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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 1:19:06 PM | I absolutely believe in decriminalization,
that's an admirable thought if you are prepared to pay the price to support rehab and consequences of long term effects including genetic changes in humans.
The application for the purpose to ease pain for the terminally ill and or those people past their reproductive years is an entirely different matter.
Schizophrenia is a disease which tends to show symptoms in late teens early 20's if one has a genetic predisposition.
While mental illnesses have been around as long as we have and the 'defect causes' may be varied, the natural evolutionary process reduced the genetic passing on of such genes. We have altered that by modern humanitarian application of medicine and that may be one reason for an increase occurrence today, but most certainly many other new environmental changes (too many to list here) are known to have been contributing as have the use of drugs. Despite proponents claims that drugs are harmless the medical profession differs in their findings and in my opinion their arguments are less biased and for most part based on scientific fact. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 1:25:08 PM | I try to avoid the semantics game, but I must take slight exception to the title of your topic because government lawyers certainly would use such vaguenesses to help Big Brother keep its boot on your throat (while stealing more & more legitimate income from people who are no longer "criminals" but still can be fined to the tits).
No, it is not time to decriminalize all drugs. That would allow organized crime (i.e. government and its cronies) to maintain control over the market and continue pushing the kinds of dangerous substances that under free market conditions would find little to no demand from people who could purchase safer alternatives. Most crack addicts, f'rinstance, will tell you that they could stay away from smoking rock if they could find reliable access to an affordable supply of high-quality marijuana. It is the people who would deny them or anyone else such legal (not decriminalized) access who are unethical and inhumane. Trying to legislate out of existence non-fraudulent behaviour is barbaric.
Bottom line: in a civilized society, no drug's production or consumption is either illegal or restricted by government-license scams of medical prescription. People once could buy morphine over the counter at pharmacies, and problems with addiction were minimal; only when government intervened to increase its murderous control of everyone's lives did morphine and its killer cousin heroin become force-fed to society by underworld types who care nothing for product safety or business ethics (which then allowed government to invent new "crimes" to tighten its stranglehold on everyone). A similar claim is valid about large pharmaceutical corporations that have worked hand-in-glove with government to instill socialist monopolies over so-called patentable medicines (do a search on the terms "Essiac" and "Rene Caisse" and don't even get me started on the need to destroy all patent systems).
Legalize, not decriminalize. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 2:03:01 PM |
that's an admirable thought if you are prepared to pay the price to support rehab and consequences of long term effects including genetic changes in humans.
The application for the purpose to ease pain for the terminally ill and or those people past their reproductive years is an entirely different matter.
To think that we don't already pay the price to support rehab and the consequences of long term effects is ridiculous.
Holy hannah, there are already long term chronic users of everything out there for us to "study".
Take a look at the inordinate amount of FAS children/adults out there. I wonder which study could relate that to bi polar and schizophrenia? Someone already summed up the one fact that has been around longer than any marijuana studies, schizophrenia often comes to light in late teens and then again, believe it or not, mid forties. That research has been around for decades.
Seriously the problem will not start and end with criminalize or decriminalizing the substance. It is going to come with healing society.
If it being illegal was a deterrent we wouldn't be faced with the problem we have.
It is really frightening and what is even more frightening is the "reefer madness" philosophies that are being expressed out here. We have to come up with some viable solutions which are going to begin with educational programming at a very early level.
Where do you suppose the funding will come for this ???? Anyone???? | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 2:21:43 PM | Worldscollide: Reefer madness or not, it's happening. Genetic predisposition is one thing and young adults can develop Psychosis , Schizophrenia or a Bi-Polar Disorder without ever having a single toke. Also, there are lots of kids out there who do smoke a lot of marijuana and never develop psychiatric problems...but does that mean that it's good for them??? Even with the lighter stuff that was around when I was a kid and young adult, there were kids who were brilliant in grade 7 who smoked so much dope in high school that they either dropped out and went to work in sawmills or just barely managed to graduate. Nothing against sawmill workers but these guys should have gone on to university because they had the potential to do that but their pot smoking resulted in them lacking the motivation to do that.
