Recreational Drugs.

[Strong Atheist]

Poll question: Recreational Drugs.

Usually I have strong opinions about almost all important subjects, but this is one of two subjects that I don't know what to think.

Recreational drugs have been around since dirt, so there is no getting rid of them in that sense, and some are easy to grow/come by. Lots of people like them, so it is also hard to prohibit for that reason. When I was younger, I wanted to try hallucinogens (for the experiences), but got scared of them as I got older, so I have never gotten into any illegal substance.

On the other hand, I really don't care what other people do, as long as it doesn't harm anyone but themselves.

On the third hand, some drugs have high social costs in various ways (crime, dependency, deaths...).

On the fourth hand, if drugs were legal, crime would go down, and people could be treated...

I see too many sides to this issue, and thus can not make up my mind on it. I am REALLY glad I don't have to make policy on this issue...

So, yesterday's poll was on porn. Today's is on drugs. I will try to cover all the bases.

I am not going to take this poll, because I don't know what to think about this issue. If you get here fast enough with suggestions, I will try to modify the poll for more categories...

[Beelzebud]

1. Marijuana should be legal because it's not even as powerful as booze.

I can drink until I literally can't walk.

I can smoke pot all day, and still function normally.

[bryant69]

2. I think nobody should do drugs

And anybody on this board (or anywhere else for that matter) who uses recreational drugs should stop. I don't care how harmless you think it is, and I don't care if you think I'm an out of touch dingbat for thinking this. I also feel the same for those of you who drink alchohol.

That said, the question isn't whether or not people should do drugs, but whether or not they should be allowed to. There are clearly drugs that their open and legal use would cause problems, but Marijauna seems like it would impose less of a societal cost than alcohol. Frankly we are probably paying a higher societal cost by outlawing mary jane than we would by legalizing it. And it should be a little more difficult to prohibit something in a free society.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Warpy]

5. You don't get to make the rules for any other adult

and we don't get to make your rules.

If you don't want to get high, don't. Just don't presume to tell anybody else what they can do with their bodies or their precious time. Some will spend that time in ways you don't approve of. That is their right.

[bryant69]

12. Thank you for that little lecture

But I'll continue telling people what to do on a regular basis. The problem isn't voicing an opinion, it's when I try to back up my opinion with laws forcing people to comply with it.

Or course people have a right to mess up their lives. And I have a right to say "Hey it would be better if you didn't mess up your life."

[Beelzebud]

14. One lecture deserves another! :D

[wuushew]

24. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone

n/t

[bryant69]

33. Ah.

But that only applies if I am saying people who do drugs are bad people and shouldn't be respected. If I am encouraging people to attack people because of their drug doing ways. Rather I am saying that people who are doing drugs should stop doing drugs.

[Warren DeMontague]

57. I don't do anything stronger than caffeine anymore- but one size does not

fit all.

My wife, for instance, likes to have a glass of wine with dinner maybe three, four times a YEAR. (You'd be hard pressed to explain how she's "messing up her life" with it.) I know, it's beyond me; as someone who can't drink alcohol, the idea of having "a" glass of anything is unfathomable. But it's also ridiculous to make blanket statements like everyone should stop drinking alcohol- or everyone should stop smoking pot. Some people manage to do just fine using alcohol or other drugs in moderation- dare I say, some people actually get some benefit out of those activities. Some other people, for genetic, physiological, emotional, or whatever reasons, can't and shouldn't indulge in certain substances.

But, no offense- blanket statements like that do make you sound a bit like an out of touch dingbat, if for no other reason than human beings are all different.

[dysfunctional press]

60. i think nobody should tell others how to act or recreate

sheesh...

:eyes:

[boobooday]

3. The costs of the drug war

Outweigh the benefits of incarcerating thousands of people over a PLANT.

[Strong Atheist]

39. I also worry, though, about abused relatives (pcp and the like)

and babies with birth defects (which can happen with alcohol and other substances...). There are so many issues with drugs... I would tend to "live and let live", if not for the costs, which are not just monetary, as you would make out...

I really don't know what to do about drugs; they are not going away; they have been around FOREVER... I am GLAD I don't make policy...


Edited to add: someone wiser than I needs to work on these issues, especially on how to get people to use drugs responsibly if they are going to...

