Which drugs would you legalize?

[DrGonzo899]

^I... guess... but generally one who would select that option wouldnt be inclined to vote in the first place.

my body, my choice, my life, my soul... YOUR problem

 

[Rhisper]

Legalize it. Don't criticize it.

 

[KStoner6tb]

^I... guess... but generally one who would select that option wouldnt be inclined to vote in the first place.

my body, my choice, my life, my soul... YOUR problem

Hahah what? I'd sell my soul to the Japanese is they made a good offer.

Put a 'none of the above' option box

So yall think your drug use affects just you right? You really think, if they were to leaglize drugs, that health insurance prices wouldn't go through the roof? Health insurance which is already expensive as hell?? Think about shit.

Think outside the box. The easy answer is to just say "yahh legalize it all, it's my body and i can do whatever I want"

 

[morex]

I would also legalize all drugs. I hate drug elitism (especially with potheads saying weed is the miracle drug and isn't bad like "hard drugs").

It's up to you if you want to do drugs, and it makes me furious that there are people in prison right now for "crimes" related to the ingestion of chemicals.

 

[Fjones]

Hahah what? I'd sell my soul to the Japanese is they made a good offer.

Put a 'none of the above' option box

So yall think your drug use affects just you right? You really think, if they were to leaglize drugs, that health insurance prices wouldn't go through the roof? Health insurance which is already expensive as hell?? Think about shit.

Think outside the box. The easy answer is to just say "yahh legalize it all, it's my body and i can do whatever I want"

I am not sure I like the implications of this reasoning. I understand your motivation for thinking this way, but, many diseases are preventable, and many injuries are the result of carelessness or stupidity. We still treat them.

People who sit on the couch and eat poorly and do not exercise are probably the biggest contributors to increasing health care costs. We still treat them for diabetes, heart disease, etc.

Lots of people are hurt doing leisure activities that are not necessary. We still treat them.

So, yes, some people need medical treatment for drug-related problems, and that increases our health care costs. So what? So do all the other things I mentioned.


But most important, your post makes the possible erroneous assumption that legalization would lead to increased use. Who says it would?

Also, one of the main points for legalization is that we might have FEWER problems, because impurities would be less problematic, dosing would be easier, and education and knowledge would be increased.

 

[Process]

All Drugs baby, stop the pointless killing over drugs and pointless Arrests.

I mean it would be safer for EVERYONE. I'd work harder and pay more for my health care if I knew I would not have to put myself in harms way to buy something.

politicians know that if they legalize drugs most of the drug lords pushing this stuff would be no more, but they put a end to their war on drugs they have to admit they were wrong, cant have that.

 

[KStoner6tb]

I am not sure I like the implications of this reasoning. I understand your motivation for thinking this way, but, many diseases are preventable, and many injuries are the result of carelessness or stupidity. We still treat them.

People who sit on the couch and eat poorly and do not exercise are probably the biggest contributors to increasing health care costs. We still treat them for diabetes, heart disease, etc. Lots of people are hurt doing leisure activities that are not necessary. We still treat them.

So, yes, some people need medical treatment for drug-related problems, and that increases our health care costs. So what? So do all the other things I mentioned.


But most important, your post makes the possible erroneous assumption that legalization would lead to increased use. Who says it would?
Also, one of the main points for legalization is that we might have FEWER problems, because impurities would be less problematic, dosing would be easier, and education and knowledge would be increased.

1st: People sympathize with overweight people and the resulting conditions. A lot of people 'are overweight' because of a very busy lifestyle, stress, etc(now I dont believe there is NO way you can change if you want) therefore they gain the general public's support.

Drug users on the other hand are not looked upon in the same light. Even if they were legal, there is still such a conservative base of people who would not even argue those two are one in the same. Drug use is seen more as a 'choice' than cardiovascular problems due to a poor diet/lifestyle.

I know a lot of people in which the whole legality issue keeps them from doing drugs. You think a lot of employers would still test if they were legal?

Now, I do believe in decriminalizing marijuana(which is considered soft) Friend of mine got caught with 1/2 a gram and it really fucked his life up cuz he couldn't afford a lawyer.

Next time you want to try to pick up some health insurance, go ahead and tell the doctor you're a regular cocaine user. Impurities or not, blow(or other stims) is not good for your heart, and you chances of picking up decent coverage without paying $$ out the ass are slim to none. Even if it was legal, I doubt the health warning of said drug would change.

Drugs change people's state of mind, make them do shit they wouldn't do sober. Addiction to hard drugs...ok say Joe has been buying his 'legal heroin' legit and everything, then he loses his job and has no $$ but still wants his dope? NOw what? He's gonna do the same illegal shit to obtain it he would have done if the dope was illegal in the first place.

 

[KStoner6tb]

Yall's best chance for anything to happen was when the most radically liberal canidate in history was elected president, and he wouldn't even TOUCH the pot legalization shit. FAce it, it ain't gonna happen! Go ahead, cry a little if you want.. ...ok now get over it and move on.