For the kids who do develop psychiatric disorders, which the medical experts are saying is a direct result of their marijuana use, do you want to tell them about what about what you perceive as "reefer madness"? Personally, I'd rather support them in not smoking marijuana so that they can learn to live with their lifelong disability and one of the things that they need to do to stay sane is to avoid the use of marijuana. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 2:22:04 PM | | An excellent proposal like self trepanation with a spoon to replace a badly functioning brain with a scrumptious cauliflower! | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 2:34:49 PM | It's really a tough call and there's no easy answers or quick fixes. Personally, I don't partake in any drug use myself (I don't even drink) and I think ingesting hard drugs like heroin, meth and crack is one of the stupidest and most destructive things a person can do.
Now I'm not necessarily saying we SHOULD legalize (hard) drugs, but to those of you who think continued criminalization is the way to deal with the problem, I would ask you this:
What evidence do you have that this approach has been successful? I mean, we've been waging a war on drugs for many years now and what have we got to show for it, except for more violent crime, overcrowded prisons, law enforcement corruption, thriving organized crime, and untold numbers of addicts with no decent chance of getting clean. Who knows how many of those there are who want to get help and treatment but are afraid to come forward out of fear of being charged with a crime?
The sad fact is that most of the violence surrounding the drug trade isn't due to drugs themselves, but the fact that they're illegal. It works like this: Whenever there's a demand for something (be it drugs, sex for a price, guns, or whatever) and the government makes it illegal, it doesn't make the demand go away. All it does drive the market underground, putting it in the hands of organized crime. And in the case of drugs, the effect this has is to artificially inflate the price due to the risks involved in producing and selling it. So then what you have is addicts robbing and stealing and women, like those on Vancouver's downtown eastside who resort to prostitution to support an increasingly expensive habit. And organized crime can charge whatever they want for their product, because they know the people who buy from them have no recourse. And all the shootings and gang warfare surrounding the drug trade are because they can't resolve their disputes by legal means, so they draw their guns instead.
Does all of this sound familiar? It should. How quick we are to forget history and the lesson we should have learned from alcohol prohibition which had no effect on alcohol consumption and produced the same disastrous results
Once again, I'm not necessarily saying some drugs should be legal, but I would question those who support criminalization to consider just how drugs being illegal has helped this whole sorry situation. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 5:01:17 PM | Message 31 underlines why decriminalizing all drugs is the only real way to control drug addiction, imo.
""The sad fact is that most of the violence surrounding the drug trade isn't due to drugs themselves, but the fact that they're illegal. It works like this: Whenever there's a demand for something (be it drugs, sex for a price, guns, or whatever) and the government makes it illegal, it doesn't make the demand go away. All it does drive the market underground, putting it in the hands of organized crime. And in the case of drugs, the effect this has is to artificially inflate the price due to the risks involved in producing and selling it. So then what you have is addicts robbing and stealing and women, like those on Vancouver's downtown eastside who resort to prostitution to support an increasingly expensive habit. And organized crime can charge whatever they want for their product, because they know the people who buy from them have no recourse. And all the shootings and gang warfare surrounding the drug trade are because they can't resolve their disputes by legal means, so they draw their guns instead.""
""How quick we are to forget history and the lesson we should have learned from alcohol prohibition which had no effect on alcohol consumption and produced the same disastrous results.""
""we've been waging a war on drugs for many years now and what have we got to show for it, except for more violent crime, overcrowded prisons, law enforcement corruption, thriving organized crime, and untold numbers of addicts with no decent chance of getting clean. Who knows how many of those there are who want to get help and treatment but are afraid to come forward out of fear of being charged with a crime?""
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 7:42:37 PM |
""How quick we are to forget history and the lesson we should have learned from alcohol prohibition which had no effect on alcohol consumption and produced the same disastrous results.""
Indeed, a halfhearted undertaking that resulted in putting more money into "special hands".
In reality all societies pay a high price for the effects of alcohol use, drunk driving to name but one...
Crime and substance abuse are part of humanity so are power games and politics. Utopian it may be, but with the right incentives of society and their government these matters may be reduceable to acceptable levels. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/13/2008 8:06:57 PM | | The drug that has always been legal yet costs the most to society in the way of healthcare costs and lost time from work and premature deaths due to cancers, heart disease, strokes and COPD is nicotine. This is still a legal drug. It is illegal to sell it to or buy cigarettes for people under 19 but it is not illegal for people under 19 to smoke them. There are getting to be lots of provincial laws, municipal bylaws and WCB regulations governing where people can smoke and who can be around when they do, due to the health risks involved but it is interesting that we are having a discussion about legalizing drugs at the same time that a legal drug is being further regulated. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/14/2008 12:22:54 AM | Celticlass2- I have to wonder if you are an Ayn Rand fan.