[boobooday]

58. I think it would be easier to talk about the responsibility part

If people didn't have to admit to breaking the law in order to get help.

[Warpy]

4. The drug war is over. We lost.

It's time to admit it and stop wasting money on paramilitary units whose only function seems to be depriving us of our civil rights at home and pissing off entire countries abroad.

It's time to take that money and put it into rehab for the people who run into trouble with substance abuse (including alcohol) and want help. It's time to regulate the quality and dosage of psychoactive drugs and to tax them enough to provide for the continuing regulation. It's time to get all those druglord gangstas out of their baggy pants and put 'em into business suits and make them keep books like the rest of us.

End the insanity of leaning on doctors who prescribe opiates for people in chronic pain. End the insanity of locking people up for decades for peacefully indulging in getting high. Just end the insanity, period.

End the drug war.

[Beelzebud]

11. Bill Hicks said it best. A war on drugs suggests we're losing a war

to a bunch of people who are fucked up!

"We're losing! Those drug users are some creative motherfuckers!"

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. just for fun, could you combine the two? porn AND drugs?

:)

all those fun things should go together. You might add bacardi and cokes, just for kicks.

Seriously, the reason why some drugs have such a high social cost is BECAUSE they are illegal. If pot were available on the street, easily grown and consumed by those who wanted to, how would society be harmed? Other than pissing off puritanical neocon assholes who can't stand the thought of someone else enjoying themselves.

[Strong Atheist]

27. I was think about deaths and illness due to drug use, and

broken families and lost jobs... some of which, I admit, may have to do with costs...

Edited to add: ...and maybe violence against family members with things like PCP...

[ktlyon]

61. families broken up when someone is sent to jail is costly also

to society for courts and prisons
to children when parent is removed
alcohol related violence is also very costly

[soothsayer]

7. No one wants to win the drug war. That underground economy

is what, in the billions and billions of dollars, and would actually cause economic collapse if that money went out of circulation.

[K-W]

53. Well, insofar as the war on drugs is really a war on poor people

at home and abroad they want to win. But history has shown that they are both incapable of and wholly uninterested in actually reducing drug use.

[MrModerate]

8. I voted for "softer" because of the reality of the situation . . .

(i.e., all humans crave intoxication). Although purists may lean toward "all."

Fact is, the "hard drugs" are too hard, and some can make you drop down dead on first time use (specifically cocaine, which some people are particularly sensitive to).

If you consider that tobacco could never be approved under current mores and health practices, then banning much-less-harmful marijuana makes no sense. Alcohol, which is benign if used responsibly, is a horrorshow if used irresponsibly, and yet cannot be reasonably banned (too easy to make).

However, I reluctantly support the notion that some intoxicants are just too dangerous to be unregulated, even if that ends up with discontinuities in the legal landscape.

[RaleighNCDUer]

23. So that just calls for some nuance --

regulated, but legal.

Restrict MJ the same as you restrict alcohol and tobacco. Hard drugs, keep them controlled, but if you're caught you go to treatment, not to the pen. I suspect that when a user is pushed to the point of theft to support a habit, most will opt for treatment if they know they will not be prosecuted because of the habit. Very few people really WANT to be criminals.

Of course, conspiracy theorist that I am, I believe that hard drugs were deliberately unleashed upon our inner cities to destroy minority populations by criminalizing them, disenfranchising them and impoverishing them. The ultimate reason the war on drugs won't be won is because winning is not their intention.

Kind of like the war on terror.

[MrModerate]

51. Nuance indeed . . .

RESTRICT Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana (e.g., available from liquor stores or clerks who have to verify your age in some manner)
CONTROL narcotics, cocaine, prescription drugs likely to be abused by . . . keeping their use illegal? Establish sentencing guidelines that divert people to treatment (how many times? Does society give up on you after 10 busts?)

How about sellers? Marijuana sellers go away, but users of controlled substances will need a supply system, and in all likelihood will have to deal to ensure their own access. Now we're getting seriously tangled up in the law again. Do you send small dealers to detox? Medium dealers? Kingpins?

Frankly I'm not savvy enough about proposed practices for defacto decriminalization of hard drugs to know how that would be handled.

