing what? I'm so glad drugs are nearly impossible to find.

[Zacha341]

Yeah, you hear arguments to both sides. So what of employer local and state wide... will they be removing the 'drug screening' regimen? Or will the persons who use drugs continue to find themselves outside of the employment realm?

- I would rather a junkie/addict have easy, legal, and cheap access to their drug of choice.

- Legalize it and let grown adults put whatever they want into their own bodies. If you think legalizing drugs will result in more junkies, than post your source that proves this theory.

Speaking of nonsense, the current "war on drugs" you support is accomplishing what? I'm so glad drugs are nearly impossible to find.

[justanotherboy]

You don't see gangs having turf wars and shooting people over a 6 pack of bud light you can buy at Kroger. If you can get your dime bag at a store, no one is going to be shooting up the city and kids will not be selling it out on the corner. The only reason we don't legalize drugs is the morality argument which has no weight since I can go get drunk, gamble and smoke now anyway. If people abuse the drugs, how is it any different than the drunks we have now.

[maxx]

Beer is not as addictive as hard drugs. That's why they're considered controlled substances. If people don't have the money for their "dime bags", they'll do to that store just what they do to other stores. Violence is bad enough in our cities right now. Public health and safety is a bigger concern
than any "morality" you are talking about. Do you know of any coke or heroin or meth addicts who feel that the drugs they take add to the quality of their lives?

[rb336]

. Do you know of any coke or heroin or meth addicts who feel that the drugs they take add to the quality of their lives?

Do you know any alcoholics who do?

[maxx]

Do you know any alcoholics who do?

Of course not. Are there any pure alcoholics left? So because we couldn't criminalize alcohol, we should make matters worse by decriminalizing all drugs? We need to put more money into rehab for addicts, but I don't see anything good coming from legalizing all drugs.

[Corn.Bot]

Of course not. Are there any pure alcoholics left? So because we couldn't criminalize alcohol, we should make matters worse by decriminalizing all drugs? We need to put more money into rehab for addicts, but I don't see anything good coming from legalizing all drugs.

I say legalize recreational drugs, regulate them as is presently done for alcohol and cigarettes [[i.e., users must be 21 or 18 or whatever), and apply similar taxes/tariffs to their purchases/sales which could then could in part be for rehabbing the users. Addicts are not going away. Drugs are not going away. Might as well benefit at least a little by allowing those who are bent on altering their minds to do so.

[Blarf]

Beer is not as addictive as hard drugs. That's why they're considered controlled substances. If people don't have the money for their "dime bags", they'll do to that store just what they do to other stores. Violence is bad enough in our cities right now. Public health and safety is a bigger concern
than any "morality" you are talking about. Do you know of any coke or heroin or meth addicts who feel that the drugs they take add to the quality of their lives?

Like it not, alcohol IS a drug, and a very addictive one. In fact, alcohol is the deadliest and most destructive drug out there. As well as being the gateway drug, alcohol affects people thought processes and behavior unlike any other substance.

You claim to be concerned about "public health", yet you're sitting there pretending alcohol is not a problem. Get real.

[Blarf]

Yeah, you hear arguments to both sides. So what of employer local and state wide... will they be removing the 'drug screening' regimen? Or will the persons who use drugs continue to find themselves outside of the employment realm?

I don't know, ask the employers. I would assume that private companies can make it policy that you can't use even legal substances.

[GOAT]

But as Maxx stated they are not nearly as addictive and self-destructing/community destructing as hard drugs. Hard drugs being, coke, meth, heroin etc. Not pot, alchohol.

[Corn.Bot]

I don't know, ask the employers. I would assume that private companies can make it policy that you can't use even legal substances.

<-- Ask any adult smoker of legal tobacco products about this.

IMO if you are performing your job requirements at least adequately, are not abusing sick time and other perks, you should not have to worry about on-the-job drug testing.

[Django]

I don't see anything good coming from legalizing all drugs.

I thought we went over this, The many thousands of killings every year over drugs because their illegal would stop , cutting prison beds in half, free up our overburdened police, get rid of the DEA, the tax revenue to be had, HIV infection would drop dramatically, free up more money for treatment, put the cartels out of business, I could go on and on.

Legalization or decriminalization is not going to solve the problem, its about harm reduction. The war has created more problems than it has stopped.

Nixon started this war back in the 70s when drugs and hippies went hand and hand, im sure it was very scary for the folks raised in the 40s and 50s. All of a sudden their kids were growing their hair and acting weird at the dinner table with eyes all red. Drugs were new for the most part with the LSD and other psychedelics coming on the scene, seems to me Nixon started this whole thing in reaction to these softer drugs. The harder drugs followed with the CIA bringing them in along with many special forces personnel who basically were given free reign to do what they wanted. When crack hit the streets Regan reinvented the war and its seemed like the best thing to do. Now that we realize that you canot stop supply and demand of something people will pay crazy amounts of money for the war is obviously causing more problems than it is doing good.

What is the main problems with people using drugs, its addiction I think we can all agree. Addiction is a disease according to the AMA. It should be treated as a health issue not a criminal issue, yet we lock up hundreds of thousands of not violent so called drug offenders.

[GOAT]

Disease my ass. I don't give a shit what some medical folks call being so selfish as to destroy their lives and other peoples lives as well. Just like those so-called people who have repressed sexual abuse and then suddenly remember it. You NEVER forget it.

Everything is labeled a disease today so that bleeding hearts and feel-goods can feel goo they are "doing something".

Let me ask you Django, did your past abuse assist in the destruction of your neighbourhood? I'll bet that free couch that it did! And that is the issue we are talking about with legalizing hard drugs.
In fact Amsterdam unfortunately may shut down the coffee shops because the drug trade is escalating even though mj is legal to smoke in those shops [[I am for legalizing pot). Why? Because drug-lords are moving in on those areas.

Imagine what hopped up idiots on heroin or meth would do if it is legalized? Thanks but no thanks. Take the money they are pissing away putting people in jail for a joint and put it towards drug REHAB. That would work wonders.

[Blarf]

But as Maxx stated they are not nearly as addictive and self-destructing/community destructing as hard drugs. Hard drugs being, coke, meth, heroin etc. Not pot, alchohol.

Depends on the person. I know some people who quit all other drugs, but couldn't quit the booze.

Also considering what alcohol does to you physically and mentally, and with it's rate of abuse [[epically among teens and young adults) and addiction, I would personally classify it as a "hard drug".

[GOAT]

Are alcoholics breaking into houses, robbing people, killing people? The effect isn't the same on a community and you former drug abusers know it. Quit spinning it it otherwise.

I'm done withthis thread because the REALITY is the truth. Look outside and tell me different.

[rb336]

Are alcoholics breaking into houses, robbing people, killing people?

Yes, they are. check the BJS

The effect isn't the same on a community and you former drug abusers know it. Quit spinning it it otherwise.

again, more crime and death related to alcohol than illegal drugs. check the BJS

I'm done withthis thread because the REALITY is the truth. Look outside and tell me different.

look at the facts, they back us up. sorry.