How to stop the drug wars

[wolfman97]

I think that they should legalise drugs that tend to not be too addictive, well at least not physically addictive. Like marijuana, LSD, MDMA , ketamine and a bunch of other RC's (2C-C, 2C-I, DOB, DOI etc). I think there are alot of substances out there that a large population can use safely and not have the associated risks or health problems that other drugs have like meth, crack or heroin etc. I know for a fact that if I could buy pharmacutical (sic) grade MDMA, LSD etc and could buy qaulity weed I wouldn't even bother looking for anything else. The thing is half the time Im chasing a hit of acid or a pill all I can find is meth or other stuff I dont really want as much. But it exposes me to these substances and Im definately more likely to try them.

In conclusion I dont think that making heroin or crack or even meth is a good thing to do. But, they should definately legalise almost all of the rest. Plus they need to break the social tabboo of drug use in the community. And steer in the direction of consumer education and harm reduction.

Read the first several chapters at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm In short, all of these drugs were on sale without any restrictions at all at one time. Kids could buy them. There were no laws on labeling or advertising. People didn't even know what they were taking and the makers often advertised that their concoction would cure any illness had by you or your mule.

Even under those conditions, these drugs were not considered to be a major problem and there was no movement to get them outlawed, as there was with alcohol.

The problems didn't start until 1915, when the prohibition law went into effect.

 

[wolfman97]

Great article, I wonder what prohibitionist people think when they read articles such as this? Do you think a lifetime of brainwashing causes them to shrug off common sense or do you think alot of people aren't exposed to this side of the argument?
Maybe we need to make society in general more aware of these statistics.

Many prohibitionists are deliberately ignorant. They don't read such things because it would interfere with their belief in the crusade. It isn't about a rational approach for many people. It is closer to a holy crusade and they will flatly deny anything that conflicts with their pre-conceived notions.

After years of dealing with them, I have come to the conclusion that, for a lot of them, it simply amounts to brain damage. There are some things that their brains just can't process - like some people can't do algebra.

 

[Huaca]

When prohibition of alcohol ended there was an immediate slight increase in usage then alcohol use actually declined. If prohibition of drugs comes to an end there won't be vast numbers of new users. Governments have not been successful at changing peoples' behavior so, prohibition or not, the number of users won't change much at all. Good article. All drugs should be legal, but plants and dried plants should not be taxed.

 

[bulldog8b]

Hmm.. i can easily see marijuana getting legalized in parts of U.S. and U.K. within a reasonable time period, maybe followed by legalization of shrooms and lsd. As far as hard drugs being legalized.. I just don't see it happening. Common sense just won't play a role here, that's how I see it.

Right. There isn't a politician on Earth that would be willing to stand up and actually make a rational argument about it. They are only worried about polls, donations to their campaigns and re-election. Thus, not a single one will ever actually do anything that would improve the situation.

 

[Cyrus]

Thanks very much for this reply. It's not that i was disputing it, i just wondered if anyone could shed some light on the subject for me, and this helps a lot. I think also that a big problem is how much society looks down upon heroin users. This stops people talking about it with friends or family and often means the only people they hang about with are heroin addicts and it just becomes a lifestyle. If people didn't have to hide their drug use in this way and it didn't put them in a position where they only spent time with other users i think it would help avoiding addiction. So with this said i think legalisation would be a positive thing. If society says if you use heroin you're a bad person then once you try it you may believe this of yourself, and low self esteem doesn't help at all when trying to avoid dependence.

hmm reading this post made me think if legislation dictates morality or is it the other way around?

 

[Changed]

perfect. I'm doing a speech for public speaking on legalization- this will surely help.

 

[blau1005]

Interesting article. I wonder though, does the cost of health care for tobacco related illnesses outweigh the taxes received on tobacco?

 

[Care]

I love that this was in the Economist, which is typically pretty conservative.

Maybe fiscally conservitave.... but most social issues they cover seem pretty in line with this article.