With regard to your conspiracy theory, I don't doubt for a moment that officials of all sorts have been involved in the provision of hard drugs to inner city consumers (or suburban consumers or rural consumers, for that matter), but I tend to believe that the conspiracy was purely commercial and not political/racial. Just call me Pollyanna.

[Strong Atheist]

28. You are living up to your username too much for GD! I agree

with most of what you said...

[Vidar]

9. The "drug war" is just a means of raising prices and maintaining monopoly.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

10. If alcohol

which is a deadly drug that results in a terminal illness much of the time, is legal...then why not everything else?

Survival of the fittest. Doing street drugs is kind of the modern equivalent to our ancestors walking off a cliff. If you are dumb enough to do it, then perhaps you won't breed. Evolution is very wise.

And we can use the War on Drugs money to make sure that everyone has the information they need and also to help smarten folks up in case they do breed!

[MrModerate]

15. Actually, most people use alcohol without terminal effects . . .

And if you think that most users of street drugs don't reproduce, then it could be that you've not been paying attention. For that matter, most users of street drugs don't end up walking off a cliff, literally or metaphorically, and are able to maintain an even strain just fine, thank you.

However using "War on Drugs" money for anti-drug-abuse educational programs rather than law enforcement is a fine idea, particularly considering how well that war's gone so far.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

16. Yes, I know that

"most" don't end up with terminal illnesses. But a whole heck of a lot surely do. Or maybe they are just all in my family and I have a skewed perspective!

I need to clarify that I don't really consider marijuana a street drug, although I know legally it is. I'm thinking more in terms of cocaine and heroin.

And yes, some of them breed. I know because I teach their children. (I teach in a large ESE program) Crack babies are the hardest, although alcoholic fetal syndrome kids are rough, as well. I have one now who is in a wheelchair. She will never breed, that's for certain.

But if people want to do that to themselves, then that's just life. We all find ways to do ourselves in eventually. Personally, I'm working at it with a knife and fork.

[American Tragedy]

20. I think you might have a skewed perspective.

Use does not necessarily equal abuse.

I was educated by my family in moderate consumption of alcohol, as a normal part of eating, celebration, and just life in general, from the time that I was a little girl. Occasionally, someone might get a little too much and act a little loopy, but nothing serious. And definitely no alcoholism or liver disease to speak of.

It's probably a better approach than a few of my peers, whose parents, disapproving of my parents' liberalism, apparently thought that "twenty-one shots on your twenty-first birthday" was the more appropriate angle.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

21. Yes, my perspective is skewed

probably by the seven times I have had to take my sister to detox this year. It is very sad.

But my two-year old grandson, who goes everywhere we do, loves detox Sundays because he gets to stop at Wendy's.

Now THAT is sad.

[Strong Atheist]

29. I forgot all about the "kids born with defects" part of drugs!

Another negative ...:scared:

[Ariana Celeste]

44. About that negative-

Drugs and alcohol are not the root of that particular problem. It's addiction, it's the person. We can't just do away with everything people could potentially become addicted to, we need to go to the root of the problem, and fix that. We need more resources to *help* people who are battling addiction. Many addicts can't get treatment, because it's too expensive, or they fear being jailed rather than helped, or they just don't know where to go. And so they keep doing drugs, or they keep drinking, and it gets worse and worse. Until they end up in the hosiptal, or jailed, or dead. Some end up having children in the process. Which is very sad, indeed.
But as you can see... the fact that drugs are illegal doesn't stop crack users from having crack babies. It's not the drug. It's not the alcohol. It's not whether or not they are legal.
People need help and we aren't helping them. We are making them criminals.

[Strong Atheist]

46. I have NO idea what to do about drugs. That is why I did not take

my own poll, for the first time ever.... I am wishy washy on this issue, which is rare for me...

[Ariana Celeste]

47. There's so many different angles to the discussion.

So I can hardly blame you.

I know a lot of users. I know some abusers. I've seen the worst it can do and I've seen the good it can do. The way I see it, the way things are today, with everything being illegal, we have so many problems! Because it is illegal we have a black market, gangs, drug lords. That wouldn't be there if the drugs were legalized, regulated, and taxed heavily. We have a lot of addiction, that could be helped if there were more resources- resources that could be paid for by taxing the drugs. We could have real education about drugs.
So many of the negatives could be helped, if only we had the resources. But instead, we spend a shit ton of money to arrest potheads, arrest addicts, who are just going to get out and keep on doing it. While the problem continues to grow.