You actually have been strengthening the argument that drug use is a social problem, not a criminal one. Do you think that if it was illegal for someone under 19 to smoke, that it would stop them, when it's illegal for them to buy them now? They'd get them the same way they are doing now. I live beside a high school, these kids get them, legality be damned. I don't want kids to smoke or do drugs or drink, and I support every measure that can help them not go down that path (barring jail). But some people are just dead set on doing something anyway, for whatever personal reason/justification they have. There's been a lot of education but teens are still doing things they've been taught not to do. Is throwing them in juvie going to be the answer? It hasn't worked for most of those who go in for crimes against others, much less themselves.
For adults, the bottom line is, if someone wants to do drugs, or smoke, or drink, they are going to do it regardless of if it's illegal or not. Having a society that denies the individual personal liberty is not something I want to see in my lifetime, I'd prefer to make my own choices and accept my own consequences. I find it most insulting that someone else with little to know knowledge of what is important to me, decides what is right for me. I can respect someone's PERSONAL view of hating drugs or alcohol or smoking, but the second they look disapprovingly at me because I'm going outside away from them to have a cigarette, I figure I don't need to have anything to do with them, because it strikes me as being a bit controlling. I can accept the consequences of someone choosing to have nothing to do with me if my having the occasional rum and coke offends their sensibilities. It would probably benefit us both in the long run.
There's a line between 'I don't like this thing that you do' and 'you can't do this thing because I disapprove of it'.
That's really what all the hot topics come down to. Abortion, drugs, smoking, drinking, and it was that way not such a long time ago with homosexuality (google Stonewall!). These things come down to either 'let a person have control over their own lives, bodies, and choices' or 'let the vox populi determine what is best for someone they don't even know'. I prefer to have control over my own life and choices, and bear the responsibilities thereof. Oddly enough, I am not the only one. Some of us are kind of funny that way. Some of us don't really care about getting a bachelor's degree so that we can become mid level managers. Some of us enjoy doing simple physical work. Some people don't even have a lot of ambition, and enjoy an uncomplicated life.
I would make no such assumption that I know 'better' for anybody beyond myself. I surely wouldn't condone locking someone in prison if they did drugs and I personally happen to hate drugs. Yes they have a high rate of being harmful. It's really awful how some lives are nearly destroyed by them. But punishing people is not going to help matters. There's many reasons why it makes things worse. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/14/2008 7:37:00 AM |
Legalize, not decriminalize...
...Your post is advocating there is a difference?
Yes, there is.
Legalization, means not only removing criminal penalties but also that the government oversees its production and distribution and collects a specific tax on it -- ie; "sin tax" just like alcohol is now. Decriminalization just means repealing the laws that make it illegal and government has no more control or taxation powers over it than most other consumer products. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/15/2008 11:50:17 PM | Close, Shadow Man, but not quite on the button.
Decriminalization lets government perpetuate a colossal fraud against society by maintaining control over supply channels -- allowing its underworld cohorts to conduct business while it conducts a so-called "war" against competition to those cohorts -- even as it changes the status of any consumer caught with drugs from "possibly headed for jail where the state would be required to divert some of its ill-gotten proceeds of taxation theft for housing/feeding another prisoner" to "ripe for fining into poverty and swelling those ill-gotten proceeds even more to society's detriment." Decriminalization is a win-win for government and only government, based on swindling the public to walk into more (and more and more) dirty socialist traps that add up and inevitably culminate in totalitarianism before most people realize what's happened.
Legalization, at least in a civilized society, means that government gets what it deserves: nothing, nothing, nothing. No thugs with badges generating fines for theft-revenue, no regulation & taxation theft-revenue through "government licensed" stores -- nothing. Of course, even with legalization government would almost certainly try to defraud the public by treating all those other drugs like it currently treats alcohol & tobacco -- that is, acting unethical like every government throughout history, creating yet more fraudulent legislation to punish by regulation/taxation non-fraudulent human behaviour. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/16/2008 7:32:47 AM | How quick we are to forget history and the lesson we should have learned from alcohol prohibition which had no effect on alcohol consumption and produced the same disastrous results.
