^ Many people don't get into drugs until after their teens, which, from a harm minimisation POV, most would agree is a good thing
Do you think the age that people start using drugs would lower or be higher if they were legal from the age of 18?
I didn't start using drugs (Apart from our favourite herb) until I was 19. I had been drinking since I was 14 though. And heavily drinking from the age of 15. I worry for the damaging affects of drugs on devolping minds far more then I do for Adults.
I think if people were educated well on the affects of drugs through highschool you would have a positive outcome. We had sex-ed through highschool, why not alcohol and drug-ed. If people were told out right the very real side affects from early drug use I believe most people would still steer right clear of them until there adult life.
Even weed I knew very little about it when I first tried it at the age of 15 going on 16, knowing that for some people it can be very damaging I think most teens would still steer clear or at least have it in mediocrity. Rather then having nearly no clue about it, trying it and loving it and deciding that scare campaigns are a joke.
Scare campaigns should be a thing of the past, the key is to be informed and honest, once you realise you can't trust a thing you here from the government funded scares it gets hard to distinguish between the less and more harmful. I was 20 when I found out that speed and Ice were one in the same just of much higher purity.
I agree that most people if ecstasy was decriminlised they would try to stay away from RC's that are shittier replica's. But on the flipside the MD drought would have still had the same impact because there is little MDMA to be found. RC's concern me, but their name RESEARCH Chemical should give them more trialling then we currently have. England had legal 4-MMC for quite a long time whilst it was already Illegal in Aus due to our over the top analogue laws. The attitude "It might be dangerous, it should be illegal" isn't the correct way to handle it. It should get more trials in controlled environments over an extended period. An expensive but potentially brilliant way to change the drug war without stopping it.
If ecstasy was
legal when I started using it, I easily could've E-tarded myself good and proper for... I dunno how long. But if the education was in place I would've understood then need for moderation towards it much more. It's not like alcohol where you can binge on it one night and then re-binge the next night and get just as drunk the next time. No one wants to "lose the magic" when it comes to ecstasy.
Having said all this, it was trying ecstasy that made me wish to pursue much more drug use and experiment with all sorts. I don't wanna use the "gateway" drug term, but to some level it's true. If they legalied ecstasy alot of people would very much intend to try there Illegal counterparts. Anything from MDEA/MDA/4-MMC to the 2C-x's. It's human nature to explore the things we enjoy. I discovered my love for ecstasy and it's gatewayed me to explore other drugs.
End Rant haha.
Party Safe =)