[Strong Atheist]

49. I have to go home now. Peace.

I REALLY don't know what I think on this issue, or what to do to "make everything right", and I have considered it off and on for 20 years or so... I let smarter people than myself make the decisions on this one...

Peace.

:pals:

[Ariana Celeste]

50. Peace man

Nothing will ever make everything right, but we can always strive to make things better. :)

:pals:

[IsItJustMe]

13. We already have legalized recreational drugs in this country. It's called

a prescription and pharmaceutical companies makes millions of dollars a year for the. It seems to be OK when they do it.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

22. I believe in better living

through modern chemistry, but I have a prescription for every pill I take.

Honest.


I do.


Promise.

[Mnemosyne]

26. Their *legalized recreational* drugs almost killed me, cost

approx. $27,000 in 2 1/2 years, 2/01 - 9/03. Metabolic dementia and the loss of two years of my life, of my mind. Not something I can recommend for fun and recreation! Pot is so much healthier and more healing. :smoke: :bounce: Too damn bad the poor and ill cannot afford it often, nor the paranoia and stress of possessing an illegal substance. fuckers. :grr:

The pharmaceutical companies are criminals. The medical/mental health hierarchy is complicit and uses our minds and bodies as guinea pigs. Drugging us into submission and compliance, into apathy. It works with those suffering physically medical illnesses as well as with mentally medical illness.

And our government is also criminal in assuring that the only solutions available are the ones they make available. They take away medications that are known to be effective and are willing to pay higher costs with the ensuing hospitalizations, etc, rather than allow the correct medication in the first place. This makes absolutely no sense at all. They are creating situations guaranteed to fail and cause more death and further suffering. Why? So we don't pay attention? Some of us still are.

No one will ever be held accountable for the tremendous amount of suffering and death they have inflicted. Except the victims, blamed by those truly responsible and by a brainwashed society to believe that the poor were just lazy, the mentally ill didn't try hard enough to get well, and the elderly were old anyway.

All the while the pharmaceutical companies make billions in profits a year. AmeriKKKA, land of the free range corporations. Yehaw.:nuke:

Another rant, sorry, I better go to sleep. :hi:

In hope of peace,
v

[IsItJustMe]

36. Right On. I know where you are coming from. I have ahd my own horrible

experiences with drugs I just took because the Doctor said so.

[Mnemosyne]

64. That's what I was doing too IsItJustMe. I so desperately wanted

to stop feeling so horrible all the time I just kept taking everything they told me to take until suddenly I found myself sitting on the end of my couch unable to function, barely able to even talk or walk. I was going to die, one way or another. The only thing that saved my life was sheer stubborn willpower. Where it came from I really do not know, survival instinct I believe. I simply started titering myself off it all. And started to live and think again!!

I am so sorry you had to suffer in such a way also! What a nightmare for you! If you ever want to talk just pm me.:hug:

During that 2 1/2 year period I rarely smoked pot at all, when I started again is when I started to wake up to what was happening to me and took the actions that saved my life.

1973-2001 smoked pot fairly regularly, no hospitals, worked regularly until became ill from effects of mercury that caught up to my body badly in 1999. 2001-2003 rarely smoked and hospitalized 4 times, couldn't work at all. No one can convince me that marijuana did not help me live a more stable life than their fucking pharmaceuticals did. Marijuana never put me in the hospital unable to carry on a conversation or recognize myself in a mirror!:grr::nuke:

If they cannot control it, it will remain illegal. TPTB are evil hateful people.

:hi:

[TallahasseeGrannie]

42. Overmedication killed

my mother. So I hear you. In my case, it saved my life. I have an excellent doctor who listens to me.

[Mnemosyne]

63. I'm so sorry about your mother TG. I hope she did not

suffer too much because of it.:hug: There are so many that are over-medicated and due to it cannot even recognize it as the problem. It is a travesty.

Medicare D may be good for at least one thing in the end, getting many elderly off of the cycle of over-medication. But it will be the only thing the reprehensible program has been good for at all.

I am very fortunate now and have a great doctor that listens to and respects me after all these years. It is comforting to finally know he won't just try just try to shove another pill down my throat if something is wrong.