Actually, proponents of decriminalizing do not learn very well from history. Making Heroin available to addicts in the UK was a disaster . What happened was the huge numbers of disaffected youth that each population manages to raise, merely found communities of users with open arms waiting to offer them an escape from the pain of growing up. Too large a number of people began to tune in, turn off, and become useless to themselves, their families, and the larger society. The plan had to be scrapped.
There are a few interesting facts to consider....
Millions uppon millions of research dollars have gone into this subject. One of the few things research consistently shows us is that the #1 predictor of drug use (and abuse) is availability. Increased availability and lower cost predicts greater drug abuse. Another reserarch finding is that most drug education programs do not work prophylactically in that these programs tend not to prevent young people from trying drugs.
My personal experience is that some drugs can make the user unpredictable and dangerous to be around. I feel that excessive use of cocaine, crystal meth, or PCP can have this result. Others may differ with my opinion, as this is not something I found in bone fide research.
I'm not saying the fix for the "social problem" of drug abuse is simple... far from it!! But I'm also not sure decriminalizing all drugs is part of the solution.
I think rather that whatever people are trying to fix with street drugs is either "not immediately fixable" or can better be dealt with using approved, controlled, prescription drugs available from a licensed doctor. I also consider a fact that in some places in rural Canada, life for youth is so disheartening that young people turn in large numbers to solvent abuse -- which involves perfectly legal substances. Inhaling solvents is incredibly destructive. Surely there are better alternative drugs available in any pharmacy. But perhaps for the youth who choose to inhale solvents -- drugs might not be "the answer". There are social intervention programs I can conceive of which could possibly help reduce the incidence of self-destructive "escape behavior" in the communities where it flourishes.
This is a complex topic. A wide range of problem behaviors is involved and perhaps should not be categorized together in one category as "drug abuse". I don't think any one simple action will "fix" the problem of drug abuse. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/16/2008 5:32:26 PM | "Decriminalize" versus "legalize."
This would be a great high school or college debate topic. I seem to think that there is a difference. Let's look at drugs that are available only by prescription. Those are "legal" drugs, but their dispersion is tightly controlled. Failing to disperse those drugs--to prescribe them, in other words--is a criminal act that can result in jail time for both the one who prescribes them illegally and the one who uses them illegally.
I assume the original intent of this forum was to make drugs like marijuana and hashish and cocaine legal. Well, there was a time in the U.S. when all of them were legal (remember one of the ingredients in the original Coka Cola pop?) Even alcohol is a legal drug that is tightly controlled and equally abused, thus making it a legal drug with criminal potential.
Making an illegal drug legal without strict controls on those who prescribe the drug and those who use the drug is folly. Could it work otherwise? I think the possibility is there but I doubt any politician in any country has the stomach to make it go.
Making pot legal just so you can enjoy the weed is stupid and that won't happen. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 7/16/2008 9:30:16 PM | What does decriminalization really mean? Drug use is a social problem...ding...ding. So what would be the benefits of decriminalization? The bigger question is whether or not our world would be a better...safer place...with a higher quality of life for all, if drugs were decriminalized. I personally don't think that decriminalization would have this effect. If anyone can provide an argument as to why they think that being able to get drugs from a pharmacy rather than from a drug dealer with a lot of tax being paid on top of it would be beneficial, please let me know. The drug dealer would stay in business because their drugs would be cheaper and more easily available 24/7 for one. Who would be supplying the pharmacy besides drug dealers anyway? Do you really think that the pharmaceutical companies are going to start cooking crystal meth or crack in their labs so that they can sell them to the drug stores to sell at a higher price than what they are currently being sold for? What would the warning label on that product look like? (Picture of a brain with holes in it...can I have some??? Please???).