I may be the only conservative drug user on this board. Yah, I used drugs, but that dosen't mean I think they should be legal. I don't think that makes me a hypocrite?

 

[jarettscapo]

I wud make marijuana (for obv. reason) and hallucinogens (mush/acid) Legal.

Marijuana cuz its the most safe drug in the world (much better than alcohol/tobacco)

and as for mush and acid i would open a new all night Attraction/Theme where you pay certain money for the ride; you take either your choice and strand of mushrooms or acid with a few friends or a gf or somehting; and you get a room for the night with crazy paint ; trippy movies or someshit like that or in the woods where you can go out and explore for the night. It would definitely be the best Theme Park Ride/Tourist Attraction in the WORLD!!! not to mention it would be the funnest thing ever. Tell me that wouldnt make hella money or that it isnt a good idea and ill tell you that you have no imagination or u dont think for yourself.

whos wit me. lol.

 

[jarettscapo]

I am probably echoing what has been stated by many others. Drugs shouldn't be legalized/illegalized based on harm. All drugs have the ability to cause harm. In a free society, individuals should have the right to decide what they use and don't use- I see this as a fundamental human right. Moreover, and most importantly, the war against drugs has caused much more harm to individuals worldwide than the drugs themselves. I have said this before, and I will say this again, the ultimate form of harm reduction would be to end the World War on Drugs. This is fundamentally a war against individual human beings. In terms of addiction, if you subscribe to the belief that addiction is a disease and that a percentage of users will naturally become addicted to drugs, then subjecting addicts to criminal punishment is tantamount to subjecting a minority group to repression and persecution and doing it in a manner that state sanctioned and socially acceptable. This is just as bad as throwing people in jail for race, religion, or sexual preference would be. The perpetrators of this war are guilty of Crimes Against Humanity.

I am a US citizen, and as such, I can also say that drug prohibition is a violation of founding spirit and principles of this country. A philosophy that values self reliance, limited government, and the rights of man. As such, architects of the drug prohibition in the USA are traitors. Yes, the United States might have played a leading role in perpetrating and perpetuating the War on Drugs and this is why it has an even greater responsibility of being the first country to take a leading role in ending the War on Drugs. I think this would do more, than anything, to repair our image world wide. Too bad I don't see this happening anytime soon or even not so soon.

well said btw. and not for nothing but addiction IS a disease; and drugs, gambling, sex, shopping, etc. is an addicts medicine to their psychological and sometimes physical disease. Is it constitutionally right to be thrown in jail because i have diabetes and i need my insulin? or if im in severe pain is it right to throw me in jail cuz i need my pain meds? no it is not; so whether it be good for my health (insulin) or bad for my health (pain meds/oxy etc) it is a need for my disease or condition. whos right is it to say i dont need my marijuana to get me to sleep wen not even benzos do the trick. it shud be mine; and thats my standing.

 

[RedLeader]

I have to vote for "none." At least from the perpective of an American.

Think about it. If you think America is viewed negatively by the world now, imagine what would happen if we legalized drugs. Career criminals wouldn't just stop being bad. They'd shift ther motives from importing and distributing to exporting the (legal) American drugs to other countries where the drugs are still illegal. The drug users of the world would want the American drugs, as they'd be the most pure as a result of above arguments. Given the amount of exportation of goods America has, this would make the rest of the world paranoid that anything received from America could be hiding drugs. This would be terrible for our trade and our foreign relations, as buyers would turn to other nations to buy comparable goods with a lot less risk. We are NOT in a position right now as a nation to take another huge blow to our economy, and legalizing drugs (even if the taxing profits from doing such existed) would IMO cause a negative net effect on revenue coming from global export buyers into the USA. It's not solely a HR question.

In the case where it was a global question, I'd legalize all, bar possibly PCP.

 

[Process]

I have to vote for "none." At least from the perpective of an American.

Think about it. If you think America is viewed negatively by the world now, imagine what would happen if we legalized drugs. Career criminals wouldn't just stop being bad. They'd shift ther motives from importing and distributing to exporting the (legal) American drugs to other countries where the drugs are still illegal. The drug users of the world would want the American drugs, as they'd be the most pure as a result of above arguments. Given the amount of exportation of goods America has, this would make the rest of the world paranoid that anything received from America could be hiding drugs. This would be terrible for our trade and our foreign relations, as buyers would turn to other nations to buy comparable goods with a lot less risk. We are NOT in a position right now as a nation to take another huge blow to our economy, and legalizing drugs (even if the taxing profits from doing such existed) would IMO cause a negative net effect on revenue coming from global export buyers into the USA. It's not solely a HR question.

In the case where it was a global question, I'd legalize all, bar possibly PCP.

^^^^ it would would have to be a global effort, or at least all of the US allies, then we would not have any of those issues....

 

[Process]

The reason why some drugs should have a special legal status is that they may cause addiction, in effect forcing the user to consume them against their will. Thus, the sale of addictive substances may be seen as a violation of the user's rights by the dealer.

But even so, the user would be a victim, not a criminal, and many forbidden drugs today have low risks of addiction so they shouldn't be illegal in the first place.