Still, the best all-around drug I have ever found for pain, nausea, anxiety, and numerous health issues I've experienced has been marijuana. It's just criminal that I cannot afford it nor have regular access to it. And when I have been able to access it some of the effectiveness has been lost due to it's illegality. The stress of paranoia factor caused by it being illegal still does not negate it's usefulness though.

I doubt that the stress of paranoia is a problem where there is not a major worry of being thrown in prison for its possession and use.

Someone needs to help the morons realize that use does not equal addiction.

:hi:

[olebrowser]

17. recreational drugs

You've already messed up the poll by defining drugs as "recreational".
Recreation implies harmless fun, or maybe clean living and exercise.
Who could be against warm and fuzzy drugs ?
I'm not against drugs, I think people should be free to live as they choose as long as they are willing to accept the consequence.

[Strong Atheist]

30. Welcome to D.U.! Actually, as I noted, I have not taken illegal drugs,

but I know many here do, so I said "recreational" because many here view it that way.

BTW, I forgot on my list the bad effects on children when pregnant mothers take drugs, including alcohol in large amounts ...

[Beelzebud]

18. All I know is I'd rather smoke pot, than pop Xanax, Vicodin, or any other

pharmacudical drug.

So why is all-natural pot illegal, and a mass-produced, man-made toxic soup legal?

Oh yeah. They can't profit from something I can grow with my tomatoes...

[Mnemosyne]

19. If fucking George W. Bush doesn't have to follow the laws,

I certainly don't have to either!:nuke:

Legalize all drugs and take the profits out of the drug war which creats massive amounts of human suffering and shift the profit toward treatment and education, which would create massive amounts of human healing.

Legalization would predictably cause some increase in the number of addicts, simply because of those that would try it that didn't before, but the at most it would be an insignificant almost immeasureable increase in those becoming addicted.

The US government and corporations all profit tremendously from the war on drugs, the war on terror, er, the long war, the war on education, the war on the poor, the disabled and the elderly. Am I forgetting anyone here? Oh yes, the middle class!

And liberals.:evilgrin:

Excuse my rant please, but you see where I'm coming from here don't you Strong Atheist? :hi: And if this makes absolutely no sense, it's been a very long week already. :smoke:

Sorry for the rant anyway SA. :blush: Car just flunked Pa. inspection, can't afford to repair 1995, rusted POS and am still a bit on edge. :grr: I'm 3 for 3 this week, may just stay in bed the rest. :)

Interesting thread, btw, thanks!

[Strong Atheist]

31. Nothing wrong with your rant. I don't know what to do about drugs.

Really. I forgot about the detrimental affects on kids when pregnant mothers are using...

[Mnemosyne]

66. Pregnant women with addiction need health care, not prison.

Anyone with addiction needs health care not prison.:hug: Legalization will not create addicts, genetics and biology creates addicts.

Legalization would take away the criminal aspects, saving the taxpayers billions of dollars in prison costs. It would save families if addicts could get treatment rather than prison and ostracized from their communities.

Most people do not become addicts when they try recreational drugs. Education is the answer. Recreational or medicinal use of a drug such as marijuana does not constitute addiction.

I am labeled a marijuana abuser simply because I admitted to using it once in awhile to my therapist when I was hospitalized a few years ago due to them over-medicating me with their poison pharmaceuticals (they piss tested me, I was rarely smoking it at all at the time).

I've never sat around getting high all the time to the exclusion of all else, never have in my entire life, but because it's illegal even using it at all, they labeled me an addict for life!

Everyone I know laughs about it because they know I am not, but it will follow me for life.

Fucking nazi drug policies!:nuke:

Great thread SA! :applause: Anytime you can get people thinking and discussing, it's a good thing.:hi:

[TheBaldyMan]

25. All drugs should be availiable under some form of licencing

Medical ones on prescription and others at legally licenced outlets like a bar or tobacconist.

on edit: They should only be availiable for retail in their natural form, i.e. coca leaves opium and weed. No acid I'm afraid only psilocybin and peyote :(

[Mizmoon]

32. It makes me sad to think of all the good people in jail

who are not dangerous to society and who never get to make a contribution because of a drug conviction. They use social resources instead of creating them and it doesn't have to be that way.