Hey Worldscollide, I'm not sure of the place that Objectivism has in this argument. If you can elaborate, that would be great. I am definately very liberal, which is part of what they postulate. What I really think of Ayn Rand and others who have radical philosophical views that really don't go anywhere, is that she and her colleagues may have been smoking too much dope (opium or marijuana) while developing their theories. People have such great ideas when they are under the influence which make such perfect sense at the time but once they are no longer stoned, they can't remember why they made so much sense and as far as being able to explain these to others, they just can't seem to make their ideas clear to others even though they make perfect sense to them.
Kids will smoke regardless of the law...in fact some will smoke just because they are told that they can't. But having such a law tells them that we care about whether or not they fill their lungs with toxins. All you old smokers can do what you want...and you will...and I feel a lot of compassion for you rather than judge you. I quit 8 years ago (my personal choice) because I wanted to be able to breath...when my Dad went on oxygen...because he had smoked from the age of 10 and at 67, his lungs had packed it in. That was enough to make me quit. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/17/2008 8:05:24 PM | | I believe it is. It will never happen though for so many reasons. One thing people dont know is a lot of addicts abuse law enforcement to support a drug habit. People who have addictions can go to school (considering they can afford it) for police training. If you were a cop you could be doing the best job there is, meanwhile on the side, visit the dirty end of town and confiscate peoples drugs. I used to go behind the Ivanhoe hotel in vancouver when I was a kid. Me and my friends would be looking at the graffiti there and we would walk way back in the fields behind the buildings. Wed see drug addicts back there all the time. Once we saw two cops sitting on the ground shooting up. No joke. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/18/2008 11:28:11 PM | I agree with you that decriminalization is the answer. Marijauna, especially, should have been decriminalized by now. It almost was except Bush and his cohorts put pressure on Canada to agree with him quelcing the bill. Heroin also should be decriminalied otherwise drug users will just find their heroin in some back alley. I do not think crack cocaine, cocaine, ecstasy and crystal meth should be decriminalized. They do too much damage to the body.
There are many high functioning addicts in the business world. I know as I have met them. They are not leading criminal lifestyles.
I knew of one girl who developed schizophrenia from alcohol bingeing and smoking pot. I found it tragic however it is reversible if she quits bingeing and smoking pot. I knew of another person who became bipolar from drugs.
I support the use of medical marijauna in cases of need. Glaucoma patients, chemotherapy patients, patients who need to decrease their pain threshhold: all these cases could be given medical marijauna.
The Harper Government believes that law enforcement and prisons are the answer for drug users. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Prisons are rampant with drug use including prison guards. Law enforcement is too heavy on punishment for drug users and too light on rehabilitation for them. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/19/2008 9:21:16 PM | I agree with you that decriminalization is the answer. Marijuana, especially, should have been decriminalized by now.
Negative. More Evidence has been surfacing that Marijuana induces Psychosis in a Number of long-term Users and should remain part of the Categorization of the same legal Treatment as Hard Core Drugs, although nowhere near as dangerous as Cocaine, Heroin and Crystal Meth. Decriminalization has little to do with anything, in that a User caught with a Quantity under a legally prescribed Limit will get a hefty Fine and no Criminal Record instead off being placed on Probation or Time in Jail. Decriminalization is not Legalization, its just a different Way of Punishment to the benefit of the Public Purse.
Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
...According to the U.S. Department of Justice, as of June 30, 2007, American prisons and jails held 2,299,116 inmates.
...The United States spends an estimated $60 billion each year on corrections. It costs an average of $88 dollars a day per prisoner.
First of all I doubt very much that more than 20% of those Incarcerations are actual Drug Possession Convictions, and I bet less than 5% of those which would otherwise fit the Decriminalization Parameters.
Decriminalization affects Possession of small Quantities of restricted Substances, not Drug Dealers, or heavy Brain damaging Drugs such as Crystal Meth. Further, these 60 Billion Dollars in Corrections are not actual Drug Dealing/Possession Convictions, but other Crimes committed while under the Influence of Drugs. Thus Decriminalization does not deter drug Use or Crimes committed while under the Influence.
While Decriminalization could cut Incarceration Costs and line the Gov't Coffers with Fines for Drug Possessions to some Degree, I doubt these legal Maneuvers have any marked Effect on Corrections. Further, legal Technicalities do not deter Drug Usage unless Users are threatened with Indonesian Style Death Penalties.