Thats bull shit....I rather be a addict coping from a safe store then a fucking dealer whos going to exploit you and even end up murdering you one of these days, fuck all that bs

Theres addicts now with it illegal....

 

[Too many doses]

Again any naysayers to legalization tell me one downside of heroin that's worse than it's prohibition, and don't say OD as if it were legal and not stigmatized the ratio of all users to those that OD would go down(not overall but percentage wise).

 

[RedLeader]

^^^^ it would would have to be a global effort, or at least all of the US allies, then we would not have any of those issues....

Of course, that's what I meant. Actually, I think it would have to be a global effort.

Case-in-point: Saudi Arabia. I have a friend who works as a contractor in Saudi Arabia, where alcohol is illegal, and we've had this conversation. Now all of the alochol currently in Saudi Arabia comes to be by either 1) it being processed within Saudi Arabia or 2) smuggled in from other countries. Now given what we know about prohibition, namely that it caused alcohol to be much more dangerous because it was being produced in backwoods Kentucky "clandestinely," it makes sense that the majority of alcohol in SA is smuggled in. People will pay a premium to have a bottle of Smirnoff illegally imported than drink what's being produced at the nearest farm.

Now alcohol smuggling is pretty much a "pay them off" type of deal, since think about it - alcohol's not exactly the size of heroin. But my point is that even if the USA did not trade with SA (we do, but assume we don't), we know that some of our European allies do. Every country in the world has heroin and heroin addicts, including SA, so our allies would be forced to suffer trade blows analagous to the case I made above for USA if they legalize like we do. Because if we're producing pharmecuitical heroin, you had better believe that every country in the world will contain enough addicts to establish criminal ties to any of the given legalization nations.

The result would be that the countries that chose not to legalize (and come on, 30-50% of the countries in this world would NEVER even consider legalizing drugs) would begin to trade more amongst each other. They would become ostricized financially from the countries which did legalize, and this in turn would create economic, policial and social sentiments. Furthermore, even if trade ceases, the addicts in the ostricized countries will want our heroin still. With no trade, how does the heroin get there? Drug mules? Pretty soon there would be travel restrictions and such. In would be a step in the reverse direction from global cohesiveness, and just IMO not be a smart move for the leading countries of the world.

So in theory, this would work if every country would be up for it. But practically, given the fact that there are enough countries which would never work with us on this, I cannot be in favor of legalization. I know the ills of illegalization within our own culture are very bad (as many have pointed out), but this would be a whole new realm of chaos.

 

[Fjones]

Redleader makes some good points about the global issue that I had not previously considered.

However, I choose to approach this question from the hypothetical scenario of a unified global drug policy.

So, I stay with my original answer of "all."

 

[Candy_Raver]

I'd say MDMA(ecstasy) imagine if everyone who drinks alcohol in a social setting pop a roll instead. Nobody will ever get in a fight again, as it sometimes happens when people who are on alcohol, which is legal. We will all have peace, love, unity, and respect for everyone.

-PLUR

 

[DrGonzo899]

^Doesnt have to be legal when you look at it that way, does it? Just drug the water supply!

People sympathize with overweight people and the resulting conditions. A lot of people 'are overweight' because of a very busy lifestyle, stress, etc(now I dont believe there is NO way you can change if you want) therefore they gain the general public's support.

Sounds like someone is defending SOMETHIIIING, KSTONER. We need to take responsibility for our own personal actions, I dont need Big Brother telling me I'm fat, I smoke too much, drink too much or shoot too much dope. As long as i pay my taxes and dont cause any problems whoooooooo careS?

 

[koalakoala]

I find it interesting that there has been what I regard as a shift in public opinion on this matter, at least among some social strata and in some countries. In the UK in particular, there have appeared a lot of articles in mainstream publications advocating a total legalisation of all drugs (just google 'Economist' 'war on drugs' f.ex.), and several high-profile public figures, like a former Professor at the LSE, have also spoken out in favour of this. Also in the US, as this thread and articles in the media (although admittedly the liberal sort) illustrate, this debate has become more seriously considered by 'mainstream' groups. Interestingly, in continental Europe, however, where I currently reside, this issue is not in the public sphere at all, even the debate about cannabis has totally ground to a halt. When I recently spoke with a friend about this subject, and explained at some length the pro-legalisation argument (basically in the form of what The Economist argues), he was, to put it mildly, very surprised. I then emailed him a few articles from the aforementioned paper and mainstream German newspapers to make sure he doesn't think I'm nuts...

 

[demon66]

I think all drugs should be legal. Depends what you mean by legal. People who posses a small amount of any drug should not be persecuted for personal consumption. Legal does not mean that they should be sold at every 7-11 and gas station like cigs. It does not mean that they should be promoted through aggresive advertising campaigns. My point is that if someone has a small amount of their drug of choice for personal use in a safe environment, they should not get in trouble for this. Arguably the law is like this were I live in the US.

BTW the Czech Republic just legalized all drugs in small amounts and set posession limits on the major ones. I think Holland has similiar laws