It also makes me sad to think about all our tax dollars that have gone into putting them in that state. We could have built a pretty fine levee system for that kind of money.

[High Plains]

37. There are about 500,000 in jail or prison on drug charges only.

We are the world leader. Go USA! We're Number One!

[High Plains]

38. Legalize it all, regulate it, control it, tax it.

One of the primary arguments against legalization is "but then everybody would do it." But I see very little empirical evidence to support that claim. Anybody got any evidence?

It's also worth noting that we have managed to reduce cigarette smoking in this country by a significant degree WITHOUT PUTTING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN PRISON. Just something to think about.

[noonwitch]

34. Marijuana should be legal and taxed.

Cocaine and heroin have some limited medicinal value-the british have a legal heroin withdrawl program for people who are addicts. They claim it works better than methadone. I have no idea.

Cocaine used to be an excellent topical anesthetic, but they have so many similar drugs to use now, like novocaine, that they probably don't need it legal for that purpose. In crack form, it should never be legal-I'm a children's service worker in Detroit. I've seen the damage crack does. There is no legitimate purpose for meth, and considering the damage it does, it should remain illegal.

[Squatch]

35. I support the right for people to kill themselves anyway they please

[Strong Atheist]

40. What about their relatives, and any kids with birth defects; for

example: fetal alcohol syndrome, which is VERY real, I have worked with such kids...

[meow2u3]

54. But I don't support the right for people to kill others along with them

That's what heroin, crack, and meth do. Addicts not only put their own lives at risk, but they show a tendency to try to take other people with them, including innocent little kids.

[Ariana Celeste]

41. I always enjoy this subject... here's some of my opinion

My opinion is that all drugs (except meth- as it is on the street. There are safer ways to use methamphetamines) should be legalized, regulated, and heavily taxed. And the heavy taxes go towards that regulation and towards clinics for those who need help.

What a lot of people don't get is that most of the people we throw in jail or prison for drugs are just the harmless little guys. Most of the crime associated with drugs is simply because the drugs are illegal. The *real* bad guys, are the drug lords, or whatever you may want to call them. Not small time dealers, not recreational users. Even the addicts, the hardcore addicts don't belong in prison, because jail time ain't gonna take that addiction away. They belong in rehab.
Many addicts won't willingly go to rehab for a few reasons... two of the big ones being that they either can't afford it, or they are afraid of consequences- such as being jailed. I've known a lot of people who would have gotten the help if they thought they could have.

In a different direction- whether a drug is "soft" or not is all relative. I've known some people who consider acid and mushrooms to be hard drugs. I've taken acid, I know a lot of people who have taken both. They aren't hard drugs at all- especially acid. Acid doesn't do anything to hurt your body. Some people have bad trips, but that isn't as common as people think it is. I also don't consider opium to be a hard drug. Drugs *made* from opium like heroin, now that's hard. But opium itself, I personally don't think it's all that bad- in moderation. Of course you wouldn't want to smoke it all the time, it's hard on your liver and it can be very addicting, psychologically.
Coke isn't as bad as some people think. In moderation. Especially if it were regulated by the govt.- because then it would be clean, and not cut with various other substances. Now there is such a thing as doing too much cocaine, and you can OD on it. That's where being responsible comes in- and believe it or not, you can be responsible when you're on drugs.

I may be young, but I've known a lot of drug users, both young and old. The only irresponsible users I've known have been uneducated users. See this is also very important- REAL drug education, not this DARE crap. DARE serves to teach only that drugs are bad and against the law, mmkay. Real education is necessary so that people CAN be responsible. Knowing exactly what you are taking, what it can do to your body, what effects it may have on your mind, and how much is too much makes recreational use safe(r) and fun.

I had more to say but I forgot what it was. ;)

[K-W]

43. Prohibition is draconian, ineffective, and hugely destructive.

We can talk about ways to reduce the social costs of drug use and ways to encourage safe usage AFTER we end the monstrosity that is the prohibition regime. The social costs of the prohibition regime are so vastly greater than legal drug use could possibly be it is nonsensical to use social costs as a justification for prohibition.

[Strong Atheist]

45. I agree that there are big problems with prohibition.

There are also problems associated with drug abuse, which is why I am GLAD I don't have to make drug policy....:scared:

[K-W]

48. Prohibition is way more of a problem than drug use.

It isnt even close. With a fraction of the money the US spends in the 'war on drugs' treatment could be provided for addicts, accurate information about drugs could be disseminated and we wouldnt really have a drug problem.