Even if Decriminalization became Law, those not paying their hefty Court Fines will be arrested and jailed for at least 30 Days before seeing the Judge again to present a Solution for Payment. Your Hard Core Drug Addict may never see the Light past the Steel Bars again, but not because he was convicted of Drug Usage, but because his Addiction never leaves him a Dime left over to pay the Court Fines. Changes in Legalities would be silly at best, and probably not implemented for the same Reasons.
A Criminal Record may deter Drug use, Decriminalization doesn't, and I always go with the Deterrent. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/21/2008 6:40:29 AM | There are many MANY people, professionals as well, yes doctors lawyers and all, who smoke pot, especially here in BC. They are high functioning and do not lead criminal lifestyles.
But wait! Assume that smoking pot in BC is illegal (I don't know the laws). If that is the case, isn't a doctor or a lawyer or anyone who smokes pot in BC "leading a criminal lifestyle?" Smoking an illegal substance is illegal and while it's not in the same boat as homicide, it is still a criminal lifestyle. It would be an easy case to make in a debate. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/21/2008 4:08:14 PM | Marijuana is also the cause of many depressive symptoms, personality disorder symptoms, and other mental health issues in long term users. If you end up being referred to a psychiatrist and you haven't been sober from marijuana for a while, they WILL tell you to stop for at least 2 weeks to see if your symptoms subside. Pot is not as harmless as people like to think. On top of tampering with the receptors in your brain, people often forget that the stuff is also getting in to your lungs. Just because there isn't formaldehyde or battery acid as in cigarettes, doesn't mean smoke from marijuana is harmless either.
There are, as of right now, no sufficient long term studies on the health affects of marijuana use. By sufficient, I mean using not only a large group of subjects but also placebos, double blind studies, etc. and stretching over many years - if not decades. The pot we have now is, undoubtedly, different than the pot they smoked in the 60s, making it hard for researchers to give out solid answers.
There are many MANY people, professionals as well, yes doctors lawyers and all, who smoke pot, especially here in BC. They are high functioning and do not lead criminal lifestyles.
Anyone who willfully and repeatedly goes against the laws of the land is living a criminal life style. When you speed, you're breaking the law and as such could be defined as a criminal. When you drink and drive, you are breaking the law and could be defined as a criminal. When you smoke pot where doing so is illegal, you are breaking the law. No matter what the severity, going against the laws of the land makes you a criminal.
Furthermore, in regards to the legality of pot and whether it should be made entirely legal, like cigarettes or alcohol, or have restrictions put upon it (such as now), my opinion would be: I am against the legalization and the decriminalization of marijuana. There are too many unknowns and questions unanswered as to the long term side effects, not only health wise by culturally, that I think it is not in our best interest to make it so. | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/21/2008 4:51:36 PM | There are many MANY people, professionals as well, yes doctors lawyers and all, who smoke pot, especially here in BC.
"Hey Man ... like ... I think ya got the flu or sumthing. Here, take sum of these Pills and call me in the Morning"
Raising the Bar of Medical Care? | |
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| Is it time to decriminalize all drugs?
Posted: 9/23/2008 7:11:29 AM | Decriminalize all drugs??? are you on drugs??
Seriously I think most drugs especially hard drugs need to be eradicated. Some however such as naturally grown drugs should eventually become legalized. I am not into it myself but I feel its about as safe as or safer than alcohol to the human body.
The main difference is the Gov. gets taxes from alcohol and none from Mary Jane. Also during prohibition in USA we were still supplying alcohol which most likely was a huge sore point for the American Gov. so crossing that line with pot would probably not bode well for them and relations between our countries.
Seeing todays youth smokin 24/7 is equivilant to seeing them drinking non stop. Yes the pot today is more potent than 10 years ago and when we were young it was a weekend bender or party fun that we did it. Moderation is key for any recreational substance (alcohol included) and thus each substance should be viewed for its properties and recreational value (if any) .
Preception of what drugs can do is part of why some are soo against them. When you see a teen wasted all the time on pot you see it for its negative effects and rationalize it is ba for everyone, but the same can go for alcohol, gambling, overeating, smoking, internet surfing and sex. Each is an addiction for some and at its worst it will make even Mark Emery want a ban on it in some form.
Give the youth knowledge and time to understand it. If it's legalized then they should be waiting till 19 to have it just like alcohol. | |
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