Wouldnt you rather have your drug problem be a small disfunctional minority of citizens who need help(most of which need help for other reasons anyway) than a massive war between organized criminals and the government where people are locked up for seeking intoxication?

Edit: Before prohibition, our opiate problem was morphine addicts who recieved maintenance perscriptions from thier doctors. Before prohibition our marijuana problem was that it was mainly smoked by farm workers who were seen as undesireable. Now look at our drug problem. It is almost entirely a product of prohibition itself.

[Ariana Celeste]

52. I completely agree.

I honestly believe one of the biggest problems we have is because of such inaccurate, incomplete information given to young people.
The key to safe use is knowing what you are taking, knowing what it will do, knowing what to look for in yourself and others to prevent using too much, and having an idea of how much is too much. Many people OD because they don't know what they are doing or don't know how much they are taking. All of this could be helped if we could just stop the whole DARE drugs are bad mmkay thing and teach people the truth- I knew so many people in high school, myself included, that started using drugs NOT because "marijuana is a gateway drug" but because we tried marijuana, and it was nothing like DARE said it was.... so what about the other drugs out there, yanno?
Another big problem is because we aren't helping anyone, we are just putting them in jail. Rehab is like a luxury for those who can afford it, and many addicts simply cannot afford to get help.
People have been using mind altering substances ever since it was discovered... that people think we can change that with a few laws and arresting people, just boggles my mind.

[ismnotwasm]

55. And they've know since the 70's

That lying to kids doesn't work. When I was a kid for God's sake. They did study after study--and telling the truth is more effective, because kids need to trust what they're told is going to be the truth.

Since I have lived a very interesting path, I told my kids the truth. (My truth includes some very ugly stories, and as a nurse these days I have even more. But there were fun times as well)
But since I told the truth, If such and such happened, (it usually did) they would think Mom was right, shit. When one of them was around people who played a little hard, I told them sooner or later someone is going to die. It happened. I told them, If you're at a (underage) party, a fight or breaks out, or some nonsense is happening --police come LEAVE the scene immediately--let others go to jail. Why stick around like an idiot and yell at police? I also told them the signs of dangerous alcohol intoxication and drug overdosing. (Don't assume someone passed out is alive, shake them once in a while--try to get them home)I told them lots of stuff like that.

I didn't say don't go parties, don't do drugs. I told them this is what is going to happen if you do things THIS way. I told them the truth as best as I could.

I think marijuana should be legalized immediately. I don't know if it's possible to tax, since it's so easy to grow. As for other drugs, I've cared for so many abcessed up junkies, Heart-blown crack addicts, I'm conflicted sometimes. And heart-broken a lot. But I think decriminalizing at the least, providing places to use, offering treatment, which includes medical care. These people are out there with anti-biotic resistant infections and it's spreading. HCV is an epidemic. It's already costing us billions of dollars we can't even track to a source

And it's ironic, I talk about drugs and health. Nearly 50% of emergency addmissions for Gastro-intestinal problems (especially bleeding) are ALCOHOL related.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

67. Yes, because now we have

a fraction of the population who is addicted and BROKE and that means trouble for everyone, as they look daily for money to support their habits. These folks are probably (it's never hopeless) already lost. But if they could get their habit taken care of they could have some level of peace, and so could society.

[blondeatlast]

56. Never used anything illegal (I barely drink alcohol, ftm) but I resent

all the money spent to "battle" marijuana use.

Everyone I know besides me uses it and I don't know anyone I'd consider a "stoner" for even a moment.

Legalize it, tax it, and let's have a national health care plan partially funded of of the tax revenue from it.

[ktlyon]

59. I think all laws restricting drugs are unconstitutional

everyone has a right to choose what goes on or in their own bodies
Prohibition took a constitutional amendment to do and undo, we should remember the lessons learned by this past mistake

bye the bye
Drugs are overrated best to continue your abstention.

[Strong Atheist]

65. I will

continue, I am happy with my life the way it is (mostly).

[MrSlayer]

62. I voted for all to be legal but would settle for weed.

Marijuana at the very least should be absolutely legal.